Posts for ALAKTORN


ALAKTORN
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So you can’t jump on top of those blocks? The pause to jump over the first enemy is necessary? On the second-top floor, can’t delay the jump over the enemy so you get the zip at the same time? And most importantly: is it impossible to running-jump all item-things? What if after jumping over a block you ran a few frames in the opposite direction to align with the item-thing better? I’d test stuff myself but I don’t feel like installing BizHawk for this.
ALAKTORN
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Sounds like you want something for convenience, but finding it isn’t convenient at all.
ALAKTORN
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^lol
ALAKTORN wrote:
Let’s try to get those 44 steps. I’m going to be streaming it: http://www.twitch.tv/alaktorn91
Current TAS advances 31 steps. I need to advance a further 44 for my Giga Aspis kill to sync. +6 +3 +1 +1 +3 +1 +1 +10 +11 – The amount of steps I advanced over my old TAS: Kill first enemy, kill its copter, shoot wall ×2, kill copter, shoot wall ×2, shoot wall ×10, kill spinning blade. old RNG 498813948 on frame 16760 new RNG 73299994 on frame 16761 (+ 38 steps compared to old) Lost a frame (may or may not be necessary for that specific RNG manipulation), and only got + 37 steps over the current one, so I’m 7 steps away from syncing the boss fight. I don’t think I can advance the RNG any more than this without losing a few frames, which sucks… This manipulation is so fucking complex I really hate TASing this game. I’ll probably have to re-TAS it trying to advance the RNG as little as possible, and do Giga Aspis manipulation all over again to check if there’s a better RNG earlier than what I currently get. Video of my attempt at RNG manipulation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-l7DC6HLly8 Also input file: http://tasvideos.org/userfiles/info/23603629336034618 Edit: Also I tested not charging a shot at Giga Aspis, but the lag frame still happens if you move first frame. Edit: 599552 X 15484 667648 X 15845 599423 X 15484 667647 X 15845 So to do a +1 step I’m losing a frame due to a single subpixel. WOW. I take part of what I said before back, my old TAS already destroyed the copter and got the +3, it just self-destructed off-screen so I didn’t notice it. I was confused at enemies’ health so I found their HP address and by extension the whole enemy data RAM section. Starts at 0x02154560 and ends at 0x02154F1F. Each enemy is 208 bytes of data, 12 enemies total. I wasted my life on that shit. Never again. Edit: I lied.
ALAKTORN
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Let’s try to get those 44 steps. I’m going to be streaming it: http://www.twitch.tv/alaktorn91
ALAKTORN
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I’m not all that advanced in this field but I find Notepad++ to be really good.
ALAKTORN
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Looks like a simple Lua drawing the lines for inner/outer arrays would be helpful. Unless I misunderstood something.
