This topic is for the purpose of discussing #4907: YamiAmarillo's Genesis Earthworm Jim 2 in 21:15.06

Now with less Puppy Loves and even faster rounds!

Now with less Puppy Loves and even faster rounds!

Could you post time per level comparisons?

Preliminary script. No idea if it will be any useful, but it shows some stuff. REMOVED, SEE BELOW 7a - end of batch 64 - psycrow goes up 63 - psycrow goes down 30, 31 - puppy 03 - randomly jump forward 0e (followed by 08) - randomly jump back 62 - bomb As we can see, it goes back and forth through the config table, using rng for jump offset. There's a fixed number of bombs in the table, so it should be possible to manipulate it to load config address closest to the bomb. Will dump bomb addresses later. Puppy speed that affects the amount of bounces they will take can be (and is) predicted, but I'll look into how it can be affected by randomness, if possible. In any case, if we know what outcome we want to get out of manipulation, it should become easier to succeed and improve.

Could you post time per level comparisons?

Added time table for time comparisons. I notice now, that I lost small time on three stages, but I'm kinda burned out from TAS'ing. I'll go back at a later date and re-do this run. I'll check the script you made and see if it can help out further for later

Finally, an Earthworm Jim 2 TAS. Well done as well, I was quite entertained. Voted yes.

http://tasvideos.org/GameResources/Genesis/EarthwormJim2.html

Check this out!!! Download Jim2bizhawk.lua

Language: lua
-- feos, 2015

--== Globals ==--
lastcfg = 0
dcfg = 0
rngcount = 0
rngcolor = "white"
rngobject = 0
rngroutine = 0
MsgTime  = 16
MsgStep  = 256/MsgTime
MsgTable = {}

--== Shortcuts ==--
local rb   = memory.read_u8
local rbs  = memory.read_s8
local rw   = memory.read_u16_be
local rws  = memory.read_s16_be
local rl   = memory.read_u32_be
local box  = gui.drawBox
local text = gui.pixelText
local line = gui.drawLine
local AND  = bit.band
local SHIFT= bit.lshift

function Configs()
	local rng = rl(0xa1d4)
	text(120,0,string.format("rng: %08X:%d",rng,rngcount),rngcolor)
	local cfg0 = rl(0xfc2a)
	if cfg0==0 then return end
	local cfg1 = rl(0xfc9a)
	text(220,0,string.format("cfg old:  %X\ncfg step: %d",cfg1,dcfg))
	if lastcfg~=cfg0 then dcfg = cfg0-lastcfg end
	lastcfg = cfg0
	local h = 7
	for i=0,20 do
		local config = rl(0xfc2a)+i
		local action = rb(config,"MD CART")
		local newaction = memory.readbyte(config+1,"MD CART")
		if action==0x62
		or (action==0xe and newaction==8)
		or action==8
		or action==3 then color = "red"
		elseif action>=0x63 and action<=0x64 then color = "orange"
		elseif action>=0x30 and action<=0x32 then color = 0xff00ff00
		elseif action>=0x65 and action<=0x70 then color = 0xff00cc00
		elseif action==0x7a then color = "white"
		else color = 0xffaaaaaa
		end
		text(270,i*h+42,string.format("%X:%02X",config,action),color)		
		if i>0
		and action==0x7a
		or action==0x2b
		or action==0x2d
		then break
		end
	end
	Bounce()
	Seek()
end

function Seek()
	bytes = 0
	waves = 0
	steps = 0
	local ret = ""
	for bytes=0,10000 do
		local cfg = rl(0xfc2a)+bytes
		local action = rb(cfg, "MD CART")
		local newaction = rb(cfg+1, "MD CART")
		if action==0x7a then
			waves=waves+1
			steps=steps+1
		end
		if action==0x63 or action==0x64 or (action==0 and newaction==0) then
			steps=steps+1
		end
		if action>=0x30 and action<=0x32 then
			if newaction==0x70 then
				steps=steps+1
			elseif newaction==0x62 then
				ret = string.format("BOMB in %d waves %d steps",waves,steps,bytes)
				break
			end
		elseif action==3 then
			ret = string.format("Forth in %d waves %d steps",waves,steps,bytes)
			break
		elseif action==0xe and newaction==8 then
			ret = string.format("Back in %d waves %d steps",waves,steps,bytes)
			break
		end
	end
	text(120,7,ret)
end

