Posts for Samsara


Samsara
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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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Just watched the encode and I have to say: Nice work! It looks a lot smoother than your last submission of this game, which already looked pretty smooth to me. As for the crash: Turns out the game crashes when BizHawk is set to use 6-button controllers. The BK2's sync settings JSON was blank, so I imported one from a new movie, set the 6 button setting to False, and it worked perfectly. User movie #25631122298990476
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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 Surprised this game even had a thread in the first place, and even more surprised that I still had a super old and super short WIP laying around. So here's how this game looks in a TAS setting. I have no intention of continuing this, but if anyone else wants to pick it up for some reason I can probably remember some of the things I found out.
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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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Archanfel wrote:
I have a better question, why not apply known improvements for original's "sightseeing"?
Samsara wrote:
That being said, this time I'm really not going to return to Umihara TASing... Not for a long time, at least.
I'd like to do it someday, maybe next year, but I'm burnt out at the moment. The original sightseeing project was pretty taxing, after all, so I'd need a fair bit of energy and motivation to tackle improving it again.
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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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Samlaptop wrote:
How do I run the java file?
Don't quote me on this, but I hear Java works really well for that.
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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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Samsara wrote:
EDIT: Currently 2 frames off the supposed actual TAS record for Field 0 and that's where I'm stopping. The physics between the PSX version and the DS version are tweaked ever so slightly... ...In an optimized setting, this means the strategies used in the DS IL TASes still need to be tweaked pretty heavily to work on a full PSX any% run.
Adding on to this: The IL TASes were done specifically in an IL setting, not in the context of a full-game run, so this may also lead to PSX full-game run times being a frame or two off. You know how it is, realtime and in-game time. To be more specific: The IL times don't skip the level flyovers and start naturally, while I obviously don't do that because that's a lot of wasted time. I believe that accounts for a frame lost in some cases. Current stats: Field 0: 2 frames off IL Field 11: 1 frame off IL Field 23: Matched IL Field 14: Matched IL I've been having decent luck today, so I'm sure that'll run out by the time I reach Field 35. EDIT: Field 15: 3 frames faster than IL Well, at least the next Field is going to suck the life out of me.
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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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Radiant wrote:
Question: how does the mentioned Chrono Trigger run compare to the 100% Chrono Trigger run? [2339] SNES Chrono Trigger "completionist" by Saturn in 5:44:58.18
It's an absolutely massive improvement over the run it obsoletes, and that 100% run has way too much arbitrary nonsense in it compared to the widely accepted community/RTA definition of 100%. Not to mention keylie's run is three and a half hours shorter and far more entertaining. EDIT: 100% was also done on an obsolete/deprecated emulator. I don't think anyone would want to endorse that.
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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 sprited this for something else and realized that it's something you guys want for the "script", so I de-colored it and resized it to fit the game window. 0 bad pixels on the image parser. For anyone else interested in doing pixel art but is having trouble with the 4x4 pixel limitation: Working in single pixels at 45x49 and resizing to 180x196 in Irfanview (specifically resizing, not resampling) should always produce a workable result with 0 bad pixels. EDIT: Widened/heightened by 4 pixels to fit the window better.
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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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Let's not continue this petty argument. If you want to discuss difficulty choices, there's a thread for that.
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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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Spikestuff wrote:
Doesn't even thank the user who gave them that. stares evil
You get thanked when you stop listening to Smashmouth. Link to video
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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 support Chrono Trigger as well. It makes up for the Star that the obsoleted (and incredible) SRAM glitch run had.
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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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TheAngryPanda wrote:
I'm done with the Any% TAS, started outlining the 100% TAS, and started researching a different project.
Hell yes, excellent work! If the next project is Terranigma, I know at least one other person aside from me who's interested in working on it... Collab?
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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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[2953] SNES Super Star Wars: Return of the Jedi by arandomgameTASer in 23:17.12 The current ratings are great and I don't see them dropping at all. Even though this was just recently published, the amount of effort put into optimizing a very, very unforgiving game and the super fast-paced and varied end result makes me think it's worthy for a Star.
