Posts for alden


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Someday i'm gonna start a "gameshows only" tas website! and no one will visit...
I make a comic with no image files and you should read it. While there is a lower class, I am in it, and while there is a criminal element I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free. -Eugene Debs
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I liked watching this and voted yes. I also watched Guybrush's fastest and scubed's best ending US videos first, which helped me understand a little of what's going on in the game (though I'm still sort of confused). Jumping is great, and clearly the route is heavily abusive... my only complaint is that for a game called Might Bomb Jack there are far too few explosions! ;)
I make a comic with no image files and you should read it. While there is a lower class, I am in it, and while there is a criminal element I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free. -Eugene Debs
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josh l. wrote:
But there are also times when certain colors won't appear at all until certain conditions are met
Really? Do you know why, or is it just something that happens? Sounds annoying ;) Too bad, but like I said, didn't really detract from the run for me since it doesn't happen that often.
I make a comic with no image files and you should read it. While there is a lower class, I am in it, and while there is a criminal element I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free. -Eugene Debs
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Finally got around to watching ... but the guide cheat did in fact make it desync, but not for a really long time :( I think it's really well made and I found it entertaining, perhaps only because I've played the game so much. My only question is that a few times it looks like you shoot a "useless" bubble that seems like it could be eliminated. One example off the top of my head is round 7, where you shoot yellow, purple and orange. The yellow one doesn't do anything so it looks like you should have tried to do just purple orange (or orange then purple). My guess is that it was longer to manipulate the right colors than to just shoot the useless one? It doesn't seem to slow down the movie, but was always noticable (at least to me) since you are able to manipulate the right colors 99% of the time. The boss fight was nice, I remember that taking me forever... In general I was surprised by how few really long puzzles there were, it seems that almost all of them have a quick solution if you rely on luck. Anyways, great job and hope you submit this! (or a revision if you're up to it... I don't envy that task though ;)
I make a comic with no image files and you should read it. While there is a lower class, I am in it, and while there is a criminal element I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free. -Eugene Debs
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I thought FCEU 16 wasn't officially supported on this site? ;) not that it matters, since this is the awesomest movie since, um, something so awesome that I can't think of it right now... great job, can't believe it's finally done!
I make a comic with no image files and you should read it. While there is a lower class, I am in it, and while there is a criminal element I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free. -Eugene Debs
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haha that's why I've always liked "puzzle bobble" too... will watch tonight! awesome
I make a comic with no image files and you should read it. While there is a lower class, I am in it, and while there is a criminal element I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free. -Eugene Debs
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I enjoyed this movie. Hammers are fun ;) Definitely worth killing everything in the bonus stages even if it "wastes" frames; the first one in particular it looks like you kill 5 or 6 dudes in one shot which was cool. Killing stuff behind you and jumping from thin air were awesome. The autoscrolling boat was handled well ... I almost called you on not killing the last enemy but it looks like you could get off the boat faster if you didn't, so that's good. The bosses in this game are hilarious too, esp the last one... The game is not super different from some others on the site, but it's quick, violent and amusing to me so I vote yes!
I make a comic with no image files and you should read it. While there is a lower class, I am in it, and while there is a criminal element I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free. -Eugene Debs
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Done testing and think I found a good way to perform the whiplash move optimally all the time without needing to test every frame. As Randil says, the x and y pixel locations are stored at 402 and 404 respectively. In addition, there is a pair of memory addresses that measure position in a different way, which I will call "tile location". x is A4 and y is A5. As I'm sure you know, when you let go of the D-pad the character keeps moving until he hits the center of the tile. What these addresses tell you is where the character's pixel location will end up once he reaches the center of the tile. For example, if the x pixel location is 114, the tile location will be 112, so if you let go of the d-pad he will continue walking until the x pixel location is 112. These values increment by 16 for each tile, and since it only takes 12 frames of movement between tiles that is why he sometimes moves 1 pixel and sometimes moves 2. So here's where the whiplash comes in. If you steer in a perpendicular direction the x position changes immediately to the tile position instead of slowly at walking speed. So if you turn as soon as the tile position updates, the character ends up moving 8 or 9 pixels in one frame as opposed to 1 or 2. All you have to do is watch address A4 or A5 depending on the direction you're moving, and on the first frame that it changes, turn. This should always be the optimal frame to do so, since if you do it any earlier you revert back to the tile you are walking away from. Hope this makes sense!
I make a comic with no image files and you should read it. While there is a lower class, I am in it, and while there is a criminal element I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free. -Eugene Debs
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First step is to be sure you have FCEU 16 (0.98.16, technically). (You may have it already, but your movie said FCEU 13) You can get it here: http://tasvideos.org/EmulatorHomepages.html I believe it is the only version with memory watch. (It also has a bunch of other neat toys, once you can decipher them...) This game is cool. I'd never really played it but have heard of it and so far the movies look good. I enjoy finding memory addresses so I started looking and have found some interesting information, I think. Let me do a bit more testing and I'll post stuff...
I make a comic with no image files and you should read it. While there is a lower class, I am in it, and while there is a criminal element I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free. -Eugene Debs
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Why did you cancel? Did you improve it?
