Post subject: TASVideos AGDQ 2016 preparations
Moderator, Senior Ambassador, Experienced player (906)
Joined: 9/14/2008
Posts: 1014
TL;DR: I am organizing development efforts for TASVideos running games at AGDQ 2016 on 2016-01-09 at 3:55 PM EST and I'll be using this thread to manage resources and post project updates. If you can help, consider volunteering to fill one of the unfilled roles listed below and I'll gift you a game from this list! I'll be updating this post as things develop and I will be in #tasvideos as well as #tasbot on Freenode IRC; payload discussions will happen privately so have no fear of being overly spoiled in either channel or in this thread. I am serving as the project manager for TASVideos participation at AGDQ 2016. AGDQ is a fundraiser for the Prevent Cancer Foundation, and in the last three events I've organized we have helpded raise just shy of $100k for charity. My goal is to help raise $50k in the time we've been alotted and to that end I previously started a planning and potential participation thread for AGDQ 2016, created a pitch video, and submitted our best ideas for consideration. Three ideas were accepted by the AGDQ 2016 games selection committee - a Brain Age console verification playaround, a speed TAS competition, and a Total Control TAS. This thread will organize the volunteer work on these projects through January 3rd when the marathon starts (internally, I'd like to have all "framework" development complete by 2015-12-06 and all "payload" development complete by 2015-12-31). Here are the pitch descriptions that were accepted with some extra notes for each entry:
  • Speed TAS race (15 minutes) - "The Streeeeemerz speed TAS competition at SGDQ 2015 was a huge success that bears repeating. During a set time any viewer can submit a TAS of a just-announced game, ending with a race of the fastest viewer-submitted TAS pitted against already prepared human runners. We can use a freely redistributeable game or even a game as part of a Humble Bundle tie-in. See: http://tiny.cc/TaS" This competition will be similar to the SGDQ 2015 Streemerz competition that was won by Mothrayas but with a custom game crafted just for this event by some really talented developers.
  • Brain Age (25 minutes) - "In Brain Age we solve a series of simple math problems, but the answers we give aren't quite what you'd expect. Watch as we deftly draw FrankerZ as the correct answer to 1+6 and generally treat the answers area as an art canvas. This features full DS console verification via stylus control and screen capture. If this is scheduled near the end we can incorporate memes and notable events as answers." In other words, micro500 will be presenting a playaround on a real DS modified with a screen capture device and a custom stylus control board with help from xy2_ and a whole slew of artists (that I need to credit / get a list of).
  • Total control (20 minutes) - "Finding an arbitrary code exploit and gaining total control of a console game is non-trivial and has proven to be quite entertaining in the form of Pong and Snake at AGDQ 2014 then SMB on SMW and Pokemon Plays Twitch at AGDQ 2015. In this run, p4plus2, Masterjun and others will flex their mastery once again with something that's sure to surprise the audience." This time around we may be able to pack in two runs in 20 minutes but no matter what happens it should be quite interesting.
Here are the roles I have committed to serving in for AGDQ 2016:
  • Project manager - serving as the "glue" keeping preparation work on track
  • Developer coordinator - coordinating the game to be used for the speed TAS competition
  • PR - serving as the press/media contact for TASVideos involvement at AGDQ 2016
  • Engineer - helping build whatever is needed, be it hardware or software
  • Console verification tester - ensuring runs sync for speed TAS competition / total control
  • Keeper of TASBot - transporting equipment (and TASBot!) to AGDQ and caring for it on-site
  • AGDQ 2016 lead presenter for the overall TAS block
Here are the things that others are taking on:
  • micro500 - organizing and creating hardware and software framework for Brain Age
  • xy2_ - Testing Brain Age, working with artists
  • true - replay device support for NES/SNES runs
  • Lord Tom - NES Total Control exploitation and payload
  • p4plus2 - SNES Total Control payload, couch commentary
  • Masterjun - SNES Total Control exploitation
  • Ilari - SNES emulator support
  • keylie - Speed TAS competition researcher, tester, website-side TASJudy autojudging script
  • link_777 - Speed TAS competition TASJudy BizHawk-side autojudging script
  • dama1138 - @MrTASBot updater - generating hype through Twitter posts and interaction with @GDQMonitor's 4k followers: new user dama1138 (aka pdrcr) is provisionally helping by creating content that micro500 and I will post, pending vetting the content and researching an update-only account access method
Here are the things that need resources assigned, to be updated as people volunteer:
  • Raffle prize manager (AGDQ 2015 description): Resource needed!
