(Link to video)
Submission Text Full Submission Page
Given that it was Visual Basic 6's 15th anniversary 3 months and 1 day ago, probably, I've decided to do what most VB6 beginners do, but with tools! That's right, I created a classic "Hello World" application, as fast as possible.
The movie starts when VB6 is loaded (doesn't matter from where, so I chose the Start menu), and ends when F5 is pressed to run the created application. In between, a label is created and given the caption "Hello World".

General notes

  • I used Windows XP because it's the most stable OS for VB6.
  • I used Home Edition Service Pack 2 seeing as SP3 fixes a bug that indirectly makes the movie desync.
  • I used the Portuguese (Portugal) version, as one of the registry's keys loads faster, resulting in one frame less in comparison to the default, English language. English speakers won't miss anything though, seeing as the "meat", if you will, of the movie, the "Hello World" string is in English.

"Emulator" notes

  • A re-recording branch of VirtualBox was used to create this video. It's not yet available to the public, so you won't be able to playback the movie file for now! You can still enjoy my encode on YouTube.
  • The movie format is VERY similar to that of Gens', as the branch was based off of Gens' code. The only things different are mostly the content of each frame, and the framerate. This introduces two problems with the submission stats: the run is not @60FPS, but @20FPS (this is hardcoded), which brings the actual time to 8.65 seconds; and the fact that this isn't a Genesis game, but a Windows application (the file extension for the movie file is the same). These two issues are being solved as you're reading this.

This run...

  • Aims for the fastest time, first and foremost.
  • Goes for 100% completion.
  • Goes for the best ending.
  • Forgoes time-saving glitches.
  • Fits in the "Programming" genre.

Comments

Overall, this went smoothly. Definitely a run that many, MANY people have been wanting to see. I did run into some problems while aligning the cursor to create the label, but I ultimately ran across this layout for the label, which is the perfect optimization between label size and mouse speed. Enjoy!
Nach: Run does not begin from power-on, and is also suboptimal, rejecting.