ALAKTORN
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I don’t even understand why, but it seems like after much trial & error I was able to get the Giga Aspis manipulation without losing any frames. I’m like 99% sure my manipulation took too long and I should be losing frames, but the lag + position update after the kill is on frame 18020, which considering the 44 wait frames I added before the boss fight, ties with my perfect (cheated) boss fight from before. It’s 5am here so I’ll look into it more later I guess. Gif courtesy of Zinfogel: http://i.imgur.com/uuQyM7R.gif But there’s a problem: I don’t think I can advance the 44 steps before the fight without losing any frames. That’d be really sad… either way, I’m far from done… Info on my old perfect (cheated) kill:
ALAKTORN wrote:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRV4I6D6PAM My fight gets a late spit at the start, so that I can do full attack combo loops without wasting time up until the second to last hit (3 frames lost to hit), Edit2: 8 frames lost on the last hit in my on-screen kill. So 3+8 = 11 frames away from perfect? 17406, 17576–17976 Boss 0 HP, explosion sprite appears – lag frame / position updated after kill
ALAKTORN wrote:
Trying every possible amount of +steps and seeing what kinda behaviour I get (this is with the lag frame at the start): frame 16824: 0 nothing, 1 dive, 2 back, 3 back, 4 back, 5 dive, 6 spit, 7 spit, 8 nothing, 9 nothing (+3, dive), 10 dive, 11 nothing (+2 back), 12 dive, 13 spit, 14 dive, 15 back, 16 spit, 17 nothing (+4 spit), 18 dive, 19 dive, 20 dive, 21 back, 22 spit, 23 dive, 24 dive, 25 dive, 26 nothing, 27 dive, 28 nothing, 29 nothing, 30 back, 31 spit, 32 dive, 33 spit, 34 dive, 35 dive, 36 nothing (+2 dive), 37 nothing (+2 back), 38 spit, 39 dive, 40 spit, 41 spit, 42 back, 43 spit, 44 nothing (+2 spit) from 44, 17130: 0 nothing (+2 back), 1 N/A, 2 back, 3 back, 4 N/A, 5 nothing (+3 back), 6 dive, 7 dive, 8 dive, 9 nothing (+2 spit)
As written above, I waited 44 frames before the boss fight, did a manipulation of 9 steps during the fight, and super luckily the final attack Giga Aspis did was an early dive, exactly what I need for the kill. I don’t even know if I could’ve manipulated anything at that point…
ALAKTORN
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MrWint did that with his Pokémon botted TASes. No idea how he did it, though; they’re not normal emulator features sadly.
ALAKTORN
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hegyak wrote:
endrift wrote:
I've been told that the sound restoration patch doesn't actually work properly on real hardware due to it using too much CPU. E] I just figured out what the graphical bug is and WOW I'm amazed I never fixed it before. It will be fixed in not the upcoming build, but the one after it.
Which Graphical Bug? The Final Fantasy one or the Phantasy Star one?
Obviously Final Fantasy.
ALAKTORN
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Why is it being written as AppleII instead of what it should be, Apple II? Edit: Does that thing not support spaces or something.
ALAKTORN
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Deuceler wrote:
Do you have a suggestion for an emu with a better RAM search?
There’s probably a better alternative but I don’t know any. When I used it for Tenchu I asked a friend to write up a few scripts in PHP which helped out. I don’t remember the specifics anymore.
Deuceler wrote:
I also have one of the tricks I'm trying to figure out and it seems to have some strange conditions in order to make it work - I'd like to see if anyone wouldn't mind racking their brain with me to try to find a solution
Well, what is it about?
ALAKTORN
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Warepire wrote:
The first step is to look for a value that is equal to the address which contains the memory value. Note, that you may still be looking at a structure, so try to do a "fuzzy" search (meaning, look for values also slightly smaller than the address you have). When you believe you found something, watch that address and see if changes the way you expect it to.
I think rather than doing it only once, you should do it a bunch of times to narrow the search down. I’d say the first step is to make multiple savestates, each with a different HP address, then switch between the savestates while doing the RAM Search so that you can narrow it down a lot further.