  • Donation incentives creative genius (AGDQ 2015 description): Resource needed!
  • Speed TAS competition testers: A currently anonymous TASVideos user, additional Resource needed!
  • Researcher of Twitch memes who can advise on Brain Age artwork: Resource needed!
Lastly, there is no way I can say thank you enough to all of the people who have contributed their time and effort to these projects. I have been extremely humbled by the support I've received to have my wife and I attend AGDQ 2016 and present for TASVideos again. This effort is not about me; this is about raising money for cancer research, which is something I care deeply about after losing a number of family members to cancer over the years. I'm more than willing to pay for all of our costs to get to the event and present, although we are coming up a bit short this year and could use your help; I'll update my signature as we get closer to funding our trip. All donors and all volunteers who assist with a role listed above are welcome to pick any game from this list and I'll gift it to them. Thanks! Update log: 2015-11-22: Updated estimated time to 3:55 PM EST (Let's see how many times it changes!) and updated filled roles 2015-12-03: Updated filled roles to add link_777, update keylie, correct dama1138's entry
I was laid off in May 2023 and became too ill to work this year and could use support via Patreon or onetime donations as work on TASBot Re: and TASBot HD is stalled. I'm dwangoAC, TASVideos Senior Ambassador and BDFL of the TASBot community; when healthy, I post TAS content on YouTube.com/dwangoAC based on livestreams from Twitch.tv/dwangoAC.
Post subject: help wanted
Dama1138
He/Him
Joined: 8/10/2015
Posts: 6
Location: St. Louis
I would love to help, and I think the way I'd help the most would be with TASbot Twitter. I'm already very active on Twitter and ran multiple accounts back when I did PR for my band (@thelooongshot @goodfightmo). Let me know what you need from me, and what resources I'd need -dama1138 from IRC Edit: changed the first Twitter username to the right one
rusty fuck-it bay
Experienced player (608)
Joined: 10/23/2004
Posts: 706
I will be attending AGDQ in-person. Not sure what I could/should help with.
Current Project: - Mario Kart 64
Moderator, Senior Ambassador, Experienced player (906)
Joined: 9/14/2008
Posts: 1014
I have asked micro500 to weigh in but I'm totally on board with having pdrcr be the spokesperson for TASBot. I want to give micro500 a chance to review this before making a decision as micro500 has historically also helped out with maintaining Twitter.
Weatherton wrote:
I will be attending AGDQ in-person. Not sure what I could/should help with.
Well, our block was scheduled *right* after the "Mario Kart 64 (All Cups 2p1c - Almo, Kirch)" run, perhaps you can come up with something we could demonstrate in ~5 minutes while we're completing the rest of the setup? Perhaps they would be willing to allow you to do couch commentary so you're already on the couch, and then you smoothly transition into a quick TASBot created crazy level again that Almo and Kirch have to battle through, although I'm not kidding when I say we probably can only get 5 minutes (and you'd be doing it while we're setting stuff up behind you). It's a thought we would need to clear with Vulajin but it could be a donation incentive perhaps... :) For this and anything else "extra", understand that it could be cut at any time if it doesn't fit but I plan to have everything rehearsed very well so there are no surprises and so we know exactly how long each run will take, with margin on top of margin. We have been fortunate to be granted 1 full hour for our run and 25 minutes of setup (the most of any run on the schedule, period). If we can have everything staged in the PC area ahead of time I think we can not only slot in an extra 5 minutes of content as a bonus incentive, we can even get our total allotted time from 1:25 down to 1:15 and come out ahead of schedule for once. I'm probably overly optimistic but it doesn't hurt to try. So, that's my goal - 1 hour of total content, 15 minutes of total setup time, come out 10 minutes ahead. If we don't at least shoot for that we'll inevitably run over time. Thoughts?
I was laid off in May 2023 and became too ill to work this year and could use support via Patreon or onetime donations as work on TASBot Re: and TASBot HD is stalled. I'm dwangoAC, TASVideos Senior Ambassador and BDFL of the TASBot community; when healthy, I post TAS content on YouTube.com/dwangoAC based on livestreams from Twitch.tv/dwangoAC.
Active player (309)
Joined: 8/21/2012
Posts: 429
Location: France
I think the best, obviously, is to aim to have some spare time. Even if it's a lot of spare time, that wouldn't be a problem for the TAS block. There is always a lot that can be said about how TASes are made, and if you can explain without hurry the "making of" what happened at the TAS block, that's perfect.
