Submission Text Full Submission Page
This is my 1st and may be my only TAS. I wanted to get a registered movie of Sim City SNES, since I love this game and it seams no TAS of this game is already done.
Note about encode: Temp Low Quality encode (After 47:50 I watch some of the city informations, this is not in the TAS and souldn't be in the final video)

Game objectives

  • Emulator used: BizHawk 1.4.1
  • Getting 600,000 people
  • Fastest last input

Comments

I saw that a unsubmitted run was done, and this game that I'm liking looked good for trying to do my first TAS. The rerecord counter is low, but I did many text editing at first before doing frame by frame buildings because it's less frustating (Because Sim City sometimes add some waiting frames). I used my own pattern that I tested to see if it can reach 600,000 with snes9x before starting the TAS. I didn't named the city because I started without reading the rules (I had to restart near the begining because I used debug menu...) and now I'm fear that changing it may dessynch the run. Also it win some frames so why not.
If you know money glitch you'll see that I stoped before getting 0 and I didn't go back in tax screen. What I did is simple, I keep enouth money to keep all fundings to 100% then, when the tax screen apear, I press L and keep it until I build something. Then, later I just have to let a single frame without input to make the money in a negative value (which makes it 999,999)

Other comments

You have to wait about 2 min near the start because I need to wait for the money glich and inputs froze the ingame timer so that's why I did nothing. The last input is at frame 24766 and 600,000 people is got at frame ~170000
Since it's my 1st TAS, maybe some moving could be inproved ? I'm also not sure if switching R/police/R while building the Residential part could be faster than building all police centers at the end.


