Topic by CoolKirby

Posted: 12/6/2011 5:00 AM

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CoolKirby

Editor, Experienced player (608)

Joined: 11/8/2010
Posts: 4012

Yeah, read-only mode for savestates still hardly works at all. The only time it does is when playback (not recording) of a movie file has passed the point where your savestate is (which doesn't help at all). I really need a way to stop recording, load a savestate from 2 minutes earlier, play back my movie to make sure it synced, and continue working. If read-only mode is fixed, I won't have to start replaying the movie file from the beginning every time (and since my movie will be over 5 hours long, that would eventually take over 15 hours at 35% speed [hardly an option]). So, unless someone knows of a way to get read-only mode to replay the movie from a past loaded savestate without waiting for the movie to play to that point, I would really appreciate it. Otherwise, I really need someone to please implement a fixed read-only mode into Dolphin.

Posted: 12/6/2011 5:02 AM

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Toad_King

Joined: 3/20/2009
Posts: 87

Can somebody here post exactly how read-only mode should work? Trying to implement it on only a vague idea of what it should do seemed to only cause problems for everyone, but when I get some free time after my finals, I would like to take a stab at fixing the behavior, but I first need to know what the "correct" behavior is.

Posted: 12/6/2011 5:07 AM
(Edited: 12/6/2011 5:18 AM)

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blahmoomoo

Joined: 2/1/2008
Posts: 347

The definition for read-only toggle can be found on the desired emulator features page. EDIT: Note that it's a toggle, not a mode. Here is FCEUX's implementation, as stated in the help file: Read only You can select read-only when playing a movie. You can also toggle the read-only status by navigating to File > Movie > Read only. In read-only mode a movie can not be edited. Loading a savestate will take the movie to that point in the movie and stay in playback mode. In read-write status, loading a state will change a movie from playback mode to record mode.

<ccfreak2k> There is no 'ctrl' button on DeHackEd's computer. DeHackEd is always in control.

Posted: 12/6/2011 5:09 AM

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CoolKirby

Editor, Experienced player (608)

Joined: 11/8/2010
Posts: 4012

OK, what read-only mode is supposed to do is load a savestate so that the movie will play back instead of continuing to record. In read-only mode, a savestate becomes a point that you can start playing back your movie from without recording over it. When read-only mode is turned off, then loading a savestate will always continue recording from that point, and record over anything after that point. It's late here, so I hope I'm being clear. Otherwise, the link blahmoomoo posted should be helpful.

Posted: 12/8/2011 6:21 PM

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CoolKirby

Editor, Experienced player (608)

Joined: 11/8/2010
Posts: 4012

Any progress on the read-only toggle fix, Toad King? Or have your finals not finished yet? I've paused working on my TAS so I can restart (AGAIN) when the new "read-only fix" revision is ready to test.

Posted: 12/10/2011 7:36 PM

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sonicpacker

Active player (419)

Joined: 9/21/2009
Posts: 1047
Location: California

Did you have any desync problems? sonicpacker @sonicpacker In this run i had only one desync. And in SSBM and SADX have i never one desync. In Sunshine and DBZ Budokai 2 have i no desync since i use Dolphin 3.0 159 [Savestate]. In SA2B have i sometimes desync's. But the most desync's have i at Sonic Heroes. ReneBalow Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=id8dCDMjgFM

https://personalitygrowth.com/entp-myths-stereotypes-misconceptions-cliches-and-tropes-that-are-inaccurate/

Posted: 12/10/2011 7:42 PM

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CoolKirby

Editor, Experienced player (608)

Joined: 11/8/2010
Posts: 4012

I've had desyncs at 3 points in my Paper Mario: TTYD movie in Dolphin 3.0-191 so far. One was before a cutscene (stepping on Zess T.'s contact lens), one was after a cutscene (after "Goombella's Abilities: A Primer"), and one was during the transition to Rogueport's east side (where Bandit's speech bubble desynced). So I haven't had any during normal gameplay so far, which probably means Dolphin is less desync-prone now.