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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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Progress, AKA "I hate myself"
*sighs deeply* Before I fully commit to improving my published run, is there any other super obscure, unfindable source of IL TAS records that I'm missing? Or can those only be brought up as soon as a new run is published? EDIT: Currently 2 frames off the supposed actual TAS record for Field 0 and that's where I'm stopping. The physics between the PSX version and the DS version are tweaked ever so slightly, something I hadn't figured out in my previous run since all my suboptimal, awful times were matching up with the most publicly available resources. In an optimized setting, this means the strategies used in the DS IL TASes still need to be tweaked pretty heavily to work on a full PSX any% run. So there's that.
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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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arandomgameTASer wrote:
Kurabupengin wrote:
Is [2082] DS Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin "all bosses" by mtbRc in 25:19.52 star worthy?
Very neat run, akin to [2661] PSX Castlevania: Symphony of the Night "all relics & bosses" by ForgoneMoose in 36:58.32.
My personal and completely unbiased opinion is that every Metroidvania TAS is amazing and should be starred. On an actually serious note, we do need to control exactly how many of these runs are getting starred, but since I don't think any of the DSvanias are starred I am in full favor of starring Portrait of Ruin.
[2589] Genesis Moonwalker, Michael Jackson's by Odongdong in 18:53.64
100% in favor of this getting starred. Odongdong did a fantastic job optimizing. The variety of the playarounds in particular is what does it for me.
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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 don't even care about the double post~ Link to video New life goal: Get back into playing jazz, put together a ridiculous band and start putting out stuff like this non-stop.
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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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User movie #25456804630791040 An accidental reset managed to slip its way into the submission file, because DeSmuMe, so here's a fixed version that doesn't contain that reset that I've confirmed syncs to the end. Credit goes to Atma for letting me know how to fix this. I'll have a temp encode up later. As for the run (since I've watched it 3 times now while troubleshooting that reset thing), I think it looks pretty good overall! It's not the most entertaining game out there, but it actually does pick up some steam in the last area with the slide mechanic and faster movement speed. It's still decently paced all throughout, and it looks well-optimized enough for publication. Going with Meh because of the game, but you definitely did a good job on the run! EDIT: Link to video Watchable now.
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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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warmCabin wrote:
You shouldn't need a degree in computer science to get into this hobby.
Samsara
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Alyosha wrote:
I like this idea. I'm willing to volunteer to make a test case if the run is sufficiently short (ideally under 10 minutes, so rejection wouldn't be a big deal) What runs are best suited to this?
I think there are a lot of good test cases. Not many games change the difficulty in ways other than affecting enemy/boss HP, so you have a pretty good shot of choosing one that does if you just take any random game. In the meantime, I've already got an example up. Credit goes to Exonym for initially testing this, and apologies for the horrible video quality. It should still get the point across: Link to video Seems that the only things that change are the RNG, as the section after that has different (but still just as avoidable) enemy placement, lower character health (36 HP on Easy, 28 on Hard, confirmed via RAM Search) and more damage taken (1 HP from the birds on Easy, 3 HP from the birds on Hard). This is the entertaining part of the game, and apart from maybe needing to let an enemy or two spawn to collect health drops, they literally would be 100% similar. The boring parts of the game (vehicle sections) would actually take longer, as you'd be required to kill more enemies, dragging the movie out by several minutes and killing the fast paced action of the run. So I'd say that this series should absolutely remain TASed and speedrun on Easy difficulty.
