Would just like to say this was an excellent improvement on my TAS run, flying sure beats running.
I do slightly regret not continuing my own efforts, but am glad to see someone else took this up and released something amazing.
Thats fine. I just wanted to show you a general idea of what to do in the levels.
Sorry, I was assuming at the same time as showing me some examples, you was also showing a faster way to a 'Game Over' screen.
Thanks for the explanation, I had assumed it would slow me down, but infact would be faster? (by 1 frame)
*Edit*
Just a quick update
My original submission was 94241 this was 26min 10.68s, after using the above information, very kindly offered, I am currently down to 84519 that is 23min 28.65s and there are more frames I know I can save.
The problem I keep getting is when removing frames from for example level 5, 6 levels after this are perfectly synced, then for no reason the next level desyncs.
I prefer to get the ending that involves the credits, it feels more real, the code needed to even get to these secret levels are inside the credits after the last boss.
I can see the speed increase over about 15 frames before returning to normal, but can explain further what you mean by bumping edges are faster.
I used your movie since its already at the final boss. Hope you dont mind Equinox ;) )
Not at all, all help is appreciated, never thought it would be possible, due to him flickering making him unable to hit, nice find, would have never thought of just standing there -_-
As for your addition I am going to go through and see where I can make improvements using this technique, at the same time as shorting exits>walk>enter times.
If it didnt make the game play differently it wouldnt desync, which was the point I was trying to make.
Of course it needs to be off to play correctly past level 5, but both people that have submited demo movies to help out have kept SRAM on and the frames total in their movies would not really be comparable to the frames in mine, but they still would be very close.
I calculate 9 frames saved during the level, what was good was the speed you got to the level.
I will sit down tomorrow and shorten as much as possible the gap between landing on a level and entering it.
I think that the game plays differently if you have SRAM on or off, things are happening in the game faster or slower, since this causes the game to desync.
To make it standard throughout I used SRAM disabled, as you can't pass level 5 with it on.
After two submissions ending in them being cancelled I have been advised to start a thread about the game, and hopefully gain some input from you guys to see how I can improve my run.
I would like you to be harsh, and specific where possible, I have the basic framework there but it can still be better.
Here is a link to my most recent run
http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/554571498/Puggsy%20%28U%29%20%5B%21%5D.gmv
You need to make sure SRAM is disabled from the start to stop it from desyncing *looks at Sonikkustar*.
So you have atleast a point of comparison here is a so call 'unoptimized' run by maTO
http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/1736432802/Puggsy%20%28JUE%29%20%5BR-USA%5D%5B%5D.gmv
You need to keep SRAM on until you see the parrot boss die, then turn it off, it then plays to the end of the 2nd boss.
I aim to take no damage during my run.
I await your judgement.
I suggest starting a thread over in the Genesis forums (seeing as there doesn't appear to be a thread for this game already) to track improvements on this run which are in progress and cancelling this submission.
I agree with your vote.
I can see your run was faster than my first attempt, but you did take damage and I avoid it.
Check out my new movie here
http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/554571498/Puggsy%20%28U%29%20%5B%21%5D.gmv
Your run up to the first inactive frame after boss 2 was 18134 frames.
My new run up to the same point, taking no damage, taking time out to run an extra level and level 4 twice is 20683.
Would you say yes to this new run, if not I would really like your feedback.
I was hoping to see the rest of the dragon fight cleaned up and not just the final hit.
Each previous hit was changed to jump at the second his mouth was open, instead of 4-5 frames after, the last hit was 7 frames before his mouth could open to save the time, but I will see about this when I do submit a new movie
nifboy wrote:
Some levels, like the one where you methodically and carefully place four balls on four levers, seem like an obvious place where you should be able to simply throw the balls and will them into place (through, if nothing else, "Guess and check").
I had tried many times to throw and hope, but due to the bouncy nature of the balls they never landed where I wanted, I will ofcourse try again to see if frames can be saved.
nifboy wrote:
Also, did you check if using the secret exit/bonus level on level 4 for earlier shoes is worth it?
I was aware of the shoes, but never timed how long it would take to complete level 4 to the second exit, enter the secret level, get the shoes vs all the levels inbetween level 4 and where I do get the shoes. Will definately get some numbers on this.
nifboy wrote:
Level 1: You have a fair amount of control over your jump height: you don't need to use full-height jumps to climb the rocks.
Agreed, I did improve later in the game but never thought of redoing this level.
nifboy wrote:
Level 2-3: You can use the object you're holding to hoist yourself up; I know this is faster in level 3 and might be faster in level 2 as well.
Level 2 used to have a jump and hoist, it didnt look clean, I actually saved over a second by just dropping it and jumping. Level 3 I guess it should be possible, and might save some frames of waiting.
nifboy wrote:
Level 4: It is, in fact, possible to jump over the enemy, even without any waiting, instead of running off to grab a barrel to (slowly) kill it with.
I tried this many times while doing this run and kept being killed, but I just booted up the game and done it first time -_- guess I need to be more persistant.
Thank you for all for your comments and feedback, hopefully I will have a poslished article ready in a few days, for some reason splicing things at the beginning of the game desync's bosses later on, no matter how accurate I can be, the splice I made for Level 2 actually cost me a good 2 hours of resyncing and rerecording things.
*edit*
Ok, as far as the shoes go, including 13a and stopping at the first active frame during 13b it would normally take 32112 frames.
If I take the detour at level 4 at get the shoes in the bonus level, and then play upto the same place it took 26720 frame.
This is a saving of 5392 frame, and thats about 1min 29.52sec, this was significant.
When resyncing the levels after this point I also chose to replay some of the other levels, leaving me with a 5783 frame saving by the end so about 1min 36.23 saved in total.
At the same time I removed 7 frames from the beginning, and added them to the end, of each jump during the dragon fight.
Incase someone else would like to give pointers I will keep this open for now, if I did cancel and resubmit now the last 3 submission would have been made by me, and I would like my next submission to be the last one for this game.
The option was added to Gens to disable SRAM, and I believe this game was the reason for it, as I can see no other game that requires it.
On top of that it is listed on the Genesis page
http://tasvideos.org/ListOfIdeas/Genesis.html
About the dragon, I can see a maximum of maybe 4 frames to be saved, this would be made on the very last hit, as each hit before could be hit at anytime and the frames would be left the same.
Mouth open at 67681, jump pressed 67685, if you see this as significant I can try but for 0.07 sec I wouldnt think its worth it.
Thanks for your feedback.