Here's an update:
current progress
I've been able to save about 31 more frames off my old run for World 1.
Notable improvements are from:
1-4: After the first starcoin and becoming Shell Luigi again, I run on the slightly slanted slope to get 3110 speed, rather than 3087, which saved a frame. In the underground section, I found a solution to gaining speed faster after coming out of the pipe. Instead of trying to walljump, I instead jump to the top of the pipe and use the speed gaining trick to gain speed faster. This and a few route optimizations allowed
me to save 7 frames. (this allowed me to get an ingame-time of 340!!)
1-A: At the end, I used the speed gaining trick again to save 7 frames. That trick actually has a lot more uses than just gaining speed faster because it also allows you to TRAVEL ON THE GROUND at 48 speed while in shell mode!!! It is also faster than walljumping off the vertical pipe that you have to do with the other power-ups
The rest of the improvements came from optimizing 1-5 and 1-Castle (before I found the improvements in 1-4 and 1-A, I was 16 frames ahead). The time up to the frame Bowser is defeated (and the 4000 appears for score) is 12:48.09.
As for World 2:
2-2: 4 frames were saved from wall-jumping off the vertical pipe in the area with the third starcoin.
2-3 (normal): More than 50 frames were saved from optimizing and using new strategies (Also allowed an ingame time of 425)
Because I became Fire-Luigi earlier in 1-5, I had to re-sync the luck manipulation (usually it was adding a double-jump here and there or taking one out). So now I'm trying to manipulate the red-block to come down to 2-A so that I could get a mini-mushroom in reserve.
LFNMai has currently lost interest in TAS'ing, unfortunately. :(
Yeah, I was thinking about it, but I eventually decided against it because it would be a lot of work and 0.9.8 was the best version available when I started the run.
No problem! You can just keep providing feedback and pointing out improvements if you wish.
Currently Working on:
Metal Slug X - Mission 1 (On hold)
1-4: Ooh, nice catch with that little speed gain.
As for the shell trick... wooooow, what?? I didn't know how easy it was to perform! So all you have to do is run off any edge with low speed (not sure what the limits for speed are), duck once you're in midair, and hold back...
(I looked around in the any% and saw that it could be used at the end of 5-2.) Edit: Nevermind, this is slower.
Also, I made a little test video comparing it to fireball-wall jump speed gaining (for that particular scenario), just out of curiosity:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEYF2wxydio
I also noticed, while making this, that it seems like the more frames you run on the ground with the shell (using those single frame running opportunities you get every time you land from a full speed jump), the less delay you get upon trying to enter a pipe.
1-A: Interesting discovery as well... No idea why using that trick would allow the shell to run full speed on the ground like that.
This trick looks like it could be performed in real time, actually (assuming you can at least do a frame perfect jump to stay in midair long enough to reach full speed).
So using the trick vs. fireball-wall jumping is slower in the case above, but faster here, hmm?
2-3: Wow, nice! That's a lot of frames you saved; I didn't expect your previous run to be able to be improved by that much.
For 2-A again, hope luck manipulation's not too much of a trouble to resync.
:(
Also, the more little technical tricks you're able to put into this run, the more awesome it looks!
new improvement
So, it turned out that using the speed gaining trick off the pipe in the underground section in 1-4 was actually slower so I had to redo that area again... But thankfully there was a ledge right in front of the pipe so I was able to use the speed gaining trick off that instead, though I actually had to let go of left for a few frames and reach full speed a few frames later than the ideal time because I had have a very precise x-position in order to be able to jump, hit the block with the p-switch and get a corner-boost while still landing on the pipe, jump and hit the p-switch, and barely land on the left block in order to be able to jump. The result is that 9 frames were saved in the area, bringing the time World 1 is completed to 12:49.23 (the old time was actually 12:49.38, I looked at it wrong somehow). It is unfortunate that the speed gaining trick off the pipe wasn't faster, it looked really cool...
youtube encode
Here's a youtube encode I made that has all the improvements I made so far, including the one I mentioned above. It only contains World 1 (I want to get farther before encoding a 2nd part). Anyone is welcome to make encodes of my WIP's, for now, I ask that if they are uploaded to youtube, they be unlisted.
