Rules

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Rules of systems and files

We accept key-input movies (and emulators) of these formats:

For Game Boy & variants, and Game Boy Advance

  • Visual Boy Advance (VBA) movie files (VBM) made with the re-recording version.
    • We do not accept movie files made with earlier versions of VBA (denoted by file types VBV and VMV).
    • Read the VBA-specific rules later at this page!

For NES

  • FCE-Ultra (FCEU) movie files (FCM) made with version 0.98.12 or newer (0.98.16 is commonly recommended)

Famtasia movie files (FMV) and VirtuaNES movie (VMV) files are not allowed anymore.

For Super NES

  • Snes9x movie files (SMV) made with version 1.43 or 1.51 [5]
  • ZSNES movie files (ZMV) made with version 1.42 (for now at least)

For Sega Genesis/Megadrive

  • Gens movie files (GMV)

For Nintendo 64

  • Mupen64 movie files (M64) made with the rerecording version
    • We do not accept movie files made with the official recording version (REC)
    • Read the M64-specific rules later at this page!

Deprecated means that new movies should not be made with this emulator.

For Sega Master System

  • Dega movie files (MMV) made with Dega 1.14 or newer

PC (DOS) and other systems

There has been a DOS submission that was created using modified DOSBox emulator. However, DOSBox isn't yet made into an universal TAS-capable application, so it's likely impossible to create TASes for other games with it yet. Until then, submitting PC TAS movies isn't permitted. If you are willing to help with TAS-oriented DOSBox development or have created a TAS with it that satisfies our goals and conditions, visit the DOSBox discussion thread or contact Bisqwit otherwise.

Movies for any other systems aren't accepted. Multimedia files (AVI, WMV and so on) aren't accepted no matter what the system is.[1]

See EmulatorResources/Homepages for more information about emulators and their versions.

The movie must begin from console power-on

The movie must begin from the game power-on state (no loading of saves).
We do not allow save-anchored movies.[2]
Exceptions for verified saves (or for a demonstration of something fancy) can only be allowed under special permission.

In Visual Boy Advance, you must choose ‘record from start’, not ‘record from reset’ or ‘record from now’.

The games must be real

The movie should look like it could have been played with an authentic hardware. This makes it more familiar to the audience.

This details to the following points:

Hacked and homebrew games are not allowed

Generally, we only accept hacks which only make the game playable on an emulator. We do not accept hacked games (graphics hacks, level hacks, music or sound hacks, dialog hacks and so on). [3]

This rule can only be bent by special permission ― you must ask a permission before going to submit a movie of a patched game. Currently these games have special permissions:

Do not use fan-translations for your movies ― see below for more on this. This rule is strict.

Codes that manipulate ROM or RAM directly (e.g. Game genie codes) are not allowed

The ROM must be good

  • Do not use bad dumps if a good dump is available.
  • Do not use an overdump ROM if a non-overdump ROM is available.
  • Do not use fan-translations or otherwise hacked ROMs ― translators do not want you to use obsolete versions and we prefer non-hacked games.
    • Good dumps are often labeled [!].
    • Bad dumps, overdumps, and hacked versions are often labeled [b], [o], and [h] respectively.

Use the correct version

  • Use the (U) version of a ROM unless there is a good reason not to (as an example a shortcut/trick which only works in a different version, or superior music), or the version does not exist.
    • If you decide to start to a run using a version other than (U), make a post on the forum detailing why — this is to prevent future complications.
    • It is generally safe to use (JU) (generic NTSC) or (JUE)/(W) (worldwide, autoadjusting) versions, as this usually means no separate (U) version has ever been released.
  • If there already is a published video, do not use a different ROM than what it uses, unless the new ROM is obviously better, and you can show how it should be compared to the existing movie.
    • If the situation arises that you do want to use a different ROM than the currently published run, make a post on the forum to make sure the differences between the two are large enough to warrant the change.
    • A movie made with an older version of emulator is not allowed to "beat" a movie made with a newer version of emulator, except when the timing differences are irrelevant or the "beaten" movie is not accepted in the first place.

The PAL/NTSC settings must be correct

If you are running a NTSC game (U or J), you must set your emulator to record in NTSC mode. Likewise, if you are running a PAL game (E), you must record your movie in PAL mode. Any other setting will get your movie promptly rejected. Note that such settings are enabled automatically in most emulators, but it's better to check before you start recording.

If you are obsoleting a movie that was recorded with the wrong settings, that movie's completion time will be increased 20% when comparing them to adjust for the fact that PAL games run at 50 Hz and NTSC at 60 Hz.

This rule only comes into effect on NES games and possibly Genesis games that have badly programmed region lock-out.

The movie must be good

This details to following points:

A speed-oriented movie must beat all existing records

If your movie is going to beat something, be sure it beats it.
If your tool-assisted movie is slower than the non-tool-assisted world record of the game you play, your movie will almost certainly be rejected.

This only matters if the goals are directly comparable between the TAS and unassisted record, though.

Cheat-keys and debugging codes are not allowed

Such as the Konami Code.
If the key sequence is mentioned in the manual as a normal means of playing, it is (usually) allowed.

