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Most games use very basic checksums which sum up the bytes in 8, 16, or 32 bit units.
For games with a basic checksum, to find it, save your game, duplicate the save file, then try to increase or decrease some in-game value by 1 (such as money or health), then save again. Compare your old file with the new one. You'll generally see that up to three things changed between the two (assuming you did not modify anything else). One of these three should match your value (such as money or health), be sure to look at different integer units to determine which of the three changes is your value here. The remaining 2 will generally be a checksum and often a checksum inverse. Once you have this, you can then modify your value to what you want, and offset the checksum and checksum inverse by the same quanity and make up your own save files.
In case you cannot find the checksum, then if you add one to a byte, subtract one from some other byte, and a basic checksum will end up seeing the same sum, and it'll work itself out. You may need to adjust this for 16 or 32 bit units as necessary.
If the game uses a more complicated sort of checksum, the above strategy for locating where it's stored will generally work, but just simply offsetting will not.
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Tub wrote:
Nach wrote:
[emulator accuracy] If we're saying the gap here is miniscule, and that's why we're offering the exception here, then the exception must be a blanket exception[..]
Unless that gap is game dependent..
The rules should not be game dependent. It is unfair to players because they won't know until after submitting if they happened to trigger especially bad emulator behavior. We're not going to keep track of a whole list of exceptions for games and which areas in them and tricks and what not that are or are not implemented well.
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In terms of continuances, I feel it's important to err on the side of leniency if there's proof a run was started prior to the deadline, even if not explicitly asked for. By proof, I would consider WIPs posted, posts by the author discussing the game prior to the cut off saying he's TASing and currently up to XYZ, looking to discuss ideas how to progress further. We have looked for such proof in the past, found it, and allowed it.
In terms of Mupen vs Bizhawk, the question boils down to why are we disallowing Mupen. If it's due to encoders not wanting to touch Mupen, then any time an encoder is willing, an exception can be made. However it's not fair to offer a blanket exception, because it's not known up front whether an encoder will be willing, and that is unfair to players. If this is the issue, then a willing encoder can provide an exception after the specific submission, even if in general we disallow the emulator and want to make that clear.
If the question boils down to emulator accuracy, then how different are the two really? The gap between emulators in some of our other emulator deprecation has been quite significant. If we're saying the gap here is miniscule, and that's why we're offering the exception here, then the exception must be a blanket exception, which is in force until the gap widens further between the deprecated and preferred emulators.
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So I went back to this country club, and tried out their pool again.
Had a different experience this time. It was still abnormally hard to swim in, and I had to stop a lot to catch my breath, but it wasn't nearly as hard as last time. This time around, I was able to float on my back decently enough, but I would not describe it as effortlessly as I would with other pools.
For being the same amount of time in the pool, according to my swim tracker, I swam ~3 times as many laps as last time. Average time to swim a lap was roughly half of last time. Flip turns now gave me ~2.5 feet of distance, and towards the shallower side, I was able to jump off the floor, unlike last time (still couldn't do so at the deeper parts). Last time I came out, I felt like a wreck, was sore for a few days. Now I'm still having a hard time catching my breath, but I'm not sore anywhere.
Derakon, would recovering from a first high altitude swim ordeal and adjusting to it have this much improvement the second time around? Or should we think that whatever was in the water last time wasn't as bad this time around, but still is far from ideal?
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Bobo the King wrote:
So in short, I'm doubling down on altitude being the chief factor here. I think that you experienced some mild altitude sickness that you were able to overlook in smaller pools at higher altitudes.
I've definitely experienced altitude sickness going to certain places, like The Dead Sea (I felt tremendous pressure against my head just being in the area and wanted to get out of there as soon as possible). I have not felt any altitude sickness (that I'm aware of) at any of these higher altitudes.
Bear in mind that any solution to this problem would also have to explain why some regulars described the pool as a "death trap". Would several regulars also be experiencing altitude sickness?
Derakon wrote:
I just got winded a lot more easily.
I definitely got winded a lot more easily here. So perhaps altitude is a factor.
According to the swim tracking device that I was wearing, it took me on average ~7 minutes to swim a lap, which is absolutely ridiculous, more than twice previous averages, due to my having to stop swimming and try to catch my breath every couple of yards during most of my later laps.
Derakon wrote:
Another thing that can really affect your performance, that people tend to overlook, is temperature. Hot pools are a lot harder to exercise in than cold ones; the body isn't able to shed heat effectively, and limits your exertion to compensate. Again, I don't think that really can explain your "symptoms" on its own though.
As I said in my first post the pool was not heated. I found the water to be cool.
Derakon wrote:
EDIT: note that aeration would probably be noticeable as unusually cloudy water. Solutes (dissolved chemicals) would be less likely to cause that symptom.
