Surface Tension: "Ladder Problem"

[UristMcDwarf]

Hey everyone. :)

I'm having a problem climbing a ladder. I can't proceed without climbing it. The details are below:

After destroying the third tank - where the aliens are dropped out of an aircraft and bombed by another plane shortly after - there's a window ledge where Gordon moves around the outside of the building and jumps cross two unit blocks to climb the ladders to proceed. No matter what I try - jumping, jump-ducking, looking up to climb, holding jump, etc. - I just can't seem to climb the first ladder.

At first, I just thought I wasn't catching the climb right. But, after a good number of attempts, searching threads, viewing video tutorials showing other players tackling the obstacle seemingly effortlessly, and another good number of attempts, it's come to this.

Has anyone else - past or present - encountered this problem? Better still, is there a solution? Any help would be much appreciated. In the meantime, I'll keep trying!

[machoo]

This part?: http://youtu.be/NhmkrxOrtas?t=47m50s Like, you're colliding with the ladder but not sticking to it?

[biskuit]

You can get on the sloped wall on the left (watchout for mines) and then jump over the fence with a good jump. After that, shoot the barrels so that they explod and destroy the generator and use the destroyed radio tower thing to climb up to the roof.

[UristMcDwarf]

Publicado originalmente por ThatGuyWhoMakesThoseThings:

This part?: http://youtu.be/NhmkrxOrtas?t=47m50s Like, you're colliding with the ladder but not sticking to it?

That exact part, yes.

It feels like Gordon grips the climb and tries to ascend, but ends up just bouncing off the ladder. Sometimes, I catch the climb twice in a single jump; he just bounces off twice.

I don't want to call this problem a "bug", as if it’s the game's fault. I'm not really sure what it is. It doesn't seem to be a common problem, but it really does spoil the experience I've had so far.

[MrMcSwifty]

It's definitely not uncommon. That ladder is infamous for being one of the trickiest jumps in the game. It has to do with the way the func_ladder behaves when a player lands on it while still holding a movement key. The game can't seem to decide whether the player should move up or down and so just bounces you right off of it. No idea why that is, but the way I learned to deal with it was to just make sure I'm not holding anything after making the jump. Not forward key, jump key, crouch key, anything. Usually the player will then stick to the ladder, and... stressing the usually here... you can then look up and use the forward key to move up the ladder like normal.

[UristMcDwarf]

Publicado originalmente por McSwifty:

...just make sure I'm not holding anything after making the jump. Not forward key, jump key, crouch key, anything. Usually the player will then stick to the ladder, and... stressing the usually here... you can then look up and use the forward key to move up the ladder like normal.

Oh, wow - that did it!

Thanks so much! :)

[Garfield]

i just rocket jumped

[Infra_gammer]

Publicado originalmente por McSwifty:

It's definitely not uncommon. That ladder is infamous for being one of the trickiest jumps in the game. It has to do with the way the func_ladder behaves when a player lands on it while still holding a movement key. The game can't seem to decide whether the player should move up or down and so just bounces you right off of it. No idea why that is, but the way I learned to deal with it was to just make sure I'm not holding anything after making the jump. Not forward key, jump key, crouch key, anything. Usually the player will then stick to the ladder, and... stressing the usually here... you can then look up and use the forward key to move up the ladder like normal.

This was very helpfull! Thanks for this tip!

[MrMcSwifty]

Publicado originalmente por Infra_gammer:

This was very helpfull! Thanks for this tip!

Lol, glad to see it's still helping people all these years later.

[Crux]

Publicado originalmente por McSwifty:

Publicado originalmente por Infra_gammer:

This was very helpfull! Thanks for this tip!

Lol, glad to see it's still helping people all these years later. :B1:

+1 - Know you solved ALL my ladder issues. So much health lost because of not knowing this. Thanks McSwifty!!!

[Daddy Kermit]

Really? I nailed that one on the first try, and I had no idea it was "Infamous" for being hard to get.

[Elocrian]

Wow! Thanks McSwifty! Indeed, still helping ppl after all this time!!!

[downthedrain]

Oh thank ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ god for this post

[CoreRelief]

This post was necroed in to the ground.

[PseudoNymNZ]

thank you! i was having the same problem on the source version, ie bouncing off that ladder and had tried about 50 times to make the jump. making sure i wasn't holding any keys when i hit the ladder did the trick on my second attempt. Either HL hasn't aged well (i finished HL many years ago, replaying it now) or the source version has issues the original did not. The long jump controls are nuts.

[38thParallax]

commenting to say thanks McSwifty for your comment, i just encountered this same issue and was about ready to ragequit