Active player (378)
Joined: 9/25/2011
Posts: 652
I like dwangoAC's idea of showing a TAS during setup. I loved previous AGDQs, but I always thought that the setup time ended up being dead-air. Showing a fun/impressive TAS, even if just from video, would help fill the time and showcase other things TASses can do apart from glitches or total control. Some possible examples under 10 minutes are: SNES Family Feud 06:46 GC Super Smash Bros. Melee 08:42 SNES Super Mario World "warps" 09:59 Genesis Golden Axe 07:01 Arcade Magician Lord 07:17 PSX Castlevania: Symphony of the Night "Richter mode" 05:39 GBA Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow "Julius mode" 03:53 GBA Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance "Maxim" 00:22 GC Crazy Taxi 06:02 Also, perhaps a Q&A segment during a setup might be good, answering pre-submitted questions people ask about TASVideos and creating TASses.
Dama1138
He/Him
Joined: 8/10/2015
Posts: 6
Location: St. Louis
dwangoAC wrote:
I have asked micro500 to weigh in but I'm totally on board with having pdrcr be the spokesperson for TASBot. I want to give micro500 a chance to review this before making a decision as micro500 has historically also helped out with maintaining Twitter.
Sweet! Thanks :D
rusty fuck-it bay
Post subject: Re: help wanted
Samsara
She/They
Senior Judge, Site Admin, Expert player (2108)
Joined: 11/13/2006
Posts: 2821
Location: Northern California
pdrcr wrote:
I would love to help, and I think the way I'd help the most would be with TASbot Twitter. I'm already very active on Twitter and ran multiple accounts back when I did PR for my band (@thelooongshot @goodfightmo). Let me know what you need from me, and what resources I'd need -dama1138 from IRC
I mean absolutely no disrespect by asking this, but... Who are you? From most of our perspectives, you're just a random, recently registered stranger asking to handle something quite important, and we'd all like to be completely sure you're the right person for the job. I'm aware you've been active on the #tasbot IRC, but if you could make yourself more active/public on the forums and our main #tasvideos IRC, that would be much appreciated. Don't get me wrong, I'm really glad there are newcomers who wish to take on important tasks that help us out immensely (see: xy2_ with Brain Age), but I've always had a sketchy view of people who ask for a degree of power in their first posts.
TASvideos Admin and acting Senior Judge 💙 Currently unable to dedicate a lot of time to the site, taking care of family. Now infrequently posting on Bluesky
warmCabin wrote:
You shouldn't need a degree in computer science to get into this hobby.
Active player (475)
Joined: 2/1/2014
Posts: 928
c-square wrote:
GC Crazy Taxi 06:02
playing what I would call my play-through of Crazy Taxi(realizing I could probably be a lot faster but lose a lot of entertainment), would be an interesting video to demo off. Also I will try to find my list of games and consoles, if anything on it is a possible candidate for a prize this year.
Moderator, Senior Ambassador, Experienced player (906)
Joined: 9/14/2008
Posts: 1014
A few quick updates: I've discussed with micro500 and we're not comfortable handing over full control of the @MrTASBot twitter account to Dama1138 - we don't have any history to look at other than accounts that Dama1138 has purportedly updated, but at the same time that's no reason to not accept help when it's offered. I appreciate the willingness to lend a hand, so for now we'll have Dama1138 write content and micro500 or I will post it. We're also looking at ways to create a limited privilege update method. Again, I'm just thankful for the offer of help! Regarding playing back a TAS, if I were to play back anything it would be Zelda II. It's short, was generally only rejected from the schedule due to time constraints, and we already know we can console verify it. With other games suggested above console verification is either known to not work or would be difficult to work out and I'd like to stick with console verification for AGDQ 2016. In other news, I'm very excited about what we're cooking up for the speed TAS'ing competition. As noted, it will consist of two human runners who have practiced the game pitted against people given just a few short hours to create the fastest run possible in a mad rush of speed TASing. The TAS competition deadline will happen long enough before the race starts that we'll already know what the fastest time out of all submissions is and it will simply be a matter of whether that time can be beaten by the realtime runners. We can do a three-way race of the two human runners vs. the fastest TAS, or we can do something more gimmicky such as Tompa and his team of select helpers against the fastest run in an open submission. If it's a four-way race at least one of us would know what run will win ahead of time which would impact commentary (I say this because I'm speaking from experience; I had to almost pretend like I didn't know which Streemerz submission was fastest and I felt like my commentary was forced as a result). Perhaps couch commentary can be handled by someone who doesn't know the fastest time to get around this or micro500 can set up one bot with Tompa's submission while I set up the other without either of us knowing the time of the other's submission, almost like a proxy fight. I'm considering going this route but would welcome feedback on the subject. Thanks!
