Posts for ajfirecracker

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Posted: 2/13/2021 2:42 PM
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ajfirecracker
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Joined: 10/11/2017
Posts: 32
Nice! Thank you Coiser for making this update I've been playing around with the game a little bit lately but have been exploring other strategies rather than making this change. The most interesting behavior I've found so far is: If you press A+B on the same frame in the menu of most elevators, it will store the input to change floors but let you out of the elevator. Entering the elevator from a different floor can overflow or underflow elevator movement. Example: From floor 32, enter the elevator and press Up to place the finger over floor 33. Press A+B on the same frame and the elevator door will open, walk out of the elevator and go up the stairs to floor 33 and enter the elevator in 33. The elevator will go up past floor 34, 35, the roof, and either crash or reload the copyright screen. Relevant addresses: x0065 - Floor ID (0-7 for normal floors, 16 is copyright screen, 31 is victory screen) x0787 - Cursor in elevator menu x0788 - Elevator button light (array of bits) x078B - Elevator target floor (array of bits)
Posted: 9/4/2019 3:34 PM
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ajfirecracker
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The published movie is great, thanks very much folks. I do want to raise one small point of clarification - my movie uses the hardest difficulty (of the two available) rather than the easiest Edit: Looks like that's fixed, thanks very much :)
Posted: 8/31/2019 9:28 AM
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ajfirecracker
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Wow, I really like how the comments were handled for the YouTube video, thanks Feos!
Posted: 8/24/2019 7:36 PM
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ajfirecracker
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I appreciate it. I am familiar with the ram search but I was hoping you would already have the relevant addresses
Posted: 8/24/2019 7:35 PM
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ajfirecracker
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Awesome, thanks! Improvements are found in the boss fights at 4:40 and 6:00. The final boss fight at 8:40 has also been updated out of necessity but doesn't save time.
Posted: 8/23/2019 2:45 PM
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ajfirecracker
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Kirkq wrote:
Technical criticism: - Walking diagonally alternates between X,Y=4,4 and X,Y=3,3 This route walks in 3,3 more often than required, which probably loses around 20 frames over the course of the run. - I'm pretty sure you can manipulate the guy with the key to make it faster and not have the radio overlap. This probably saves around 25-30 frames. Just get him to walk left slightly after the first shot hits I think. Maybe I'm wrong. - The green crook on the bottom floor seems like he's wasting more time than required. It seems like the crook pattern on the roof isn't great. The zip to the foot power was new to me. I personally prefer "fastest ending achievement" over "fastest input ending". This movie is slightly slower to "finish the game" in exchange for "dropping the controller sooner". It's a debatable topic though. I don't have a strong opinion on publishing in the current state. It's far better than the previous run. It has minor technical shortcomings. If you want feedback in the future, feel free to reach out. For historical/timeline purposes: Flobeamer1922 originally posted this glitch Aug 20, 2017. I optimized the foot power route more in July 2018. My notes for unoptimized TAS routes (Spent maybe an hour on each) were the following: C: 4 + 240/256, 11 stairs, Don't Grab Foot Power - 6752 frames. D : 4 + 240/256, 11 stairs, Grab Foot Power - 6733 frames. Route D appears fastest non tool-assisted. Route C may or may not come out slightly ahead when rigorously optimizing movement in a tool-assisted setting. (I think the foot power probably makes this Route D TAS faster now, but it might still be worth investigating the route C.)
I tested walking diagonally but wasn't able to save time that way in the testing I did, so I basically dismissed it. Do you have the memory addresses for X/Y position? As to the green crook on the bottom floor, I don't think I'm losing any time dealing with him. I don't get hit or stop moving left at any point... What would a more optimal section look like there?
