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I did begin to wonder a few days after submitting whether or not the frame the ball is bowled would be more impactful, especially because not every ball is thrown at the same level. Had I actually had time, I would have looked into it but I'm glad you ended up going further than I probably would have done and you may have co-author. 2 seconds is a huge improvement!
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I actually had this TAS planned as a joke (originally just any% but then changed it to AG) and my finished TAS clocked in at a 1:19. I've not yet seen this submission because I can't get any version of FCEUX to show any gameplay whatsoever so I don't have a clue what this looks like but here's my TAS: https://tasvideos.org/UserFiles/Info/638131979058613203 There may be some space in the ending for improvement and possibly just some other spots here and there.
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Likely not, the run is quite a bit too long for my attention span and I can't say I actually enjoy the game. Although I haven't actually TASed much more than the bare minimum so I can't say no for sure. As for the movement, I've found, especially in the Ministry of Magic with flat walls, that walking into left walls is much faster plus it makes optimising movement a lot easier
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Spikestuff wrote:
Two nitpicks.
Did you only select Dutch because the RTA speedrunners use Dutch to save time and not validate the time loss that can come out from selecting a language to running it back as a TAS?
I remember for the second half of the run, dutch saved 5 frames over US English and it was also faster for the first half though I don't remember exactly by how much
Spikestuff wrote:
The other nitpick is this and the RTA speedruns you're referencing select the shortest mission instead of the last mission where you are in the Ministry of Magic for a face off Voldemort's goons (which is also selectable as a note).
So to me, this is just ending at some random ass mission instead of the last one.
The run doesn't aim to finish on the last mission but instead aims for a 'safe' file, one that is properly saved. Since the game has already been beaten in a sense, the shortest level is selected and played through to activate an autosave which makes the file 'safe'. It would also make sense to end the TAS on the final level although I don't entirely see the point since the game has already been beaten and it would just be beating the game for a second time
Spikestuff wrote:
You can press up to select Dutch sooner than down.
Not surprised I missed that but I will fix it, though there is a small chance it might not be faster in the end due to lag
EDIT: https://tasvideos.org/UserFiles/Info/638125172014194930 included that menuing improvement, saving 3 frames. It was more at times but loads and lag brought it down to 3. Currently working on an alternative TAS that completes the final level instead of the RoR in case that is the favoured ending
EDIT 2: https://tasvideos.org/UserFiles/Info/638138088715807082 does MoM instead of RoR as the alternative ending. It too uses dutch but I never did enough testing to confirm it was the language though it certainly beat english. In the little time I was able to do this, I ended up optimising movement but not finding a way to manipulate the fights so if there is time to save, it's going to be in language choice and/or better fights
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despoa wrote:
Were you using RetroArch when you attempting the game with the latest Genesis Plus GX? RetroArch is the quickest way to get the latest version of Genesis Plus GX.
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I've been considering TAS-ing a Genesis game called Gravity Pig however, the game softlocks on certain emulators (BizHawk included) when entering the final boss fight. It works on regular hardware and some emulators but I'm unsure whether a run that cannot technically beat the full game can be accepted or if it is acceptable it'd end on the final level instead.
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That was my original intention but after seeing how bad rng was when it came to bowling, I settled on fast game. Now that I know batting can be completely skipped world series doesn't seem nearly as daunting.
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So it turns out that the lag manipulation by holding a direction before the level loads in was this rng manip you talk about so the music does indeed affect lag. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to affect hidden lag and there doesn't seem to be any rng associated with the enemy ai since it's very basic (if batman = x pixels away: run towards batman / else: stay still - something like that)
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despoa wrote:
I think the music played in each level is affected by the RNG. Mario 3: Around the World is made by the same developers and has the same music RNG mechanic and I put that to good use in my run.
I'd found that Batman was made using the same engine as Mario 3 and Iron Man so I read those submission notes to see if there was anything of use. What form did rng manipulation take in mario 3 because it'll certainly worth testing if the music affects lag (and I have a bad feeling it does)?
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I've been recently thinking about picking this game back up again and regularly working on it because I'd like to see a final product at some point this year. I thought I'd make give the game a forum topic if I am going to work on it so I can document strats and the progress made so others can see (and perhaps contribute too).
As for what I'm going to start on: I'm going to try and redo all levels post-burger as I'm not at all confident all burger placements are optimal and all levels can be improved in some way or another. There likely won't be any movement from me over the next month or so as I'll be extremely busy on other things (irl stuff and things I'm working on regarding my rta speedgame).
Most recent userfile as of posting: https://tasvideos.org/UserFiles/Info/638160345001278910
Useful resources: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvwhkJNPT_mes7oee8KyjZcnAT74xqbDI
This playlist has been what I've been using as a guide for pretty much the entire TAS. It goes in-depth on all levels and explains and demonstrates everything really well. There are some levels that I've given extra clips or done slightly different things. The playlist is just a reference after all.
You can get the game here: https://novasquirrel.itch.io/nova-the-squirrel
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GJTASer2018 said:
Did you try messaging the video creator and ask them for help getting the skip to work?
From everything I've been able to gather, they've said it's 'very inconsistent' and they don't know why. The only guess at why this works I've seen them make is that its because they did a run after the credits without rebooting the console but this is something I've also tried but it still doesn't work.
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ThunderAxe31 wrote:
This is no big deal, I could just accept this submission as is, but I figured you may wanted to know about the possible improvement. Just tell me if you want to improve this submission or you want me to accept it without updating it.
I tried resyncing which went well and tried looking for further improvements (but could find any more). Unfortunately, a frame seems to have been lost somewhere along the way and I can't quite find where since everything before frame 3680 (which is where the desync is visible) lines up perfectly. While an extra frame or perhaps more of timesave would be nice, it is only a couple of frames so I don't think it matters too much.
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That does just make it look even more like it was intentionally placed there and it wasn't just mistakenly turned into a warp block that coincidentally warped Kubo to the gem room, unfortunately, and I'm becoming more certain it is just a debug feature after all (and an odd one at that). I don't know, I'll see what others have to say.
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1584 frames was also the best time I managed to get when I TASed this game a while ago (but never submitted). And, the userfile you've linked comes up as 1585 frames so I'm not sure if there's a blank input on the end
After an hour+ of trying, I wasn't able to improve upon this is any way. I don't think the movement can be improved because of the enemy and having to wait for it.
For the boss fight, it seems like the two left presses are the main contributing factors to the two lag frames and moving these around or getting rid of them changes how many/where the lag frames are but only enough damage is dealt with the L presses here so that can't be changed. My next big idea was to reduce air time after the initial jump to be able to get out of the acid earlier to be able to walk earlier but doing the final B press just one frame earlier doesn't work. Just thought I might share my thought process on this
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I couldn't find any more improvements either but just in case: is it known what allows for a double jump to happen? I've got an idea that may save some time
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huh
this isn't necessarily related to the submission nor does it help speed-wise but I kinda found a way to play as an enemy
correction: enemies lmao
correction 2: and the chest
correction 3: and a projectile
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src ends on the 'Bravo' screen which takes 56 frames from the final input to appear and that doesn't include the 12 frames between booting up the game and pressing start, initiating the black screen, which the rta run starts from. By rta standards this is a 3.233 too
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It's obviously impossible to know whether or not the game will be completed, I repeatedly said it'd be 'unlikely', yes, mainly because its 8 years old without any news/updates but another game for Jenny Bunny was planned but was ultimately scrapped so it does feel very unlikely the game will be completed. Of course, if it is then that's great: a new boss fight to TAS