I make a comic with no image files and you should read it. While there is a lower class, I am in it, and while there is a criminal element I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free. -Eugene Debs
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This might be useful... 7E09FC determines whether the "guide" is displayed, 1 is yes, 0 is no So if you set a cheat for that always to be 1, the guide is always displayed. Does not affect the rng so I think you can record with it on and it would play back w/o desync (I ran your whole movie with it on w/ no desync). There are a couple of levels you could do faster I think, I will post with specifics later... Keep up the awesome work! ps the guide still comes up after level 50 with this cheat, where normally if you continue the guide does not...
I make a comic with no image files and you should read it. While there is a lower class, I am in it, and while there is a criminal element I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free. -Eugene Debs
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Yeah this game is cool, I liked the movie so far and it looks pretty optimal. I agree with Kyrsimys, pretty sure there's 100 levels and the last one is a boss that you have to hit w/ bubbles after clearing away the board. So it would be long, but I'd sit through it. A couple of RAM values: 7E0214 -- current bubble color red 8 orange 10 yellow 12 green 14 blue 32 purple 34 white 36 black 38 7E0218 -- next bubble color; only updates once the next bubble is barely visible though 7E08BA -- direction pointed, 4 is all the way left, 124 is all the way right, 64 is straight up 7E0AAE -- # bubbles shot during whole game Not useful for luck manipulation yet though. It appears that the only thing that affects the color is when you shoot a bubble. The direction you point does not seem to affect it as long as you shoot on the same frame. Interestingly, the color of the bubble shot does not seem to matter; if you shoot two bubbles, write down the frame you shoot the second one, then go back and shoot the first bubble at a different time, but the second at the same time, the next color will be the same (but not the middle one). However, it is also tied to the number of bubbles shot, because if you shoot two random ones and then a third at the same time as the original's second one it will not load the same color.
I make a comic with no image files and you should read it. While there is a lower class, I am in it, and while there is a criminal element I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free. -Eugene Debs
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Maybe I should have started a new topic, but here's a level of peach only action: http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/5517/alden-peach-only-smb2.fcm It was fun to record. Obviously it's easy to beat genisto's ancient fmv timewise, but I tried to do other neat floaty things in the spirit of his run.
I make a comic with no image files and you should read it. While there is a lower class, I am in it, and while there is a criminal element I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free. -Eugene Debs
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Cool. So is that part of the code on sourceforge, or is it something you did yourself that I'd have to add in? edit: n/m found this thread w/ your source http://tasvideos.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4225 Now to freshen up my compilin' skillz
I make a comic with no image files and you should read it. While there is a lower class, I am in it, and while there is a criminal element I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free. -Eugene Debs
Post subject: Other bots?
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I've searched the forums a bit and maybe I'm missing something, but are there any other pre-compiled bots floating around? I like BasicBot but it only seems to record 1024 frames (which maybe they all do?) I'm also averse to compiling FCEU but maybe I'll have to try ;) Thanks for the help...
I make a comic with no image files and you should read it. While there is a lower class, I am in it, and while there is a criminal element I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free. -Eugene Debs
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so awesome. yes, of course. too much lap skipping though ;) now get back to work on pacman!
I make a comic with no image files and you should read it. While there is a lower class, I am in it, and while there is a criminal element I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free. -Eugene Debs
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Yeah, you do need to get them. Bummer huh. And even though they are bigger pixel wise they are the same memory wise so it doesn't save time to save one til last ;)
I make a comic with no image files and you should read it. While there is a lower class, I am in it, and while there is a criminal element I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free. -Eugene Debs
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Nice movie Hero! I liked the close calls with the ghosts. I didn't mean to imply that eating a dot is faster from one particular side, though that may be true. What I was trying to say is that the dots take up more than one "position" memory wise, and that from the left pacman would eat it once he gets to say, 65, whereas from the right he would eat it at 68 (not actual numbers, I don't have a real example off the top of my head.) Better diagram: 000---------000---------000 each 000 is a dot. If he eats all three he goes the whole way. If he starts on the left, then eats the middle, then turns around and heads back to where the first one was, he doesn't have to go all the way through the middle dot before turning around so it is slightly faster. (of course this is backtracking so should be avoided as much as possible) On another note, I did more testing on speed. I measured the number of frames it took to eat a bunch of dots and divided, rendering an average of 9.75 frames per dot. (turning corners actually seems faster??) There are 192 dots. If you imagine a "perfect" board where there are no ghosts and it's just one long corridor so you don't need to backtrack, it would take about 1872 frames to eat them all. Add in the approximately 264 frames before he can start moving and that's 2136... only 3 seconds faster than Hero's 2340. So we're darn close already.
I make a comic with no image files and you should read it. While there is a lower class, I am in it, and while there is a criminal element I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free. -Eugene Debs
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I'll retract most of what I wrote on my last post. The time it takes in frames to move between any two given dots is very variable. It usually is different if you go from A to B and then B to A. It is also different if you start on a different frame of the movie. So for simplicity's sake Randil's map should make a good basis for a program. I'd maybe consider trying to account for the 180 turn situation I describe above, but overall maybe that won't matter too much?