I was laid off in May 2023 and became too ill to work this year and could use support via Patreon or onetime donations as work on TASBot Re: and TASBot HD is stalled. I'm dwangoAC, TASVideos Senior Ambassador and BDFL of the TASBot community; when healthy, I post TAS content on YouTube.com/dwangoAC based on livestreams from Twitch.tv/dwangoAC.
Post subject: Speed TAS poll: competition period same day or day before?
Moderator, Senior Ambassador, Experienced player (906)
Joined: 9/14/2008
Posts: 1014
Poll: Should the announcement of the game for the speed TAS competition (and the following x hours during which the competition is open) happen several hours earlier on the same day of the TAS block (i.e. roughly 11:00 AM EST Saturday January 9th for a ~4:00 PM EST TAS block start time if the schedule holds) or should it happen 24 hours before the TAS block? There are pros and cons of each - if we do it the same day there is a higher likelihood of the start time shifting due to the schedule changing and there's less time to judge and convert submissions but at least it's all on a Saturday, whereas doing it on Friday means people have to wait longer for the results (conversely giving us more time to judge them) but at least they will be awake at the same time on both days. I'm currently leaning toward the more risky Saturday / same day but hours before option but I'd like opinions from others. Thoughts?
I was laid off in May 2023 and became too ill to work this year and could use support via Patreon or onetime donations as work on TASBot Re: and TASBot HD is stalled. I'm dwangoAC, TASVideos Senior Ambassador and BDFL of the TASBot community; when healthy, I post TAS content on YouTube.com/dwangoAC based on livestreams from Twitch.tv/dwangoAC.
Experienced player (875)
Joined: 11/15/2010
Posts: 267
I'd like to try to contribute to the judging script if I can. I'd still like to participate in the competition, but the core parts of the script should be pretty game independent.
Post subject: Updates from all fronts!
Moderator, Senior Ambassador, Experienced player (906)
Joined: 9/14/2008
Posts: 1014
We're in the thick of things and I've been so busy jumping from one thing to the next that I haven't taken time to post updates so here's a long overdue data dump.
  • I have received the DS screen capture board as well as the Papilio Pro board and plan to start on my own DS bot "soon" (likely next week when the case arrives)
  • micro500 was able to create a 20-question Brain Age movie that syncs on his DS bot (this is very good news!)
  • xy2_ is making minor changes to allow all 20 questions to be accepted as corect answers
  • The 100 questions round is starting to fill up and micro500 is making good progress on defining the order
  • We've started discussing donation ideas and will be making a pitch before the donation incentives deadline hits
  • The developers for the game that will be used in the speed TAS compeititon are responding to beta tester feedback and have provided a version with changes with more updates coming next week
  • I have tested the speed TAS competition game on the target console (using a flash cart of sorts) and I've completed a basic console verification test
  • Once a new build of the speed TAS competition game is released next week a TASVideos volunteer will attempt a trial run with no previous help and a time limit, i.e. a full dry run
  • After requesting feedback I've decided to make the speed TAS competition a four way race of two humans and two TAS runs
  • I've confirmed with GDQ staff that the speed TAS competition can be held on four physical consoles allowing full console verification
  • Tompa has agreed to be the leader of a dream team and will be delivering their run directly to micro500 who will be his representative
  • All other competitors will be part of the open competition; the TASJudy script helpers (keylie and link_777) will deliver the fastest run directly to me and I will be their representative
  • Lord Tom and p4plus2 will be providing first payload files for testing by the end of this coming weekend, i.e. before my December 6th deadline
There's much more going on behind the scenes that's related either to the speed TAS compeititon or to the total control payloads that I don't want to spoil but in general the past couple of weeks have been very busy. I'd still greatly appreciate feedback on what time of day would work best for people for the speed TAS competition, so let me know your thoughts! Thanks for the support, all.
I was laid off in May 2023 and became too ill to work this year and could use support via Patreon or onetime donations as work on TASBot Re: and TASBot HD is stalled. I'm dwangoAC, TASVideos Senior Ambassador and BDFL of the TASBot community; when healthy, I post TAS content on YouTube.com/dwangoAC based on livestreams from Twitch.tv/dwangoAC.
