Download and install the emulator mentioned here. It is a modified version of Mupen 64.
http://tasvideos.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2934
Open a Bomberman Hero (U) [!] Rom (We cannot give or direct you to this at TASVideos, it is against forum policy.)
Wait till the game sufficiently boots up to the intro screens.
Utilities -> Movie -> Start Movie Playback (Check the box "Open read only")
After the movie starts, tab will fast forward.
You're supposed to get Nitsuja's plugin right? I tried going on the website and for some reason, my computer can't find the website. There's gotta be another website that has this, right?
Wow, I don't think I really understand how to do this even with your instructions. Are there different versions of Mupen64? Cause I have Mupen64 0.5.1. I got the Bomberman Hero rom some time ago too. But when I went to the mirror, it said free user or premium user, does it matter which one you choose?
Yeah sorry I think I'm giving up, I am not very technical on this. I personally think that our computers are different, so it does stuff different. I'm not so sure at that. If I don't start understanding it soon, I might have to watch all my videos on youtube or google.
PLAY BY PLAY OF MY TEST WIP
I will refer to the /72839 numbers. (These are the frames, right?, what is the other column then?)
Battle Room: Make sure you're moving as straight as possible throughout the run, as we concluded that gives the best forward velocity.
Hyper Room: I tested the Heavy Room path, the only reason it is slower is the huge amount of backtracking in Hyper Room.
Secret Room : I spent like 20 minutes trying to bomb jump on top of the ceiling to the fan with no success (with 3 firepower). I would deem this one not possible.
Sky Room:
8200: Make the jump more vertically, don't grab the wall.
8900: Do whatever you think is best. Mine was terrible.
9500: I tried bomb jumping from that back platform to the exit platform for like an hour. It's SO close to doable, but I was a few pixels short on height for all my near perfect attempts.
Blue Cave: Again, just go as straight as possible.
Hole Lake: Get one firepower presumably from breaking the pillar. If this wastes more than 30 frames let me know I have another strategy option. I think it may be possible to time killing the front crab and sneak by without taking damage.
Red Cave: 18200: Space your previous jumps such that minimal time is wasted (if any) landing on the last platform to prepare for the jump. Actually it shouldn't matter too much as long as you maintain forward momentum.
Dark Wood: Don't skid obviously.
Dragon Road 21050: Jump off the platforms, don't walk off like I did.
Nitros: Do me proud. Try chaining bombs together dropping them on the ground and activating the first one with a regular throw and having the last one hit him. You can save it for a later Nitros fight if you want though.
Clown Valley: 26000: Check if jumping on that platform with the firepower is faster.
Great Rock -
27600: Try to kill the cloud AND raise the platform with a bomb while stopping an extremely minimal amount. It will be difficult to pull off. The cloud makes the game lag fairly significantly though.
28200: Don't grab the ledge here.
28400: May not need to kill him.
Fog Route: Easy stuff.
Endol: Eh, do your best.
Bonus Level: After review the SDA Run, pause and quit is probably the optimal choice.
Groog Hills: Take the teleporter and the 1 water damage, I think this is the best option.
Bubble Hole - Shouldn't need that health. I'm not sure of that yet though so I'll let you know once I'm further into Kanatia.
Erars Lake - Yeah....We'll see how many health we need later. Ignore that damage I took here, that was me being bad/lazy.
Waterway: Jumping off the box to get across the pit will be slightly better because you will have to move "up and down" the stage less. Letting you go more straightforward with maximum velocity. Pay attention to little things like this as you see them.
Rock N Road - Dunno if we need that heart yet, it wastes a few frames. Do get the firepower.
Water Pool - Easy.
Warp Room - Experiment with the time you hit the switch. You can kick a bomb across the room with the big pink bomb and hit the switch.
Dark Prison - Perhaps try going from back to front with a similar route. You may get better platform timing. My run will be a little slower than yours if you want to gauge it.
Killer Gate - Hit the sub ASAP, rise, drop again as soon as it will damage it, then drop the last bomb as soon as possible while flying away as fast as possible. Theoretically you want to be as low as possible for the first drop and as high as possible for the last drop if that makes any sense.
Spiral Tower - Easy
Snake Route - You will want to be jumping onto the gray side walls in most cases.
