Posted: 5/13/2014 2:28 AM
Post subject: Rugrats: Time Travelers (GBC)
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Pokota
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Joined: 2/5/2014
Posts: 779
RUGRATS Time Travelers ROM INFORMATION Game Title: RUGRATS TWOAVME CRC: 3b (3b) Checksum 1d80 (1d80) FRAME CHECKPOINTS 0 - Power On 128 - First accepted Input Frame 154 - Licenced By Nintendo screen appears 419 - Licenced By Nintendo fully faded out 438 - Nickelodeon footprint 439 into 440 - PRESS START HERE! 482 - Klasky Csupo splash 484 into 485 - PRESS START HERE! 527 - THQ Splash 529 into 530 - PRESS START HERE! 573 - Creations Splash 576 into 577 - PRESS START HERE! 621 - Game Splash !*ACCEPTS START*! 689 - Menu Screen 692 - Earliest(?) option selection input 793 - Options Menu Visible 794 - Earliest(?) acceptance of down in options 802 - Target frame for settings completion 837 - Menu Screen again 840 into 841 - PRESS START HERE! TARGET FRAME FOR FIRST STAGE SPLASH - 925 ---- Welp, I started out by trying to figure out how to do some one-upsmanship of that one person who keeps submitting stuff to the workbench without even posting WIPs through some Worms Armageddon GBC stuff, but then I realized that I wouldn't know any part of what I was doing there. So I started doing this instead. This is actually more fun than I thought it would be, and I started cheering when I found out that, in this current setup, 794 to 795 actually does accept down as an input (I had assumed that 796 was the earliest frame that down would be accepted), giving a target "final settings" frame of 802. Anyway, a few crowd-sourcing things to ask. 1) Anybody have experience with this game or else know where I can get my hands on some map dumps? 2) Are the frame checkpoints above optimal? I can't shake the feeling that I'm losing a frame or two somewhere but can't figure out exactly where at the moment. Probably in the top menu. 3) Can I upload my movie file directly to the forums, or do I need it hosted offsite while it's still a wip?
Adventures in Lua When did I get a vest?
Posted: 5/13/2014 2:41 AM
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Patashu
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Joined: 10/2/2005
Posts: 4045
Use this for uploading and sharing TAS input files. http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php
My Chiptune music, made in Famitracker: http://soundcloud.com/patashu My twitch. I stream mostly shmups & rhythm games http://twitch.tv/patashu My youtube, again shmups and rhythm games and misc stuff: http://youtube.com/user/patashu
Posted: 5/13/2014 2:44 AM
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Pokota
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Joined: 2/5/2014
Posts: 779
Thank you. Here's the WIP as it stands right now.
Adventures in Lua When did I get a vest?
Posted: 5/13/2014 3:04 AM
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Patashu
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Joined: 10/2/2005
Posts: 4045
Have you considered doing like this: 1) Make a 'test run' TAS of the full game where you focus on going fast, having no mistakes, all techniques included, etc. to see what the final product should aim to beat. (Optionally do glitch hunting/technique hunting/find optimal movement patterns here.) 2) Do the final TAS where every frame you can is squeezed out. You can compare against testrun TAS to see how much each section is improving by.
My Chiptune music, made in Famitracker: http://soundcloud.com/patashu My twitch. I stream mostly shmups & rhythm games http://twitch.tv/patashu My youtube, again shmups and rhythm games and misc stuff: http://youtube.com/user/patashu
Posted: 5/13/2014 2:18 PM
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Pokota
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Joined: 2/5/2014
Posts: 779
I think I've optimized the menus as far as I can - 909 frames from power on to the first plot screen. Some things I've already noticed and/or need to remember: 1) Landing animations are bad. Avoid them whenever possible. If at all possible, don't jump. 2) There is no "takes damage to save time" in this game - when you get hit, you lose bottles, and you need to have so many bottles to exit a stage (in addition to whatever the stage has you hunting in the first place) 3) Lag Management is going to be a major thing. Here's the Menus optimized as far as I can get them, plus a (basic) route through the first real level, "Gold Rush!". I know where most of my changes need to go (continuing on as opposed to waiting for enemies in at least two instances, maybe with the moth at the top of the ladder as well).
Adventures in Lua When did I get a vest?
Posted: 6/4/2014 5:12 AM
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Mastania
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Joined: 5/30/2009
Posts: 135
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I approve of TASing this on hard. Even on easy I could never beat this game as a child because of how unforgiving it is about taking hits. There is one bug I remember running into; near the end of Tommy's underwater level there's an empty cavern above the map with nothing in it, but taking damage near the top of the map bumped him up into it. In that case he was trapped, but there may be somewhere else where being able to reach a higher platform would make up for needing to grab an extra item.
Waddle Waggle Wattle
Posted: 6/4/2014 10:45 AM
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Pokota
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I don't know if there are enough Bottles that are quickly gettable to be able to take a hit on Hard and still exit the stage the second time passing the exit gate (you have to pass it once to get Phil anyway) since you lose 3 bottles with each hit on Hard.
Adventures in Lua When did I get a vest?
Posted: 6/4/2014 12:50 PM
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Mastania
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Joined: 5/30/2009
Posts: 135
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Sweet merciful lord oh well that's kind of a bummer. I meant to imply that it could work elsewhere in the game too but that doesn't matter much now either, although it might still be interesting to experiment with.
Waddle Waggle Wattle
Posted: 6/4/2014 5:23 PM
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KusogeMan
Experienced player (788)
Joined: 2/5/2012
Posts: 1806
Location: Brasil
If Hard poses no significant difficulty in terms of new game behavior besides slowing you down,it might be acceptable to use a more lenient difficulty for more skips(provided you find some).
I want all good TAS inside TASvideos, it's my motto. TAS i'm interested: Megaman series, specially the RPGs! Where is the mmbn1 all chips TAS we deserve? Where is the Command Mission TAS? i'm slowly moving away from TASing fighting games for speed, maybe it's time to start finding some entertainment value in TASing.
Posted: 6/6/2014 2:09 AM
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Pokota
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Joined: 2/5/2014
Posts: 779
Enemies are basically "killed" if you bump into them, which can only help with the rampant laggery, but at the same time you're knocked on your butt which takes about a second or so to recover from, so unless it's a situation where they're in the way forever it's just better to avoid them anyway. If it wasn't for the infinite bottle shot trick that can be done in exactly one level, I'd probably never take any damage at all if I could help it.
Adventures in Lua When did I get a vest?