Post by Tompa

Posted: 3/6/2007 3:13 AM

Post subject: Home Alone 2: Lost in New York Speedrun Attempt

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Themattman

Joined: 10/11/2006
Posts: 35

Hi, this is my first ever attempt at a speed run. I hope since I am making this post I can motivate myself to perfect it :) The game is fairly easy, and I think I can get a time of around 15 minutes depending on how much time I can find and save. Has anyone played this game before? Do you have any special tricks or knowledge of the game? Questions I do have: 1. Any way to manipulate the elevator button at the end of the first level? 2. Exactly "how" far do I need to run on the different floors in the hotel to trigger the next floor? Thanks!

Posted: 3/6/2007 7:08 PM

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Chamale

He/Him

Player (178)

Joined: 10/20/2006
Posts: 1352
Location: Canada

Never played, you should describe the genre some more. Is there a "dash" move? Does L+R or U+D cause glitches? How high are jumps? What's the enemy/boss system?

Posted: 3/6/2007 9:39 PM

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Themattman

Joined: 10/11/2006
Posts: 35

I will try to answer what you have asked Chamale. 1. There is no "dash" move that I am aware of, so there is no way to go faster than normal, you run the same speed throughout the whole game. 2. L+R,U+D, I have not found a glitch yet, but I will keep an eye out. 3. If you play the game, the jumps are all the same height, with the exception of a couch in the first level which is bouncy and can allow you to jump to a higher platform. 4. There is only two real "boss" situations in my opinion. There is one "chef" at the end of the hotel level, and the two guys who try to kidnap you (marv and ...). This is an easy game to beat, but I need to start somewhere to learn the skills to move onto bigger and better games. Even if this speedrun is not amazing and accepted, I will have something to work on. Here is my test run so far: http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/4268/Test2.fcm Notes: -Covers first level of the level (No Pun intended) -I know near the end of the level I stop for a near second, I can fix that easily -I slowed down the game and ultrapressed the up button to see if the elevator would appear faster...It didn't. -Is there a way to manipulate my luck and get the elevator to appear faster Comments and Suggestions welcome, thank you. EDIT: Quick Question... Pretend that test run I did was perfect. How could I begin to record again from that position?

Posted: 3/7/2007 12:56 AM

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Chamale

He/Him

Player (178)

Joined: 10/20/2006
Posts: 1352
Location: Canada

To answer the quick question, this is what you do: 1. Download it off the internet (if you've modified the file since then) 2. Put the file in the Movies folder of FCEU 3. Choose "replay movie" and watch up until the point the movie ends. Just before then, pause and frame advance until the last frame, then make a savestate of this frame. Then you can choose that savestate and it will be in record mode, rather than play mode. About the elevator... You need to see if it appears X frames after it's visible, or Y frames after the start of the game, or if it can be manipulated. Depending on which it is... If it's based on after it's visible, you might have a very limited area to screw around in and entertain the viewer... Resting in a place for more than 2 seconds is not advisable. If it appears at frame Y, you have some time to kill in the level, which can be done by scoring every point possible. Or, by making the character do odd things. You know those old ladies? It's possible to look up their dresses by ducking under them and hitting up. THAT'S entertainment! If it is possible to luck-manipulate the elevator coming, then go through the level at top speed and manipulate the immediate arrival.

Posted: 3/7/2007 2:23 AM

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arkiandruski

Reviewer, Active player (277)

Joined: 12/14/2006
Posts: 717

Watched it. That wait time was pretty long. I played through the level a few times and it behaved pretty much the exact same way each time, so I don't think there's any luck manipulation. That elevator is weird. I think it depends on how long after you get there. If so, play with the luggage a bit. However, the only way I could get it to consistently come up at a certain time was to comtinually push the button. This even works in real time. Good luck, I guess.