Post subject: Re: Updates from all fronts!
Samsara
She/They
Senior Judge, Site Admin, Expert player (2108)
Joined: 11/13/2006
Posts: 2821
Location: Northern California
dwangoAC wrote:
[*]Once a new build of the speed TAS competition game is released next week a TASVideos volunteer will attempt a trial run with no previous help and a time limit, i.e. a full dry run
I can take care of this, since I'd like to participate in some way and I'm not sure if I'll be around to do it during AGDQ.
TASvideos Admin and acting Senior Judge 💙 Currently unable to dedicate a lot of time to the site, taking care of family. Now infrequently posting on Bluesky
warmCabin wrote:
You shouldn't need a degree in computer science to get into this hobby.
Emulator Coder, Player (69)
Joined: 10/4/2005
Posts: 197
I could use some help on the python scripting for Brain Age. The whole run will rely heavily on scripts, and I'm pretty pressed for time working on the images so any help would be appreciated. The main part of the run will need a script to feed the input to the bot. I have the streaming logic working, but it is very basic. My goal for this is to have a separate text file where we can fill in the filenames we want to use for each of the 100 answers. This way we can drop in a new answer easily without needing to edit a giant movie file. This will be important for one of the donation incentives. We plan to offer a bid war between "Helix Fossil" and "Dome Fossil", so we need an easy way to switch between them on the fly. Another donation incentive is going to be for the nickname used in the DS firmware. I have a very basic script written to type on the on-screen keyboard, but it could use some work, and will also need to be integrated into the rest of the scripts. I had an idea to do a simple Twitch "plays" pokemon. We would grab a few lines of text from the chat, programmatically turn them into a drawing/input for Brain Age, and then stream them to the bot. xy2_ has found we can manipulate a 7 answer pretty easily, so we'll plan do to this on one of those answers. We need a way to grab input from twitch chat, convert it into input, and possibly verify it with an emulator before sending it to the bot. We have code for an IRC bot ready from last year that we can reuse. I have some ideas on how to convert the text into input, and also about how to do the verification if someone wants to try working on those. If anyone is interested in helping out let me know and I'll give you something to work on. Thanks!
Post subject: New payloads, builds, and other awesome updates
Moderator, Senior Ambassador, Experienced player (906)
Joined: 9/14/2008
Posts: 1014
I'm happy to report that we've made fantastic progress over the last few days:
  • For Brain Age, we have finalized on the set to use for the first 20 questions and as micro500 mentioned we're narrowing in on the list of what we'll use for the 100 questions portion. GDQ staff has already responded with a list of off-limits graphics that we can't use due to copyright issues but it wasn't as restrictive of a list as we expected. TheAxeMan has agreed to help out with the aforementioned Python script as well. Now that we have that list micro500 has started work on those images and made good progress yesterday which I'll let him update on.
  • Total Control payload updates keep coming in - last night, I received an updated payload from Lord Tom that I console verified. I won't spoil the surprise but I really like the direction this is going in. The SNES total control is a bit behind schedule but because we have at least one Total Control payload I'm not too concerned, although I'd be sad if this awesome idea doesn't pan out. More progress updates as they happen here.
  • I've made the decision to have the speed TAS competition occur on Saturday January 9th preceding the race, likely somewhere near 11:00 AM EST. While this time isn't fantastic for everyone (sorry Spikestuff), this is a timeframe that gives the most liklihood that people will be available as this translates to a reasonable time in the morning on the Pacific coast of the US as well as a still reasonable time for Europe. In other news on this front the human runners have started practicing with the newer balanced release of the game and while we expect at least one more change it's now time to have at least one person run through a trial 4-6 hour speed TAS testrun; I'll contact the volunteers and I hope to have this going this week.
  • For NES/SNES replay device testing I have confirmed that I have two separate working pairs of SNES wiring harnesses and one pair of NES wiring harnesses. I used the SMW warps run as a sanity test, although I deferred to dama1138 to create the console verification video. Last night I successfully ran through the Pokemon Red SGB run on console for the first time since January to confirm the entire datapath with all wires. I needed this not only for my own sanity but also because I'm actively writing up the exploit as an article which I hope to reveal around the time of AGDQ 2016. I'm very excited about this - stay tuned for at least one surprise before the end of the year.
