General

  • Emulator used: JPC-RR r11.2 (should sync on r11 and r11.1)
  • No special settings
  • Complete all 10 levels (no four secondary areas)
  • Abuses programming errors in game
  • Abuses level design
  • Uses death to save time
  • Aims for fastest time
  • Does not visit warp zones

About game:

Dangerous Dave is platformer game made by John Romeiro (of the DOOM fame). On each level, grab the treasure and get the heck out. Collecting additional valuables is optional (increases score).
Unfortunately, this game does not support Adlib nor Soundblaster, so no music and sound effects are pretty infernal.

BIOS/OS/game versions used:

The BIOS/OS versions as well as game version is identical to 2651S.
The game is downloadable from ftp://download.dosgamesarchive.com/dave.zip
diskinfo report about game image used:

General data:

FieldValue
TypeHDD
Tracks16
Sides16
Sectors63
Claimed Disk ID97d385fcbb3fac3662107c9b75f4d87e

File table:

TimestampMD5SizeName
N/AN/A1/
1990010100000010ac35dd6bc6314cd5caf08a4ffb427576586/DAVE.EXE

Level comments:

Level 1:

Very simple and straightforward level.

Level 2:

Jumping straight from beam instead of walking a bit is slower.

Level 3:

There's no way to jump over two of whatever those (deadly) things are in one go. Jumping one extra time at the end is slower.

Level 4:

This level is way more complex than anything before. After picking up a jetpack, I kill Dave as a shortcut (I respawn at beginning of the level, but now with jetpack). There's also some nontrivial fuel management. I run out of fuel just on the frame that allows reaching the platform.

Level 5:

I abuse the climbabilty of the block with moon. I also jump early for jetpack even if I fall a bit since I have to walk less (I have to hop twice in the end but it is worth it).

Level 6:

There is long jetpack flight at the end, I need lots of fuel for that... This level has the possibility of glitched route: Grab the jetpack but no treasure and fly through the door. Then go right to one of the secondary areas. Then grab the treasure there and use the exit. Unfortunately, this is slower and exits to next level (thus it would be slower to use this glitch).

Level 7:

Hopping once after falling down is faster even if I hit a block. Also, there is certain place the hop through the tree has to start from for optimal speed.

Level 8:

Seemingly no way to reach the last monster in time before it blocks the path. And if it blocks the path, the current way of solving the level is the fastest possible.

Level 9:

Lots of hopping and bit of walking to avoid holes (bane of speedrunners).
The reason why I don't jump off that leftmost middle platform in jumping sequence in the end is that it is not possible. That platform is not solid (it is a trap, if you jump on it, you'll fall to bottom that has the enemy there; if you look carefully, you'll see I pass through it in way not possible for solid platforms)! Also, those non-solid platforms look almost exactly the same as normal platforms (fake difficulty anyone?).

Level 10:

Long level. All three items are needed. I can abuse collision detection with fire and reach the exit door just as I run out of fuel.

About warp zones

This game has four warp zones (levels 5, 8, 9 and 10; plus one glitched one on level 6). They aren't warps in classical sense. Instead, they take you into secondary area of some other level (acting as four secret levels). After completing the secondary area, you are retuned into level you left from. Thus one could do all-warps run, which would play 18 levels in total (10 normal levels, 4 normal level exits into warp zone and the 4 warp zones).
Using the glitched warp zone places you into glitched level that is apparently impossible to complete without cheating. Also, entering this level causes the game to freeze for about 15 minutes(!). To access it, grab the jetpack but not the treasure in level 6 and fly through the exit door. Then walk/fly to left edge (this also lets one access one of the secondary areas, for that, go right).
This would obviously be longer run (and would contain the no-warps run as subset), so I don't do it now.

Screenshot suggestions:

  • Passing through fire in level 10

Final stats:

Final input cutoff: 632.798s Final rerecord count: 2757 Total number of in-level frames: 23444.

Thanks to:

IsraeliRD for idea of shooting the enemy in level 10 early.

