Posts for SprintGod

Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Former player
Joined: 5/20/2004
Posts: 118
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I've been a bit busy over christmas, but I should be getting back on this soon. My current things to do list, in order of priority: 1: Eat chocolate (70% complete) 2: Watch the whole of Animaniacs (5% complete) 3: Repair 2 XBox 360s (40% complete) 4: Finish off some programming I started a while back (80% complete) =5: Braid speedrun =5: This
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Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Former player
Joined: 5/20/2004
Posts: 118
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1. Run right, jump down hole with biggest jump possible (triggering speed glitch could be a few frames faster or slower, dunno yet) 2. Walk off the right edge and land beside the ring box (jumping may be faster, haven't yet checked) 3. Use the acceleration glitch for a few frames and perform a large jump over the ring box and down the left hole. 4. Start holding right at a certain point during the fall. Upon hitting the water release right (water gives a speedlimit of 0x100 which we don't want) and do the smallest jump possible. Start holding right again as soon as you leave the water. Release right upon hitting the water again and start holding down to roll off the edge (this is where the timing of pressing right during the fall comes in... you want to land right on the edge after the small jump without ever having to slow down to get maximum speed from the roll) 5. Keep holding right to speed up, bouncing off the crab. While moving along the central part hold left so you lose enough speed to roll off the edge and bounce off the other crab (waiting until the edge and tapping left, right, down to abuse the speed limit ends up slower). 6. A couple of jumps to get to the upward spring (not holding right at first to avoid speed being limited), and a couple more to get up to the next spring. Hold right a bit, then left so you land in the upper area with as much speed as possible without hitting the wall above it. 7. Acceleration glitch to the left, roll off the ledge and then jump to the spring 8. Run right, triggering the speed glitch again. Jump across to the moving platform and roll off the right edge for a slight speed boost. 9. Roll off the edge and down the hill, but brake slightly before hitting the ramp. 0x4FE is the perfect speed to hit it at. Hold right. Fin. Can't post the movie cos I already overwrote it. I'm pretty much just testing stuff at the moment and filling in the minor details when I'm ready to start the actual run.
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Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Former player
Joined: 5/20/2004
Posts: 118
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You can reduce the lag by being in the air as much as possible. I think it's caused by the constant animation switching, which doesn't happen during a jump. Oh, and in a quick test earlier GH2 ended up a low 0:20. I wonder if I can get it down to 0:19 for the stupid maximum time bonus...
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Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Former player
Joined: 5/20/2004
Posts: 118
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Ah crap, it does? Well in that case v1.0 it is then...
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Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Former player
Joined: 5/20/2004
Posts: 118
Location: Over there!
Hm... just getting to grips with this python nonsense. Hopefully I'll be able to write a bot to brute-force-optimise certain sections.
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Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Former player
Joined: 5/20/2004
Posts: 118
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Just been pondering getting back into TASing... Anyway, just thought I'd better post to stay "Stop right there" for the following reasons: 1. Speed limiting is glitched - Top speed when running is 0x300. - Acceleration is 0x10, Deceleration 0x10 (0x04 while rolling), Braking 0x30 - Speed limiting is applied on the frame after you go over top speed, meaning you can break it for a frame before being corrected. - Speed limiting is only applied when holding to run in that direction. How to abuse: Run until you hit top speed (0x300). Roll for one frame (0x2FC). Tap back (0x2CC). Run again (-> 0x30C). From there alternate between releasing and pressing the direction to flip between 0x2FC and 0x30C instead of staying at a constant 0x300. Slopes apply smaller increments of acceleration, so you can use them to get your speed to 0x2FE/0x30E without having to slow down. Also, for the very last part of a level (i.e. to trigger a sign or boss appearance while running), roll for the last couple of frames so speed goes from 0x30E -> 0A -> 06. There's a slim chance that this could shave off a frame. 2. Braking from a roll is glitched. Whenever you're rolling and press the opposite direction, the acceleration is always applied to the left. So if you're rolling to the left and tap back, you speed up by 0x30 instead of slowing down. So whenever you have to go left; roll and brake on alternate frames to get stupid acceleration with no limit. Well I say there's no limit, but there's actually an absolute limit of 0x1000 that can never be broken. Also, you can't screenwrap because the left edge of the level isn't zero - it's nearer 0x3000. 3. Use v1.1 on gamegear, not 1.0 You can jump slightly higher under water, which makes labyrinth faster. Related RAM offsets (GG - they're different on the MS version): 0xD3FE-D400 : Horizontal position 0xD401-D403 : Vertical position 0xD404-D406 : Horizontal speed 0xD407-D409 : Vertical speed I'm planning on doing this game with mass abuse of the above sometime next week.