Currently Working on:
Metal Slug X - Mission 1 (On hold)
Now, that's a silly mistake. Nice catch! Really shows that I'm not trying hard enough to check for different strategies (especially given the fact that I made a comparison for it specifically)...
Dang, that sounds really precise. Glad you were able to do it.
Ah, didn't know you had your own account. Understood! I think it'd be best if you did the encodes, since you'll be the one with the most updated WIPs, of course. (Nice to see this at full speed, by the way!)
As I got to 1-4 while rewatching the WIP, I recalled that video of the fast shell trick WaddleDX uploaded (though found by alpha) a while ago and wondered if it could be used here. I played around with it and was able to pull off this rather silly-looking stunt:
http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/1044013760/1-4%20Test.dsm
...which saved 5 frames. I tried my best to optimize this portion, but maybe you could do it better. There's also the idea of ground-pounding on the hill and then grabbing the shell (grabbing the shell then landing doesn't work), which is likely faster, but since you fall faster than the shell, I wasn't able to do it.
This also means two less RNG advances, so you'll have to find two more places to advance the RNG in the level... I think it's possible to throw two more double jumps in there somewhere.
Thanks! Toad Houses are not counted and should only be entered if necessary because going inside them costs at least about 10 seconds.
I also saw that video was wondering whether it could be used to save time in 1-4. The first time, I couldn't find a way to do it. I tried to ground-pound, but couldn't find a way. I didn't think of your way (I didn't know it could work like that too because I thought ground-pounding was necessary), but nice! 5 frames! It's great to know that the trick could be used to save time, even if a little.
After more fooling around, I was able to come up with a ground-pound method, but it was 28 frames slower unfortunately. The reason probably comes from the length of the ground-pound itself and the fact that it has to be done twice:
ground-pound method
I haven't looked into your method yet to see if it could be done faster, but now that the ground-pound method is slower, I'll look into it later. It would be nice if the trick could be used more in other levels...
Currently Working on:
Metal Slug X - Mission 1 (On hold)
Yeah, I thought ground-pounding was necessary, too. It seems that all you need is to be in the sliding animation. It's also nice to know that it saves time, definitely.
Ah, dang... I can't think of any other way with this method, too.
Hopefully there's more locations it can be used! I'd love to see a level where you basically have to keep that high speed for the most of it.
I realized that it was pointless to say that I won't be working on this directly anymore, since motivation comes and goes. I spent the past few days slowly working on attempting 1-2 (secret).
Here's two versions:
(1) http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/1636957799/1-2%20%281F%20slower%2C%20good%20manipulation%29.dsm
(2) http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/763922221/1-2%20%281F%20faster%2C%20bad%20manipulation%29.dsm
(Sorry about the beginnings; I couldn't seem to get a shell to come out 100% of the time, so I had to manipulate it manually in the movies themselves.)
I was able to save 5 frames - 1 at the blue shell grab, 2 from adjusting pixels at the first Star Coin to bounce off of the wall earlier, 1 from adjusting pixels to enter the pipe transition a frame earlier, and most notably, 1 at the first seesaw... While working on saving the frame at the seesaw, I discovered a few things:
- It looks like the highest speed you can be at to do the shell speed gaining trick is anywhere below 2816, the speed you normally travel at while in the shell. The most optimal way I've found to get into that "mode" from full speed is to jump toward an edge, press back a frame before landing, continue holding back 3 frames while grounded, let go of left/right the next frame, hold forward+down the next frame, then finally hold back (+X/Y). (You'll have to line up how close to the edge you land with your jump for this to work.)
- Staying on the seesaw advances RNG for some reason.
- When I broke the brick after the seesaw (in (2)), it seemed to give me a completely different set of RNG values.
The third one is a very odd problem, as I then can't line up the manipulation to be the same anymore... I provided another file (1) that loses this frame, but keeps the manipulation the same.