This rule is not strict, but its motive is the same as in the guideline that says you should play on the hardest difficulty. As such, you can use a code to unlock the hardest difficulty, although it's better to first ask on the forums if this is a good idea.

The movie must be complete

Your movie should begin from the console power-on and end when the last decisive action has been delivered [4].

Under special consideration we might allow movies that play a single level only or a part of the game only, but such cases must always be discussed beforehand.

The movie must complete the game without viewer’s intervention. This means that if there are dialogs between the destruction of last boss and “the end” that do not go away without pressing some button, the movie must include those button presses.
(We have granted an exception of this rule for Rygar.)

Emulator specific rules

Do not use emulators we do not allow. See the beginning of this page again. That being said, here are the emulator-specific rules:

Visual Boy Advance: Use the best mode

Some Game Boy games work in multiple modes:
  • GB ― Monochrome (the first Game Boy type),
  • SGB ― Super Game Boy (the GB game plugged into SNES, has a graphical border and some colours)
  • GBC ― Game Boy Color.

Because the game can emulate differently depending on the mode, the one you choose is saved in the movie file. This can be difficult to change later, so you should always start recording in the best mode supported by the game.

  • If the game supports GBC capabilities, play it in GBC mode.
  • If the game does not support GBC, but it does support SGB, play it in SGB mode.
    • An exception may be provided if SGB mode colorization doesn't enhance the visual content in any sensible way (such as in Donkey Kong Land 3, where the whole screen is tinted with one color, effectively decreasing overall visibility).
  • Only play the game in monochrome GB mode if the game does not support either GBC or SGB.

For Game Boy Advance games, there is no choice like this to worry about.

The default options that appear when starting a recording should reflect the best choices for the currently running game, so think twice before changing them.

Mupen64: Play only games that are emulated well

Nintendo 64 emulation is still far from perfect, and some games work better than others. This is really a vague rule, but because we aim to publish videos that actually look like the original video game system, movies of games that are not emulated well (have graphical or functional glitches that do not exist on the real console) should not be submitted.

Clarifications

[1] Multimedia files (AVI, WMV and so on) are not accepted

We do not accept multimedia files (AVI, WMV and so on). The site wants a method of movie control, such as:

  • Having a verifiable standard key-input movie.
  • Extracting important information about the movie directly from its header.
  • Creating high-quality AVIs for publishing.

Multimedia files make the above points impossible.

There is zero verifiability in a multimedia file. It would be impossible to prove that a video was or was not edited.

[2] In general, movies that begin from saves are not accepted

  • We want a standard starting point for movies (power-on). Saves are not standard as there are many of them and may cause the game to go faster or slower than without power-on and hence are difficult to compare.

  • Saves can be hacked, allowing cheating.

[3] Hacked games in general are not allowed

Hacked games in general are not allowed, because we really do not have resources to judge all of them. There are potentially infinite number of hacked versions of games, and we can not know how those games are supposed to work and what is normal and what is impressive. The authors of the hacks also release updated versions to their hacks every once in a while - who knows which version should be used?
However, we may sometimes make exceptions of this rule, but the idea has then to be discussed beforehand (to avoid unnecessary disappointments).

[4] The exact termination point is subject to debate

The exact termination point is subject to debate. We have seen these options:
  1. Ending the movie as soon as possible (when no further input is needed to complete the game).
    • Pros: Shortest possible movies (as for frame count); easy to compare competing movies
    • Cons: Aiming for this goal might cause the game to be completed later than it could have been (for example with option 3).
  2. Ending the movie at the first possible moment where the ending of the game can not be prevented by providing more input.
    • Pros: When watching the movie on an emulator, accidentally touching the controlling keys will not prevent the game from completing
    • Cons: Longer movies than “shortest possible”, yet movies are ended before the commonly established “last hit” is delivered. It can be hard to figure out exactly when a player cannot prevent game completion, e.g. some games can be paused even during the ending.
  3. Ending the movie at the moment the player character halts/last shot has been delivered
    • Pros: Common ground makes it easy to compare competing movies
    • Cons: Exact definition depends on the game and is subject to debate
  4. Ending the movie when the ending is over (“the end”).
    • Pros: “Movie end” text will not appear prematurely
    • Cons: Needlessly long movie files
  5. Ending the movie at the moment when no further input can cause the game to end faster
    • Pros: A compromise between #1 and #3, and does not feel like cheating
    • Cons: It can be hard to define exactly what moment constitutes as "game end". Also, this rule has a speed-oriented feel to it…

We do not currently have an enforced rule on this question.
There is an arguable feeling of “cheating” in options #1 and #2, but at the same time the same “cheating” might act as a surprise factor.
However, option #4 is not recommended, and submissions using #4 are usually rejected and told to be shortened.

Foot notes

[5] DeHackEd: Snes9x 1.51 seems to suffer from the same desync bug as 1.43 final. 1.43-WIP seems much more stable, so shouldn't we recommend that instead until the problem is fixed?

nitsuja: I put 1.43 first for the time being. However, Snes9x 1.51 movies are usually preferable to have despite being more difficult to make.

Get Firefox!Rules last edited by FractalFusion on 2008-06-12 04:37:52
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