I'm dropping my previous TAS of Power Blazer in favor of this because of this game's bigger fanbase as well as technical difficulties with the previous project.
Here is a WIP of the first level.
http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/3353/laughing_gas-DKL3.vbm
EDIT: the reason the rerecord count is unusually high is because I found out about the warp in the first level while I was working on the second level, so I had to start over (but used the same .vbm)
Joined: 3/10/2006
Posts: 347
Location: Maryland, United States
You know you always have hex editing as an option instead of restarting your whole run. I usually try that first and hope it doesn't change the random number generator.
Joined: 3/17/2006
Posts: 243
Location: Back to good old Germany
Cool that you've started that game. But is jumping or using the helicopter (or whatever this is called) really faster than 'rolling' and therefore killing the enemies like it is done in alle the DKC runs?
A minor emulator problem: When I start the game, it is in colored mode, but when I start your movie it's switching back to monochrome...
Rolling is initially faster, but Dixie pauses after the roll, so a series of rolls will be slower than a series of jumps. However, I do use the roll to accelerate for the start of the jumps.
I'm playing the game in regular Game Boy mode because color mode is quite distorted and hurts my eyes.
@dezbeast: the first level wasn't that long anyway, and I thought I could optimize the beginning of the second level more, so I started over instead.
There's something in the rules about which mode to be used when TASing a GB, GBC, etc. I'm not sure of the specifics but you may want to take a look at it if you're messing with the mode.
<Swordless> Go hug a tree, you vegetarian (I bet you really are one)
Hmmm ... since this game has an SGB mode, does that mean I have to start over, or is there a way to hex-edit the mode change in?
edit: the rules state that if the game supports SGB mode then it must be played in that mode.
Joined: 3/10/2006
Posts: 347
Location: Maryland, United States
There is a way. Just copy the inputs in your current movie file. Create a new movie file via VBA under SGB mode. And paste the inputs from your old movie to your new one.
Okay thanks, I guess I'll have to download the .NET framework and try it out.
Is there a FAQ for using the tas movie editor? I can't seem to find one in this official thread.
Very impressive! I've been waiting a while for DKL TASes. ^^
All in all, I have to say the Water Levels in these kinds of games are my favorites. :3
Keep it up! ^^
Right now I'm trying to find the warp barrel in the third level. The faq says it's to the left of the second fly, but I don't see it anywhere.
@spockybiemmichab: you might be right about jumping to cancel the rolling pause being faster. I'll try rolling, then jump in the middle of the roll, then immediately roll after coming down, and repeating the process.
Ok I've decided to try editing it in, however it doesn't seem to be working and the spliced movie is still in black-and-white game boy mode. The movie I'm trying to insert is 0 frames long, because it only contains the mode change.
Is the mode change required to be at least 1 frame long?
Here is my current run.
Here is the mode change I'm trying to put at the beginning
Maybe someone can take a look at them and see what's wrong.
I think all you need to do to change modes is use a hex-editor to change the byte in offset 016 to "4" instead of "0" (for SGB, right?). I may be confusing my hex values though.
So if a value of 4 doesn't work, start a new movie with the appropriate setting and see what value is given to that offset, then edit your original movie to match that offset.
<Swordless> Go hug a tree, you vegetarian (I bet you really are one)
Thanks for the suggestion, I assume by hex editor you mean something different than Maximus's tas movie editor.
But I checked and it looks like there is no hex editor for VBA.
Hex editors aren't specific to different types of files. Any hex editor should be able to view/edit your vbm. Though it is a bit confusing how it's laid out on that page.
I changed the value to "04" on the file you supplied, but I don't have the ROM so I'm unable to see if it syncs up, but it does show "Super Game Boy" as the selected mode when I open the movie file in VBA.
Good luck, hopefully it syncs up for you.
<Swordless> Go hug a tree, you vegetarian (I bet you really are one)