Posted: 8/22/2019 7:53 PM
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ajfirecracker
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It syncs on Bizhawk 2.3.2 / NesHawk but requires 1 extra frame at the start of the file before the first input can be accepted. My apologies for the emulator issue Thanks very much for catching it Despite the fact that I was able to get it to sync, I am having issues trying to correct header / sync settings data in order to make a movie file that plays without any issues. Is there no easy way to convert the input file? Edit: A corrected file (one extra frame before input starts) which I believe has full NesHawk compatability is here: http://tasvideos.org/userfiles/info/57441273166623693 I had to unpack the archive and change the sync settings file to one generated with NesHawk, and now I am able to sync on the NesHawk core and play back the movie without any issues
Posted: 8/22/2019 8:51 AM
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ajfirecracker
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I simply used the software I had installed for playing games. If there's some sort of issue I'd be happy to review and port the inputs to a different emulator
Posted: 8/19/2019 4:53 PM
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ajfirecracker
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What is fastest is not always the most entertaining. If faster runs always obsolete slower runs there's nothing to think about - this is faster. I think a "human theory ACE" (or human theory geg) would be a perfectly reasonable way to categorize the 7-1 game end glitch that might allow these to be considered separate categories
Posted: 8/19/2019 12:08 AM
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ajfirecracker
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I'm very sorry, somehow after reviewing the finished movie I accidentally added some junk inputs which messed up the final hit on the final boss. Really not sure how I did that, but it was an easy fix. Could I please get a mod to replace the submission with this corrected file? http://tasvideos.org/userfiles/info/57355516174285674 The only difference is that it removes unwanted jump inputs which caused the final hit on the final boss to miss
Posted: 8/18/2019 9:49 PM
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ajfirecracker
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Thanks for the heads up. My final boss fight has some close calls built in so if we're desyncing by a lag frame or something it could easily result in a death. I'll double check my file
Posted: 8/4/2019 5:28 PM
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ajfirecracker
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Howdy! I recently picked up this game for RTA runs and found some stuff that might help improve the TAS. Regarding getting the Level 2 Wind ring, I sometimes find that the Ice Dagger projectile kills a sand worm right as the worm spawns. I think it's either hitting all the body segments at once or finding some way to bounce back and forth on the edge of a slope to hit the worm repeatedly. IIRC, the second worm is the one I've seen this the most frequently. This should be faster than killing the turret enemy to get the wind ring. I haven't been able to get this consistently RTA, but that shouldn't be an issue in a TAS environment. I was doing some testing on the Stage 4 boss, and found that the Fire Viper (Level 3 Fire + Level 1 Earth) seems to deal more damage than the Wave attack (standing under the boss's head and aiming up). What's very strange about this is that if I put Fire Viper on the left hand, it consistently hits the boss then has extra segments of the attack that I have to wait forever for. However, if I put Fire Viper on the right hand, it consistently hits the boss and has no leftover body segments and I can spam the attack much more quickly. Probably the optimal strategy would be to put Wave on the left hand earlier and add Fire Viper to the right hand when the fight starts in order to use both for the boss. Obviously, even if it does save time it would have to make up for the extra menuing, which should be slightly offset by Fire Viper being closer to the Blade for the Bone Dragon fight. Relatedly, I think left hand vs right hand might make a difference vs the Stage 3 boss. With the rings on the right hand I can spam the attack constantly while the TAS looks like it has little gaps in the attack animation on the left hand. Edit: Also, have you considered Wall of Flame against the Stage 2 skeleton miniboss? I realize that imposes menu costs but it should allow you to hit a lot of his pieces simultaneously Edit 2: Here are some videos demonstrating left-hand vs right-hand differences on the Stage 3 and 4 bosses: Stage 3 boss: https://youtu.be/L-782KTDBL4 https://youtu.be/IbzoVmR4clc https://youtu.be/bHYpTXLdbG0 https://youtu.be/ivdDEsqfy8c Stage 4 boss: https://youtu.be/Ol1lIXtHAkU https://youtu.be/gnx9V6-TjMo https://youtu.be/qCtUF8Zw0XY https://youtu.be/NcUbQ8vDdx8
Posted: 7/30/2018 2:53 PM
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ajfirecracker
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kirkq has been working on optimizing the route for Any% Beginner I've done some RTA runs of his route and have a 2:07 RTA published and a 2:05 pending currently (as well as a 2:03 that failed to capture properly) EDIT: I have a 1:54 https://www.twitch.tv/videos/291246066 Current route is: Go floor 33 and walk on glass to reduce 'foot health' Take a bunch of stairs to advance in-game time past the Heinrich trigger (40s remaining on the second lock) Go to 31 and get the detonators (maybe get a first aid kit to restore foot health, maybe not, it's unclear whether it saves time on net) Go to 35 and get the roof key on the way up to the roof Blow up the roof using the roof explosion glitch to win the game
Posted: 7/2/2018 6:46 AM
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ajfirecracker
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Metronome seems like great playaround material, could show off a huge variety of moves while going through battles with crits and/or super effective to maintain a good pace (In particular I'm suggesting this to avoid OHKO spam)
Posted: 6/23/2018 5:19 AM
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ajfirecracker
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Short and sweet. CONGRATULATON on your movie
Posted: 6/19/2018 4:06 PM
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ajfirecracker
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I think you can also save time by getting the best Heinrich spawn and collecting the C4 next to the roof stairs (can shoot open the door just to the left of roof stairs on your way up) instead of collecting the C4 from Heinrich's room I'm interested in TASing it out if you're not, but I'm hoping you can provide some insight on the "RNG" aspects of the game. What determines whether the roof key guy is in the utility closet? Do I need to adjust the frame I go up the last staircase or would I need to go further back (to the title screens perhaps)? Similarly, what would I need to do to control Heinrich's spawn location? Thanks!
