If all you want to do is view the movies (if you can't use that binary) then you only need to apply the part of the patch that changes movie.cpp, which is a very simple change that should work on about any version (or platform) of Snes9x that has re-recording, and compile it. All it does is call S9xReset() when it sees a reset signal in the movie. The included binary is the result of applying the patch to v9 (forgot to use v10, sorry) but the patch can be applied to v10 easily enough for Wine support.
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IdeaMagnate wrote:
nitsuja, that's how I've been thinking about it. A binary<->text conversion would only happen when loading a new movie or explicitly saving one as text.
Most re-recording emulators also save in these or similar situations to prevent lost work: Loading a savestate, or recording more than 500 consecutive frames. I don't think that will be too slow, but if it is (perhaps for longer movies), then an alternative is to save a binary backup movie in those cases, and check that file upon loading the text movie to restore lost data.
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Yes, try this plugin, it should show a continuously updated picture of where it thinks your analog stick is positioned, as well as a numeric display of the input that sends to the N64. Make sure to look at the "Known bugs" list in that post, because the default settings need to be changed a little to work correctly with a controller.
Mupen64 also displays input in the status bar, but that's harder to interpret for the analog.
EDIT: Maybe I misinterpeted your post. If you meant "are there any input plugins that let me use my controller's analog stick to play the game", then the answer is still yes: That and most other input plugins allow you to use an analog stick if you configure them properly.
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Having variable-length frames in the file for text mode is useful, but in binary mode, isn't that being compressed anyway, eliminating any benefit it might have had? You'll end up needing (or at least wanting for convenience) it to be constant-length per frame in the emulator's memory regardless, otherwise it will take extra conversions or processing to deal with.
Also, I assume it won't work "natively" in text mode, right? As in, it should do a conversion on the file input/output that happens occasionally, instead of parsing text every frame of the movie. That should usually be faster and should definitely be easier to implement.
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Sorry to ask something so far off the topic of discussion, but has anyone heard of this game called "Mission: Impossible"?
EDIT: This was originally posted in this thread.
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comicalflop wrote:
"requires an emulator that can record resets"?
Well, technically it only requires an emulator that can replay (this particular format of) resets.
comicalflop wrote:
how do I show WIPs from a save-state i.e. at the beginning of each level?
You could try using savestateify if you want it to start from a savestate, although many people prefer that the WIPs contain the entire movie so far because of the smaller filesize and ability to continue watching from the same point in a later WIP.
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This game has a lot of things that were obviously inspired by Sonic. The running animation and speed, the springs, slopes coming from walls, those rotating spiked balls on chains, the evil boss guy in a little floating contraption... It's still extremely different, but "you can compare it to Sonic" is right.
The biggest mistake I saw with this run was consistently failing to use waiting time to build up momentum, and instead simply pushing against spikes or blocks until they move out of the way. Also, in the first lava level it looked like you didn't use the fastest falling speed (from letting go of jumping early) part of the way when falling down near the start, but maybe I missed what was happening there. Overall, this was fun to watch (I didn't vote No), but I think it would benefit from yet another version with more precision.
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I would suggest that both teams discuss and agree upon a small list of games that they (or at least one person from each team) think would be good ideas and are not opposed to doing, after initial suggestions but before any final poll that decides which of those games is chosen.
Maybe it would be more interesting if the contest happens in stages, per level in the game. Each team submits a level, and whichever one is better (probably faster) is used by both teams to start on the next level, and so on. It limits what games would make good choices, but it adds something to the contest in that it becomes possible to lose one round and still make a comeback on the next, as well as ensuring better pacing of the contest.
Anyway, it doesn't look like this is going to happen again anytime soon, unless a bunch of people all happen to have the time and interest...
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If this is going to happen again, maybe the rules should be revised. I thought there was too much emphasis on making sure neither team had an advantages of familiarity, and not enough on making sure both teams liked the game choice and thought they had something surprising to do with it.
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comicalflop wrote:
Nonetheless, I've tested and if I beat K. Rool and perform a hard reset with the emulator, when the file menu is up my file will be there with 101%, an in-game timer, and I can select that file, and finish the last level and the last boss fight
I didn't say it wouldn't. Recording resets would be mostly pointless if the game's saved data didn't persist across resets.
comicalflop wrote:
for viewing purposes, would you need to have an emulator that must be able to record resets (like the one I use) in order to view the entire completed movie?
Yes. You need the exact same version to watch it. (And the source code patch is included with it, for those who want/need to compile their own.)
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petrie911 wrote:
It works fine upon startup, but after reset it doesn't show anything. The game appears to be running fine, but the screen is blank. And that workaround doesn't seem to work, either.
