The inaugural TAS for new Sega CD rerecording.

Emulator settings:

  • Emulator used: Gens 10 + SCDCamhack + Speedometer + SolidityViewer + (partial)HitboxDisplay
  • Bios used: scd_110_us.bin
  • Allow Up+Down: Yes
  • Sound: Enabled, 44100KhZ
  • Perfect SegaCD Synchro: Enabled
  • Options: Sega CD SRAM Size = 64 KB.

Something Awful members

I notice that people have posted links to this in both the Sonic 06 LP thread, and Cybershell's SONIC series LP thread, so I should like to explain myself. Basically, the idea I had here was "Hey, pokecapn, kungfujesus, medibot. I know you've watched some of my stuff. I watch your stuff, too. How about you drop by and say hi to the nice TASvideos forum users?" No disrespect was meant to IlluminatusVespucci. I simply do not know if he watches and/or cares about TASes at all. For that matter, no disrespect was meant to pokecapn, KFJ, or medibot. This was like a shout out, but more differenter. --Upthorn

Game objectives

  • Ignores delays caused by bonus effects
  • Aims for fastest (primarily in-game) time
  • Takes Damage to save time
  • Abuses programming errors
  • Ignores Semi-important goals in the game
  • Does not fuck with time.
  • Beats Amy Rose.
  • Breaks a bottle of wine on Gens10
  • Colors a read light
  • Calls out Pokecapn, KungFuJesus, and Medibot
  • also maybe illuminatusvespucci I guess

Comments

Though primarily played by Upthorn, Palmtree Panic 1 and Collision Chaos 1 are frame-for-frame exact copies of GMVs that were provided by nitsuja.
This GMV uses the Sega CD version 1 US bios, scd_110_us.bin (aka us_scd1_9210.bin). If you wish to use the sega CD version 2 US bios (scd2_200_us.bin or us_scd2_9306.bin), then get http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/852068058/Upthorn_Nitsuja-SCD_U_2.gmv instead.
For those of you who prefer the Japanese soundtrack, you have two options, one is to download http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/534100724/Upthorn_Nitsuja-SCD_J_1.gmv and use the version 1 Japanese bios. The other is to use ISO+MP3 and replace the mp3s however you see fit. Note that the Japanese gmv is 4 ingame frames slower due to version differences in lag-handling.
If you wish to watch on the PAL version, you are out of luck at the moment, as my attempts to hexedit around the lag differences were slow, frustrating, and unsuccessful.

Stage by stage comments

Tidal Tempest, Act 1

This is the only stage where my time does not beat or match the TSC record. The reason for this is because the TSC records are recorded in Time Attack mode, where none of the timezone posts are present, and having to slow down in order to get rid of a Future post causes me to lose a fair few frames, as I can't jump to fall faster on the cliff just after this.

