Posts for Samsara


Samsara
She/They
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TheWinslinator wrote:
If you don't have bizhawk set up, this makes me wonder why the transitions between levels in your tas are much shorter than mine. Which emulator and what settings did you use for it, if you remember?
Looks like Gens was used for the published runs. BizHawk's much more accurate with loading and lag emulation, that's why the transitions seem slower. We don't count this as losing time for the purposes of judgement (as it's unavoidable when getting more accurate emulation), so there's no need to worry about it. Now that I think about it, you might actually want to hold off until the next version of BizHawk is released. If I remember correctly, there are a lot of updates and changes coming to the Genesis core (something huge is happening with it at least), so it's highly unlikely that any work you do now will continue to sync on the next version. Of course, you could just finish it all on 1.11.6 and be completely fine and not have to worry, but just in case you feel like the run's going to take a while...
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warmCabin wrote:
You shouldn't need a degree in computer science to get into this hobby.
Samsara
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Link to video I've forgotten to put this video here for over half a year, now. Turns out the routes could be almost exactly the same time-wise. Both are unoptimized test TASes, Red first has a couple of tricks and strats not used in Blue first as well, so I'll probably just optimize both and see how close they are that way. I get the feeling that Red First will come out just barely on top due to how much slower Stage 5 is with Red, but I'm still pulling for Blue first just because of how much cooler Stage 3 looks using Blue.
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warmCabin wrote:
You shouldn't need a degree in computer science to get into this hobby.
Samsara
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Weatherton wrote:
Is it possible to load a branch state without the emulator pausing? I've got "Autopause at end of Move" unchecked but the emulator pauses whenever I load a branch state using either the GUI or a hotkey for "Quick Load." I'm running 1.11.6 on Windows 10 with the N64 core.
Check the interim build in the OP. Branches are busted in 1.11.6, but they should be working properly in the interim.
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warmCabin wrote:
You shouldn't need a degree in computer science to get into this hobby.
Samsara
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Masterjun did you ACE this conversation to last forever too?
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warmCabin wrote:
You shouldn't need a degree in computer science to get into this hobby.
Samsara
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Alright, to be serious for a moment here, I would like to see more playarounds in general, and I think multiplayer playarounds would be fascinating watches if they're paced well and the games are fun enough to watch. ...Anyway, [1013] NES River City Ransom "playaround" by adelikat & JXQ in 12:55.38
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warmCabin wrote:
You shouldn't need a degree in computer science to get into this hobby.
Samsara
She/They
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warmCabin wrote:
You shouldn't need a degree in computer science to get into this hobby.
Samsara
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For PC, the only option you have is Hourglass. If Hourglass doesn't work with it, you'll have to wait for Hourglass Resurrection.
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warmCabin wrote:
You shouldn't need a degree in computer science to get into this hobby.
Samsara
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Gamer Maiden Sonia wrote:
Yeah. I was the one that suggested derek/dink to transplant fba-rr's code to the official fba. I have an account on the fba forums as well (synnchan). And I'm one of the testers of the official rerecording binary.
Could you invite him here? Having him around to answer questions and get feedback would be a blessing, since I'm pretty sure we'd be the primary community using these functions.
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warmCabin wrote:
You shouldn't need a degree in computer science to get into this hobby.
Samsara
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I... liked watching this? I don't know if it was the actual movie itself being far smoother and more entertaining or if I'm just glad the bullshit power abuse that got the current publication up on the site is finally going to be over, but nevertheless I actually thought it was a fun watch. Since there's bound to be confusion, yes it's me judging this. Using Alyosha's name is a reference to the previous submission. I only wish I could have accepted and published it instantly to complete the joke.
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warmCabin wrote:
You shouldn't need a degree in computer science to get into this hobby.
Samsara
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How can we know for sure that it's BizHawk's fault and not the fault of the enabled cheats, anyway? Does everything work fine without cheats? If so, then it's not a bug.
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warmCabin wrote:
You shouldn't need a degree in computer science to get into this hobby.
Samsara
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Birth wrote:
Edit: Oh yea I kept the timer going throughout the credits but I dunno if that's not supposed to happen either lol
TAS timing usually stops on the last frame of input needed to reach the credits, assuming the credits end with a "THE END" screen and progress automatically. I'll take a look at the file today and see what the proper last frame of input is, and I should have the file replaced upon judgement.
