Posts for FractalFusion

Posted: 7/25/2006 12:34 AM

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FractalFusion

Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player (1941)

Joined: 6/15/2005
Posts: 3247

I think it is possible to obtain all 151 Pokémon (and MissingNo. too!) in RBY. In GSC, as far as I know, you can't get all 251 Pokémon without GB link. So I wonder if there is a special diploma or message for catching all the game-exclusive Pokémon.

zefiris wrote:

As far as I know after collecting 150 pokemon you can get Mew in japanese RGB version (somewhere in mansion), and in american release you only get diploma for getting 150 pokemon in pokedex.

I heard that it (Mew rumor) is a false rumor. But that could be a rumor itself! Really, it's hard to trust people nowadays.

Posted: 7/25/2006 12:12 AM

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FractalFusion

Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player (1941)

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Posts: 3247

AngerFist wrote:

For instance, the longest Mega Man run is 4 (34:34) while the other runs are less than 32 minutes (except for Mega Man 5 which is currently 33 minutes long).

Of course the six-game (or four-game) TAS will be much longer than that! Look at DeHackEd's X & X2 run. It is 41 minutes, 9 minutes longer than the X2 run, which is 32 minutes and can be improved by at least half a minute.

AngerFist wrote:

Edit: What me and Baxter agreed on is to play a bit slowly on Mega Man 3 and 6.

Don't worry about it. Your plans will change quickly. :)

Posted: 7/24/2006 5:36 AM

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FractalFusion

Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player (1941)

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Posts: 3247

The ROM name you want is "0898 - Pokemon - Sapphire Version (U).gba". It is ROM #898 in the universal list of GBA ROMs. There is a bit of issue with this and related Pokemon games. You might need a small patch to get it to work (in 128K), after which the patch is no longer needed.

Posted: 7/23/2006 9:10 PM

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FractalFusion

Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player (1941)

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Posts: 3247

Atma wrote:

In terms of you picking them, I don't believe there's any apart from house. Since the opposite of the one you pick is your rival, picking the guy is faster I believe (her name defaults to May, his name defaults to Brendan), which would save frames here and there.

There was a topic on SDA saying that the girl was faster because Brendan says less. I don't know by how much. blackshellbowser, could you post more WIPs (1 is not enough) in the forum topic and take more time so we can help your run and verify that it works?

Posted: 7/23/2006 8:14 AM

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FractalFusion

Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player (1941)

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Posts: 3247

Only 2-3 days and 1216 rerecords? Is the game that easy? I was thinking that if you needed critical hits, you would need more rerecords. I haven't gotten the movie to work yet. It might work if hex-edited to use 128K save.

Posted: 7/23/2006 7:56 AM

Post subject: Splinter Cell

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FractalFusion

Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player (1941)

Joined: 6/15/2005
Posts: 3247

I've beaten the first level, T'Bilisi: http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/1419/0993%20Splinter%20Cell.vbm (I shortened the ROM name. The actual ROM name is "0993 - Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell (U) (M3).gba") Acmlm has posted a partial run, but it kept desyncing. Hex-editing salvaged the first level. I am almost half a minute faster. I found a huge shortcut that skips a floor. I also tested the first floor hole after the elevator shaft but it didn't work, unfortunately. Damage was taken to save time. Other time-savers are jumping up poles (not yet in this movie), jumping down stairs, pressing select to get rid of dialogs, and pressing down early after accessing the bookshelf. The rest of the game will have a much different flavor. By the way, should I use death as a shortcut? It does save time in later levels when turrets are around. Death refills health. Here's a blooper you may (or may not) like: http://www.savefile.com/files.php?fid=3704804 I did a test run before and usually the game won't allow access to locked doors when enemies are around. At the time, I thought I lucked out but I really didn't. It wouldn't have been faster than what works anyway.

Posted: 7/22/2006 6:10 AM

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FractalFusion

Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player (1941)

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Posts: 3247

Already, I was thinking of improving the run. It must be the desync issue that did this to me. I considered using other Pokémon, and came up with a few choices (Sentret, Rattata, Pidgey, Spearow, and/or Gyarados (not shiny) later, and/or Suicune later). All these Pokémon have some desirable feature. - Sentret gets Surf, Rollout, and the three punches, but is slow before it evolves and doesn't get much on either attack stat. - Rattata gets Quick Attack and Hyper Fang early, but that's it. - Pidgey and Spearow get STAB Flying moves (good for Bug gym), and learn Fly, but are hopeless against Steel gym. - Gyarados gets Thrash (similar to Rollout, except it does major damage right away), Bite, and Surf. It's probably lower-leveled than the current Pokémon at that point. - Suicune is normally hard to get but using cheats can help (Suicune encounter flag cheat giving its location). Two extra trainer battles are required, though in Gold/Silver (Crystal is not an option). It starts out at L40, learns some HMs and has many four-letter words in its moveset. However, I'm not sure if it retains Bite at L40. Anyway, an important thing about the first three Pokémon listed is that they get STAB on Tackle and other normal moves. The starter doesn't. Any ideas?

