Artist's Cut (Weapon Swaps and Ammo Grabs removed):
Rerecord count: 58397
Goal: Highest Score
- This is accomplished by achieving optimum starting combo, maximum kills & maximum bonus chest kills.
Result:
- Score: 415100 (Beats previous best of 411770)
- Enemies killed: 348 (100%)
- Bonus Chest Kills: 40+41+42=123
- Kills in a row: 60 & 288
- Rank: 5 Stars (Maxed, Granted for scoring at least 60000 points)
Changes from 411770 point publication
- Conventional route of immediately starting kill streak was abandoned in favor of killing just one zealot (necessary so three zealots aren't permanently lost), then running straight to the first bonus chest. Point gain was thought possible due to the extra time remaining at the end of my 411770 point TAS run, as noted in my potential improvement comments there. Due to the time spent getting to the 1st bonus chest, play had to be optimized for in game clock which added real time, for instance more frequently equipping grenades to run faster and swapping to faster weapons. This also meant minimal playaround time, as the final kills were executed on the last possible frame. The real time added was significant as shown by the fact that this run is 15:06.47 long compared to 13:44.33 for my 411770 point run.
Glitches
- Item drops no longer appear: Like in the 411770 run the light beams that mark item drops stop appearing during the top floor reps. This causes more rerecords manipulating ammo drops.
- Item pickups toward finish occasionally have graphics glitch where only the text shows up not the background. There was no time to demonstrate this glitch.
- Plaga glitch: Toward the end, after all shots sprouting a plaga, the plaga would not expose itself, leaving body shots vs very high health as the only way to kill them. Flash grenades do not work on them. This was encountered during the making of the TAS but there was no time to demonstrate this glitch in the run.
Grenade glitches started appearing, I can only guess due to the large number of grenades spawned/picked up/tossed, overflowing some memory variable. While they were eliminated in the final product, they did impact how the game was played.
- Grenade equip crash: Toward the end, the game would freeze if I equipped any grenade except on certain frames. The frequency increased as the game progressed. Ultimately, for the last sprint, when I had to run faster I equipped my last flash grenade, discarded it, and then ran empty handed, which didn't crash the game and gives the same speed boost.
- Grenade toss glitch: Seen HERE. On the chance the game didn't crash at swap it also wouldn't let me throw a grenade. There was no time to demonstrate this glitch in the run. Inability to toss a grenade led to the mad dash to shoot the last two zealots with the rifle.
About The Mercenaries
Mercenaries is unlocked by completing the main game. It is a timed minigame with the objective of scoring the most points before time runs out. Per the intro of a map "Eliminate as many Ganados as you can before your evac chopper arrives! Successive kills will result in earning you more points!" Initially only Leon is selectable. There are four other characters playable when unlocked after scoring 30000+ points in one of the four (unofficially named) maps:
- Ada from the Village (Stage 1)
- Krauser from the Castle (Stage 2)
- Hunk from the Base (Stage 3)
- Wesker from the Waterworld (Stage 4)
Each map starts with two minutes of gameplay time, and time extensions are spread throughout the map. The Castle map has a total game time of up to 9 minutes. Item menu, item grabs, and cutscenes do not consume game time. Gameplay ends when the player dies, or when time runs out (the player is "rescued").
Each map has three Bonus Chest timers. Each gives 31 seconds during which time extra points are awarded for each regular enemy kill. The majority of effort put into this TAS was spent optimizing the Bonus Chests, with final kills being registered with few, if any, frames to spare.
The USA(NTSC) GameCube version using Wesker is optimum for achieving Highest Score in this stage. The enemy AI is aggressive. Enemies run into the player's line of sight, meaning less time is wasted hunting, and more time is focused on killing and moving to the next objective. Wesker has the best weapon selection.
- The score for any good conventional run on this stage is 26270+1000*(Kills)+300*(Bonus Chest Kills).
- For this route, score is 30200+1000*(Kills)+300*(Bonus Chest Kills).
See Baxter's scoring guide on Gamefaqs for more details HERE.
A maximum possible score for this stage has not yet been found. Competition was fierce. See "Iterative Optimization" below.
Spawning:
The enemy spawning is difficult to predict and control. Here are some general observations.
- Some enemies appear only once when a zone is entered.
- Most enemies re-appear in a zone at certain time intervals, usually 10 seconds.
- If an enemy is killed/dissapears too slowly, he may not appear during the next zone re-spawn.
- If a spawn group would result in more than ten enemies on screen, the whole spawn group will be delayed.
- Each spawn group will respawn a fixed number of total enemies.
- Most points of the map are in one spawn zone.
- Some points of the map are in no spawn zones. Examples: Between the archway and stairs leading to the 1st bonus chest, and in the final doorway.
- Two very small points on the map are in two spawn zones: The stairs from the main upper level to the archer level and from the main level up to the final room level. These points greatly simplified the upper level gameplay.