Posted: 12/10/2011 10:40 PM

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sonicpacker

Active player (419)

Joined: 9/21/2009
Posts: 1047
Location: California

I'm curious as to how much desyncing can be improved in the near future. I'm still not fully convinced I could TAS a full game run of anything very efficiently...and I really would like to (as well as others I know of). So until it can be on par with at least Mupen in terms of syncing, read-only, and the TAS Input, I'm going to keep shying away from Dolphin TASing. But who knows, maybe someone with enough programming skill would be willing to sacrifice some time for a Christmas present that benefits all of us. ;)

https://personalitygrowth.com/entp-myths-stereotypes-misconceptions-cliches-and-tropes-that-are-inaccurate/

Posted: 12/11/2011 5:29 AM

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RachelB

She/Her

Player (127)

Joined: 12/3/2011
Posts: 1579

I've been playing around with it lately, and i would say read only is all we really need, for the most part. Syncing can be hit or miss, depending on the game, but doesn't seem too terrible overall. My experience has been with pikmin and muramasa. Pikmin desynced constantly, and was impossible to tas. Muramasa however syncs quite well. So far i have 66k frames done, with only one desync, which was 32k frames in. I've never tas'd before, so i can't say how that compares to other emulators, but it does not seem unreasonable to me. The good thing though is that it seems to sync almost regardless of version and settings. Everything i have done so far has synced on versions 3.0-204, r7318, 3.0-183, and r7719, regardless of which i recorded with. With any luck that won't change when we finally see read only fixed. And playing back with dual core, and idle skipping does not cause desyncs either, so they can be played back at full speed.

Posted: 12/11/2011 5:57 AM

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RachelB

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Joined: 12/3/2011
Posts: 1579

So, was just looking through the changelog, wondering what has been changed since 3.0-204, that hasn't been updated on the main site in 3 weeks. tl;dr, READ ONLY IS FIXED! 3.0-223 was put up 15 hours ago, and read only works.

Posted: 12/11/2011 6:10 AM

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CoolKirby

Editor, Experienced player (608)

Joined: 11/8/2010
Posts: 4012

After some testing, I think you're right! That's GREAT!! Loading read-only savestates works, even after the movie has finished playing! I even loaded a savestate from the same point over and over, and it never ended the movie randomly or anything! Thank you for sharing that, rog! I wonder when it was fixed though. I checked all of the recent revisions on Google Code and I couldn't find the one that fixed read-only mode. Or whoever fixed it didn't explain it in simple enough terms for me to understand.

Posted: 12/11/2011 6:52 AM

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RachelB

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Joined: 12/3/2011
Posts: 1579

Something is broken, my movie keeps ending at a certain spot, even after recording well past it. Trying to figure out why now.

Posted: 12/11/2011 6:56 AM

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CoolKirby

Editor, Experienced player (608)

Joined: 11/8/2010
Posts: 4012

rog wrote:

Something is broken, my movie keeps ending at a certain spot, even after recording well past it. Trying to figure out why now.

Is the movie you're editing from an older revision? Dolphin doesn't let you add on to a movie from a previous revision. I'm afraid you'll have to start over and remake your input a frame at a time into a new movie, unless you can hex the input into a new movie (which I have had no luck with so far).

Posted: 12/11/2011 7:14 AM

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RachelB

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Joined: 12/3/2011
Posts: 1579

CoolKirby wrote:

rog wrote:
Something is broken, my movie keeps ending at a certain spot, even after recording well past it. Trying to figure out why now.
Is the movie you're editing from an older revision? Dolphin doesn't let you add on to a movie from a previous revision. I'm afraid you'll have to start over and remake your input a frame at a time into a new movie, unless you can hex the input into a new movie (which I have had no luck with so far).

I've recorded it over 3 different versions without issue. edit: actually looks like it is ending right around where i switched to 223. Could be. edit2: yep, seems to be the case. Strange that i had no trouble switching versions before. How does it prevent it? I don't see anything in the header that could possibly identify the version being used. And the movie syncs just fine when played back on 223.

Posted: 12/11/2011 8:37 AM

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RachelB

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Joined: 12/3/2011
Posts: 1579

I am extremely confused. First i tried started a new recording, saving it right away, and copypasting the header to my previous .dtm (which included input i recorded with 3.0-223), edited the frame count, and it played all the way through. Great, right? No. Read only was completely broken again. So, I tried starting over, and again, read only isn't working. But read only still works from the .dtm i used in 204. So either i'm doing something wrong, or the solution is to record in 204, and playback in 223. Have you gotten read only to work with a new .dtm?

