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I don't really mind the choices you're making with this, although I would've chosen differently. What bothered me a lot more was grabbing onto the edge to get the star on top of Whomp's fort, but you've already fixed that nicely with the sideflip + dive. That and the underwater swimming, I could've sworn Mario can swim faster than that (and apparently he can if the WR for the secret aquarium is faster than you got).
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I knew it also had the same sound hardware as the GB, but I thought that was only used for backward compatibility with GB games, not for actual GBA music. (Is this why the instruments in FFTA have such a weird quality to them? EDIT: Yes, it definitely is the reason. I tried turning off the GB sound channels in VBA and some of the instruments in FFTA disappeared. I think the music actually sounds better without them.)
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I think the GBA doesn't have a dedicated sound chip (besides direct sound output), like the N64 and unlike the SNES. Which means GBA games don't get any of the audio processing that SNES games had access to for free. It's probably due to the small size of the handheld and/or the cost of adding it. At least, that's all I could gather from a couple of searches...
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If you really want to be lazy in making AVIs you could just select a codec that compresses better (or lower the bitrate or quality of the one you're using) so the filesize won't get up to 2GB or even close to that. (As if I'm one to talk...)
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badrad wrote:
I am new to this community, so please give me a list of a couple members (such as bisqwit) that I should PM or email the password too.
In case you didn't already get an answer on this... Go to Users to see a list of usernames. The users listed under "Judges" are the ones who are most in charge here. If you want even more names you could also look under "Editors" and "Players".
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DeHackEd wrote:
1. Keyboards work, but for analog input, you need another way. Is a mouse possible?
Mouse is possible through the NRage input plugins, although actually you can also set it to give full analog control using keyboard instead of mouse (but requiring multiple keypresses to move the stick all the way to the other end). Having an actual game controller plugged into your computer is probably the best way, if you have or are willing to get one. (I'm pretty sure that's what FODA is using.)
nfq wrote:
2. If I have a controller, is it possible to set hotkeys for it?
It's possible to use a controller to activate hotkeys by using JoyToKey or a similar program, but you can't do it directly in the emulator alone, no.
nfq wrote:
3. Why do I have to uncheck "Raw Data" in Input settings?
When it's checked, the input goes through a different path in the code. Something makes the game behave slightly differently (enough to desync) when it does so. I'm not sure why it's different, but it can't be right because it's not supposed to affect the game, so you should leave it off. (If you're asking why the emulator doesn't do it for you, it's because the emulator doesn't have control over the input plugin's internal state.)
DeHackEd: I was thinking about adding the ability to record "Reset" into M64 movies, but would that be unworkable on the Linux version? DeHackEd wrote:
1. Keyboards work, but for analog input, you need another way. Is a mouse possible?
Mouse is possible through the NRage input plugins, although actually you can also set it to give full analog control using keyboard instead of mouse (but requiring multiple keypresses to move the stick all the way to the other end). Having an actual game controller plugged into your computer is probably the best way, if you have or are willing to get one. (I'm pretty sure that's what FODA is using.)
nfq wrote:
2. If I have a controller, is it possible to set hotkeys for it?
It's possible to use a controller to activate hotkeys by using JoyToKey or a similar program, but you can't do it directly in the emulator alone, no.
nfq wrote:
3. Why do I have to uncheck "Raw Data" in Input settings?
When it's checked, the input goes through a different path in the code. Something makes the game behave slightly differently (enough to desync) when it does so. I'm not sure why it's different, but it can't be right because it's not supposed to affect the game, so you should leave it off. (If you're asking why the emulator doesn't do it for you, it's because the emulator doesn't have control over the input plugin's internal state.)
DeHackEd: I was thinking about adding the ability to record "Reset" into M64 movies, but would that be unworkable on the Linux version? (Reset should be as simple as shutting everything down and starting it up again, but it won't be that easy if everything crashes for no apparent reason instead.)
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Wow, I was really confused for a second there when the music started and it was the exact same song I was already listening to. Neat, though...
EDIT: Uh, wait, isn't this the exact same thing that was posted in the other thread? I hadn't downloaded that one yet...
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The gameplay reminds me of SMB2 (US) with all the picking up and throwing of blocks and digging in sand (and some other level design elements). That also reminds me that this game is less colorful and generally inferior to that game in every way, although I wouldn't say it's a bad game on its own.
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Suggestion: Add the ability to select a different number than 10 to show of each category - I'd be interested in seeing what the top 20 or 30 of something are, what the shortest run is that's longer than marble madness, etc.
