Posts for CoolBumpty

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Joined: 12/12/2004
Posts: 158
I think that you go to the Shortcuts tab in the Input configuration window and can choose a key to press to change whether the mouse is used for input or like a normal mouse. Or at least that's what I'm guessing that's what the option is for. I tried messing around with the mouse thing a bit with Starcraft, but it was really uncomfortable. The N64 really needs a controller. . . . Or some other method of input. I think that if you were to have it so that you click and hold a mouse button then it acts like the analog stick, and there's some sort of visual, like a circle in that octagon to represent the N64 controller, and when you let go of the mouse button it reset to the neutral position, I think it would work pretty well for real time play. And when doing frame advance work, maybe holding down the mouse button wouldn't be so good, but having that onscreen visual would help so much, and a key for centering would be great too. But anyway, that's just wishful thinking.
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Joined: 12/12/2004
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Ah, that would make a lot more sense. =P
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Joined: 12/12/2004
Posts: 158
What shocks me the most is that you can shorten the item recieved message. I would have assumed that someone would have tested it out and tried to press all the buttons to shorten it, but I guess not. Other than that change, the comparable parts before Norfair look very much like the MF run but with extra small optimizations all over the place. I'm wondering how long it'll take to store enough energy in that place that it ended to make it through to the speed booster and back, since that area constantly drains your energy. Hopefully the luck manipulation works well there.
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The only reason that doing Bubbleman early helps in any other stage is that his weapon kills Heatman quickly (or at least I haven't seen any other use for Bubble Lead in the other 7 stages). So if you were to do Flashman first, then Heatman, then everyone else besides Bubbleman, then you'd have all the items and you'd also have Metalman's weapon for the Bubbleman level. The combination of extra tricks that can be done in the Bubbleman stage (it was about 10 or 15 seconds [I forgot which] of improvement before some of the new tricks were found) and the much faster Bubbleman fight outweighs the time saved in the Heatman fight from having Bubble Lead. Well, that's according to my calculations anyway. No one else seemed to say anything else about it, so I can't promise you that they're correct, but I think that, at the very least, it's worth looking into.
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I just read all 479 posts on that thread on SDA. And considering that I wasn't skimming anything, and how long some of those (or well, most of those) posts by Acryte are, my brain hurts. Anyway, I think that to truly get a TAS that would be considered worthy, it would really require a gamepad with analog control. And I think that the run would be somewhere between 4:00 and 4:30. The fact that there are so many small tricks that can take away bits and pieces all over the place makes the improvement pretty big, but the fact that there's so much unskippable text and scenes makes it be a smaller percent. I'll see about doing some testing of my own later on. But for now, my brain desperately needs a rest. Edit: Er, 729 posts. Don't know how that number got so messed up.
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Possibly a star from Toad can't be gotten because you don't have enough stars? Or maybe not; I forget how many stars are required for what.
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Joined: 12/12/2004
Posts: 158
To me it's a bit cooler to go without pressing it, but I think that just whatever's faster should be done, since it doesn't matter overly much, and different people will prefer different things.
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Well, I was originally using Jabo 1.6, but when I looked through the list for a plugin that had that video setting you mentioned, I couldn't find it. Jabo seems to work well other than for the spinning N at the beginning. Oh well, that's okay. I know that I wouldn't have the dedication to make a run that got through this game anyway. Or if I did, it would end up being a terrible run. Edit: Oh, I found the setting now. The option to hide the advanced settings was on, and somehow I didn't notice it. =P The game runs at about 2/3rds speed or so for me with that setting on. That's something that's acceptable to me if I were to go a run. But I'd probably want an analog controller first. I may start on a test run without the real precision of an analog controller, but well, I can't make any promises because I've never succeeded to do a complicated TAS before. But if I work on a test run and get to, say, Princess Zelda, I'll post a WIP of the test. But if someone else wants to work on it, please be my guest. Anyone else working on it would both be more likely to complete it and also the finished product would be better. So don't let my mentioning of the fact that I may end up doing some testing get in the way at all of anyone else's work.
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I tried doing some testing, but it desynced on a random part (when I was around the Sword area). Not like it was a pretty test or anything, but it was kind of disheartening. I think that my computer in general doesn't like making TAS's. =( Or maybe the way I go about it is really bad and taxing, or something. I'm not sure. Anyway, I thought that a Zelda run wouldn't overly require a analog stick gamepad, but it seems it's a lot more important that I'd guess. But well, I think a reasonable job can be done with just the keyboard and maybe the mouse on some important parts.
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I believe that there was the same issue with Secret of Evermore. It's not a big deal, there'll just have to be the storyline shown in the movie. (assuming this gets done) I really liked Banjo-Kazooie too, even more than Mario 64 in some ways. I was wondering whether it would make more sense to cut off some time by skipping 90 notes and 6 jigsaw pieces and all of the honey comb pieces, or just get everything. In a real run it isn't practical since you want the extra life and the refills of eggs and feathers, but in a TAS it could easily be done. But then the ending wouldn't show the secret key and eggs. And of course it's a lot harder to plan everything. Especially those 90 notes. The honeycomb skipping would be easy, but if that's done, you might as well skip the 90 notes too, and there's a lot of planning in that. Other than that possibility, I don't see a whole lot more that can be done with a TAS compared to the run there. I can see a lot of areas to optimize, but it'll be nowhere near a Mario 64 run since there are very few tricks that can be used to go through places faster. I'm sure that a good run would be published, but I can't really think of anything that would make a run of this game worth a star. On the plus side, I think it would be easier to do this than a 120 star Mario 64 run. Maybe I should do some testing with the game. But I haven't really played it since I beat the game the year it came out. My guess is that a run that's done in the same manner as the speedrun could be about 30-60 minutes faster (in terms of gameplay time) with tools for precision, luck manipulation, etc. But if there's a new route and/or a lower than 100% run, it could be more. After all, there are some really inconvenient jigsaw pieces and notes and honeycombs that you have to get. It may get to about an hour and 30 minutes for a minimalist run. Although it'll probably be more likely between 90 and 120 minutes. But this is all guessing in my head. I'm probably way off.