  • I now have all of the parts to make my own DS bot except we aren't sure if my DS has the traces in the same place as micro500's board. I'll take it apart to get micro500 pictures tonight and if it matches I'll be getting some help from a coworker who is good with reflow work to start on this on Friday. It'll be good to have a backup if nothing else.
That's it for now - thanks for the support all!
I was laid off in May 2023 and became too ill to work this year and could use support via Patreon or onetime donations as work on TASBot Re: and TASBot HD is stalled. I'm dwangoAC, TASVideos Senior Ambassador and BDFL of the TASBot community; when healthy, I post TAS content on YouTube.com/dwangoAC based on livestreams from Twitch.tv/dwangoAC.
Joined: 2/15/2009
Posts: 329
Is it that time of year again already? Good luck.
Working on: Legend of Legaia, Vagrant Story
Post subject: Donation incentives, couch commentary, and more!
Moderator, Senior Ambassador, Experienced player (906)
Joined: 9/14/2008
Posts: 1014
lots of big updates this time!
  • For Brain Age, micro500 needs your help! Even if you're not a full artist, there's a lot of editing that needs to be done that requires a lot of man hours. Head over to the Brain Age thread and see what's been done and what needs to happen, although note that the thread contains art spoilers!
  • I worked with micro500 to write up some donation incentives, I submitted them per the instructions, and I'm happy to report that every single donation incentive we pitched was accepted, including a Star Cup run of MK64 by Weatherton!
  • I solicited a couple of people for couch commentary and I think we now have everyone we need.
  • I have console verified another update from Lord Tom that's looking good, and I've worked with p4plus2, Ilari, and Masterjun on another little surprise. I'm having difficulty with some firmware changes on the newer MultiReplay board that are preventing the SMB on SMAS movie from syncing and true is looking into the regression.
  • The speed TAS competition has a lot more moving parts than it might seem at first which has kept me quite busy. Most of the parts involve working with the developer to do some more tweaks based on feedback from the first volunteer speed TAS competitior trial. We'll have another volunteer run through this after a few more changes, but overall things are looking really good.
  • I've been working with link_777 on adapting Raiscan's TASJudy script to work in a parallelized environment. The two of us have been struggling with some odd behavior with trying to put BizHawk in a Crossover Linux bottle in any other enviornment but my laptop (as in, I can't reproduce my own results from my laptop on my desktop system), but we're finding small problems here and there and we're gradually working through it. We want BizHawk in Crossover Linux because that will allow us to do the testing on quick to rent Amazon Web Services instances that we can tear down once the competition is over. We'll probably have to get some support to work on bypassing DirectX compatibility issues. Even so, link_777 has made massive progress on the scripting itself which I'm very relieved to hear.
  • I have replaced my DS case and installed a DS capture card in preparation for creatnig a second DS bot. I need to make more progress on hijacking the stylus reader / digitizer tomorrow with a co-worker, otherwise I'll be packing everything up and we'll have to do the work at the hotel which I'm less thrilled with. :)
  • I've finished the major portions of work required for the Pokemon Plays Twitch writeup that will appear in an upcoming PoC||GTFO article, which should net a good bit of press for TASVideos and TAS'ing in general. I'll be sure to submit something to the site before the end of the year.
  • I streamed for the first time in forever while working on said DS bot and I also streamed a live verification of SMB3... if you count a bait and switch, that is. :) I more than likely won't be able to stream again before we fly to visit family that we'll be dropping the kids off with before continuing on to the marathon but I'll try to post about it on IRC if I get a chance.
  • We've received a few donations to help us offset our costs which we greatly appreciate but we still have a rather heavy list of expenses and we're feeling the crunch this year. If you'd be willing to lend a hand we definitely wouldn't turn it down; you can find our current status in my signature.
Things are definitely in full gear - feel free to swing by #tasbot for ongoing updates, and thanks to everyone who is lending a hand!
I was laid off in May 2023 and became too ill to work this year and could use support via Patreon or onetime donations as work on TASBot Re: and TASBot HD is stalled. I'm dwangoAC, TASVideos Senior Ambassador and BDFL of the TASBot community; when healthy, I post TAS content on YouTube.com/dwangoAC based on livestreams from Twitch.tv/dwangoAC.