Posted: 12/11/2011 8:40 AM

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CoolKirby

Editor, Experienced player (608)

Joined: 11/8/2010
Posts: 4012

Read only mode works for me on the new .dtm, but I can't continue recording on it in 223. I don't know why I'm having the opposite problem.

Posted: 12/11/2011 9:05 AM

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RachelB

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Joined: 12/3/2011
Posts: 1579

Tried redownloading it, and read only still isn't working, except when replaying my previous .dtm. Recording in 204, and playing back in 223 seems to work perfectly, so worst case, we can just do that. But still, i am baffled at how we are getting such different results. What settings are you using? dual core off, idle skipping off, lle audio?

Posted: 12/11/2011 9:09 AM

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CoolKirby

Editor, Experienced player (608)

Joined: 11/8/2010
Posts: 4012

rog wrote:

What settings are you using? dual core off, idle skipping off, lle audio?

Yep, exactly that. Recording in an earlier revision (for me, 191) and playing back in 223 doesn't sound like a bad idea at all. Like you said, if we have to, that is a viable option.

Posted: 12/11/2011 9:15 AM

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RachelB

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Joined: 12/3/2011
Posts: 1579

Yeah, it's not ideal, but it works. I'm going to bed once i finish playing back on 204 (only 40k frames to go at 25 fps, yay), but i'll try playing around with it more tomorrow. Hopefully we can get 223 to work right, but if not, i suppose it is not that big of a deal for now to record in an earlier revision.

Posted: 12/11/2011 9:23 AM

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CoolKirby

Editor, Experienced player (608)

Joined: 11/8/2010
Posts: 4012

Yeah, read-only mode only seems to work in the movie I just started working on in 223 if I make a savestate during playback and load it, but if I load a savestate from the last time Dolphin was open (previous session), it breaks just like the old revisions. But it seems to be fully compatible with movies from previous revisions, so I will have to use 191 for recording and 223 for playback.

Posted: 12/11/2011 9:31 AM

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RachelB

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Joined: 12/3/2011
Posts: 1579

CoolKirby wrote:

Yeah, read-only mode only seems to work in the movie I just started working on in 223 if I make a savestate during playback and load it, but if I load a savestate from the last time Dolphin was open (previous session), it breaks just like the old revisions. But it seems to be fully compatible with movies from previous revisions, so I will have to use 191 for recording and 223 for playback.

Ahh, that would explain everything. So 223 definitely won't work by itself. Mystery solved at least.

Posted: 12/11/2011 9:41 AM

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CoolKirby

Editor, Experienced player (608)

Joined: 11/8/2010
Posts: 4012

Yeah, at least we have a way to load read-only savestates in some form. That's good enough for me.

Posted: 12/11/2011 9:54 AM

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RachelB

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Joined: 12/3/2011
Posts: 1579

May have spoken too soon. My .dtm finished playing back in 204, i recorded another thousand frames, and when i try to play it back from a previous save state in 223, it ends at exactly the same place it was before. It seems that it will continue playing the .dtm that was used to start the game originally, and ignores any others you loaded before the current save state.

Posted: 12/11/2011 10:11 AM

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CoolKirby

Editor, Experienced player (608)

Joined: 11/8/2010
Posts: 4012

Really? Both my .dtms from 191 work fine on 223, on multiple sessions of Dolphin. Maybe something changed from 191 to 204. Are you using the Windows 64-bit builds? All of my Dolphin revisions are 64-bit; it's possible the 32-bit builds have different problems with read-only mode.

Posted: 12/11/2011 7:10 PM

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RachelB

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Joined: 12/3/2011
Posts: 1579

The .dtm works fine. However once i start playing movie, i cannot change to a new one using the same save states. what i did: 1) recorded in 204 2) played back in 223, and save stated at the end 3) recorded more in 204 4) played recording in 223, and loaded previous 223 save state. The result was that it stopped at the same place my first recording from step 1 ended, instead of where the second one was.