I make a comic with no image files and you should read it. While there is a lower class, I am in it, and while there is a criminal element I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free. -Eugene Debs
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Cool map Randil! Now if I remember graph problems correctly, you need to define Vertices and Edges (or as I like to call them Nodes and Paths). Each Vertice is connected to 0 or more other Vertices with an Edge. You can assign each edge a value (distance). The trick then is to find the sequence of visiting a set of vertices or traversing a set of edges such that the sum of the values of each edge is minimized. So in this case, using this map, you would assign each intersection to a Vertice, and then each path between intersections as an Edge joining the Vertices. The Edge would be given the pixel distance as it's value. You'd also have to define which Edges need to be traversed -- some of the paths in the map do not have dots to be eaten so do not need to be traversed to clear the level. This does not precisely model the game though. Pretty close, but I think it could be refined more, and if we want "frame perfection" I think it should be more detailed. One thing that would not be modeled correctly is when when you do a 180 turn like in Randil's movie. You do not have to go all the way to the intersection before turning around, so the distance would be slightly less than what this model would say. Also, I think "distance" value in the edges should be measured in terms of frames rather than pixels. From what I've observed, the number of frames between eating dots actually varies, usually 11 or 12 frames (can be as low as 6 though!). I have not tested it extensively though and can't say if the number of frames between dots is constant going left/right, or doing it at a different time. If it is constant each dot would be a Vertice and the edges would have the distance in frames. Still not perfect, and doesn't really solve the 180 turn around problem either, since the dots are not at one position on the board: pacman's position when the dot is "eaten" is not the same when coming from the right and left, so in the model it would have account for where it is coming from. Let me try to clarify with a diagram:
1  2  3
o--o--o
So in moving from 1 to 2 to 3, the time from eating 2 to 3 would be longer than if you move from 3 to 2 back to 3, because the "eating" gets registered from the left side of the dot rather than the right side. Do you think this is relevant, or am I missing something that makes this simpler than I think? Am glad other people are interested in this problem!
I make a comic with no image files and you should read it. While there is a lower class, I am in it, and while there is a criminal element I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free. -Eugene Debs
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Here's a proof of concept for a "fastest input" style movie: http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/5253/PACMANrandileditforfewestinput.fcm I slightly modified Randil's movie, and if you watch you will see that it stops input far before the level is beaten. The last input is 99 frames faster... but by the # of dots left == 0 test, it is 94 frames slower. I have started trying to map the locations of and time-in-transit between dots, but it's not as straightforward as I thought though. Will keep you all posted.
I make a comic with no image files and you should read it. While there is a lower class, I am in it, and while there is a criminal element I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free. -Eugene Debs
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Randil, thanks for the better movie! I've been hacking away but still can't beat you ;) Hero, Randil's movie lends itself to the "Shortest input" test as with a minor adjustment he leaves a very long chain of uneaten dots... But I'm personally more interested in terms of "avi" time. I think the fcm should be ended once the memory value for the number of dots left is 0 (that's 6A) since this seems to be the easiest quantifiable way to tell when the level is over. Tub, yes this reminded me of graph theory as well, but I'm not hardcore enough to tackle this programming wise. I'd be delighted if you'd try. I'd be happy to help "map" the level too... And yeah, in this version it's the same map over and over again, the ghosts just get faster (and you get different bonus fruits ;) Ghosts do seem to move in this version depending on how pacman moves so they should be somewhat manipulable. I'll do some more testing tonight. Thanks everyone!
I make a comic with no image files and you should read it. While there is a lower class, I am in it, and while there is a criminal element I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free. -Eugene Debs
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I'm sorry that you feel so bad about this comicalflop, but I will reiterate what others have said: this only heightens my anticipation of your full run. Please keep going with our full support!
I make a comic with no image files and you should read it. While there is a lower class, I am in it, and while there is a criminal element I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free. -Eugene Debs
Post subject: Pac-Man Challenge
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I'm not suggesting that a full on movie of Pac-Man would be interesting, but recently I've been fascinated with finding the fastest route for the first level. Here's my first stab; I'm positive it can be beaten: http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/5237/alden-PacMan1stlevelfast.fcm I used the tengen nes version, and my criteria for "finishing" the level (and stopping the movie) was when memory address 6A is 0 (that's the number of "dots" that are still on the board). I'd be interested to see what anyone else can come up with. Feel free to show me movies from different versions/systems! Edit: I already beat my first upload by 15 frames, updated microstorage link.
I make a comic with no image files and you should read it. While there is a lower class, I am in it, and while there is a criminal element I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free. -Eugene Debs
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Great! I have emailed Bisqwit with a zip of the new movie (same as the one on microstorage above) and hopefully he will kindly update my submission for me. Glad that there were not any other obvious slow-downs apparent in the run. Thanks again for all your replies.
I make a comic with no image files and you should read it. While there is a lower class, I am in it, and while there is a criminal element I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free. -Eugene Debs