You don't have to comment on everything, just what you feel differently about perhaps. I'll decipher the health route later.
If you find/have new strategies, please let me know.
Again, I'd like to see your work after you finish Sky Room. No rush, I just don't want you to have to redo anything before that point again.
Firepower will become increasingly relevant as you reach situations where its more convenient to have a bomb land farther away from something, or hit two things at a time. don't forget the rolling bomb either, although i suspect it would only be of use for mass enemy destruction (ie. 100%). I think each stage needs to be heavily focused on as you're in it, and a different save file for after each, until you really get the hang of things.
There was a time I considered a 100% console run of this game but seeing as how it would have to be SS, it's difficult and very tedious in the long run, in addition to needing big boss skills. I think that without any real glitches or shortcuts that an any% tas of this will just wind up as not too interesting (though I have yet to see later stages where things must be collected), whereas a 100% TAS would be something to go for. This is one game I wouldn't mind TASing I suppose. Maybe I should try the 100%.
Joined: 8/3/2008
Posts: 157
Location: The Land Down Under
I've redone up to (and including) sky room to the point where im very happy with it, its over 9 seconds faster than my first WIP now.
I've put it up on Rapidshare at this link:
http://rapidshare.com/files/158639535/BHEROTASuptoskyroombyThMrksman.m64.html
Hopefully we can leave that there and call it done and move on to area 2.
I'll get started on that ASAP, but obviously i don't have too much spare time just now.
I found a small timesaver in sky room around the crate :P
Awesome work! This is definitely enough to press onwards.
Are you turbofiring buttons at the beginning or just holding them extra frames? If you are you turbofiring, you should stop.
Battle Room - Moving downwards while falling after the booster was brilliant.
Hyper Room - You might have lost a few frames by walking (falling) onto the first conveyor instead of jumping. It was extremely minimal though. I enjoyed that you walked right under the yellow floating enemy.
Secret Room - Solid, about what I expected.
Sky Room - Before the conveyor before the tower you could have adjusted your jump height to land at the very beginning of the conveyor to have the higher velocity for a slightly longer amount of time. The bombing of the crate exceeded my expectations.
Overall I was very impressed. This run should be perfect to go on with. The only reason I mention those small errors is so that you will look out for similar situations in the future.
You should be able to go on up to Fog Route. I don't think you can get by those bombs without taking damage. I need to figure out our health situation still. I'm halfway through world 3 and it is still dependent on damage we take beginning in world 1. World 3 has the fire levels with the "health restoration units". I found a good strategy to only have to visit one, but it is highly dependent on how much health we have before, and how much health we need after.
Joined: 8/3/2008
Posts: 157
Location: The Land Down Under
Kirkq wrote:
Are you turbofiring buttons at the beginning or just holding them extra frames? If you are you turbofiring, you should stop.
I'm holding them extra frames and as far as I'm aware, its optimal. I also worked out how to make sure to select each level on the first possible frame, so that is all fine too.
Kirkq wrote:
Sky Room - Before the conveyor before the tower you could have adjusted your jump height to land at the very beginning of the conveyor to have the higher velocity for a slightly longer amount of time. The bombing of the crate exceeded my expectations.
Its a good point, but im just so glad that i managed to pull of the trick at the crate that i wouldn't want to go back for what might be less than 5 frames. The crate trick was not easy. But i will watch out for that in the future.
Kirkq wrote:
I need to figure out our health situation still. I'm halfway through world 3 and it is still dependent on damage we take beginning in world 1. World 3 has the fire levels with the "health restoration units". I found a good strategy to only have to visit one, but it is highly dependent on how much health we have before, and how much health we need after.
Aren't there two levels where you gradually lose health? Also i was thinking (but i haven't tested it) that it might be possible to pass the level Aqua Tank (i think its called that) faster by jumping into a certain enemy while holding a bomb, flinging the bomb up into the air and hitting the tank. So that might be a point of health there.
Also what is your opinion on the dual level choices in world three?
I was thinking Death Road instead of Death Garden
and Crysta Hole instead of Emerald Tube.
And Captain Forehead, the health restoration units take a long time to gain up health in, it would be preferable to use them as little as possible.
