Posts for SoulCal


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Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Active player (333)
Joined: 1/19/2010
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Location: Texas
Double post, naughty me. :p I was accepted to be in the Lubbock Maker Faire on April 28th, and will be presenting my Droid64. I already have helpers, but if anyone lives in the Lubbock area or wants to come, tickets are available now online (or you can pay at the door). http://lubbockmakerfaire.com/ _
Post subject: Re: Gold Gem WIP
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Active player (333)
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Comicalflop wrote:
Well hiya there Marina lovers. I posted a WIP in IRC, and I thought it'd be uncouth of me not to put it on the forums too. Gold Gem WIP (goes up to 1-07) Now ordinarily I'm not the WIP showing type, but I'm posting this to further gauge interest in a full gold gem run. Due to a massive discovery I made today, I'm hexing in 2 improvements to 1-03 and 1-05 (not featured in this .m64) Enjoy!
Hey Comicalflop, think you can help me with trying to console verify this run? I've noticed a few very interesting things about Mischief Makers that you probably already know from TASing. You probably noticed how the frame number increases by 1 when the VI increases by 2. In the m64 file, it just copies the same input for two VIs. So when trying to console verify this, I just took every other input to be sent to the controller, and it works for a while. However, there are times when the frame # and the VI don't increase at the same rate. This occasionally happens during cutscenes, and happens during most load times. A few instances of this for you to look at are on frame 2, 432, 4122, and 4143. Frame 4591 (VI 8865) is probably where the desyncs are occurring though, cause the VI increments by 1 twice in a row without the frame number increasing. So we see frame numbers: [4587 4588 4589 4589 4590] but we see VI: [8860 8862 8864 8865 8866]. So while frames don't advance, inputs do. Of course I could manually go through your entire WIP and add a correct input when needed, but that would take FOREVER! With the current TAS available, I was able to sync to spikeland by adding 2 copied inputs at frame 432. But with your WIP I have had to add 4 blank inputs just to get it to the first level, but it desyncs before the first gem. If you, or anyone, knows of a way to get around this, please let me know.
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Latest Mario TAS console verified. Link to video Great work Snark, Kyman, sonicpacker, Mickey/VIS, and ToT.
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Active player (333)
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Oops, I did it again. Link to video EDIT: Off topic, but Banjo-Kazooie can never be console verified. There is no way to purge the memory. The game recognizes which cutscenes you have and haven't watched, even if save files are deleted.
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Active player (333)
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The rolling around on Windfall Island seems very unoptimized. You take some odd angles and run into things. You almost ran into that red door, and you change angles and get near those two women, when change angle again to go to the salesman. Is there a good reasoning for this? EDIT: right before learning the song, do you think you could do a small super swim instead of just swimming to that island? Might save a second or two. The momentum of the super swim may carry you to the stone.
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Luigi2011SM64 wrote:
like swordless link said it will work. but just because a box says something else doesn't mean it won't work
Lol. I can't tell if you're trying to be a troll or not. I had no idea if the different versions of SM64 were different or not. If you look at other games on the site, they use specific version numbers; Ocarina of Time for example. In the case of OoT "because the box says something different, it won't work"
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Active player (333)
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sonicpacker wrote:
SoulCal wrote:
Luigi2011SM64 wrote:
SoulCal wrote:
Does anybody know if these m64 files will sync with the "Player's Choice" version of the game? I found a copy on eBay for $10 but if it won't sync I won't buy it.
your kidding right?
Why would I kid about this? (in case u r perplexed, I want to console verify this and not run it on emulator, but someone already beat me to the punch)
He's a troll, SoulCal. Better off to ignore him.
Well sonicpacker, would u know anything about which versions of SM64 will sync with that m64 file? (player's choice, which product numbers or versions?)
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Active player (333)
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Luigi2011SM64 wrote:
SoulCal wrote:
Does anybody know if these m64 files will sync with the "Player's Choice" version of the game? I found a copy on eBay for $10 but if it won't sync I won't buy it.
your kidding right?
Why would I kid about this? (in case u r perplexed, I want to console verify this and not run it on emulator, but someone already beat me to the punch)
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micro500 wrote:
Using a bot of my own design, I managed to get the "0 star" M64 run to sync on the console. I eliminated the controller circuit board all together and instead faked a controller with my bot. Since it's hard to see in the video, I shoved wires into the controller port (I'm waiting for a controller I ordered to steal the cable from). Any time the console asked for new buttons, I sent it new buttons. I had to modify the .m64 file to match what the bot wanted. I cut out all the metadata, and then swapped the endianness of the controller data to make my bot code happy. Beyond that I didn't modify it at all. I didn't even have to add any frames to the beginning or anything. I used the parallax propeller chip which is pretty inexpensive, meaning others could duplicate this on a low budget. Slightly off topic, but the NESBot runs great on this chip as well, so I can definitely see an NES/SNES/N64 combo-bot in the future. I'll get my code up in the google code project soon so you guys can look it over.
