Posts for jerfo

Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Former player
Joined: 10/30/2008
Posts: 29
This run just absolutely obliterates my old one. There were so many things that impressed me here, from the boss position manipulation (particularly Punchy Pedro) to your health and speed management. I enjoyed every moment of it. Awesome work!
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Former player
Joined: 10/30/2008
Posts: 29
Memory wrote:
I was officially accepted to Winter Power Up With Pride 2018 and the TAS will premiere on December 7, 2018 at around 5:44PM on PowerUpWithPride's twitch channel.
Excellent! I'm looking forward to it.
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Former player
Joined: 10/30/2008
Posts: 29
Memory wrote:
...Apparently despite triggering "Round 1 Cleared" Faster, having 0 smileys makes it take longer for "Begin Round 2" to go away. Welp. EDIT: Looking at the video of the current publication, it appears to work that way for all stages. Might be best to collect 1 smiley per stage as a result. It saves nearly 200 frames to pick one up so it'd usually be worth it.
Oh! Now that's something I didn't expect. Good find. I'm loving the WIP so far. It's significantly cleaner looking than my old run. The strat in 1-2 surprised me, and the swimming section in 1-3 just looks so much better now.
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Former player
Joined: 10/30/2008
Posts: 29
Memory wrote:
Might as well work on this version of Bonk as well! So far I have saved 7 frames over the published TAS through a different opening strategy that builds speed to the right faster.
It's been a long time since I worked on this (I started in 2009), so my memory is probably a little fuzzy...but, I seem to recall that I was once able to clear the flower at the 0:21 mark in this video instead of having to land in front of it and jump over it. I ended up losing that draft of the TAS and could never repeat it. It's worth trying if you haven't already.
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Former player
Joined: 10/30/2008
Posts: 29
Memory wrote:
EDIT: Anything particularly known to be outdated about it?
There's a shortcut at the beginning of 5-3 that lets you skip the entire swimming section. It's in the speedrun on YouTube. This alone would cut a couple minutes out of the TAS. There's also this comment on the YouTube video of my TAS: "You can shave off a few more seconds if you do the same thing when you enter the dinos mouth on level 1-3. Only spin to the left this time and you will be able to skip going through his stomach." I'm not 100% sure that I get what this person means, but I'm assuming that there's a legit timesaver to be found there somewhere.
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Former player
Joined: 10/30/2008
Posts: 29
This was fantastic! Everything felt optimized to me, and I really enjoyed watching the similarities and differences between this and the PCE version. Speaking of which, I'd love to see what you can do to improve upon my old, outdated PCE TAS.
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Former player
Joined: 10/30/2008
Posts: 29
I just discovered a Bonk's Adventure speedrun on YouTube: https://youtu.be/A4A1DpaA2zo?t=18m42s . Much to my surprise, they perform a shortcut at the beginning of level 5-3 (the dreaded swimming stage) that skips the entire thing! Is anybody up for making a new TAS that incorporates this skip? I'd love to do it myself, but it's unlikely that I'll ever have the time to get around to it.
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Joined: 10/30/2008
Posts: 29
I've been busy doing more of my one-man-band thing: Link to video This is a cover of Frank Zappa's classic tune "Peaches En Regalia."
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Former player
Joined: 10/30/2008
Posts: 29
Hi! It's been a while since I've contributed anything here, mostly because I'm spending my time doing this stuff: Link to video Link to video There are a lot more videos up on my YouTube page: http://www.youtube.com/jerfocom . - Jerfo
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Quietust wrote:
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...)
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Joined: 10/30/2008
Posts: 29
mklip2001 wrote:
Thanks again MisterEpic! Now that I've seen the new encode, the new 2nd boss fight is pretty awesome. Great job!
Thank you for the time-saver suggestion. I definitely wouldn't have thought to get that meat if you hadn't mentioned it. Mister Epic, the HD encode looks stunning. Thanks for taking the time to do it!
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Former player
Joined: 10/30/2008
Posts: 29
Bonk's Adventure: now 100% meatier! By taking some damage at the end of stage 3-1, I was able to re-manipulate the drop in 3-5 back to a heart. There were some minor desyncs after that, but nothing too difficult to patch up. While I was at it, I fixed the minor optimization problem in 5-3, part 4. As a result, the movie is now 234 frames faster. There is a small piece of meat hidden in the ice before Punchy Pedro #2, but it ended up being 49 frames slower to get it. You can download the revised movie file here: http://jerfo.com/bonk/bonks_adventure_complete_v2.zip . Should I cancel this submission and submit a new one, or is this a minor enough change that we can just replace the old input file with this one?