The water looked clean.
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Pokota wrote:
What is the history of the country club?
I have no idea.
Pokota wrote:
Is this the first country club you've been invited to?
No.
ThunderAxe31 wrote:
You should check the density of the water. That's what affects floating.
No kidding!
How much denser would it have to be though to exhibit what I described?
ThunderAxe31 wrote:
If the water is too pure, floating gets harder: that's why floating is easier in salt waters.
Typically pools are filled with local tap, with filtering and additives.
Are you suggesting that every other pool I've been too has added copious amounts of salt, and this one did not? (This one being a bunch of cheapskates wouldn't surprise me.)
Andypro wrote:
The only thing I would offer is that perhaps your lean body mass percentage is higher than it used to be, meaning your own density is what's changed as opposed to the water. This would explain why it's much harder to float now, though it doesn't necessarily explain your other points.
I thought of this as well, and I'm definitely more muscular now than the last time I went swimming. But I don't think that would make it much harder for me to jump off the floor, or why other people also think this pool is really hard to swim in.
Andypro wrote:
I had a similar experience when I went swimming after getting really lean, and I was expending almost all my effort trying to stay afloat while the less lean person next to me was easily floating.
How about jumping off the floor or pushing off the wall, did you notice any significant difference?
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Bobo the King wrote:
My first hypothesis is that altitude is a factor. Is this country club at a very high (or perhaps low) altitude?
It's at 3000 feet above sea level.
Most of the pools I've used were at 300 to 400 feet. Although on several occasions I've been to pools in areas with elevation of 1000, 1500, 2000, and 3500 feet, without any difficulty that I can recall.
The ones I've been in at 3500 feet were not very large and were only 5 feet deep. The ones at 1500 and 2000 were all Olympic sized and 11 feet deep.
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I cannot say I've ever swam anywhere where I knew the other people. Nerves also would not explain why some other people called it a "death trap" and agreed with my assessment of the water there being unusual.
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Bear in mind that high calcium concentration is putting it mildly. We're talking about such high levels that water based equipment commonly break from it, and anyone who attempts to drink it regularly routinely gets kidney stones.
So I'm thinking the high minerals is somehow related. Perhaps their filtering process is adding another liquid to it? There's also plenty of chlorine in it (although every pool generally has plenty of chlorine).
If I ever go back, I'm considering bringing a vial to test it ... for something. Just wondering if anyone has any ideas what might have this effect.
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I was invited the other day to a country club, and decided to try out their pool. The pool itself looked very clean, indoors, was Olympic sized, non-heated, and kept well. Getting into it however, it felt really different. I've been to many pools in my life, and this one seemed to have mechanics which defied everything else I've ever experienced in a pool.
Normally I can float on my back with ease, and would be able to read a book if I wasn't worried about it getting wet. In this pool, trying to float on my back, I started sinking under the water pretty quickly.
When swimming laps, I always like to do a kind of somersault when I reach the other side and push off the wall with my feet. I usually can get ~4 feet of distance by doing so, with this pool, I got maybe one.
In general trying to swim in this pool was much harder than usual, and I felt it took a ton more out of me. Jumping off the floor which I usually find easy was really difficult and slow going.
Now my first assumption would be to blame myself for some deficiency. But I'm more muscular now than I've ever been, and every other person I spoke to about the pool told me this pool is the most difficult pool they've ever swam in. Some called it a "death trap" and said they prefer to swim elsewhere. So my question is, besides water and chlorine, what might they be putting in this thing?
The tap water in the neighborhood around the country club is known to have large amounts of calcium in the drinking water. I'm wondering if this can somehow be related? Anyone have any ideas, or familiar with something else like this?
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creaothceann wrote:
The title calls for a flagship character. Not two characters and balloons. Who taught you how to read???
feos wrote:
who is fully controlled by Masterjun
WHAT??? Heresy!!!
I demand you build additional chocolate monuments to me.
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The author which is one of the most important parts is overlayed over the gameplay, so you cannot miss it, and it cannot be easily removed from the video. Same goes for a link back to the site.
The cover image mentions who put work into the video itself, but can easily be cut out by those uploading to tube sites, and often skipped by viewers.
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<Spikestuff> Warepire: Unlucky we don't have a Spikestuff-English Translator.
<Nach> But Spikestuff cannot learn more than four moves. Forget an older move to make room for English Translator?
<Warepire> Spikestuff, do you want to forget Seppuku?
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The submitted movie file does not end soon enough and is longer than it should be.
Also, the movie mentioned in the sub.
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Thanks Guga. I'll never forget ThatGugaWhoPlay(s), and all the fun alternates we had.
