/me facepalms at forgetting readbyte.
Randil: your code has a period on the end of frameadvance(). That's why the interpreter looking for a <name>, I reckon.
Warp wrote:
- Where is the script written to and how do you tell the emulator to use it when running a certain game?
There's either a menu item or a commandline option to load a .lua file, depending on the emu, platform, version, etc. You can only run one script.
- Seemingly the emulator starts running the script immediately when the game starts and keeps running it for as long as the execution proceeds in the script (deducing from the use of "while true" in all the examples in this thread). Is there a way to hook scripts to run on certain events instead (eg. keypresses or such)?
To my knowledge (which is out of date and only includes FCEUX and Snes9x) there is no such hooking mechanism. At least, not until some super-sexy C coder adds it. *nudge-nudge wink-wink*
- What variables and functions are available for the script to use?
Lots. You should check the emulator docs and/or emulua reference for a list.
As for the naming of "frameadvance", I'll point out that if you have an endless loop without at least one such call, the script will hang on the same frame until termination. In other words, regardless of what's going on under the hood, it effectively advances to the next frame.
Im makeing a tas and i realy want to improve in everyaspect. So i would like to know the basics of what the lua can do for me.
The two basic things are "generate input" and "display information". Those are some pretty powerful building blocks. The emulua reference lists the functions available in each emulator, and that should give you an idea of what Lua is meant for.
I thinking of to display the boss hp in the screen would be awsome so i can see the damage (and not using the ram watcher). Also i was thinking of to show the caracter position in the screen, so i can use perfect jumps.
You should refer to some of the other scripts that have been posted over the years. I think FCEUX also comes with some example scripts that will probably help you.
Here i got the address for the boss hp (1C5E) i found this adress with other 3 adress (but this is the one that chage first. Im having problems to find the character position on the screen. Then here comes the big problem how can i write the lua with the address i already find.
The code to display the boss HP is as follows:
while true do
gui.text(0, 0, "Boss: " .. 0x1C5E)
emu.frameadvance()
end
That will put the display at the top-left corner. If you want the HP display to follow the boss, you just replace the two zeroes with the X and Y coordinates of the boss. Depending on the emulator, you might need to do some other stuff, but that's the basics.
I would love to see even a semi-optimized run if it aimed for the maximum score and bonuses, sacrificing time to collect stuff on the track (and possibly things dropped by enemies, as I seem to recall happening in this game.)
Dominating the other racers as hard as possible would probably have broad appeal.
About TASVideos T-Shirts, I would very happily wear them but in terms of being able to sell them, I doubt my prospects of being able to do that. Not even taking Small Business Management last year helped me too much.
But I would very happily wear one, even if my opportunities to advertise it are rare (The school as an obsessively strict uniform policy).
Yeah... I figured you could make, say, 20 in a reasonable men's size and give them to your friends to wear at conventions and LAN parties or whatever, but after looking into it, the prices for this service seem exorbitant at best. Phooey.
Sad that this isn't getting more responses, this is a very good run for an awesome game.
We're all just transfixed anticipation for FreshFeeling's commentary. ;)
Presuming that a commentary is forthcoming, I hope the encoder(s) will add it as a second audio track to the publication.
About getting a hold of a journalism group, I am unsure what you mean. Do you mean contacting the local newspapers or the online media? I'd consider doing the former but chances are, they'll just think I am another teenage Call of Duty 4 obsessed junkie.
I'm pretty sure he meant your high school newspaper... which your school doesn't have, judging from your response.
Also, since gamers are (edit: according to certain politicians) worse than biker gangs in Australia, maybe you should sell TASvideos t-shirts, and advertise them as a way of increasing one's street cred?
Am I missing something? I thought this is what GENS' lag counter is for.
And yeah, there's bound to be at least one serviceable memory address for detecting when a dialog box can be dismissed and things like that. It's simple enough to find. First get the frame where the lag ends/input is allowed, start a new cheat search, rewind a few frames, and use the equality and inequality searches to narrow down the field. After a few rounds of that, the remaining addresses are probably useful.
If anyone wants a more detailed breakdown of time saved, I've got a comparison spreadsheet here.
There were two full-game test runs completed between the last submission and this run - janus works very quickly!
I'll be voting yes on this, and would love to record a commentary if janus doesn't want to do it himself (I've been discussing this with him).
Skype? Two commentators are better than one for a run of this length.
If it's demonstrably true that this is the best game on the console, maybe this movie should be a concept demo? That is, let it be known the publication is for archival purposes, rather than actual merit.
That's called a "desync." Mupen isn't good at deterministic playback, so you'll find this happening often. Apparently games using an expansion pack are particularly bad.
You can try recording again with different plugins and settings. Disable rumble and save packs. The TAS input plugin in particular is supposed to make playback more stable, IIRC. Avoid using the speed +/- keys, and don't reload a savestate during a screen transition or loading screen.
There are also different versions of the emulator floating around. Bluetoaster has some, and Mupen64plus is the newest. I can't vouch for any of them, but I'm sure some work better than others.
I think that's all you can do. Maybe someone else has more advice I've forgotten?
Edit: wait, what?
I went straight to the first room of the game and choose "record from screenshot" and while I'm actually playing, it looks like it's working fine, but when I played it back, the rom reset itself and gave all the correct input, but on the opening menu of the game.
You told it to record from snapshot, then when you tried to replay, it resumed from reset instead of the snapshot? That's... I don't know what the hell that's about, but you shouldn't bother recording from a snapshot. We don't accept movies that don't start from reset, and clearly something is misbehaving anyway.
Recording from a reset doesn't mean you have to create the whole movie in one session, if you didn't know. There are tutorials on the wiki that go into more detail about why and how TASes are created, including resuming a recording.
