Post subject: High Speed
Moderator, Senior Ambassador, Experienced player (907)
Joined: 9/14/2008
Posts: 1014
I submitted a TAS against High Speed (http://tasvideos.org/2092S.html) but the luck manipulation was sub-optimal and there were additional minigames that needed to be completed that I did not know about when I made the submission. I've canceled that submission and I've posted a WIP which I could use some optimization help with: http://sonic.net/~ac/tas/High_Speed-dwangoac.zip This WIP has slower races than the original in part because I wasn't able to manipulate booster drops. I finally found that $06A1 starts at 255, goes to 000 when triggered, then goes to 128 or 129 (indicating the booster is on either the left or the right side of the field respectively). After the minigame starts the placement is determined solely by player input, so I'd like to see if a Lua script could work through several scenarios to make the drop happen as quickly (and frequently) as possible. Does anyone know of a script I could start out with? Thanks in advance for any help you can provide, A.C. ******
I was laid off in May 2023 and became too ill to work this year and could use support via Patreon or onetime donations as work on TASBot Re: and TASBot HD is stalled. I'm dwangoAC, TASVideos Senior Ambassador and BDFL of the TASBot community; when healthy, I post TAS content on YouTube.com/dwangoAC based on livestreams from Twitch.tv/dwangoAC.
Former player
Joined: 12/5/2007
Posts: 716
Just a little generic note: you can upload your WIPs to DeHackEd's Microstorage. Although there is only limited support for .fm2 right now, it should go well. /url fix...
Moderator, Senior Ambassador, Experienced player (907)
Joined: 9/14/2008
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ShinyDoofy wrote:
Just a little generic note: you can upload your WIPs to DeHackEd's Microstorage. Although there is only limited support for .fm2 right now, it should go well.
Thanks! I've posted it to: http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/57673382/High%20Speed%20(U)-dwangoac_WIP.fm2 Perhaps I shouldn't have copied the ROM name - it made for a bit of a messy URL. Thanks again in advance to anyone who can help with scripting item drop improvements, A.C. ******
I was laid off in May 2023 and became too ill to work this year and could use support via Patreon or onetime donations as work on TASBot Re: and TASBot HD is stalled. I'm dwangoAC, TASVideos Senior Ambassador and BDFL of the TASBot community; when healthy, I post TAS content on YouTube.com/dwangoAC based on livestreams from Twitch.tv/dwangoAC.
Post subject: Lua script to skip bonus counts - please test
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Joined: 9/14/2008
Posts: 1014
Greetings, I wanted to get my feet wet with Lua scripting so for my first challenge I took on an issue that came up when I submitted the run - there are unskippable cutscenes in the game, and they detract from the fast pinball action the movie attempts to display. With that in mind, I've created a script (based on the Super Metroid cutscene skipping script floating around) which fast-forwards through the bonus counts. I attempted to post it on DeHackEd's microstorage page but it humorously informed me that I should beat myself upside my head for attempting to upload a .lua script, so I'll resort to my personal storage for now: http://sonic.net/~ac/tas/skiptest.lua There are flags at the top of the script file that can be easily edited to remove the debugging information. What I could use help with is figuring out if there are better memory addresses to use than the ones I'm monitoring now. I've found that these four addresses ($04DC, $04E1, $04E5, and $04E9) all go to 0 only while in the bonus count. This means that other types of cutscenes such as the fireworks are not skipped. If someone could help find better memory addresses I'd love the help. I'd also appreciate any pointers on creating a Lua script to search for efficient ways to trigger drops, but that's another request altogether. :) Thanks again to everyone who has provided feedback, A.C. ******
I was laid off in May 2023 and became too ill to work this year and could use support via Patreon or onetime donations as work on TASBot Re: and TASBot HD is stalled. I'm dwangoAC, TASVideos Senior Ambassador and BDFL of the TASBot community; when healthy, I post TAS content on YouTube.com/dwangoAC based on livestreams from Twitch.tv/dwangoAC.
Player (121)
Joined: 2/11/2007
Posts: 1522
Hi dwangoac, nice first script! If you don't want to use your personal webspace, you can use http://lua.pastey.net/ to post Lua scripts. My first comment about your code would use of indentation to ease readability. I hope you don't mind, but I reformatted and posted your code here: http://lua.pastey.net/96606-1v09 It looks good on the whole though, and works well. Keep posting stuff for us! :)
I make a comic with no image files and you should read it. While there is a lower class, I am in it, and while there is a criminal element I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free. -Eugene Debs
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alden wrote:
Hi dwangoac, nice first script! If you don't want to use your personal webspace, you can use http://lua.pastey.net/ to post Lua scripts.
Ahh, thanks! I think I saw that posted somewhere before but forgot about it. The current script is still a bit rough - I'm not entirely positive the drawbox and for that matter the entire if / end section at lines 8-10 is even needed. What I may do is continue to clean it up and mess around with the player input to see if it would be possible to adapt this script to work on multiple games by asking the player for a memory address (or addresses) to monitor before performing the first frameadvance. I've played with Python which requires strict indentation so when I got to Lua I didn't quite get it all right. My bad - things should be properly indented from here on out. I was impressed that it only took me two hours to make a functional Lua script and it seems like a great choice for emulation purposes. Anyway, thanks again for cleaning that up, A.C. ******
I was laid off in May 2023 and became too ill to work this year and could use support via Patreon or onetime donations as work on TASBot Re: and TASBot HD is stalled. I'm dwangoAC, TASVideos Senior Ambassador and BDFL of the TASBot community; when healthy, I post TAS content on YouTube.com/dwangoAC based on livestreams from Twitch.tv/dwangoAC.
Player (121)
Joined: 2/11/2007
Posts: 1522
Yeah that drawbox was there to hide flickering in SM, you can probably take it out. And yes, now that you mention it some of that did look like Python indentation ;) You don't *have* to do it any particular way, it's just nice to have consistent visual clues. Have fun!
I make a comic with no image files and you should read it. While there is a lower class, I am in it, and while there is a criminal element I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free. -Eugene Debs
Post subject: Item finder luck manipulation / memory monitor script
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Joined: 9/14/2008
Posts: 1014
(This is cross-posted from the lua discussion topic, but belongs here as well because the script is currently specifically written for High Speed.) I spent a fair amount of time working on an item finder script (specifically for the NES game High Speed). This script can be adapted fairly easily to work on other games by changing the memory location watch variable and the desired value variable list. You will also want to edit the script file to indicate how many frames you want to attempt random input on before trying again. I've tried to add copious comments so things somewhat make sense, but this is only my second Lua script and I'm absolutely certain this script could be significantly improved. Here's the link: http://lua.pastey.net/97140-44vx Please have a look and let me know what you think. Thanks to everyone who helped me sort through the implementation details (DeHackEd and Alden in particular). Enjoy, A.C. ******
I was laid off in May 2023 and became too ill to work this year and could use support via Patreon or onetime donations as work on TASBot Re: and TASBot HD is stalled. I'm dwangoAC, TASVideos Senior Ambassador and BDFL of the TASBot community; when healthy, I post TAS content on YouTube.com/dwangoAC based on livestreams from Twitch.tv/dwangoAC.