Comparison Table

Zone TAS Time TSC record Savings Total Savings Total Savings (frame estimate) Notes
Palmtree Panic 1 0'21"01 0'21"65 0'00"64 0'00"64 38 Some time saved here by doing a speedshoe-peelout just before the high jump.
Palmtree Panic 2 0'16"80 0'16"83 0'00"03 0'00"67 40
Palmtree Panic 3 0'17"88 0'17"98 0'00"10 0'00"77 46
Collision Chaos 1 0'15"83 0'20"58 0'04"75 0'05"52 331 A new trick Nitsuja discovered using up+down results in an even faster strategy than my previous discovery.
Collision Chaos 2 0'24"31 0'24"80 0'00"49 0'06"01 361 Full power speed-shoe peelout and a slight route modification save about half a second.
Collision Chaos 3 0'03"35 0'03"35 0'00"00 0'06"01 361 Sprintgod is insane.
Tidal Tempest 1 0'22"65 0'22"58 -0'00"07 0'05"94 357 See above Tidal Tempest 1 comment.
Tidal Tempest 2 0'40"61 0'41"51 0'00"90 0'06"84 411 I think some of the savings come from the "move while charging peel-out" glitch I use here.
Tidal Tempest 3 0'30"13 0'39"00 0'08"87 0'15"71 943 A lot of time savings from the "charge peelout through wall" glitch I use here.
Quartz Quadrant 1 0'19"55 0'20"78 0'01"23 0'16"94 1016 You know, it's not like I've been keeping the increased peelout speed during speedshoes a secret
Quartz Quadrant 2 0'18"86 0'22"36 0'03"50 0'20"44 1226 So I wonder why none of the TSC times outside Collision Chaos 1 make use of it.
Quartz Quadrant 3 0'52"06 0'52"95 0'00"89 0'21"33 1280 I hate the QQ boss...
Wacky Workbench 1 0'25"38 0'26"75 0'01"37 0'22"70 1362 Fuck wacky workbench and it's bouncy floor.
Wacky Workbench 2 0'29"48 0'29"50 0'00"02 0'22"72 1363 If not for the future signpost, I'd have a 28"96...
Wacky Workbench 3 1'04"90 1'06"55 0'01"65 0'24"37 1462 Going through the wall is faster than going around it.
Stardust Speedway 1 0'15"08 0'17"11 0'02"03 0'26"40 1584 This is the best area in the game. Speedy as hell, branching paths all over the place...
Stardust Speedway 2 0'18"66 0'20"20 0'01"64 0'27"94 1676 Nitsuja found a nice trick with in the tubes at the end.
Stardust Speedway 3 1'05"80 1'06"10 0'00"30 0'28"24 1694 If only I could TAS for Metal Sonic, too...
Metallic Madness 1 0'20"58 0'20"83 0'00"25 0'28"49 1709
Metallic Madness 2 0'26"58 0'27"85 0'01"27 0'29"76 1786
Metallic Madness 3 1'09"40 1'18"55 0'09"15 0'38"91 2335 Again, going through the wall is faster than going around
Total 10'18"90 10'57"81 0'38"91 0'38"91 2335

Possible improvements

In-game: If one were not to slow down in order to prevent time travel, the in-game timer on two levels would be improved.
Real-time: I did not do much route testing outside of watching the record TSC videos and duplicating them with frame perfection, so it's possible that there are faster routes yet undiscovered. Perhaps there is a faster way to deal with the quartz quadrant boss...
I am not aware of any other improvements.

Additional notes:

Medibot, I am calling you out!

I see and/or hear you making TAS references on those Sonic 2006 LP videos. Clearly you are aware of this site. Now I challenge you to make your presence here seen.
Also pokecapn, and kungfujesus. And IlluminatusVespucci I guess (I am not sure if he is really down with the TAS thing).

Desync issues

THOSE OF YOU EXPERIENCING DESYNC ISSUES WHILE USING AN ISO+MP3 VERSION OF THE GAME
Check and make sure that you have 34 mp3s in the same directory as your ISO. They should be labelled as follows
xxxxxx 02.mp3
through
xxxxxx 35.mp3
where xxxxxx.iso is the name of your sonic CD ISO file.
If you are missing any mp3, you should be able to fix the desync by copying ANY valid mp3 to the directory of your Sonic CD ISO, and renaming it to the missing filename.

adelikat: Accepting for publication. Also, encoding underway.

