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News on the movie. Just quoting from IRC.
0041#nesvideos.Bisqwit Step 1 done: Lunar Ball bot converted to multitasking, increasing its performance. Then to do the second step, adding support for idle shots
0204#nesvideos.Bisqwit Initial version of idle-shot-utilizing Lunar Ball bot written. Runtime probably increased by a large factor...
0212#nesvideos.Bisqwit Dehacked: In Lunar Ball, if all your shots pocket something, you'll eventually end up having score tallies taking significantly more time than the actual shots. However, doing shots that don't pocket anything once in a while, the bonus counter can be reseted, so that score tallying returns into tolerable range again.
0213#nesvideos.Bisqwit And that however is what I just implemented.
0215#nesvideos.Bisqwit At https://files.tasvideos.org/bisqwit/bisqwit2-lunarball-incomplete.avi you can see how the score tallying takes a lot of time at around table 20 -- And it gets progressively worse.
0245#nesvideos.Bisqwit Yeah, it's a bit of pity the bonus works like that. But the idle shots don't take away chances for cool shots.
1344#nesvideos.Bisqwit Allright, theory re: Lunar Ball confirmed, my bot has already figured out how to clear the two last balls in stage 1 faster with two shots than with one shot, considering the effects on score tallying.
1345#nesvideos.Bisqwit Xkeeper: The thing is, at stage 20 or so, the bonus effects start consuming more than 15 seconds of time per each shot, it gets annoying to watch, because you have to skip-forward in the video, a lot, to see something happening other than numbers rolling
2002* #nesvideos/Bisqwit is trying to figure out how to do 256*256*256*256 shots without doing 4294967296 shots
2002#nesvideos.Bisqwit i.e. 256 different angles, 256 different velocities, and two shots in a row
2003#nesvideos.Bisqwit Testing 65536 (256*256) shots takes a couple of minutes, it is manageable, but at that rate, 4294967296 would take more than half a year
2005#nesvideos.Bisqwit So I'm trying to approximate now by doing 256*256 * 32*8, which is only as little as 16777216, taking only 22 hours
2006#nesvideos.Bisqwit Therefore it would clear a stage by average in three days
2007#nesvideos.Bisqwit Therefore it would take a half a year to complete the entire game -- assuming it consumes 100% of the server's CPU at all time
[Edit: Fixed URL]
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Remember that the discussion forums here are not indexed by any web spider / search engine, and I prefer to keep it that way, to prevent spambot invasions and to keep search engine assisted cracking attempters away.
Therefore, chances are that none of the pages on the TASvideos forums are evaluated by any "content rating" services unless you explicitly submit the URLs there.
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I see this movie does ot even attempt to be fast. It intentionally consumes time at its own pace to do theatrical stunts, such as being apparently distracted by chicks walking on streets. Movies like that are a rare sight here. I'm happy that you were bold enough to do it.
I enjoyed watching this movie (well, first 5 minutes of it anyway as I must go sleeping now), but I'm not sure what the judging decision for this movie should be though.
I considered abstaining from voting but I guess it doesn't hurt to throw in the one "yes" vote.
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Long time ago I deathmatch-played Doom, Doom 2 and Duke 3D via modem line or LAN. EDIT: Oh, and Descent.
Later, I played Half-Life in singleplayer mode, and in deathmatch mode in LAN.
Recently after a long pause I started playing Portal, and after that I played through Half-Life 2, and I'm now going at Half-Life 2 episode 1.
Blublu: I believe the official term is First-person puzzle. Though yours is an adequate description as well.
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Tristal wrote:
Check out http://speeddemosarchive.com/Mario1.html - it has a video that claims to be 5:00 (By my count, it looks more like 5:04) but that's still short of the TAS record 5:07. Why doesn't the TAS use glitched pipes like this version - is it only present in SMB+Duck Hunt ROM?
SDA timing ignores the title screen, hence shorter time.
I don't know where you got 5:07, because the actual TAS record time is 4:59.93 as shown here: http://tasvideos.org/374M.html (includes title screen).
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FODA wrote:
Hypothetical question @ Bisqwit: Do TASes of non "traditional" systems (systems not currently published on this site) need to have the same level of perfection that these traditional systems have, or do they need to be only as perfect as practically possible given the tools on these new systems?
As good as permitted by the given tools and the ability of the players.
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I think the minimal requirement [for a movie to be considered a TAS] is the ability to save&undo in such way that the failed attempts (that were undone by loading the saved game) are not seen in the final product.
Additionally, to improve quality, it is highly desirable that there is a way to slow down the game in a way that allows for player to have faster reactions, but without compromising game physics, i.e. that when the movie is played back, the game runs at normal speed and the movie still syncs -- but this is not a mandatory part of the definition as I see it (although it is an immensely helpful tool).
I do not know what AutoHotKey does. If it does not alter the actual game, but rather it feeds it input events as if they actually game from the player's input, it is all fair game.
I would consider such movies as you described to be belonging in the scope of this site, as they're examples of playing beyond the capabilities of any single player.