Moderator, Senior Ambassador, Experienced player (906)
Joined: 9/14/2008
Posts: 1014
I'm not the best about posting pictures as I did during AGDQ 2014 prep, but here's one worth posting: With some help from a co-worker I now have all of the lead wires for my own DS bot, which I'll work with micro500 to complete after we arrive at AGDQ 2016. (Note: There are some sneak peeks of things I'm doing on the side in the AGDQ 2016 photo album the image above is taken from). There were a lot of tricky bits of soldering to really small things but I'm very happy with how it turned out - my co-worker has crazy good soldering skills compared to me. A second speed TAS tester went through the game and provided some enlightening information (thanks - you know who you are, thanks for always being such an awesome quiet supporter). We're making a few more tweaks to the game and I would like to get one more volunteer for a 4-hour honor-system test sometime soon; you'd be prohibited from participating in the competition but this might be ideal if you're unavailable during the January 9th window. If you'd like to lend a hand, please let me know! I've spent many, many hours testing payloads and troubleshooting console verification failures and while not everything has gone smoothly I'm glad to say that thanks to Ilari we now have a known working method for payload creation for the total control run p4plus2 and Masterjun are cooking up. The method works by using the old bot at slow rates but it would be good if we could get something faster working with the chosen game. We also still need a way to dump from BizHawk as true hasn't had a known good movie to compare with but we can probably do everything else (albeit quite slowly) without any other changes. I'm still hopeful true can make some breakthroughs though. On the side, I'm busily working on trying to organize the grand prize for AGDQ 2016 as just a volunteer. This has been a bit tricky as an opportunity I was hoping would pan out fell through today but I'm still driving toward something awesome. I've also been working on the side trying to get a TASBot T-Shirt designed and created in time for AGDQ 2016 but it looks like we're running a bit late for that to happen so we'll try to get it done by SGDQ 2016. I've also been providing a few more details for the PoC||GTFO article I've been mentioning; stay tuned, as there may be an exclusive publication at TASVideos before the rest of the world gets a copy. With any luck my next post will be in a thread dedicated to the rules for the AGDQ 2016 speed TAS competition, along with some preview information to help people be prepared. That may not happen until after Christmas day (especially depending on the schedule of whoever volunteers to help out with doing one more run for us) but my goal is to have it done well before the marathon starts. That's it for now - if I don't post again before Friday, Merry Christmas!
I was laid off in May 2023 and became too ill to work this year and could use support via Patreon or onetime donations as work on TASBot Re: and TASBot HD is stalled. I'm dwangoAC, TASVideos Senior Ambassador and BDFL of the TASBot community; when healthy, I post TAS content on YouTube.com/dwangoAC based on livestreams from Twitch.tv/dwangoAC.
Post subject: Things that still need to get done
Moderator, Senior Ambassador, Experienced player (906)
Joined: 9/14/2008
Posts: 1014
In no particular order, we have less than two weeks to complete the following:
  • Have someone complete writing a dumpscript for BizHawk for console verification (true needs help by having someone get an identical run in both FCEUX and BizHawk; probably easiest if someone tests doing an import)
  • Update website with GDQ banner from the banners thread, probably the one with TASBot in it. Nach has tackled this the past couple of times but I haven't caught up with him on IRC long enough to ask him about it.
  • All console-verification payloads / movie files must be in a "ready to present" state no later than the 31st; we can take changes after that point up until the night before at 8:00 PM EST (setting this time because I've learned the importance of sleep).
  • We need to finalize and test the TASJudy script; this is a big task, as we are trying to figure out how to do the judging at scale.
  • Lots of work on art for Brain Age is still left to do; I'm sure micro500 would welcome any help here.
  • Someone needs to prime PR for the event, probably me
  • I need to make a thread specifically for the speed TAS competition rules, explaining what will happen and more or less when it will happen, and get it up on the news page.
  • We need to complete several full runthroughs of the entire block as I do not want to go through another event without rehearsing multiple times, like, TED Talk quality rehearsing. Especially because Brain Age requires careful human scripting and response to deliver the punchlines.
I'm probably forgetting a bunch of things but this is a good start. There is a lot of work left in only two weeks but we'll get through it one way or another.
I was laid off in May 2023 and became too ill to work this year and could use support via Patreon or onetime donations as work on TASBot Re: and TASBot HD is stalled. I'm dwangoAC, TASVideos Senior Ambassador and BDFL of the TASBot community; when healthy, I post TAS content on YouTube.com/dwangoAC based on livestreams from Twitch.tv/dwangoAC.
Emulator Coder, Player (69)
Joined: 10/4/2005
Posts: 197
I have console verified Weatherton's MK64 Star Cup TAS: http://www.twitch.tv/micro500/v/32566286
Site Admin, Skilled player (1250)
Joined: 4/17/2010
Posts: 11473
Location: Lake Char­gogg­a­gogg­man­chaugg­a­gogg­chau­bun­a­gung­a­maugg
How many more images do you guys need?
