Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Active player
(296)
Joined: 3/8/2004
Posts: 7469
Location: Arzareth
My ADSL modem broke again!
Let's see. I already deleted the explanation from the temporary holder page, so I'll just copypaste the text from a PHP program I toyed with at one point. It's a bit structurized version (though not increasing readability!) of the message that was on the page.
The new modem[1] experienced exactly the same symptoms as the previous one[3].
<p>
[11] it reset itself to factory settings <em>and</em>
now refuses any username and password[7] in its HTTP/FTP/TELNET frontends.
<p>
Resetting the modem to factory settings is not helping[8].
It still doesn't establish an ATM link[9],
and it still doesn't let me login to the administration interface.
It only works as a LAN router now.
<p>
So now I'm going to need a new ADSL modem... again :(
**1
– <a href="http://www.a-link.com/RR44AP.html">Roadrunner 44AP</a>,
which I received from a friend[13][2] –
**2
, when the previous modem[12] was broken
**3
– that is, it occasionally needs to be rebooted[4]
**4
, because eventually it becomes progressively more unable to let new
connections to be established
**5
to get rid of the issue
**6
to the modem
**7
, including the factory-default "admin"+"password" login,
**8
, with or without power cycle
**9
at least what I can deduce from the leds[10]
**10
(because I can't login, I can't see the real status)
**11
I tried to upgrade its firmware[5], but before I got
the chance to upload anything[6],
**12
(<a href="http://www.a-link.com/RR44.htm">Roadrunner 44</a>B)
**13
(Ilkka Lavas)
So now, two days later, I stopped in a computer store back on my way home from work and bought a TeleWell TW-EA501.
It wasn't cheap (it had probably the highest pricetag in world for that particular item), but at least it works.
Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Active player
(296)
Joined: 3/8/2004
Posts: 7469
Location: Arzareth
After brief watching of the published AVI...
I think I wouldn't have accepted this submission. It looks stupid, I can't spot impressive maneuvers and I can spot missed potential (such as failing to jump edges down to maximize the integral of falling speed).
It's also too long for the type of unvaried content it is.
Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Active player
(296)
Joined: 3/8/2004
Posts: 7469
Location: Arzareth
Replying to year-old threads is fun!
I did a little run of the "mode c", that is, "balloon trip" at this game with FCEU.
https://files.tasvideos.org/bisqwit/bfight.zip
It spans 5 and half minutes, and then I got bored with making that silly movie.
It ends with 152260 points.
Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Active player
(296)
Joined: 3/8/2004
Posts: 7469
Location: Arzareth
Highness wrote:
have the debris kill cutman
The debrit causes only 1 hp damage per shot to Cutman. So it would take at least 20 seconds.
(In fact, the game doesn't distinguish what actually hit the enemy. It assumes that it was the weapon held by Rockman -- that is, the Elec Beam.)
Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Active player
(296)
Joined: 3/8/2004
Posts: 7469
Location: Arzareth
Dying is very fast in SMB, but to cause a Game Over...
Probably a non forgiving game is best suited for that kind of contest.
Or a game that has a voluntary suicide key, such as Lolo... But Lolo is very slow to boot up.
Lolo very likely loses to Tetris.
Some shooter, such as Star Force, might be a good candidate too.
Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Active player
(296)
Joined: 3/8/2004
Posts: 7469
Location: Arzareth
Highness wrote:
I don't see how that gutsman thingie can be useful. But I trust your word on it. :)
In an attempt to optimize that particular location, as demonstrated in this Finalfighter's MPG clip, http://www.yuko2ch.net/rockman/m1damageup.mpg , I ran BisqBot over this sequence, and to my surprise, BisqBot discovered a rather simple solution.
https://files.tasvideos.org/bisqwit/rockman-simple-solution.avi
It's about 30 frames faster than in my current movie.
I'm still not sure which way is faster, though.
Finalfighter's way looks (and sounds!) cooler, I have to admit.
Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Active player
(296)
Joined: 3/8/2004
Posts: 7469
Location: Arzareth
OmnipotentEntity wrote:
I saw him pause for a split second. Are you invincible to spikes when you pause?
I think so. You're probably invincible to spikes while climbing too. [1] (Maybe not).
Pausing allows passing through the spikes and simultaneously it also releases from the ladder Rockman thinks he's climbing.
[1]: Because pausing didn't help in Wily1. Climbing is the difference.
Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Active player
(296)
Joined: 3/8/2004
Posts: 7469
Location: Arzareth
Bag of Magic Food wrote:
How about you just stop banning things
Wouldn't be fair to break the tradition. It would be injustice to the previous records at that site.
You are welcome to form a new glitchfest-authentic-hardware-speedrun site though.
Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Active player
(296)
Joined: 3/8/2004
Posts: 7469
Location: Arzareth
It's an idea that has been around occassionally. It's technically possible to do (an extension chip that has RAM storage and hooks up the controller I/O and can read the vsync signal would do it), but there's one problem:
As much as emulator authors try, emulators aren't yet perfect copies of the original system. As witnessed by the difficulty trying to make movie created on one emulator to work on another, chances are that a movie created on <choose your emulator> would desync when played back on a real console.
The magnitude of these differences is mostly small enough that it only affects where the game lags and which random drops are generated, but that's enough to desync just about any movie.
Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Active player
(296)
Joined: 3/8/2004
Posts: 7469
Location: Arzareth
Here's some fun...
https://files.tasvideos.org/bisqwit/rockman-gutsman-fun.avi (1.1 MB)
When a special weapon is in use, and Rockman gains damage, and you pause, the damage is repeated, and Rockman can levitate.
With the Super Arm, the levitation can be arbitrary duration.