But for a number of practical (or rather, technical) reasons, we currently only accept movies created with certain emulators.
[Edit: I'm moving your question and this reply to a new General thread, because it's not a personal question addressed to me, but rather a question addressing the site's policy or TASes in general]
What does "going Out Of Bounds" mean? Does it refer to game code corruption, or just abusing wall clipping (i.e. collision detection)?
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kbxcomix, one should not post off-topic posts like yours as their first posts.
As for the actual topic, I like Aura cheese in e.g. pizzas and some other foods.
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Nach wrote:
But I can say size_t pos = i->item_pos; Then push back, then have i = v.begin()+pos;
Yeah, but you could also say size_t pos = i - v.begin(); (as I explained earlier) and then it would no longer be depending on the details of whatever i points to, while not being a bit more complex.
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Warp wrote:
Nach wrote:
Is there any way I can iterate through this properly, and have the iterators not invalidate when one of the operations in middle of the loop did a push_back()?
Use std::deque instead. push_back() never invalidates iterators.
This effectively increases the container size by one and invalidates all iterators to the deque, but has no effect on the validity of references to elements of the deque.
I am curious how that reference-validity is maintained though. Because Deque is not the same as rope...
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Kles wrote:
The Bible has so many flaws and inaccuracies and is completely unreliable. Take the flood, for example. It was supposedly worldwide, but Chinese and Egyptian historical documents are unbroken during this time. How do you explain that?
I cannot comment on that because I haven't seen those historical documents which you talk about.
I don't know how large the flood was, and what really happened. There is a possibility that the flood did not actually cover the entire earth; that it only covered as much as the people witnessing it understood as the whole world (and thus it was said, whole world). For instance.
Kles wrote:
So many miracles happened in the Bible that just do not occur today. Where did they all go? Where are the mythical beasts in the world today? Why doesn't God speak to people today?
Some Christians argue that those miracles still happen. The Holy Spirit* still does miracles today just like he did nineteen centuries ago. It is another tangent of discussion why those miracles are not well known.
"mythical beasts"?
God does occassionally speak to his followers when he wants to give them some task or to inform a church about some things, such as what happened with David Wilkerson, Demos Shakarian and many other christian authors. It happens different than how it happened before Holy Spirit was sent, because now we (christians) have the Holy Spirit :) Which is approximately (part of) the God himself inside us.
*) John 14:25-26, Acts 1:8, Acts 2:1 onwards.
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I'll stay out of the logical discussion of whether God can exist or not, and simply state* the very Christian and very annoying and very irrational point of view that I share, which is that I know that God exists because I know that I know that I know that God exists.
Paul's 1st letter to the Corinthians wrote:
(1:18) For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.
(3:18-20) Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness. And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.
*) Despite how I began this post, it is on-topic. The topic is "tell me your thoughts on God", and that I did.
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Nach wrote:
I am getting begin() and end() via wrapper functions.
Is there any way I can iterate through this properly, and have the iterators not invalidate when one of the operations in middle of the loop did a push_back()?
If you need to be able to iterate it and extend it while iterating, use the numeric indexes instead. That, or when push_backing, convert the iterator into an index and back into an iterator:
for(it i = v.begin(); i != v.end(); ++i)
{
if(gruu(i)) // some random condition
{
typeof(v)::size_type s = i - v.begin(); // fixme: don't use typeof()
v.push_back(somevalue);
i = v.begin() + s;
}
}
I'm not sure whether end() is invalidated when the vector is resized, but since it is evaluated in each loop in this code, it doesn't matter.
I am not sure whether you can avoid the iterator invalidation by preallocating the vector using reserve(), so that capacity() before the loop yields a value larger or equal to the size() after the loop. You should check that, and if it's possible, then use reserve() to avoid multiple reallocations.
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Re: NesVideoAgent's screenshots
Oh well #2, it desynced. Emulator version difference I guess.
I wonder if the VBM header can indicate emulator version?
Otherwise, NVA has no hope of determining the right emulator to make screenshots with.
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If I were to move into some place shown in some RPG for the rest of my life…
Probably some peaceful town in FF4 or FF5 after the events of the game.
Sadly I cannot remember any of them in particular right now.
If I were Mega Man and I would be stuck in some Mega Man game stage for the rest of my life ― uff, that's a tough question.
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mr_roberts_z wrote:
1. Are mood-specific avatars limited to .png files? I looked through the avatar thread, but couldn't find an answer.
2. How many (if any) TASes do you host on the site, unbeknownst to the authors?
3. If you remember, did my very long location stretch the pages where I posted?
1) They are only limited to what the browser can display (i.e. jpeg, gif, png), and the usual avatar restrictions described in the forum rules.
2) Unbeknownst is a word I have never used. It's like an union of "best" and "unknown". Re: TASes, hopefully zero, but I'm not sure if "yy" knows that his/her SMB1 movie is here, as I have no contact information whatsoever of that case. Similarly for Toxin's SMB3. Both are obsolete movies.
