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Without knowing what the game actually looks like, that sounds like it's going to be really dull to watch.
Then again, 30 minutes of selecting text is a lot less than 2 hours of selecting text, so it could still get into the Vault.
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I'm not sure how, but the formatting of TAStudio has messed up for me. I can no longer see the branches.
I suspect it's got something to do with the fact I was using an external monitor of a different resolution to my main screen, but I can't seem to get it back now.
EDIT: Restarting my computer fixed the problem. But I am still curious as to what happened...
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Really minor problem I have, but whenever I open up Ram Watch, it's always on top of the main window, and the only way to get it to go under is to unselect 'Floating Window', then reselect it. 'Always On Top' remains unselected throughout the whole thing.
Is this a bug?
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Update:
I have completed the first 6 levels in the damage free 'base version' run:
Link to video
From that, I currently have enough information to know the route for the first three levels. The first two aren't too different (if you really want to know, I'll damage boost through the first two pairs of kids and the first bit of steam, and then boost through the first cleaner), but Level 3 can be done a lot quicker:
Link to video
I should note that the actual route won't damage boost through the bike at the start (I'm going to start the level with 2 life, so damage boosting though both bikes would kill me), but I didn't have a branch recorded that did that
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I've just realised that the previous submission is actually slower than it looks.
The time listed is 21:15.95, which is the length of time it takes to show 76557 frames at 60 frames a second.
However, as this game only ever came out in Europe, there is no release that runs at 60 FPS, only 50 FPS. Therefore, the time should be 25:31.14.
raboni wrote:
I never imagined that a sub 25 minutes run would even be possible.
Should someone tell him?
EDIT: Just looked through the edit history of that submission. Originally, there was a bit that said:
Movie info
Length: 00:25:31
Frames: 76557
Re-record count: 389
and the line quoted above was "I never imagined that a 25 minutes run would even be possible". So he was aware of how long it really was, but didn't realise that the website had calculated the time using the wrong frame rate.
EDIT 2: I've just had a thought. Is there something I need to do when I submit my file to make sure it shows the correct time?
EDIT 3: (apologies for all the edits...) In my ongoing investigation into the weird tree, I found this video recorded on an actual console which also has the glitch, so I suppose you could say "It's not a[n emulation] bug, it's a feature!"
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Samsara wrote:
A bad dump might explain the issue you were having with the game as well.
Turns out that tree behaves exactly the same on the good ROM.
But not to worry!
Link to video
It seems that if you do that final jump a specific frame (literally one frame earlier or later, and it won't work) the slide works properly for the final tree.
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I'm currently attempting to run Tintin in Tibet for SNES. I started without finding out about proper ROMs, and it turns out I was using a bad dump. I now have the right ROM, but the .bk2 I have was made using the old ROM. BizHawk will let me use it with the new ROM, but it complains that the hash doesn't match, and I imagine it's not good practice to submit a file with the wrong ROM information, even if it does sync. Is there a way to change the current file to change the ROM information, or make a new file with the old series of button presses? Perhaps with a hex editor? Or will I have to start again?
EDIT: Oh, it's zipped...
Anyway, I've solved the problem. I took a file made with the new ROM, found the hash and edited the original file to use that.
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Is there a way to open .tasproject files made in the older version with the new build? I get an error message saying "Input string was not in a correct format."
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grassini wrote:
t's illegal to do talk about rom locations, it's a site rule
I'm aware of the rules. That's why I assumed Samsara wouldn't tell me how to find it, as that would break the rules.
But anyway, I have it now, and no-one here told me how to get it, so we're all fine.
EDIT: Now I have the correct ROM, is there any way to change the movie file I have so that it doesn't say "Movie has does not match the ROM"? Do I need to use a hex editor?
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Samsara wrote:
Compare it to GoodSNES and see if it's a perfect [!] dump.
After eventually getting it to work (I have no experience with command line stuff) it seems the one I'm using is 'Tintin in Tibet (E) (M4) [b1]', while a different one I found elsewhere was 'Tintin in Tibet (E) (M4) [b1][f1]'
Apparently there is a perfect dump (called 'Tintin in Tibet (E) (M4) [!]'), but I can't seem to find it.
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More than a year later, I have restarted this, and I'm a lot more determined to do it properly this time. Hopefully...
I have decided to make a clean run through of every level (i.e. taking no damage, and getting no health back), then going back and trying to damage boost through everything one at a time to work out the time savings, and try getting every bit of extra health to work out the time losses, and from that, work out the optimal damage strategy.
I've done the first two levels, and worked out the time saves for everywhere, but I think I'll need to finish the next level before I can actually start creating the final version.
Link to video
(I'm aware that I can get past the first cleaner in level 2 quicker. However, she keeps moving off-screen, so you end up having to wait for her to get back to the right on your way back, i.e. it saves no time in the long run. And no, you can't jump over her. She seems to have a very high hit box.)
One thing I'd like to ask someone more knowledgeable about this sort of thing is which ROM I should be using. As this game only came out in Europe, there is no American ROM. I'm currently using 'Tintin in Tibet (Europe) (En,Fr,De,Nl)'. Is this the best one to use?
Also, is it worth changing the language to English? I think it will only cost a frame, but as every text box will only last a frame, it's barely going to be noticeable.
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I've done some more testing, and while I'm still not sure why it's happening, I have managed to get through the final tree unscathed on BizHawk (though I haven't worked out yet how to consistently do it)
The run is back on! Assuming I can get it to work again when I'm making the actual movie...
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I'm currently attempted to make a TAS of Tintin in Tibet, but I seem to have come across an emulation error in BizHawk. The problem is at the end of Level 7. See this movie:
Link to video
Notice that at the end, even though Tintin is sliding, he hits the tree, unlike all the other trees in the level.
By comparison, here's a normal speed run, which doesn't have that problem:
Link to video
I don't think it's a problem to do with the specific play-through, as I have retried several times, even (mostly) by hand without using the debug menu (it's a really hard game...), and it's happened every time.
Also, I managed to clear the level using Snes9X, and that worked fine, so I'm quite sure the problem is happening with BizHawk.
P.S. I'm fairly new to this, so let me know if this is in the wrong category.
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As someone who is just a watcher of TASes, here are my opinions:
I think the Ikaruga run was a bit of a flop. I noticed it didn't get nearly as much applause as the other two games. The fact that it was pre-recorded made it seem a little less real, and it might just be that I don't know the game very well, but it seemed a bit dull. I'm sure if you had played the game, you'd know how hard it was, but because it was played so well, it didn't look very hard.
I also think that a new video should have been shown. I suppose the Streemerz run sort of fit that, but that wasn't a properly made TAS. As has already been pointed out, the games were announced beforehand, and so you could easily have looked them up and watched them yourself.
I don't think it was a bad segment. The Mega Man and Sonic runs were interesting. The commentary was informative. The section at the beginning demonstrating how TASes are made was a good inclusion (if not a bit long).
I think the problem was, ironically, the TAS Block had too much actual TASing. By that, I mean that a lot of the runs from previous GDQs were not standard TASes; their goal was not to complete the game as fast as possible, but to make the game do something it wasn't supposed to. People had heard of the TAS block as 'that time when they got Snake working in Super Mario World, and Twitch in Pokémon Red'.
I think that you need to find the right balance between normal runs, and crowd-pleasing runs.
I suspect it's got something to do with the fact I was using an external monitor of a different resolution to my main screen, but I can't seem to get it back now.
EDIT: Restarting my computer fixed the problem. But I am still curious as to what happened...
Crisis averted!