Editor
Joined: 3/10/2010
Posts: 899
Location: Sweden
This is a good game. It's similar to zelda 1, but the gimmick is not shooting rupies at the enemies, but shooting a hammer that returns. It is freeware and works well in jpc. For the purpose of discussing route planing, please run the game with the command line switch /volstagg, it will show the room number while playing. It also enables cheat mode, so it's a no no for actual runs.
sgrunt
He/Him
Emulator Coder
Joined: 10/28/2007
Posts: 1360
Location: The dark horror in the back of your mind
I would advise those interested in running this to focus on one episode at a time (possibly to be submitted as separate runs in the spirit of e.g. SaGa Frontier) - especially the first episode as it is the most widely known. That having been said, I eagerly anticipate any interest people would have in running this game.
Tompa
Any
Editor, Expert player (2138)
Joined: 8/15/2005
Posts: 1932
Location: Mullsjö, Sweden
I have been speedrunning this game awhile ago and will most likely start a TAS of it as soon as I learn how to use the emulator properly. I know of several tricks on how to skip things in puzzles and such, but if people have something to share, feel free to do so.
Skilled player (1430)
Joined: 7/15/2007
Posts: 1468
Location: Sweden
This was the first game I though of when seeing DOS TASing was possible. Lovely nostalgia :)
Agare Bagare Kopparslagare
phi
Joined: 8/20/2015
Posts: 31
Hi, I'm new here. Also I'm french. Though my english is not so bad, it may not be very idiomatic. Excuse my french D I love this game and thought about tasing it. I think it is a good game for a first TAS Almost no lag frame Simple mechanism No glitch Clever solution to a few puzzles. (By clever, I mean "abusing bad collision detection") Not too long (I finish the first chapter in less than half an hour and I'm not good at speed gaming) I have a few questions Is there someone who is working on it ? It is possible to disable screen transitions. It saves a few frames but looks bad. What should I do ? Same question for "turbo mode", which draws a frame every two frames. I have difficulties to make sound works in jpc-rr, is it normal ? Same question for music. Regards
Tompa
Any
Editor, Expert player (2138)
Joined: 8/15/2005
Posts: 1932
Location: Mullsjö, Sweden
As far as I know, no one is working on this game currently. I would absolutely love to TAS it, but I'm terrible at using the emulator... I used to speedrun this game 8-9 years ago. I think I still have one of the recordings on my laptop, I'll find it and upload for you. It's not the fastest run I made, as that one was never recorded, and it only consists of Act 1. Took me about 12 minutes I believe. Yes to both the screen transitions as well as turbo. There are in-game features, so no reason not to use them. I didn't use them in my first attempts simply because I didn't know of them, I believe my recorded version use them both, not sure.
phi
Joined: 8/20/2015
Posts: 31
Oh, thank you for your quick reply. I'd love to see your recording.
Tompa
Any
Editor, Expert player (2138)
Joined: 8/15/2005
Posts: 1932
Location: Mullsjö, Sweden
Seems like I only had the first (I believe) recording I did, which is a terrible 14 minutes run... Notes are in the description Link to video
phi
Joined: 8/20/2015
Posts: 31
Cool. I'll watch it. I achieve to take only 25 seconds from the start of the emulator to the first frame where thor is playable (with difficulty and turbo setup). Baby step ^^
Pokota
He/Him
Joined: 2/5/2014
Posts: 778
Question, why shoot the guy on the 2nd screen? Does he just not move out of the way fast enough (like with Hermit in the spider passage between starting area and Blechton)?
Adventures in Lua When did I get a vest?
Tompa
Any
Editor, Expert player (2138)
Joined: 8/15/2005
Posts: 1932
Location: Mullsjö, Sweden
I just shoot that one as I will eventually have to shoot one human because they'll be in the way later, might as well do it on the first possible victim as he may be in my way. The message that appears is the same no matter who you kill as #1.
phi
Joined: 8/20/2015
Posts: 31
So, turbo mode do not change the speed of thor. It changes just the display and the frequency at which the keyboard input is polled. Killing the first guy take roughly 6 frames at minimum. I think it is possible to not go to the house with the blue dollar sign on the right (the 4th panel in the video) by manipulating luck on drop out. I have to manipulate in order to have red diamond. The RNG seems to be linked to thor action, and not just on the frame counter. (position, velocity ? The RAM tool of jpc is not really helpful to identify useful addresses) It seems also that the game run at 30 fps while updating 60 fps per second. I should make a map so that it is easier to talk about panel. (Is panel the right word ? Screen maybe ?)
