TASVideos

Posted: 10/19/2009 6:30 PM

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dunnius

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The reason for letting the guy die without getting rained on (he dies no matter what) is that costs too many frames to cause the rain. The difference is that it changes the message to give thanks for being compassionate. I wonder if there is another difference that I couldn't find. It doesn't modify the soul counter and it doesn't change the population growth. However, it is possible that it could affect the timing of Aitos' messages before the final lair is sealed. I didn't see a difference when I tested it, but it could be that the lairs are sealed very quickly and any timing change is negated. Edit: LOL at the 9 second difference in the posting times. If that were TAsed it would have been at the same time.

Posted: 10/18/2009 3:50 AM

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dunnius

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And here is the Marahna simulation completed. http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/533178636/ActRaiser_%28U%29_Zidanax_and_Dunnius_Marahna_Sim_Done.smv

Posted: 10/17/2009 9:59 PM

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dunnius

Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Active player (423)

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Zeupar wrote:

Nobody expects the inquisition in Spanish!

Using Google translation on the famous Monty Python phrase: "Nadie espera que la Inquisición española!"

Posted: 10/13/2009 4:15 PM

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dunnius

Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Active player (423)

Joined: 9/7/2007
Posts: 329

adelikat wrote:

FODA wrote:
if I want to know about dinosaurs.
Does this one involve coloring them?

Well, Ferret Warlord did see another ad in Spanish about the color red. Edit: And now I see an ad involving the color blue.

Posted: 10/12/2009 11:31 PM

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dunnius

Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Active player (423)

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You should write Google and ask, "¿Por qué los anuncios de Google en español?" I used Google translator on "Why are the Google ads in Spanish?" This looks silly since the site's text is in English for the most part.

Posted: 10/12/2009 5:45 PM

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dunnius

Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Active player (423)

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Here is the WIP with Aitos completed. It ended up being 5 frames faster. http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/686729894/ActRaiser_%28U%29_Zidanax_and_Dunnius_Aitos_done.smv The lua script looks good, FatRatKnight. I can see this being used in many future TASes. Edit: And yeah, there should be a thread on the Tool-Assisted Laboratory board. That way it will be noticed by more people.

Posted: 10/9/2009 1:28 AM

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dunnius

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You mean the script developed for EVO? I have been keeping a list of things that I did in the simulation which would be perfect for that script.

Posted: 10/8/2009 11:32 PM

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dunnius

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While I was waiting to see the result of the boss battle, I was also working on the Aitos simulation, which is halfway done. I was planning to hex edit that in when I got the smv. I noticed that you got all the items in Aitos. Well, surprisingly, it is 2 frames slower to do that, plus 8 frames slower later on to skip past the extra items since they are put at the beginning of the list. I am going to redo the sim since I already completed it up to that point. I like the dancing that you did, and I will incorporate that in. I couldn't think of a way to do that, which is why I haven't done it yet. The boss fight in Marahna Act 1 is awesome. I love the constant attacking without getting hit. I was planning to wait for the population to be 1900 before Act 2 for the extra HP. In Aitos, I was unable to find a way to get the Sheep's Fleece and Source of Magic before Act 2. The extra HP from the extra level would have helped in there as well.

Posted: 10/8/2009 3:52 AM

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dunnius

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The two stardust version looks good. It is funny that it ended at the same frame as the old one stardust version. But now it looks like the one stardust version will be faster since it has been improved by a frame. I can't think of anything to improve either version.

Posted: 9/30/2009 4:56 PM

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dunnius

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Here is my test that gets the scroll, and it only costs 16 frames! This can probably be optimized more, but at least it is possible. http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/687406975/ActRaiser_%28U%29_Got_Aitos_Act_2_Scroll.smv

Posted: 9/30/2009 1:46 AM

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dunnius

Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Active player (423)

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I checked the published run to see if it used two stardusts. There was a stardust at the end, and it does not delay the time it takes for the "act clear" message. It takes 333 frames from the frame where the boss's health bar shows zero health to the first frame where the "act clear" message shows up regardless of whether the stardust is currently being cast at time of the final blow. But since that one stardust does do lots of damage, the question is whether a second stardust would deliver the final blow faster then the sword. Also, getting the second scroll changes the RNG, so that effects things as well.