Level starting and ending timecodes:

These are the timecodes (ns) for the first complete frame of level and the first frame in level transition:
LevelStartEndFrames
1 2492160715 8927084250451
2 15133717815 421147388481891
3 48321372413 707365938631571
4 769432274281411497815494500
51473564151141734813485801831
61796879821452103073744292146
72165140079952473188859372159
82535255195022811200696511934
92873267032163132233469441815
103194157123863928394740545146
Total--23444

Making this TAS:

This is actually third revision. I began doing this TAS on the morning of 24th and finished on the evening of 26th...

The improvement

The improvement is in level 6. By momentarily cutting off the final flight and hopping off the blocks I can conserve bit of fuel allowing to use bit more earlier in the level (which I use to cut down on walking as walking is slow). This gains 13 frames. Unfortunately, this causes 1 frame of more lag in next level, so the final improvement is only 12 frames.
Cutting it for every platform allows essentially using flight or jumping for the entire level saving 124 more frames.

sgrunt: Replaced submission file with a 12 frame faster version at the request of the author.

Nach: Replaced submission file with a 124 frame faster version at the request of the author. Also, judging.

GabCm: Added YouTube HD module based on the latest improvement.

Nach: Great run and abuse of a classic game. Accepting.

GabCM: Publishing...


TASVideoAgent
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This topic is for the purpose of discussing #2961: Ilari's DOS Dangerous Dave in 06:32.80
Emulator Coder, Skilled player (1114)
Joined: 5/1/2010
Posts: 1217
Experimenting for magnet links for encodes: magnet:?xt=urn:btih:REY7DLFRW7IK5IQ7K3S7GDNXKD5CDIW2&dn=dangerousdave-tas-ilari.mkv&tr=udp%3a%2f%2ftracker.openbittorrent.com%3a80%2fannounce magnet:?xt=urn:btih:UN4K6YF7FGSSPXIFMBTTTCF5EUJHNQBC&dn=dangerousdave-tasv2-ilari.mkv&tr=udp%3a%2f%2ftracker.openbittorrent.com%3a80%2fannounce magnet:?xt=urn:btih:2FCQWSVUUGT5XHR3FA6R7YHKBU62OVEA&dn=dangerousdave-tasv3-ilari.mkv&tr=udp%3a%2f%2ftracker.openbittorrent.com%3a80%2fannounce The length of the movie is 6:34.739 6:34.567 6:32.798 as noted in submission message. That 25:32.59.74 is was the site parsing the movie file wrong.
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Joined: 8/30/2010
Posts: 500
Location: Argentina Bs. As.
I would like to codify this in HD, but I need someone to teach me to know Starting... EDIT: I'll do the coding after learning more about the encoding DOS, because I have some errors dumping. So far resigns to codify this EDIT 2: re-encoding
[18:51] <scrimpy> Oh, nothing [18:51] <mmarks> oh [18:51] <Nach> I think scrimpy is just jealous of you mmarks
NitroGenesis
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Editor, Experienced player (556)
Joined: 12/24/2009
Posts: 1873
Hey! Toss me an encode and Ill make another remix video! Yo!
YoungJ1997lol wrote:
Normally i would say Yes, but thennI thought "its not the same hack" so ill stick with meh.
Player (194)
Joined: 10/23/2010
Posts: 49
Location: Australia
Great play and improvements from WIP were easy to spot (at least for me). Easy Yes vote.
mklip2001
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Joined: 6/23/2009
Posts: 2227
Location: Georgia, USA
I'm trying to download from the magnet link, but my torrent is staying at 0.0%. EDIT: Are there any streaming encodes currently? I've wanted to watch this, but I've mostly been limited to mobile Internet lately.
Used to be a frequent submissions commenter. My new computer has had some issues running emulators, so I've been here more sporadically. Still haven't gotten around to actually TASing yet... I was going to improve Kid Dracula for GB. It seems I was beaten to it, though, with a recent awesome run by Hetfield90 and StarvinStruthers. (http://tasvideos.org/2928M.html.) Thanks to goofydylan8 for running Gargoyle's Quest 2 because I mentioned the game! (http://tasvideos.org/2001M.html) Thanks to feos and MESHUGGAH for taking up runs of Duck Tales 2 because of my old signature! Thanks also to Samsara for finishing a Treasure Master run. From the submission comments:
