Joined: 6/13/2006
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Location: Massachussetts, USA
I remember my brother playing this on the computer, and it actually is a very well emulated ROM, with little trouble (a little experimentation, showed no problems.) I don't know if there is a ton of time saving tricks, but the game is mobile and fast enough to be entertaining to watch. Anyone think that this'd be a great game to TAS?
Joined: 6/13/2006
Posts: 3300
Location: Massachussetts, USA
Yeah, someone projected 4-5 hours so I'd be suprised if sub 3 could be reached. But the game I think would be very good, there's lots of places for expertly angled shots, the music, levels and gameplay is very nice. I think that in terms of action/complexity it compares with Zelda 64: OoT. I might do this WAY down the road, I'd need to finish my 3 current runs, attempt SNES Yoshi's Island, and then consider this.
And of course, I love 100% runs and do them solely, so no problem there :P
Joined: 6/13/2006
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In the YI 100% thread, he had officially given up. Erokky and I attempted it initially, and we both gave up, however once I finish my 3 current projects I'll attempt it again.
Back to this game, if anyone has spare time and wants to noodle around and see if they can find interesting stuff that'd be great... I can't really test this game out yet because Kirby 64 neeeds the analog stick disabled, and it'd be a pain to switch the configurations back and forth between using d-pad and analog stick... my guess is that this game can't be broken too much in terms of glitches, but that time savers from TASing can be done, as well as fast paced action.
Joined: 8/15/2005
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Location: Mullsjö, Sweden
I was thinking about this game today... Haven't played it for long. But I think I'm going to start playing it again, just for fun:). Am using the Dreamcast version, are there any differences?
Joined: 6/13/2006
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Location: Massachussetts, USA
Here's what I found on Wikipedia:
I had the PC version, and obviously will be using the 64 version to TAS.
PC:
The PC version, entitled Rayman 2: The Great Escape, features the sharpest graphics due to semi-high resolution support, compared to the Nintendo 64 and the Dreamcast versions of the product. It is compatible with computers ranging from around the year of 1999 to the present day, although it can sometimes be hard to get the game to run on Windows XP.
Dreamcast, Nintendo 64, PlayStation:
Entitled Rayman 2: The Great Escape, these three versions are very similar. A few of the differences are: The Dreamcast version has several minigames, the Playstation version had the characters to talk english instead of blabber, and numerous changes have been made to the world map and final battle across these versions.
I'd love to see a TAS on this game since its a game with Linear levels, but with a little back tracking since I think to complete certain levels and advance to later on levels you need to get certain abilties in order to advance to later levels. I'm not sure if any time glitches are there, but I'm more than certain that shortcuts exist within the game so its a good candidate for a TAS.
Joined: 6/13/2006
Posts: 3300
Location: Massachussetts, USA
Yeah, I can't wait to start on it. Apparently you need 999 Lums to beat the game, so it's going to naturally be 100%. There's also backtracking becuase you need to collect Lums that you couldn't get earlier. I agree that it'd be a great TAS, finding those shortcuts and having constant action, fast, well timed shots is what's going to make this TAS. Oh yeah, and definetly route planning (not having a SDA run to plan equals more work for me :( but makes it original.) And learning how to make a N64 TAS with analog stick, I'm currently learning.
Edit: Just got all input stuff to work out, so I'll do a few test runs and see what happens.
Joined: 6/13/2006
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Location: Massachussetts, USA
Rayman 2 initial test run
Here's an initial stab, not even getting to the first level but becoming familiar with the controls. Sliding is going to be a pain in this game, the controls are very hard when sliding (one of the last levels is all sliding, that'll be fun.) I'm not sure if jumping is faster, it certainly looks faster, and is easier to control, and I'm pretty sure that I saved a few frames by redoing that section (plus got through the hole I made faster)
The intro to this game is extremely long (albeit absolutely awesome music), so fast foward to frame 11397ish and create a save state there.
unless I can find a good guide that shows the minimum requirement to go to each next level, it's gonna be 100% because I don't know the minimum # Lums needed.
Joined: 6/13/2006
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Location: Massachussetts, USA
Rayman 2 Woods of Light level done
Still in the early stages, so noodling around to get this game perfected... Anyone notice any glaring faults?