What did it do instead of working? If the emulator went back to the main GUI (where the ROM list is) then to a blank screen when you tried to play the movie, that means you did it wrong, in which case try following the directions more closely. The whole point of that workaround is that it prevents the emulator from resetting. I always use it when continuing a movie, not because it stops the graphics from failing, but because I don't want to wait for the ROM to load twice.
EDIT: And make sure you have "read only" UNchecked when you play the movie unless you only want to watch what you have already recorded.
petrie911 wrote:
How exactly do I update my graphics driver?
Your computer manufacturer's site should have a download and support section, for instance if Dell made your computer then it's support.dell.com, and there you should find graphics card driver (and BIOS) updates.
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Nibelung wrote:
Check if the run has the option "clear sram data" activated. If this is activated, then your saves NEVER will be saved in the battery of the game. So, if you stop the movie, this save state will disapear.
Clear SRAM isn't a permanent setting. All it does is delete the game's .srm file once when you start recording, as a convenience for you so you don't have to find and delete it to start recording from a completely new game.
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Desyncs tend to be unpredictable and depend on the game (and emulator). Even if it desyncs a lot, usually it doesn't always desync in the same place, so you can still record a good movie by watching every section of gameplay after you do it (from an earlier savestate that you didn't use for recording), and re-doing that section until it doesn't desync, before moving on. That works for games like Ocarina of Time, Donkey Kong Country 2, and Sonic CD. Those can all be TASed although it is more frustrating to do than normal.
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Quartz wrote:
Sonic appears at the far right at the start of the file. Maybe it has to do with starting at a cutscene like that or something?
Go to Cheats->Disable Cheats before playing the movie. Apparently it saved some camera hack cheats in the save that I wasn't really using because I had cheats disabled. EDIT: Or re-download the movie file; I fixed it to not have cheats in it (and fixed my spelling of Nonaggression).
mike89 wrote:
I remember seeing a couple of things that made me think perhaps a few frames could be saved here or there, but it's so minimal and I'm sure you thought it through anyway.
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JXQ wrote:
and it was cool seeing myself be obsoleted.
Not only part of your run, but you yourself have been obsoleted? I would think that would hurt.
Seriously, it looks like this run was executed well, but despite the effort that must have gone into those 50-ring routes, the most entertaining parts to me were the levels where AKA didn't get a Chaos Emerald, so I think a straight improvement of the previous run without changing goals so much would have been more fun to watch. The bonus stages didn't seem as boring as some people say they were, but there was nothing really surprising about them either.
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AKA: I agree somewhat, but up to a point I think "testing unrealistic sets of input" is one of the best ways to find unexpected things that can be done in the game, instead of relying on what you think you know about it already. I knew that the Chao attack wasted time to use, but that didn't stop me from trying it at seemingly useless times and finding that it did in fact save time occasionally. I knew that the game only allows for R-button tricking after hitting certain objects in the stage, but I tried doing R-button tricks after other actions anyway and did find a case where the game forgot to disallow it that saved time. Things like that.
A lot of the rerecords for this game came from it being impossible to do even the most basic of actions the fastest simply by looking at the game and timing button presses. The character's visual position isn't a very good indication of when you can jump. Every loop needs a slightly different strategy depending on your speed and position and rolling or boost mode status. Whenever hitting a slope after jumping you can't predict when the game will decide that it doesn't like the angle you're moving at and suddenly completely stop you. Occasional frame-based factors affect collisions (which made for some hex editing misadventures). The tag actions all need to be ready to use at the right times, sometimes requiring a charge be started on a certain frame many seconds beforehand, the exact amount which can't be planned until after you traverse that route to see when and where it will be that the charge needs to be ready.
Angerfist wrote:
... Sonic 2 ...
Isn't Quietust still working on that? I know that need not stop someone else from working on it independently, but that seems... inefficient.
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Mukki wrote:
Yeah, i did that but the movie i made still desynced
You did that before or after making the movie? You have to do it before making the movie or it won't work. If you make it using this input plugin then you don't have to worry about that setting, although that is not the only thing that might be causing desync.
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AKA: Okay, I figured it was a dumb question. When I tried an earlier enough emulator version it desynced in 1-2, that's why I was expecting it before the boss. My main point was that you should make sure that the ROM is the right version (I know there are multiple variations of this ROM, VBA might not notice if it's the wrong one but check your MD5 against the one posted earlier) and that you have the v19.2 emulator version.
Mukki: Rerecords aren't impressive... and this count is maybe higher than it should be because of checking through the possibilities linearly over 10 frames or so for every jump and other action, including for routes I decided not to take, and sometimes from me using savestates to cycle my save slots around or something similar. I did something 4 months ago but then I stopped and later started again from scratch about 2 and half weeks ago. EDIT: Actually it wasn't from scratch, since I re-used 3 (short) acts from what I did before.
