Former player
Joined: 10/6/2007
Posts: 330
Location: B.C Canada
Lady Sia Lady Sia is also an awesome Platformer for GBA which is also challenging and fun. This would be a great tas. Lady sia was a really early release for gameboy advance, and is one of the cooler platformers I've played. If anyone wants to start a new run, or just wants something new to play, I recommend this games. Platformer fans will love this. Please take the time to check it out, cause you won't regret it.
Former player
Joined: 10/6/2007
Posts: 330
Location: B.C Canada
I think I might start a run of Lady Sia. It is a very awesome game, and would be a great game to TAS. I've already started on the first level. It's too bad I had to skip the intro cut scenes though, since it's some of the greatest drawings I've seen on the GBA. *edit* Discovered something major! Great time saver I can use throughout the whole run!
Former player
Joined: 10/6/2007
Posts: 330
Location: B.C Canada
Sorry for a third post, but there's new stuff. Lady Sia level 1 WIP. http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/506496392/Copy%20of%20Lady%20Sia%20%28U%29%28Mugs%29.vbm The rom title is Lady Sia (U)(Mugs) It's a really cool game, so you should at least take a look at it. I hope that maybe I can influence someone more experienced than I to make a run too. Things worth mentioning. Chose to skip training section by turning it off in the menu screen. I danced to the music really well at one point, which is wierd since the frame advance makes it so there's no sound. It was a total fluke. Objects such as pullies and moving platforms are set in certain spots. There's no way to change it. I discovered a trick where if you slash your sword while climbing an edge, you can skip the hideously long climbing animation. However, once you do this, you will not be able to stand on moving platforms or other hovering surfaces. To fix this, you have to climb a ledge normally, as in without the sword glitch. The other problem that happens is a good thing though. If you get hit by an enemy, you will fall through the floor or fall into the walls underneath you. This could be considered a walking through walls trick, but it's a very limited one. You could potentionally fall through floors to lower areas that otherwise take a long time to get to. I have not been able to think of a place it would be helpful yet, but there's bound to be someplace. I might have been able to improve a few things, so I'll probably go back and check it over.
mz
Emulator Coder, Player (79)
Joined: 10/26/2007
Posts: 693
Heh, that was quick. Pekopon, you should use GoodGBA... I found the rom you have is actually "Lady Sia (U) (M6) [o1]". It looks like a great game to TAS, I hope you keep working on it. EDIT: damn... You shouldn't be allowed to delete your own posts... I wasted like ten minutes writing a response to your deleted question. :P (Yes, my english is really poor...)
You're just fucking stupid, everyone hates you, sorry to tell you the truth. no one likes you, you're someone pretentious and TASes only to be on speed game, but don't have any hope, you won't get there.
Former player
Joined: 10/6/2007
Posts: 330
Location: B.C Canada
Heh, sorry. Fortunately, it doesn't matter since I was (after much searching) able to find... Lady Sia (U) (M6) [!] This is good. Though for those not wanting to find the rom, the video can still be played on the overdump. *edit* also, level 2 finished (it's a short level) Also has part of level 1 improved http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/1350554026/new-Lady%20Sia%20%28U%29%20%28M6%29%20%5B%21%5D.vbm Note that the raft in the water is out of reach when you first get there, so I took the time to show off the fall through floors trick while waiting for it to come back.
Experienced player (829)
Joined: 11/18/2006
Posts: 2426
Location: Back where I belong
I watched it (the little there was), and I'd recommend restarting or using a hex editor to create a new file with the right header. This game looks fun and colorful, and should make for a good watch if you can keep the speed up. Also, the falling through the floor trick might lead to some cool shortcuts. Do you have an estimate for how long the movie might take when it's done (ie runtime)?
Living Well Is The Best Revenge My Personal Page
Former player
Joined: 10/6/2007
Posts: 330
Location: B.C Canada
Ah, I had thought of that already ;) I used the tas editor to make like, a 1 frame long movie, and just copied the rest into that. Did it not work? The signiture number is the same in both versions. *edit* discovered a huge time saver.
Experienced player (829)
Joined: 11/18/2006
Posts: 2426
Location: Back where I belong
Oh, I didn't notice the new WIP right above me. Duh. One last suggestion: May want to change the title of the thread to just Lady Sia, to avoid confusion. Other than that, keep up the good work!
Living Well Is The Best Revenge My Personal Page
Former player
Joined: 5/4/2005
Posts: 502
Location: Onett, Eagleland
Wow, this is actually an interesting game with some pretty fluid animations. Looks like it'll turn out to be a good run.