- In all but a few instances I entered the minimum distance required into a spawn zone before turning around.
- Occasionaly a zealot will respawn instantly after killed/disappeared. This was used for archer during 3rd bonus chest, and helmet zealot at bottom of cannon tower (which in hindsight actually did not help). If the reason is figured out it can eliminate a couple necessary but time consuming spawns.
Manipulations: The reason for high Re-Record to Frame Ratio
Luck (RNG) is based on actions the player takes. RNG was heavily manipulated throughout the run by trial and error. When Wesker pauses, or turns in an odd direction for no apparent reason, it is usually because I was manipulating ammo drops. This manipulation achieved the following:
- Critical Headshots- In high scoring real-time runs, the pistol is only used to shoot barrels and to get emergency kills if Rifle and Magnum ammo runs out due to unreliability. With a Crit probability of about 50%, TAS effectively turns it to 100%.
- Desirable Ammo drops, primarily Hand Grenades used for blowing up enemies outside Wesker's line of sight.
- Plagas (Bug like monsters which pop out of the mouths of a few specific zealots) were not allowed to appear except once when it appeared instantly and didn't cause significant loss of time.
Enemy AI was manipulated to:
- Keep them from damaging Wesker. There are three points where getting grabbed protected against a close grenade blast and one which interrupted a slow animation (Killer7 shot on kill #41 of the 3rd Chest).
- Keep postmortem movement to a minimum (for quicker respawning). Generally headshots that blow the zealot backward were preferable.
- Get them in position for certain gunshots and grenade tosses.
Enemies:
- Bald Zealot: Easy pickings with the handgun.
- Shield Zealot: Very defensive. Using A-stick+D-pad aiming lets me headshot them with the pistol before they can protect themselves. A few times they were too quick and required a shot to the leg to stun and expose their heads.
- Helmeted Zealot: The most annoying enemies to deal with in this TAS. Can't be efficiently killed with the pistol, and the Killer7 takes too long to kill near the end of bonus timers, leaving the slow Rifle as the only option to end the 3rd bonus chest.
- Leader: Has ram skull mask. High health. Two appear (one during a cutscene during 2nd bonus chest, the other is in the group at entering the final room).
- Garrador: Two appear, one after kill 25 when on the lower level (seen after kill 168 of 2nd combo) and one in final bonus chest room. Can be killed with one rifle or magnum shot to its plaga (weak point).
- Armored Garrador: Higher health. One in final room. Killed with one magnum shot to its plaga.
Wesker's Arsenal:
Firearms:
- Silenced Handgun: Primary weapon used in this TAS, it shall hereby be known in this write-up as the "TASER" CANNON (don't forget the quotes). The silencer is usually discarded in high score runs to free up more space in the weapon inventory (attache case), but it is kept here for aesthetics. It is the fastest and weakest gun, quick to draw/fire and lower. It's effective for getting critical headshots against non-masked zealots, and stunning zealots for melee attacks or follow-up shots. It cannot shoot through any enemies.
- Killer7: A powerful magnum pistol. Primarily used for killing helmeted zealots. Used to kill two Garradors during the 3rd bonus chest. Limited ammo through barrels, none dropped. Quick to draw/fire and very slow to lower. 3 enemy penetration. Body shot kills register when body stops moving.
- Sniper Rifle: The primary weapon in real-time runs due to its power, instant kills, and 5 enemy penetration. Slow to draw/fire and slow to lower. Its use limited in TAS, mostly to shooting groups and masked zealots.
Granades:
When a grenade used is the last of its type in Wesker's inventory, there is very little immobility after the toss. If there are more in inventory, there is a huge delay while he grabs another. This is why I discard 2 grenades before the last grenade toss during the 2nd Bonus Chest. Before grabbing the 3rd Bonus Chest, hand grenades were planted so that the last one was used in inventory multiple times, saving vital time to allow all 42 kills. Wesker runs faster with a grenade or nothing equipped, which is the purpose for swapping to grenade in many instances.
- Flash Grenade: Used twice for stunning enemies. Can also kill plagas. Kept in inventory for increasing run speed when no other grenade is available.
- Incindiary Grenade: Lingering area of effect, kills register slowly after burning enemies drop. Used at the start of all three bonus chest timers.
- Hand Grenade: Used for taking out large groups and for killing enemies outside player's line of sight. Vital for maximizing Bonus Chest kill count.
Aiming:
Dolphin's TAS input was used extensively to minimize aiming time.
- Analog Stick: Most Precise (Slowest), Has radial conversion (i.e., full right tilt with full up tilt will result in slower movement right than full right tile alone).
- D-Pad: Faster than full tilt A-stick. No radial conversion.
