I don't believe people were expecting this.
Welcome to Myst, the game where you run around aimlessely flipping levers for 3 hours.
"What's changed from the original TAS by Scepheo?" You ask.
There's a real important trick that wasn't implemented last time. Using the menu.
Originally I was working on an update TAS before Hawk was an option and was getting practically nowhere, then fast forward and I'm watching a DS run by Lizstar and she showed what the RTA runners were using.
There's an option in the game menu called "Zip Mode" which allows skipping over cetain already-travelled areas at certain intervals meaning that this can cut down a bit of touching of the screen.
There's a real important trick that wasn't implemented last time. Using the menu.
Originally I was working on an update TAS before Hawk was an option and was getting practically nowhere, then fast forward and I'm watching a DS run by Lizstar and she showed what the RTA runners were using.
There's an option in the game menu called "Zip Mode" which allows skipping over cetain already-travelled areas at certain intervals meaning that this can cut down a bit of touching of the screen.
This is absolutely game breaking, a whole 5.53 seconds added onto the TAS... wait...
Welcome to Emulation Differences!
Due to how old the previous run was I was basically left with two options:
Backport my input to DeSmuME 0.9.5 to showcase that this is faster
or
Port forward Scepheo's input to show that this is actually an improvement of 2.19 seconds (the sequences were kept, not the actual input positioning).
Due to how old the previous run was I was basically left with two options:
Backport my input to DeSmuME 0.9.5 to showcase that this is faster
or
Port forward Scepheo's input to show that this is actually an improvement of 2.19 seconds (the sequences were kept, not the actual input positioning).
So what changed?
Firstly, the improvement that comes without using the "Zip Mode".
There's a bit of trail at the Pillar Walkway you're able to cut to the outside the Generator by 2 inputs.
After visiting the Generator and cutting back onto the Pillar Walkway you can cut into the Log Cabin by an input.
On the way back up just a bit after the Miniature Ship you're able to cut another 2 inputs by tapping to the side of the Library.
There's a bit of trail at the Pillar Walkway you're able to cut to the outside the Generator by 2 inputs.
After visiting the Generator and cutting back onto the Pillar Walkway you can cut into the Log Cabin by an input.
So, without the "Zip Mode" enabled this TAS would've saved time over the previous due to missed timesaving input.
Now this is where we make it interesting when "Zip Mode" is enabled.
On the way to the Spaceship from the Star Observatory we checkout the Library for a split moment before going to the Spaceship. This may lose 1 input, but on the way back from the Clock Tower this shaves 4 making a net gain of 3.
Directly after the passing the Star Observatory (going towards the ship) we're able to cut 4 inputs grabbing the blank paper but that's not all.
On the way back to the Library we're able to cut out another 3 inputs to get in.
Directly after the passing the Star Observatory (going towards the ship) we're able to cut 4 inputs grabbing the blank paper but that's not all.
On the way back to the Library we're able to cut out another 3 inputs to get in.
I should preface this. The improvement initially just with only the "Zip Mode" input which came to just a bit under 2 seconds over the converted Scepho TAS.
When digging for anything that I could've potentially missed is where those 3 inputs came to shave it up to a 131 frame improvement.
When digging for anything that I could've potentially missed is where those 3 inputs came to shave it up to a 131 frame improvement.
To demonstrate it further, here's each sequence I mentioned above where there's changes from the original TAS.
Left is Old Input, Right is New Input.
Left is Old Input, Right is New Input.
And that's DS Myst. An absolute shoutout to Lizstar who I can't thank enough for shining a light on my blindness with a setting that speeds the sequence of inputs up.
feos: Claiming for judging.
feos: I got confused by how timings compare to desmume so I timed every single scene for all 3 movies. The author's calculations are correct: if you discard 200 frames lost on slightly longer scenes, you get 131 frames of gameplay improvement. Accepting over [2235] DS Myst by Scepheo in 01:07.16.
despoa: Processing...