Also, for future reference, may I use any of your inputs for tests/attempts like this? I used yours whenever I couldn't find an improvement in an area, if that's okay.
9 frames improved
So it turned out that the shell trick in 1-4 actually saved 6 frames and I was able to somehow save 3 frames after the underground area, bringing the total improvement to 9 frames.
Wow, nice! Didn't think that pixel optimizations could save time there! The first seesaw part looks cool, too bad it only saves a frame. Those are some nice discoveries about the shell speed gaining trick.
Uh-oh. That might mean the manipulation might have to be re-synced for the whole world... I actually have a similar problem in 1-4. I was able to squeeze one more double jump in after the third starcoin, but I couldn't find a place to throw in another. This means the second double jump would have to be included in the underground area, but the only way I could do that is to land on the ground with no input for a frame and lose a few pixels, but that loss is big enough to lose a frame! The dsm I uploaded doesn't lose the frame for now, but to keep manipulation the same, I have to lose a frame...
Sure! Chances are, I'll probably end up hex-editing most of your inputs/improvements into the WIP, so if that helps with the testing, go for it.
I've been thinking of some last major improvements that might remain for World 1:
1-2 (secret): If it was possible to manipulate so that a new red box doesn't appear, some frames could be saved when moving in the world map by spawning a red-box in 1-1 to move to 1-2 after doing 1-tower (secret).
1-2 (normal): More frames could probably be saved in the world map if luck could be manipulated so that a red-box doesn't spawn right after completing the level.
1-4: It might be faster to get a mini-mushroom from a red-box than from normally where I get it. I tried to manipulate in 1-tower (normal) for the red-box to have a mini-mushroom instead, but was unable to do it (from bad RNG?).
Edit: I've been thinking of a new power-up plan that might be faster. After getting the blue-shell in reserve in 1-2 (normal) and taking damage, I would use the blue-shell reserve right away on a slope to use the shell-speed trick throughout the rest of the level. I would keep the blue-shell till 1-4, where I would manipulate the red-box to have another blue-shell so that I could use the trick again after becoming mini.
Does the RNG determine whether a new red-box spawns right after completing a level that had a red-box? It seems that sometimes a new one appears right after completing a level (1-2 (both exits)) and sometimes it appears after completing another level (1-4, 1-A).
Currently Working on:
Metal Slug X - Mission 1 (On hold)
Is anyone still working on this? I finally got a new rig so I'd like to continue this project if anyone's up to help. The latest wip desyncs on DeSmuME 0.9.10 unfortunately, though I haven'tdone much else besides encode the movie with 0.9.8
Hey. I haven't looked at this since YOSH1 last posted his improvements to 1-2. I've been considering restarting my WIP at some point because of the improvements and the fact that version 0.9.10 is available, making 0.9.8 really outdated now, but I haven't had the motivation to starting working on this again.
Here's the route I had planned originally (world by world, didn't plan out power-ups):
W1, 1st visit (1-1, 1-2(alt), 1-T, cannon)
W1, 2nd visit (finish the rest of the levels)
W2, 1st visit (2-1, 2-2, 2-3 (both), 2-A (both), Castle (alt))
W4, 1st visit (all levels except either 4-4 or 4-A and 4-ghost (alt))
W5, 1st visit (5-1, 5-2(both), 5-3, 5-ghost(both),cannon)
W2, 2nd visit (cannon)
W5, 2nd visit (finish the rest of the levels)
W6, (all levels)
W2, 3rd visit (finish the rest of the levels)
W3, 1st visit (3-A, 3-2 (either both or normal depending on how I need to manipulate the map), 3-Tower, 3-3, 3-ghost(both), cannon)
W3, 2nd visit (finish the rest of the levels)
W4, 2nd visit (4-4 or 4-A (whichever one wasn't done earlier), 4-ghost(alt), cannon)
W7, (all levels)
W8, (all levels, finish the game)
The main thing I prioritized was minimizing the number of times you move from one world to another because doing that uses so much frames.
