Posts for FractalFusion

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Top left corner. It represents the current value of the RNG, and it is the last square before the colored squares scroll out of the chart. As in this image, where I get a critical hit: Note that it's an older version of the script that I used for Pokemon Ruby, so it's a bit different than what you see.
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Sorry, I forgot to mention. You'll have to set the game in the Lua file. Since it's Fire Red (U), I think the game should be 3 (change "game=6" or whatever to "game=3"; it's right at the top). You'll know it works if there are moving colored squares and the top right corner is changing.
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I haven't had any time to work on the script, but I posted it earlier. Instructions are included in the post. http://tasvideos.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=303383#303383 Stevmay09, all you need to do is load this script into Lua. It displays some things that will help. Anyway, here's how I'd approach this TAS: - First, I use MID speed, never FAST speed. This makes it so much better to luck-manipulate. By pressing A and B, you can control the speed of the text. - There is a RNG chart mode (this is mode 3 in the script; press '9'+frame advance to get there). Let's consider the critical hit chart (the one with multicolored red/orange squares). -- Colored squares are critical hits; this is when the fourth digit of the RNG value is 0. -- The top-left corner is the current value. The one to the right is the next value, and so on. The one below is the value 18 steps ahead, and so on. -- The colored squares scroll right-to-left and bottom-to-top. -- When the script detects an abnormal jump in the number of RNG values used on the frame, it flashes an indicator (this is a black-and-red box above the chart). --- For the indicator to function correctly, the chart must be set in 2-RNG-values-per-frame mode if normally the RNG scrolls at 2 per frame, and 3-RNG-values-per-frame mode if normally the RNG scrolls at 3 per frame. (To get the right mode, you have to scroll through the charts and see that the chart background uses either multiple-of-2 or multiple-of-3 grey coloring. --- It can flash the indicator for any reason, but the first time it flashes after it says "A used attack!", almost always that indicates that the current value is used to determine if it is a critical hit or not. --- Note that after the indicator flashes to determine a critical hit, it almost always flashes 3 frames later to determine damage variation. This again uses the fourth digit of the RNG value, with 0 doing the most and F doing the least. -- At that time a critical hit is determined (see indicator), if the top-left box is colored, then the attack will be a critical hit. The goal is to time it so that the colored box ends up in the top-left corner at that moment. Normally, the boxes that are able to end up in the top-left corner are aligned with the light grey coloring in the background, and not the dark ones. However, there are ways to realign the boxes. One way is to wait before battle. Another way is to abuse the help system dialog (it can be called anytime, and can even split the critical hit indication and the damage variation indication, making manipulation of high criticals even easier). - I normally set autofire for A and B to make text scroll faster. Note that this should only be done in test runs, or otherwise in places where you know you won't risk losing a frame if you do so. - I also have autohold B, since the main character will do a bit of running. Also, I had a look at cstrakm's run on the Japanese version on nicovideo. Here's roughly how the run goes (sorry for my notes; they are messy).
-Get Squirtle. Give it one-char name
-@Bulbasaur: 3 tackles. First is not crit, next two are crits.
-Run 1
-Catch enc 2 (Pidgey), don't give name
-Run 3,4,5
-@Weedle: 3 critical tackles. Lets Weedle hit twice with poison sting
-@Brock
-@Geodude: Critical bubble (note: doesn't use torrent)
-@Onix: Critical bubble (again, doesn't use torrent)
-Shop: Buy 13 repel
-@Caterpie: 2 tackles @Weedle 2 tackles @Caterpie 2 tackles
-@Lass @Rattata 2 bubble @NidoranF Water gun
-go back to pewter and come back to reset lass
-2water gun
-you can cancel mt. moon entrance logo
-use 3 repels in mt. moon
-use water gun (note: torrent range)
-squirtle evolves here
-replace bubble with mega punch and tackle with mega kick
-use center and go to gym
-you can bypass the juniorF? hm
-@Misty
-@Staryu MegaKick @Starmie two MegaKicks
-Replace withdraw with Water Pulse
-@Rival
-@all megapunch
-don't learn bite
-nugget bridge megapunch (grass or poison pokemon, mankey) or water gun
-water pulse on a zubat?