function Clamp(v1,v2,v3)
	if     v1<v2 then v1=v2
	elseif v1>v3 then v1=v3
	end
	return v1
end

function Bounce()
	if rb(0xa515)==0x60
	then offset = 8
	else offset = 0
	end
	local counter = rb(0xfc87)
	local a0 = 0xfc88
	local d0 = SHIFT(rb(a0+counter),5)+offset
	local vel = rw(0x25d482+d0, "MD CART")
	if     vel == 0x200 then bounce = 3
	elseif vel == 0x3e0 then bounce = 1
	else                     bounce = 2
	end
	text(60,0,string.format("bounce: %X",bounce))
end

function Objects()	
	local base0 = 0xa2ea
	for i=0,0x32 do
		local base = base0+i*0x6e
		local id = rb(base)
		if id>0 and id~=0x82 then
			local hp = rbs(base+1)
			local x = rw(base+2)-4096-camx
			local y = rw(base+4)-4096-camy
			--x = Clamp(x,0,300)
			--y = Clamp(y,8,210)
			local dx = rws(base+0x18)
			local dy = rws(base+0x1a)
			local hitboxbase = rl(base+0x14)
			if hitboxbase<0x300000 then
				local x1 = rb(hitboxbase+2,"MD CART")
				local x2 = rb(hitboxbase+4,"MD CART")
				local y1 = rb(hitboxbase+3,"MD CART")
				local y2 = rb(hitboxbase+5,"MD CART")
				local of = 124
				if x1>0 and x2>0 and y1>0 and y2>0 then
					x1 = x1+x-of
					x2 = x2+x-of
					y1 = y1+y-of
					y2 = y2+y-of
					box(x1,y1,x2,y2,0xff00ff00,0)
				end
			end
			--text(x,y,string.format("%X",id),"yellow")
			if hp~=0 then
				text(x,y+6,hp,0xff00ff00)
			end
			PostRngRoll(base,x,y)
		end
	end
end

function PostRngRoll(object,x,y)
	for i = 1, #MsgTable do
		if (MsgTable[i]) then
			if object==MsgTable[i].object_ then
				local color = 0x00ff0000+SHIFT((MsgTable[i].timer_-emu.framecount())*MsgStep,24)
				line(130,7*i+8,x,y,color)
				text(120,7*i+8,string.format("%X",MsgTable[i].routine_),color)
			end
			if (MsgTable[i].timer_<emu.framecount()) then
				MsgTable[i] = nil
			end
		end
	end
end

event.onframestart(function()
	rngcount = 0
	rngcolor = "white"
	rngobject = 0
end)

event.onmemorywrite(function()
	rngcount = rngcount+1
	rngcolor = "red"
	rngobject = emu.getregister("M68K A1")
	rngroutine = emu.getregister("M68K A0")	
	for i = 1, 30 do
		if MsgTable[i] == nil then
			MsgTable[i] = {
				timer_ = MsgTime + emu.framecount(),
				object_  = rngobject-0xff0000,
				routine_ = rngroutine
			}
			break
		end
	end
end, 0xffa1d4)

while true do
	mult = client.getwindowsize()
	camx = rw(0xa172)
	camy = rw(0xa174)
	
	Objects()
	Configs()
	emu.frameadvance()
end

It shows who calls RNG routine and how man times per frame. It tells you when is the next bomb/jump back/jump forward in config table, how many waves and steps are left. It shows the address it jumped from, which it will return to later on, and how long was the last jump, and what direction is was in. So you can apply your manipulation and see how far forward it allowed you to get in the table, which means, how many waves you skipped. Didn't investigate 100% of cases what calls RNG roll, but it's no hard to do, once needed. All in all, you guys can now know what the game is doing. I was going to try this manipulation myself once I finish, but it looks so tedious that I may prefer to delay it until the new version is done.