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warmCabin wrote:
You shouldn't need a degree in computer science to get into this hobby.
Samsara
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About half a month late in replying, but I think this needs to be said. I can't personally see the point in issuing a continuance if you're just starting these runs. The point of a continuance is to give leeway to people who don't want to give up long-term projects they started with a soon-to-be deprecated emulator. I don't think we should be issuing continuances to people who just refuse to use the accepted emulator.
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warmCabin wrote:
You shouldn't need a degree in computer science to get into this hobby.
Samsara
She/They
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Ianwubby wrote:
Is hourglass really the only program that can TAS PC games? Because it's the only one I've heard of, and it not working with Undertale is disappointing.
You have to understand how complicated Hourglass is as a program and how much it has to do to even get a small library of games to work. If you (or anyone else) want to TAS Undertale ASAP, the best thing you can do is find programmers with tons of Windows knowledge and direct them to help out with Hourglass Resurrection.
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warmCabin wrote:
You shouldn't need a degree in computer science to get into this hobby.
Samsara
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Thread locked for now due to repeated (and now deleted) issues. Will unlock when they're sorted out. EDIT: Thread re-opened, sorry for the inconvenience!
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warmCabin wrote:
You shouldn't need a degree in computer science to get into this hobby.
Samsara
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I know y'all love petty slapfights in the SM64 thread but tone it the hell down, please.
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warmCabin wrote:
You shouldn't need a degree in computer science to get into this hobby.
Post subject: Re: The Combatribes
Samsara
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Alyosha wrote:
It should be noted that 'Super' difficulty is accessed by holding down some buttons on controller 2. This seems to be the hardest difficulty, but if anyone sees any reason why this feature (I guess technically a password) should not be used now is the time to say so.
This is perfectly acceptable and maybe even preferable.
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warmCabin wrote:
You shouldn't need a degree in computer science to get into this hobby.
Samsara
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EDIT: User movie #32248620080809586 Title screen can be bypassed 6 frames earlier, couple of small optimizations on the first area take off another 21 frames, more optimizations in the second area take off another 24 frames.
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warmCabin wrote:
You shouldn't need a degree in computer science to get into this hobby.
Samsara
She/They
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Link to video I recorded this (very) brief TAS tool showcase for dwangoAC's recent appearance on The New Screen Savers. There's running commentary in the annotations and a more detailed (but still newbie-friendly) explanation in the description. It's obviously a bit rushed, since it had to fit specifically within 30 seconds, but I think it could set people brand new to TASing on the right track.
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warmCabin wrote:
You shouldn't need a degree in computer science to get into this hobby.
Samsara
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Arc wrote:
Parapa
U TASin' COOL! Keep up the great work, can't wait for the final product!
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warmCabin wrote:
You shouldn't need a degree in computer science to get into this hobby.
Samsara
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We'll let you know when we add Humblebrag of the Year to the awards rotation. Anyway, fun response time seems to be over, so now the thread is too.
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warmCabin wrote:
You shouldn't need a degree in computer science to get into this hobby.
Samsara
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dragonbane wrote:
-Afaik Trog messes around on the file name screen and changes Link's name once or twice. Only RTA timing was considered at that point, so this would look bad and extends the TAS timing needlessly
Speed/entertainment tradeoff. As long as it's not overly long (like, a couple minutes or so), it's okay.
-To skip dialog/text Trog simply turbo mashes A and B the entire time. It doesn't loose any time, but I know unnecessary button spam is looked down upon on here
Nothing wrong with this at all, I've seen it in many TASes over my time judging here and I think it's a legitimate tactic.
-The TAS randomly desyncs even for Trog and it is unknown if any other PC can even sync it at all
All it has to do is sync for an encoder or publisher. If one of them can get it to sync, then it won't be a problem (unless it completely fails to sync during the dumping process).
-Trog uses a hack to disable fadeouts to black from door storage so the game remains visible. This is done for entertainment purposes so the viewers see whats happening since otherwise the screen would just be black for 30 seconds. Fortunately the TAS still syncs with the hack disabled, but the dump will have it
This is akin to the Sonic camhack encodes. As long as it syncs without the hack, it's absolutely fine.