I might redo the duct pipe section again, I noticed very small places to fix but only a few frames.
I think there's one ledge grab that's frame perfect (just before the mini-globoxes) but the one before that was 2 frames slower
I think climbing up in between 2 slopes with frame advance is fastest (I did an initial frame test, but I haven't tried optimal normal climbing as intended) So I don't know which is faster. Again, ealry stages of the run so testing stuff out.
Thoughts?
Edit: This is a confirmed any% run, needing only 550 Lums to complete the game. Making it any% will A) make this long game be shorter and B) make it a little more difficult for me to find the easiest Lum locations.
I'll watch it later, sounds like you're making great progress already although this will probally take you a long time and a lot of re-records and planning as well and you'll also have to experiment to see if certain shortcuts or maybe glitches are possible.
EDIT: I've watched and it desyncs where that yellow lum and drain is as you're endlessly running against it and jump on it, what I've seen so far looks OK though.
Joined: 6/13/2006
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I'll be redoing everything today anyways; if there's still a desynch there;
A) you have the correct ROM? U 1.0
B) I noticed that it's a place where you're stuck running in place until the right angle where you can slide into the drainwhen it opens, so it might be very frame sensitive
Joined: 6/13/2006
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someone mentioned that setting it to Low resolution can make the frame rate better (not for me because my CPU is pretty bad) but if anyone thinks lowering the resolution will work to make it easier for everyone else to watch let me know soon
Joined: 6/13/2006
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Location: Massachussetts, USA
Hm I'm starting to experience desynchs... but those have only happened with the V3 I made using low resolution. I'll try again V2 with high resolution, I'm very sure I never experienced any desynchs then, and unfortunately this might be a cancelled project if I get as many desynchs as Majora's Mask. I'll keep trying and see what happens.
If this is the case then continue a little to see how often it desyncs, but like I did with MM, just keep doing something till it looks OK, it doesn't have to be frame perfect it it desyncs every so often.
Joined: 6/13/2006
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Location: Massachussetts, USA
I think it may just have been related to switching to low resolution, so I'm 3/4 done with Woods of Light with no desynchs so far. fingers crossed, I'll release a WIP as soon as I'm done.
Joined: 6/13/2006
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Location: Massachussetts, USA
Rayman 2 V1 Woods of Light redone
Redid everything, inserted jumping into the slide which saved 100 frames, and then redid the entire Woods of Light section to be faster. Lemme know if it desynchs again.
Didn't get any desynchs with this version, so high resolution it is.
Joined: 6/13/2006
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Location: Massachussetts, USA
Alrighty, here's a rough plan for skipping some Lums and getting others... As the game gets harder obviously some Lums are harder to get, so maybe some of my suggested skip Lums are actually easier to get now rather than later:
Lum #'s are referenced in the FAQ guide
Lum 1-5: Skip (under water, slow)
6-7: get
8 in cage: skip out of way?
9: skip- Isolated island
10-15: get
3rd cage: 16-20
4th cage 21-25 skip?
26-27: skip?
28-35: get
5th cage: 36-38 skip?
39-48: air currents get
6th vage: Teensies
Any addendums? If I skip all the ones I suggested to skip it'd be 32 Lums, which is around the average number to get for the next 3 levels to get into the sanctuary of water and ice.
Joined: 6/13/2006
Posts: 3300
Location: Massachussetts, USA
Fairy Glade initial progress WIP
I've noticed exactly what caused desynchs (only got 2 so far) in this game: frame precision. I am of course checking progress every 15-30 seconds or so (basically every TAS segment) and if something desynchs, redo the section that's not frame perfect by 1-2 frames, and voila.
Edit: Speaking of Desynchs... haha it desynched for me just before the level actually starts, so all the progress I had made in that level in the past few hours is gone... gar this desynch business is no fun, I just should adhere to the 1-2 frame precision thingy from now on strictly. I have patience for this sorta thing so no worry.
I also noticed something in my gameplay, the analog stick is a little tricky to use in this game (or maybe all N64 games are like this) and the screen scrolls in a weird way, so making curve lines when walking is easier to do than straight lines. So maybe it's better that I restart the level, and try to find faster/straighter ways to do things.