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Posted: 9/24/2009 6:54 PM
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ElectroSpecter
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Joined: 8/6/2006
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Location: Connecticut, USA
Also, something interesting: usually, when swinging from a hook, holding up and the direction you're facing will cause Jim to swing much faster and for longer. Sometimes holding jump will cause him to jump after the swing, even when not touching the ground. I demonstrate this at the end of this SMV of the first level. If the jump started just a TINY bit higher, I'd hit that spring and skip to the boss. I can't seem to make it though... (I have tested by changing Jim's gravity; a tiny bit will let me hit the spring, bringing me through the floor). HERE it is. MORE stuff that I did. This WIP goes up to the junk mini boss, and is 138 frames faster than Cardboard's WIP (which I'm assuming is the WIP to try to improve at this point?). - Better tire bouncing I guess. - I can save around 15-20 frames right off the bat that I know of (my mini-boss strategy doesn't require as many Plasmas, and I can skip the one on the far right). - The first half of the boss fight was improved as the closer diagonal whips do double damage (despite the actual whips being a bit slower). - Second half of the boss fight was a bit different. I can't really figure out why the boss doesn't get harmed sometimes, but it seems to be mostly vulnerable when it turns around. Whipping was more effective in some cases, and not in other cases. I could probably have squeezed in a plasma shot here and there, but it's surprising how typically ineffective a whip/plasma combo is (plasma usually doing no damage).
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Posted: 9/24/2009 12:12 PM
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ElectroSpecter
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Location: Connecticut, USA
Can anyone happen to find the x Speed address for Jim? I'm starting to think that it's impossible to find x Speed in just about any Genesis game. I found the y Speed no problem (00FFA6EC) but no luck with the x.
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Posted: 9/24/2009 2:59 AM
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ElectroSpecter
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World 1 WIP is redone. I can't quite remember what I've shown anyone before, but this is very optimized compared to previous versions. However, please pick it apart if you're interested, as there may very well be improvements.
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Posted: 9/21/2009 7:32 PM
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ElectroSpecter
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Toothache wrote:
Stage 5
This is quite a promising post, and it looks like you're on the right track. I always had a feeling that getting damaged and RTing the inside of the boss was the fastest way. Judging from how fast the thing moves across the screen and your estimate of 3 RTs, you should be able to kill it at the beginning of the second pass, right? Also, contacting the boss takes away 1/2 a bar of health, but what about getting hit with missiles or anything else?
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Posted: 9/20/2009 8:30 PM
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ElectroSpecter
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Player (244)
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Location: Connecticut, USA
Flygon wrote:
@ElectroSpecter: I've seen some pretty creepy things over my internet 'life'. That's some of them.
My ultimate goal is to terrify the internet masses.
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Posted: 9/18/2009 3:50 PM
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ElectroSpecter
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Player (244)
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So um, this is a ratatta. Really: Also: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v405/Famous_in_365/001Blebasore-1.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v405/Famous_in_365/digs-1.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v405/Famous_in_365/004Chumandars-1.jpg And the most horrendous of all: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v405/Famous_in_365/10616_541684997319_55804745_3208902.jpg Those ones are done in MSPaint... But I have a few graffiti things from Facebook: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v405/Famous_in_365/graffiti.png
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Posted: 8/28/2009 11:24 AM
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ElectroSpecter
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Player (244)
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Location: Connecticut, USA
At one point, I had started creating a list of how many frames it takes to get each powerup. Then I started killing all the bosses with different combinations of lightning levels and pets, and recording how long each takes. In the earlier levels, it's faster to just go to the boss and skip all of the powerups entirely, but this soon changes when the bosses get more and more HP. Considering the high HP value of the robot boss and his stupid pattern, it's most likely fastest to get every lightning upgrade up to him. I never figured out the best thing for the pets though. Also, RAM addresses I was watching:
00FFFFC0, yposition
00FF0468, xposition
00FFB31C, HP
00FFB41C, HP
00FFB19C, HP
00FFB29C, HP
00FFB21C, HP
00FFB09C, HP
00FFB11C, HP
They are all 2 bytes, signed. The HP addresses are basically a big lot of HP placeholders for enemies and bosses. When an enemy loads, the game arbitrarily picks one for use (arbitrarily is definitely the wrong word to use, but to someone who doesn't know the game code, it's a good enough word as any). There may be more that I missed, but these have worked just fine for me. Now that I'm looking, I did find an early version of my tests. It's not much use, but it illustrates what I suggested earlier with checking each boss and powerup for frame costs:
Switch to Fireball (or back)       - 50
Switch to Dragon (or back)         - 62
Switch between Fireball and Dragon - 50