3) I don't.
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xenos wrote:
Knowledge doesn't negate free will but the two ideas put together might.
Correct. If God designed and tailored the universe for the purpose of it unfolding exactly as it will, then it could be deducted that we in the universe have no free will. I can not say for certain whether that deduction is correct. It is possible that God simply selected a choice from an infinite selection of alternative timelines and chose to have that.
Let's say, keeping my previous example:
― You help your sister with <something>, and then you use your Time Machine of Infinite Choices to see your sister's life 10 years in the future in millions of different ways. You see her become <something>, and <something else>, or <something other>. You become fond of seeing <something>, and make a choice to share that particular reality out of the millions of different possible choices.
Now, has your choice robbed your sister of the free will? How's that different from the case that your time machine didn't present you any other choice but the one you ended up selecting?
(Incidentally, this reminds me of statistical calculations. Somehow, the mathematical chance of something occurring seems to magically depend on how much you know.)xenos wrote:
before the universe was created, God knew he would create a universe and would know everything that would happen inside that universe.
This stands to argue more that God had no free will than anything else, but again, knowledge of consequences does not imply lack of ability to choose.
xenos wrote:
More on topic: What do you think would happen if two omniscient beings played each other in a game of chicken?
Presumably both would chicken at the same time, or both would void the game. There's no reason to expect that a break of symmetry would happen.
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mr_roberts_z wrote:
Did you write the non-forum part of the site yourself (particularly the wiki-style pages and the submission processes)?
Yes.
nfq wrote:
Bisqwit wrote:
If God knowing humans' actions robs them of free will, why wouldn't you knowing humans' actions similarly rob them of free will?
Because I'm just an observer. I didn't cause their actions, God did. When he created the us, he knew all our actions, and the only way he could have known our actions from the very beginning is if they were predetermined.
Knowledge does not imply predetermination.
Kyrsimys's explanation is good and quite precisely what I was trying to say, but my point went further than that:
Let's say, you help your sister who has problems with <something>.
― Scenario A: After helping, you peer into the future, 10 years later, and see that your sister has become <something>.
― Scenario B: 10 years elapse, and then you see that your sister has become <something>.
What is with scenario A that robs your sister of free will, and why does that not happen with scenario B?
Why specifically would you seeing what will happen mean that the actions are predetermined?
Why specifically would the fact that you had a role in the events mean that the outcome is predetermined?
God created the world, and God can see the future, but neither of them robs the human of free will.
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Warp wrote:
Personally I see somewhat of a circular deduction somewhere in this deduction chain. Because there's life in Earth, it must be possible for life to form by natural causes. Given the proper natural conditions, forming life must be possible, because there is life in Earth, after all, where life was formed by natural causes. It just feels like the phenomenon is explained by the phenomenon itself: It must be possible for life to spawn by natural causes because life exists on Earth, and life exists on earth because life can spawn by natural causes.
That was an interesting point of view that I had not considered.
nfq wrote:
God is all-knowing, so when he orders a pizza he knows what will happen to the delivery boy. Nobody has free will because when God created the universe he already knew everything that would happen. He also knew his own actions, so he has no free will, so I can't blame him for creating me.
Knowledge does not conflict with free will.
Let's take God out of the equation for a while. You now know, what people from a decade ago did. Does that mean that they did not have a choice? After all, you have knowledge of what they did. If God knowing humans' actions robs them of free will, why wouldn't you knowing humans' actions similarly rob them of free will?
Whether you know it in advance or in past does not make a difference; you still know, "they did", and thus they did.
I don't think your free will argument holds.
nfq wrote:
Then he shouldn't have created me, because I want 100% joy or nothing.
You missed the point in my previous message, where I explained how the concept of "100% joy" in human life is an oxymoron.
Most people are well satisfied with 60% joy. I guess your current life is something like 5% joy for you to think that way. I'm sad for you if that is the case, and I don't know how I could improve that situation.
Still, I'd like you to adopt a more positive way of thinking. There is no point in dwelling in sad things if doing so destroys you. Relish the good when it happens, and remember it. Anticipate the next time.
If there is something that continuously causes you feel wronged, seek a resolution to the issue, don't dwell on it.
nfq wrote:
If nothing existed, no suffering would exist, and everything would be perfect.
No joy would exist either. I don't see that as a perfection. Mathematically, I see perfection as infinity, and nothingness as zero. I think those are two very different concepts, and I don't see anything desirable in nothingness. If I were a hindu, perhaps this view would be different.
I'm afraid the rest of your message did not contain anything tangible to comment on, so I'll stop here for now.
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Rridgway wrote:
Is there a rank for people who dont post but publish a run? I mean along the terms of Silent Player.
There was.
Rridgway wrote:
What is your personal utopia and dystopia?
I suspected what Chamale said, so I will ignore this question.
Dacicus wrote:
Do you think that the national football team of Finland will qualify for Euro 2008? Maybe a better question might be: Do you follow football or any other sport?