Posted: 6/19/2018 4:01 PM
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ajfirecracker
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I don't think we disagree that strongly I want to see fast/clever/funny gameplay in TASes, and I'm willing to put up with some downtime to get that (but would prefer to minimize dead time in runs)
Posted: 6/19/2018 3:45 AM
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ajfirecracker
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It's starred now and fair enough - the authors did a really excellent job on a justifiably popular game However, the idea that downtime shouldn't count negatively is extremely surprising and borderline unbelievable. Do you think downtime cannot have a negative impact on how entertaining a run is? (Note that I didn't say anything about "disqualifying", I merely said it was a worse candidate than it would otherwise be, i.e. that there is something negative about having a lot of downtime, not that no game or TAS can overcome this negative attribute)
Posted: 6/18/2018 3:31 PM
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ajfirecracker
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What percentage of this is cutscenes? 60%? Amazing work by the authors, but I think the game/category choice makes this a worse candidate for stars than a TAS of this quality would normally be
Posted: 6/14/2018 3:49 PM
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ajfirecracker
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It looks like there's an RTA 15-item run https://www.speedrun.com/mmextras/run/z0evkljm I didn't watch the whole 6-hour run to see if there's multiple save files (which your submission text mentioned as something that you could consider to be increasing the completion %), but I did check out the Goht fight since Light Arrows are skipped. It looks like some item manipulation tricks are done to load a fish in a bottle over an acquired item and that results in an arrow being fired as Deku Link (sounds similar to your current setup, but I don't know the technical details, sorry)
Posted: 5/25/2018 3:01 PM
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ajfirecracker
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I'm quite late to the party as well, but here's my take: No Major Glitches is inherently subjective. It says so right in the title - "Major" is a subjective judgement. Even if the particular rules you have chosen are totally objective (No out of bounds, defined precisely in such-and-such a way) the choice of those criteria is subjective. I have some small experience as an RTA judge, and in my experience as soon as you set up a "No Major Glitches" category you run into a really fundamental issue: whenever a new glitch is discovered you have to classify it as "major" or "minor" and that classification is often arbitrary. A second, compounding problem is that "minor" glitches in some cases accomplish as much "brokenness" as "major" glitches. This is where I think Saturn's argument about X-ray into Tourian makes sense. Suppose you can use in-bounds methods to move past (moondance?) or deload (X-mode? G-mode?) the blocks above Tourian. Does the fact that the technique is in-bounds mean that it should obsolete this (or any other full-game any% run?) I think the answer is no, it should not obsolete this run, even though it would be faster and plays with the same rules. So, how to resolve this? The ideal of course would be for time to demonstrate that no OOB is a sufficient condition to require fighting all 4 area bosses. I personally am skeptical that will hold up forever, and when it fails there will have to be a serious discussion about what to do about it.
Posted: 5/22/2018 8:57 PM
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ajfirecracker
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marzojr, I find those to be convincing reasons why level select cannot be triggered by audio bugs or rings count. However, I still think it's very likely that there exists some method of triggering the crash (outside of smacking the cart), but who knows if it will ever be found
Posted: 5/17/2018 3:36 PM
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ajfirecracker
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I spent some time messing around with different RTA-viable things to try and get the level select / crash screen to come up (see Mitjitsu's post above) There's an audio overflow glitch in the sound test menu. To activate it, play a track that doesn't loop (like the music from the intro FMV, 14) then as it ends play the 100 rings one-up music (19). The one-up music will play and when it ends, it plays the previous track - only now that track has ended and it's reading random garbage into the sound engine and making spooky sounds. Unfortunately, this doesn't seem to crash the game and trigger level select, at least not in the sound test menu. Anyway, I tried a few different ways to get the audio overflow to occur in the actual game such as entering the bonus stage while the 100 rings one-up music is playing or playing the 100 rings music as the level track hits the point where it loops. Unfortunately, I was not able to get an overflow, but I speculate that the audio overflow might be a way to trigger the level select menu within the bounds of normal TAS inputs. One thing I didn't have the patience to try was overflowing the ring counter for Knuckles/Tails. They reset the stage when you play the bonus, so as long as the stage has 50+ rings, I think you can keep feeding them rings indefinitely. If they max out at a few bits, perhaps you can crash the game and trigger level select by feeding them 513 or 1025 rings. (You can probably check the size of the variable in memory if you know what you're doing, which I do not)
Posted: 1/21/2018 8:32 PM
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ajfirecracker
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If last input timing is a meaningful timing method, and if the Vault is supposed to include all best-time runs for published games, then this should be included in the Vault. If last input timing is basically not meaningful, or if the Vault is not meant to include best times for all published games, then I can see excluding this. I don't see entertainment or the difficulty of the glitch as being meaningful reasons to exclude something from the Vault, once a different run of the game is published (based on my understanding of the Vault as a category).
Posted: 1/21/2018 12:06 AM
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ajfirecracker
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The Jungle Book is another Virgin Interactive game from the same period. It has a similar glitch, but with far less dramatic results. If you change the difficulty, Mowgli dies during one of the attract mode levels (I think it changes enemy movement speed or something, and there's an enemy he bounces off of above a pit). So far as I can tell, this doesn't influence actual gameplay.
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