Posted: 9/28/2009 11:04 PM

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dunnius

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So it is faster to avoid getting that magic scroll in Act 2? I thought it would have been faster since it is not out of the way because it can be obtained in a single jump-slash without stopping beforehand. Actraiser is hostile toward hex editing in general. One time I made a minor edit in Fillmore's sim and it desynced in Bloodpool's sim. There is random single frame lag in the simulations and the number of frames before the construction periods where it calculates where to build is somewhat random. I wonder if the crystallization time is somewhat random or if there is a frame rule.

Posted: 9/27/2009 4:19 PM

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dunnius

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And here is the Aitos simulation completed up to the point where Act 2 is needed. http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/588233239/ActRaiser_%28U%29_Ready_for_Aitos_Act_2.smv

Posted: 9/18/2009 9:41 PM

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dunnius

Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Active player (423)

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The delay was perfect because I was able to find the best route for Aitos and Marahna. I have started working on Aitos' simulation, but I can hold off if you want to redo Act 1's auto-scroll segment. I should be able to hex edit what I have done easily. I can think of a few things that can be done while waiting for/on the platform in addition to killing everything, which is awesome. While the platform is moving, make it look like you are jumping off the platform, but then barely land on the platform. You can also attack the birds that are holding the platform. Since you can take 3 extra damage, perhaps there is a way to take it in an interesting way. For instance, jump on a skull which would make you land back on the platform. When the platform is above you, jump as if trying to catch it. Of course, there is always dance to the music, which I have yet to do in the sim. :) So it looks like the run is very likely to be below an hour. I am not sure where the halfway point of the game is, but if it were as late as the start of the input for Aitos' simulation at frame 100746, the run would be about 56 minutes. It will be interesting to see what it ends up being.

Posted: 9/4/2009 11:38 PM

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dunnius

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That was good timing; I just finished Kasandora's simulation. The hardest part was coming up with things to do while waiting for the numerous construction cycles. Here is the WIP: http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/1374396496/ActRaiser_%28U%29_Zidanax_and_Dunnius_Kas_Sim_Done.smv The reason the final lair is sealed during the last cycle is that if it is sealed any time before, it prevents the population from getting to 510 for the reason that I mentioned in one of my previous posts. I have had to go through Act 2 many times to make sure the population will get to 510, so I have been able to play around a bit. I noticed that it is possible to jump over those blue guys that have a sword without taking damage. It looks like it might be slower because of the delay due to landing, but it is interesting. Also, when you jump on the final lift, land as close to the insta-kill spikes as possible. It doesn't cost any frames, and it is entertaining. Edit: That was a weird coincidence of timing for the post. Had I posted 9 seconds sooner, it would have been exactly 24 hours since your post.

Posted: 8/30/2009 8:05 PM

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dunnius

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Thanks, Phallosvogel. This is a great run so far, and very entertaining. The only concern I have is the low health warning beeps. How long is that going to go on?

Posted: 8/10/2009 6:01 PM

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dunnius

Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Active player (423)

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Thanks for the encode, Zidanax. That is an awesome skip; I never thought about doing that.

Posted: 8/9/2009 8:24 PM

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dunnius

Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Active player (423)

Joined: 9/7/2007
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I am unable to play those WIPs. I looked at the smv's raw data and I see that it starts from a save state. Perhaps there is some problem with that causing it to be incompatible. It doesn't matter; now I will have to hurry and finish the simulation so that I can see that trick.

