“ | Uh, then over to your far left, uh, you can flip up your maintenance panel. Y'know, use this to reboot any systems that may go offline. | ” |
The Maintenance Panel is a new mechanic introduced in Five Nights at Freddy's 3. It can be activated on the far-left side of The Office. It allows the player to reboot the audio devices, camera system, ventilation, or all at once should they get errors in any of them.
Audio Devices[]
Audio Devices allow the player to play a sound byte of BB's laugh in different rooms in order to lure Springtrap away from The Office and to other rooms. The audio does not play on the vent cameras, and Springtrap may be unaffected if it plays in the same room that he is currently in or if he is in a vent when the audio is played.
After a certain amount of uses, the Audio Devices will need to be rebooted, during which it cannot be used. The number of uses before the player is required to reset it decreases as the nights progress, eventually being reduced to two uses by Night 5 and onward. An error can also occur after Phantom Mangle screeches.
Camera System[]
Occasionally, the Camera System will need to be rebooted if it is used for too long. The Monitor will usually be black and static, with the error message, "Video Error" displayed in the top-left.
This means the player can't see through the cameras to see Springtrap's location, allowing him to move with impunity. Some phantom animatronics can still be seen and triggered. Audio can still be played, however, to lure Springtrap away, to give the player time to reboot safely.
Ventilation[]
The Ventilation will shut down periodically, or when the player is jumpscared by a phantom animatronic. If the ventilation is offline, The Office will flash red, and the player's vision will begin to fade, alternating back and forth. This will give Springtrap an opportunity to move around more frequently and attack when the player's field of vision turns black if he is close (i.e. peeking around the corner of the doorway). The player will also see multiple Springtraps on the cameras, however these are just hallucinations.
When jumpscared, the fading will start immediately; when the ventilation shuts down normally, the alarm will sound and The Office will flash red, then the fading will start to occur several seconds later. The player can still access the cameras and use the audio to lure Springtrap far enough away to reboot the ventilation safely.
Audio[]
The sound emitted when the player raises the Maintenance Panel.
The sound emitted when the player lowers the Maintenance Panel.
Trivia[]
- The way the Maintenance Panel is pulled up is similar to the Monitor from the first two games, with all of them pulled up from the bottom.
- Rebooting an individual system will take 5 seconds, and will add up to 15 seconds if the player reboots all three individually, while "Reboot All" will reboot all 3 systems, taking about 8-9 seconds to do it. Thus, it is advisable to choose "Reboot All" instead when having more than one error, as it will shorten the time wasted not paying attention to the cameras and the player's surroundings.
- However, rebooting all will give Springtrap sufficient time to reach The Office even from the opposite end of the building, especially on later nights. It may be better to reboot one at a time while luring him with the audio between reboots.
- Rebooting the ventilation system will not unseal any of the vents.
- The sound that occurs when rebooting a system is the same sound that occurs when the player seals a vent.
- An advantage to having the Maintenance Panel up is that it prevents Phantom Freddy from jumpscaring the player.