Topic by BoltR

Posted: 3/28/2005 12:27 AM
(Edited: 3/28/2005 7:33 AM)

Post subject: Metroid Zero Mission

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BoltR

Former player

Joined: 8/12/2004
Posts: 651
Location: Alberta, Canada

I've started an any% run. Not much to say yet, other than what i've done so far can be seen: here The savestate was just there for the people on IRC, if you haven't seen the video yet you can just ignore it. As per usual, suggestions would be appreciated.

Posted: 3/28/2005 1:27 AM

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Ouzo

Former player

Joined: 8/15/2004
Posts: 422
Location: Minnesota

Was this the 'secret project' you were planning? I saw you mentioned it on your profile page

Posted: 3/28/2005 1:32 AM

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BoltR

Former player

Joined: 8/12/2004
Posts: 651
Location: Alberta, Canada

No it's not, this is something I just started today. I haven't worked on that in a while now, and i'll only tell what it is when i'm done and and I think it's good enough to submit. Edit: I'm now up to near bomb. I had to pause a tiny amount to get some missles, but it was worth it against the hives.

Posted: 3/28/2005 8:56 PM

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McBAIN

Joined: 1/9/2005
Posts: 219
Location: The Netherlands

VBM? alpha 6 doesn't seme to support it. I also checked developement topic to see if there was a alpha7 or something, but there isn't. So i'm kinda wondering how to play this.

http://www.megazpeed.com - THE site for the ultimate MegaMan Zero superplay movies.

Posted: 3/28/2005 9:00 PM

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Vatchern

Player (84)

Joined: 3/8/2005
Posts: 973
Location: Newfoundland, Canada

VBM is a Movie file for Visual Boy Advanced.

http://tasvideos.org/Vatchern.html

Posted: 3/28/2005 9:16 PM

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Bag_of_Magic_Food

He/Him

Active player (277)

Joined: 5/29/2004
Posts: 5712

(sigh) It's the new version, from this topic.

put yourself in my rocketpack if that poochie is one outrageous dude

Posted: 3/28/2005 9:41 PM

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ventuz

He/Him

Player (123)

Joined: 10/4/2004
Posts: 940

we need a sticky that point to "Question and Answer VBA"

Posted: 3/28/2005 10:07 PM

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McBAIN

Joined: 1/9/2005
Posts: 219
Location: The Netherlands

whoops, thanks looks nice so far

http://www.megazpeed.com - THE site for the ultimate MegaMan Zero superplay movies.

Posted: 3/29/2005 11:31 PM

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BoltR

Former player

Joined: 8/12/2004
Posts: 651
Location: Alberta, Canada

Ok I redid almost everything from the beginning of the game and managed to get another 101 frames out of it. The main reason was I found that in some situations it's better to walljump, and others it's better to jump off the top of a block. Unfortunately this means I have to test each jump I do to see which is faster. I did an item screen probably ~10 frames faster, and managed to climb the first cooridor ~25 frames faster. New strategy on the boss let me defeat him faster, and also leave the room faster. I had trouble making the hives smooth, so there is a small unnoticable delay before fighting the first one. While the first hive is slightly slower than last time, I beleive I managed to finish off the second one quicker. Next stage of the run is going to be extremely tedious. Those little bugs can be surprisingly random...

Posted: 3/30/2005 2:53 AM

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BoltR

Former player

Joined: 8/12/2004
Posts: 651
Location: Alberta, Canada

Ok I redid most of it AGAIN. The boss didn't want to be manipulated into what I made it do last version, and as a result I leave the room 2 frames later. Again the hives are also less smooth, but they seem to get worse and worse each time I do them. I jumped up and down infront of the second to keep myself from getting hit. Even with those two spots of bad luck, I came out 21 frames faster.