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Former player
Joined: 10/30/2008
Posts: 29
I did some testing tonight and the results were mixed. I was able to get a meat powerup from a "Bill Duck" in stage 2-7 and have a significant amount of power left over for the boss. I optimized it and was able to save 221 frames by the end of level 2. (I can post the movie file somewhere if any of you want to see it.) That's the good news. The bad news is that it affects something very important in stage 3-5. In the beginning of that stage, I bonk an "Egghead Errol" and get him to drop a desperately needed heart. However, after this latest change to the level 2 boss, the drop from Errol is now a small meat instead. Without that extra health, I can't do most of the damage boosts in later levels, which will probably nullify all the frames saved on the second boss. I'll leave it up to you guys on how you wish to proceed with the submission.
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Former player
Joined: 10/30/2008
Posts: 29
FuzZerd wrote:
does meat speed up your swimming speed? would getting the meat near the end of 1-3 be useful? or would it wear off before you got to the boss?
I tested this. It doesn't improve your swimming speed, and the effects wear off before you get to the boss.
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Former player
Joined: 10/30/2008
Posts: 29
mklip2001 wrote:
However, I have to ask: why don't you grab more meat for boss fights?
That's a good question. The problem is that the effects of the meat only last for a certain amount of time, and the timer counts down even when you don't have control of Bonk - like between stages and when riding the elevator to a boss. So, I'd have to find meat close enough to the elevator to have some of its effects still in tact by the time he got to the boss, and save enough time to counteract the long animation when he eats the meat. It might be possible to manipulate, but I wasn't able to find a way to do it. EDIT: I just tested this with the meat at the end of stage 2-7. It's time-consuming to retrieve because it's wedged between two bounce platforms. After the animation is complete, you then have to backtrack slightly before heading to the elevator. You do have a little "meat power" left by the time you reach the boss, but I'm not sure if it will make up for all the time lost. I'll give it a real test tomorrow to see how the times compare. - Jerfo
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FuzZerd wrote:
what really? I thought they only wasted time if you got more then a certain amount and the ending had enough time to finish.
Yup. I found out the hard way. I'd collected four smiley faces in level 1, whereas Sonikkustar had collected two in his WIP. I was 21 frames ahead after delivering the last hit on the first boss, but somehow ended up 11 frames behind at the start of level 2. After making some changes and only getting one smiley face, I was 28 frames ahead at the start of level 2. I think that I lost a few frames due to inferior luck, so the smiley faces ultimately added between 8-12 frames each. I wasn't 100% scientific about my testing, so maybe there's something else going on here.
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Former player
Joined: 10/30/2008
Posts: 29
Here's a WIP through level 2-2: http://jerfo.com/bonk/bonks_adventure_wip.mc2 . I discovered that the smiley faces actually *do* waste time at the end of the level - about 8-12 frames each. I had to go back and make edits to 1-2 and 1-3 and then hex the rest back in. I was able to get over that dragonfly without a damage boost. Let me know what you think.
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Former player
Joined: 10/30/2008
Posts: 29
FuzZerd wrote:
no I wasn't able to get over with out a boost... but I havn't tried the level from the start yet, though I doubt that will help.
Take a look at my old YouTube video here, starting at roughly the 1:00 mark: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSky-bxcYlw . This was done in the old Mednafen emulator (using VMWare for save states) and unfortunately I don't have the input file any more. However, it shows that it's possible to get over the dragonfly without a damage boost. I restarted my TAS and I believe that I was able to shave off a number of frames at the start of the first level: http://jerfo.com/bonk/bonks_adventure.mc2 . I'm only about 1000 frames in. I'll see if I can finish the first level this weekend. At this rate, I'll be completely finished with this TAS by the time the site has published its first PS3 TAS.