My favorite movies

Posted: 3/7/2007 3:47 AM

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Themattman

Joined: 10/11/2006
Posts: 35

Ok, my goals for tomorrow, or whenever I have the chance are: 1. Figure out if there is a "definite" time I have to wait for the elevator to open, I will just have to find something interesting to do for that time. 2. Perfect the first floor up to the elevator. From there I will probably work on all the other floors at once since I don't need to enter any rooms at all. One question I have is how far do I need to walk down each hallway to trigger the next floor?

Posted: 3/7/2007 10:31 PM

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Themattman

Joined: 10/11/2006
Posts: 35

Finished Level 1: http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/4295/Test3.fcm I know after I got the invincibility thing I forget sometimes to just just and not slide, but I'm pretty sure I would only gain a fraction of a second at the moment. I think I am getting the hang of the emulator, so I will try to be more precise for the next level. Comments/Suggestions? EDIT: Realized I do need the gun from the first level, so I guess I will have to repeat this level.

Posted: 3/8/2007 1:32 AM

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Vatchern

Player (84)

Joined: 3/8/2005
Posts: 973
Location: Newfoundland, Canada

Hello Themattman. I may sound a little mean here, but I just finished watching your movie. I don't know much about the game, but, the game seems boring. always running around and no action. Unless the game gets more exciting as time goes on, I'm not sure if this game will be well suited for a TAS.

http://tasvideos.org/Vatchern.html

Posted: 3/8/2007 2:00 AM

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Themattman

Joined: 10/11/2006
Posts: 35

Vatchern wrote:

Hello Themattman. I may sound a little mean here, but I just finished watching your movie. I don't know much about the game, but, the game seems boring. always running around and no action. Unless the game gets more exciting as time goes on, I'm not sure if this game will be well suited for a TAS.

I am crying on the inside right now :$ Yeah, I know the game is kind of boring, but I felt that it was a good start, better than say Super Mario Brothers 3. I'm not sure if I will submit this as a TAS, but I would just like to see how fast this game can actually be completed in. EDIT: Tried to make a bit more interesting: http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/4299/Test4.fcm About 43 frames slower, so I guess I lost about 2 seconds, but you will see that I will save about 15 now during the next level. It turns out that I actually "need" to get the gun and the extra bullets for what is ahead. I also noticed that jumping does not affect speed so from now on I will just pick up anything I can. Until tomorrow :)

Posted: 3/8/2007 4:10 AM

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Tragedy

Joined: 11/13/2006
Posts: 87
Location: California, USA

Themattman wrote:

About 43 frames slower, so I guess I lost about 2 seconds

43 frames is about 2/3 of a second... Or does the game run at a different framerate? I actually have the SNES version of this game... I'd actually like to see this completed, since I've never been able to complete it on console (did it on emulator in about 20 minutes, though).

If you see me posting, I'm most likely being a douche. <small>Working on: not ever coming here again</small>

Posted: 3/8/2007 10:47 AM

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Themattman

Joined: 10/11/2006
Posts: 35

Tragedy wrote:

Themattman wrote:
About 43 frames slower, so I guess I lost about 2 seconds
43 frames is about 2/3 of a second... Or does the game run at a different framerate? I actually have the SNES version of this game... I'd actually like to see this completed, since I've never been able to complete it on console (did it on emulator in about 20 minutes, though).

Ah, ok. I thought the games ran at 24 fps, so it is 60. I will try to finish all the way up to the house today, I will edit it in later.

Posted: 3/9/2007 1:30 AM

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Themattman

Joined: 10/11/2006
Posts: 35

http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/4329/test222.fcm Second Level done, although I messed up syncing it with the first part :$ Last part, but there was some sort of error I don't feel like fixing now :$ http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/4330/test233.fcm Is there a way to put together 2 movie files?

Posted: 3/9/2007 1:33 AM

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laughing_gas

Former player

Joined: 10/1/2006
Posts: 1102
Location: boot_camp

Themattman wrote:

Is there a way to put together 2 movie files?

Tas movie editor or hex editing.