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Star please! (and I did watch it through. Well, I watched up to the last Bowser level before, and fast forwarded to the final level and watched it in real time)
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Joined: 12/12/2004
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I know that the run hasn't been completed yet, but can I vote for a star now anyway? =P
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Joined: 12/12/2004
Posts: 158
I'm glad you decided to start up on it. It's been so long overdue for an update that if it went on longer it might have forced me to attempt making a very poor excuse for a tas, which probably wouldn't end up getting finished, knowing me. I'd be surprised if it even got truly started. Anyway, it's in good hands now. =)
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It's an amazing run of an amazing hack, but it's so long. It was good to watch on an emulator going mostly at 150% or 200% speed, but I think it would be hard to watch normally. Well, it would just take more than one segment so that your brain doesn't die. I definately voted yes for accepting it, and the quality at which it's played and the neat bits of the game make me consider it for a star, but the length makes me not so sure. I think I'd vote "Meh" for a star.
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Posts: 158
Yeah, I think you need a cap for that one.
Experienced Forum User
Joined: 12/12/2004
Posts: 158
Ah, I didn't realize that a new version had come out, since I don't bother to check the emulator forum often. Now it works.
Experienced Forum User
Joined: 12/12/2004
Posts: 158
The WIP file seems to be about the right size, but it gets loaded as being 0 frames long. =(
Experienced Forum User
Joined: 12/12/2004
Posts: 158
Hmm, that glitch makes it possible to skip the star in the bomb-omb battlefield. That star is quick to get, but if you factor in the travel time, it may be possible that getting 3 stars from JRB could be faster than the Bomb-omb field one and secret slide ones. However, it seems pretty unlikely, unless there's a way to swim really quickly.
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Posts: 158
I think that there may be a possibility of having a 0 star run. If that trick could be pulled off on the stairs in the main hall, and just wasn't done in the runs because it would require near perfection to pull off, then a 0 star run could be done. If that works out, I'd say it obsoletes the 16 star run. But it's quite likely that the stairs isn't set up properly or that it's not long enough, in which case 16 will be the lowest until some new trick is found.
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Joined: 12/12/2004
Posts: 158
In addition to the ones mentioned, I think that Jet Force Gemini and Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire could be interesting. Though I don't know how you're supposed to be frame perfect with a system that uses an analog stick. . . ? But basically, the it games for the N64 runs would be Mario 64 and Goldeneye/Perfect Dark.
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It doesn't matter too much, since the difference in time is well withing the 2 second range given. And I think the main benefit of the second one is that it uses less beam, but I'm not sure exactly. And obviously a quick calculation wouldn't put that into consideration. But either way it's a huge time saver. =)
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I have no clue what the input is, but my guess is that it requires an open top and a ladder on the bottom of the screen right below the block that you do it. Somehow you make it think you're climbing the ladder with wrapping, but I have no clue beyond that. I was surprised that it worked even with those spikes there. That's all I can tell from the video. Edit: And if the open top and a ladder from the previous screen directly below it is required, and the screen above the open top has to have land for it to work (which I'd guess), then I can't find anywhere else that this trick would help with. If the ladder wasn't needed directly below, it would work on Fireman, though it would kill you in the tunnel, I think. But it seems that it won't work that way. But considering how well Finalfighter, Morimoto and Bisqwit are at finding Rockman techniques, there could very well be a way.
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Not only does it save time and look a lot cooler, it also uses a lot less beam. Wow. I sort of understand how that works, but not really. EDIT: Ignore all of this, I think I understand it better now, and that that's the only screen where it would actually work. /EDIT I'm guessing that doesn't work earlier in the bombman level because it would probably drop you off in one of those pits, though I don't know for sure. It looks like it's the same for the elecman area where you get hit and pass through a flea enemy, and in cutman's level too. In the fireman level, doing it on that screen with the two big refills would probably waste time more than save it even if it does work. And for the screen right before the tunnel, it would look like it could work (depending on how the technique works, exactly), but at the tunnel you'd end up falling to your death. Though I'm not sure where you'd restart if that happened. If you start in the tunnel, that would end up saving time, actually. And obviously this trick doesn't directly translate into anything in the gutsman or iceman levels because they have no upward screens, but I don't know how it works, so there could be some other way of making it work. I don't know how you all think of these things. All I can do is gawk in amazement, then try to sort of help by thinking of applications that are obvious and don't really help at all.
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Joined: 12/12/2004
Posts: 158
I'm assuming that's using the game time, right? I can see that as being possible, but still a very lofty goal.
Experienced Forum User
Joined: 12/12/2004
Posts: 158
Well, I didn't vote yes for the last improvement of SMB since I think it should be the fastest possible on each level, regardless of a frame cap for each level. It just looks worse to me, so the 3 frames wasn't worth it, and I just didn't vote (and definately didn't throw away the old version). For this, I didn't see it until the secret was given away. I never played this game and never even saw any run of it before, so it wouldn't have voted regardless. I think I vote for about 1/3rd of all runs I watch, and comment on even fewer. But I always watch the run, and if it doesn't work for me, I just wait to see if it gets accepted. Because if it's worth seeing, it probably will.
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