Posted: 3/31/2005 7:20 AM

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BoltR

Former player

Joined: 8/12/2004
Posts: 651
Location: Alberta, Canada

I've updated again. If you haven't watched it since I first started the thread I would urge you to do so again, as there have been ALOT of changes. I'm now done with that section of the game. The boss is perfect, and the hives are so very close to perfect that I don't want to waste any more time trying to manipulate luck to save 7 frames. Unfortunately to do all this I have to pause for 3 frames in the room before the hives, and it's a little bit more noticable then I would have liked it. The price we pay for luck manipulation. Big decisions in the future: - Should I bother with the energy tank? Not sure where i'll take a large enough amount of damage to warrent it. - Kraid or Ridley first. While I have the feeling Ridley is faster, getting speedbooster first might save alot more time than I realise. Unfortunately the only way of knowing is by doing two runs. I think what i'll do is complete a Ridley first run and submit it, and then work on a Kraid first run. - Charge beam. I do not think I will get it. Going through all the menus and congradulation screens takes ~600 frames. Having charge beam against the black space pirates will only save ~20 frames against each one. I only beleive i'll only be killing 2, so unless I can come up with another 400 (giving the 2 space pirates alot of leway) frames I cannot see picking it up worth it. YES you can charge jump into smaller enemies and kill them, but you can also kill them in a single missle. Doing this also wouldn't save me 400 frames. If someone knows a use for charge beam that i'm missing, or if i've forgotten something please let me know!

Posted: 3/31/2005 8:31 AM

Post subject: perfect

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Ersatz

Joined: 8/9/2004
Posts: 139
Location: Washington State

perfect... no complaints, about the charge beam don't bother it is useless infact the first time I played the game I never beat the worm and didn't even know the charge existed

Posted: 4/3/2005 12:18 AM

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BoltR

Former player

Joined: 8/12/2004
Posts: 651
Location: Alberta, Canada

Ok, time for a large update, which you can get from the link the first post in the thread. I decided to skip the energy tank, as the runs up on SDA didn't really seem to need it. I also have no problem getting health from any enemy I want, as you can see in the newest update when I just refill both my missles and health without stopping. The room where I need to kill all the tiny bugs to exit is as fast as i'm going to get it. I spent about 4-5 hours attempting to get as fast as possible, and that is what I came up with. I had trouble killing that last bug which drops from the roof in a timely fashion, as it seems to have some sort of invinciblity time which keeps you from killing it before it settles on the ground. I have projected that if the bug could be somehow killed instantly rather than waiting for the invinicibility time, then it would be only 10 frames faster than the attempt that I chose as the final. I feel that 10 frames from absolute complete perfect is good enough as i've already spent 5 hours on it, and if someone wants to beat the run by spending hours trying to beat that room by 10 frames they can have fun doing it. This section of the run was fairly easy to create, even though it envolves ALOT of frame perfect movement. Especially near the end of the segment. The only 'random' part would have been the one hive which I need to go backthrough, but I have enough missles to just waste it this time. The next thing I must do is bomb jump up a large distance, but I'm not sure on the frame timing so i'll have to figure it out before I do anything. I'll probably record myself doing it in real time and then count frames.

Posted: 4/3/2005 1:47 AM

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Megafrost

Former player

Joined: 7/15/2004
Posts: 124

I'm noticing a lot of cases where you fall some distance while in morph ball and bounce off the ground. Is it faster to stay in the ball and bounce than to unmorph(and possibly morph again)?

Posted: 4/3/2005 2:06 AM

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BoltR

Former player

Joined: 8/12/2004
Posts: 651
Location: Alberta, Canada

It all depends on the situation. Things like the size of the bounce, and what i'm doing in morph ball. It takes time to morph ball, to go from standing to morph ball it takes 9 frames of no movement, I beleive. When running you throw in additional time to stop before you can morph ball. If I jump and morph I can get into ball for in 3 frames of no forward movement, assuming there is no lag. Unmorphing takes time too, but it's possible to cancel the unmorph animation by jumping. Now, if you hit the ground in ball form or in normal form you "pause" for a frame. Depending on the size of the bounce you may be slowed down for an additional frame or two. This only really happens from enough height to kick up dirt when you land (little puffs of smoke). This is where there are places where I either morph or unmorph right before I hit the ground. Unmorphing and going straight into a jump when on the ground is the same speed as unmorphing RIGHT before I hit the ground, or in mid air. Although in general it's best to morph/unmorph as few times as possible.

