Joined: 11/22/2004
Posts: 1468
Location: Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Very cool. :)
I'll be doing some of this later. Too bad I never get to do any HTML layouts at work, so it's been a while since I made any (and I'm totally unsure if I want to figure out the technical layout of the site's PHP), but I'll free some time for this during the weekends.
Joined: 11/22/2004
Posts: 1468
Location: Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Bag of Magic Food wrote:
So the emulator just wouldn't include the disc's natural loading times?
Er, yes it would. There wouldn't be any problem in emulation, so loading times would be rendered as well. And with ideal circumstances, all load times will be the same in frames as well.
Joined: 11/22/2004
Posts: 1468
Location: Rotterdam, The Netherlands
FODA wrote:
Omega wrote:
FODA wrote:
loading time differs from playstation to playstation and from cd to cd. it's far from being frame precise.
It does differ between CD ISO dumps, but I'm certain that the error correction that's dumped along with the ISO files will correct any such differences. And if everybody uses one certain BIOS file, then there should be no problem.
i'm pretty sure it differs form playstation to playstation and from cd to cd since its a physical component and is subject to variations. its not just circuits. its a cd spinning there. the lens get tired and the cd has dust on it so i think its pretty difficult to have ideal conditions to have frame precision.
But a Playstation emulator should not show any differences if you use a (somewhat) similar ROM and the same BIOS. Given the fact it's written properly. A digital file can't get dust on it.
Joined: 11/22/2004
Posts: 1468
Location: Rotterdam, The Netherlands
DeHackEd wrote:
How about the open-the-drive-door trick for FMV skipping?
Is that even possible with ePSXe?
EDIT: technically, any "input" is acceptable, right? Opening the Playstation isn't input, so I guess that with our current set of rules, that would not be acceptable.
Joined: 11/22/2004
Posts: 1468
Location: Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Highness wrote:
Still I think that the loading scenes should be cut out from the AVI if ePSXe for example get's proper re-recording that is submittable.
Why? They're part of the game. I don't think that any of us should have the right to remove parts from a game as we please. Unless, of course, there are extreme circumstances (like the 30 minute wait in Secret of Evermore).
Joined: 11/22/2004
Posts: 1468
Location: Rotterdam, The Netherlands
FODA wrote:
loading time differs from playstation to playstation and from cd to cd. it's far from being frame precise.
It does differ between CD ISO dumps, but I'm certain that the error correction that's dumped along with the ISO files will correct any such differences. And if everybody uses one certain BIOS file, then there should be no problem.
Joined: 11/22/2004
Posts: 1468
Location: Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Highness wrote:
Oh.. If someone manage to produce a full run, I my self think that we should cut out the loading parts, since that can differ from computer to computer I suppose.
An emulator emulates something at the same speed as the original hardware, so if the emulator is correctly written, then loading times will take exactly as long on every computer.
Joined: 11/22/2004
Posts: 1468
Location: Rotterdam, The Netherlands
RT-55J wrote:
Wait a minute... GPU/SPU dumps?! Does this mean that I can hex-edit the movie file to automatically beat the game if I feel like doing so?
No. The fundamental difference is that such a dump is solely output, and what you want to hex edit is input. Output is more or less uneditable unless you, like people something think we do, create the movie frame by frame in an image editor. Even then, you'd have to cope with the strange format.
The GPU/SPU dumping plugins were never made for speedrunning. They were made to test your GPU and SPU plugins with; since once you've got the dump, you can apply any normal plugin on it to see if they render the stream correctly.
Joined: 11/22/2004
Posts: 1468
Location: Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Maza wrote:
Well, you could compress them so that they wouldn't take as much space, with the expense of the quality. I understand that if anyone was ever to make a full run of a PSX Final Fantasy the quality of the movie would need to be rather poor so that the filesize wouldn't too inhuman.