Joined: 8/3/2008
Posts: 157
Location: The Land Down Under
I've just been looking at hole lake, and i think that as long as A is held down, the speed isnt actually affected. I tested this, first going straight, then going left and right erratically and then going in a spiral, and i always got past the reeds on the same frame. Could someone check this for me?
Aren't there two levels where you gradually lose health?
Yes, two levels early in world 3. We HAVE to start the first one with at least 2 health. Depending on how much we health we do have, we can visit different spots in the second one to gain hopefully only as much health as we'll need for the rest of the run.
ThMrksman wrote:
Also i was thinking (but i haven't tested it) that it might be possible to pass the level Aqua Tank (i think its called that) faster by jumping into a certain enemy while holding a bomb, flinging the bomb up into the air and hitting the tank. So that might be a point of health there.
Hm, I didn't try that. I'll go back and see what I can do.
ThMrksman wrote:
Also what is your opinion on the dual level choices in world three?
I was thinking Death Road instead of Death Garden
and Crysta Hole instead of Emerald Tube.
I just found something SO AMAZING in world 4 that I'm going to stop publicly posting Test WIPs. ^_^ Of course I'll send it to ThMrksman when I'm finished.
ThMrksman wrote:
it might be possible to pass the level Aqua Tank (i think its called that) faster by jumping into a certain enemy while holding a bomb, flinging the bomb up into the air and hitting the tank.
I could find no monster anywhere remotely near enough to make this happen. I bomb the tank in midair jumping from the top back left platform.
ThMrksman wrote:
I've just been looking at hole lake, and i think that as long as A is held down, the speed isnt actually affected.
That's probably accurate then. Do whatever you so choose to keep us busy during the ever exciting (/sarcasm) water levels then. Be sure to grab at least 1 firepower, 2 if you can do it without slowing down.
Honestly I wonder if it is worth considering staying low on firepower. I don't think so, but I will review this later.
Joined: 8/3/2008
Posts: 157
Location: The Land Down Under
Kirkq wrote:
I just found something SO AMAZING in world 4 that I'm going to stop publicly posting Test WIPs. ^_^ Of course I'll send it to ThMrksman when I'm finished.
Can't wait to see it! XD
Kirkq wrote:
ThMrksman wrote:
it might be possible to pass the level Aqua Tank (i think its called that) faster by jumping into a certain enemy while holding a bomb, flinging the bomb up into the air and hitting the tank.
I could find no monster anywhere remotely near enough to make this happen. I bomb the tank in midair jumping from the top back left platform.
Hmm, nevermind, it was just an idea, by the way did you know the shortcut at the very start of that level? I'll show you later on if you missed it.
Kirkq wrote:
Be sure to grab at least 1 firepower, 2 if you can do it without slowing down.
Honestly I wonder if it is worth considering staying low on firepower. I don't think so, but I will review this later.
I can get one of them, but the other will cost about 10 frames to get, which doesn't seem worthwhile when there is one early on in world two which in theory can be aquired without any loss of time. Here's a link to the .m64 with hole lake done.
http://rapidshare.com/files/159532528/ThMrksmanBHEROTASWIPuptoredcave.m64.html
Would you consider this up to scratch in terms of entertainment? I could redo it and try to hit more of the purple things, but it might not be feasible while travelling at full speed, also the torpedoes seem to have a mind of their own. Another thing to consider is that if i scored higher then 3 then that would bring the total world score to over 25, meaning it would (in theory) take longer when the score is added up at the end of the world. Of course i might be wrong about this.
I'm fine with redoing it, i'll be redoing red cave anyway (i think i might be able to lose a few more frames)
Also thanks for your support Comicalflop!
I finished my Test WIP completely. It is approximately 58 minutes long.
In this first segment of five minutes you were about 15 seconds ahead of me. Your run will probably end up being 50-55 minutes.
There's a lot of interesting things we need to do during the final bosses in World 5. We actually have to do some boss manipulation instead of just messing around in between hits.
I'll write up full notes and pm them to you with the video sometime this week.
ThMrksman wrote:
by the way did you know the shortcut at the very start of that level?
Already found it =p
ThMrksman wrote:
Would you consider this up to scratch in terms of entertainment?
