Hello, I have just started doing Tas runs and I have already read the faq on everything, my question is how does slowing down the frame rate help? it makes everything slower yes but your character responds in the same time as it would in normal so isnt it the same as doing it normally? Im attempting a snes speed run of aladdin and i just cant seem to understand how you guys do it, any tips or information would help extremely thank you for your time
Frame advance, you have godly precision because you do it frame by frame, you can just on the first possible frame, and find pattern for speed and things like that with Memory Watch.
But it would be nice to have a little tutorial to start tasing.
Anyone that do tas would like to take a hour to do it ? Like showing slowdown, frame advance, and memory watch to find little things in a game.
I think it could be nice for newcommer.
I would do one, but it would be good to have it on video, yet I dont know how to record my desktop to show how it is actually done.
[EDIT by Bisqwit: Followup-to: http://tasvideos.org/forum/t/5203]
frame advance is just shift and + in snes9x correct? n.n; personally i still cant see how anything changes (like it still be the same without it) sorry for all the stupid questions, and asking for help etc.
Frame advance is like slow motion, except that the game progresses only when you press that button. When you press nothing, the game is completely on pause.
This way, you can accomplish feats like pressing A on every second frame (i.e. 30 fps autofire), and other frame precise inputs, that are impossible to perform at real time.
For example, in NES Mega Man 2, to zip through a wall, you will have to press Right+A, Right, Left and A (or something similar) on consequential frames, and if your timing is off, the trick fails. In real time playing, it is extremely unlikely that you hit the right timing, but when the game is slowed down, your chances will improve. At frame advance, you can get it right without failure, because the game will never run ahead without your explicit input.
Consider the following case:
In Mortal Kombat, in order to perform a fatality, you need to hit a complicated sequence of buttons in a very short time period.
In real time, this can be very difficult, because of human reaction time, and the physical limitations of your fingers.
However, in frame advance, you have as long as you need to hit each button before advancing the frame, so performing the difficult fatality manuever becomes very simple and relaxed.
But I think you're confused. shift and + in snes9x increases the frame rate. Frame advance is when the game executes for one frame, and then pauses until you hit the frame advance button again. I am not sure what the default button in Snes9X is, but you can change it to anything you want by going to "Input->Customize Hotkeys"
You should also be certain that you are using the TAS modified version of snes9x. (available here).
How fleeting are all human passions compared with the massive continuity of ducks.
umm n.n; i have one final question then i wont bother you guys anymore when im using frame advance it pauses the game which i know it should, but how do i turn it back off or at least let it make the game play normally again?
Hit the emulator pause button to unpause the emulator. For SNES9X, I believe the default is "pause" (this rarely used key is located near backspace)
Also, feel free to post questions on the forums, but if your post is the last post in a thread, it's generally better to edit the existing post than to create a new one.
How fleeting are all human passions compared with the massive continuity of ducks.
I wonder why no-one has noted that savestates are a rather relevant part of TASin too. Everyone speaks as if frame advance was the only technique used.
Now, that would be interesting: Who can make the best run on some game *without* any savestates, only frame advance?-)
It's interesting to consider which would make a better tas - frame advance without savestates or vice versa. My bet is on the latter, unless you have a ton of free time.
A Mario TAS with no savestates would probably be a little shorter than the unassisted records. Because tricks like going inside walls couldn't be done.
You can do the going through wall trick on a console, although it requires a mushroom. I'm actually pretty sure it possible to do as small mario except not during a speedrun.
Then again I would be interested in seeing how well I can do a run with only frame advance/savestates.
Joined: 3/20/2007
Posts: 3
Location: Toronto Ontario Canada
As a long time watcher of all these wonderful movies, and a lurker of the forums, I'd encourage all of you to put up a good, solid set of FAQs on this site for those new to TASing.
I've been thinking for awhile that I'd like to try my hand at this, but frankly have no real idea on where to start, and what programs I should be using.
Joined: 3/20/2007
Posts: 3
Location: Toronto Ontario Canada
Thank you for directing me over to those FAQs, but I see that there is another thread now about possibility of creating video versions to demonstrate TASing basics, which I would find most helpful.
Also, in the emulators FAQ, I noticed there wasn't a link to a Macintosh 'Gens' Emulator, but I found one in a thread at http://forums.emuscene.com/viewtopic.php?p=36241, and it seems to be a fairly new one from the last month or so.
Which I suppose begs the question, does it matter if the TAS is done on a PC or Mac?
It doesn't matter, as long as the emulator have rerecording, and that it is approved by Bisqwit. If it's a new emulator, there's a lot of chance that it does not implement rerecording. Also, the file format must match a working emulator on Windows or Linux because that's what the encoder use to make AVI from the emulator.
As far as I know, none of the emulators used here have builds for OSX-- please someone correct me if I'm wrong because I want one too :'(
However, it is possible to run windows or linux on a mac. I have never done this myself, (and I really should look into it) but this might be a good starting point.
That's about as helpful as I can be on the subject, sadly.