Post subject: Wiimote inputs and frame advance
JoselleAstrid
She/Her
Joined: 9/9/2013
Posts: 35
Hi, I'm pretty new to emulator / frame advance testing, and I'm aiming to work on developing Super Mario Galaxy 2 tricks and strategies. Might work on full level TASes at some point, too, but that'll likely be at least a few months later. It's been going okay so far - I can now do basic frame advance testing without major issues, in Dolphin 3.5-2302 x64 (updated yesterday, 2013 September 8). But I have a couple of questions on how to make this nicer. (1) Is there a way to use frame advance with a "Real Wiimote" control configuration? When I try with a real Wiimote, Dolphin usually (but not always) ignores my inputs when I repeatedly tap the frame advance button. It tends to be more responsive to inputs when I hold the frame advance button, but that defeats the purpose of frame advance testing. I don't have such problems with an Emulated Wiimote, but of course that's more awkward to use when I'm used to playing the game with a Wiimote. (2) Does Dolphin's TAS Input tool (accessible from Emulation -> TAS Input) have a variation that works for Wiimote-based control schemes - Wiimote, Wiimote+Nunchuk, or Wiimote+Classic? It seems that the tool only works for games that use Gamecube controllers. Galaxy 2 requires Wiimote+Nunchuk.
Warepire
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Joined: 3/2/2010
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Location: A little to the left of nowhere (Sweden)
(2) No, as far as I know that is not implemented yet.
JoselleAstrid
She/Her
Joined: 9/9/2013
Posts: 35
Hmm, okay. Well, hope to see it sometime, I guess. Precise control stick input isn't a pressing need for me at the moment, though it could be pretty useful for testing Yoshi flutters in detail. Two other things relating to Real Wiimote input, which would actually be really useful for my purposes: (3) Is there an Input Display for Real Wiimotes? Graphics -> Advanced -> Show Input Display works to display input for Emulated Wiimotes, but not Real Wiimotes. (4) Is there a way to record input with Real Wiimotes? When I tried, the frame counter stayed at 0 throughout the recording, and the recording playback just showed Mario crouching in place the entire time. At least it didn't get a fatal desync or anythiing (since I disabled the GC controller ports), but the recording basically didn't work at all, either. My reason for wanting this: I want to see how many frames I shake the Wiimote when I actually do a spin with a real Wiimote. There is at least one trick (rock jumping) that is quite sensitive to how long the Wiimote is shaken.
RachelB
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Player (127)
Joined: 12/3/2011
Posts: 1579
3) It should work if you use hybrid wiimote. 4) Nope. Tasing with a real wiimote would be a terrible idea, even if it were possible. Better get used to emulated wiimote if you want to tas.
JoselleAstrid
She/Her
Joined: 9/9/2013
Posts: 35
Whoops, I forgot that Hybrid Wiimote was a control option. Well, that indeed works for the most part, as I can now see the accelerometer numbers and Wiimote button displays when I use a real Wiimote. It seems that Nunchuk input doesn't work on the real controller (only the emulated controller) when I use Hybrid Wiimote, though, so I can't see the real Nunchuk's control stick or accelerometer input. Still, it works for my purpose right now, which is seeing the accelerometer input during a real controller shake. It'd be ideal if I could record a real-controller recording and then replay it with frame advance, but instead, I used a separate screen-capture program to capture my Dolphin window (with input display and all) and output an .mp4. Then I frame-analyzed that with a video editing program. And yes, after thinking about how to do accelerometer or IR sensor input on a real controller with frame advance, I agree that actual TASing with a real controller would be a bad idea.