Posts for Bisqwit


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Pekopon wrote:
In most other forums I've been to, goodbye threads aren't allowed. In fact, there was one forum I went to in which if someone made a good bye thread, one in which the user said he/she is not coming back, the administrators would ban that user so they really couldn't come back.
For Ferret it was allowed because he said he will be coming back :) And even gave a pretty precise time estimate. Oh, and hi! Welcome back, Ferret Warlord. How have you changed by the experience?
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plusminus wrote:
Raiscan wrote:
The only thing I did not like was the piercing sound of the time being added to your score at the end.
Would it be a reasonable request that, should this movie be published, the sound in the AVI is lowered/muted when the score is being tallied?
One can easily skip the score tallying moments (or mute them, if one really wants to watch numbers roll), avoiding the noise problem.
Post subject: Re: ACCENT STOVE & SPA
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Xkeeper wrote:
9:59 of pain
Clearly a case of "owner's neighbour's son who is good at graphics design will do our advertisement for cheap". Or something.
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Warp wrote:
It's used in the mini-game at the beginning of Ridge Racer, but I don't know if it's originally from there. Probably not.
Do you mean, the Ridge Racer minigame in Tales of Phantasia? Because it's there, at least.
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I realize that this may sound like a blanket defense, but the site Rules (and Guidelines) are not a work of God. They're not strict and not subject to a debate to the letter. They are an attempt to formulate what we (hopefully everyone, but especially I) feel like is best to guide players towards creating the best movies for this site, and to minimize the chances of conflicts between players. If there are mutually conflicting statements on those pages, we do the best to fix those of course. As for objectivity, the thing is that we aim for a subjective measure: entertainment. Entertainment is not a mathematical formula. It cannot be objectively measured; it needs a number of subjective components, the human audience. Speed, etc. are just devices to create entertainment. Even though speed can be measured accurately, entertainment cannot. This is a fact, and we have to live with it. Our method of judging that is a variation of something called "consensus". Your mileage may vary. A summary of this post: I stand behind my judging decision, and also think the accusations of "pride movie" are nonsense not even worth discussing.
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HHS wrote:
Lol, SMB3 with Finnish lyrics? I am afraid that this is a chant or mantra that will make me have bad luck and disease if I hear it :P Let's hope not.
It is randomly generated, so chances are nonzero that it is precisely that in some language :)
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Pekopon wrote:
What was that second one in the post above from? It sounds very familiar. It must have been from an NES game. Right?
The first one is Elecman theme in Mega Man, and the other is the moon theme in Duck Tales.
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Boco wrote:
Here are some of the best Vocaloid stuffs: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQVSyrMybvQ
Great :) > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vfTQ0Z908g Gilgamesh theme with idiots singing together? >_> > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVkyyA7wYhM Appears to be removed due to TOS violation. > http://hamlet.jp/anime/niku/niku2.swf It appears like the "he" syllable is not properly recorded to match the others. (But on the whole, this synthesizer is quite impressive.) But it's nice, that song. I forget which game it is from. > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=su4JB3MYYTQ Cannot help it, but be amused at the tone in which she has been recorded. What was the word that she sung for the Zelda secret discovered sound effect? The video has a 4 minute keyframe interval; cannot seek it easily...
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Phfor wrote:
High-pitched Japanese girl sings "Famicon" classics. Weird... but... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIaE-vlYn2Y
She has a nice vibrato. But I think it was created with a speech synthesizer, similar to this one that I made: http://tasvideos.org/forum/t/5346 EDIT: Oh, I was right: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vocaloid#Hatsune_Miku Though the above medley is impressive, this has better humorical value: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbbA9BhCTko (For reference: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNDh_tFIHn4 , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loituma_Girl )
Post subject: Re: Rerecording for MSX?