Joined: 7/1/2008
Posts: 272
i used everything included in the submission text, and it worked. originally, i had forgot to turn on Perfect Sega CD Synchro. that game me a desynch on Collision Chaos 1. amazing movie. very fast, very well polished.
Joined: 5/31/2004
Posts: 375
MUGG wrote:
jimsfriend wrote:
Raiscan wrote:
LagDotCom wrote:
Waiting for an AVI, but I bet this will rock.
upthorn
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stickyman05 wrote:
Well, from what I saw I would vote yes. However, for both the U and J roms, the game desynched on the second level of the second stage... I don't know why and I tried to troubleshoot but failed. I will withhold my vote until A) I figure it out B) A youtube C) The publish
bkDJ wrote:
I have the US game in ISO+MP3, and the version 2 bios. The file made for version 2 desyncs at the beginning of cc2, I guess the same way it does for stickyman05.
those of you having desyncs, can you send me your gens.cfg files and walk me through the process you used when trying to play the .gmv?
How fleeting are all human passions compared with the massive continuity of ducks.
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Joined: 2/12/2006
Posts: 373
Location: Oregon
I used the US v1.10 BIOS, and loaded the BIN+CUE version from the Open ROM dialog, with perfect synchro enabled. Worked just fine here. It's really nice to see another Sonic game TASed, voted yes.
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Hey, Upthorn - have you considered including a checksum of the bios with GMV files? It may solve some of these problems.
Sage advice from a friend of Jim: So put your tinfoil hat back in the closet, open your eyes to the truth, and realize that the government is in fact causing austismal cancer with it's 9/11 fluoride vaccinations of your water supply.
Joined: 7/25/2007
Posts: 109
N. Harmonik wrote:
Best surprise ever! Can someone please do a run that collects all the Time Stones?
Personally, I'd prefer one that gets the good ending the "brute force" way by destroying the cages. Or a run that doesn't care about real time and only aims for the best level run (some time zones may prove faster than others). But I'm going to have to vote no here. The US version's soundtrack sucks. I hate those stupid chanting women in all the tracks especially Tidal Tempest and it's annoying as hell and GOD DAMN IT I FUCKING HATE THEM. Sure, there are two versions of the movie, but the US version will likely be favored in the AVI, and any of the "reproduced" versions likely won't be bothered to include Japanese version for readjusted music like this one. And just replacing the tracks doesn't exactly work - like with Track 2, which is the Metal Sonic sound in the US and the Time Warp in the Japanese, and with Stardust Speedway's boss, which starts playing the Bad Future music on the Japanese Version even if you got the good future. And then there's the version BIOSes to consider, which I didn't even know existed until now and even though I have a BIOS I have no idea what version it is. So that would complicate future publications even more! Then again, on the other hand, Stardust Speedway and Sonic Boom pretty much blow their Japanese counterparts out of the water, and Palmtree Panic is pretty good too. And it has a boss music that doesn't remind me of a Richard Simmons workout video. Maybe even Collision Chaos and Quartz Quadrant (if we ignore the latter's annoying-ass chants) are ones to consider. So that leaves us at Meh? Well, there is the fact that the run was pretty much ripped straight off the ones from TSC, without bothering to check for route changes, improvements, or stuff that can only be done on the normal mode of the game and not time trials and precision stuff limited to TAS only. You got one in there already, but not much more. I'd prefer to hunt for those things first instead of doing a rushjob on the publishing of a Sega CD game (See: That DOS game that wasn't published despite it being the first TAS of a DOS game) So we're back down to No. But it's still pretty awesome in itself. For now, it does seem like it's the best we can do, even though we could undoubtedly do better. Further testing would be nice, but something like this would be good for comparison's sake when we finally do find them, I guess. And we're back to Meh. And it'll likely be a while before another one will be made and/or published, or even considered for route testing, so... ...mes?
upthorn
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System Error wrote:
N. Harmonik wrote:
Best surprise ever! Can someone please do a run that collects all the Time Stones?
Sure, there are two versions of the movie, but the US version will likely be favored in the AVI, and any of the "reproduced" versions likely won't be bothered to include Japanese version for readjusted music like this one.