Hope you have an easy and meaningful time at college. We'll miss you.
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marzojr wrote:
Nach wrote:
https://dev.tasvideos.org/ has been up for a few years now, but not necessarily has every bug been worked out. If users want to test and create a list of HTTPS-related bugs, we can fix them and then enable it on the main site.
Is there any specific location for posting bugs? Because I already found two: the 'View posts since last visit' link redirects to the normal (non-HTTPS) forums for the search results, and the 'search' link uses the non-HTTPS search form.
Perhaps start a new thread with the title HTTPS bugs.
Thanks for these, I will look into them.
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I'm going to ignore ACE, as it's not relavent. We already have playaround rules and guidelines.
Obsoleting is not throwing something away. It just no longer holds the crown. The pre-existing runs are still there and still viewable.
Regarding accepting/rejecting. This site is geared for entertainment. Entertaining things is what we mainly peddle.
Published movies have ratings, duration, organization classes, obsoletion chains.
If material does not end up making use of most of the aforementioned things that define a published movie (or where it does not make sense to make use of it), then why is it a published movie? We have pages already to show off art or technical skill that one can do with games. Users can host projects on their own personal pages. All these projects can be discussed on the forum. YouTube videos can be embedded in the forum and every appropriate wiki page. Wiki pages can contain lists of stuff that need listing.
I do not see why people want to https://imagery.pragprog.com/products/167/bksqla.jpg?1298589874
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The issue isn't load so much as parts of the site not being ready for it.
https://dev.tasvideos.org/ has been up for a few years now, but not necessarily has every bug been worked out. If users want to test and create a list of HTTPS-related bugs, we can fix them and then enable it on the main site.
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Quality over quantity.
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For the login page by itself, is quite useless. You want all or nothing (preferably all).
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Regarding something more on topic.
I agree with these two posts:
Warp wrote:
In principle, tasvideos seldom accepts custom games or hacks, unless they are particularly notorious or famous. Moreover, I don't think tasvideos would ever accept a custom ROM that's not a game at all, but a demo.
It feels like ACE is somehow becoming a way to circumventing that principle. My intention is not to deride or insult the creators of these ACE demos (since I have enormous respect for their technical skills, and the amount of work they put into them), but it almost feels like the particular game that's being used to inject arbitrary code into the console is used more as an excuse to have a demo published on the site than anything else. The game itself isn't relevant. I'm not saying the authors are deliberately and actually thinking like that; I'm just saying that it effectively amounts to pretty much that. It's of course not the intent of the authors to circumvent any rules or princples, or anything of the sort, but in practice it's equivalent to it.
ThunderAxe31 wrote:
As both TASer and viewer, I personally don't feel the necessity for a new tier. There are Playaround and Demonstration movie categories for grouping runs that have an objective different from beating the game, and if a run fails to fit in the current requirements, then it's either low entertaining quality or excessively obscure in its goal.
Along with no one bothering looking into classification, as well as the huge divide I see in posts arguing for interesting demonstrations and what is normally done, as well as feedback from typical viewers, I am withdrawing my support for any kind of demonstration tier that I gave in the past.
I've summarized my thoughts on the matter here: http://tasvideos.org/Nach/RFCTierTechnicalShowcase.html
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Warp wrote:
Radiant wrote:
Have you read Nach's lengthy explanation on why the recent Pokemon run was accepted? It seems to me that answers every single one of your questions here.
Not really. Why does it obsolete the other run? On what grounds? It received more positive comments?
Because there are clear rules and guiding principles on both acceptance and obsolecense, and Nach (among others) is using those
What are they? I didn't find any in Nach's judgment of the run. Unless you count "User feedback for this run was terrific." Can it get more subjective than that?
Gee, why not look at the paragraph which actually had the word "obsolete" in it. Here's a direct link to it: http://tasvideos.org/5384S.html#PayloadUniqueness
This section actually discusses what the run itself did on objective grounds.
Quoting the section I wrote regarding feedback which made no mention of obsoletion, and only there for tier consideration as somehow being my decision for obsoletion was a real nice job on your part. </sarcasm>
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More reading comprehension is required as to the difference between a speedrun and a playaround. The two are explicitly separated on both pages. I could not discern a clear distinction in your post between the two.
Regarding obsoletions, as I said above, see how playarounds are handled elsewhere.
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We are placing requirements for what the viewer sees in these cases. Putting requirements on the actual code itself is a rabbit hole we do not want to go down, and would stifle creativity. All runs are required to complete the game in some sense, we're not curtailing this rule.
The various rules on the site already cover obseletion in terms of branches and playarounds. The recently added rules do not exist in a vacuum.
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April Fool's jokes are not published, nor are they submitted in February.
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