Posted: 7/21/2006 10:03 PM

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FractalFusion

Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player (1941)

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Posts: 3247

zefiris wrote:

Hmmmm... I try to play movie, but game runs and frame counter stands at 0/198314... anyways, one hour - and only third GYM... I think that would be a bit too slow... I can't say really as I could not run the movie.

Have you tried setting save type to 128K and real-time clock on? It took me a while to get Pokémon Emerald to work. Edit:

bobxp wrote:

All of those are void, because in TAS videos it is perfectly legal to just retry whatever goes wrong. So just manipulate the RNG to make all of your hits criticals and all of the enemy's misses. In RBY there was always a chance of a critical and always a chance of a miss but I don't know if this is also in RSE.

There are limits: - There are situations in which an attack can never hit. - There are situations in which an attack can never miss. - There are situations in which your Pokémon can never attack first. - There are situations in which an attack that hits can never be critical. So it's also about knowing the situation.

Posted: 7/20/2006 7:16 AM

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FractalFusion

Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player (1941)

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Posts: 3247

Good job. This game is still interesting enough to TAS, for you guys at least. Voting yes.

Posted: 7/20/2006 4:02 AM

Post subject: Re: 110

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FractalFusion

Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player (1941)

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Posts: 3247

Acmlm wrote:

You missed a 36 somewhere, but I wasn't quite right either ... ... 22 568 879 259 648

You're right. I only counted 36 3 times. There are 4 of them.

Posted: 7/20/2006 3:08 AM

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FractalFusion

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xebra wrote:

Hmm, it wouldn't actually be like that, since causality is reversed as well :/ . A palindromic TAS would be cool, yes, (after all I made this topic), but playing such a TAS backwards and forwards at the same time would not result in synchronized motions.

I was thinking about that too. Some inputs like pressing A for one frame would result in synchronized motion, but holding A would not.

Posted: 7/20/2006 12:09 AM
(Edited: 7/20/2006 4:03 AM)

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FractalFusion

Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player (1941)

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Posts: 3247

Rising Tempest wrote:

If 1P is black, you can win in two moves...

Sure, but I don't think the CPU's opening book allows that sequence. 1. f3/f4 e5/e6 2. g4 Qh4# Of course, Black's second move in my movie was weird. I think what happened was White's Queen move forced the CPU to leave the opening book, and its stupidity led to that move. Edit:

Acmlm wrote:

For comparison, to reproduce my 30 second Monopoly run on console (same cards and rolls), the odds would be about 1 out of a few trillion (10 579 162 152 960, divided by the few slight variations that could work) ... low enough to be considered impossible, unless everyone in the world decides to try it at the same time for a few days nonstop ...

When I calculated it, I came up with 313 456 656 384. Am I missing something, or was this the strategy you used? Cards 1/256 # H: 1+1 - Community Chest, gain $200 from "Bank error in your favor" 1/36 # H: 3+5 - Visit jail 1/9 # C: 2+4 - Buy Oriental 1/9 # H: 3+3 - Buy St. James 1/36 # H: 1+1 - Buy Tennessee 1/36 # H: 1+3 - Chance, go back 3 spaces, buy New York 1/18 # H: Build 11 houses starting from St. James # (movie end) # C: 5+5 - Pay $750 at St. James 1/36 # C: 1+2 - Pay $800 at New York (bankrupt) 1/18 256*36*9*9*36*36*18*36*18=256*36^4*18^2*9^2 Edit: Corrected a math mistake.

Posted: 7/19/2006 6:31 AM
(Edited: 12/18/2006 4:39 AM)

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FractalFusion

Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player (1941)

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Acmlm wrote:

I won in 8 turns and manipulated luck a bit, but there might still be a faster way ...

There is a much faster way: http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/1400/Chessmaster.fcm 8.4 seconds (504 frames) long, with Black beaten in 3 moves. Manipulates luck. This mate is well-known in chess circles. It surprised me that I could do this. I originally considered using the Scholar's mate. Could this movie be made faster? Maybe it could work with only advancing the first pawn one square, but I'm not sure. Edit: Here's an .avi: http://www.savefile.com/files/6740064 I used x264 encoder. Edit 2: .avi was deleted. Use this instead: http://files.filefront.com/chessmasteravi/;6376393;;/fileinfo.html

Posted: 7/17/2006 11:59 PM

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FractalFusion

Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player (1941)

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Wow, that was fast! I expected the submission to be in the queue for at least 2 weeks, and it was published faster than my Mega Man X2/X3 submissions! I wonder who encoded the .avi. Anyway, thanks to everyone for helping out. Edit: OK, it's Bisqwit who encoded the .avi.

