I've started making a 100% Super Monkey Ball Jr. TAS but it seems that I get much slower times than playing on a real console. This might be because of lag, but I doubt the game lags nonstop whenever I play it on VisualBoy. I have also come across the problem that I can't finish a specific level within the time limit, even using frame by frame, slowdown, savestates etc.
The ROM I use is from here [edit]
and has the file name 0763 - Super Monkey Ball Jr. (U).gba
If this is NOT a standard file name, do me a favor and link me to a correct one so I can start remaking my TAS. Thanks in advance!
Would it perhaps be worthwhile to create a page of checksums so that TASers can know (before running or playing back a game) if their ROM is good? I don't think that even comes within a mile of a gray area of the site's rules.
Would it perhaps be worthwhile to create a page of checksums so that TASers can know (before running or playing back a game) if their ROM is good? I don't think that even comes within a mile of a gray area of the site's rules.
Isn't this exactly what the GoodTools are for? Here is the Wikipedia entry, and here is a link to GoodGBA. This tool will compare a rom's checksum to a database of checksums, and tell you which game and which variant of the game it is. The correct rom to use would be one with [!] in the name.
Would it perhaps be worthwhile to create a page of checksums so that TASers can know (before running or playing back a game) if their ROM is good? I don't think that even comes within a mile of a gray area of the site's rules.
Isn't this exactly what the GoodTools are for? Here is the Wikipedia entry, and here is a link to GoodGBA. This tool will compare a rom's checksum to a database of checksums, and tell you which game and which variant of the game it is. The correct rom to use would be one with [!] in the name.
I have a similar question:
If I have a dump marked (UE) [c][!], is that an OK dump to use? Gens auto-detects it as NTSC, would it be OK to run it as NTSC?
I have a similar question:
If I have a dump marked (UE) [c][!], is that an OK dump to use? Gens auto-detects it as NTSC, would it be OK to run it as NTSC?
What is the game in question?
(UE) indicates this version of the game was released in both America and Europe. This is rather rare to come across.
[c] and [!] are usually conflicting, as [c] indicates the game is cracked - whereas [!] indicates a verified good dump. It really depends on the game whether it is good to use.
In general, if there's already a published run, use the same ROM unless there's a clear advantage to using a different one. If not, simply use the best one you can find. It is kind of tough finding out the veracity of ROMs of obscure games.
For example, I had a really bad and obscure Super Mario Bros. 3 clone on my hands which let you freely move on the world map without having to complete the levels. I was not sure whether that was a part of the actual game or a hack, because there's so little info on the game.
And yeah, the game is good to be ran as NTSC.
EDIT: Scrimpeh beat me to the punch
oneeighthundred wrote:
If I have a dump marked (UE) [c][!], is that an OK dump to use? Gens auto-detects it as NTSC, would it be OK to run it as NTSC?
I would imagine it would be safe to use, but just to be safe it probably wouldn't hurt to try and find a dump that didn't have the [c] code on it ([c] indicates that the rom has a bad checksum, but is still a good dump in GoodGen). As for running as NTSC, I'm guessing that because of the (UE) code, that it auto-detects between NTSC and PAL, and for TASing the NTSC version is usually preferred unless there is some regional specific tricks. I would check with a higher-up though, I might not be right on the [c] code issue.
My user name is rather long, feel free to call me by htwt or tape.
The game is Gain Ground. I'm having a hard time telling what the [c] actually means, some sites say it's "cracked" but GoodGen's docs say it's a "known faulty checksum," as opposed to [x] for a bad checksum that should be good I guess. If that means the cart shipped with a bad checksum, then I could see it being compatible with [!], and might mean finding it without [c] would be impossible.
There isn't a published run, which is why I'm trying to start one. :)
I've also been able to find a ROM named "Gain Ground (World).md", which might be preferrable. I'm can't verify whether it's a good dump, however.
You could theoretically do a small test to find out more: Record a movie and see if it syncs on other versions of the ROM. If it does, then you basically have nothing to worry about.
GoodGen scans the (World) one as Gain Ground (J) [!], which is the only other Gain Ground ROM that GoodGen seems to recognize.
It syncs with my WIP, so I'm not sure it matters. I guess I'll keep using (UE) since it looks like that's the one that was released in the US.