-get abra
-after bill's house, teleport
-the fence is redone in such a way that the juniorF beside the juniorM is bypassable
-go to ship, get HM01
-catch diglett in diglett cave? teach cut
-@Surge @Raichu swap to diglett to take shock wave, survive quick attack, KO raichu with Magnitude
-teleport back to Cerulean and get bike
-use 3 repels in Rock tunnel
-go to celadon city and use Pokemon Center there
-beat team rocket here; kangaskhan needs two hits, dig with Diglett
-Celadon Gym @Erika @all mega kick
-get tea from some celadon building
-get TM43 (secret power), 11x super repel, 11x x attack, 11x x special
-get fly and put fly on pidgey and secret power on wartortle (replace water gun), fly to lavender
-complete lavender tower; 1 repel; wartortle evolves here; teleport to celadon
-go through cycling road to fuchsia city
-go to safari zone; get quick claw, gold teeth (for strength) and Surf
-fly out of safari zone, go to gym, put on quick claw
-@Koga @all use surf
-get strength
-go to cinnabar and complete everything
-go to saffron and complete everything
-get ppmax near indigo plateau
-finish the game

L54 HP 162 Atk 126 Def 117 SpAtk 112 SpDef 131 Spe 110
L54 stats included if anyone wants to find Blastoise's IVs. I obviously left out a lot of detail at the end, but because of quick claw+secret power+Stat up items, the rest of the run really isn't that hard to do. Quick claw+secret power ensures Blastoise's survival, so the only question is what is the best way to stat up and KO the rest of the pokemon. If you have any other ideas about the strategies the run should use, list them here. I did notice that the J version is much faster than the U version in general, not only due to shorter text, but also because there is a delay in the U version when a trainer sends out the first pokemon.
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HappyLee wrote:
Here's another DEMO till 4-2 with an easy 714 frame (12 seconds) improvement in 1-2.
We got your point the first time you made an improvement. You really didn't need to post another demo saying how "easy" it was. Not everything related to SMB has to be about you. We, who are lesser people compared to you and your clan, only look to make a TAS of SMB sometimes for fun. Yes, the goal may or may not be suitable for publishing here. So what? You've stated your opinion many times already and that should be all that you need to say. Someone did it for fun and submitted here; he's not asking for anything else.
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Yes, you'll have to buy repels. However, the determining factor uses an RNG; however, it only advances once every time you take a step in grass, which is why it is impossible to avoid every encounter. It may be possible to change the initial RNG so that the number of encounters before Pewter City is minimized. I think it is possible to get it down to 3. As far as I know, critical hits and misses are not stored in RAM, at least in a way that is convenient to see. I find it easier to see whether the random number passed to the routine satisfies the criterion necessary to decide whether there is a critical hit or not. The script I have does that. I could change the script so that it specifically tracks the routine that executes a critical hit (or miss). However, I haven't had a need to do that yet. I'm sorry if this is too much technical information, but my thought process is mostly in that manner.
Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player (1945)
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Stevmay09, you don't need to write any scripts. I can do that. In fact, I have scripts that visually display when critical hits occur and stuff. I used it for my Pokemon Vega TAS (it's a Fire Red hack, by the way). Have a look at this page. It's awfully technical but it describes how critical hits and misses are determined. By the way, in Fire Red, there are two RNGs, one to determine whether random encounters occur, and one to determine battle as well as Pokemon generated from an encounter.
Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player (1945)
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Hi Stevmay09. Sorry it took me so long to respond. A Pokemon TAS is not easy to make, due to the RNG. I have some scripts that may make it easier. I would also like to see your run (VBM file) so far if possible. By the way, there is a run on Nicovideo on the Japanese version that also uses Squirtle. I haven't studied it in detail yet, though I will soon if it is necessary.
Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player (1945)
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Haha, you won with ace high against queen high. Seriously, though, this game sucks.
Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player (1945)
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BrainStormer wrote:
I still fail to see why you made an extra jump at 0:15 when you can clearly slow down and walk through the pipe.
Slowing down costs a press.
BrainStormer wrote:
I am also aggravated at how you jump high on the flag poles when you could probably save the viewers time by jumping as low as possible (on those flag poles).
It doesn't matter whether it is high or low; it takes the same amount of time.
Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player (1945)
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I've uploaded a version with almost all cutscenes cut out: Link to video Also, to Nicovideo: Nicovideo (account): http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm17462018 Nicovideo (no account): http://www.nicozon.net/watch/sm17462018 Rockman is watching you.
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Looks like the whole farm died after a night of sleep.
Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player (1945)
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Yeah, I first clicked on the encode, watched for 20 seconds, and concluded that this run was garbage. Then, I saw mklip2001's post, clicked on the encode again, watched the whole thing, and now this run is the most awesome thing ever. Sorry for judging you on the first 20 seconds, and yes vote.
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A nice TAS. The part where the first death occurred confused me at first though, because I didn't know how angel just appeared out of nowhere at a different spot. cat planet cat planet cat planet cat planet cat planet cat planet cat planet cat planet cat planet cat planet cat planet cat planet cat planet cat planet cat planet cat planet cat planet cat planet cat planet cat planet cat planet cat planet cat planet cat planet cat planet cat planet cat planet cat planet
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That's a lot of shells. At a few points, it looks like the poor beetle is swimming in a whole sea of them.
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Voting no because I still hear stuff that isn't pause sound. :)
Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player (1945)
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Well, that was disappointing. I didn't see any credits.
Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player (1945)
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I'd use Geiger's Snes9x Debugger: http://geigercount.net/crypt/ It supports read/write/exec breakpoint and op advance, and that is very useful. About commands, I know of these (I might have made some mistakes, though): LD(A,X,Y) - load to register, either #$ (fixed number), $ (memory address), or $,X (offset from memory address, only with LDA) ST(A,X,Y) - store from register, $ (memory address), or $,X (offset from memory address, only with STA) STZ - store 0, $ (memory address), or $,X (offset from memory address) ADC - add to register with carry flag, either #$ (fixed number), $ (memory address), or $,X (offset from memory address). If carry flag is 1, ADC adds one more, otherwise, no. Carry flag is set to 1 if there is overflow, set to 0 otherwise. CLC - clear carry flag (set to 0); almost always ADC follows it. SBC - subtract from register with carry flag, either #$ (fixed number), $ (memory address), or $,X (offset from memory address). If carry flag is 0, SBC subtracts one more, otherwise, no. Carry flag is set to 0 if there is underflow, set to 1 otherwise. SEC - set carry flag (set to 1); almost always SBC follows it. CMP, CP(X,Y) - compare register with number (CMP is register A), either #$ (fixed number), $ (memory address), or $,X (offset from memory address). It does so by temporarily subtracting the number from the register, but unlike SBC, this doesn't change the value of the register, but only sets the special flags. If register is less than the number, carry flag is set to 0; otherwise it is set to 1. If A is equal to the number, zero flag is set to 1; otherwise it is set to 0. BCC - branch if carry flag is 0, either relative (1 byte offset) or absolute (2 byte address) BCS - branch if carry flag is 1, either relative (1 byte offset) or absolute (2 byte address) (note if it does not follow CMP, the zero flag is 1 if the last operation results in a value of 0, and 0 otherwise) BEQ - branch to address if zero flag is 1, either relative (1 byte offset) or absolute (2 byte address) BNE - branch to address if zero flag is 0, either relative (1 byte offset) or absolute (2 byte address) JMP - unconditional branch, absolute (2 byte address) JSR - execute subroutine, absolute (2 byte address) RTS - return from subroutine IN(X,Y) - increment register DE(X,Y) - decrement register TA(X,Y) - transfer from A to X/Y, set X/Y to the value of A T(X,Y)A - transfer from X/Y to A, set A to the value of X/Y PH(A,X,Y) - push value of register into stack PL(A,X,Y) - pull value from stack and set register to that value ASL A - shift the bits of A to the left (multiply by 2) LSR A - shift the bits of A to the right (unsigned divide by 2) ASR A - shift the bits of A to the right with respect to signed bit (signed divide by 2) ROL A - rotate the bits of A to the left, through the carry bit ROR A - rotate the bits of A to the right, through the carry bit NOP - do nothing I think there are other functions like REP and SEP (which set the 8-bit or 16-bit modes) and XBA (swap high and low bytes).
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What? I totally expected you to die from getting squished between the left side of the screen and the pipe. I call BS. :p
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This video is probably a better description of what happens in this hack: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXu75Gytj58
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Great movie as always from turska. Midair IBT, not getting killed by the Bobba on the second zip, pogoing inside the ceiling (and not dying), and also a whole bunch of new tricks. I like the screenshots as well.
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Brandon wrote:
Why would the external tool have to be of my own creation?
Of course not. Just associate one external tool (say, Notepad++) with the extension, and load a file into the second external tool if need be. There exist things like shortcuts and menus to help with this. Also, any well-designed external tool should be able to load any file you wish, no matter what its name is. All open file dialogs should have the "All types (*.*)" option in there. And there are probably easier ways to go about it, such as drag-and-drop.
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Nice work, GoddessMaria15! Yes vote from me. Though, in the submission text, it says "Egg Rocket 1 - 7:19:01". It can't be 7:19:01, is it?
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HappyLee wrote:
If you're so much interested in coins, why not watch a run of mine?
HappyLee, that is not the point. The point is that people are willing to watch a half-hour run of Mario collecting as many coins as possible (let's say, without death), just because it is an interesting goal to them. People are willing to watch a Mario walkathon because it is interesting to them. People are willing to watch a low-score run because it is interesting to them. No one says you have to make a run with whatever goals people come up with. It's just that a few people expressed interest in that type of run, regardless of whether or not anyone does it.
HappyLee wrote:
As for coins in SMB, they do not have much effect, and they are not precious because there are lots of them. Taking all those coins, but there's nowhere to spend them, how could that make any difference?
Similar statements can be made for both the walkathon and the low-score run.
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Dwedit wrote:
Is it possible for software to be as badly named as Nesticle?
Not sure what you're trying to say, but, probably not, at least when it comes to emulators. "Genecyst" is arguable though. Bloodlust Software, the maker of both emulators, did have a strange sense of humor.
Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player (1945)
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Marx, your TAS looks pretty good and technically well-done for a start. However, to be published, you will have to do better than the currently published run. If you wish, you can try to obsolete it, but it won't be easy, I think. You will have to look carefully at the published run, in FCEU(X) using input display, and see how to be faster than it. Also, this is important. Please note that the times calculated for FCEUX use 60.1fps whereas FCEU uses 60fps. So the times that appear smaller for FCEUX movies. Use the frame count to compare.