I think.....therefore I am not Barry Burton
Former player
Joined: 10/6/2007
Posts: 330
Location: B.C Canada
Indeed it is a good game. Something stupid just happened. I had gone through a fair bit of a level, and then I noticed that the movie wasn't recording, so I have to do that over again. fortunately, it wasn't too much, but it had taken nearly an hour to make. That sucks. Must have forgot to turn read-only off. >:(
Former player
Joined: 10/6/2007
Posts: 330
Location: B.C Canada
World 1 complete. This marks the end of the really easy stuff, so it will probably be much longer between levels now. Consists of 4 levels and a boss. http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/1622491509/Copy%20%287%29%20of%20new-Lady%20Sia%20%28U%29%20%28M6%29%20%5B%21%5D.vbm Things worth mentioning. In level 3, I have no idea why I was allowed to stand on those hovering platforms after performing the sword climb trick, but it really worked to my advantage. Normally, I would just fall through hovering platforms after doing that, so it was strange that it didn't do that. Also you catch another glimpse at the Fall Through Floors glitch, but I don't actually go the whole way. At the end of level three, I crawled on the ground before getting the ring. This is because it wouldn't actually let me pick it up until she was done flashing, so I had time to goof off. In level four, While standing on a switch, I jumped up to a really far platform that I shouldn't have been able to get to. While I'm not entirely sure how it worked, I'm about 85% sure it goes like this... In a lot of games, your character can walk off a surface for a bit, and still be able to jump. (a prime example being Kine from Kirby's Dream Land 3) This is also true in Lady Sia. Sia can jump while half off an object. For some reason, Sia can go further off the object and jump when on a certain sprite. The sprite in question is when her legs are farthest apart just so you know. Sia's walking animation always starts the same way, with the sprite needed being near the beginning. By letting go of the D pad button, (either right or left) she will slide for a bit. By doing this, you can reset her walking animation. I slid on the switch and was able to restart the walking, thus getting the sprite I needed at the right time to jump to the platform. This saved TONS of time seeing as doing the correct path takes a long time to do. In level 4, I perform the Sword Climb Trick, and then get on the bird. This creates another weird glitch to add the list of glitches caused by Sword Climbing. Once I start flying on the bird, the screen is stuck on one area of the screen. This lousy description means that even if I fly down, the screen won't follow me to lower areas. Due to this, I have a very limited space to fly around. This can be fixed by getting hit by an enemy. Boss fight went really well. *edit* Oops! Sorry mmboss, I forgot to answer your question. I'm unsure of how long the movie will be. If I had to place bets, maybe slightly over or under an hour. The first world was pretty fast, so I don't know if that trend will continue. I do know that the levels get longer each world, so it's hard to tell. By the way, there are four worlds. I also never mentioned that this is a run without the bonus levels. Each world has a bonus level you can access by getting 100% on each level. To get 100% on a level, you have to collect all 25 of the green diamonds, free all 5 tied up people, and finish with full health and magic. (You have not seen any magic yet) This would be a much longer run, and to be honest, I've never tried to get 100% on any levels since it's too hard.
Former player
Joined: 10/6/2007
Posts: 330
Location: B.C Canada
There are two levels in Lady Sia that when played on a re-record version of VBA, have a big line through them. It works fine in the non re-records, so that's weird. I made the run through the level, and it actually isn't that bad since you aren't really looking at it that much. Here's the video. Tell me your opinions on the line being there. This is just one new level. http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/42119561/Copy%20%288%29%20of%20new-Lady%20Sia%20%28U%29%20%28M6%29%20%5B%21%5D.vbm The boss fight looks unoptimized, but if you start charging your magic before he thrusts his trident up, he wont do it. You have to wait till he thrusts it before you can charge.
mz
Emulator Coder, Player (79)
Joined: 10/26/2007
Posts: 693
That line sure is ugly, but, like you said, it doesn't bother too much. The run looks great so far, keep it up.
You're just fucking stupid, everyone hates you, sorry to tell you the truth. no one likes you, you're someone pretentious and TASes only to be on speed game, but don't have any hope, you won't get there.
Former player
Joined: 10/6/2007
Posts: 330
Location: B.C Canada
Again, I deleted previous posts to avoid a triple post. So I had finished the run and posted it for voting, and it wasn't getting very good reviews. The actual poll said 5 yes votes and 1 meh vote, but the comments weren't as positive. So I decided to start an improvement run to try and make it faster, and more interesting. I was shocked to find how horrible my first run was. Just in the short tutorial level I saved 6 frames, and it's pretty sad that I was even able to saved any frames there since it's so straight forward. I've only gotten to the end of level 3, but I've saved 1019 frames over my last run. That just goes to show you how awful my first run was. It's a good thing it wasn't published. Though most of those frames were saved by jumping onto two moving platforms before they went away. In my first run, I had to wait for them to come back. Level 3 was very boring in Version 1, and this new run fixes that. It's a lot more action packed since I kill as many enemies as possible without wasting time, where in version 1 I mainly just dodged them all. So here is my first WIP for the new run. It's way shorter, more entertaining, and just all around better. Too bad nobody's watching these, but just in case someone does get interested, I'll be posting. I suggest you watch my old run up to the end of level 3 before you watch my new run. The first little area is not level 1. That is the tutorial level, but since I turned tutorial off, it's really short. Level one starts after that. Also be aware that in my old run, it will sometimes desync at the start of level one, and my new run will sometimes desync near the end of the tutorial level. To fix this, simply restart the video. It never does it twice in a row. New run http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/1001690578/improvementLady%20Sia%20%28U%29%20%28M6%29%20%5B%21%5D.vbm Old run http://tasvideos.org/1874S.html Oh, and one little thing I didn't understand before, I understand now. One of the glitches that happens after the sword climb trick is falling through hovering platforms. There were some that I could stand on for some reason though. I have now deduced that I will only fall through hovering platforms that move, or have an animation sequence.