-The following rule is violated since the TAS uses a custom unofficial build for tingle tuner support: "Always make sure your movie syncs on the official releases, use interim builds on your own risk. If it syncs on some interim build , but doesn't sync on any official release, it will be rejected"
We are considering (though it is absolutely not final yet) accepting it regardless, mostly under the condition that Dolphin TASes are technically always done on interim builds anyway. This would be something the Judges and Admins would have to talk about further, but I would say that it shouldn't stop the submission in case we do come to the conclusion that we can accept Dolphin builds like these. Case in point, I would absolutely recommend he submits it. The worst that would happen is an extremely respectful rejection for a reason that might even be overturned or redacted later, allowing the movie to still be published. Either it doesn't sync for a publisher or we decide at the moment that we can't accept the Dolphin build: I feel like someone, probably Fog or RGamma, will get it to fully sync, and I also have the feeling that our audience will want to see the movie published even if it means a slight breach of the rules (which a couple of the staff are already slowly getting on board with anyway).
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warmCabin wrote:
You shouldn't need a degree in computer science to get into this hobby.
Samsara
She/They
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Whatever happened with SMB3 isn't going to happen for many games at all, assuming it even works with other games. As far as I'm aware, though, when talking about it on IRC we came to a sort of unofficial conclusion that SMB3 would likely be the only published run of the sort that we have. Not that we would only publish SMB3 and nothing else, more that no one would want to work on any further runs because the novelty has already worn off with one single run. Trust me, I'd really rather not see a flood of "EVERY GAME IN 00:02" hitting the site and replacing all of the actually fairly unique GEG runs we already have published, and I think the consensus is the same with almost everyone else as well.
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warmCabin wrote:
You shouldn't need a degree in computer science to get into this hobby.
Samsara
She/They
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I suppose the Pokemon Plays Twitch run that was actually shown at AGDQ was the first time we had a console-verified file that couldn't be published here, though we got the heavily modified version as a submission in its place. This is the first time that we have a console-verified run that could actually be acceptable in its current form in the future. The SMB3 run can only be run on an emulator with the help of a Lua script, which we cannot accept here. Once subframe/poll-based input is implemented in one of our accepted NES emulators, then a proper input file can be made and submitted.
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warmCabin wrote:
You shouldn't need a degree in computer science to get into this hobby.
Samsara
She/They
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ais523 wrote:
I actually started looking into the basic glitch behind that a few days ago (I had the idea months ago but forgot to investigate it or tell anyone about it), and let the TASvideos community know about it. I realised that such a thing would be possible in many games as a result of reading NES documentation (this is the page that got me thinking along those lines); if you're reading the controller repeatedly until you get two values the same (in order to work around the DPCM/controller conflict), then if the controller reads a different output each time (because you're mashing the controller really fast), it's going to get stuck in a loop, potentially allowing for the code that handles the start of a frame running recursively. If the game isn't designed to expect that to happen (and if the code in question isn't really laggy, why would it?), bad things happen, and it was a case of finding a game in which the bad things in question would happen to let us win instantly. total_ did a lot of work in getting the glitch in question to work on SMB3; I had no idea which games it would work in, and was happy to see it working in such a well-known game. I'm not that clear on the details of how it works in the exact case of SMB3, except that the game somehow naturally starts running the controller ports, so you can hold a combination of inputs that (when interpreted as code) jump to the credits. All this happened while SGDQ was running, and the TASbot schedule got changed in order to add the run in because it's such a mindblowing thing to watch. As a fun fact, we pretty much needed TASbot in order to test out the glitch; very few emulators are capable of handling it correctly, so much of the testing was done on an actual NES by getting TASbot to test out our ideas.
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warmCabin wrote:
You shouldn't need a degree in computer science to get into this hobby.
Samsara
She/They
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Technically, we judge from power on to the last piece of input that finishes the game. Blank or extra input at the end is ultimately ignored and usually removed. I'll verify/update the fixed input file tomorrow. EDIT: V, would you prefer the 9:56 file with the naming or the 9:27 file without? They will both be judged exactly the same, entering initials is an allowed cosmetic choice for the run. If published, the time discrepancy will be noted in the publication: See the recent publication of Osman for an example of that.
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warmCabin wrote:
You shouldn't need a degree in computer science to get into this hobby.