Posted: 8/9/2009 3:43 AM

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dunnius

Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Active player (423)

Joined: 9/7/2007
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I finally figured out what I did to make the sheep's fleece unnecessary in Northwall. Using the sunlight miracle to uncover the lake suspends the conditions that cause the cold weather message until the people discover the magical light spell at the bottom of the lake exactly 3 cycles later. This also skips the message about the tree (and the source of magic in it) plus another message the cycle before (which is skippable even when using the sheep's fleece by keeping the population less than 22 at the beginning of cycle 3!) It takes 4 sunlight miracles plus a message from the people to uncover the lake. The other message about the scroll at the bottom of the lake and the subsequent cold weather message are skippable by sealing the fourth lair before 3 cycles pass. Sealing the fourth lair suspends all messages until act 2 is completed. Since this skips the source of magic, the take an offering screen is also skipped. If we were to skip getting the source of magic in Aitos as well since we would also skip the sheep's fleece, then that take an offering could also be skipped. But even the fastest scenario for skipping the sheep's fleece will end up being slower, so it will not be suitable in a TAS. I also calculated the delay for getting the source of magic in Aitos. There are 34 extra frames of pointer movement, and the 2 messages about the source of magic are each about 170 frames. There are about 6 to 8 extra frames to get the scroll since we will also be getting the sheep's fleece. So the source of magic will need to save more than about 380 frames in the action sequences. Perhaps this is known already, but in Kasandora Act 2 in the big room with the moving platforms, there is a magic scroll that can be obtained without losing time since we have to wait for the platform. This only matters if the additional stardust saves time in the boss battle.

Posted: 8/2/2009 5:00 AM

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dunnius

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It's not dead; it's resting! This run has been on hiatus for a little while, but there has been some progress as well. I found a more efficient path for directing the people in Kasandora, but in the process got burnout from doing too many calculations and test runs. Then somehow July flew by too quickly. Now it is time for me to get back on this. I did all those test runs to see if I can manipulate the construction periods to be faster. So far all of the test runs' constructions are basically the same number of frames not counting random lag. All but 2 of the runs put roads on the same squares, but each have a slightly different path during the "direct" that is only a few frames slower than the best route. Even though there are more routes that I could test, I think I can conclude that they will be the same as the runs that I have done because they would have the same roads build before the construction. I'm surprised that there were no differences in all those test runs since I encountered variations in my tests for the first construction cycle. In order to get 6 structures built and put the pointer west of the temple where I want it, I had to take a different route that was 4 frames longer. Had I not done that, only 4 structures would have been built. I tested all the patterns getting the 3 squares around the temple during cycle 1, and the patterns that had less than 6 structures built ended the pointer on the temple or the square west of the temple. I think part of the reason is that no field can be built on the square west of the temple, but it doesn't explain why it works in some patterns and not others. This sort of thing also affects the end of the route. If I build over the final lair as soon as possible and leave the pointer there, it reduces the number of structures built during Kasandora's final population growth (which occurs while building Marahna) and the population ends up as 486 instead of 510. By waiting a few construction cycles before building over the lair, the problem is solved. I think the reason this occurs is that the town is scanned from top to bottom, left to right, and it will not decide to build a house unless there are enough remaining resources. If it is unable to build a field when needed, it won't build any more houses until it can build a field. If there are lots of fields built on the top of the map, then it will take too long to build the necessary field and it won't build as many structures. This is yet another reason to look at the game's code so that this can be optimized better. While I was away on vacation and unable to TAS, I was playing around with a game where I am trying to get the maximum score (99990) in all the action sequences and the maximum population in the sims without cheat codes. It is going to be difficult to get the maximum score in Aitos Act 1, so I decided to do Northwall before and see how far I could get in the simulation before the sheep's fleece is needed. It turns out that by keeping the population low, the sheep's fleece is not needed! This only saves about 25-30 frames since we have to get the source of magic in Aitos, but it is a timesaver nevertheless. So I am finally back to work on this and I completed cycle 2 now. Here is a link to the WIP. http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/102606997/ActRaiser_%28U%29_WIP_kas_cycle_2_done.smv

Posted: 5/24/2009 12:59 AM

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dunnius

Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Active player (423)

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Thinking about optimizing the towns' roads and maximizing the population by the end of Marahna, I decided to look at Fillmore and Bloodpool again. I determined that each of them have roads that did not need to be built and also waste frames. In Fillmore, 3 frames can be saved by skipping the square west of the southern lair and the square that is northwest of the aforementioned square. In Bloodpool, skipping the two northernmost squares saves 6 frames because two "direct the people" can be used instead of three. However, for each of the two towns, removing the extra roads ended up being slower by about 20 to 30 frames because the construction took longer, so there will be no change to either town. It is interesting that the longer route ended up being faster both times. That makes me think that it may be possible to save even more frames by taking a slightly longer route in many of the pointer movements. But determining the optimized movement would be very difficult without looking at the code that determines where the people build, so that will be a future improvement. I have found a more efficient path for Kasandora, though it will require some more testing to make it optimal. Right now I am seeing how many souls I can get before the end of the first construction cycle. EDIT: I got 24 souls before the first construction in Kasandora.