This is awesome. Glad someone else could verify runs. Yeah, I didn't have to add frames at the beginning either. When I was doing the bot last semester, I thought about faking the controller pulses as well, but that just seemed difficult, haha. I'm curious as to how you did it though. Glad you found a low cost alternative to my $150-$200 method. How did you do the polling? I just made it so when I see a falling edge on the left plug I send another input. Did you use all of the polling bits instead? (I think there was 8 bits?) And please don't tell me you used verilog to program this...
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Active player (333)
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micro500 wrote:
sonicpacker wrote:
Here's the currently final .m64. The time is 5'02"716667, meaning 5'02"72.
Console Verified, for now Link to video The oscilloscope is showing the button data from my bot. But since it didn't fit all on screen it is showing just the last ~half, which is the joystick data.
Copycat :p Nah, good work. I'd like to see how you did it. Probably better than my implementation. EDIT: If you sync Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, or Mischief Makers, I will be dumbfounded. Those are the 3 games which refused to work for me.
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Active player (333)
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Does anybody know if these m64 files will sync with the "Player's Choice" version of the game? I found a copy on eBay for $10 but if it won't sync I won't buy it.
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Active player (333)
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sonicpacker wrote:
Here's the currently final .m64. The time is 5'02"716667, meaning 5'02"72. If someone with the power to do so could update the submission file, we'd appreciate it. I'll go ahead and update the submission text to match what we now have as well.
I wish I had a copy of mario64 to console verify this at the same time it is submitted. :,(
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sonicpacker wrote:
Mickey and I are trying to as I'm typing this. Oddly, the same thing happened in the first 0 Star I was involved with. I remember I had improved the spiral stairs section and hex edited it onto the existing .m64, and for some reason it lost a VI as well. I tried playing with the camera and other input, but nothing was working. I'm not really sure what causes this. There might be some weird frame rule, but we'll keep trying.
That lost VI may be a result of a hex editing error, but idk anything about Mupen TASing. Really the only way to confirm it is to create a new .m64 from the beginning and manually input all the commands until you see if that lost VI occurs, but that's a lot of work. :p
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Active player (333)
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sonicpacker wrote:
Please wait for the improvements to be updated to the submission. Thanks! =)
I saw your FML post; how much of an improvement is that?
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Active player (333)
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I will vote solely on if this is console verifiable or not...time to break out the Droid64 again! (and find a copy of Mario64)
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Tseralith wrote:
A few minor details, at 13:42 where you jump the second gap in the bridge, you wouldn't save a few frames if you go a bit further to the right before jumping?
I actually did try that but what happens as you go right, when Leon jumps the gap he faces a slightly different direction. It takes about 3-4 frames on those bridges to change his direction, which would be gained back from a better distance. Net gain is zero.
Tseralith wrote:
Also at 13:55 right before the church entrance, same thing there if it's possible to run closer to the brazier before turning?
What happens is the angle to approach the stoop of the church isn't optimal with straight paths. Taking a straight path is theoretically the fastest, but taking large arcing paths is better since it gets Leon around corners.
Tseralith wrote:
And right at the end where you knife and kick the two people, there's no way you can bypass them without attacking them? Like circulating around them, forcing them to do a futile attack until Ashley catches up? Maybe even swap to your gun and shoot one of both? As the knife/kick combo takes roughly 4 seconds and a weapon switch takes ~2 seconds, you maybe can get a grenade or so too from this.
If you don't attack the enemies, Ashley freaks out and goes in her fetal position, which in turn gets her kidnapped. I actually have to wait 4 frames for her to catch up to me, so although it is semi-unoptimal, I have to wait anyway. And I will redo everything after the Gigante fight; mainly because I was told to equip a grenade before the church to start the cabin fight area. I however may go against this, and equip the handgun instead. I'm thinking of doing critical-headshots on all the enemies in the cabin. I may even equip handgun to get rid of those two enemies that you mentioned Tseralith. I'm still thinking about it.
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AngerFist wrote:
Dearest SoulCal, your movement at 04:31 looked a bit suspicious. Though I reckon you didn't have other choices to move like that.
"dearest?" Um, okay... anyway it is far slower to stop moving, change direction, then continue running. I do a wide-arc so that when I get around the fence I have a better running angle, although it is still not very straight it is still better than the alternative. Surprisingly running into the wall doesn't slow my speed down that much. In fact I've found few instances where running into things slightly boosts Leon forward, but these instances save like 1 frame over a 50 frame area. A good example of this is the start of Ch1-3. After passing the chainsaw guy, I try to stay as close to the side boundary as possible while still minimizing distance traveled. If I run into the sides too soon Leon will slow down, but as I start to round corners sometimes Leon is "pushed" slightly around the corner.
