Yes, it has to be that way.
Other snes emulators are horrible. Try changing the snes options with a snes rom loaded for more speed.
At the present, only one NES core is supported, and it is a slow but decent one. In the future there will be faster ones.
Zsnes being one of the horrible ones, Snes9x has gotten a lot better over the years, not as good as Bsnes/Higan, but far from the terrible emulator it once was ;)
The other matter of concern is the CPU resources and the CPU intensity of either emulator. I don't want to overheat and kill the CPU during the TAS, as I get paranoid that the bsnes-based SNES core will be extremely grueling on it if that makes any sense.
Look at the emulator's CPU usage in Task Manager (or better yet, Process Explorer). The bsnes core will always use only 1 CPU core at a time (it's a single-threaded program), so it'll never cause more than 100/(number of CPU cores) percent CPU load.
If you're still worried, use SpeedFan to monitor your PC temperatures (and maybe even control the fans). If you're still worried because you see abnormally high temperatures, improve airflow or try to change the thermal paste.
Btw. BizHawk uses the "compatibility" core version of bsnes, so it's not as intensive as it could be. ;)
The airflow is actually quite good, a large 200 mm fan on top, two big fans for exhaust and intake, so it never gets super hot, but the fans do speed up a bit to keep cool. As for thermal paste, I use Arctic Silver compound, never had any issues at all with that. Now what can I do about TASing techniques for game completion that don't require the use of scripts (I don't know jack squat about them), is it even possible?
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I don't even know how to properly config the bloody thing, it's too overwhelming, too many things that need to be configured. I'd personally rather use Snes9x 1.53 ,but that's me.
Many SNES games just can't be verified, no matter how good emulation.
Because of Uninitialized RAM, right?
That, other things being uninitialized and CPU<->SMP clock jitter.
the_randomizer wrote:
How long Snes9x will still be accepted for remains to be a mystery.
I'm sure full snes9x deprecation will be done like snes9x 1.43 deprecation, so should be safe to start a run.
Also, as to when it starts, it seems like far off.
The problem now is knowing how to make a semi-decent TAS, of which I know nothing on how to do or what guides to find for techniques, like say, a speed run of Contra 3, I know of a few techniques like the rapid-fire swapping for weapon changes (primary to secondary back and forth, etc), but for actually doing it fast, yeah, I need assistance with that, I use Snes9x 1.53 quite a lot.
The most important thing about using bsnes-derived emulator core for TASing is that it allows for Console Verification.
If the timing of lag frames, loading times, etc is even slightly incorrectly emulated, then the game may not proceed the same on emulator vs on console. Console Verification, playing back a TAS on the real console, was required to showcase Masterjun's Super Mario World 'executes arbitrary code' TAS at the AGDQ2014 event live, for example.
If your computer can't handle Bizhawk at all, though, note that we still accept snes9x 1.5x TASes for SNES.
I'm sure my Core i5 ivy bridge can play BizHawk, I just get paranoid about very CPU-intensive programs. I know Snes9x is still accepted (1.53 being the most accurate version thus far), utilizing all the techniques is something I've yet to do, if that makes sense. How long Snes9x will still be accepted for remains to be a mystery.
If a TASer is TASing on an emulator which isn't doing what the actual system would be doing, they are not TASing any recognized and existing game. They are, in that case, TASing some broken program brought into existence by haphazardly reading a ROM copy in a way that was never intended by anyone who developed the game associated with that ROM file's original cartridge. In essence, TASing with inaccurate emulation is TASing nothing real at all.
TASers want to avoid this situation in order to show what's actually possible in a game played by a super-human player who can keep memory values, registers, etc. etc. in their head while pressing exactly what they want to press at exactly the right times. It's an interesting concept, and the results can range from being exciting on a theoretical level to downright hilarious, with the viewer assuming that the situation could have actually happened in the real game with the right sequence of input.
Also, a TAS on an inaccurate emulator may do something that is not actually possible in the real game, which could cause much frustration for, say, an unassisted speed-runner trying to perform some trick they saw in what they thought was a legitimate TAS.