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Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Former player
Joined: 5/20/2004
Posts: 118
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It doesn't really matter if you can't hit all the enemies with bombs, just some of the most annoying ones, preferably before they get a shot off. ED209 has different addresses for the energy of each part, so if you found a big number that won't drop it's probably for one of the other parts. They should all be near each other though, so once you find the first one the others should be easier. ED also has the same invincibility nonsense as that other boss, so shoot for about 10-20 seconds before disregarding a value.
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Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Former player
Joined: 5/20/2004
Posts: 118
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^ Correct. The effect is also carried across by the weapon-switch trick.
WEAPON  DAMAGE
Handgun 1
Seeking 2
Flame   1x3
Laser   3
Plasma  4
ED-209  5
Missile 5
Bomb    8
If using bombs makes the game harder, you're using them wrong. 1. Bombs aren't affected by input on every frame, so you can aim up/down without affecting their direction by tapping for one frame at a time. 2. In addition to the above, it's possible to time shots so that some bombs are affected on different frames, allowing you to control them separately and send them in a different direction. 3. Bombs have no 8-directional line of sight. They can hit anything from anywhere. 4. Damage output with any gun is increased due to the weapon switching glitch. 5. Enemies die faster, which means less dodging. 6. Bosses die a lot faster.
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Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Former player
Joined: 5/20/2004
Posts: 118
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Improvement: The robot boss on level 3 (and maybe others) randomly nullifies damage. Relevant memory address: 00FF0133 + (4A * n) (Enemy life, where n is some arbitrary internal ID of the enemy) (i.e. 00FF0133, 00FF017D, 00FF01C7, etc. until about 00FF0A29) (Just look for a big number in one of those addresses for the boss. Typical values are 80 or maybe more) It takes 10 grenades to kill that particular boss, so you can use the bar to shoot them downwards, then move them left so they arrive at exactly the same time on a frame during which it's vulnerable. It might also be possible (and therefore a couple of frames faster) to use 9 grenades and 1 normal bullet using the weapon switch trick that I think you already know of (i.e. fire bullet and switch back to grenade launcher before it hits for grenade damage) And you should NEVER EVER discard the Grenade Launcher. Well, unless you can pick up another one before you reach the boss, in which case it's acceptable. It does significantly more damage than the next most powerful weapon, and is the most suited for dealing with random boss invincibility, and it should also make the levels slightly easier since particularly awkward enemies can be met with a salvo of pre-positioned grenades right as they appear. ...if I'd realised you were doing this I woulda told you this stuff beforehand. I did some preliminary testing of this game about 1-2 years ago but never got around to doing an actual run.
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Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Former player
Joined: 5/20/2004
Posts: 118
Location: Over there!
PAL MS has a slower timer.
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Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Former player
Joined: 5/20/2004
Posts: 118
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No, it was the description given to yours, which I never once read.
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Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Former player
Joined: 5/20/2004
Posts: 118
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The movie description is wrong. The Genesis version is an almost direct port of the original Arcade game, with only a few differences that I'm aware of:
  • No trackball.
  • The edge of the screen isn't bouncy.
  • The moving bridge at the end is slower.
  • The screen is 16 pixels shorter (224 vs 240 pixels).
  • Some palette changes (only particularly noticable on the last level).
  • The music and sounds are the same (except the end-of-level jingle), but the instruments are a bit crappy, and also too loud.
There is nothing original about the NES version aside from the fact that it sucks. It's not so much a port as a complete bastardisation.
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Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Former player
Joined: 5/20/2004
Posts: 118
Location: Over there!
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Former player
Joined: 5/20/2004
Posts: 118
Location: Over there!