- D-Pad+Analog Stick: In opposition, this can fill the speed range between Analog Stick alone or D-Pad alone. Used in combination aiming is quicker than either individually. Constructively using this technique, the Rifle can swing 180 degrees in the time between shots. Used during immobility period after firing a shot to turn toward next objective.
- C-Stick Quick Aiming: Tilting C-stick left or right and pressing R will cause the player to rotate while drawing a weapon, which is faster than turning with the weapon drawn.
- C-Stick Multi Turn: A C-Stick turn can be interrupted by releasing R for 1 frame, and holding R again. This can be chained together for very quick turning over large angles.
Iterative Optimization: The Cooperative Pursuit of the "Perfect Score"
Real Time Runs:
- Yankichi's 332970 World Record (The score I was gunning for), can no longer find video.
- My 333870 WR (Short-Lived, Yankichi beat it shortly after), OCT-2006 PART 1 PART 2
- My Personal Best 341270 (600 points from tying Roxus and WAVE's WR at the time) 26-AUG-2007 PART 1PART 2
- Roxus' 351270 WR 14-JUL-2008 (He was so good I quit) PART 1 PART 2
- 95krauser's 342770 w/Krauser (highest non-Wesker score I've seen, and with Wii's tame enemy AI) 7-SEP-2013 HERE
- Derek Taylor's 366070 (Longstanding NTSC GC Champion, go-by for my Original TAS) 7-MAY-2010 PART 1 PART 2
- Math's 369370 Steam WR 27-DEC-2022 HERE
My Previous TAS Iterations:
- Original 380670 w/328 kills 15-JUN-2013
- RevA 386670 w/334 kills 2-JUL-2013
- RevB 404170 w/347 kills 11-AUG-2013
- RevC 406670 w/348 kills(maxed) 24-NOV-2013
- RevD 411770 w/348 combo(maxed) 21-JUN-2014
- RevE 413100 w/346 kills 10-OCT-2024
- This current submission is RevF 415100 w/348 kills(maxed) 28-OCT-2024.
Potential Improvements:
With all kills accomplished, the only way to improve this score is through additional kills during bonus timers.
- One bonus kill (+300 points) wasn't achieved during 2nd bonus chest (vs 411770 run) due to slight delay in respawning of archer, I'm sure 42 is the max possible kills for this.
- 3rd bonus chest is highly optimized at 42 kills, I don't think it can be improved.
- 1st bonus chest run is not refined to the point that I can say it is fully optimized. In my 411770 run four zealots (three killable) spawned at the last frame possible of the timer, maybe something like that can be made to occur again, but I saw no way in this run.
These would give a known potential score of 415400.
I also would have liked to keep the combo going before the 2nd chest, but spawning difficulties prevented it, and it didn't impact the goal of max score.
This is the nature of this stage: A maximum score has not yet been found. Each run brings more improvements in efficiency to use in the current run, the next run, or for other player's to incorporate. These ideas improve the score next time. Mathematically, if all 348 enemies are killed in the 93 seconds of Bonus Chest time, Max Score is 345*1300+3*11500=483000. I will call this run "good", not perfect. If a perfect score is determined, the goal could then be changed to "Reach perfect(max) score in the fastest time."
Highest Score Links:
The Mercenaries High Scores, Vol. 14 Atwyatt's GameFAQs topic kept the ideas coming. Each volume prior was 500 posts.
Cyberscore This site was briefly used before Shin's site for some players like myself
Special Thanks to:
- Derek Taylor, whose World Record run (above) served as the route for my previous TAS iterations.
- Dolphin Developers, who made available the amazing Tools execute this Tool Assisted Score-Attack.
- SoulCal, whose amazing captioned Full Game run taught me many tricks.
- Capcom, for making such a great game!
Playing the .dtm file on Dolphin:
Use Dolphin 5.0-21460 with included dsp files.
Use the following memory card file with Mercenaries and Wesker unlocked: MemoryCardA.USA.7z. You may need to export its contents to GCI folder to get the files to read.
Verification run to generate above memory file:
Play this Mercenaries: Castle submission on Disc 2. It desyncs on Disc 1.
Other info for judging/publishing:
Suggested Screenshot: Frame 23556 60hz timing (Laser Sight Aimed at Armored Garrador's Plaga)
Encoding notes:
Native aspect ratio is roughly 4:3, letterboxed to roughly 16:9. Please crop out the letterboxing if encoded.
Dumping frames and audio from the start causes audio to be longer than video. Starting dump of both at the initial Loading text window causes them to match.
Dolphin dumps 59.94 hz video, apparently duplicating each frame. In VirtualDub I processed every other frame in my high res texture encode for 29.97 hz to save file size with no loss of quality.
I recommend TASVideos encode use default textures, this would be consistent with all my other RE4 Mercenaries publications and would differentiate it from my encode with high res textures on Youtube.
If published to Youtube, please include links to my HD Project and Artist's Cut encodes in the description.