Ever been stared down by an enraged Purple Tang?
 

I don't think this has been raised before -- searches of likely keywords don't seem to turn it up, anyway -- but I thought it worth asking if anyone else has noticed this, or had an explanation for it.

I saw in another thread a reference to a "hidden command" performed by CTRL+ALT+F. I tried it in MA2, and the effect of performing it repeatedly was amazing.

It freezes the screen, but it also takes the first fish on the list and places him in the center of the screen, where his fins and eyes continue to move (eerily) while everything else is frozen. (I assume the "F" in the command was probably originally meant to stand for "freeze".)

After the keystroke is repeated, however, I've found that the behavior of the first fish on the list alters dramatically . He swims much more vigorously, and if you repeat the action a few more times, it seems to really annoy him. I've had my Purple Tang actually turn to face the front and thrash about while quite literally glaring at me in apparent anger for ten or fifteen seconds. Often the fish will swim offscreen and simply stay there until you hit CTRL+ALT+F again to drag him back to center-screen.

The command also seems to mess with the graphics of the program. When I had the Yellow Tang placed first on the list, he was thrashing about in the foreground turned about three-quarters toward the front, and where the usually semi-transparent front fins (the "arms", if you will) moved in front of the fish's body, you saw not more yellow where his body would be but the coral that was behind him. On another occasion the Emperor Angel actually burst right through the coral from the back plane of the display to the front.

I apologize if this has been discussed before. I've lurked here on and off since purchasing version 1.1 about a year ago, and have never seen it mentioned. I'd particularly like to hear Mr. Sachs' explanation for it, if he wouldn't mind. And I'd also like to know if there are any other "hidden commands" that alter the fishes' behavior. Feel free also to tell me I'm imagining the whole thing and should seek professional help.

Finally, I'm about to purchase a new notebook. Do the Radeon Mobil cards on the Dells work pretty well for MA2?

By the way, it goes without saying that MA2 (and 1.1 for that matter) are brilliant and beautiful programs. I downloaded the demos of both SimAquarium and AquaReal last night, and I don't see how anyone can find them in the same league as MA2, let alone prefer them.

Thanks.

Lambo

Amazing, truly amazing. Jim – Is this the easter egg that wasn't supposed to be? :)

Good find, Lambo. Best first post ever?

/Street

No it isn't an Easter egg. It was a hidden command for Jim, and for Morgan and I to be able to do screen captures. I just redid the fish on the web page and this is how I get good shots to use in PS for the Fish Guide page.

No, not the freeze function. The altered behaviour of the first slot fish that Lambo mentions above.

/Street

Wha'hey! - Just tried it with the Lionfish ........... Very strange pectoral fin movements! :)

The behavior is not changed. The fish just does whatever it was doing before you grabbed it. However several parameters might be remembered. If it was going the other way, it will now be looking for a right edge and never find one since it's now going left. Also, if there are other fish near the new position, it wll have a strong repel force.

i try that and the ss just exits.

That explains why this hidden keystroke also enlarge(zoom in) the first fish on center of the screen in MAT404

very cool, but I dont' see the fish become much more vigorously, or do I have to repeat it many many time in order to see it?

Tiny, since u said this behaviour is amazing, I suppose u notice it on ur own, so how many time did u repeat the keystroke?

edit: Jim answered my question, I see, so it's all become the parameters

Mr. Sachs,

So all that thrashing about facing the viewer, is that just the fish looking for an edge?

And is the passing through the rock and coral attributable to the original position of the fish, who "thinks" it isn't there because it wasn't there in the position from which he was grabbed?

I realize I'm anthropomorphizing to read anger into it (I'm sure fish get angry, but I have my doubts about pixels), but that's sure what it looks like to me. Whatever it is, it adds an interesting extra dimension to an already enormously enjoyable screensaver.

Thanks for all the pleasure this piece of software has given me in the past year. It provides a terrific respite from work (often a distraction from it) many times a day.

I'm sure you don't need to hear that I'm eagerly looking forward to the 3D background and the creature packs. I may never get anything done again.

Lambo

Tiny Turtle,

You see it, too, then? For the first few minutes, I thought I might be losing my mind.

Lambo

ok, there's a bug in this command,

when u activate the keystroke combination, then the screen freeze, then if now u press the space bar twice,u'll found the original first fish still remains on center position, BUT all other 6 fish appears "collide together".......
I accidently found out when I try to alter some setting while keep the screen freeze.

see my picture

edit: same problem persist on other version of SSA not only the one(MAT) I show here

Folks, this was never ment to be a command, option, or feature, buggy or other wise.

That said, it was mentioned in another thread that fish occasionally come shooting out of the sand or seem to drop in from the roof of the tank due to repulsion between fish which are too close to other fish or, one assumes, the coral barriers upon initialisation of the tank and the randomisation of fish positions.

Still with me? :)

So when you centre the first fish, that will affect any fish in the immediate vicinity of the now centred fish, creating effects you would normally never see.

when u ppl keep mentioning about the repulsion between fish, I'm wondering what exactly of the collision algorithm used here, I was once working on a Internet remoted robot which must avoid collide in to obstacles, and the algorithm I used is called "Potential Field Algorithm" where the robot treats all obstacle as repulsive force and treats the target direction as attractive force so the robot will eventually reach the target place.

I wonder if the SSA fish use the same algorithm

What's an algorithm? :)

when i hit ctrl-alt-f, the screen saver just exits. How is everyone pressing this??

You probably have Exit On Mouse Move checked.

How about if everyone just forgets that this was ever mentioned? It was only meant for Morgan to freeze the fish to take a screenshot, then exit. No thought was ever put into the Aquarium running after the screenshot is captured.

This is so COOL! How can we just forget about it now?

No way I am going to forget this. Just wish I'd known about it sooner when I was taking screenshots for my Fish Picker. How about making them smile for the camera? :D

Yes, it's kind of unusual that "Exit on Mouse Move" trigers when you press [Ctrl] on many systems.