Borg Collective wrote:

Negotiation is irrelevant. Self-determination is irrelevant. You will be assimilated.

Posted: 3/9/2007 2:45 AM

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Themattman

Joined: 10/11/2006
Posts: 35

laughing_gas wrote:

Themattman wrote:
Is there a way to put together 2 movie files?
Tas movie editor or hex editing.

Thank you, the Tas Movie Editor helped me SO MUCH. Final run: http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/4331/Finished.fcm 34677 frames 9:38 including the text at the end Personally I don't think more than a few seconds can be taken off this run. If anyone could get 10 or more I would like to see their try :) Btw, I know I messed up a few frames here or there.

Posted: 3/9/2007 5:34 PM

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Chamale

He/Him

Player (178)

Joined: 10/20/2006
Posts: 1352
Location: Canada

You'd be surprised at what a few frames here and there can do... I made a TAS of Tom and Jerry, with a couple non-optimized jumps and a bad route, but I sent it in for publication. Some people suggested improvements and guessed it could be improved by 5 seconds. I improved it by almost 30.

Posted: 3/9/2007 8:18 PM

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Rridgway

Joined: 2/13/2007
Posts: 448
Location: Calgary, Alberta

He's not kidding on that. However looking at his Jurrasic Park speedrun... Many improvements can be seen there.

Renting this space for rent. Trying to fix image on this site. Please cut slack. As of April 6th, 2012: After a long absence, here we go again?

Posted: 3/9/2007 10:27 PM

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Themattman

Joined: 10/11/2006
Posts: 35

I have another question I am asking to everyone who reads this thread. I know that I can probably save a few seconds if I redo this speed run and make it look cosmetically a bit better. I also know that this run is a little boring. Knowing that, I don't know if it is worth it to spend a few hours making it a few seconds faster if it has no chance to be accepted as a speed run. I assume the answer is it won't, but I would like to hear your opinion.

Posted: 3/10/2007 2:12 AM

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Chamale

He/Him

Player (178)

Joined: 10/20/2006
Posts: 1352
Location: Canada

Well, popularity has a lot to do with it. My Jurassic Park speedrun (Which, by the way, Ridgway, is perfect. I don't even know what you're smoking) is at least as entertaining as the Pokémon speedruns, but the Pokémon series is enormously popular while the Jurassic Park games are not. Another factor is time. If you take 2 TASes, and any given 5-minute clip is equally entertaining, but one is twice as long, the shorter one is more likely to be published. That said, this game isn't hugely popular, but the movie was fairly big. Jurassic Park 3 actually grossed almost exactly as much as Home Alone 2 ($180 million to $174 million). However, the length of this TAS is short enough that it doesn't get monotonous. I think this has a good shot at publication, if you make it perfect.

Posted: 3/16/2007 12:09 AM

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Rridgway

Joined: 2/13/2007
Posts: 448
Location: Calgary, Alberta

I agree with you there Chamale. Make it more entertainging if you want it submitted.

Renting this space for rent. Trying to fix image on this site. Please cut slack. As of April 6th, 2012: After a long absence, here we go again?

Posted: 3/16/2007 5:25 AM

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Dromiceius

Joined: 10/3/2005
Posts: 1332

Themattman wrote:

I have another question I am asking to everyone who reads this thread. I know that I can probably save a few seconds if I redo this speed run and make it look cosmetically a bit better. I also know that this run is a little boring. Knowing that, I don't know if it is worth it to spend a few hours making it a few seconds faster if it has no chance to be accepted as a speed run. I assume the answer is it won't, but I would like to hear your opinion.

Yeah... this is a terrible choice of game. On top of being a cheap, generic cash-in on a popular movie franchise, it seems to be so simplistically programmed that there are no glitches or even luck to manipulate. IMO, your time with this game would be better spent searching for a bug severe enough that you can exploit the hell out of it, and save a lot of time. I can't imagine this game getting a lot of votes, otherwise.