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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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Started writing this a few hours ago but had to step out. Oh well. I'd like to reiterate that the guideline we have in place is fine, and we should continue to encourage people to use the hardest difficulty. I just don't want to see this guideline too strictly enforced. The difficulty shouldn't have to be a precedent that's set by one run or another. Harder difficulty runs have obsoleted easier difficulty runs, and easier difficulty runs have obsoleted harder difficulty runs. It should be a case-by-case, game-by-game basis for the most part. What I want to know is what, precisely, people find entertaining enough to warrant a difficulty switch. Do we judge how impressive the run is on its own, not taking the difficulty into mind? Or is our entertainment based on seeing the word HARD flash up for a moment before the run? What we need to start seeing is more runs done on easier difficulties so that we can properly compare them to hardest difficulty runs to see just how similar they are. TASers usually make the right judgement calls in regards to difficulty, whether it be using Hardest because it's vastly more entertaining or using Easiest because it allows for insane routes and tons of speed that wouldn't be possible otherwise. How about this: Use the difficulty that makes the TAS look most like a TAS. If Hardest gives you an opportunity to dance around tons of enemies like it was nothing, or if it puts the player in constant danger that is always narrowly avoided, then that would absolutely be preferred to an Easy difficulty run that just walks through a bunch of enemies to save time. If Easiest gives you more opportunities for damage boosting or lag reduction or allows you to pull off some weirdly specific trick or glitch, while also not removing any content from the game, then use Easiest. Otherwise, you're mostly okay to use whatever you want, since it doesn't matter in most cases. The difficulty shouldn't even really play into a run's publication at all in these cases: We wouldn't publish a run that's only faster because it's on Easy. Likewise, we'd publish a slower run on Hard if it was overall more optimized than a run on Easy. For the most part, what we need are people who are actually willing to take the time to provide test cases on harder/easier difficulties for these runs instead of just having threads full of people assuming that one difficulty is "better" than the other.
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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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NitroGenesis wrote:
Well there's always the chance someone will complain about something. But let's say a run like Warp describes is submitted. What would there be to complain about re: difficulty that couldn't be easily dismissed? I'm not thinking of anything.
Probably half the runs on this site, if not more, fall under what Warp described: Runs where the difficulty makes no discernible difference aside from a few extra seconds of repetition. The problem is that people are complaining in the first place, not that their claims can't be easily dismissed. If it makes no difference, why do people complain often enough to necessitate a discussion thread? Shouldn't people want the faster, smoother looking run over the slightly slower and slightly more repetitive version? When a TAS ultimately trivializes the difficulty to the point where all runs look the same, it makes no sense that people would still try to enforce using the hardest difficulty. I don't want to see the guideline/rule itself changed, because I do believe there are obvious cases where easier difficulties should be forbidden: For example, if the game ends early and tells you to play on a harder difficulty for the true ending, then that's a solid reason to reject a run on Easy. I want to see the attitude of the audience changing to become more relaxed, so that we don't have more prolonged arguments over why a run uses Easy when Hard just means you attack bosses two or three more times. I probably missed something, but after rewriting this post about 10 times I've stopped caring about making sure it's perfect.
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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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jlun2 wrote:
Can someone actually show game play as "evidence" that hard mode severly kills entertainment? Currently, even if this was true, people only saw the normal mode TAS and never the hard mode. If this game had an easy mode and you used it, assuming this TAS didn't exist, I'm sure people would argue "easy is more entertaining" simply due to the lack of comparison.
So you've made it clear that you haven't watched the run (easiest difficulty is used, not normal) or read the thread (people familiar with the game have explained why easiest difficulty is used). Got it. Link to video This video is for The Empire Strikes Back, but all three games in the series share the same changes in difficulty. First death is on Easy, second death is on Jedi. As I've already said before, several tricks in RotJ require taking damage. Health pickups are rare and usually cost more time due to any and all enemies creating around a half second of lag when spawned and killed, and that's not counting extra lag from the item itself dropping. There are health increases, but if I remember correctly they're only active for the current level/life and they don't refill your health when you pick them up, meaning you'd have to manipulate another health pickup just to top off, and even then you'd still probably not have enough health to take damage for the zipping, since you're basically stuck inside enemies for a while before they actually happen, meaning the run loses awesome glitches and at least a minute or two of time. Damage boosting doesn't save nearly enough frames to be worth manipulating and grabbing health pickups, so all enemies would need to be avoided/manipulated out of the way, and over the course of a 20-30 minute game that really adds up. So you either watch an entertaining run with zipping glitches and lots of damage boosting abuse, or you sit through basically the exact same run without those glitches/boosts. I don't know about you, but I'd much rather choose the former.
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warmCabin wrote:
You shouldn't need a degree in computer science to get into this hobby.