ALAKTORN
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If someone could do the disassembly and figure out how to manipulate the boss, that’d be fantastic. For now, I’ll try manipulating it myself with random attempts, streaming here: http://www.twitch.tv/alaktorn91 Edit: I feel like I’m figuring out some stuff. Anyway, I noticed that I was getting a lag frame right at the start of the boss fight, it happens when you try to move too quickly. Avoiding it doesn’t really save time (because you have to stand still for a frame), but it ties, and it can be used to manipulate the RNG, since during the lag frame it doesn’t advance, but if you manipulate the lag away it’ll advance and it won’t cost any frames, so it’ll be 1 advance ahead without wasting time. Edit: Maybe I could even avoid the lag and save a frame if I got into the battle without a full charge (more animation to process, which may create the lag). Trying every possible amount of +steps (late) and seeing what kinda behaviour I get (this is with the lag frame at the start): frame 16884: 0 back, 2 back, 3 dive, 4 dive, 5 back, 6 spit, 7 spit, 9 dive, 10 back, 12 dive, 13 spit, 14 back, 15 dive, 18 spit, 19 back, 20 spit, 23 spit, 24 spit, 25 dive, 26 spit, 27 back, 28 spit, 29 dive, And, advacing those amounts of steps early gives… frame 16824: 0 nothing, 1 dive, 2 back, 3 back, 4 back, 5 dive, 6 spit, 7 spit, 8 nothing, 9 nothing (+3, dive), 10 dive, 11 nothing (+2 back), 12 dive, 13 spit, 14 dive, 15 back, 16 spit, 17 nothing (+4 spit), 18 dive, 19 dive, 20 dive, 21 back, 22 spit, 23 dive, 24 dive, 25 dive, 26 nothing only advances 2 late so is −1 and gives dive instead of spit… 27 dive, 28 nothing +2 late so −1 so goes back… 29 nothing +2 late so +28 total = spit :) This works? 30 back, 31 spit, 32 dive, 33 spit, 34 dive, 35 dive, 36 nothing (+2 dive), 37 nothing (+2 back), 38 spit, 39 dive, 40 spit, 41 spit, 42 back, 43 spit, 44 nothing (+2 spit) I see a pattern??? I don’t get this. Edit: Pattern broken with 3 I guess… /// Yeah I guess it was just a coincidence… from 17, 16901: Edit: This number looks wrong (early). 0 back, 1 N/A, 2 nothing (+2 back), 3 back, 4 nothing (+2 dive), 5 nothing (+2 back), 6 dive, 7 dive, 8 dive, 9 back, 10 back, 11 back, 12 dive, 13 nothing (+2 dive), 14 back, 15 back, 16 dive, 17 back from 44, 17130: 0 nothing (+2 back), 1 N/A, 2 back, 3 back, 4 N/A, 5 nothing (+3 back), 6 dive, 7 dive, 8 dive, 9 nothing (+2 spit) Yeah that one worked. ^_^ I’m waiting 29 frames to manipulate the pattern atm, but I’m pretty sure I can achieve the same result by shooting walls and advancing the RNG 29 steps before the boss fight without losing any frames. Now to see if I can manipulate the last 2 attacks… Oh boy next behaviour is also an early–late. Wonder why I could never get a different spit timing. Edit: Seems like early spit is impossible, weird. (this with the 29 frames lost at the start) frame 17115: 0 back, 1 back, 2 dive, 3 nothing, 4 back, 5 back, 6 dive, 7 back, 8 back, 9 back, 10 dive, 11 dive, 12 back, 13 nothing, 14 back, 15 nothing, 17 back, 18 back, 19 back, 20 nothing, frame 17175: 3 +2 dive, 13 +2 back, 15 +2 back, 20 +2 back Holy crap I need to get 2 nothing+spit one after the other with the only manipulation possible being before the first nothing (before boss) and before the second nothing, but very limited (during boss shooting its body). 2nd manipulation seems to only be 1–9 steps possible. I think 8 steps cost 6 frames of time. Edit: Weird, the pink stuff of the big charge advances the RNG 2 steps normally, but I’m getting it to not advance the RNG at all in my TAS… Maybe it’s the way it’s hitting the boss… at an angle, between 2 of the body-spheres.
ALAKTORN
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The hell is that movie even?
ALAKTORN
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No mention of in-game time vs. real time in the acceptance message?
