Posts for Bisqwit


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I'm aiming for at least 30 seconds of improvement, but even 50 might be possible... So far, I have worked out 16 seconds of improvement in 3 levels (of which 2 are played), but I need to redo Iceman because it can be improved by a few seconds more.
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What the patch literally does is that it prevents the game knowing when a sound sample goes off. It might be a problem in games which want to chain samples using CPU&APU cooperation. That way, only the first sample will be heard. But surprisingly, contrary to my expectation, it doesn't affect Tales of Phantasia (which uses a software voice driver) at all...
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Oh yes it will :P
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feitclub wrote:
I thought of the other one. During Quickman's stage, he uses the Time Stopper to freeze those instant-kill beams. But why does he run off the screen to the left and reappear on the right? What time does that save?
He has to do that because he's over-extended (he has once exited the screen via the right edge). The screen visually displayed (although completely black due to the lack of lights) is different than where he's walking in. He has to return to the right screen via the left edge, or he can't progress further. The same thing happens in Wily4 (could, at least. I don't remember whether Slide actually did it there). You can experiment this phenomenon yourself if you try this FMV: https://files.tasvideos.org/bisqwit/rockman2-notworks.fmv (You need Famtasia with From Now Recording support.) Stop the movie at a sufficient moment and try playing.
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julianch wrote:
when i did put this i was very excited, because 2 minutes was much than i expected.
Regardless, I'm going to be a very strict judge when it comes to games I know a lot about, such as Rockman 2.
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Highness wrote:
I can't seem to load the bisqwit-rockmanv6-incomplete-with-gutsman-demo.fcm in my FCE Ultra.
Possibly because the server transferred it as "text/plain", breaking the binary format. Try downloading it again, I changed the MIME setting.
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julianch wrote:
well, bubble man and heat man were a bit boring but the other levels are perfect.
Nope, for example the Air Man fight could be played a lot more fluently.
feitclub wrote:
-During Wily Stage 4, he fires a superfluous Item 2. It's only purpose seems to be to drain Item 2 a little bit so he can exhaust it later in the stage. What purpose does that serve?
He fires a superfluous looking Item2 in Wily3. This was completely intentional, and copied from Finalfighter's wilys.mpg. The idea is indeed to drain Item2 a bit so that when the last time he uses it (the second last spike room of Wily4), the item2 will disappear during his jump, resulting in an optimal jump. It's quite a cunning idea.
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Truncated wrote:
Should we accept 平野's videos in the meantime?
He's free to submit them (or someone do that for him), but as for the two movies he's made so far, both of them can obviously be improved so I'd reject them. I'm not reserving a position for Morimoto, but anyone who wants to challenge him has to actually reach his level (in what he's doing currently, not in what he previously published).
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I created this simple patch to my snes9x... now attempting to record this movie, with sound. The patch will simply disable the feedback from mixer propagating back to APU, acting as if the sound is muted, even when it's not. The sound will probably be wrong somewhere, but it's better than no sound.
--- soundux.cpp        2004-07-10 22:52:38.000000000 +0300
+++ soundux.cpp 2005-02-12 05:06:57.000000000 +0200
@@ -156,6 +156,9 @@
 extern "C" void DecodeBlockAsm (int8 *, int16 *, int32 *, int32 *);
 extern "C" void DecodeBlockAsm2 (int8 *, int16 *, int32 *, int32 *);
 
+int FakeMute = 1;
+int DoFakeMute = 0;
+
 // F is channel's current frequency and M is the 16-bit modulation waveform
 // from the previous channel multiplied by the current envelope volume level.
 #define PITCH_MOD(F,M) ((F) * ((((unsigned long) (M)) + 0x800000) >> 16) >> 7)
@@ -174,9 +177,11 @@
 {
     ch->state = SOUND_SILENT;
     ch->mode = MODE_NONE;
+  if(!DoFakeMute) { 
     APU.DSP [APU_ENDX] |= 1 << i;
     APU.DSP [APU_KON] &= ~(1 << i);
     APU.DSP [APU_KOFF] &= ~(1 << i);
+  }
     APU.KeyedChannels &= ~(1 << i);
 }
 #ifdef __DJGPP
@@ -185,7 +190,9 @@
 