Much more better in my opinion: https://gist.github.com/realmonster/83a7b48c3ad0abd1d17c Warning, script for gens! Also, there is human readable dumps of scripts. All that is random based is rndcall. "Randoms left:" counter shows how many calls to rndcall left. Middle section - main script. Right section subscript, that was called from main script by rndcall. Main script terminated by command stop, but subscript termnated by command ret, and continuing execution in main script. More about commands: save - stores line in script where you restore if you die. text - shows text on screen. inc - increasing timer marked on screen "Timeout:" dec - decreasing timer marked on screen "Timeout:" def - sets value to "Timeout:" p0 p1 p2 - position where next puppy/bonus/bomb will drop puppy, bonus, bomb - drop appropriate thing. Bonus replaced by puppy if "Bonus: no" shown by script clr - makes "Bonus: yes" down - Psycrow moves down up - Psycrow moves up upp - Psycrow moves up but in some different way (idk) smt - set max of "Something:" incs - increase "Something:" idk - interesting thing, it changes chance that throwed bomb by Peter will deflect Psycrow house, and start falling on ground, so you will need to bounce it :D Zero value means never deflect. It set to non zero only in Puppy Love part 3 table - sets table of possible subscripts for rndcall diff jmp - if difficulty equal to first operand, it will jump on address set by second operand. Easy = 0, Normal = 1, Difficult = 2 round jmp - if round < value of first operand, it will jump on address set by second operand end - waiting when all puppies/bonuses are lost/done, so actually end command is awaiting end of wave. wait - like "no operation" but "-" in front of it means that it will wait unitl "Timeout:" reach zero. All commands where "-" in front of it, means that it is waiting when "Timeout:" reach zero. Suffix "x5" means that command is repeated in script 5 times in row. Tables in the end of dump - subscripts chosen by rndcall. For each round there are several of them, appropriate chosen by RNG. Didn't test waves, steps thing made by feos, because I simply don't understand them. Maybe I'm too stupid... Also "next bounces" works kinda awkward to me. You can say about next position by looking for next p0/p1/p2 in script. All timing thing based on timer shown as "Timeout:" Beware, some code increasing current value of it by 1, or even for big values. For example text command increasing current timeout often that current exceeds max (default). This script showing only script behavior. It would be nice if someone would also made investigation about timings in frames of all that stuff. I don't wanna do that, also, I guess it's very hard. -_-

Thanks guys for the lua scripts, I'll put them to good use when I do more testing

Thanks guys for the lua scripts, I'll put them to good use when I do more testing

Is this testing going to happen in the near future (so you'll cancel/update this run) or some time later (so I should judge this run now)?

Is this testing going to happen in the near future (so you'll cancel/update this run) or some time later (so I should judge this run now)?

Testing is not going to happen for a while. I'll do more testing after the new year when I have more free time. So please, go ahead and judge this run

Regarding improvement, it would look like this: manipulate rng, and make the game branch only to the shortest subscripts. Thankfully there's only a few of them for each round, so all can be tested for how long they last. But in-level possibilities for this manipulation are limited by the amount of puppies one can drop and by places to drop them at. Additionally, rng can be rolled in a previous level during the boss fight and so, making it even more tedious to manipulate far away events. So I'd say it should be left for the new version of this run, and this one just accepted. And then, I'm going to publish it.

This movie has been published. The posts before this message apply to the submission, and posts after this message apply to the published movie. ---- [3012] Genesis Earthworm Jim 2 by YamiAmarillo in 21:15.06