ALAKTORN
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I think Echigoya can be improved 2 frames with better RNG. 1109667057 (32) 1833298500 (3) 2763045363 (3) Misses 1st and 3rd? 1109667057 (32) 578732246 (1) 2071860322 (4) 2763045363 (1) 2094622384 (1) Misses second, this is the one I used to sync Echigoya (2f slower 2nd hit). 2545098357 (36) 1846136330 (1) 3165648507 (1) 3525811352 (1) 1109667057 (1) 3393027927 (2) Hits two, misses last (too high). This was done with running a lot and having a short dash. Then I went further back to the Up+Select dashjump and changed the timing to change the RNG. New fantastic technique: dashes and dashjumps are great for RNG manipulation, because the timing literally doesn’t matter shit in terms of speed. Even though the speed oscillation is gigantic, no matter when you do them you’ll end up in the same position on the same frame, with the only thing different being the RNG. So I abused that and saved 4 frames at Echigoya (death at 8425). I don’t even know why, the RNG didn’t even look good and I thought I would only save 2 frames (since I use the Shuriken 2 frames earlier). Gonna have to investigate why I saved 4 frames and if better RNG can save 2 more. old: 7623 Echigoya cutscene 8278 DR 8283 DR+T 8329 UR 8331 UR+T 8377 T 8384 Shuriken icon disappears 8421, 8427 sound of hit, damage new: 7623 Echigoya cutscene 8278 DR 8283 DR+T 8329 T 8375 T 8382 Shuriken icon disappears 8417, 8423 sound of hit, damage I guess the RNG gave me a better last hit by 2 frames even though it doesn’t look like it… Edit: Yeah now that I look at it, the Shuriken is going a lot more straightforward now, before it went with a curve. I wonder if better RNG could save time elsewhere, like for example the hook shot after Katanal. Still 46″ IGT. http://tasvideos.org/userfiles/info/23424827930886380 Edit: Since I went and compared, might as well post here: X Z Y model angle 2917 -1272 -7577 126 2915 -1271 -7577 126 Old (4f slower) and new (after the RNG manipulation). So it does change by like 3 values total, but it’s not enough to affect sync even on the long run. Edit: Actually that might be the improvement that changed it and not the RNG manipulation.
ALAKTORN
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Jesus Christ Samsara, you’re full of hate or something. Take it easy.
ALAKTORN
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Oh my god. =_= I either changed my way of TASing it or forgot about it, but you can buffer attack inputs before you gain control to execute them on the first frame of control instead of having to execute the whole input combo from control start. Long story short, my last Katanal attack was 4 frames slower than it could’ve been, so now Katanal is dead at 6223 (was 6227). Funny thing is that for the rest of the attacks I was buffering the inputs already, I just forgot about the technique or something when I improved the last 2 hits a few days ago. Jesus Christ I hope this syncs… Holy shit, the run to Echigoya syncs even though it’s off by 3 X and Z units. Somehow Y (vertical) isn’t different… Problem is that the Shuriken at Echigoya desync now. Edit: To not forget: should explore the buffering more, see if UDRA works or something. Edit2: Synced Echigoya by delaying the dashjump 1 frame, it put the RNG 1 step behind in the sequence without losing any frames and luckily that RNG worked. 8429 Echigoya death now (4f improved).
ALAKTORN
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xy2_ wrote:
Bus-Level timing is left turned on because the game behaves wierdly without it.
That’s interesting. That’s the first game I hear that needs BLT on to work correctly. What kind of weirdness happens without it?
ALAKTORN
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Btw, what emulator settings are you using? I recommend turning Bus-Level timing off and also Dynamic Recompiler off.
ALAKTORN
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Good luck with that, it doesn’t look easy to understand. Also PSXjin’s RAM search sucks.
ALAKTORN
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Mothrayas wrote:
a 100%/all Zero parts run (which may also obsolete the no upgrades run).
That makes no sense. “no upgrades” is the total opposite of 100%, why would it be obsoleted by a 100% run? Sounds to me like this new any% route is a lot more similar to it than a 100% run would be.
ALAKTORN
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Always wondered myself how people were even able to TAS these games. They’re wonders of optimization nightmares.
ALAKTORN
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Kurabupengin wrote:
Good luck with the run!
Thank you. Edit: Tried grenading Katanal after the loops, it’s suuuuper slow (like 100 frames slower). So I guess grenading at the start is the only option.
ALAKTORN
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Grenading Katanal is f****ng impossible. Encoded stage 1: Link to video