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Because MSX is actually a computer, doesn't TASing on MSX actually involve similar rules to that on DOSBOX. That said, there would probably be some interest towards C64 TASing ― as another topic.
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KaitouKid wrote:
Same generic concept - showing off instead of going for pure speed - so not publishing this shows favoritism and, in general, a double standard for what gets published and what doesn't.
So basically you're trying to provoke a "choose A: slippery slope B: accusations of favoritism" argument. Maybe I'll choose C: shut up, and let the judges to their job.
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This is not actually the first Panic Restaurant submission we receive. Mukki submitted one last year: http://tasvideos.org/1313S.html His submission was considerably longer than this, and he cancelled it then. This game looks to me as a combination of Bucky O'Hare, Flintstones and Rocking Cats. None of them are particularly my favourites. I did not find this movie entertaining, so I vote no.
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PresidentLeever wrote:
This version of the game is pretty crappy and not very fun to watch, although it was a good run. So I'll vote meh.
Well played given the game's limitations, but this game is a pale shadow of the NES version's charm. It doesn't really allow the player to impress either. I'm voting "no".
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mmbossman wrote:
Does this mean that there will be some sort of site reconfiguration for "playaround" movies, or will it end up being labeled similar to the hacks (i.e. "This movie is a hack (playaround). Not all hacks (playarounds) are accepted")?
Not presently.
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I accepted this submission. Please read the rationale in the submission message.
Post subject: November 2007
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In November 2007 2940832 total hits 48537391 total kB files 99262 total unique sites 4084 average hits per hour www.laneros.com/showthread.php?somethingg ― the most active referrer after Google ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/やり込み ― interesting referrer 53.30% ratio of Mozilla family hits 33.29% ratio of IE family hits 4.49% ratio of Opera family hits
Post subject: October 2007
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In October 2007 2708818 total hits 49119217 total kB files 100597 total unique sites 3640 average hits per hour No particularly interesting referrers 54.24% ratio of Mozilla family hits 33.42% ratio of IE family hits 4.99% ratio of Opera family hits
Post subject: September 2007
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In September 2007 3051218 total hits 58636024 total kB files 103030 total unique sites 4237 average hits per hour www.genmay.com/showthread.php?somethingg ― the most active referrer after Google 54.77% ratio of Mozilla family hits 33.47% ratio of IE family hits 5.64% ratio of Opera family hits
Post subject: Re: New banner/logo, or maybe a mascot?
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Pekopon wrote:
There's one thing I always thought that looked out of place. The TAS banner in the forums just doesn't seem to show the site's purpose. I always though a banner where the characters are racing would be best. Kind of like this.
I think the current banner does show the site's purpose... A well-known video game character moves so fast that the camera cannot follow so he appears blurred. I'm mildly opposed to the racing/contest theme in general.
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Opera had and has no problems. (Thanks Pasky13. I didn't actually realize Randil talked about Opera. I wondered why he would talk about Oprah… does she feature program bugs? O_o)
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Bisqwit wrote:
Likely, it is the function xe() that makes IE7 bork the input somehow. For the reference, here's how prototype.js implements it:
  function escapeHTML() {
    var self = arguments.callee;
    self.text.data = this;
    return self.div.innerHTML;
  }
Okay, after a more careful inspection, prototype.js appears to have special code for MSIE. (Think "people with special needs".)
if (Prototype.Browser.WebKit || Prototype.Browser.IE) Object.extend(String.prototype, {
  escapeHTML: function() {
    return this.replace(/&/g,'&amp;').replace(/</g,'&lt;').replace(/>/g,'&gt;');
  }
});
Resolution: After adopting this change to the site code, the preview seems to now work with MSIE, too. You will need to reload. Only confirms what we already knew about IE:
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No, it was clearly a server-not-recognizing newlines problem that seems to recur with some browsers. I tested now, and it occurs with IE7. With Firefox, it does not occur. When I look at the server logs, the differences are: When Firefox does the SOAP call, the server receives the following request:
doRenderWtxt("MTE5Njc2MDQ3NzrlFyGvtKrpygR6yrullZKmVQ+7kA==", "Run Saber (SNES) beaten in 56087 frames, 15min 34.783sec