Level 1
-------

Monster Up 1   - 301
Monster Up 2   - 898
Monster Up 3   - 571 (0 if getting Lightning 1)
HP Up 1        - 0   (no need unless you get Lightning 1)
Lightning Up 1 - 819
HP Up 2        - 734
Lightning Up 2 - 950
Monster Up 4   - Way too long (lower one)
Monster Up 5   - 599

Boss w/ Lv1T - 183
Boss w/ Lv2T - 146
Boss w/ Lv3T - 141
(these three values assume you use the Fireball pet)

Level 2
-------

Lightning Up 1 - 474
Etc. Oh also, for boss testing, just make a save state before the boss. From here you can toggle between different levels of lightning and pets by using the code. This make testing a bit faster!
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Posted: 8/17/2009 1:21 AM
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ElectroSpecter
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Joined: 8/6/2006
Posts: 784
Location: Connecticut, USA
There's nothing stopping you from working on your own run, but I probably will be finishing this movie at some point in the future... I realize that I've been saying this forever, but it really is slowly being worked on, when I feel motivated. Sorry for being vague, and I don't want to discourage other runs.
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Posted: 8/16/2009 12:27 PM
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ElectroSpecter
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Posts: 784
Location: Connecticut, USA
The only two tricks I can think of at the moment (other than the extremely complicated rolling techniques which are hard to describe) are: - When jumping up to a higher ledge, it's necessary to test out all jump heights. Normally, it would be preferred in a TAS to jump just enough to get up to a ledge, but overjumping to a higher ledges sometimes lets you begin a roll earlier than normal. Also sort of along these lines, jumping up to a metal platform usually makes it sink a bit. There are certain jump heights and angles that will make it so that the metal platforms don't sink. - After collecting a coin at the end of a bonus, the screen will fade as soon as the Kongs touch any sort of solid object. There's a trick where you can press the jump button a frame before collecting the coin, and the Kongs will jump during their exiting animation. If they happen to jump into a wall, the screen will start fading, and you can save ~10 - 20 frames. As for the WIP, I actually don't have it (and won't for about a week, until I'm back home from vacation). Sorry =/ EDIT: Oh yeah, something else that's kinda complicated: During the animation when a Kong is picking up a barrel or a keg, you must wait a while to throw the barrel. However, the game lets you jump with the barrel earlier than it lets you throw it while standing. Once you press the jump button, you are allowed to throw the barrel, so jumping after grabbing a barrel will let you throw it earlier. And, if it's preferable to not gain y-distance in one of these situations, merely throw the barrel the frame after you hit the jump button and the Kong won't actually jump.
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Posted: 8/14/2009 4:29 PM
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ElectroSpecter
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My current WIP for the first level is 63 frames faster. You did well, but you should definitely watch the memory addresses if you want to save time. Unfortunately, like you mentioned, the green banana bonuses can royally mess up the run. Anyway, I have a list for gocha's memory watcher: 
;================================
; >> Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble (U)
;================================
[DONKEY KONG COUNTRY 3] 