Possible additional categories: Most yes votes, most no votes (etc.), longest/shortest author's comments. (Of currently published movies only, still.)
Also, is it possible to get any statistics on how many times the movie file was downloaded? I wonder how those compare with the number of AVI downloads - maybe some movies have disproportionately more or less downloads than AVI downloads compared with other movies.
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Less Ashamed Of Self wrote:
Anyone else having trouble with the video file?
The AVI or the SMV?
BTW, I've since decided that I really don't like this game. It was fun at first, but something about its attitude and music and gameplay is... painful in some indescribable way.
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Well, I was wondering more about Z+B usage in general - I don't remember it being used in the movie so far but I'm sure it can save time in at least a few places such as this (I tried long-jumping instead and it was slower). Just wanted to make sure he didn't forget to try it when optimizing this...
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I'm noticing a few times where you accelerate normally from a complete stop instead of doing something faster... For instance, when you walk over to talk to the pink bob-omb to open the BB cannon, you could've used Z+B then A to get there and talk to it about 0.5 seconds earlier. (I didn't time it exactly but the dialog came up earlier in the music.)
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cazla wrote:
Was trying to configure some hotkeys but it seems like if you map a hotkey to a joystick button (which the GUI allows), it doesn't work once you return to playing. Specifically I've been trying to map Fast Forward to a pad button. Am I doing something wrong or is this a bug?
It's still not implemented, at least not that I know of. I'm told you can work around it by assigning the hotkey to a keyboard key you wouldn't normally use, and then using JoyToKey to make it think you're pressing that key whenever you press the joypad button you really want to use.
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I think you're talking about where I had to get a health refill instead to avoid dying. Getting the 3 chips there and also getting those 3 earlier would probably be best.
If there's some way to go into the final battle with a full 30 chips, that would cut down on that battle's length considerably. To beat every boss after the 2nd one as fast as possible would require 90 chips, and you only get 66 chips for it from playing through the levels without getting refills. So getting a total of 8 3-chip refills somewhere might save time overall...
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Guybrush wrote:
Nitsuja, do you think it's worth wasting ~10 frames for luck manipulation to get 3 extra chips in the last level?
You mean the 2nd-to-last level, right? I only had to slow down ~3 frames in that case to get 3 chips and collect them, and (unless I screwed this up) it happened while I had to wait for that spike thing to pass by anyway. Every chip (or at least, every two chips) helps beat the bosses in less hits, which I thought would be enough faster to compensate.
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Highness wrote:
Coulden't it be improved at some points as you have more health than needed? I think you collect some extra health in a level and doesn't waste it again. Haven't read all the replies so perhaps someone already mentioned it?
I think I only collect health in one level (the last one), and I used all of it in that level. Actually it could probably be improved by wasting less health so I don't have to collect as much later. FYI, each point of health costs 2 frames at the end of each level and boss fight. And you need to keep at least 1 unit of health to not die, of course.
I could've saved 2 frames by not jumping to get hit by a laser in the 2nd to last boss (and probably 2 more frames by taking another hit directly), that much was mentioned before.
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One question: If you do 100 coins with the KTQ star, how can it possibly save time to do other things before starting the race? He's pretty close to the starting location and he must make at least a little bit of forward progress when you're off the path compared to not having talked to him yet.
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I didn't expect the score counter to max out like that. Also the lives counter, it shows 9 for most of the game but it actually keeps track of the lives above that. I had 35 lives and 1406300 points when the game ended.
Bag of Magic Food wrote:
He has INERTIAL DAMPERS?
Oh... well first I'd wonder how he can wear running shoes and run on two legs, why he's blue, and what the heck he does to spin dash.
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Kapow wrote:
In the second stage, 1:00 in on the video, the part with the 2 red springs. Why do you hit the one on the right, go back to the left, and then continue right? Is that the only way to get through the red pole?
Some springs put you into boost mode if you hit them while on the ground, you'll notice that I suddenly get blue trails behind me when I hit it. Hitting the other spring after that was simply the fastest way to reverse directions to continue rightward without losing boost mode. I needed boost mode to go beyond that point because it's impossible to jump high enough without it and I'd be forced to take a different, much longer route if I didn't make that jump. I didn't enter boost mode naturally earlier in the level because I found it would have taken longer to collect enough rings and refrain from air dashing or rolling than it took to do it this way with the spring.
Bag of Magic Food wrote:
