Amaraticando
It/Its
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Yet another trick. Link to video
GoddessMaria
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Hmm.. does it have any particular purpose? Nice find all the same though.
Current projects: failing at life
Amaraticando
It/Its
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I don't think it's useful in the original game, but pit hacks can abuse this fact. But maybe, there's some application, in a case where Yoshi shall not be hurt.
GoddessMaria
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Are there any pit hacks where it might be helpful in? Judging from the few hacks that I saw, it doesn't seem so. Figured I ask about it regardless.
Current projects: failing at life
Amaraticando
It/Its
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I can't think of a hack right now.. But that's the spirit: new bugs being used in new games. :)
GoddessMaria
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Agreed. It opens the doors to more possibilities and ideas.
Current projects: failing at life
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I suddenly had this idea, but how possible is it to code a button to instantly jump to one of the controller's input anytime? Because then it would/may allow using super mario all stars + super mario world rom and "hopping" between levels of different mario games. I know the idea sounds kinda silly, but at least it would really stand out from other ACE playarounds. :P
negative_seven
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jlun2 wrote:
I suddenly had this idea, but how possible is it to code a button to instantly jump to one of the controller's input anytime? Because then it would/may allow using super mario all stars + super mario world rom and "hopping" between levels of different mario games. I know the idea sounds kinda silly, but at least it would really stand out from other ACE playarounds. :P
Haha, I can just imagine playing Yoshi's Island 2 and then suddenly going to Contra or Castlevania or something.
Masterjun
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jlun2 wrote:
how possible is it to code a button to instantly jump to one of the controller's input anytime?
It isn't. It actually is but I had enough of the silly ideas, tbh
Warning: Might glitch to credits I will finish this ACE soon as possible (or will I?)
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TehSeven wrote:
Haha, I can just imagine playing Yoshi's Island 2 and then suddenly going to Contra or Castlevania or something.
Heh - the best possible thing I can think of would be if some unique glitch was found on SMAS but the best you'd be able to do is perhaps load level data from the wrong game, and I can't see that being particularly useful *yet* - there are definite GDQ possibilities there... :)
I was laid off in May 2023 and could use support via Patreon or onetime donations as I work on TASBot Re: and TASBot HD. I'm dwangoAC, part of the senior staff of TASVideos as the Senior Ambassador and BDFL of the TASBot community; I post TAS content on YouTube.com/dwangoAC based on livestreams from Twitch.tv/dwangoAC.
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Quick question team, is there a way to read the level files from memory or ram? I'd like to get things like the distance from exits, etc.
Amaraticando
It/Its
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Dwood15 wrote:
Quick question team, is there a way to read the level files from memory or ram? I'd like to get things like the distance from exits, etc.
Not sure what you mean, but we can: 1) Once inside a level, read from WRAM the content of each tile and the position of the goal tape; 2) Outside a level, only reading from the ROM, as far as I know.
Joined: 6/18/2015
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Amaraticando wrote:
Dwood15 wrote:
Quick question team, is there a way to read the level files from memory or ram? I'd like to get things like the distance from exits, etc.
Not sure what you mean, but we can: 1) Once inside a level, read from WRAM the content of each tile and the position of the goal tape; 2) Outside a level, only reading from the ROM, as far as I know.
If I only care about inside the level how would I do # 1 to get the location of a tile that's not on-screen. (say, the goal-tape or a key and keyhole)? I'm thinking I would search the whole ram memory for the id of the sprite I want and just assume that's what it is?
Masterjun
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The sprite data for levels starts at $07:C300 (look here). According to the level data format the sprite data starts with a 1-byte header, then 3 bytes for each sprite and then ends with a 0xFF (which is why you see sizes of 5, 8, 11... bytes).
The first byte of the sprite data is the sprite header.
Each sprite is three bytes long.

|First | |Second| |Last  |
YYYYEEsy XXXXSSSS NNNNNNNN

yYYYY    = Y position
EE       = Extra bits
XXXX     = X position
sSSSS    = Screen number
NNNNNNNN = Enemy number

(Note: The first byte being FF marks the end of the data)
Warning: Might glitch to credits I will finish this ACE soon as possible (or will I?)
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Thanks for that info and those sites man. I haven't found exactly what i'm looking for, but we're getting there.
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To see the distance from exit for example you could make a script to read the sprite data from the level that gives you the x position of the goal tape, and make a counter that decreases as Mario is going right (if only the x distance matters, if you want the real distance is the diagonal to the exit). I ~guess~ it could work.
Games are basically math with a visual representation of this math, that's why I make the scripts, to re-see games as math. My things: YouTube, GitHub, Pastebin, Twitter
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brunovalads wrote:
To see the distance from exit for example you could make a script to read the sprite data from the level that gives you the x position of the goal tape, and make a counter that decreases as Mario is going right (if only the x distance matters, if you want the real distance is the diagonal to the exit). I ~guess~ it could work.
Doesn't mario's x-coordinate change based on the 'room' he's in? So let's say there are two exits in a level, like in many portions of the game, or mario has to go through a door or pipe to get to that particular exit. How would I account for that? Is there a simple way to get what room a door connects to <from> ?
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Dwood15 wrote:
Doesn't mario's x-coordinate change based on the 'room' he's in?
You mean Mario's spawn point?
Dwood15 wrote:
So let's say there are two exits in a level, like in many portions of the game, or mario has to go through a door or pipe to get to that particular exit. How would I account for that? Is there a simple way to get what room a door connects to <from> ?
The only thing I can think is to manually program each level, like making a counter that decreases as Mario is reaching the pipe/door, and then for the final room making what I said before. So, it's a nightmare...
Games are basically math with a visual representation of this math, that's why I make the scripts, to re-see games as math. My things: YouTube, GitHub, Pastebin, Twitter
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brunovalads wrote:
The only thing I can think is to manually program each level, like making a counter that decreases as Mario is reaching the pipe/door, and then for the final room making what I said before. So, it's a nightmare...
What if there's more than 1 door that leads to the end and all of them are at the same room (final level for example)? Won't your idea make it never visit any other doors but the nearest?
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jlun2 wrote:
What if there's more than 1 door that leads to the end and all of them are at the same room (final level for example)? Won't your idea make it never visit any other doors but the nearest?
You could program to show the distance of all the options, and stack them in a list, for example.
Games are basically math with a visual representation of this math, that's why I make the scripts, to re-see games as math. My things: YouTube, GitHub, Pastebin, Twitter
TheKDX7
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Is the project to gather TASer and speedrunner to supply a playaround TAS always on the agenda?
Amaraticando
It/Its
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TheKDX7 wrote:
Is the project to gather TASer and speedrunner to supply a playaround TAS always on the agenda?
Initially, the idea was to merge all the TASes in a single movie. But, for some reason, it was cancelled and only the individual playarounds per player were done. I hope more people get involved in a complete glitchfest, but the route and which glitches are to be used in each level is a difficult task.
Joined: 12/29/2007
Posts: 489
Somewhat relevant: Link to video A real-time speedrunner beats Super Mario World (11-exit) blindfolded in about 23 minutes. More relevant: From about 17:00 to 17:18, a glitch occurs twice in a row in Star World 3 where the baby Yoshi somehow eats the goal tape. I'm guessing this is an item-swap glitch of some sort where the goal tape somehow replaces one of the Spiny Eggs that Lakitu throws, but how does that work? As far as I know an item swap is only possible if a null sprite is generated or if all sprite slots are filled, and that doesn't seem possible given what was shown on screen. What happened? Additionally this particular glitch seems to be very easily pulled off, just by running right at the start of the level. Why has it apparently not been heard of more often then?
Samsara
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Zowayix wrote:
A real-time speedrunner
Yeah, hmm, I wonder who this incredible newcomer is? Never seen anything from him before. He seems to be really good at Super Mario World...
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warmCabin wrote:
You shouldn't need a degree in computer science to get into this hobby.
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Zowayix wrote:
I'm guessing this is an item-swap glitch of some sort where the goal tape somehow replaces one of the Spiny Eggs that Lakitu throws, but how does that work? As far as I know an item swap is only possible if a null sprite is generated or if all sprite slots are filled, and that doesn't seem possible given what was shown on screen. What happened?
An enemy-type sprite on the tongue is turned into a "null sprite" when going off-screen enough, because the something-is-on-the-tongue flag is still on while the sprite despawns. I'm not sure if this is the case, though.
Retired because of that deletion event. Projects (WIP RIP): VIP3 all-exits "almost capeless yoshiless", VIP2 all-exits, TSRP2 "normal run"