Post subject: Hardest Difficulty Discussion
Samsara
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Guidelines wrote:
Where a game has multiple difficulty levels, it is preferred to play on the hardest difficulty level (for more interesting gameplay) unless the only difference between difficulty levels is enemy/boss hit points, in which case the easiest difficulty levels are preferred in the interest of speed.
The topic of difficulty choice has come up pretty frequently as of late, with authors having to, whether pre-emptively or post-submission, defend their choice of easier difficulties. I'm starting this thread in hopes of keeping unnecessary discussion out of the two (as of time of writing) submissions in which difficulty choice appears to be a problem, and to hopefully gather more of the community's opinions on the subject. Some things I'd like to personally see discussed are:
    Why do we have a guideline regarding using the hardest difficulty? It's being enforced as a rule even by the judges: TASes are occasionally, though rarely, rejected for not using the hardest difficulty. Should we lessen how strict this is and let difficulty be up to whatever the author chooses? What does "hardest difficulty" mean in most games? What are the usual differences between easiest and hardest difficulties? How many games would actually have noticeably different TASes if they were done on different difficulties? What does "hardest difficulty" mean for a TAS? What does it add to a TAS in terms of entertainment value?
As a separate exercise, here are a few hypothetical situations that should emphasize why we need to discuss this:
    1. In a game where difficulty affects enemy health: A boss that changes forms after 10 seconds can be defeated before it changes forms on Easy difficulty. On Normal and Hard, the boss has too much HP, and so it changes forms and fully recovers its health, dragging out the fight by at least 20 seconds. Alternately: A boss has a pattern of being vulnerable for 10 seconds and invulnerable for 20. On Easy, it can be killed within 10 seconds, but on Normal and Hard you have to sit through that 20 second waiting period. 2. In a game where difficulty affects enemy damage: A damage boost that saves 30 seconds of boring downtime can only be done on Easy difficulty due to the enemy being particularly powerful. On Normal, you'll have to spend longer than 30 seconds avoiding more damage, and on Hard you will be killed instantly. 3. In a game where difficulty affects how many enemies there are: You perform a zip glitch that saves 10 seconds, but you're forced to take damage off of fixed enemy spawns. This zip is right before a boss that requires you to take damage for a quick kill that saves 15 seconds. On Easy difficulty, you only take damage twice, and you can perform the quick kill with a little health to spare. On Normal and Hard, you take too much damage performing the zip to be able to perform the quick kill. 4. In a game where difficulty affects the enemy movement speed: On Hard difficulty, enemies move significantly faster, which gives them much more manageable positions for you. On Normal and lower, the enemies move much more slowly and get in the way far more often, requiring creative solutions to overcome. This isn't a hypothetical. This actually happens in Run Saber. 5. In a game where difficulty affects enemy spawn rate: On Hard difficulty, enemies spawn far more frequently, but using various button combinations you can manipulate all of them away without losing time, saving hundreds of lag frames overall. On any difficulty, it is far faster to manipulate away all spawns, meaning no matter what the difficulty, the runs will look almost completely identical.
There are more situations like these that happen more often than you'd think, and there are probably even weirder edge cases where the hardest difficulty isn't actually the hardest difficulty due to coding errors and whatnot. Anyway. Discuss, I guess.
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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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Doc Skellington wrote:
Btw, how should I submit this movie ? I mean, should I say the name is "Kingdom Hearts:Chain of Memories Reverse/Rebirth" or, as khleaderboards, that Reverse/Rebirth is the branch name ?
"Reverse/Rebirth" would be the branch name, not part of the game name.
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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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Mothrayas wrote:
If raising the difficulty just means that boss battles take more repetitive action and damage-taking speed tricks have to be forgone, then it is definitely justifiable to pick a lower difficulty.
That's exactly what it is. On Brave/Jedi difficulties in all three games, bosses have more HP and you take way more damage, and these are games where it is almost literally impossible to avoid taking damage, especially in a speedrun/TAS setting. Considering there are things like damage boosts and using repeated harm from enemies to zip through walls, a run on Brave or Jedi would likely end up at least a minute slower, if not more, due to possibly not being able to use these tricks.
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warmCabin wrote:
You shouldn't need a degree in computer science to get into this hobby.