Posted: 7/17/2006 5:16 AM

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FractalFusion

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Here are some savestates from the movie that works. Feel free to ask for more if you wish: http://www.savefile.com/files/5621245 - There are 4 savestates: One right when the movie is loaded, one one frame after that, one just before the menu appears, and one just before the time appears. I don't think it has anything to do with the in-game day of the week and time, though I'm not sure. nitsuja says it is relative to the GB's clock. I think it (the v19.2 desyncing) has something do with the real-time clock fix implemented in v18.

FractalFusion (PM to nitsuja) wrote:

OK, I tested it out for real, testing about a dozen different dates [in v19.2]. Not a single date/time change I made affected the desync at all. Even May 21, which causes the game to run into a Sentret in v17, didn't, and played like the others (desyncing at the Totodile naming screen). I was deeply afraid that something like this would happen. On my Silver run, I made the movie depend on having the .sav there. On my Gold run, I did the opposite because I didn't want to hassle others about making a .sav. It appears that the Gold run I did recorded off a bad sync (when the .sav is missing). The fix in v18 fixed the bad sync, making the movie unplayable.

Edit: Just for reference, I will post the four outcomes in v17: May 19, no .sav: Works May 19, .sav: Desyncs at the Totodile naming screen May 21, no .sav: Desyncs at "What day is it?" May 21, .sav: Desyncs after encountering a Sentret The only outcome so far in v19.2 is that it desyncs at the Totodile naming screen.

Posted: 7/17/2006 2:27 AM

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FractalFusion

Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player (1941)

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Posts: 3247

I'm currently trying to see if the problem (being unable to play in v19.2) can be rectified. By the way, the desyncs aren't because of events in the game that are triggered by real-time clock functionality (e.g. Pokémon appearing at different times of the day). The desyncs occur because of the v17 emulator's faulty handling of real-time clock games (the emulator reacts differently to some clock dates, and whether a .sav is present or not, none of which is supposed to happen).

Posted: 7/16/2006 8:31 AM

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FractalFusion

Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player (1941)

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The run is done and submitted. The reason I took so long is because it took me days to write up the submission text, and I fixed a mistake in the run at Lt. Surge's gym.

Posted: 7/15/2006 6:17 AM

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FractalFusion

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White Label wrote:

Check. Are there any good free compilers for this. I've never really compiled my own code.

There was a thread on compilers, and someone mentioned Dev-C++. I sometimes use it but I have never tried to compile huge projects, so I don't know how it's done.

Posted: 7/14/2006 11:50 PM

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FractalFusion

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I am wondering about how different the games are to each other. I heard that Emerald is harder than Ruby or Sapphire. I did start an Emerald run some time ago but I became discouraged when I couldn't get a critical hit on Zigzagoon.

Posted: 7/14/2006 1:52 AM

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FractalFusion

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To be on entirely fair grounds, run times are determined by frames, which are not affected by load times. Yes, load times slow down the emulator, but not the game (in terms of number of frames). Technically, loading times can be cut down to a few frames (as someone mentioned). Mupen64 (the N64 emulator) is the emulator which I use to base this statement. There are systems which don't use frames, namely non-console systems such as DOS.

Posted: 7/14/2006 1:09 AM

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FractalFusion

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I guess the statement is up to interpretation. Especially the word "garbage". My interpretation was that a "garbage run" is a useless run, or a run which makes you think "I shouldn't have done this", or a run which you should delete from your computer without second thought.

Posted: 7/13/2006 7:06 AM

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FractalFusion

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You'll need patience and determination. Making a good TAS is not so easy as it first seems.

trazz wrote:

2) Your first run will be garbage.

That is a rather negative statement.

highness wrote:

Seriously, you'll probably receive harsh, constructive criticism that will make you want to tear your hair out. But once you get the first run published, you'll be flying through other games.

Posting first-time WIPs instead of submitting right away tends to take the harsh out of criticism.

Posted: 7/12/2006 7:33 AM

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FractalFusion

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To make a long story short, there is nothing really random about the games. It's all "pseudorandom". The games uses a pseudorandom number generator to simulate randomness in real-time. Everything is deterministic. So it's just a matter of trying it out frame-by-frame (for most RPGs anyway). If you get the critical hit, you won't lose it later.

Posted: 7/12/2006 5:52 AM
(Edited: 7/15/2006 6:33 AM)

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FractalFusion

Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player (1941)

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primorial#soup wrote:

Considering that switching attacks is so quick, I wouldn't be surprised if one could save around 200 frames by switching multiple times throughout the run.

I guess you're lucky with the select-switch. Supposedly because of a glitch in RBY, they took the select-switch out. Now it takes forever to switch moves in GSC. Edit: Next time I will think before posting. The select-switch does work in GSC. P.S. Why is the thread title messing up foreign accents? The é looks like something else.

Posted: 7/10/2006 1:50 AM
(Edited: 7/10/2006 5:33 AM)

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FractalFusion

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Very close to done. I'm at Red now. I just have to write up submission text, beat Red, finish submission text, and submit. Edit: Don't have time to submit today. Maybe tomorrow.