Editor
Joined: 3/10/2010
Posts: 899
Location: Sweden
You do know that the official hintbook contains a complete list of all rooms in the game, right? It's a free download, right next to the game itself.
phi
Joined: 8/20/2015
Posts: 31
Thanks I already founded it, but there is only a description for a few screens. I think that there are a few screens that have difficulties for TASing that do not figure in the hintbook. I don't know the practices of this forum. Do people tend to write a lot to describe their progression or is it preferable to work alone and post from time to time WIPs ?
Editor, Expert player (2457)
Joined: 4/8/2005
Posts: 1573
Location: Gone for a year, just for varietyyyyyyyyy!!
This is a funny game and a nice choice for a TAS. I would like to TAS some DOS games myself, like Alone in the Dark and Mine Bombers, but so far I haven't had the guts to learn JPC-RR properly. Using the current BizHawk feels so awesome. Whenever I start JPC-RR I feel like a hopeless noob:
phi
Joined: 8/20/2015
Posts: 31
Here are the maps. If we follow the convention of GOT, the first row is number 0 and the first column is number 0. Therefore, if Y is the column number and X is the row number, XXY is the screen number. The start is at 23, where thor is. (you can click on image to see the non scaled version) without connection between entrances with connection between entrances I love the layout. It is funny how the cave are not so far from their entrances. If I achieve to go out of bound, there will be many shortcuts. Edit : I understood why the sound and music didn't work. It works only when the movie is dumped. Silly me...
Editor, Experienced player, Reviewer (966)
Joined: 4/17/2004
Posts: 3107
Location: Sweden
How nice that you're doing this game! It's on my list of games I'd like to see. (Here.)
phi wrote:
I don't know the practices of this forum. Do people tend to write a lot to describe their progression or is it preferable to work alone and post from time to time WIPs ?
That's really up to you. Some people give frequent updates, some prefer to work alone and in secrecy. I prefer to give updates now and then, because the feedback from other members can be very helpful.
Tompa
Any
Editor, Expert player (2138)
Joined: 8/15/2005
Posts: 1932
Location: Mullsjö, Sweden
I would love to see any kind of progress and help out if I can at least, Phi. But as Truncated said: It's up to you if you want to share or not =).
phi
Joined: 8/20/2015
Posts: 31
I just found an interesting way to cheat screen 79 Link to video Since I can also grab the top key, I can cheat screen 68 Interesting
Tompa
Any
Editor, Expert player (2138)
Joined: 8/15/2005
Posts: 1932
Location: Mullsjö, Sweden
I knew about that pushing method, have done it accidently many many times in runs, like in the one I posted above. I never did check where it could be useful though. Nice one!
phi
Joined: 8/20/2015
Posts: 31
Hmm, something is strange in screen 105 (the one where you get the lighting power), there is a row of pots with an arrow to protect you from the spiders in the way back. In the shareware version I played when I was a kid, there wasn't any pots. It is the same thing for the hintbooks (page 6). I wonder why they change this screen. Too difficult. Should I search for the correct version ?
Pokota
He/Him
Joined: 2/5/2014
Posts: 778
The final release version has the row of pots with the directional arrow. The key cheat is very much faster than doing it normally, would like to see this screen refined to do it fast (hoorah for frame-precision and frame advance).
Adventures in Lua When did I get a vest?
Editor
Joined: 3/10/2010
Posts: 899
Location: Sweden
phi wrote:
Here are the maps. If we follow the convention of GOT, the first row is number 0 and the first column is number 0. Therefore, if Y is the column number and X is the row number, XXY is the screen number. The start is at 23, where thor is.
Does that match with the number shown by /volstagg?
phi
Joined: 8/20/2015
Posts: 31
Yes, it matches. I just forget a room with diamonds, at screen 119 accessible via a hidden hole under a bush at screen 2
phi
Joined: 8/20/2015
Posts: 31
So, 2F206 is the next screen during a transition 2F208 is the current screen (2F206 is set 5 frames before 2F208) I will try to explore now screen that are not reachable... edit Nop, these are not the correct addresses. It allows me to wrap, but it changes the map. It makes new connection. Weird ^^