One thing that would help a lot is the ability to reproduce the old TAS action segment inputs into the bizhawk piano roll. I had to reconstruct the old one frame-by-frame to make a pure version to compare to.
Do you use discord?
giant woman#0022
I apologize for taking so long to get back to you. I have been extremely busy with a sudden heavy workload, which has been a thing for the last couple of years, and has slowed down my TASing. I wrote an SMV editor while TASing this, and so I now added an export button for the Bizhawk format. Here is the exported input file: https://www.dropbox.com/s/t3tl3szuxreserk/zidanax%2Cdunnius-actraiser.smv-Bizhawk.txt.zip
Currently I can use RAM Watch to read the memory addresses of those two values, unless you mean something more than that.
My script would tell you when you could jump or crest boost as well as display the values, but it is easy enough to read the values from RAM watch.
dunnius wrote:
I noticed while working on Kasandora that the pointer movement affects where things are built, and thusly the time it takes.
Could you elaborate on this? I can't tell if you're talking about a level of detail beyond what it sounds like.
Basically the way the pointer is moved as well as its current location affects where the houses and food structures are built, which then affects where things are built later on. This affects the amount of time it takes to build depending on how far away the furthest build point is. Another thing to check is if the path taken to the build is random. The overall idea is to bot test to find the overall movement that has the least net construction time which includes the lag frames before the construction phase where it decides where to build, the time moving the pointer, and any extra miracle time. This applies especially in Kasandora because of the long waiting period and the wide open map, but is something that could benefit the other towns as well.
especially since I use the time consuming strategy of not even referencing the old TAS until after I finish the level. I feel that strategy is responsible for most of my ideas, improvements, and fun.
This is a good thing to do because you may discover something that Zidanax and I overlooked. You should at least do a quick and dirty test TAS to test your ideas. I have a few other ideas for the simulations as well, so I will also have to do a test TAS as well.
Do you use discord?
I haven't used discord, but I see there is a Linux client so I guess I will now.
I haven't gotten anything done in 3 weeks because I've been pushing for a world record in my other game. I'll have progress soon.
I learned what lagframes were and managed to get rid of the random lagframe when the boss dies, by jumping. It's extremely finicky.
I'd take a look at the script for crest/boost
I'm not sure how to import that
I tried to add it to the .bk2 archive file "input log" but it has a format like this
[Input]
LogKey:#Reset|Power|#P1 Up|P1 Down|P1 Left|P1 Right|P1 Select|P1 Start|P1 Y|P1 B|P1 X|P1 A|P1 L|P1 R|#P2 Up|P2 Down|P2 Left|P2 Right|P2 Select|P2 Start|P2 Y|P2 B|P2 X|P2 A|P2 L|P2 R|
|..|............|............|
[/Input]
instead of
|.|............
There's also this "zipping glitch" I found in the tasvideos resources for this game, but I'm unable to get it to work.
I tried loading it in 1.51 snes9x which the file lists as the needed version, but upon opening it, it tells me I need to load it in a different version.
I tried loading it in 1.51 snes9x which the file lists as the needed version, but upon opening it, it tells me I need to load it in a different version.
The different version can be 1.43 version, since most runs were also worked with this version.
My homepage
--Currently not much motived for TASing as before...--
But I'm still working.
I haven't done anything in the past few weeks as well.
ActRaiser has plenty of random lag frames, even in the simulation. When there are lag frames, you should check if it is possible to reduce or avoid them. Sometimes deliberately losing a frame or more can save frames overall by reducing lag. It's always wise to go back and check the lag frames, especially random lag.
Here is the lua script for the jump boost/crest boost, which also has hitboxes and other enemy information. https://www.dropbox.com/s/wijdq3qciattnm4/ActRaiser%20HUD-Act%20%28U%29.lua?dl=0 Feel free to modify the script with any other memory addresses you are using.
I played around with the script to remember how it works, and started thinking about various routes in the first half. I guess the lower(ground) route should be checked again with the jump/crest boosts and damage boosting to see if it is faster (with jump and crest boosts the entire depression area located right before the the bramble when landing out of the trees, provided that the bee is in the right spot) can be crossed in a single jump , as well as a few alternates of getting out of trees earlier than the current TAS. Getting the apple at the checkpoint negates any damage taken in the first half. I was also looking at using Y+B boost off a ledge, but I doubt that is useful in this stage.
I had looked at the guide on TASVideos for the Bizhawk movie format, but it wasn't clear how it should be formatted. Here is the new file which should work. https://www.dropbox.com/s/vuqshgsct8sz4gb/zidanax%2Cdunnius-actraiser.smv-Bizhawk.zip?dl=0
I remember the zipping glitch movie file, but I was never able to get it to load. You would have to try a bunch of different versions from 1.4.3 up to 1.5.2, which was available at the time, but was not used for the any% because of lack of lua support. I'll have to see if I can get it to load because I would like to see it. It would be awesome if it could be used.
edit: updated the movie output file.
I replied to giant woman with a solution in the Discord but I realize that doesn't help anybody here. Sorry!
That zip movie file will work with SNES9x 1.51 rr v7. The top link on this page: http://tasvideos.org/EmulatorResources/Snes9x.html
It's a really neat zip but I doubt it'd be useful anywhere. I was really glad to finally be able to see it, though! I had been intrigued by that for literal years. Haha.