Former player
Joined: 10/6/2007
Posts: 330
Location: B.C Canada
*I wonder if anybody watches these? I'm assuming not, but for newcomers, I feel I should post.* Major news flash! I have to restart in level 1 once again due to a big discovery. There are these invisible platforms in level 1 that I think were left in because the programmers didn't think you'd be able to get to them. You need to do a sword swing at just the right time to sort of glitch a jump on top of a building. Once on this building, you can reach the invisible platforms. I had actually known about these for a very long time, but had never been able to figure out how to go through the wall when you climb these platforms to use it as a short cut. Well now I have figured it out. By using this short cut I saved 775 frames. That's a big thing. I also made several other small improvements to save a total of 826 frames. I also didn't do any wobbling since it annoys people, but that means there were a few times where I was just sort of standing around with just a few movements. If you compare this Third Version to my second version, I've saved 826 frames. If you compare this third version to my first version, I've saved 1021 frames. http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/1799727539/Copy%20%283%29%20of%20Version%20four%20Lady%20Sia%20%28U%29%20%28M6%29%20%5B%21%5D.vbm
Yrr
Joined: 8/10/2006
Posts: 289
Location: Germany, Bayern
Your WIP looks good so far. However, I noticed that you walked up stairs. In most games it is faster to jump over stairs instead of just walking. Have you tested that? Btw, I also forgot how awesome this games' music is.
Former player
Joined: 10/6/2007
Posts: 330
Location: B.C Canada
Thank you for watching. If you mean the stairs in the intro level, I did test that. By jumping up the stairs it was actually one frame slower. There were other stairs and single stair steps that I jumped over because it saved 1 frame. If I could only find a way to go through the ceiling at the invisible platforms, I'd save so much more time. There are more invisible platforms than the ones I jumped on, but I could not get through the ceiling. That means I had to climb up the ladder. Also, if you are wondering why I climbed the ledge before the invisible platforms normally rather than the sword climb glitch, it's because that glitch causes so many side effects that can only be fixed by climbing a ledge normally, or getting hurt. If I didn't fix the side effects, I wouldn't have been able to jump on the little building to jump to the platforms. To get on that building, I have to swipe my sword at the right time to cause a strange jump that boosts me onto the building. If I didn't correct the side effects, the jump wouldn't work.
Joined: 6/20/2004
Posts: 292
Location: United Kingdom
*Starts tracking the thread* I'll start watching once my exams are over in a week or so. Good Luck until then.
Editor, Expert player (2372)
Joined: 5/15/2007
Posts: 3940
Location: Germany
Yeah, I also watch your runs, Pekopon. As you find more and more improvements I start to like the WIPs more and more ;) Keep doing.
Former player
Joined: 10/6/2007
Posts: 330
Location: B.C Canada
Wow! I actually did not know this. This pleases me greatly. I'll do my best. I discovered something in level 2 that will save time. Or more accurately, it's combining tricks from the first run and the second run. I just finished the first section of level 2 today, but discovered it was 37 frames slower than the second run. It's due to extra lag which is unnoticeable without knowing how many frames the section took over the last run. EDIT: Okay, so it turns out that I had just typed in the numbers wrong. The starting frame I typed for my second run was 9173. It turns out that it actually starts at 9137. If you calculate it, it is exactly 37 frames. Problem solved. The only problem is that my new run finishes the section 1 frame slower that the previous. While it is annoying, 1 frame isn't that big of a deal, and I don't find it worth it to go through that whole section again for just 1 frame. This means I don't have to do that section again! It's very difficult to keep comparing between three runs. Fortunately/unfortunately, the second run only goes to the end of the first level of world 2. I've really got to thoroughly search each level before recording it.
Yrr
Joined: 8/10/2006
Posts: 289
Location: Germany, Bayern
Sounds good. Well one frame isn't really much. I guess it is due to lag anyways. Next WIP please =D Btw, how many levels has this game actually? I've played it a looong time ago, but only one level or so, so I almost don't know anything about it ^^'' Already plans for the third level?