Posted: 5/6/2009 4:01 AM

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dunnius

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That will give me more time to consider an alternate route in Kasandora. Good luck with the tests!

Posted: 5/5/2009 4:19 AM

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dunnius

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Here is the latest WIP with the Bloodpool sim completed. The last input for the sim is on frame 46408, and this stops at beginning of Act 2. http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/1843356764/ActRaiser_%28U%29_Zidanax_and_Dunnius_WIP_BP_Sim_Done.smv I got lucky on the first construction cycle and picked up one more soul, and almost got yet another soul in before the construction started. I had 22 right before the construction began and it peaked at 23 for a moment. If I could manipulate the Napper Bat better by knowing its AI script, it may be possible to get 24 souls before the construction. I got unlucky on the second cycle and only got 26 souls, and I almost got 27. I'm sure could have gone back and got 27, but it wouldn't have mattered anyways. During the first construction, only 4 houses are built because there is not enough space to build any more. The additional souls are carried over to the next construction, and 6 houses are built then. In order to build more houses on the first construction, the square above the temple would have to have roads built. The sequence from using the skull item got interrupted by a lair sealing. It doesn't cost any frames to do that, but it is entertaining to those who have played the game.

Posted: 4/26/2009 3:48 AM

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dunnius

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Sorry about the delay; I have too much going on. It took me a week to type this post. I managed to complete a test run of Bloodpool using an alternate path. http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/544754337/ActRaiser_%28U%29_Bloodpool_Test_Alt_Path.smv It is TASed except that the angel does not move after directing the people to the last lair, but the messages during that time are TASed. I started the second phase with 5 souls and managed to get 20 before the second construction, without using the bomb! The idea of the alternate route is that 2 bridges are built before any construction, which prevents field building before the people learn how to grow wheat. The reason was to get around the extra "take an offering" that gets the wheat, which takes 170 frames. This route adds about 160 frames of pointer movement, but it would be faster in theory. But it turned out slower because 6 out of 7 "town under construction" were slower. Also, the population of the alternate route is the same as Zidanax's run at the end of the sim. However, because of the extra bridge, the two runs will build fields at different times. When the alternate route does not build a field, but Zidanax's run does, the alternate route will be 8 ahead, though that will only last until the opposite field building occurs. I also do not think it is necessary to build over to Fillmore, and I did not do that in my run. The message about Fillmore is 162 frames and the time to build to it in the normal route is about 60 frames. Its effect is the same as the extra bridge in the alternate route. It did save time on Zidanax's run because it made up the population difference on the turn that mattered. But I am going to be able to increase the population of Bloodpool by 4, and because Fillmore's bomb will be used in Kasandora, its population will increase by at least 4, and that will make up the difference, and will be faster. After I completed the alternate route, I realized that the extra "take the offering" to get the wheat was unnecessary no matter the route because there are 3 opportunities to get the wheat (with the bread, with the skull, and after act 2) and the wheat is only needed twice outside of Bloodpool (Kasandora and Marahna) so the third wheat will be used in Bloodpool, which is needed in the normal route. This means that the alternate route will never be faster. So now I have begun redoing Bloodpool using the normal route. It will be easy to do since I have figured out most of Bloodpool already. I hope I won't be so busy so that I can finish Bloodpool quickly.

Posted: 4/12/2009 6:15 PM

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dunnius

Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Active player (423)

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I can get a soul counter of 21 before the first construction cycle of Bloodpool without using the bomb. I have been investigating an alternate route in Bloodpool that might save time. I haven't tested the second cycle yet, but I will find out soon.

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