Why weren't the runs console verifyable before? Either way, nice work on all of the Gen 1/2 TASes. I can't wait until they're all submitted and published. Red SC/Gold Coin Case/Silver glitchless are submitted, but there's just one left maybe. Can't wait to see! (I'm saying that for everyone else.)
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I mean, it hasen't even worked one time when I've tried the frame delays in the document, with what I think pal(rel)5 means. It feels just about impossible for me to get it.
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What do I do for this? It's been a few days, and I still have no idea what I'm doing wrong. Sorry if I seem impatient, I've been trying for quite a while now and it hasn't even worked once.
DJ Incendration
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I can't even tell what I did in the userfile I posted. I thought I pressed Left on the first frame possible, released on frame 12, started holding on Frame 97 and released after the little popping sound when the bootup ends. I then pressed A 1 frame after the sound when the GameFreak logo appears, then Start on the second frame where music changes and the pokemon is scrolled on screen, the third frame where a 1-frame A press plays Squirtle's cry, and Start for the sixth frame that would play the New Game/Nugget Bridge theme. I keep getting the wrong TID, though.
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I mean, I'm still having a little bit of trouble. I'll post a userfile of what I think red_pal(rel5)_gfskip1_hop1_title2_newgame5 means. I don't know what I did wrong... Anyway, you can find it here: http://tasvideos.org/userfiles/info/64457660128604412
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I can't seem to get it. I try pressing a Dpad input on the first frame possible, releasing on frame 11, count to 97, hold until the end of the bios, press a one frame after doing so starts the music, then press Start 4 frames after the A press since 3 frames is the minimum, then press A 2 frames after pressing A for one frame would result in Charmander's cry, then Start 5 frames after the first frame of pressing Start changes the music and starts the game. When that's done, I found I got a trainer ID in the 53xxx range. Is it supposed to be Start, A, Start, A? Is this for CGB in GBA set to True or False?
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So for that line in Red version means: Hold the dpad input during frames 0-11, release it frame 12, hold dpad input again starting from frame 97 and hold it until the end of the bootrom, right? I'm just making sure because I'm finding it hard to understand, still.
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Thank you for that! I have a few questions, though:
On the lines that say: red_pal(rel5)_gfskip1_hop1_title2_newgame5: TID = 0x765E (30302), Cost: 667144 Cycles" and "blue_pal(ab1)_gfskip6_hop0_title3_newgame1: TID = 0x765E (30302), Cost: 667830 Cycles", what do red_pal(rel5), blue_pal(ab1), gfskip6 and hop mean? I'm guessing the numbers (Title2 and newgame5), title2 means waiting for Charmander to be scrolled to the next pokemon, but I don't know for newgame0/1. Also, which input combinations would give those TIDs?
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I have a question about the text- what does red_pal1_gfskip0_hop5_title3_newgame0: TID = 0x64C1 (25793), Cost: 29780804 Cycles
red_pal1_gfskip0_hop5_title0_newgame3
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The new RTA route which I created (known as FTL) does not break any of the TASVideos 100% rules. The main glitch involves using an invalid Game Corner which reads the prizes from RAM which we can easily modify to give ourselves any Pokémon. If you look at the function which gets the list of prize menus here, you can see that it derives which prize menu to use from the sprite index of the sprite which opened up the prize menu. Using an invalid sprite index will cause the game to read the prize and cost pointers past the end of the list. I've dumped all the invalid game corner prizes and prices in this pastebin. The invalid game corner I use is Game Corner 59, as it is the only game corner which reads its prizes from an item underflow quantity.
As for whether the current FTL route is considered optimal for a TAS, there are a few things to consider. The current route does not use Save Corruption. In Gen 1 Glitched speedruns, save corruption is generally banned due to legacy reasons. It was previously thought that you could not achieve item underflow without corrupting Pokédex flags, and as such it was banned. However, a while ago, gifvex discovered that you could corrupt the number of box items, allowing you to withdraw a []j. x0 and achieve item underflow with that. There are also other considerations. Party Overflow with 255 Pokémon would allow you to access the entirety of WRAM, or more specifically, addresses from $d16b to $fd3f (due to Echo RAM, this is equivalent to accessing $c000-dfff), the caveat being that it is difficult to manipulate single values at a time. One could imagine a setup where you'd swap Pokémon in order to get an NPC with sprite index 59 and with a text pointer that points to the Game Corner byte. Interestingly enough, the fact that Party Overflow cannot access SRAM is actually relevant here. For Game Corner 59, the prices pointer points to SRAM, and thus requires additional setup in the RTA route to set it to a low enough value to buy all remaining Pokémon. This type of distinction points to an issue in what counts as arbitrary memory corruption. Sure, this glitch can access the entirety of WRAM, but it can't access HRAM or SRAM, so it can't corrupt every memory address. This type of ambiguity has generally left me unsatisfied with the Gen 1-2 glitched rules, mainly because I have been unable to resolve it.
If we assume that Save Corruption would be banned, then there isn't much to improve for a TAS. Other than getting perfect RNG, these would be the following potential improvements:
- Use Charmander instead of Bulbasaur: I chose Bulbasaur for the RTA route since getting Brock Through Walls with it is much easier, and I didn't expect anyone to grind the category out seriously. Using Charmander to get BTW is faster as it doesn't require catching a Pidgey. I can't remember off the top of my head if there are any changes to the route if Charmander was used instead of Bulbasaur.
- Missingno Backsprite corruption: In the RTA route, you're supposed to intentionally crash the game in order to set $a7ce (the price of the Game Corner prize slot which you buy from) to a low enough value such that you can buy every remaining Pokémon. There's a hypothetical strategy I've thought of, which involves viewing Missingno's backsprite. Missingno's backsprite can corrupt memory to $a7ce. The problem in an RTA run is that Missingno's backsprite reads from VRAM. Under normal conditions, VRAM is only readable at certain periods per scanline (known as HBlank and Mode 2). This means that getting a good backsprite corruption would rely on "VRAM RNG". While a manipulation may be possible, I don't have the knowledge to create manips, and I wasn't even sure if it was possible to get a value of 0 (the desired value) into $a7ce. For a TAS, such a strategy is worth exploring to see if it is doable.
I explored a little bit, but I couldn't figure out how to corrupt the number of box items. I tried doing the 2/10 trick, but I can't figure out a way to get it without modifying pokedex flags.
If I could figure it out, I would have to undo the effects of the 255 Pokémon glitch after corrupting the box items, and I don't even know what names I would use. I'll look into it more.
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I really wish the perfect game would be submitted. I really want to know what the TAS would look like in one part. I understand that some parts may not be as entertaining as any%, but it seems like a good TAS.
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In addition to text differences, the route is faster for the Japanese games. In English Red, you switch Pokémon 4 with 13, then 12 with 11, then 10 with 13. Then, switch item 1 with 5, then 3 with 13. After all of that, switch Pokémon 17 with 22 and then 23 with 18.
In the Japanese versions, name your character with a certain name (version-dependent), then swap pokemon 7 with 8, 9 with 10, and then 15 with 26. No item switches required. There's an actual improvement in the Japanese games.
DJ Incendration
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