I would be interested in helping, but I want to try to finish some of my other TASes that I started a while ago (Metal Slug 7).
Currently Working on:
Metal Slug X - Mission 1 (On hold)
Hello‚
I would be really interested in TASing this game :D Since the last WIPs desync with 0.9.10‚ I began to redo the World 1‚ but I saw you talking about several tricks that I didn't fond any explanations for. So could you please answer some of my questions ?
- What is the "shell-speed gaining trick" ? I understood this was something about holding a direction while wanting to go to the opposite‚ but how does it work ?
- What is the trick with the fireball ? I didn't really understood‚ firing a fireball while jumping saves time ?
- How does the RNG work ? I saw you talking about double jumps or something like that‚ but I didn't understand very well xD
I problably made mistakes, sorry for my bad English, I'm French :v
I'd like an explanation on 1 and 3 too. The only fireball trick that I know of is that if you want to walljump to gain speed, it doesn't start you at running speed, but at a slightly lower speed. Shooting a fireball right when you walljump will start you off at a higher speed than just a walljump by itself, but still lower than dashing speed.
For the 3: Making triple jumps modify the RNG value, you can watch the RAM Value and you'll see that making triple jump changes the RNG, that means, if you do 2 triple jump, you'll get different RNG that 1 Triple jump.
Also, I also want to TAS that game, mindnomad, maybe we can coop?
Current:
Rayman 3 maybe? idk xD
Paused:
N64 Rayman 2 (with Funnyhair)
GBA SMA 4 : E Reader (With TehSeven)
TASVideos is like a quicksand, you get in, but you cannot quit the sand
1: The shell-speed gaining trick is a trick you can do with the blue shell that was discovered by YOSH1. Basically you stand at the very end of a ledge and duck while holding THE OPPOSITE direction of where you want to go (left if you want to move right, right if you want to move left). If done correctly, you should start gaining speed at a much faster rate. You only gain speed faster when you're airborne, so if you're not at 48 speed before you hit the ground, jump on the first possible frame to stay airborne and you will continue to gain speed at the faster rate. What makes this trick really useful is that once you're at 48 speed, you can stay on the ground and still move at 48 speed. You can see it done in various places in my WIP, a good example is the underground section of 1-4 and the end of 1-A
2. The fireball trick is what mindnomad said, using a fireball right after you walljump. It allows you to gain speed much faster.
3. The RNG is mainly changed by double jumps and walljumps. Triple jumps DO NOT change the RNG. According to YOSH1, staying on the seesaws in 1-2 also changes the RNG and breaking certain bricks also changes it. Though if I remember correctly, it usually doesn't. Inducing fireworks at the end of the level by getting the same last two digits of the timer also changes the RNG, but this is something that we don't have to worry about because a TAS would never try to get fireworks.
Currently Working on:
Metal Slug X - Mission 1 (On hold)
If you or anyone else is up for the luck manipulation of a 100% run, I can help with strategies and levels. I have some improvements over currently published strats already.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=uakgFs5R-zE
To answer your comment: what looks like jumping off the wall is actually jumping off a floor. The colored floor extends slightly beyond the moving blocks, allowing me to land on it for 1 frame.
Will do! I'll send you my WIPs when I get back from vacation. (I have all world 1, the first few levels of world 2, and the first 3 from world 5, though not all in one movie.)
My strategy for world order was going to start out much like the any% strategy.
-World 1 to cannon. (Only secret goal on 1T.)
-World 5 to cannon. (I rage quit from luck manipulation on 53.)
-World 8 100%. (You then return to world 1 automatically.)
This has the advantages of not entering a world just to exit it often (takes time), has the ideal power ups, skips as much of watching Bowser Jr. carrying Peach as possible, and the small bonus of fewer pictures in the credits. (Going strictly for time; each picture gets 1 lag frame.)
(Though this doesn't end with credits, neither would doing the worlds on order. You need to buy the backgrounds with the last stat coins in world 1.)