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Posted: 8/31/2011 5:39 AM
Post subject: This post has no movie file. Just my thoughts...
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FatRatKnight
Editor, Skilled player (1203)
Joined: 9/27/2008
Posts: 1085
Hrm... Looking at 2-2 Scene 1 right now. One where this KGB vehicle comes in and there's bombs dropping from the sky. Go right from the start of 2-2, first moment the camera locks in place. You can't miss it. T2, according to my notes, goes from whatever input required to clear the "PRESS START" screen to unlocking this scene in 1108 frames. I have made a simple attempt (destroy vehicle ASAP), and ended up clearing the scene in 1165 frames. Curiously, this matches T5's attempt, which left the vehicle intact the entire time. Wondering what T1 did to have cleared it at such a slow pace as 1198 frames... Regardless, I know the drill -- Figure out what is different, and abuse it to the fullest potential. I have doubts the members of T2 still remember enough about what happened to help me here, but I figure posting my thoughts can't put me in any worse condition in this run.
Posted: 9/6/2011 3:02 AM
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FatRatKnight
Editor, Skilled player (1203)
Joined: 9/27/2008
Posts: 1085
Halfway through 2-2 so far. Except I have to redo Scene 3 because I destroyed a building early in that scene that really should have stayed around. Mainly so I can clear Scene 4 several frames earlier than what I posted here. I'm hating it because standing around and doing nothing in particular is certainly unTASlike, and doing interesting nothings in particular takes quite a bit of thought from me. Mainly, I want to take a break (long enough to sleep and wake up without this feeling of discouragement) after figuring out I've got over a thousand frames of interesting nothings to redo. I still have no clue what happened with Scene 1, though.
Posted: 11/22/2011 9:43 PM
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FatRatKnight
Editor, Skilled player (1203)
Joined: 9/27/2008
Posts: 1085
Progress seems to come in bursts. I stop for a while, then pick right up again. This implies that I might stop right before 3-1, then go halfway through 3-3, then one more months of break before I finish at last. Well, it is a pattern, anyway. Regardless, I'm on my way through 2-2, and currently hit with a bit of frustration at the yeti. You see, I can leave the yeti in this fashion just fine, shooting downward to gain the necessary height to leap over the bullet. However, there is a potential to abuse a poor KGB guy to duck under that bullet instead. This, naturally, lets me jump up to those platforms sooner (about 14 frames) and is far more stylish to boot. Sadly, any RNG abuse I can come up with without wasting frames hasn't produced good results, but I've come close a few times. I may simply continue if I can't reach the optimal solution in this run.
Posted: 12/6/2011 7:29 AM
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FatRatKnight
Editor, Skilled player (1203)
Joined: 9/27/2008
Posts: 1085
2-2 Updated subtitles in this post. Should reveal boss HP, except for the 2-2 endboss. 2-3 looks like a simple enough matter of just getting there. Though, I will hate it if the RNG decides I should redo the 2-2 boss for grenade + spread drops in 2-3, rather than just the tail end where the control I have there might not be enough. But I'm pretty satisfied in what I managed to do, anyway. Slow, I may be, but there's progress.
Posted: 12/7/2011 9:11 AM
Post subject: Time to surprise someone... That was FAST!
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FatRatKnight
Editor, Skilled player (1203)
Joined: 9/27/2008
Posts: 1085
2-3 55 frames faster than T1's run. T5 was slowest here, and I beat that one by 195 frames, if you're curious. Indeed, a straight-forward stage. No crazy ninja luck manipulation like in the other stages. Thankfully, no adjustments were needed to get my grenade + spread drops. As for why I ran out of ammo, blame the lack of anything that likes to drop stuff. Seriously, those two buildings are my only sources of death-bringing ammo. And that one helpful kid near the end, too. Will likely prettify the end of 2-3 while checking out a few RNG values for 2-4. I suspect there are clouds disguised as space junk in that stage... Yeesh.
Posted: 12/12/2011 4:41 AM
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FatRatKnight
Editor, Skilled player (1203)
Joined: 9/27/2008
Posts: 1085
2-4... Well, not quite finished, I say. The first phase of the level went by well enough. The first cluster of satellites all appeared directly above, so yay. I did some neat optimizations, more often do I use both front and back shots at once, and in general more efficient stuff getting through. 108 frames faster than T1's attempt. However, the boss, apparently, is 20 frames slower than T5. Next, I'll try the "hold still and use backshots over and over, destroying style in the process" maneuver and then try to beat that doing stuff like I did in that movie, but better Let's see how I do...
Posted: 12/12/2011 9:00 AM
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moozooh
Senior Moderator
Joined: 8/4/2005
Posts: 5777
Location: Away
I see you're very much determined to squish every last frame out of this game. :P
Warp wrote:
Edit: I think I understand now: It's my avatar, isn't it? It makes me look angry.
Posted: 12/13/2011 1:44 AM
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FatRatKnight
Editor, Skilled player (1203)
Joined: 9/27/2008
Posts: 1085
2-4 Now I'm happy. 96 frames off my previous boss attempt. Meaning 76 frames faster than T5 boss win. Total savings are 1652 frames over T5's run, from start of run to start of 3-1. I've also, seen in this file, made a small attempt at pushing into 3-1 for a bit. Although I've already beaten T5's run by around 25 frames in these two scenes, I suspect at least another 10 frames can be gained. I'll be sure to see whether a pair of grenades is what I need for two of the scorpions. Hope I get a 9-damage charged shot in time for that vulture.