Fair enough, at least I know the reasoning behind it now ;) With that said, are there configuration guides for getting lsnes/BizHawk up and running for someone relatively new to TASing? I saw that it comes with a manual.txt, but uh, yeah, I got lost immediately, as pathetic as that sounds. I admit that I have no clue what I'm doing with these other TASing emulators, at all. I don't want to do anything super complex, but a basic speedrun of completing a game, like Contra 3: The Alien Wars using the auto fire/alternate fire trick (switching between weapons back and forth with an auto fire kills bosses and other enemies very quickly). Jumping, running, getting the game done as quickly as possible. Something to that effect, nothing too fancy.
The other matter of concern is the CPU resources and the CPU intensity of either emulator. I don't want to overheat and kill the CPU during the TAS, as I get paranoid that the Bsnes-based Snes core will be extremely grueling on it if that makes any sense. I'm just not familiar with what techniques that can be done that are effective but mostly simple. If this is the wrong section, I apologize.
With emulators like lsnes and BizHawk, which use Bsnes for the Snes core, seems weird to me. Using a cycle-accurate emulator to do things that real hardware would not be able to do without using frame-by-frame re-recording and frame advancing. I don't see the reason to necessitate cycle-accuracy for exploiting things you normally wouldn't be able to do on a real console; tl;dr - why is super accurate emulation necessary to do TASing in Snes when real consoles have nothing to exploit?
I haven't done much in the way of TASing, the only emulator I used was Snes9x 1.52 rr (which never really took off, nor did anything based off of 1.53). I'm biased since I'm not fond of the system requirements of Bsnes and any emulator based off of it, despite having a decent CPU (Core i5 3570). I'm overwhelmed buy the GUIs in lsnes and BizHawk, as I don't know how to use them, like, at all (sad, I know). So, yeah, I'm confused as to why Snes9x will eventually be deprecated, if anything, 1.51 and 1.43 should be as they are far more inaccurate than 1.53 (in pretty much every aspect, esp. the S-SMP core).
I mean, with TAS, you do things real hardware was never meant to do, exploiting glitches, frame advance, re-recording, why cycle-accuracy? Plus I tried configuring the N64 core in BizHawk, the plugin settings crashes the emulator.
Why is this emulator pending deprecation? What would be used in its place for N64 TAS videos?
Bizhawk, using the mupenplus core for N64. (In the future, CEN64 as an N64 core would be even better, because it's cycle-accurate, but it's not done yet.)
Ah, makes sense, thanks for clearing that up. Now, to find a good tutorial on actually making a TAS for Mupen64 plus...Luckily the requirements for CEN64 are super demanding :P
Huh, I wonder why there are sync issues, too bad there was never a 1.52 for re-recording.
There is snes9x-rr 1.52. Maybe it has some issues that make it unsuitable for most stuff, don't know as I have never used it.
AFAICT, 1.53 rerecording version doesn't exist (yes, the mainline has rerecording, but lacks many tools).
Real shame it was never made, could have been good, but who knows why. Oh well. Really miffs me when someone starts a project but never continues with it, such as the 1.52 branch, it has a lot of potential IMHO
Try 1.52 as it shouldn't have any descyncs in the video during playback, at least, I haven't had any really issues. Huh, I wonder why there are sync issues, too bad there was never a 1.53 for re-recording.
Snes9x 1.43 is being deprecated? That's good news :D What is the current acceptance status of Snes9x 1.52 or 1.53?
snes9x 1.52 and 1.53 are accepted as of currently.
It would use these if they had lua support. They are slightly more accurate than 1.51.
I don't really TAS that much, but if I did start up, I'd use Snes9x 1.53. My reasoning is because it uses Blaarg's S-SMP core, whereas Snes9x 1.51 and Zsnes 1.51 make my ears bleed (Super Mario World is a prime example). Of course, now that I have a much more powerful desktop (Core i5 3570 3.4 GHz and 8 GB DDR3 SDRAM), BizHawk or lsnes won't have any issues running at all. But each to his own I guess ;)
Not too familiar with Lua though.
dunnius wrote:
Snes9X 1.51 has Lua support.
But I still can't use the other emulators, and I would rather use the better version of Snes9X.
I must be cursed with perfect pitch when it comes to emulation accuracy. The sound effects/music timing is off in 1.51, but perfect in 1.53. Others don't notice it, but when something is off (inaccurate SPC700 emulation), it drives me nuts lol. I wish someone made Snes9x 1.53 rerecording. Oh well.
But hey, at least I know what is/isn't accepted. I'm glad that was clarified.