Run Saber is a pretty blatant ripoff of Strider by Horisoft. It\'s a fun game, though, and rather more stylistic than Strider, I think. It has one of those dime-a-dozen plots, though; aliens are invading (or have conquered the planet already, the game\'s opening is not clear on this point,) and the two Run Sabers (genetically enhanced soldiers) are the world\'s only hope.

This TAS uses the male Run Saber, Alow, and beats the game in 15min 34.783sec, delivering the final hit to the final boss at exactly frame 56067. In order of priority, my goals were:

*Aims for fastest time
**Contains speed/entertainment tradeoffs (boss fights)
*Takes no damage
*Plays at hardest level
*Manipulates luck (enemy positions)

Recorded with ZSNES 1.51, primarily at 20% and 25% speed, no special options enabled.

All of the stages are the same concept (Get from point A to B, kill or dodge everything in your way,) so I don\'t see any need to discuss them.

Possible future optimizations:

*Two players? IMO, this would only help at the last few bosses because of the long invulnerability timer.
*Use bombs? Not likely; they take a full five seconds to go off, and you can\'t do anything during the animation.
*Go for pure speed on bosses instead of trying to be entertaining?
*Jump from ledges instead of running/sliding off more often?

Thanks to:
*Dromiceius, for telling me about dashing.
*Dyce, for his Run Saber FAQ on GameFAQs", "", "")
When IE does the SOAP call, the server receives the following request:
doRenderWtxt("MTE5Njc2MDUxMTqQdHkp4EBvPAViVdi3TkhBK152PQ==", "Run Saber (SNES) beaten in 56087 frames, 15min 34.783sec
Run Saber is a pretty blatant ripoff of Strider by Horisoft. It\'s a fun game, though, and rather more stylistic than Strider, I think. It has one of those dime-a-dozen plots, though; aliens are invading (or have conquered the planet already, the game\'s opening is not clear on this point,) and the two Run Sabers (genetically enhanced soldiers) are the world\'s only hope.
This TAS uses the male Run Saber, Alow, and beats the game in 15min 34.783sec, delivering the final hit to the final boss at exactly frame 56067. In order of priority, my goals were:
*Aims for fastest time**Contains speed/entertainment tradeoffs (boss fights)
*Takes no damage*Plays at hardest level*Manipulates luck (enemy positions)
Recorded with ZSNES 1.51, primarily at 20% and 25% speed, no special options enabled.
All of the stages are the same concept (Get from point A to B, kill or dodge everything in your way,) so I don\'t see any need to discuss them.
Possible future optimizations:
*Two players? IMO, this would only help at the last few bosses because of the long invulnerability timer.
*Use bombs? Not likely; they take a full five seconds to go off, and you can\'t do anything during the animation.
*Go for pure speed on bosses instead of trying to be entertaining?
*Jump from ledges instead of running/sliding off more often?Thanks to:
*Dromiceius, for telling me about dashing.
*Dyce, for his Run Saber FAQ on GameFAQs", "", "")
So IE7 borks the submission text even before the server can receive it. What happens in the source code? The following happens:
function gel(id)       { return document.getElementById(id) }
function tx(id)    { return gel(id).value }
function subpreview_init()      
{      
  with(gel('previewpane').style)      
  {      
    visibility='visible';      
    display='block';      
  }      
  gel('subsavebutton').style.visibility='visible';      
}      
wtxt={
  preview:function(input,cbok,fnok)
  {
    var params = new cloneObject(soap_defs);
    params.wtxt = input;
    SOAP.q_async_json(
       soap_api_url, 'urn:TasvideosQuery', 'doRenderWtxt',
       params, function(data)
       {
         /*alert(displayObject(data));*/
         cbok(data.html)
       }, fnok)
  },
  preview_div:function(divname,input)
  {
    var e = function(h) { gel(divname).innerHTML=h }
    e('');
    wtxt.preview(input, e, function(h) { alert('Preview not available') } )
  }
}
And
<input type="button" value="Preview comments"
onclick="subpreview_init();wtxt.preview_div('subpreviewwin',tx('subtext'))">
So what happens is that the SOAP call gets the value of the textarea as a parameter, and somehow, it gets fried in the process by MSIE, but not on Firefox. This function encodes the query parameters into XML for the SOAP call:
function sq_(a)
{
  if(typeof a != 'object') return xe(a);
  var p,res='';
  for(p in a) res += '<' + p + '>' + sq_(a[p]) + '</' + p + '>';
  return res
}
function xe(s)
{
  /* This technique comes from prototype.js */
  return dom_tag_text('div', s).innerHTML
}
Likely, it is the function xe() that makes IE7 bork the input somehow. For the reference, here's how prototype.js implements it:
  function escapeHTML() {
    var self = arguments.callee;
    self.text.data = this;
    return self.div.innerHTML;
  }
Has someone the energy to look into this problem? Because I'm just "ditch IE and use a sane browser".
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FractalFusion wrote:
It's the only way to line break without starting a new paragraph.
In properly formatted text there's rarely need to do an explicit line break. A new paragraph suffices for most purposes, and when you want to create a list (each item on a new line), there is specific markup for that purpose as well (put an asterisk at the beginning of each line). For headers, similarly (exclamation marks in the beginning of line). What Randil was trying to suggest was to put %%% at the end of each line to force the preview to show properly, even for new paragraphs, list items and the such. Check out Wikipedia. How often can you find a "<br>" in the source code of the articles (I mean the text that you edit, not the HTML source)? For example, take http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Condor , today's featured article. I count zero. Every time a new line is "forced", it is because it's a list item, a header or a table cell.
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Swordless Link wrote:
Here are some screen shots which I think would work well. I think the third and fifth ones look the best, but the fourth is probably the most relevant to this run. The first and second ones are just some of the BLJs, but they look good, so I'm posting them too.
I like the first and the fifth.
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Ignore Randil. You should almost never use %%%. If the preview is misbehaving, ignore it and just submit it. Edit it later. The preview is known to not work properly on some browsers.