Actually I was planning to request that two AVIs be published for this movie, one for US soundtrack, one for Japanese.
How fleeting are all human passions compared with the massive continuity of ducks.
Joined: 11/11/2006
Posts: 1235
Location: United Kingdom
So I watched it. Meh. I have no doubt that the action itself was pretty cool, and it's a very fast TAS, but the fact is I don't like Sonic CD. Why? The Zone Clear music annoys me. The running shoes music annoys me. The super peel out sound annoys me (which, unfortunately, was used extensively throughout the run and unnecessarily in the metal sonic race). The new "improved" jump sound annoys me. Lets just leave it at "this game annoys me". So while I appreciate that this run is breaking new ground, I don't feel entertained by it. Because of this I'll have to vote meh. You of all people should understand this :) If the question were "should this be published?" however, I would vote 100% yes.
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Joined: 4/17/2004
Posts: 275
Loved it. Yes vote. Also suggesting that recommended screenshot be the boss fight in Tidal Tempest 3. also lol for the sonic 2k6 lpers getting called out
N. Harmonik wrote:
Best surprise ever! Can someone please do a run that collects all the Time Stones?
I wouldn't mind seeing a run that collects the Time Stones and destroying the machines in the past. Both have different routes that can be taken, the former for collecting rings and gathering the Stones, and the latter for finding the ideal place to warp and destroying Eggman's machine, then heading to the goal. It'd almost be like watching a run of three different games. Almost.
Joined: 12/1/2006
Posts: 26
I loved what I could see, but every single one of the videos desynched at some point: - The Japanese one desynched at the start of SSZ1 - The US v1 desynched at the start of CCZ1 - The US v2 desynched at the start of TTZ1 So... yeah. Waiting to be able to actually see the rest.
Post subject: Desync issues
upthorn
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I have spoken with Puto and resolved the desync issue that he and a few others were having (it was due to an incomplete MP3 set). There is now information in the submission text about how to resolve this desync. Note that you should be able to place any mp3s there with the proper name and have the run sync, but you absolutely must have a valid mp3 for every audio track. In this case, the CD has audio from track 2 to track 35. If you have 34 mp3s named correctly (xxxxx 02.mp3 through xxxxx 35.mp3, where xxxxx.iso is your sonic CD iso name), or are using a binary image with complete audio data, and a properly formed cue, and are still experiencing desyncs, please let me know.
How fleeting are all human passions compared with the massive continuity of ducks.
Joined: 2/26/2007
Posts: 1360
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Great job, you two! An amazing run that was entertaining to watch. Now, to simply break the game... only time will tell how broken it will become. FOR ALL THOSE HAVING TROUBLE After talking to Upthorn, I found out that if only using the .iso you must have 34 tracks of music in the same folder. He explains it better: <Upthorn>stickyman05__: check the directory you have your sonic cd ISO in do you see 34 mp3s labelled xxxxx 02.mp3 through xxxxx 35.mp3 (where xxxxx.iso is your sonic cd ISO name) Upon asking him why the movie does not function without the music: <Upthorn> it's not that it doesn't function without the music <Upthorn> it's that the CD has to have the correct number of tracks <Upthorn> and gens doesn't know how to figure that out except by the number of mp3s <stickyman05__> would I be able to put 34 random beatles songs in the directory, rename them XXX 02.mp3 and call it good, for instance? <Upthorn> yeah
adelikat wrote:
I very much agree with this post.
Bobmario511 wrote:
Forget party hats, Christmas tree hats all the way man.
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upthorn wrote:
Actually I was planning to request that two AVIs be published for this movie, one for US soundtrack, one for Japanese.
Two audio tracks can live in the same AVI. ;)
Warp wrote:
Edit: I think I understand now: It's my avatar, isn't it? It makes me look angry.
upthorn
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moozooh wrote:
upthorn wrote:
Actually I was planning to request that two AVIs be published for this movie, one for US soundtrack, one for Japanese.
Two audio tracks can live in the same AVI. ;)
No, that would require a MKV. But the video differs a bit anywy, because of the Japanese bios and 4-ingame frames of difference in Quartz Quadrant.
How fleeting are all human passions compared with the massive continuity of ducks.
Joined: 8/27/2006
Posts: 883
nifboy wrote:
MUGG wrote:
jimsfriend wrote:
Raiscan wrote:
LagDotCom wrote:
Waiting for an AVI, but I bet this will rock.