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Former player
Joined: 10/30/2008
Posts: 29
I have bad news and good news. The bad news is that my theory about dying in the water was incorrect. Bonk floats very slowly to the bottom instead of sinking. The good news is that I was finally able to clear the flower that I've been trying to clear for the last few months. As a result, here a WIP for all of level 1: http://www.jerfo.com/bonk/bonk_wip.mc2. (Right-click and choose Save As...) A few notes:
    - I think that I saved a few frames at the beginning of Level 1-1 compared to my original versions. I grab the floating flower at a more optimal time. - In order to save energy, I don't go for a damage boost to clear the last flower in 1-1. So, I lose a bit of time there compared to my old WIPs. - In the second part of 1-3, I discovered that it's a bit faster to jump underwater and rotate twice (in order to regain control of Bonk) than it is to swim. Overall, I feel like there are a few more frames that can be saved in the swimming part. - Like in my previous drafts, I *almost* get Bonk and the boss positioned perfectly at the end of the fight. Perfect positioning would save another two frames. I'm not convinced that it's possible.
Let me know what you think! - Jerfo
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I just had a thought. It might not be necessary to conserve energy for 1-3 after all. It might be quicker for Bonk to die (and therefore rapidly sink in the water) than to swim all the way down. I'll test it out shortly.
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Joined: 10/30/2008
Posts: 29
Sonikkustar wrote:
Yeah Jerfo! We believe in you! Oh, one more thing. Be careful landing from a drop. It can sometimes stop ALL forward momentum.
Actually, if you can help me figure out when and why that happens, I could use it to my advantage when setting up flower bonks. FYI, I'm still stuck on the same spot about a third of the way through Level 1-1. I can't quite get the height I did in my old movie, and that throws everything off. If only the old version of Mednafen could display movie input on-screen, I could replicate it trivially in PCEjin. Argh. Anyway, once I finally do get past that, I still need to figure out how to save a little energy to manipulate a meat drop in level 1-2. Is it me, or did the phrase "meat drop" just sound wrong? :-)
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Sonikkustar wrote:
I just finished Level 1-1. I am slower and a bit faster than your run Jerfo.
Can you post your mc2 file somewhere and/or do a quick and dirty AVI encode? I'm curious to see where you're faster and where you're slower.
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Former player
Joined: 10/30/2008
Posts: 29
I'm still alive! I had to drop this TAS for several months, but I'm slowly making my way back into it. Unfortunately, I've been unable to replicate my Level 1-1 from the old (non-RR) version of Mednafen in any of the new tools. It's been quite frustrating. There's a flower that I just can't clear any more, even with a damage boost. I've also been unable to convert the old movie from the non-RR mcm format into one of the newer formats. Even if I can eventually get it converted, I'll need to revise it to take slightly less damage, as all the damage led to an unwanted item drop in the next stage (a heart instead of meat). RE: Flower Bonking Yep, I've noticed that as well, although I didn't notice the distinction between different colored flowers. Nice find! I've been taking a little time to see if I can find the memory locations for Bonk's speed, along with his vertical and horizontal positions. Until I find them, I can only say with 99% assurance that Bonk will fall at the same rate regardless of whether he's upside down or downside up. Are you working on a run as well? I wouldn't mind collaborating on it. - Jerfo
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Sonikkustar wrote:
What about Mednafen? Didn't Jerfo use it for Bonk's Adventure?
Yes, I'm using it to TAS Bonk's Adventure, albeit without any sort of official approval. Since it only supports a small rewind/re-recording window, I'm using it in conjunction with VMWare snapshots to make it suitable for TASing. I'm able to produce files that can be replayed consistently on both Windows and Linux. I record the TAS in a Linux virtual machine on a Windows physical machine. Whenever I get to a break point, I take a VMWare snapshot, save the movie file, and test playback on the Windows side. I'll try it on OSX one of these days, too. I tested Ootake, but it was fairly useless for TASing. I looked at Magic Engine very briefly a few months ago, and I remember liking it the least out of the three. Your mileage may vary... - Jerfo
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Former player
Joined: 10/30/2008
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I'm just getting re-started on this now. Here's level 1-1 to tide you over for a bit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SENABAEx-DM. By my rough count, it's about 1.5 - 2 seconds faster than my previous attempt, mostly due to some new damage boosting. The first damage boost may not look necessary, but it puts Bonk in a better position for the second damage boost, which is just barely enough to get him to summersault over the flower. I'm a little concerned about what this will do to level 1-3, since Bonk needs to take a lot of damage in that level. We shall see... Enjoy! - Jerfo