Noxxa: This is yourthird submission which does not hold up to the site's standards in optimization. Spikestuff's post on the discussion topic shows how this run can be improved in multiple ways, including a comparison run in which he clears the first stage much faster. To summarize:
You push the button to start the game much later than is necessary. You already lose roughly 5 seconds at the start because of this alone.
You miss shots everywhere, which generally just looks very sloppy. Additionally, you clearly try to reach an energy pod in the first stage but fail to reach it because you're too late - this looks incredibly sloppy. You have rerecords to go back and fix these sort of mistakes - this is what you have to use them for.
Spikestuff's comparison run also shows that you go to the next stage by raising your score by destroying enemy ships. You miss many ships, which means you lose a lot of time and enter the next stages much later. Look at Spikestuff's run and how he clinically nails almost every ship he comes across.
Finally, use the NTSC-USA version of a ROM unless you know about differences with other versions (such as PAL, which is used in this run). While this case is debatably an exception, in most cases the NTSC-USA version is preferred as per the movie rules.
Since this is your third submission I have had to reject now, I am removing your ability to submit movies. If you want to upload a movie, you can upload it to userfiles. If you wish to submit another movie to the workbench for publication, you can upload your movies to userfiles. Your submission privilege will be restored only if you have proven you can create movies worthy of publication. For that, please read the MovieRules and Guidelines again to see what is required for an acceptable, publishable TAS conforming to the standards of this site.
Joined: 10/12/2011
Posts: 6446
Location: The land down under.
Well the game isn't lag frame heavy so this control locking issue you're having makes no sense.
"Your goal is to reach the City of Mystery at the end of the tunnel and destroy Gond. In the tunnel zones, you maneuver around sharp rocks and barriers while battling weird flying objects. The more enemy objects you destroy, the more points you earn. If you make it to the City of Mystery and shoot Gond, you earn bonus points. But watch out! Gond could shoot you instead. If you survive the City of Mystery, you continue the game in Tunnel 2."
The Zones:
Mountain Zone
Pod Power
Rainbow Zone
Stick Zone
Rainbow Zone 2
Stripped Zone
Rainbow Zone 3
Bleak Zone
CITY OF MYSTERY
TUNNEL 2 AND BEYOND
"If you survive the City of Mystery, you are transported into Tunnel 2, where the pace is faster. The zones here are the same as in Tunnel 1, but they are not in the same order. Obstacles are the same except that in the Bleak Zone, Romedas shoot missiles. Tunnel 2 leads to another City of Mystery, which leads to another tunnel like Tunnel 1. You alternate between Tunnels 1 and 2 until you lose your last life and the game ends."
source: https://atariage.com/manual_html_page.html?SoftwareLabelID=575
WebNations/Sabih wrote:
+fsvgm777 never censoring anything.
Disables Comments and Ratings for the YouTube account.Something better for yourself and also others.
Glad you could submit it, knowing there was some problem before!
Unfortunaly, I don't think it is done right.
With the tools that Bizhawk provide, you could have corrected the mistake you made that lead you to this clumsy death. A TAS shouldn't be clumsy. ^^
Don't be discouraged by the incoming rejection(if it gets rejected), you should learn from mistake. :)
I think you should try and become familiar with the frame advance thingy, it's THE tool of TASing.
Without frame advance, there is no TAS(nowadays)
...a26? I've never seen an Atari 2600 ROM that had an extension other than .bin.
Suffice to say, I cannot view this movie with Bizhawk and my ROM. Help?
Joined: 10/12/2011
Posts: 6446
Location: The land down under.
Okay.
Differences between PAL and NTSC version of this game.
PAL scrolls through the "zones" FASTER
PAL Must hit the button to shoot. NTSC has auto shooting, when the button is hit no more shots.
NTSC has faster load times but is bested by PAL version due to the "zones" themselves.
It's a game you have to accept that uses the PAL version.
Edit:
That being written the 50 vs 60hz thing for TASVideos is a thing.
Using your frame time of 19583
PAL : 06:32.75
NTSC: 05:26.71
This is why I'm hesitant to vote, due to the fact that PAL is faster in frame time but not time itself.
Edit 2: Final words from me. NO VOTE.
BWAH!?
Your first Button push to start the game is at 222 to get out of demo then later at 276 to start the game.
I'll tell you what frame you need to hit the button. Frame ONE.
So there are improvements.
I would look into the stages too. Because it looks like you need a set scores you need to reach to enter the next level.
Edit 3: If no one believes me about how un-optimal it is here's the first zone:
Link to video
Note: Both use PAL, both are going on PAL timing the NTSC timing is to show what the time would be under the other region if it plays out the same but as I wrote at the start PAL goes through the Zone parts quicker so NTSC is more of a sub time than a time to take seriously when written out in frame and not time.
WebNations/Sabih wrote:
+fsvgm777 never censoring anything.
Disables Comments and Ratings for the YouTube account.Something better for yourself and also others.
Joined: 11/13/2006
Posts: 2822
Location: Northern California
It seems like you're just doing RTA runs with savestates and nothing else. I haven't watched any of the runs, admittedly, but that's more or less what it seems like judging from submission texts and general comments. Lurk around on the site a bit more and try to learn more about TASing and optimization and some of the techniques involved before submitting another run.
TASvideos Admin and acting Senior Judge 💙 Currently unable to dedicate a lot of time to the site, taking care of family.
Now infrequently posting on BlueskywarmCabin wrote:
You shouldn't need a degree in computer science to get into this hobby.
Emulator Coder, Site Developer, Site Owner, Expert player
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Joined: 11/3/2004
Posts: 4754
Location: Tennessee
Ford wrote:
...a26? I've never seen an Atari 2600 ROM that had an extension other than .bin.
Suffice to say, I cannot view this movie with Bizhawk and my ROM. Help?
Just rename your .bin to .a26
However, all that does it avoid you having to pick the core in the Core picker dialog when you open the .bin. Either extension should allow you to play the movie
Edit 3: If no one believes me about how un-optimal it is here's the first zone:
Link to video
Holy crap, he missed an E! That shouldn't happen in a TAS.
adelikat wrote:
Ford wrote:
...a26? I've never seen an Atari 2600 ROM that had an extension other than .bin.
Suffice to say, I cannot view this movie with Bizhawk and my ROM. Help?
Just rename your .bin to .a26
However, all that does it avoid you having to pick the core in the Core picker dialog when you open the .bin. Either extension should allow you to play the movie
Thanks, I'll give that a shot. 'n if that doesn't work, I'll start hunting for a PAL version. ...though Bizhawk didn't ask me what core to use when I loaded the ROM.
EDIT: turns out I didn't just have the wrong version of the ROM; I also needed to update BizHawk.
The good news is that I finally got to see the movie!
The bad news is that I recommend against this movie. Far too many mistakes were made in it.
It's weird. I first played this game nearly 30 years ago, and not once did I realize that the trigger to move from one section to another was the score. In light of this revelation, I question the worth of hitting the E at all unless fuel is running low or you need to clip through the terrain, which is legitimately doable after getting the E. After all, your score from enemies is the same regardless, and your shots fly faster than you do.