(Discovered by Finalfighter.)
Ps: Notice the accumulation of sweat and the lag it causes.
Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Active player
(296)
Joined: 3/8/2004
Posts: 7469
Location: Arzareth
nitsuja wrote:
The instructions didn't work, as in, there's a bug somewhere so it didn't save the same input it used to play with?
Exactly. Somehow, the instructions had a desync :P
> From the code, it looks like the problem that's making it so slow is that you wait until a MAX_FRAMES for the entire battle before deciding that an attempt has failed.
That's only half the truth. The inner layer is in functions whose names start with BisqBot, and the outer layer is in functions whose names start with BotFront. The BotFront functions also have this "Cap" feature, which limits the maximum number of frames to try, to the fastest time found so far.
> It would be a lot faster if BisqBotTick returns BisqBotRestart whenever it has been more than 1.5 times the invulnerability time of the boss since the last time the boss was hit
In fact, because I kind of handcoded/hardcoded the pause trick mechanism to the code, such situation is impossible. The line UnPause = FrameNo + 7+rand()%6; is responsible for unpausing in a timely manner.
You're right though, such test wouldn't hurt. However, most of the time BisqBot spent was spent in restarting over and over again because he got hurt, over and over again.
> And, even much better would be to have BisqBot optimize each hit individually, and only roll back all the way if it can't find any input that works at all for one of the later hits (or if it succeeds in killing the boss and wants to try again).
Yes, that would be awesome, and it would open a door for a full-featured Super Mario Bros optimizer. I haven't got that far yet.
> Also, I think the code would be clearer if you replaced numbers like 0x81 with INPUT_LEFT | INPUT_UP or whatever).
Sure... But I've already learned to read those numbers, and they're fast to type :P But you're absolutely right.
Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Active player
(296)
Joined: 3/8/2004
Posts: 7469
Location: Arzareth
I tried to pit BisqBot against Gutsman, but besides the fact that he had very poor success (he only managed to kill Gutsman five times in the 8 hours that I let him run), the instructions he left for me didn't work :D
http://bisqwit.iki.fi/src/bisqbot-gutsman.zip is the source code (not standalone, replaces files in the earlier patch) if someone wants to take a look.
BisqBot still seems to be quite useful in optimizing weapon refill drops and the Wily3 boss battle (bubble machines).
Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Active player
(296)
Joined: 3/8/2004
Posts: 7469
Location: Arzareth
tmont wrote:
Birdo's eggs, and Clawglip's (I think that's his name) rocks (although I've never actually tried this one, it makes sense).
Birdo's eggs are double-jumpable, but I don't know of Clawglip's rocks. The general rule is: If it is animate and can be stood on, it is double-jumpable.
> To bounce a mushroom off a character's head, you just have to have it land on the character's head.
To make it deliver more hits, is difficult, I think. if it isn't, feel free to suggest on how to expand the article.
Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Active player
(296)
Joined: 3/8/2004
Posts: 7469
Location: Arzareth
Mr. Kelly R. Flewin wrote:
Holy crap, you, Morimoto and Bisqwit are going to make my job INSANELY difficult! I suddenly see a simple 2-3 lines of rules change into a page and a half of BANNED tactics for TG speedruns..
Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Active player
(296)
Joined: 3/8/2004
Posts: 7469
Location: Arzareth
Bag of Magic Food wrote:
Heh, I wonder if there's a loophole in the programming that lets you skip levels!
If there is a glitch to overflow objects or RAM, you could, theoretically, spawn the level-end item, which when collected, ends the level regardless whether you beat a boss or not.
There's also the teleport item, which is invisible but exists in all the Wily4 teleports. When you collect it, Rockman will be teleported to another location in the stage. (I guess, the next room.)
It can't be moved, but if due to some glitch it could be generated arbitrarily in previous stages...
Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Active player
(296)
Joined: 3/8/2004
Posts: 7469
Location: Arzareth
finalfighter wrote:
It is very fastest!
O_o AWESOME!
Can you make it work in other stages? (I'm thinking of Fireman (probably not possible because of Lava), Cutman (probably possible) and Wily1 (probably possible))
I don't really understand how you did this, though... This is the first time it was succeeded.
Ps: There goes my Bombman stage plan, out from window... But I've learned that it's good to make room for new! Dinosaurs are killed with constant rewrites.
Ps2: Is someone still wondering why Finalfighter was made into a Master Ninja and nobody else?
Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Active player
(296)
Joined: 3/8/2004
Posts: 7469
Location: Arzareth
finalfighter wrote:
It is the explanation in the image of r1w2morimtech.mpg
Besides as an explanation of the r1w2morimtech.mpg file, I am recommending this image as an explanation of the horizontal-wrapping trick that happens all over in my movie.
It shows very clearly what it means that the maps are 1-dimensional. There is only "previous" and "next" (left and right). Up and down are illusion.
When you pass the rightside wall, you're in the next room, which is really on the right, even if it's up or down.
I didn't understand the motivation of this technique, until I tried it myself.
In the last room, it's not possible to repeat the technique of the earlier rooms, because the ceiling of the _next_ room (last room) is not open. It's not possible to jump upwards.
By overflowing the beam to the next screen, it's possible to jump on it, and thus perform the trick.
Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Active player
(296)
Joined: 3/8/2004
Posts: 7469
Location: Arzareth
Part 1: 88 frames saved in Wily2.
Clone robot fight not yet done.
Note: Fireman stage could be improved by 6 frames. Not done.
Note: Gutsman stage could be improved by 8-9 frames. Not done. (Yes, the refill is not so sloppy after all. The refill accounts to 6 frames.)
(Due to potential desyncs in later levels and general laziness.)
