Archive.png This article or section documents something not included in the current version of Scratch (3.0). It is only useful from a historical perspective.

The Scratch 1.4 Flash Player had many bugs before its discontinuation in 2013. This article lists many of them, along with the status "resolved," "technical limitation" or "unresolved"; and what to do if they occur. One could report unlisted bugs here.

Scratch Program Evaluation Bugs

These bugs are bugs about how the Scratch code is evaluated, and how it differs from the Java Player and Scratch Program's player.

Note Note: Note that when providing workarounds for features which differ in the Java and offline players, the offline player is given priority.
Description:
Actions can occur in the wrong order, for example a sprite may sense if it is touching a line before the line is drawn.

Status: Technical Limitation

Solution:
This is due to speed optimizations. Add the script
wait (0) secs

wherever one needs to refresh the screen/order.

Description:
Many instruments and drums do not sound as they do in Scratch 1.4

Status: Technical Limitation

Solution:
None. Flash's instrument library is not as extensive as Java's is.
Description:
The broadcast message scratch-startclicked does not trigger scripts with a "when green flag clicked" hat block.

Status: Won't Fix

Solution:
This was never an official feature and will not be implemented.
Description:
Sprites with the rotation style set to left-right facing may have an offset rotation center.

Status: Unresolved

Solution:
None.
Description:
Variable placement is often off.

Status: Unresolved

Solution:
Saving the project with all monitors visible in the right places may help position them properly.
Description:
Clicking the green flag signals a mouse-down event

Status: Unresolved

Solution:
Checking the coordinates of the mouse when the event is toggled, and making sure the Y position is less than 180, will avoid this.
Note Note: Scratch 1.4 triggers the mouse-down event, too, but the Java Player does not.
Description:
Sprite dragging does not work properly.

Status: Unresolved

Solution:
The following script makes a sprite draggable:
when Sprite1 clicked:: control hat
set [x v] to ((mouse x) - (x position))
set [y v] to ((mouse y) - (y position))
repeat until <not <mouse down?>>
    go to x: ((mouse x) - (x)) y: ((mouse y) - (y))
end
Description:
Color sensing does not work when sprites are being dragged.

Status: Unresolved

Solution:
The above patch allows that.
Description:
Variable monitors occlude speech bubbles.

Status: Unresolved

Solution:
The following script prevents that:
when gf clicked:: control
reset timer
repeat until <(timer) > (1)> // change 1 to the number of seconds
    say [something]
end

when gf clicked:: control
wait (0.5) secs
show variable [var v]
Description:
Speech bubble text overflows in full-screen mode.

Status: Unresolved

Solution:
Split long speech into smaller dialogs. For example, use
say [Hello! This is a] for (2) secs
say [very long string. I am] for (2) secs
say [the Scratch Cat.] for (2) secs

instead of

say [Hello! This is a very long string. I am the Scratch Cat.] for (2) secs
Description:
Dragged sprites appear over the gray bar over the viewer.

Status: Technical Limitation

Solution:
None.


Bugs

These bugs refer to the player itself, bugs about how the player may glitch, freeze, hang, etc. in various situations.

Description:
Punching each pixel in a region forms a translucent region rather than a solid one.

Status: Unresolved

Solution:
Use a larger pen size (this may cause the image to be smudged) or do not lift the pen after drawing each pixel.
Description:
Opening multiple projects in different tabs can cause sounds to hang and skip.

Status: Technical Limitation

Solution:
Close the other tabs or at least hit the stop button on the player in the other tabs.
Description:
The viewer seems to queue actions when it is not on the viewing screen. When viewing the screen, all the actions play quickly.

Status: Technical Limitation

Solution:
This is a Flash feature, and there is no Flash command to empty the queue if it is too long.
Description:
You cannot use keyboard/mouse features until you click on the viewer.

Status: Technical Limitation

Solution:
This is a Flash safety feature and cannot be avoided.
Description:
Graphic effects (except for the ghost and brightness effects) cause the player to slow down significantly.

Status: Partially Resolved

Solution:
Use version 11.7 instead.
Note Note: This affects not only the Flash player on Scratch, but also Flash-based programs throughout the Internet, as well as some offline programs that use Flash. This one originated with the removal of the "pixel blender" command in Adobe Flash 11.8.
It seems to be partly fixed for single effects.
Description:
Editor right click menu still appears in the player.

Status: Unresolved

Solution:
This does not happen when using Google Chrome's Flash Player.
Description:
Some sounds from 1.0 projects are static.

Status: Unresolved

Solution:
Downloading the 1.x project and opening with Scratch 1.x plays fine.
Description:
As of 11/8/16, the Scratch Team has reported updating the Flash version to above 23.0.0.185 due to a serious security exploit on Windows operating systems.[1]

Status: Technical Limitation

Solution:
Updating to 23.0.0.208 will prevent this from occurring. This issue also does not affect other operating systems like Mac or Linux. However, note that you cannot do this on Windows 2000 and below Mac OS X 10.9.


Resolved Bugs

Description:
Pen Punching (pen up then pen down) does not work at all.

Status: Resolved

Solution:
None.
Description:
When medium or low quality is used, very low pen sizes are not drawn at all.

Status: Resolved

Solution:
None.
Description:
Zero and blank are indistinguishable to the equals operator.

Status: Resolved

Solution:
None.
Description:
Stage monitors for lists are confused when lists are resized.

Status: Resolved

Solution:
None.
Description:
Variables/reporters in the "When () > ()" hat block makes the project not work.

Status: Resolved

Solution:
None.


References