AFAIK, RetroArch doesn't have rerecording. Snes9x next isn't released yet...
Oh right, there is an Snes9x Next core for RetroArch, but the standalone version, I didn't know they were gonna release it. Too bad there's no rerecording. Oh well, it's all good, I'll stick to 1.53 :D
Thanks for the quick response!
Snes9x 1.43 is being deprecated? That's good news :D What is the current acceptance status of Snes9x 1.52 or 1.53?
snes9x 1.52 and 1.53 are accepted as of currently.
Huh, interesting. I was told they had sync issues when making TAS videos, but I guess that 1.53 fixed it? I wasn't aware of that. What's the stance on RetroArch and Snes9x Next?
Snes9x 1.43 is being deprecated? That's good news :D What is the current acceptance status of Snes9x 1.52 or 1.53? If that isn't accepted, perhaps the re-recording features of RetroArch and Snes9x Next?
That hardly sounds like freedom to me, it sounds more along the lines of *gasp* socialized medicine. It's not going to fix our already-broken economy, it will only damage it further.
The economy doesn't matter, only people matter, so if socialized medicine can improve health, it's good.
If people think he can magically fix the unemployment rate to what it was before it want to hell, and reduce the national debt to manageable levels, he's sorely mistaken.
The more unemployment, the better, because then we have more free time to do what we want. What needs fixing is the economic system, so that people can have everything they need, even without necessarily having a job.
National debt doesn't really matter either, because it's just something we invented, it's an imaginary problem. To fix the economy and all debts permanently, just shut down the banks and abolish money.
The economy doesn't matter? What kind of tripe is that? If that goes to hell, so does the rest of the world's.
Okay, make some political opinions? All right, I will. Obamacare is ill-timed and unconstitutional, why? Granted, there are many like myself who have no insurance, but it should NOT be mandatory (see: coercion). It forces people to get health insurance when there are many who cannot afford it, but I guess it's good since one can choose a provider of their choice. What I refuse to agree with is the fact it's a "buy insurance or get heavy fines" mentality that pisses me off. That hardly sounds like freedom to me, it sounds more along the lines of *gasp* socialized medicine. It's not going to fix our already-broken economy, it will only damage it further.
Then we got the issue with massive unemployment and job creation. During his last four years of presidency, the number of people out of work barely improved at all. If people think he can magically fix the unemployment rate to what it was before it want to hell, and reduce the national debt to manageable levels, he's sorely mistaken. It didn't help that fact he went to Middle-eastern countries to apologize for America, all the while making us look like a bunch of pussies. Smooth move, Barack, smooth mover indeed. I guess he really did deserve that Nobel Peace Prize.
I suppose those jackasses (see: Democrats) in Congress are perfect beings who never lied in their lives? Democrats are no shining examples either. Ever heard of Nancy Pelosi? She's a freakin' whore who even gives other democrats nightmares.
You sound butthurt, my friend.
Rather be butthurt than praise Obama like a god. People act as thought he's going to magically reduce the debt and create real jobs.
American politicians in general don't understand the meaning of democracy. The whole idea is that people with most votes are elected, no if's and no but's, it doesn't matter if you might not like them. Actually, American politicians are the most democracy hating crowd in the planet, they have a history of overthrowing democratically elected governments they don't like. As some Latin American leader once said: "The only reason there's never been a coup in the United States is because there's no US embassy in the United States".
Anyway, I'm happy that Obama won, but only because the republican party is full of crazy people. Romney, despite still being a bad choice, was the most moderate of the GOP, and could have beat Obama if he hadn't flipped on just about everything to please the most conservative members of his party. That's bad, since it shows the Republicans aren't willing to adjust their agenda to the 21st century.
I suppose those jackasses (see: Democrats) in Congress are perfect beings who never lied in their lives? Democrats are no shining examples either. Ever heard of Nancy Pelosi? She's a freakin' whore who even gives other democrats nightmares.
It's okay, I downloaded 1.53 version of snes9x. By cons I've another problem, when I run the application, I've this message: "This application has failed to start because d3dx9_38.dll is untraceable". Yet I have downloaded this file, so I dont understand :(
Because it doesn't work that way. you have to download and install direct x runtimes and not just plain .dll files.
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=35
If is still doesn't work after using this, well, you're probably screwed.
