It appears to be a dialect of lolcat. I'll see what I can do about it.
"Please recolor the Skype icon."
Thanks for the translation. Why should I recolor the Skype icon?
Ferret Warlord wrote:
I have some questions:
1. What is this feature you were testing?
2. Did it work?
I was testing the AutoSummary feature.
AutoSummary is a feature I wrote for the forums. It parses each sentence of the written post into a tree format, using Link-Parser. Then it follows the longest path through that parse tree and generates a shortened sentence using words only found on that longest path. The result makes an "AutoSummary" of the post. That summary is then shown on the IRC channel along with the reply notification.
For example, Moozooh's post over here was AutoSummarized as: "Try interpolation. That 'll give sound you are looking for."
The original post was: "Try 32 KHz sound frequency + gaussian interpolation. That'll give you that warm sound you're looking for."
It is a rather complex mechanism considering that all it does is that it removes words from the sentence and posts them. But the grammatical analysis is required there to avoid removing important bits like predicates or prepositions that would make the sentence completely unintelligible.
(Of course, it still manages to create unintelligible summaries, both because people write bad grammar and because the parser understands a small subset of English grammar…)
Of course #2, the important bits of a message aren't necessarily in the grammatical structure. In the case of Moozooh's post I quoted above, a more relevant summary would be "Try 32 kHz sound frequency + gaussian interpolation". But making _that_ work in the general case is beyond my AI programming skills…
Maybe if I made it simply list all nouns of the post ;) Then it would become: "32 kHz sound frequency. Gaussian interpolation. Warm sound."
But then this post would be "Translation. Skype icon. The AutoSummary feature. AutoSummary. A feature. The forums. Each sentence. The written post. A tree." or something like that, not very good.
That sounds...really awesome. Is there any way we can see the AutoSummary of a post, perhaps when previewing it?
It's rather unlikely for it to be faster to skip the Zora mask, considering how much you have to go through to get the Hookshot without it. However, in a low%, faster is subordinate to fewer items, so it's still useful there.
Anyways, Floogal, falling in as a Deku DOES count as being underwater, but I have yet to time it correctly to do so. Incidentally, the brief period you spend underwater after jumping in counts, too, but it's hard to time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nErYnh5tP0o
And skipping the Zora mask comes one step closer. Still have absolutely no idea how we're going to get into the temple without the mask, but at least we can finish it once we do.
hmm...well, look at this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fx-y4q5b8-A
Can save a chu on the beginning of most hovers with minimal time loss. Leads to bombs-only low% if I have things right. Meanwhile, the other trick shown is a nice timesaver that lets you go from Palace Heart>sonata quite quickly.
Things like infinite health are done by editing the games RAM, not ROM.
For example, say you want to give yourself infinite bombchus in Majora's Mask (a very useful thing to have). First, open MM in Mupen and open mupen's process in MHS. Now, get some chus, and note the number you have. Search the memory for any values that equal that number. Now use a chu, and sub search the list of values you just obtained for numbers that equal your new chu count. Repeat until you find the proper address. Now, set that address to some nonzero value, like 9 or something, and have MHS lock that address. Congrats, you now have infinite bomchus.
This works great for things like ammo and health, as well as enemy health, but things like inventory items, quest status stuff, and flags are harder to find. Still, checking for memory differences between the "have" and "don't have" states should yield the desired result.
With a good Memory hacking software like MHS, you can make your own Gameshark codes.
I know how to do GS codes; what I need is what I stated above.
MHS lets you modify the value of any memory address while playing the game. For example, if you want infinite health, find the address corresponding to health and tell MHS to lock that value. Now no matter what happens in the game, you'll have however much health you told MHS to lock it at. Similarly, for infinite ammo, find an address for the particular ammo and have MHS lock it at a nonzero value, and you'll always have that much ammo as long as it's locked. You can do other things by changing memory addresses, but they're often more game-specific. Also, things like warping codes and press L to levitate are rather difficult to implement with this, so that may be a problem.
I use this in MM all the time. Most of the necessary values are all near each other (the game clock, magic meter, health, rupees, mask form, which items you have, how much of each item you have, and quest status are all within 100 bytes of each other), and if I need anything else, I can search the memory for it. Extremely useful when I want a bottle of X and can't be bothered to go through the rigamarole of getting it the normal way.
Anyways, I think this is the sort of thing you're looking for, right?
Well, the first and most obvious solution is that we use the SoDT twice to skip directly to the third day as soon as dawn of the second day hits. This loses ~:25, so it's still favorable.
There is another, more interesting solution: get a pack of chus for GBT. It saves the time of using bombs to hover in GBT, and the extras can be used to hover into the clock tower before midnight of the third day. It'll have to be timed, as it introduces two SoS's and an extra stop at the bomb shop, but it would just look so cool...
On a different note, I have a new Goht strategy that, while faster than the arrow method, is unfortunately impractical for even a 100%.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awX9_kwrTqo
Why do all of my boss strategies turn out suspiciously sexual...?