TASVideoAgent
They/Them
Moderator
Joined: 8/3/2004
Posts: 15568
Location: 127.0.0.1
This topic is for the purpose of discussing #4051: Arnold0's SNES SimCity in 06:52.09
Skilled player (1738)
Joined: 9/17/2009
Posts: 4980
Location: ̶C̶a̶n̶a̶d̶a̶ "Kanatah"
Uh..... Someone who's interested on the ongoing discussion regarding Input time vs avi time comment about this? >.>
Joined: 3/1/2009
Posts: 64
I'm honestly not sure. I'd say "yeah, I think" but since it's not in the options I went for "meh". I don,t know much about Sim City T.A.S., but if that's the fastest we can go, I'd say that it should go on the website but in the vault.
Former player
Joined: 3/27/2010
Posts: 270
For what it's worth, the input frame part of the run was interesting. If you've ever played this game, you'd know doing it that fast and precise, without gaps between your buildings, is without a doubt, impossible for a human. Honestly though, 500,000 would seem like a better goal, since that is a metro, though I'm guessing you wanted the "You're a great mayor" screen. Either way would really be described as "winning", sans credits. Big difference: 500K: 28 mins 600K: 47 mins Though, I do like how you do the money glitch compared to RTA runs :) ... I'll vote yes, what the hay :P
Spikestuff
They/Them
Editor, Publisher, Expert player (2633)
Joined: 10/12/2011
Posts: 6437
Location: The land down under.
Torn338 wrote:
For what it's worth, the input frame part of the run was interesting. If you've ever played this game, you'd know doing it that fast and precise, without gaps between your buildings, is without a doubt, impossible for a human. Honestly though, 500,000 would seem like a better goal, since that is a metro, though I'm guessing you wanted the "You're a great mayor" screen. Either way would really be described as "winning", sans credits. Big difference: 500K: 28 mins 600K: 47 mins Though, I do like how you do the money glitch compared to RTA runs :) ... I'll vote yes, what the hay :P
RTA takes 33:13 to get 500k so I'll give it a yes. Also 600k looks like the true ending. Yes as in for the Vault.
WebNations/Sabih wrote:
+fsvgm777 never censoring anything.
Disables Comments and Ratings for the YouTube account. Something better for yourself and also others.
Active player (437)
Joined: 4/21/2004
Posts: 3517
Location: Stockholm, Sweden
Voted no. Sorry but I did not find this remotely entertaining.
Nitrogenesis wrote:
Guys I come from the DidyKnogRacist communite, and you are all wrong, tihs is the run of the mileniun and everyone who says otherwise dosnt know any bater! I found this run vary ease to masturbate too!!!! Don't fuck with me, I know this game so that mean I'm always right!StupedfackincommunityTASVideoz!!!!!!
Arc wrote:
I enjoyed this movie in which hands firmly gripping a shaft lead to balls deep in multiple holes.
natt wrote:
I don't want to get involved in this discussion, but as a point of fact C# is literally the first goddamn thing on that fucking page you linked did you even fucking read it
Cooljay wrote:
Mayor Haggar and Cody are such nice people for the community. Metro City's hospitals reached an all time new record of incoming patients due to their great efforts :P
Tub
Joined: 6/25/2005
Posts: 1377
jlun2 wrote:
Someone who's interested on the ongoing discussion regarding Input time vs avi time comment about this?
Haven't read the discussion, but in this case optimizing for input time would have an ugly consequence: the most optimized run would only build as much of the city as they can get away with, then stop input. Consequently it'd take hours to reach 600k. So in the interest of keeping the run watchable, the only reasonable goal is the time it takes to reach 600k. And I do wonder: isn't there anything that can be done to speed up that goal by extending input? Clicking away text boxes? Reducing lag? Maybe manipulate luck to get the city to grow faster? Kudos for finding your own layout and improving the money glitch, but I don't think this is as optimized as it could be.
m00
Joined: 8/16/2013
Posts: 20
Location: Vire, France
I think the site should have 2 category, faster last input and faster real time. Yes closing text boxes could probably win in real time but it defeat the goal I take that was fastest last input (I wanted to do at least better than Rayas not submitted run (And I did ~2k frames better)) As for building less city and waiting hours, it won't work because the City Population will max out before 600k and waiting hours won't change anything. Faster in game time would be hard, for getting it you may have to loose many input frames for apply the glitch that permit to go outside the map that permit to replace water with power cables, and manipulating luck to make the city growth faster. I'm too newbie to even know how to do that ...
Redoing my Sim City TAS (New faster way to build Zones)
Joined: 8/23/2008
Posts: 417
Well, I voted yes. I'm not up to date on the current state of TASing this game, but I remember optimization was very difficult, and a lot of people seem to have put it on the back burner. I'm sure there's more optimal ways to do this game, but that's sort of the exact problem: games like these have so many possibilities that need testing that it's almost impossible to conquer, and they end up never getting a run because everyone who attempts them soon gives up. Short of someone breaking down the exact code that handles population growth, this game will never have an optimal run. Taking into account pollution, traffic, crime, land value, power, commercial/industrial/residential spread, RNG... yeah. I understand objections to its slow pace, but that's the purpose of tiered publications, right? I hope we have a place for this. To me, this is one of those "childhood games" I look back at nostalgically; I play it on emulator every few years, and it still has appeal. I thought this was a pretty good TAS, and it's long overdue for some love here.