Posted: 4/4/2005 12:08 AM

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BoltR

Former player

Joined: 8/12/2004
Posts: 651
Location: Alberta, Canada

New update! I am now up to Ice Beam. Check the first post for the link. In this new section Samus takes a dip, and does alot of bombjumping. At first I didn't think the diagonal bombjumping would be faster than verticle bombjumping to get out of the pit, but after a first attempt of both I had diagonal bombjumping as 7 frames slower, and was SO close to being able to get right onto the platform rather than having to pull myself up. As the diagonal jumping is much more entertaining to watch, I decided to go back and see if I could improve the transition from jumping to right to jumping to the left. As I felt that something in there could be improved. The end result end up more then 10 frames faster than my first attempt, also faster than what I had for vertical bomb jumping. I cannot think of any other major things which need commenting on, other this will be the lowest Samus's health will be. Also, now that I look at it I should be able to speed that second last room up by a few frames by making the 3rd jump higher, but that is a quick fix.

Posted: 4/4/2005 3:21 AM

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BoltR

Former player

Joined: 8/12/2004
Posts: 651
Location: Alberta, Canada

Yet another update today; i've been working hard. I have defeated the Cocoon and have entered Ridley. So that means that another boss has been defeated! I must say i'm pretty happy with this boss fight, I think it's faster than most people would imagine possible. I spent a little bit of time shooting the corpse after it fell onto the ground, BUT FOR A GOOD REASON. The screen will not scroll right for a certain amount of time after the cocoon dies, I spend that time shooting and then hit the screen on the exact frame that it lets you scroll, getting out faster than if I had been running against the edge of the screen. Plus, it gives Samus something to do. What kind of bounty hunter DOESN'T make sure they are dead anyways? Other than the boss there were ALOT of frame percise moves in this section, and a few close calls when comes to plowing into enemies. Making use of freeze beam, yay.

Posted: 4/4/2005 6:00 AM

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BoltR

Former player

Joined: 8/12/2004
Posts: 651
Location: Alberta, Canada

Last update for the night/weekend. I'm up to Ridley, and you can as always get the file from the link in the first post in the thread.

Posted: 4/4/2005 9:04 AM

Post subject: good progress thus far

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Ersatz

Joined: 8/9/2004
Posts: 139
Location: Washington State

great progress thus far... take all the time you need for updates, your on a roll. keep the perfection flowin'

Posted: 4/4/2005 11:33 PM

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BoltR

Former player

Joined: 8/12/2004
Posts: 651
Location: Alberta, Canada

Well the fight against Ridley and the escape from Ridley are up. Get it from the link in the first post. The fight against Ridley was basicly Samus just stuffing his face with missles as fast as she could. No remorse I tells ya. Edit: Redid Ridley and the fight is much faster/smoother. The escape is also improved a little! Joy! I also added a savestate to right before the fight against Ridley.

Posted: 4/5/2005 10:46 AM

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BoltR

Former player

Joined: 8/12/2004
Posts: 651
Location: Alberta, Canada

It's been a few hours since the last update, so i'll give you guys another. I'm tired so I really don't feel like writing comments right now, but Kraid is dead. You can get the update by following the link in the first post.

Posted: 4/5/2005 11:37 PM

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pilif

Joined: 6/15/2004
Posts: 104
Location: Zürich / Switzerland

Hi, I've just seen the run so far. Very, very nice. I'm quite experienced in Zero Mission and played thorugh it about 200 times, but I've not known some of the tricks you where using (especially getting to Ridley after getting the ice beam - is that possible on a real GBA?). Great stuff! Go on! Philip

Posted: 4/5/2005 11:43 PM

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nitsuja

Emulator Coder, Skilled player (1300)

Joined: 12/21/2004
Posts: 2687

I'm wondering, are you (and other people currently making GBA runs) planning on finishing the run before going back and redoing it? It will be a lot faster without lag, but you've gotten so far already that maybe it's better to save that for a second version, I'm not sure.

Posted: 4/5/2005 11:48 PM

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BoltR

Former player

Joined: 8/12/2004
Posts: 651
Location: Alberta, Canada

Yeah, it's done in the runs at SDA. Most of the time one freezes the ripper and uses it as a platform under than first hole though. I have restarted it, but am taking a small break as the new video actually desynced for me before the first boss. I tried hex editing an extra frame in to solve the desync, but it changed the behavour of the boss to something MUCH worse. Right now i'm taking a small break to watch the progress of other people's runs to see if they get any desyncs. If it's not just a freak occurance then I might just finish the laggy one.

Posted: 4/5/2005 11:55 PM

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nitsuja

Emulator Coder, Skilled player (1300)

Joined: 12/21/2004
Posts: 2687

Oh, this is news, time to do some more tests...