Posted: 12/18/2011 6:35 AM
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FatRatKnight
Editor, Skilled player (1203)
Joined: 9/27/2008
Posts: 1085
3-1 I'm probably going to check the RNG for 3-2, then optimize this battle. It's nice that I can win in one phase. T5 and T1 used the wrong weapon. T2 lacked in grenades. This run had no such problems this time around. It's roughly four seconds of savings to avoid that buried period. Also, I had 18 grenades to spare. Seems I picked up one surplus pack. Basically, if the RNGScan even hinted at a vague possibility of a grenade drop, I was crawling all over it searching for a way to make it drop. There were plenty of times where I picked something up while in mid-travel.
Posted: 12/20/2011 3:17 AM
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FatRatKnight
Editor, Skilled player (1203)
Joined: 9/27/2008
Posts: 1085
Mugg contacted me with an improvement to the 1-2 boss. That is quite a ways back, indeed. I then optimized it, synced up the RNG, and... Well, the results are very much pretty, thankfully. 50 frames are saved due to this improvement. And I have lost no progress, the spliced movie does not break. ... Oh, right. If I did make progress into 3-2 by now, I would have included it in the spliced movie. I'm not a person who likes to keep secrets.
Posted: 1/3/2012 12:18 PM
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FatRatKnight
Editor, Skilled player (1203)
Joined: 9/27/2008
Posts: 1085
Sorry about the wait, but at least I'm updating you all in less than a month this time. 3-2, most of it. LazyMode takes over while the Heavy Ice Agent is still going through that long death animation. I can probably optimize those fights a bit when I'm less tired from TASing. And manipulate another grenade pack somehow. I might be able to find another second in those last scenes somewhere. But for now, enjoy the new boss end for 3-1. Enjoy the optimized parts of 3-2. Enjoy the subtitles script that I tend to update whenever I feel like it. Also, a .vbm file that, in the very first frame of the savestate anchored movie, has an explanation of the 2-2 boss glitch detailing why I don't beat up the first phase right away, along with a demonstration on what happens in there. Pause emulation then run movie to see the explanation. Might be handy to produce a few of these demonstration movies while making the submission text. You never know.
Posted: 2/11/2013 3:36 PM
Post subject: Breaking news: The world ended. I finished AH!
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FatRatKnight
Editor, Skilled player (1203)
Joined: 9/27/2008
Posts: 1085
http://tasvideos.org/userfiles/user/FatRatKnight May come late, but I've got some completed runs now. Just in case I lose track, anyone has permission to submit one of these files in my name, as long as it hasn't already been submitted. ... Anything necessary about using later versions of VBA? I know, it's been a long time, and well... Hi. I have a complete file. There's still a few things I want to deal with before I submit myself, but I'm not complaining if someone else submits the darn thing before I'm ready. I held up everyone looking forward to the DTC3 improvements. So, uh... Sorry about taking so long. In any case, 3-3 was a bit of a pain to go through. I ran out of spread shots just as I was picking up another orb, which makes me feel awesome that I made that work. What makes me feel a bit less awesome is that I lost around 20 frames getting another spread orb later. I hate those psychotic walking bombs. 3-4, the final boss... I was thinking the RNG isn't in a nice spot. Then I looked several hundred RNG rolls forward and backward, and realized I probably have the best RNG I'm ever going to have in this run. Alas, due to how I ended up messing with weapon drops, I'm nearly a second slower on the boss kill compared to T5. Though somehow T5 still was slower, perhaps due to some animation taking longer on that platform or something. But hey. We have something submittable now.
Posted: 2/12/2013 12:23 AM
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Bobo_the_King
Player (80)
Joined: 8/5/2007
Posts: 865
Hey, FatRatKnight, I'm really excited to see this run! I've still got the FFL run on the back burner and I hope to pick it back up... this summer. It's been a crazy year and what's currently impeding my progress is that I'm one semester away from my degree. Just thought I'd update you.
Posted: 2/13/2013 2:58 PM
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FatRatKnight
Editor, Skilled player (1203)
Joined: 9/27/2008
Posts: 1085
We really should continue on FFL, eh? We're definitely close, though. I think we do need to confirm whether the KINGSWRD first route is faster than our other route. But I need to work through Alien Hominid for a bit more, though. Attempting improvements, I've redone the end of 3-3 scene 4 by throwing the grenade from a closer position. Since that point, I've saved a total of 28 frames over my previous attempt. However, I'm now sitting in a worse RNG position. I was starting 3-4 with 23441 RNG rolls, but now I'm starting it with 23450. I can tolerate no more than 23446, as any further, and I miss a required weapon drop. Therefore, the 28 frames are meaningless if I can't get the RNG to behave. All I need to do is nudge it back 4 rolls, and I'm good. I am having some trouble finding where I can avoid making those 4 rolls. Throwing away 27 frames to save those 4 rolls will be worth it. Question is, of course, how. I'm already ducking to avoid RNG rolls as I come out of each dash. I've saved every shot I can of my spread shots to avoid those rolls. I'm manipulating those agents best I can to behave right. I'll keep at this for a little longer, but I may just have to back off. I want those 28 frames, or even a portion of those frames, but if it ends in failure, I'll just hand over that .vbm and mark it off as unsolved, and submit my finished run. If someone else ever feels inclined to look at it, there's always my script.
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