Warning: When making decisions, I try to collect as much data as possible before actually deciding. I try to abstract away and see the principles behind real world events and people's opinions. I try to generalize them and turn into something clear and reusable. I hate depending on unpredictable and having to make lottery guesses. Any problem can be solved by systems thinking and acting.
Alyosha
He/Him
Editor, Emulator Coder, Expert player (3807)
Joined: 11/30/2014
Posts: 2827
Location: US
micro500 wrote:
I have console verified Weatherton's MK64 Star Cup TAS: http://www.twitch.tv/micro500/v/32566286
wow that was amazing to watch be console verified, great work! What did it take to console verify it? Is it the same as SM64 where it just happens to work?
Emulator Coder, Player (69)
Joined: 10/4/2005
Posts: 197
Alyosha wrote:
What did it take to console verify it? Is it the same as SM64 where it just happens to work?
Nothing special besides dumping a lag-removed version via Bizhawk. The game is similar to SM64 in that it is emulated well enough to not have a problem syncing.
Post subject: Re: Things that still need to get done
Moderator, Senior Ambassador, Experienced player (906)
Joined: 9/14/2008
Posts: 1014
Updates to the updates:
  • Have someone complete writing a dumpscript for BizHawk for console verification - thanks to xy2_ we have a version of Tetris to work with but true has been busy with work and I could use some help here. It might be that micro500 and I tackle this after he shows up but there's a fairly long list of things still left to be done so if someone wants to lend true a hand I'm sure it would be appreciated.
  • Update website with GDQ banner from the banners thread, probably the one with TASBot - Nach has tackled this the past couple of times but hasn't yet managed to get this done.
  • All console-verification payloads / movie files must be in a "ready to present" state no later than the 31st - we have a passable version of SMB3; p4plus2 has not yet delivered a console-verifyable file but we have confidence it will work based on previous testing. I hope to get something very soon so we have at least something to fall back on as needed.
  • We need to finalize and test the TASJudy script - keylie and Solarplex are tackling this one but it's at medium risk as the entire chain has not yet been tested.
  • Lots of work on art for Brain Age is still left to do - we seem to be doing well on source material now but they still need to be drawn / converted into lines and I'm fairly confident this will keep micro500 busy for a while. We also hope to incorporate memes and happenings during AGDQ 2016 to push this over the edge so help and support throughout the marathon to identify these things and create art for them would be helpful.
  • Someone needs to prime PR for the event, probably me - not started yet, but I will reach out as soon as I find some of that elusive thing called free time...
  • I need to make a thread specifically for the speed TAS competition rules, explaining what will happen and more or less when it will happen, and get it up on the news page. - This has been delayed because there are concerns that the time will shift too drastically on Saturday to use that timeslot; I will post as soon as I possibly can with full rules and the time identified for the competition which is now looking like Friday evening more than ever (even though I would much prefer it on Saturday).
  • We need to complete several full runthroughs of the entire block as I do not want to go through another event without rehearsing multiple times, like, TED Talk quality rehearsing. Especially because Brain Age requires careful human scripting and response to deliver the punchlines. This definitely still needs to be done.
  • New wiring harness for NES; the 2nd player controller I have now only has 4 wires so we need to make a new one for the speed TAS competition.
  • Additional modular Lego blocks - TASBot has to be more versatile than any year yet and we need to figure out if he's capable of holding the DS or if we should have that on a pedestal.
  • Last-minute Twitch Helps Play... scrambling with Python scripts - inevitably we'll need help with things at the last minute if p4plus2's payload pans out the way we think it will; I suspect I will be relying on the current Python people for this but it's something we do need to keep tabs on.
  • More @MrTASBot tweets - dama1138 has kept us moving in the right direction but if you have a suggestion for something to tweet lest us know.
As always there's more that I'm forgetting or can't write here so feel free to swing by #tasbot if you want to lend a hand with something and more than likely there will be at least something that needs doing. :) Thanks to all for the help!
I was laid off in May 2023 and became too ill to work this year and could use support via Patreon or onetime donations as work on TASBot Re: and TASBot HD is stalled. I'm dwangoAC, TASVideos Senior Ambassador and BDFL of the TASBot community; when healthy, I post TAS content on YouTube.com/dwangoAC based on livestreams from Twitch.tv/dwangoAC.