Not going to the ECT chest a second time--30s
Not playing Zora pots--5-10s
Not forging the sword--2:30 or so
Curio shop--20 s (it's two shops down from the bomb shop, which we go to...a lot)
No gilded for Gomess/Garo Master-- 25s
No gilded for Majora--??? I wouldn't imagine more than about 1:30
so, I think no gilded should be faster/
I resolved the problem. The answer was really quite simple: we do Woodfall before the ranch; there should be barely enough time. However, this brings up a new problem: the Gilded sword used to be justified by the fact that it made Twinmold, Garo Master, Gomess, Odolwa, and Majora faster. Woodfall>Ranch removes Odolwa, and the arrows method on Twinmold removes him. Deku nuts speed up Garo Master and Gomess to the point that they lose minor time from not having gilded, which just leaves Majora itself. I'll have to time it, but forging the Gilded sword loses ~1:30, which is about the time I estimate we lose not having it on Majora.
Meanwhile, not having gilded solves all of our rupee problems instantly. You may not realize this, but the Gilded sword effectively costs 300r, as if you don't get it, the gold dust can be sold for 200r at the curio shop. This means we not only don't have to worry about collecting rupees before the ranch, we can skip both Zora pots and the second trip to the ECT chest, AND still have enough rupees to buy a pack of chus for GBT if we want to.
So, any thoughts?
SL, I can't get on AIM right now, so I'll have to post this here. I'm having some timing concerns about the route I posted, which affects whether the extra 99r on the first cycle is actually a good idea. There are a few other options, and they all have very close times. I'm having difficulty deciding which one would be fastest.
OK, here's the quick version of the route
Prelim and Cycle 1
--Same up until depositing the 99r in the bank on cycle 1
--go back to ECT and glitch into Termina Field (may be able to save time by glitching out of other exits--needs investigating)
--spend the time until midnight gathering rupees. 99r shouldn't be too hard
--Deposit rupees and head for Clock Tower (time lost: 4 screen transitions, extra bank deposit)
Cycle 2
--Get OoT, SoT, DM, and SoH
--Head to ECT for 100r chest
--Deposit rupees for Adult Wallet, withdraw 130r
--Buy bomb bag and 20 chus. Exit SCT (time lost: 5 screen transitions, extra bank deposit)
--slide to relevant pit (it's left of the chest stump in the tall grass)
--perform LoT warp (lost: 5 screen transitions, bank deposit. gained: 50s)
--Finish second cycle as before
Cycle 3
--ECT chest again
--Buy 20 chus in WCT. withdraw entire bank account
--exit SCT
--get bomb drop from grass, then continue with cutscene skip (2 drops would be ideal)
--Continue through the Swamp as before
--get another 10 chus from the bomb shop on the way to the bay
continue as normal
--Use chus in the Pirate Fortress hover
--Continue as before all the way to the ranch
OK, from this point on, things are mostly going to be the same. Except this route will have about 100 more rupees than SL's current route at this point. So, before I can solidify the route, I need to know how SL's current route turns out as far as rupees go. If he has no problem garnering the necessary rupees, I can skip the second trip to the ECT chest, saving a pretty good chunk of time. A lot of this depends on how much time we have before the ranch.
EDIT: to answer the question above, you go OoB and into a different grotto than the one you're in. Walking into its warper then kicks you out at the location of the grotto's entrance. Unless that entrance is in the same area as the grotto you started in, that is. This allows direct warps to a number of places in the Deku Palace, and one to the lens of truth cave. The downside is that all grottos take exactly 20 chus to get over their walls, which is a very large drain, especially in the early game when this is useful.
Sorry to double post, but, well, I've successfully made a route that incorporates the Lens of Truth warp. If my estimates are correct, it should save 30s over the current method (and, of course, look really, really weird). It's not a major improvement, but, well, it's something to put in the MM TAS v3.
One important change is that it finds a better use for the extra time in the prelim cycle. At the cost of 4 screen transistions (15s, tops), you should be able to get ~99r from Termina Field, greatly easing the rupee crunch you get into after Snowhead. It would even be possible to finagle it so that you get to use chus in GBT.
I'll get around to typing it up later.
Oh...that's really odd. Well, nothing left to do but find myself a Japanese ROM and test it out. Too bad we can't get back in, though, as it would be ever so convenient. As it stands, it looks like either Bay Heart>Magic Beans or Akindo>Also Unknown would be best for 100%, and Bay Gossips>Unknown would be better if this were used in any%.
However, Generic Pit>Lens of Truth cave looks very feasible for a run, at the cost of further increasing the monetary strain of chu usage. Still, a direct warp from South Termina field to the furthest reaches of the Goron Village is pretty attractive.
Incidenally, "Yet Another Unknown" seems to be linked to Termina Field. It's mostly sand, with a shallow pool in the center. Unfortunately, I have no idea where it's linked to Termina Field, so that's a mystery.
