Posts for Dacicus


Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Player (67)
Joined: 6/22/2005
Posts: 1041
Wow, there are really significant differences between the NES and SNES versions. Too bad the completion screens require so much time on the SNES. You can get rid of them by pressing A the frame after they appear on the NES version. EDIT: I finally figured out how to stop a builder in the middle of his actions by assigning it another job. Several FAQs had mentioned the trick, but it only works after the builder has placed 8 of the 16 steps on the NES version. This makes levels 11 and 13 shorter by about 5 seconds each.
Current Projects: TAS: Wizards & Warriors III.
Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Player (67)
Joined: 6/22/2005
Posts: 1041
Well, I've worked on optimizing the first level on the NES version. I found out that the fastest time happens when you have the lemming dig as soon as it's past the underhang on the left. This way, all of the lemmings except the one you need to save die from falling down the hole. Nuking them takes longer. There's probably no need to apply this strategy to the SNES version because of the Select + Start trick. BTW, I'm glad to hear that you're working on the SNES version, Acmlm.
Current Projects: TAS: Wizards & Warriors III.
Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Player (67)
Joined: 6/22/2005
Posts: 1041
adelikat wrote:
so you can increase the drop rate in this version?
You can't increase the drop rate in the NES version. I have more comments, but I just got back to college, and I don't think I'll have any time to work on this for a while. EDIT: I think it may be faster to purposefully kill the unnecessary lemmings in some levels than to nuke them. I've tested this on the first level so far (I'll post the updated movie later), and I think it may be possible in some other levels.
Current Projects: TAS: Wizards & Warriors III.
Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Player (67)
Joined: 6/22/2005
Posts: 1041
Okay, I've decided to do all 100 levels. I decided to stick with the original music because it would require more time to switch to SFX on the main menu, but I'm willing to change that. I'm still open to suggestions for making it more interesting (and for anything else), btw.
Current Projects: TAS: Wizards & Warriors III.
Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Player (67)
Joined: 6/22/2005
Posts: 1041
XkyRauh wrote:
How's the cursor movement speed in the console ports of Lemmings?
On the NES version, you have to hold B and use left/right to select the job. You can't use the cursor to select the jobs. This only works when the game is unpaused, btw, so I assume the level difficulty must have been adjusted. The actual cursor movement is weird, because sometimes it moves one pixel after pressing the direction for a frame and sometimes it moves two pixels. It also moves diagonally if you press the correct directional combos.
XkyRauh wrote:
I'm all for musical shenanigans in the NES version, if you're up for it. That sounds awesome.
Compared to Acmlm's SNES version, it wouldn't really be as awesome on the NES. Since you have to select jobs as described above, you can't skip any notes of the scale. This means you would just be doing runs and tricks with alternates notes (trills, turns, mordents, etc.).
Current Projects: TAS: Wizards & Warriors III.
Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Player (67)
Joined: 6/22/2005
Posts: 1041
Omega: I have a short movie of the first level on Mayhem. It's probably close to the fastest possible solution, but there are some places in which I had extra cursor movements. I would upload it if I knew where to do so. Nach: Simply, I don't have the SNES emulator, and I don't know if I want to get it at the moment.
Current Projects: TAS: Wizards & Warriors III.
Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Player (67)
Joined: 6/22/2005
Posts: 1041
I have recently given some thought to making a TAS of Lemmings for the NES. There are several factors, however, that may not make the TAS very interesting. For example, there are 100 levels in the game, 25 for each level of difficulty. As far as I can tell, the levels are all different, but I haven't played them all. It could easily become boring to watch the little things do basically the same actions for 100 levels. Furthermore, the actual lemmings are only 8 pixels tall with the default settings of FCEU (blip), so there's not that much to actually see of them. As far as speed goes, the menu system is apparently set up in such a way that you can only switch jobs every 8 frames. If you miss the frame on which you can switch jobs, you have to wait for the next one. I've tried to speed this up by pressing other buttons in between and then trying to switch, but it still works only every 8 frames. When viewed at full speed, this still appears somewhat fast, but it won't have an "instant" look like some other games. One thing that might make this interesting is the fact that switching between jobs causes different pitches of sound to be played, so the player could make some music while waiting for the lemmings (thanks to Acmlm for the idea). Note that, on the NES, you can either have these musical SFX or a predetermined track of music playing. You can't have both the SFX and the music at the same time :(. BTW, some levels have the same musical tracks, which could make the game boring if the music is selected. In summary, I'd like to know how much interest there is in a TAS of NES Lemmings. I'd also like to know of any ideas that could make the game interesting. EDIT: I'll put the most recent WIP in this post. Here's up through level 10.
Current Projects: TAS: Wizards & Warriors III.