 void S9xAPUSetEndX (int ch)
 {
+  if(!DoFakeMute) {
     APU.DSP [APU_ENDX] |= 1 << ch;
+  }
 }
 #ifdef __DJGPP
 END_OF_FUNCTION (S9xAPUSetEndX)
@@ -864,6 +871,8 @@
     static int wave[SOUND_BUFFER_SIZE];
 
     int pitch_mod = SoundData.pitch_mod & ~APU.DSP[APU_NON];
+
+    DoFakeMute=FakeMute;
        
     for (uint32 J = 0; J < NUM_CHANNELS; J++) 
     {
@@ -1148,6 +1157,7 @@
         }
 stereo_exit: ;
     }
+    DoFakeMute=0;
 }
 
 #ifdef __DJGPP
@@ -1160,6 +1170,8 @@
 
     int pitch_mod = SoundData.pitch_mod & (~APU.DSP[APU_NON]);
        
+    DoFakeMute=FakeMute;
+       
     for (uint32 J = 0; J < NUM_CHANNELS; J++) 
     {
                Channel *ch = &SoundData.channels[J];
@@ -1433,6 +1445,7 @@
         }
 mono_exit: ;
     }
+    DoFakeMute=0;
 }
 #ifdef __DJGPP
 END_OF_FUNCTION(MixMono);
Edit: Casting my Yes vote for what it matters. I can't know whether this movie is perfect or optimal, but it indeed is entertaining - in completely different way than, say, Castlevania.
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Bisqwit wrote:
There's one dilemma though: Killing Elecman using Guts weapon takes about 8 seconds, whereas killing him using the basic weapon takes 31 seconds. This is a major problem which only appears if Elecman level is played before Cut/Guts levels. If using the magnet beam in Gutsman level saves 23 seconds over a non-magnet-beam version of Gutsman level, this plan works. The lift sequence saves about 13 seconds.
I tested out the Gutsman level using magnet beam. As the result, I ended up saving 26 seconds in that level compared to the previous movie. I needed to save 23 seconds, so this new strategy appears indeed profitable. I'll continue this way. :) Here is a FCM that demonstrates the playing of the Gutsman level. https://files.tasvideos.org/bisqwit/bisqwit-rockmanv6-incomplete-with-gutsman-demo.fcm The movie contains the Elecman level I previously linked, appended by the Gutsman level. The interesting bit is how I use the magnet beam to move downwards faster than just falling free. The actual movie will continue to the Iceman level instead of the Gutsman level.
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Once again, Finalfighter is not the one making the Rockman 2 movie. It's Morimoto. Finalfighter only has been analyzing the game using VirtuaNES: 平野 (Hirano) is Finalfighter's eager pupil. :)
Post subject: Re: LEGO Online.
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Does it support Lego Technic and the consequent physics?
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Fihlvein wrote:
I hope there's quite some places where there's a chance to perform it.
Elecman level has the highest concentration of those places, but fortunately that's not the only trick I have.
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feitclub wrote:
OK, I'll be the one to ask. What's going on with this new manuever? Is there a precise frame to jump off of the ladder that allows Rock to defy all physics?
When you press UP at a ladder while being too high to actually climb it, you'll end up somewhat above the ladder. Pressing UP+DOWN at the top of the ladder bears the same consequence. If it is a wall there... well, there you go.
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Omega wrote:
I LOVED it when you shot to the left right before finishing off Elec.
I don't know why you say that. I only shot because I couldn't make Elecman jump otherwise at the right moment...
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I'm now making a new movie of Rockman. Besides some general optimizations, I have two new major tricks, one of which was contributed by Finalfighter. Because of the other one, I'm now able to play Elecman as the first level of the movie, allowing me to later play the Gutsman level using the magnet beam. The new path is Elec->Ice->Fire->Bomb->Guts->Cut. There's one dilemma though: Killing Elecman using Guts weapon takes about 8 seconds, whereas killing him using the basic weapon takes 31 seconds. This is a major problem which only appears if Elecman level is played before Cut/Guts levels. If using the magnet beam in Gutsman level saves 23 seconds over a non-magnet-beam version of Gutsman level, this plan works. The lift sequence saves about 13 seconds. Even if I'll have to revert to the old path (Guts->Elec->Cut->Ice->Fire->Bomb), I guess I can make up about 30 seconds of improvement compared to the published version. WIP here: https://files.tasvideos.org/bisqwit/bisqwit-rockmanv6-incomplete.zip