EDIT: and sure enough, it is different in the (J) version. I wonder why they did that. With the (J) version pits, Bay Gossips>Unknown becomes absurdly good in 100%, as it pops you out right next to the magic beans, and then you can go back through Unknown and be right by the Heart Piece and in great position for the Sonata. Still, I'd rather 100% be done on (U) version, but yeah, this is just weird. Why bother change it?
hey, it's more MM trick time. Firstly, some videos you guys might find interesting
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9BuXNgILaAhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0omtBaA37A
Secondly, an actual trick. This isn't new, but I think there may be more uses for it
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mv9sBaqVSsQ
A warp directly to the Deku Palace bypasses the witches' bottle, which saves a lot of time when we go get the Hookshot. There is another convenient way to get it by going in the back way from Ikana, but by that time we'll need the Hookshot. However, this could see some use in 100%, where the witches' bottle is not so essential.
But another note is the fact that warping to the Deku Palace is not the only option. Here's a map of all the grottos in Majora's Mask in relation to one another.
In the video, I hover from "Akindo" to "Also Unknown", which seems to be linked to the Deku Palace. It has two warpers which lead to opposite sides of the garden, and climbing vines in between.
Anyways, the most intriguing one is "Lens of Truth Cave", which, as you might guess, lets us go directly from Termina Field to the far edge of the Mountains. "Yet Another Unknown" and "Unknown" have unknown exits, which I should probably test.
Here's something interesting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9eRypNPY1A
This saves a few chus (and probably a few seconds) in STT. But it looks applicable elsewhere. Any ideas?
Technically you could skip all that with RBA, and then you'd just have to get into Ganondorf's castle, right? Now that would be a cool run to watch, were it only doable.
You could if you could get the broken Goron sword as a kid (it points to the medallions, if you didn't already know). No known way of doing this at the moment, though.
I love that weird headslide thing that Link does when sidehopping over the room-changing plane. Good to see it's apparently the fastest way.
Acheron86 wrote:
Now I'm wondering just how much of the game is completable as Young Link. Too bad the entrance to Ganon's Castle is about the only place you can't reach as him.
Forest Temple-Freezes after completion
Fire Temple-Needs Hammer to damage Volvagia
Water Temple-I can't remember if YL can beat Morpha, but otherwise completable
Shadow Temple-Completable
Spirit Temple-Needs Mirror Shield to damage Twinrova
If any of that is wrong, someone please say so.
nice run. Unfortunately I'm not very familiar with the second quest, so a lot of it went over my head, but the level of optimization was very clear. definitely a yes.
Out of curiosity, is the screen wrap glitch used in the current first quest TAS?
Exact form requires solving the transcendental equation 2^x=2+1/x, which I don't feel like doing, and suspect isn't possible anyways.
You forgot the word "algebraically" before "possible".
Well, yes. The fact that I solved it numerically immediately before saying that meant that that should have been implied.
Anyways, nice jobs, even remembered the branch cuts. Not sure about analyticity, but it's something to look into. In the meantime, here's another question.
Does |z^z| go to infinity as |z| goes to infinity in all directions (like x^a), or does it go to a finite or zero value for some direction (like a^x)? Shouldn't be too hard now that we have closed form expressions, but still an interesting question.
If you want them numerically, they're 2.6983 and .6078 (rounded to 4 decimals). Exact form requires solving the transcendental equation 2^x=2+1/x, which I don't feel like doing, and suspect isn't possible anyways.
The latter merely requires finding the point of tangency of n*x^2 and x^x. the derivative of x^x is x^x*(1+ln x), and the derivative of n*x^2 is 2*n*x. So we solve the simultaneous equations x^x=n*x^2 and x^x*(1+ln x)=2*n*x. multiplying the latter on both sides by x, substituting in the former, and cancelling gives x*(1+ln x)=2. This is another transcendental equation which I don't feel like solving (and suspect isn't possible anyways), but the answer should be a bit more than sqrt(2). Numerically, it's 1.454, which is .04 greater than sqrt(2). solving for n now is simple. n=x^(x-2)=.815
As long as we're having fun with x^x, lets shed our dependence on positive real numbers. For complex z=x+i*y, find a closed form expression for z^z that has no complex exponents except of the form e^(i*a), where a is real.
I just watched the Koume and Kotake battle again, this time in slow motion... It's a bit disturbing during the last few hits. =]
I completely forgot about that somehow. Darn you, bloob, for finding a way to make the Twinrova fight more suggestive than mine...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQm-u9WjoJE
In the video, I hover from "Akindo" to "Also Unknown", which seems to be linked to the Deku Palace. It has two warpers which lead to opposite sides of the garden, and climbing vines in between.
Anyways, the most intriguing one is "Lens of Truth Cave", which, as you might guess, lets us go directly from Termina Field to the far edge of the Mountains. "Yet Another Unknown" and "Unknown" have unknown exits, which I should probably test.