I will not use self-reference in my signature.
Joined: 7/10/2013
Posts: 33
Location: Małopolskie, Poland
Good for Vault. Yes vote. There should be two categories, shortest input and avi time.
Player (71)
Joined: 8/24/2004
Posts: 2562
Location: Sweden
I'm throwing in a yes. I can't say that entertainment value was on top, so it's a weak yes. Vault material perhaps. I think the dialogues ruins the enjoyment level a bit since they take for ever before they close down. In general it's a good execution of this game though. Not sure how to add in more entertainment.
Editor, Player (69)
Joined: 1/18/2008
Posts: 663
But would a movie that, with the same or slightly key input length that got to 600k first, obsolete this one? A 500k and/or 600k timing with quickest input makes sense for this game...
true on twitch - lsnes windows builds 20230425 - the date this site is buried
Experienced player (689)
Joined: 2/5/2012
Posts: 1794
Location: Brasil
yes vault,but what's the real objective here?600k?
I want all good TAS inside TASvideos, it's my motto. TAS i'm interested: Megaman series, specially the RPGs! Where is the mmbn1 all chips TAS we deserve? Where is the Command Mission TAS? i'm slowly moving away from TASing fighting games for speed, maybe it's time to start finding some entertainment value in TASing.
Joined: 8/16/2013
Posts: 20
Location: Vire, France
Yes it's 600k. When I started to think about this TAS I was thinking 600k would be too hard but it is not. I believe it's better that I did 600k because of the "you're a great mayor" screen which is the last one while 500k is not. (even if it's the last one that many players managed to get)
Redoing my Sim City TAS (New faster way to build Zones)
Joined: 6/4/2004
Posts: 284
It has been eight years from the time I made the original request. Now, the first TAS of this game has been submitted to the site, and it was all I could have hoped for out of a Sim City TAS. Solid "Meh".
Spikestuff
They/Them
Editor, Publisher, Expert player (2633)
Joined: 10/12/2011
Posts: 6437
Location: The land down under.
AngerFist wrote:
Voted no. Sorry but I did not find this remotely entertaining.
Just a question to the NO-ers you mean NO for entertainment but still suitable for the vault? Or just NO overall? This is just a curiosity killed the cat question. (since it does say "Did you find this movie entertaining?")
WebNations/Sabih wrote:
+fsvgm777 never censoring anything.
Disables Comments and Ratings for the YouTube account. Something better for yourself and also others.
Noxxa
They/Them
Moderator, Expert player (4122)
Joined: 8/14/2009
Posts: 4089
Location: The Netherlands
Spikestuff wrote:
AngerFist wrote:
Voted no. Sorry but I did not find this remotely entertaining.
Just a question to the NO-ers you mean NO for entertainment but still suitable for the vault? Or just NO overall? This is just a curiosity killed the cat question. (since it does say "Did you find this movie entertaining?")
(Poll question discussion split to a new topic)
http://www.youtube.com/Noxxa <dwangoAC> This is a TAS (...). Not suitable for all audiences. May cause undesirable side-effects. May contain emulator abuse. Emulator may be abusive. This product contains glitches known to the state of California to cause egg defects. <Masterjun> I'm just a guy arranging bits in a sequence which could potentially amuse other people looking at these bits <adelikat> In Oregon Trail, I sacrificed my own family to save time. In Star trek, I killed helpless comrades in escape pods to save time. Here, I kill my allies to save time. I think I need help.
mklip2001
He/Him
Editor
Joined: 6/23/2009
Posts: 2227
Location: Georgia, USA
I guess I agree most with Matriks404 here: * I vote "Meh" on entertainment, since the parts when input is still happening are fairly amusing at the end. December 1900 was a very busy time indeed. * Watching the development after input end is incredibly boring but technically amazing. * I like the idea of having this movie in a category for the Vault, but someone could then make a movie aiming for shortest video time (in-game time?), which would use completely different strategies and provide nice variety.
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.
Joined: 8/16/2013
Posts: 20
Location: Vire, France
mklip2001 wrote:
* I like the idea of having this movie in a category for the Vault, but someone could then make a movie aiming for shortest video time (in-game time?), which would use completely different strategies and provide nice variety.