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Placing the IRC channel at EnterTheGame was an extempore decision in the first place. I did it for no other reason that it was one (1) irc network that I knew everyone can connect to. And that I knew EnterTheGame is somewhat gaming related sounded good. I have no personal connection to the EnterTheGame network, so it was no problem whatsoever for me to move the channel to another network. It sounds like you're objecting loudly because you do have those personal things. Don't make that other people's problem, and certainly don't go insulting people. You're generally a good person, KaitouKid, but this is the second time I see you act in that way. Please don't make a third. So now I made another extempore decision. But it wasn't as extempore as the previous one - I chose freenode because it has been mentioned several times (well, at least 3) to me. I joined there, registered nick, read a couple of help files, registered channel, read more help files and web pages and an hour later I invited people there. I replaced "enterthegame.com" with "freenode.net" in my IRC client start script, and that's it. Edit: Replaced adhoc with another latin-based word...
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No me not ISP ---------- Well of course it has something do with the ISP.
Post subject: Connection problems lately
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Lately there have been connection problems once in a while. This is the third time during two weeks when I get to know about it. The symptoms are that all existing established connections work without problem whatsoever, no lag or anything, but establishing new connections, even including DNS queries, are next to impossible. When it happens, it looks like my site is down and unreachable yet NesVideoAgent and Bisqwit still sit at the IRC channel, although they share the same network pipe as the site. Does anyone know what could possibly cause this and how to help it? (I'm writing this message during one of those problem times, so I'm expecting replies when the problem is over...)
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Dan_ wrote:
A submission would be pointless if you're going to improve this. Even if you aren't, it would still be pointless because it can obviously be improved.
It's not pointless if - the movie is interesting even now - it's unlikely that someone ever finds motivation for improving it
Post subject: judging explained
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Booda wrote:
I'm bothered that games like these get published while not-as-perfect runs of more interesting games get voted down. I thought the point of the voting system was for quality control.
Improvements to movies that have already been published are almost never turned down, especially when the author stays the same. As for new movies, they're processed in nonspecified order. Movies which I'm interested about (such as Simon's Quest was) have high chance to be judged very soon. I'll usually encode them right after watching, if they're accepted. Movies which I'm not interested about are judged slowly and based almost only on the votes. In this explanation, extrapolate "I" for all judges.
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I'm creating channel #nesvideos at irc.freenode.net. As consequence, NesVideoAgent sits now there too...
Post subject: Re: Help playing emulator movie files
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Icecap M. Veiwin wrote:
Good morning (well, at least it's morning for me): I am having trouble playing movie files in emulators. Specifically, the Rocket Knight Adventures and Sonic 3 .gmv files. For some reason, they just...screw around in random parts of the first level. Is that supposed to be in the run or is it a mess up in the movie?
Have you consulted the http://tasvideos.org/FAQ.html before asking this question?
Post subject: Re: zeal islands
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HSZZZ wrote:
Is it there for show, or is there actually a way to get to it? It just brought back memories when I was watching the run.
Just for the show. You can reach it, but not until many thousand years later. The poor Nu really has to wait. The leftmost island can not be reached at all. (I think.)
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Blechy wrote:
What do you mean by personality?
I meant there are a few "objects" that are responsible of Spekkio's actions in his room. Only one of those objects actually _appears_ as Spekkio. The others are invisible and do things like talking in Spekkio's name.
Blechy wrote:
And given those coordinates, are you able to know where they are visually, so as to answer the question whether or not the circle can be tighter?
Each of the coordinates refers to a 16x16 pixel block of the room. When I said "none of them reside in the corners", I forgot that the room appears diagonally. Well... checkpoint 2 seems to be the left corner. checkpoint 3 seems to be the back corner. checkpoint 4 seems to be the right corner. checkpoint 5 seems to be the bottom corner... Perhaps not exactly, but that's what I would guess now that I have actually watched how the room looks like.