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Titus Kwok wrote:
Right near the end, why did you gently open that door instead of kicking it?
I have to wait for Ashley to climb the ladder, and I have to hold the door open for her.
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MUGG wrote:
New tricks http://forums.zeldaspeedruns.com/index.php?topic=20.msg16716#msg16716 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoQtZbBy-FQ
I don't seeing the Deku Tree cutscene skip as a viable option, considering you have to have bombs and a bottle, which means Link would have already left the forest in the first place and got to Dodongo Caverns. Unless we can use Chus instead or do bottle adventure, but if we did BA/RBA we would have to collect a bottle, which means we left the forest already as well. But some of the others look promising. Warping to Forest Temple from Fire Temple...interesting
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jlun2 wrote:
Would this trick help? It can be used to avoid a cutscene. :)
I looked into this trick, but I believe DITMAN glitch is required, and I don't have the striker yet. (DITMAN is a glitch that gives double speed). Also, I would have to jump down after getting Ashley, catch Ashley at the bottom of the ladder, climb back up, do the glitch, and go out the church door. The only benefit I see to this is possibly getting that 5500ptas at the altar.
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New WIP. Sorry, no cabin fight yet. I will probably redo everything in Chapter 2-2, but the route will still be the same. I was told I need to equip a hand grenade for the cabin fight so I will do that when using the crest on the church. Link to video
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I will try and enter the "Lubbock Texas Maker Faire" April 28th. A maker faire is basically an exhibition of, possibly hundreds, of projects, gadgets, DIY stuff, and machines developed by the common person. I will submit the Droid64 (or whatever you want to call it) into this faire to show off and advertise the site. There are a few things I need from everyone who wants to help: 1. What should the name of the device be for my booth? I like "Droid64" because it catches people's attention. If anyone else has a proposed better name for me to advertise it as, then please post a reply. 2. I need a description of the device itself to submit in my application. I want to incorporate the fact this was designed for the site and for speedrunning purposes. I can't put my thoughts down well on text so if ya'll could create a good description that incorporates these aspects then please do so. 3. If anyone lives in the Lubbock, Texas area and want to help with the setup, then I could use the extra help with my booth. Also, if you have any games that you want to lend me then I'd like to try them out. Looking for pretty much any game on the N64 that has a TAS (except Turok, Zelda games, and Mischief Makers). Link to the Maker Faire: http://lubbockmakerfaire.com
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nfq wrote:
Brandon wrote:
This is a great project, but I think the name Droid64 sounds too much like a N64 emulator for an Android phone.
Too much? It's exactly the same name :P That's exactly what I was thinking too when I saw the name.
Derakon wrote:
I do have to wonder if any other N64 games are as accurately emulated as SM64 is that this would work for them, though.
I'm sure there are others. Turok 1 would probably work as good as Mario 64, because it has the same framerate, but games with highly variable framerate like Goldeneye and many others will probably be impossible to get to sync, at least the way Mupen 64 emulates them now. --- Nice work on the N64 bot, SoulCal. I was impressed that an N64 TAS would be verified now when people had only begun to verify NES TASes, so that seems like a major leap.
I'm fine with changing the name of the device, but saying the "N64bot" seemed just kinda bland. :p I attempted Turok64, and it had controller pack issues, and I had to add about 30 blank frames at the beginning to skip the title screen. It won't sync. Mischief Makers got to the 4th level then desynced. Zelda games...don't bother asking me. :/ I would like to try Smash Bros and Mystical Ninja, but I don't have those games.
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New WIP. My PC is unable to do proper encodes, so there is no audio. Just uploading to show ya'll, to tell me if I made any big mistakes. Link to video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QJQJCQeew4 I left the widescreen hack in just because, well, I like it. The encode is 1.1GB for 15 minutes, and I think the quality is pretty good, although the original dump is about 5x sharper. Since the black bars serve no real purpose other than to simulate a widescreen image, I may just crop them out of my next encode.
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CoolKirby wrote:
ledauphinbenoit wrote:
Just to clarify, my problem has been that the audio is too long for the video. The audio dumped as 34:05 and the video dumped as 34:02. So yeah, deleting video frames wouldn't help in this case.
I was told on IRC that a dumped audio track has some extra frames of silence added to the beginning of the recording, as well as being too slow (it needs to be sped up by 10-20%).
Speeding it up won't fix it; it's because of load times. I can edit out the additional seconds every time there is a load screen, but during normal gameplay the audio syncs correctly. Btw, what is the best codec to use for dumping frames? I'm using the Microsoft Video 1 with 100% quality, but even then the quality is no where near what it should be, and has a very large file size (about 120MB per minute with 720p)
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