Shoutouts and thanks to mklip2001 for arguably being the nicest and most supportive person on the forums.
Emulator Coder
Joined: 3/9/2004
Posts: 4588
Location: In his lab studying psychology to find new ways to torture TASers and forumers
Not many comments on this run... Can an encoder please throw it up on YouTube?
Warning: Opinions expressed by Nach or others in this post do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, or position of Nach himself on the matter(s) being discussed therein.
Joined: 4/3/2005
Posts: 575
Location: Spain
It was well played and had some good moments, but didn't like the game choice, I wouldn't watch the video again.
No.
GabCM
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Posts: 901
Location: QC, Canada
Ok, for the fast factor, I'll make the SD encode. I'll leave the HD one to mmarks.
Banned User
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Location: Argentina Bs. As.
Mister Epic wrote:
Ok, for the fast factor, I'll make the SD encode. I'll leave the HD one to mmarks.
Make you the HD encoding, I'm kinda busy right now. :D
[18:51] <scrimpy> Oh, nothing [18:51] <mmarks> oh [18:51] <Nach> I think scrimpy is just jealous of you mmarks
GabCM
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Posts: 901
Location: QC, Canada
mmarks wrote:
Mister Epic wrote:
Ok, for the fast factor, I'll make the SD encode. I'll leave the HD one to mmarks.
Make you the HD encoding, I'm kinda busy right now. :D
That's what I'm doing now.
GabCM
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Posts: 901
Location: QC, Canada
If no one else has a better screenshot to suggest, it will be this one. Something illogical is happening there.
Joined: 12/10/2006
Posts: 118
Can't you cut some of the last jumps in Level 9or is that impossible?
Editor, Experienced player (885)
Joined: 1/23/2008
Posts: 529
Location: Finland
This run was exceedingly... alright. Trusting Ilari's technical prowess, I vote yes.
Emulator Coder, Skilled player (1114)
Joined: 5/1/2010
Posts: 1217
thommy3 wrote:
Can't you cut some of the last jumps in Level 9or is that impossible?
You mean jumping to upper platforms via left middle platform? That platform is a trap. You can't jump up from it. And neither is direct jump to right middle platform possible, you must first jump to rightmost lower platform and from there you can access right middle platform and rightmost upper platform.
Joined: 12/10/2006
Posts: 118
OK, didn't know that. Thanks.
Post subject: Movie published
TASVideoAgent
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This movie has been published. The posts before this message apply to the submission, and posts after this message apply to the published movie. ---- [1718] DOS Dangerous Dave by Ilari in 06:32.80
mklip2001
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Joined: 6/23/2009
Posts: 2227
Location: Georgia, USA
This ended up being pretty decent. The sound effects are pretty annoying, especially walking straight along a hall (amazing what we were willing to put up with before the days of Soundblaster). The last level is especially interesting. Late Yes vote.
Used to be a frequent submissions commenter. My new computer has had some issues running emulators, so I've been here more sporadically. Still haven't gotten around to actually TASing yet... I was going to improve Kid Dracula for GB. It seems I was beaten to it, though, with a recent awesome run by Hetfield90 and StarvinStruthers. (http://tasvideos.org/2928M.html.) Thanks to goofydylan8 for running Gargoyle's Quest 2 because I mentioned the game! (http://tasvideos.org/2001M.html) Thanks to feos and MESHUGGAH for taking up runs of Duck Tales 2 because of my old signature! Thanks also to Samsara for finishing a Treasure Master run. From the submission comments:
Shoutouts and thanks to mklip2001 for arguably being the nicest and most supportive person on the forums.