Former player
Joined: 10/6/2007
Posts: 330
Location: B.C Canada
Well, I haven't finished level 2 yet. I've just finished the first two rooms of level 2. There are a few short parts of level 2. I'm also working on my Trax run at the same time now, (which I had been stalling on) so I'm sort of rotating between the two. I have a really crappy run in the gruefood section of Lady Sia if you want to check that out. Though I warn you that it's really terrible. It might be good to see it to see how much this improves it. Also, I've learned that it isn't a good idea to post WIPs for every level. If I do that, you'll have already seen most of the run. Oh, and as for levels, there are 4 worlds each with 4 levels and a boss. There is a bonus level in each world if you get 100% on all of the levels in that world. The boss fights are long and boring though. That's the main thing people hated about my first run, but there isn't much I can do about that. There are also three levels that have a big ugly line at the bottom of the screen that causes lag. This only seems to occur on the re-record versions of Visualboy advance. I'm probably going to work on Trax some more before continuing Lady Sia. If you want to see Trax, here is the VBM for it. Though it's only the first level, I'm working on level three now. The game only has 4 levels, so I'm only posting a level 1 WIP. Trax lv 1 http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/1212506432/My%20%20Retry%20of%20stage%201%20Trax%20%28U%29%20%5B%21%5D.vbm You can find the Trax topic here http://tasvideos.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6727
Joined: 9/30/2007
Posts: 22
Location: Alberta, Canada
I watch them. Great job. I liked the wobbling. Keep up the good work.
Former player
Joined: 10/6/2007
Posts: 330
Location: B.C Canada
You know, I'm just about ready to shoot myself because of this run. I have decided to spend at least the next week searching every pixel of level 1 so I never have to do it again. I found ANOTHER shortcut even CLOSER to the beginning than last time. The short cut involves another invisible platform which I discovered quite by accident that requires everything to be perfect to get too. The platform was discovered while trying to discover a walk on air trick, (which I never found by the way) and I just happened to be in the right place. If only the rest of this run could be as glitchy as this first level. Maybe I'll discover even more stuff in later levels. I think I should make a whole new video because my re-record count spans over three runs now and is totally inaccurate. Though re-records don't matter, and it would be more work to redo it, so I'm not gonna do that unless I'm forced to. I would have let this slide if it was only 10, or even 50 frames shorter since I didn't want to redo it, but this saves 191 frames, so there's no backing out of it. So this is now officially version 4 (or as I'll call it from now on, v1.3) Looks like this isn't getting finished for a long friggin time if I have to keep redoing this dumb level. I'll post a new WIP when I'm done this level. That might not be for a while though since I'm gonna search it as long as I can stand for anything new.
Former player
Joined: 10/6/2007
Posts: 330
Location: B.C Canada
BIG NEWS! There was a glitch I had known about ever since starting my first version. The way a TAS works, there is no way to avoid finding it. I thought it was just a strange little glitch or something. However, when I let the whole thing play out, It skips the whole first area where you're in prison. So this means that I pretty much have to start all over. This gives me an excuse to make a new file to correct my re-record count. Perhaps this is some sort of debug menu or something? Maybe with the right input, I can warp wherever I want! I'm positive that I somehow skipped from the end of level 3 to the start of level 6 once. I can't quite remember for sure actually, but it seems familiar. I'm gonna check if this glitch works on the cartridge to make sure it isn't an emulator glitch. In case you are wondering, this glitch saves a total of 593 frames! It's amazing how much this thing is getting condensed over my first run. If I can find more glitches throughout the run, this will be a cooler run than I thought it would be. So for those of you watching the run, look forward to a really messed up level 1. This Glitch is enough to make this a v1.4 (considering I had done a fair amount of level 1 before finding this) Edit: I couldn't get the menu selecting as good as before, so I'm keeping the old rerecord. Doesn't really matter anyways. Edit 2: I found some weird glitchiness in level 1, but it doesn't help me in any way. Here's a video of a strange glitch. http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/498396745/wierd%20ladder%20fallLady%20Sia%20%28U%29%20%28M6%29%20%5B%21%5D.vbm It turns out you don't need to do the sword climb for this trick, but I'd still LOVE to know how that little Sword Climb Trick causes so much chaos in the code. Edit 3 Investigating is a good thing. I found yet another trick that saves precisely 166 frames. This isn't a shortcut though. I discovered a way to get to the first crane faster. The way of how I did this was something I had thought of before, but never did test for some reason. It payed off. Doing the math, I've saved 30.217 seconds over my very first run. (at a certain comparing point) It's a really good thing that first finished run never got published. Though I just wish I could find a way to get rid of that big ugly line in those three levels. They cause lag, and they aren't supposed to be there.