7E08A6,2s,Dixie y Speed
7E08A2,2s,Dixie x Speed
7E08A9,1s,Speed Type
7E08CC,2u,Current x Pos
7E088A,2u,New x Pos
7E08CE,2u,Current y Pos
7E088E,2u,New y Pos
----
7E0914,2s,Kiddie y Speed
7E0910,2s,Kiddie x Speed
7E0917,1s,Speed Type
7E093A,2u,Current x Pos
7E08F8,2u,New x Pos
7E093C,2u,Current y Pos
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Posted: 6/27/2009 8:31 PM
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ElectroSpecter
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How about a new option, one that makes a bit more sense (to me at least): - Don't use 1/1 at all, UNLESS it happens to save time that ISN'T related to frame shaving simply by having Yoshi run a tiny bit faster. To clarify, 1/1 can be used to save a few frames per level, maybe, purely from a tiny bit of increased speed. In this new option I have created, this will not be used. However, if 1/1 can be used to save time some other way (like getting to a floating platform earlier or spawning things in a more favorable way) and the frames saved come from better manipulation, then the trick SHOULD be used. Of course, this may never be the case the entire run, but I think it's something to consider. Anyone agree?
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Posted: 5/1/2009 1:22 AM
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ElectroSpecter
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Hi all. I've been toying with continuing the run, but it's a lot of work. I would really like to see it completed as well...
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Posted: 3/21/2009 7:26 PM
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ElectroSpecter
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Amazing, I can't wait to watch this! Good work pirohiko! EDIT: Wow. That was great, and there was even some stuff I didn't expect. The Ness's Nightmare battle is SO good. 10 / 9.7
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Posted: 11/14/2008 1:24 PM
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ElectroSpecter
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Wouldn't a TAS of the Spyro games have to wait, since they were analog sensitive? I was messing around with a Ripto's Rage WIP a while ago and realized that I couldn't do very well at all without the use of the analog stick.
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Posted: 11/6/2008 8:51 PM
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ElectroSpecter
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AngerFist wrote:
In my opinion, if this glitch is the same used in the glitched 5 minute run, then I clearly think you should not use it. There is a reason why you havent used it so far, and thats because your run is quite different from the glitched run, by simply not using that glitch. I don't know, but it's quite simple to me. It's basically the same thing with other runs who have glitched runs, like Super Metroid, Zelda 2 (NES) etc. Imagine the Zelda 2 run using the left+right glitch in the normal run, can you imagine how much faster it would be? This is the same situation. You arent doing anything wrong at all by not using the glitch. If you use it, then your run suffers from inconsistent restriction/goal.
That.
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Posted: 10/20/2008 6:02 PM
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ElectroSpecter
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Location: Connecticut, USA
arflech wrote:
What does it sound like? Does ZSNES or BSNES emulate it properly? I've never played the game on a console and only discovered its awesomeness in 2005.
Not sure how to explain it. It's... meatier?
Turambar wrote:
Bsnes should emulate sound (at least in ”normal” Snes games) perfectly.
That interesting that there's an emulator that emulates the sound perfectly. Does it have the "warm" sound that you get with playing games on the actual console? Every emulator and SPC player I've used to date has a sort of digital feel to the music (I almost want to say anemic). The comparison between the two is similar to the difference between audio produced by vinyl versus CDs.
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Posted: 10/20/2008 1:23 AM
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ElectroSpecter
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So, I have no idea if this is the right place to ask this, but here goes: Is the memory card data generated by this emulator (or any PSX emulator) convertible to a format usable by a real PSX memory card? I have a Pro Action Replay Max USB flash drive thingy, so I was thinking if I could convert an emulator's save file to the correct format, I could place it on the USB drive, plug that and a PSX memory card into a PS2, and transfer the data to the memory card. Any ideas if this is possible? Am I asking in the wrong thread?
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Posted: 10/18/2008 5:11 PM
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ElectroSpecter
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Tough to actually see the improvements, but nice job! Good luck with the non-glitched any%.
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Posted: 10/16/2008 6:32 PM
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ElectroSpecter
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This is awesome. I wish Snes9x could properly emulate Lavos' scream though.
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Posted: 10/16/2008 2:41 AM
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ElectroSpecter
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I guess I probably shouldn't have used the word disgrace... 9 definitely had its points (best graphics and sound, not to mention the amazingly addicting Chocobo minigame). Also seconding ending the discussion on Final Fantasy (yes, after talking about it some more and making a post about it).
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Posted: 10/16/2008 2:36 AM
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ElectroSpecter
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Hm, does the encode problem have to do with the reset at the beginning of the run?
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Posted: 10/15/2008 12:34 PM
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ElectroSpecter
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Kitsune wrote:
I hated Final Fantasy 8, I felt back then, and feel now, that it was a disgrace to the Final Fantasy series. That's why it wasn't on my list.
I kept it off my list because I don't really think it would make a good TAS. But I'll have to disagree and say that IX was the disgrace. It reeked of over-marketing (check out the Coca Cola ad on Youtube; also, Brady Games paid them a hefty sum to be the only company able to produce a guide for the game, and proceeded to make a guide that was only half complete; you had to sign on to their website to actually use the damn thing properly), and the plot was garbage (specifically the final hour of the game). On the other hand, I thought VIII was refreshing and innovative. And the character development was the best of the series (except maybe X). The plot may have been insane, but at least I could wrap my mind around it (unlike VII, which will never make sense, thanks translators).
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Posted: 10/11/2008 1:31 AM
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ElectroSpecter
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Thank you for the astounding boss fight. The darkened room after the bow looks wonderful too. Keep it up! And do DKC at the same time! ;)
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Posted: 10/4/2008 2:15 AM
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ElectroSpecter
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I'll have to agree with Comical on this one. I feel that the credits are wonderful, but don't really have a place in the TAS. I also feel that the act of resetting just as a hit registers on a boss will go very far in convincing people that it's an optimal movie. It's a technique that's extremely obvious as a time saver, and I'm sure people will appreciate it.
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Posted: 10/1/2008 7:27 PM
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ElectroSpecter
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Looks great, I liked the way the keys were played with. Since camera angles are such a hot topic, I'll say that I liked most of them, though I felt that the recently submitted run by Rikku & mr_roberts_z had more interesting angles in the first Bowser Stage. Always a pleasure to watch nonetheless. Always makes me want moar 120 star runs.
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