Public Commander Keen Forum

My guess is you might need to flip a switch somewhere, which will allow the platforms to move further.

yeah, search the area. there is a switch hidden there somewhere...

And do you have any advice about... glitches?
I'm at the Golden House level and first I didn't notice the opening above the kitchen table, so I left the house, went through the garden to the next one... only to discover that I can't open the supposed exit. So I backtracked and now the game always becomes unresponsive. I jump into the opening, usually some scraping sound is heard... and then Billy freezes in mid movement, usually near the chute to exit the attic. However, it also happened in the pantry and the hall. Basically, earlier it was no problem - I don't know if my backtracking had anything to do with it, but earlier I didn't have this problem - and now I can't complete this level because of glitches.

there is a whole discussion about issues like that in this very thread. So, yeah, these are known issues.

You can however download a more polished / updated version of this mod which addresses most known bugs and glitches. Note however that this comes as an unofficial version put together by another community member called K1n9_Duk3. To download this overhauled version make sure to visit this post over here:
viewtopic.php?p=95385#p95385

Nisaba wrote: ↑Mon Aug 09, 2021 22:15You can however download a more polished / updated version of this mod which addresses most known bugs and glitches. Note however that this comes as an unofficial version put together by another community member called K1n9_Duk3. To download this overhauled version make sure to visit this post over here:
viewtopic.php?p=95385#p95385

Is that the version I should use if I'm playing this mod for the first time, then? (I saw the mention of it while playtesting FITF, and was intrigued...)
The existence of that version is not mentioned on the Keen wiki:
https://keenwiki.shikadi.net/wiki/Suburb_Shenanigans

Wow, I was just reading the thread for K1n9_Duk3's unofficial bugfixes, and thinking how they need to be on KeenWiki. Especially since a 2019 bugfix for Keen 58 is on there.
I would assume the bugfix version would be better (though I haven't tried it). Suburb Shenanigans had some pretty game-breaking bugs when I first played it.

Oh, I actually see that v 1.2 is linked on the wiki and it seems to be that version. But it's confusing because there are 4 download links and it's the 2nd one down, right below the one marked "newest", and the "latest update" listed in the infobox is 2019.
You'd have to actually hover over the link to see that the date of that one is later than the others.
Maybe it should be bolded or moved to the top, or something...

they are listed as unofficial updates:

Sure, I see that now. But if one version is clearly recommended over the others, maybe it should be bolded - seems like it would be the least intrusive way.
Marking v1.1 "newest" isn't quite right, after all - at least if one is browsing quickly, one could be forgiven for assuming that it is actually the newest, with the latest bugfixes, etc.
In cases where the unofficial latest release is more than just bugfixes, but bigger changes as well, then it wouldn't be so clear.

I see what you mean. The problem is that we would need the approval of the developers to promote unofficial versions more or change the order of the releases. One of the unofficial updates was made by me. However, I have no confirmation that the changes made are in the best interest of the authors. I think it makes sense to prevent that everyone can claim to release the latest update and the best version. We would probably need a structure on the site that emphasizes this more clearly.

Hi guys, long time no post from me.

When K1n9_Duk3 was conducting these bug fixes for a bunch of mods we talked about the changes made which I was very happy with. The mod had its fair share of bugs when I released it and I am very grateful that K1n9_Duk3 addressed this mod with his updates as I am no good with the more technical side of modding.

I would be very happy for K1n9_Duk3's revision to be the latest official version on the Keenwiki as it is the most polished and stable release.

Thanks!

Fantastic! Thanks for clearing that up. I will update the wiki accordingly when I find the time.

Nisaba wrote: ↑Thu Jun 15, 2023 7:22 Fantastic! Thanks for clearing that up. I will update the wiki accordingly when I find the time.

Already done.

Also, I started playing this mod a bit and find it so far impressive but a bit of a mixed bag. Keen's house and shack were pretty neat. I was getting low on ammo often until I realized that you can stock up in the shack when low.
It's not super hard but sometimes there seem to be unfair surprises, especially as it can be hard to tell what will actually kill Keen.
I find the setting of suburbia itself to be a bit depressing, not helped by one of the rather morose music tracks appearing in the early levels (though the world map music is quite neat). I don't like how dogs are sometimes up in completely implausible places like the tops of telephone poles - makes it unbelievable...
Also, I find the world map really easy to get lost in so far, what with most of the houses looking the same but many of the streets being blocked off and the actual routes going through fences and backyards.
I agree that I wish the setting the big flat screen TV seems out of place for the time period.
The pixel art is ok, though not as good as the original, and a bit too angular for my taste.
Haven't had any crashes yet.
At the moment, I'm just past that food place with the morose cat mascot.

This mod is so impressive with all of the new original art and music! I'm giving it a play on a real 386 PC I just fixed up recently. In general it runs fine in the early stages though I needed to free up some additional memory to have music. To try things a little further in the game I loaded an existing saved game I had saved when emulating dos on my modern PC and when I went to load the sewer level it crashed. It also crashed when I ran out of lives on the early stages. I'll see if these are repeatable or just sporadic crashes.

dark wrote: ↑Thu Apr 04, 2024 20:49 I'm giving it a play on a real 386 PC I just fixed up recently. In general it runs fine in the early stages though I needed to free up some additional memory to have music. To try things a little further in the game I loaded an existing saved game I had saved when emulating dos on my modern PC and when I went to load the sewer level it crashed. It also crashed when I ran out of lives on the early stages. I'll see if these are repeatable or just sporadic crashes.

I love to see Keen mods running on real hardware! It gives that wonderful nostalgic feeling, doesn't it

Regarding the problems you encountered, I recommend this thread by K1n9_Duk3: viewtopic.php?p=95385#p95385
Over there you will find popular Galaxy mods that have undergone a major bug hunt. I'm curios to know if the fixed version of Suburb Shenanigans runs without the bugs you've mentioned.