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Posted: 4/1/2013 4:46 PM
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TASVideoAgent
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This topic is for the purpose of discussing #3933: Espyo's Windows VB6 "fastest Hello World" in 00:09.61
Posted: 4/1/2013 4:50 PM
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GhostSonic
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Joined: 3/14/2013
Posts: 61
Voted yes, but I would be more impressed if you created a gui interface and tracked an IP address.
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Posted: 4/1/2013 4:55 PM
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hegyak
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Joined: 3/31/2010
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Hey, needs a movie file or it's not allowed. Rules can not be screwed.
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Posted: 4/1/2013 5:08 PM
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Espyo
Joined: 6/7/2008
Posts: 124
Location: Portugal
GhostSonic wrote:
Voted yes, but I would be more impressed if you created a gui interface and tracked an IP address.
Adding IP address tracking DLLs is surprisingly hard, and would require two people to tap on the keyboard at once. This is a single-player movie.
hegyak wrote:
Hey, needs a movie file or it's not allowed. Rules can not be screwed.
I did submit a movie file! It just can't be played on any publicly available program, is all.
I'm Espyo from the SRB2 Forums. Current project: A Pikmin fan engine, Pikifen
Posted: 4/1/2013 6:54 PM
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CoolKirby
Editor, Experienced player (570)
Joined: 11/8/2010
Posts: 4036
Exotic platforms TASer of 2014 NES TAS of 2013
Looks suboptimal, no vote.
Posted: 4/1/2013 6:58 PM
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lol_lee_lol
Joined: 3/1/2009
Posts: 64
Best April fool I saw so far :D love it :)
Posted: 4/1/2013 7:03 PM
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Invariel
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Posts: 539
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Arcade TAS of 2023
This made me laugh harder than any of the major website pranks I have come across, ever. Voted 'yes' for entertainment, amusement, ridiculousness, and hilarity.
I am still the wizard that did it. "On my business card, I am a corporate president. In my mind, I am a game developer. But in my heart, I am a gamer." -- Satoru Iwata <scrimpy> at least I now know where every map, energy and save room in this game is
Posted: 4/1/2013 7:08 PM
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NFITC1
Joined: 5/12/2010
Posts: 38
Looks sub optimal. You could probably type "Hello World" into some other location while VB6 is loading then copy and paste it in the label after loading is finished. Also loading times are different on different hardware. Voted 'Meh'
Posted: 4/2/2013 12:18 AM
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LSK
Joined: 4/17/2006
Posts: 159
you should have TASed the process of making a TAS
Posted: 4/2/2013 5:13 AM
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OmegaWatcher
Joined: 5/2/2009
Posts: 656
wow, I didn't knew the Genesis could run Windows XP...
My first language is not English, so please excuse myself if I write something wrong. I'll do my best do write as cleary as I can, so cope with me here =) (ﾉಥ益ಥ）ﾉ
Posted: 4/4/2013 5:07 PM
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adelikat
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TASer of 2010 NES TASer of 2010 DS TASer of 2010 Arcade TAS of 2010 NES TASer of 2008 NES TAS of 2008 Funny TAS of 2008 TASer of 2007 NES TASer of 2007 Funny TAS of 2007
The idea of VM rerecording is very intruiging. How much potential does this have?
It's hard to look this good. My TAS projects
Posted: 4/4/2013 5:35 PM
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feos
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NES TAS of 2011
It has only the potential to TAS all PC games, nothing more.
Warning: When making decisions, I try to collect as much data as possible before actually deciding. I try to abstract away and see the principles behind real world events and people's opinions. I try to generalize them and turn into something clear and reusable. I hate depending on unpredictable and having to make lottery guesses. Any problem can be solved by systems thinking and acting.
Posted: 4/4/2013 6:07 PM
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jlun2
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GBA TASer of 2010
adelikat wrote:
The idea of VM rerecording is very intruiging. How much potential does this have?
If this ever happens, will it obsolete movies made from Hourglass?
LLCoolDave wrote:
This seems to be competing for the "Worst looking TAS of 2011" Award.
Posted: 4/4/2013 6:11 PM
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adelikat
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feos wrote:
It has only the potential to TAS all PC games, nothing more.
And any game that can be emulated with a non-rerecording emulator! However, what I'm really asking is if the savestates/movie code are robust enough for reliable movie recording. Could I actually TAS a modern game with this, in theory.
It's hard to look this good. My TAS projects
Posted: 4/4/2013 10:41 PM
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Hopper262
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Joined: 3/22/2011
Posts: 55
I strongly doubt that VirtualBox (or similar VM software) would be suitable for general-purpose TASing. In typical use, it's more like a hypervisor than a true emulator, so you're subject to timing issues of the host machine's CPU. I imagine it'd work in the same situations as Hourglass does. VirtualBox does have software emulation support borrowed from QEMU, which would be a better starting point for a serious effort. QEMU is definitely not cycle-accurate, and from what I gather it's not always deterministic either. It looks like MARSSx86 is an attempt at a cycle-accurate system, leveraging code from QEMU. Bochs is another x86 emulator that lacks many of QEMU's optimizations. That relative simplicity might make it easier to turn into a TAS-capable program, at the expense of slow playback. I can't find good discussion about how accurate and deterministic it really is.
Posted: 4/4/2013 10:48 PM
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Ilari
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Hopper262 wrote:
QEMU is definitely not cycle-accurate, and from what I gather it's not always deterministic either.
The more complicated the system, the less important it is to be cycle-accurate. With PC, cycle-accuracy is only needed for some early games for the original IBM PC (and some very badly made games). Basically, anything that played properly on much faster hardware than when it was released doesn't need cycle-accuracy. Determinism is however very important...
Posted: 4/4/2013 10:59 PM
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WST
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LSK wrote:
you should have TASed the process of making a TAS
The best quote! :) Yes vote.
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Posted: 4/5/2013 1:58 PM
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TASVideosGrue
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om, nom, nom... blech!
Posted: 4/6/2013 4:17 PM
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Espyo
Joined: 6/7/2008
Posts: 124
Location: Portugal
If there's any feasible way to emulate stuff inside VirtualBox with frameskip, TASes could theoretically happen! This was all made with the magic of video editing though. I just did everything slowly, and you see is just "screenshots", if you will, of the "frames". You know, one frame to move the mouse and click it on the Label button, one frame to type a key, etc. And I can't believe I only now got what
LSK wrote:
you should have TASed the process of making a TAS
this meant! There's always next year, right?
I'm Espyo from the SRB2 Forums. Current project: A Pikmin fan engine, Pikifen