Sorry to say it, but this is garbage. It's sloppy to the point where if someone in a one frame per second timewarp played like that against me, I'd still beat them with ease. The main things wrong with it are the complete lack of strategy, moves are picked at random instead of based upon their effectiveness, and just general sloppiness. There were three occasions where one player was knocked down, and the other player completely mistimed their attack. One was so late it didn't even have a visible effect on the screen, another completely missed, and Ryu's jumpkick that traded hits with a roundhouse was so badly timed that it would have completely missed if Ken had just held down+back. There's a part where Ryu uses a hurricane kick from ridiculously long range. This is easily countered with a crouching HP or by blocking once and throwing a dragon punch. Ken failed to do either. Using a fierce dragon punch where a short one would suffice just leaves you hanging in the air for longer. Ken throws a standing roundhouse as Ryu is getting up. Ryu blocks it instead of just ducking and sweeping the other leg. No fireball dodging with dragon punches or hurricane kicks. Not a single combo. There's more, but this post is long enough. Before attempting to make a two player recording of this game you must learn the system, the characters and the matchups properly. Half-arsing it just doesn't work because slow motion can't make up for a lack of strategy and knowledge. Of course, some intentional mistakes are necessary, otherwise neither player would win, but the mistakes must be somewhat forced or you end up with something that looks worse than an average match on xbox live.
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Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Former player
Joined: 5/20/2004
Posts: 118
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I've been waiting for this one. I was aware of quite a few of the smaller improvements, and the Marble Garden stuff, but most of the Tails abuse and the various other glitches are entirely new to me. I certainly didn't realise that Tails could break the game so much. Anyone who votes non-yes deserves a permanent ban.
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Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Former player
Joined: 5/20/2004
Posts: 118
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I just did a bit of experimentation with boosting, and here's what I came up with: 1. Hold Left/Right and L/R for 65 frames. You can freely switch directions provided that there are no frames in between. Hitting Left and Right in alternate frames down a straight works, and switching between L and R lets you hop whilst charging the boost (9 frames during a hop seem to be ignored for boosting purposes). 2. You don't need to hold anything any more. The boost will be stored for as long as you're either turning or drifting sideways. You can keep it stored like this for as long as you like; even whilst jumping around and bouncing off things. 3. Straighten yourself up and you'll get a boost. If you straighten whilst in the air, you'll get it upon landing. Note that boosts are interrupted by L/R, so make sure you release them in time.
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Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Former player
Joined: 5/20/2004
Posts: 118
Location: Over there!
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Former player
Joined: 5/20/2004
Posts: 118
Location: Over there!
Fixed.
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Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Former player
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Edit: Ah, it was caused by the last update adjusting the way the Z block rotates. Will add a tweak to the replay code to use the old rotation for old replays.
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Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Former player
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This movie only plays back correctly if default SRAM is present. This means to ensure proper playback you have to rename or delete any existing savedata, then start a game to generate the required file, then play back the movie. Better way: 1. Delete or rename .srm 2. Load ROM, hold pause (not ESC) to stop it at frame 0 3. Record New Movie (or Play Movie) That should record/playback for any game without savedata getting in the way. If savedata is absolutely required (i.e. pretty much never), make the .srm read-only (preferably before you start recording) and provide it with the movie. Edit: Seems it doesn't reload from the .srm when you reset. Fixed method.
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Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Former player
Joined: 5/20/2004
Posts: 118
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Spacebar now does that instead.
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Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Former player
Joined: 5/20/2004
Posts: 118
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Block Placement Level + Depth, with 1 point deducted for every 30 seconds that have passed. Dropping Blocks Level + 1 for each square it falls through with the 'drop' key held, with 1 point deducted for every 30 seconds that have passed. Lines Each line in a combo is processed separately from the bottom up, and is subject to 3 multipliers:
  • Level + 1
  • Depth + BlockCount (reduced by 1 every 3 seconds)
  • 2, 4, 8 or 16 depending on the order the line is checked
None of the above will ever be below zero, but it is possible to get into a situation where nothing gets you points if you take too bloody long.
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Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Former player
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Posts: 118
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I used that levelling system because the standard one takes too bloody long to get going. If you want Tetris DX, then go play Tetris DX.
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Post subject: Random advertisement
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Former player
Joined: 5/20/2004
Posts: 118
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http://www.gdward.plus.com/site/flash/tetris/ Threw that together a couple of months ago. It saves replays to the highscore database. Now someone go beat my scores.
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Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Former player
Joined: 5/20/2004
Posts: 118
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I think the text at the bottom of the screen saying "EXIT OPENED" when I hit the switch over there is enough of a hint.
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