Joined: 12/5/2007
Posts: 716
upthorn wrote:
moozooh wrote:
upthorn wrote:
Actually I was planning to request that two AVIs be published for this movie, one for US soundtrack, one for Japanese.
Two audio tracks can live in the same AVI. ;)
No, that would require a MKV. But the video differs a bit anywy, because of the Japanese bios and 4-ingame frames of difference in Quartz Quadrant.
mp4 also supports multiple audio tracks iirc.
Joined: 11/11/2006
Posts: 1235
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I've encoded an AVI. Link shortly to follow. Stay tuned! Edit: TAS- American soundtrack Edit2: This AVI's zone clear song cuts off. Please wait while I upload the fixed version. Edit3: Fixed. The link above now works again
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nfq
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cool, i didn't know it was possible to TAS sega CD games. you went so fast that amy almost didn't have time to fall in love with you.
upthorn wrote:
No, that would require a MKV. But the video differs a bit anywy, because of the Japanese bios and 4-ingame frames of difference in Quartz Quadrant.
i've seen avi's with two soundtracks several times. i don't know if it's some kind of "hack" or whatever, so maybe a mkv would be better. i've only seen one mkv on tasvideos though... i think it was that "gods" game.
Post subject: Movie published
TASVideoAgent
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This movie has been published. The posts before this message apply to the submission, and posts after this message apply to the published movie. ---- [1148] SegaCD Sonic the Hedgehog CD by nitsuja & upthorn in 18:04.75
Joined: 5/9/2005
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ZeXr0 wrote:
nifboy wrote:
MUGG wrote:
jimsfriend wrote:
Raiscan wrote:
LagDotCom wrote:
Waiting for an AVI, but I bet this will rock.
Waited for an AVI, and it rocked. So any chance of an 100% run sometime? (Which I assume is all good futures, all Metal Sonic holograms destroyed, and All time stones obtained?) Seems like a Sonic game, that even without Super Sonic in it, would be a good watch. Especially as the Special Stages in this one are decent.
Joined: 7/24/2007
Posts: 74
Awesome, a Sega CD TAS. I look forward to seeing all the top games get done.
Joined: 3/11/2008
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Watching avi...two questions... Having never played Sonic CD, which soundtrack is used in this version? edit: it would seem the Japanese, because someone was complaining about chanting in Tidal Tempest's US, and there is none, but I still could be wrong... In the bottom left, there are a pair of equal signs [and, early on, some loading messages when the bgm changes]. Is this intentional/unavoidable? Oh, and why does Sonic's extra-lives-head turn into an F sometimes? ...three questions...[/spanish inquisition]
Joined: 11/16/2006
Posts: 7
eternaljwh wrote:
In the bottom left, there are a pair of equal signs [and, early on, some loading messages when the bgm changes]. Is this intentional/unavoidable
It's an emulator option that can be turned off.
Joined: 7/24/2008
Posts: 3
Well I do know that the equal signs are the CD-ROM lights, one indicates that it's on and the other is disc activity. You can turn them off in the gens options if you want. The F stands for future and indicates where you'd go if you stayed sparkly long enough.
upthorn
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eternaljwh wrote:
Watching avi...two questions... Having never played Sonic CD, which soundtrack is used in this version? edit: it would seem the Japanese, because someone was complaining about chanting in Tidal Tempest's US, and there is none, but I still could be wrong...
The US version is used in this AVI. Though I am requesting that a second AVI be made with the Japanese soundtrack, as well.
eternaljwh wrote:
In the bottom left, there are a pair of equal signs [and, early on, some loading messages when the bgm changes]. Is this intentional/unavoidable?
They are the emulator version of the SegaCD status lights. The green one indicates that a CD is present, and the red one indicates that the CD is currently in use. Raiscan asked Adelikat whether they should be included in the video or not, and there was no conclusion reached, so they were left on during encoding.
eternaljwh wrote:
Oh, and why does Sonic's extra-lives-head turn into an F sometimes?
The F stands for future, which is the time zone that all the boss fights take place in. If this run travelled into the past, the icon would be a P in thos sections. As for why this happens, you'd have to ask the game designers about that... Edit: Oh, looks like KungFuJesus beat me to the punch. Incidentally, "Fast Car" was my favorite part of the 06 experience.
How fleeting are all human passions compared with the massive continuity of ducks.