I'm not sure what else to tell you, but hopefully that was somewhat helpful. >_>
If you want to do keyboard macros in an emulator, use Lua, since Emulua is created to do exactly what you seem to be asking.
If you're a Windows user using an emulator that doesn't have Lua embedded, then use autohotkey.
If you have any more questions, go ahead.
edit: LOL. I see I already told you about AHK in another thread. I hope that worked out for you.
Maybe you should only be allowed to put bounties on unpopular games or when proposing unconventional run concepts?
This. I've had "redo aborted Solar Jetman 100%" on my TODO list for no less than three years. The money itself is trifling, but it's encouraging to know that someone cares about a run enough to go to the hassle of paying money for it.
The notion of an OoT bounty is another interesting point. Putting money on the TAS might be a waste, but how about putting it on TASing features for Mupen? Unless I'm misremembering something, the OoT run was delayed for months because of software issues, not because of TASer motivation.
Nach is a slimy slob who worships cheese spread at the bottom of a beer glass.
Nach, on the other hand, is an undisciplined waitress who runs an unsuccessful cab company/brothel.
...I need a better insult generator.
A few of the high points of my bedtime listening from the last two years:
Turn of the Screw — Henry James
Heart of Darkness — Joseph Conrad
20,000 Leagues Under the Seas — Jules Verne
The Invisible Man — H.G. Wells
Bushido: the Soul of Japan — Inazo Nitobe
I have 1984 on standby. Definitely looking forward to reading the rest of that.
It's hard to "recommend" these things with a straight face, as they're things everyone has heard of. They're what I've been reading, at any rate. They're all free audiobooks, too. Available on archive.org.
As for manga, Himizu is, I think, the best I've ever read. I can't really describe it as anything other than "hilariously bleak."
Holyland is also fairly good, but seems to be meandering on the same "an enemy appears! Goku trains and defeats them!" shounen loop. Likewise with Shamo. Good if you like martial arts. Read it with some Final Fight or Streets of Rage playing.
For the run to be even mildly entertaining the computer has to move fast (preferably a few seconds per move), but in that case the computer doesn't have any significant amount of time to be a fair challenge and the whole thing just doesn't make much sense. It would be humiliating the computer without giving it any chance to actually fight back. Also the challenge of actually beating the computer to pulp is next to nil at such low difficulty settings. (This is especially true with old consoles and home computers which didn't have any computing prowess to speak of.)
I'm not certain that would be an issue in practice. The only chess-like game I'm familiar with is (in my less-than-expert opinion) very hard, but the only time it takes more than 5 seconds to make a move is in the endgame. The viewer would presumably need that time to analyze the moves themselves, anyway.
Very nice. Less superfluity with the Lindas and glitched wall-climbing than I remember in the last demo.
Incidentally, are you supposed to be awarded points for punching air? I would think not, but this game is a bit weird even without all the glitches...
If you want to make your own video for youtube, don't even consider using camtasia or anything like that. Use the video dumper built into ZSNES. There should be a "dump" button somewhere in the movie menus/dialogs, IIRC.
Alternately, if you think you've improved the published TAS of ALTTP, post your input file (I forget the extension of ZSNES input files— .ZMV?) in the Zelda: A Link to the Past thread so that the experts can spot any improvements.
Chess is a great idea. Not only are there hilariously stupid chess AIs on '80s hardware, it should be possible to do bizarre things, like march your king into the enemy camp and still win.
I tried to do something like that with "Shougi Fuurinkazan" for the SNES, but I lack the talent.
In Batman's last level you don't need to take damage, but quite often you take 1 hit. If you do, just jump and get out of there.
Yeah. I casually ran through the game again last night and spent a couple dozen rerecords trying to avoid the hit, but the window for making that jump must be microscopic. I could just refer to the TAS for the exact timing.
Actually, I found that Stage 3 was quite a bit harder than 5, because of those jumping frog things. You see it, it leaps across the screen directly onto your head. You try to flee, not knowing any better, but you can't shake it off. You're only a few seconds into the level with your health almost drained, then a SECOND one attacks because you scrolled to the right.
I guess they're not incredibly evil since you can memorize their behavior and their positions in the level. Still, I'd love to see someone attempt that stage for the first time without getting killed 30 seconds in.
And Battletoads level 3 belongs nowhere near this list. Top 10 most overhyped difficulty, perhaps.
Funny— I was thinking just yesterday that the TMNT dam level is more hype than actual difficulty. You'll take some damage, yes, but you'd take damage anyway if you want to get through quickly. Just getting through is easy, but level 3 is what scares me, since the three meat shields are at low health.
I wish I could name some of the harder Smash TV rooms. I don't know if it's regarded as a difficult game in general— I certainly do— and there's definitely some sadism to be found in the third level. There was probably one in particular that ruined a majority of my no-death runs.
Maybe world 12 (or was it 13?) in Solar Jetman qualifies. Not particularly high gravity, but very long. Grueling, even. Very little leeway for bumping into walls, so of course you'll have to navigate a bunch of tight passages on the way to a big goddamn maze. Then again, I haven't played that in a couple years, so I could be wrong about the details.
The clock tower level in Batman (U) also stands out. The AVGN pointed out a particular spot where you apparently must take damage to continue... I don't quite believe that, but the level did scare the crap out of me when I was a kid. These days, I can't even get that far.
Also, speaking of Solar Jetman, Blublu found a new warp when he was working on his TAS a year or two ago. Whether it was just new to us or new even to Gamefaqs, I'm not certain. Seems to me that if it were on Gamefaqs, it would have been used in the published TAS...