I think someone doing faster real-time could be good. For in-game time I don't know, since every input seems to froze the time counter, so someone could do a slower TAS and still get a good IG-time (but a not so good real-time) :\ For fast real-time, closing as fast as possible things like city levels or gift can be good (because on my movie I think I loose some minutes in real-time because each is 30sec long if you don't close them), setting auto tax to on after doing money glitch and going in the city view you get at captital stage may win some real-time (Because you'll just get metropolis, megalopolis and 600k stages after you close it, and you wont get any polution/criminality alert and no tax screen). Doing that is purely for fastest real-time movie because it completly defeat the fastest last input. Maybe loosing time to use the offmap glitch (that permit to build power cables offmap wich comes in the map, potentialy on the water, permiting to delete the water afterwards) could be benefical for real-time and I think a bit of luck manipulation could be needed since SimCity use a RNG. Don't ask me to do that though, because I don't even know how memory viewer works... (I may watch more parts of the TAS tutorial later) But I think, even in fastest real-time movie you'll have to wait a long time, because SimCity is like this, population growth slowly and inputs froze time so no entertaining things like moving the cursor wiredly or anything can be done, fastest last input or fastest avi changes nothing you'll always have to wait.
Redoing my Sim City TAS (New faster way to build Zones)
TheKDX7
He/Him
Player (118)
Joined: 7/9/2011
Posts: 392
Location: Switzerland
Joined: 8/16/2013
Posts: 20
Location: Vire, France
Nope thekdx... This TAS is mine, and my goal was to beat the one you sent. You can see I didn't even use the same pattern. French message for him : Dans les commentaires sur la video que tu as envoyé, le gars Arnold Rondel qui parle d'un TAS plus rapide fait en 3 jours c'est moi et c'est ce TAS la. Regarde la video youtube que j'ai envoyé en haut (ou avec le fichier d'input dans l'émulateur) tu vera bien que ce n'ai pas le même. Si je dit ça c'est pour une raison "I saw that a unsubmitted run was done" car rayas n'ai pas submit son run
Redoing my Sim City TAS (New faster way to build Zones)
Joined: 6/4/2009
Posts: 893
technicaly ineresting, and tas paced run, yes vote Did you consult mr.K for a 600K strat, if i remember, he mentioned something about a 600K strat + you can check the gamefaqs board where he made his 500K strat.... also you did manage to do the glitch before reaching the end of the year, how did that append ?
Joined: 8/16/2013
Posts: 20
Location: Vire, France
Nope, my pattern is a little based of the one which is known to go at 600k stage (I don't know who made it, I saw this pattern in many places over the web, even in Rayas not submitted run) but I never asked someone if my way to do could work, I just tried it on snes9x (because I can make it run really fast on 9 frames skip) when failed I tryed to change what seemed bad until I get 600k population. I'm not sure but if I remember correctly my pattern have a little more I zones and less C zones than what Rayas uses in his run, and I think I have a little more zones in total, but that's a really small number. Doesn't having C into R zones and different mass traffic are the two bigger differences. I didn't tried to left the emulator opened after seeing 600k screen to see how many population can my pattern get but I think it's not that much higher With money glitch, seriously, I don't really know, but it's possible that, since I left only 1 frame without inputs to make the money value update, the time may simply need more than a single frame to go from end dec 1900 to start jan 1901 ? That doesn't change anything for me, after the tax screen pop up, you can do the glitch so being in December or January doesn't matter.
Redoing my Sim City TAS (New faster way to build Zones)
Editor, Experienced player (570)
Joined: 11/8/2010
Posts: 4036
I have to vote Meh for entertainment, though I did really enjoy this run's technical value. If it can't (easily) be improved, then we should go ahead and publish it. Good job figuring out your own pattern as well as your own method of using the money glitch, Arnold0! That's pretty impressive for a new TASer.
Editor, Skilled player (1199)
Joined: 9/27/2008
Posts: 1085
Here's how the $999999 trick works... The automatic tax screen comes up and attempts to ensure that the maintenance percentages will not take more money than you have. The actual effects of maintenance will only happen one "clock tick" later, after you close the window. Holding any button prevents this "clock tick" from passing. The usual method, at this point, would have too little money to pay for maintenance and the auto-tax reduces the maintenance percents to fit. So it manually goes back into the tax screen to raise the maintenance again. This manually opened tax screen has no such safeguards in place to stop you from raising the maintenance. The method used here instead has enough money to pay for maintenance, so the auto-tax doesn't mess with your maintenance. However, while making sure that next "clock tick" doesn't happen, spend more money until you can't normally pay the maintenance. Now let time pass. Since the maintenance assumes the auto-tax did its job (a good assumption only if the player couldn't affect maintenance or money between these events), it takes your money, whether or not you have it. Thus, it sends the money to negative, then the game thinks it's a really big positive value, and clamps it to $999999. Someone wanted the trick explained, there you go. It's my interpretation, anyway. After all, I knew of the new method a few months ago. As someone who attempted to TAS this game, but lost motivation to do so... I will withhold my opinion unless someone specifically asks me to give it. It is not good, I will say that much for now.