Post subject: Bionic Commando: Elite Forces
Joined: 6/6/2010
Posts: 84
Location: Laurentides, Quebec
I've decided to put my "Craaaaaaaaaazy" project on hold, as it had no appeal whatsoever. Bionic Commando: Elite Forces is a game of the Bionic Commando series (duh) which features two characters that you can play: Boy or Girl. The fight for which gender gets to be the most superior is tough, but I'll be choosing the female because she can clean the dishes faster. andymac will be helping me with this TAS. Thanks!
Joined: 6/6/2010
Posts: 84
Location: Laurentides, Quebec
Here's stage one of the run, ignore the description. Things this run lacks: -Probably the good route -Unneeded frames (about 15 or more) -Coloring a dinosaur ------------------ EDIT: Improved by about 100 frames. Either walking is as fast as using the grappling hook and that I've really made 100 frames of mistakes, or My route is 10000 times better. Here ya go
Experienced player (622)
Joined: 11/30/2008
Posts: 650
Location: a little city in the middle of nowhere
here is a version of stage 1, 529 frames faster and beginning from power on instead of snapshot. http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/1403605663/BCEF.vbm And walking is significantly faster than the grappling hook.
Measure once. Cut twice.
Joined: 6/6/2010
Posts: 84
Location: Laurentides, Quebec
529 frames caster?!? I should be looking for more routes on the later stages. Typo was intended EDIT: Currently working on stage 2 boss, screwing up every single time I attempt to do so. EDIT2: Found a possible glitch in the second area of stage 2. If you grapple from a certain spot as shown on the demo, you can walk inside a barrel (well, partly). This could mean that a possible skipping sequence can be created here. Link EDIT3: Started on the route for stage 2. This isn't going to be part of the TAS, since I have many many frames that I could be removing if it weren't for my not-so-careful-minded personality. Link
Experienced player (622)
Joined: 11/30/2008
Posts: 650
Location: a little city in the middle of nowhere
Due to curcumstances arising, I will no longer be able to complete this TAS.
Measure once. Cut twice.
Joined: 6/6/2010
Posts: 84
Location: Laurentides, Quebec
andymac wrote:
Due to curcumstances arising, I will no longer be able to complete this TAS.
Alright, thanks for the help anyways!
Joined: 6/6/2010
Posts: 84
Location: Laurentides, Quebec
I'm working on stage 2 right now. It really needs more optimization. Right now this is the path that I'm taking (Stage 1 is unchanged, andymac did a good job on helping me).
Joined: 6/6/2010
Posts: 84
Location: Laurentides, Quebec
I'll have to (sadly) announce that I can't do this project anymore. School is really stressing me right now. Feel free to continue if you wish.
Post subject: Encode of the latest WIP
Joined: 4/14/2010
Posts: 146
Location: France
Encode of the latest WIP by Mysterypea: Link to video Also downloadable on MediaFire.
Editor, Player (69)
Joined: 6/22/2005
Posts: 1050
I've started working on this game. Couldn't find any level maps, so I made some myself; they're up on VGMaps. It looks like the game only takes input every other frame, at best, and swinging on the hook or scrolling the screen can cause additional lag. On the topic of swinging, there are two ways to initiate a swing after hooking onto an object that's higher than the commando. If you press A, the bionic arm gradually shortens in length until the commando comes to a stop. If you press the direction that the commando is facing, the length doesn't change, and the commando swings back and forth. The A press seems to allow the commando to reach the top of platforms more quickly if you chain swings one after another, but the directional press is better for covering horizontal distances. Walking is faster than swinging, though, as already noted above. The old WIPs don't sync in BizHawk (no surprise), but the routing in the first two levels looks pretty good. I'm making a Lua bot to help with additional testing. It's not done yet, but some trial runs did uncover this damage boost. I'm not sure yet if that will turn out to be helpful.
Current Projects: TAS: Wizards & Warriors III.
PJ
He/Him
Joined: 2/1/2011
Posts: 181
Location: Western NY
Oh, interesting coincidence that you posted in here today! I have the current RTA record, but hated running this game so I didn't really document things very well. I've been bad about this, and decided this morning to encode and upload my run, and find some old notes and strategy videos. I'll hopefully have some things organized by the weekend, and hopefully it'll be of some help. There are a TON of interesting strats and skips in this game, and while they are all pretty inconsistent and miserable to do in real time, it might give you some ideas for the TAS. For what it's worth, the Guy is about a minute faster than the Girl in this. I'd recommend using him.
Emulator Coder
Joined: 3/9/2004
Posts: 4588
Location: In his lab studying psychology to find new ways to torture TASers and forumers
Since some of the levels for them are different, we should probably TAS this game with both.
Warning: Opinions expressed by Nach or others in this post do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, or position of Nach himself on the matter(s) being discussed therein.
Editor, Player (69)
Joined: 6/22/2005
Posts: 1050
PJ wrote:
I've been bad about this, and decided this morning to encode and upload my run, and find some old notes and strategy videos.
Thanks for the upload! There were at least two skips that I didn't know about and that should save time, especially the one around 16:15. Not sure if you already knew about this, but there's a skip in Area 9 with the female: Input file here Link to video For the male, do you know if it's possible to clip through any of the walls at the upper right of Area 6b (VGMaps numbering)? That would skip most of the level, since the boss door is already open from the start. Another possible routing improvement that I wonder about is hanging from the bottom of the platforms at the bottom of Area 4 rather than going up and around.
Current Projects: TAS: Wizards & Warriors III.
PJ
He/Him
Joined: 2/1/2011
Posts: 181
Location: Western NY
Oh awesome! I didn't know about the area 9 shortcut. Well done! I'm almost certain there are better pathing options for many of these stages; this is just what I came up with myself. I routed this so long ago that I honestly don't remember the justifications behind a lot of it (i.e. there might've been other paths that were faster but less consistent, or required certain enemy despawns that I couldn't control properly). I'll try to help if I see something in a WIP that looks slow or if I remember anything, but I didn't keep great notes for this run. I'm realizing now that I never even posted my RTA run here. I'm sorry! Even though you clearly saw it, I'll post now so others can find it more easily: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zD8Nd0BcqD8 Re: the male, yes! Or rather, not through the walls, but you can actually get up to the boss door from below. I'm really proud of that clip. Not really sure why I didn't make a video of this before, but I've remedied that now (warning, audio seems extremely loud): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7LfXu5WxeM IIRC, the vertical grapple before the damage boost forces your hitbox upwards a little. I seem to remember needing to do that to actually get hit by the soldier at the top. Everything prior to that is just manipulating him into the proper spot and making sure I can grapple high enough. This was done in real time, and with the intention of being consistent for RTA, so it is likely that there's a faster setup for a TAS.