Incidentally, about games that use frame blending, I intend to find a method of only doing it for specific segments of a TAS (Which should either minimize the problem... or make it even more obvious). Though, the method I have planned out so far is highly manual and won't work well for longer TAS's (Unless you really have the spare time).
I think it's a pretty bad idea. I think it will give a video that is sharp, and then suddenly blurry, and then suddenly sharp.
It must be noted, that blurring just for YouTube to keep all frames makes the video a blurry mess. It's a bad idea to do IMO. I rather drop frames and see the movie sharper.
For some games it's useful - for example Metroid's and Super Metroid's elevator sequences.
Mister Epic:
"file" should be "path" and "b" is not defined (line 3). Are you using a newer AviSynth than 2.5.8?
I don't know how to see the precise version, but I'm definately using 2.5.
And thanks for pointing the mistake about b. I will correct that.
Aktan wrote:
It's simple enough, but explain why hq2x(hq3x(movie)) instead of hq3x(hq2x(movie)). You said better result, but in what way?
I don't know how to explain that, but I can definately see that putting the biggest inside the smallest is better than putting the smallest in the biggest.
I've made a comparison picture right below.
The top picture is made using hq2x(hq3x(movie)), while the bottom one is done using hq3x(hq2x(movie)).
The top one looks better, right?
It might be noted, that blurring just for YouTube makes the video not sharp and a blurry mess. It's a bad idea to do IMO.
That's the second complaint I get about that. The first one was made by private messaging from a fellow TASVideo member called hegyak during a HD encoding request.
hegyak wrote:
I don't mind what method you do it in, but please do not use Frame Blending.
I'll stop using this now.
Anyway, what do you think of my HQx encoding guide?
You've probably seen Omni's HQx encode for Sonic 3 & Knuckles, then you've probably seen my HQx encodes for some other games.
I'm sharing an easy, AviSynth, way to encode using HQx filters.
First, you have to get the PointSize plugin for AviSynth. Thanks to sgrunt for finding this plugin.
Then, once you have installed that plugin, you can now use HQ2x, HQ3x and HQ4x in AviSynth! But how?
Here is a sample script using HQ4x.
movie = AVISource("movie.avi").ConvertToRGB32()
resizedmovie = hq4x(movie)
logo = ImageSource(file="logohd.png", start=0, end=119, fps=resizedmovie.FrameRate).ConvertToRGB32()
logoaudio = BlankClip(logo, audio_rate=44100, channels=2)
muxedlogo = AudioDub(logo, logoaudio).Lanczos4Resize(resizedmovie.width, resizedmovie.height).AssumeFPS(movie.FrameRateNumerator, movie.FrameRateDenominator)
final = muxedlogo + resizedmovie
final.ConvertToYV24(chromaresample="point")
final.ConvertToYV12(chromaresample="lanczos4")
return final
It's basically the same script HD encoders generally use, but PointResize is replaced by HQx, since that filter automatically resizes the source dump. And for YV12, lanczos4 is used instead of point. Thanks to Aktan for that suggestion.
But that's not all. You probably want to make the video 6x or 8x bigger than the original source, right?
For that kind of thing, you can combine multiple HQx commands like this.
hq2x(hq4x(movie))
Like this, you make 2x bigger a video that was made 4x bigger. As a result, the video is 8x bigger.
When doing such a thing, for the best result, make sure to put the biggest HQx inside the smallest HQx. For example, to make a video 6x bigger, you should do it like this.
hq2x(hq3x(movie))
And not like this.
hq3x(hq2x(movie))
That's it for the easy, AviSynth way to encode using HQx filters.
I've taken the same frame of a movie twice, one is resized using point resizing while the other is resized using HQx filters.
PointHQx
Of course, it's possible to get more noticeable results using a less colorful game.
If you want to see HQx in motion, you can click here.
So, that's pretty much about it.
Okay, first of all, you need to end this movie at the last possible moment of control. That means skipping the final cutscene, skipping the credits, and choosing not to save afterwards. You should update the movie file.
Can I post the video again without changing the submission?
I tried but there seems no option to upload again.
You can cancel your current submission. But, before you do that, you can also ask a staff member (other than an editor, a vested editor and a simple publisher) to replace the file for you.
Okay, first of all, you need to end this movie at the last possible moment of control. That means skipping the final cutscene, skipping the credits, and choosing not to save afterwards. You should update the movie file.
I don't think it's necessary. I saw and encoded published movies that didn't skip the final stuff.
EDIT: Oh I see... Yeah. I will encode this once the movie is updated then.
Er... why?
I checked the encode before publishing it and it appeared to be fine.
It doesn't work with VLC and some other players. It's the last of these "broken" encodes done with my old method.
And I'd also make it look like a real DS. Top-to-top, not side-to-side.
EDIT: It's changed now.
Nice to see someone else that got it synced. Now thinking about it, I got a desync with an another computer running with a 64bit operating system. So you might want to try it with a 32bit OS.
I don't have a 32-bit OS. Unless there's nothing to do with the number of bits, I think I might give up and let someone who has a 32-bit OS to do the job.
Anyway, I'm seeing complaints about unoptimization. I don't know if it's a good idea to waste at least 20 hours on encoding this.
Can't get to sync. It writes a name like crazy and then writes AAAAAAAA... as the password, just to be told it doesn't work.
I tried with VBA20, 21, 22 and 23.
Maybe it's just me, but it seems like there's some significant sound emulation problems here - the end of level tunes are completely missing the bass track (unless I'm thinking of the music from the sequel).
I can confirm that there's a bass track in the "level end" music in the Wii Virtual Console version that's missing here. There may be other anomalies as well. I'll pay closer attention the next time I play it on the Wii. (Assuming that the Wii version is more accurate...)
The Wii VC version is basically the same thing than the original version, but with perfect emulation.
Maybe it's just me, but it seems like there's some significant sound emulation problems here - the end of level tunes are completely missing the bass track.
The emulator I've used, PCEjin, had no sound options, and I don't know how to dump AVIs from Mednafen, so I couldn't do better than that.
As a student, I have a lot of studying to do these days, so Sticky's right.
I hope I wasn't coming across as pushy when I asked about your encode a few days ago... I wasn't trying to, I was just curious since there hadn't been an update.
You weren't pushy, I was expecting that. It was appropriate.
I've sent a file containing a % in its name, and the publishing form couldn't take it. I tried to rename the file right in Archive.org, but it didn't work for the first time.
I'll try this again, or I will have to reupload the files with "percent" instead of %.
EDIT: Nevermind, the files are renamed. The publication will come soon.
Sticky wrote:
Quit your bitching people. Honestly, it isn't like Mister epic HAS to make videos and stuff for us. Stop riding him and let him get it done on his own time. Christ, this is ridiculous.
As a student, I have a lot of studying to do these days, so Sticky's right.
The top one looks better, right?