Well, I'm talking about the GPU/SPU dumps, which are lossless and can't really be compressed. There are always two versions of a run on Bisqwit's site: the original input file (which already rules out this method of ePSXe re-recording, since the GPU/SPU dumps are output rather than input) and the AVI.
The AVI would still be on a decent bitrate, though. 3D RPGs don't have much tiresome things in them to make them difficult to compress, especially with x264.
EDIT: I changed the menu color because I like the blue version more than the grey one. :P
Joined: 11/22/2004
Posts: 1468
Location: Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Maza wrote:
Wow, Omeg! That was really something!
Would it be possible to see a longer testrun?
I admit that the lagging starts to get quite annoying but hey, for seeing TAS of FF9, that is a price I'm willing to pay.
And what comes to the huge files it creates while making the movie, I think it's not so big problemat least now-a-days since everyone should have pretty big hardrives. (I myself have currently a litle bit over 250gb free space)
I would render a new one, but this movie is actually pretty old. I deleted the original files a long time ago. I could make some test runs again someday, though.
It's true that a lot of people have large hard drives, but that's not really an excuse for people who don't, nor is it useful for Bisqwit's poor server when you upload the files for a new run submission.
Joined: 11/22/2004
Posts: 1468
Location: Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Walker Boh: not really. Besides all the problems I mentioned before, the GPU/SPU dumps are huge. I think that I used about 500 MB for that little piece of gameplay (mainly because of the MDECs, though) alone. I used about 5 GB when I stopped recording.
Joined: 11/22/2004
Posts: 1468
Location: Rotterdam, The Netherlands
A while back, I used two testing plugins that could record GPU and SPU output from ePSXe to create a short movie of Final Fantasy IX. I'm able to use slowdowns and rerecords while using these plugins and then later capture the streams using Fraps when I replay them with different GPU and SPU plugins, like Pete's.
I was going to play through the whole game this way, but stopped when I found out its major disadvantages and bugs. Namely, whenever you load a state, any sound or music instrument that was playing at that moment will be cut off. This makes for some very nasty sound bugs. Also, it wasn't possible to properly capture the audio and video streams (resulting in a lot of lag, as you can see during the battle). Fraps was really my last resort. The program is also very prone to "break" the audio (meaning everything will be recorded without sound, requiring that you restart the emulator), which happened everytime you loaded a state during an MDEC.
Still, this video is pretty cool, especially if you'd really like to see ePSXe re-recording someday. Some features:
uses slowdowns and re-records
uses luck manipulation (to get the Mage Masher with Cinna's Steal command)
Joined: 11/22/2004
Posts: 1468
Location: Rotterdam, The Netherlands
I created a few old versions of the program a while back by clean installing and then performing old updates on the back-up of the original executable. I did this to be able to watch old replays, but I guess this is a good use for them as well. I've uploaded 1.04 for you here.
EDIT: I've noticed that some patches (1.09) might cause some glitches if you've previously updated to the most recent version. I'm not sure if this is the same for 1.04, though. They weren't gameplay glitches, however, just a few small interface bugs.
Joined: 11/22/2004
Posts: 1468
Location: Rotterdam, The Netherlands
flagitious wrote:
Highness wrote:
Why not then send two workers atleast?
One as a decoy and one (or more) that can destroy the base? =D
Heheh well actually I remember reading somewhere that someone defeated a cpu using only 1 probe in 1v1 blood bath, took 15 minutes though because he had to constantly run from the scvs + distract scvs + attack command center.
Yeah, it's possible if you're patient enough. The CPU tries to desperately attack you with all his worker units if you attack him without him having any other units. It's very simple to get a head start that way; just send a working unit to his base and attack. Then run away.
Joined: 11/22/2004
Posts: 1468
Location: Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Truncated wrote:
The meaning, or why I chose it, has grown dim with time. Common suggestions include:
1) Something that is put inside a trunk. (If you know Swedish, cmp. arkiv-arkiverad, trunk-trunkerad)