It's pretty good for a water level. Honestly there's not much more you can do. Everything looked really good in this segment.
ThMrksman wrote:
Another thing to consider is that if i scored higher then 3 then that would bring the total world score to over 25, meaning it would (in theory) take longer when the score is added up at the end of the world.
I'm not sure why "higher than 3" has any significance unless I myself am also missing something. I do know, however, that scores are tallied by level and not per point. For example, 1 + 1 + 1 takes as long as 1 + 3 + 1 to tally.
Joined: 8/3/2008
Posts: 157
Location: The Land Down Under
Kirkq wrote:
I finished my Test WIP completely. It is approximately 58 minutes long.
Good stuff, i figured there would have to be some sort of manipulation for bosses like the one in lava (forgot its name) but ill wait for your notes and vid before i offer my opinions on stuff like that. Ill have a bit of time in between studying to continue working on getting through world one so i'll get on with it as much as i can, its mainly the other four worlds i haven't worked anything out for yet.
The 2xNatia fight is going to be a bit of a pain to work out, i think . . .
Kirkq wrote:
ThMrksman wrote:
Another thing to consider is that if i scored higher then 3 then that would bring the total world score to over 25, meaning it would (in theory) take longer when the score is added up at the end of the world.
I'm not sure why "higher than 3" has any significance unless I myself am also missing something. I do know, however, that scores are tallied by level and not per point. For example, 1 + 1 + 1 takes as long as 1 + 3 + 1 to tally.
After each level has been counted up there is a number at the bottom of the screen that counts up like 5,10,15,20,25,etc. so in theory getting a four on hole lake would push the total score up to 26 for the world, meaning it will go on for an extra count. It might take the same time anyway regardless of this, but just in case.
I'm glad you think hole lake was ok :P
And FYI i saved another 12 frames in hole lake by not taking damage until the last frame possible.
Health Rationing:
Endol - Take two damage (2)
Groog Hills - Take one damage (1)
Erars Lake - Three Hearts (4)
I think 4 Health is optimal at this point.
Assuming we have 4 hearts at this point.
Water Pool - Take one damage. (3)
Dark Prison - Take one damage (2)
Hades Crater - One Heart (3)
Magma Lake/Magma Dam - End these with 3 health having visited only one restoration area like in my Test Run that I'll get you eventually.
Crysta Hole - One Heart (4)
Death Road - Bomb the first bomb over the portal without taking damage, for the second portal jump in and take damage. Take one damage (3) Grab the heart at the end of the level. One Heart (4)
Float Zone - Take three damage (1), One Heart (2), Take one damage (1)
After this point you will not need to grab any hearts that are off path for the rest of the run.
ThMrksman wrote:
The 2xNatia fight is going to be a bit of a pain to work out, i think . . .
It actually worked out alright for me. Baruda 2, whatever the robot boss in the lava is called, and Bagular Phase 1 will create some problems.
ThMrksman wrote:
so in theory getting a four on hole lake would push the total score up to 26 for the world, meaning it will go on for an extra count.
That's what I was saying, when it does the final tally it goes up one level at a time. 1,1,3,1,1,5 goes up 1-2-5-6-7-12 I'm pretty sure.
Joined: 8/3/2008
Posts: 157
Location: The Land Down Under
Kirkq wrote:
That's what I was saying, when it does the final tally it goes up one level at a time. 1,1,3,1,1,5 goes up 1-2-5-6-7-12 I'm pretty sure.
Oh, my bad :P
Kirkq wrote:
Confliction A: If you take damage in Fog Route, you HAVE to grab an extra heart somewhere. I think the optimal choice is either
1: Don't take damage in fog route, or
2: Take damage in Fog Route, grab the heart in Rock n' Road.
That's going to be a close call, it might be better to do option 2, because i don't think you really have to go out of your way for that health.
And another thought, how many blue crystals did you collect during the run, ie. is there enough to bring total health to 5? or would that be unreasonable?
Kirkq wrote:
Magma Lake/Magma Dam - End these with 3 health having visited only one restoration area like in my Test Run that I'll get you eventually.
Only one?
Nice.
Kirkq wrote:
Crysta Hole - One Heart (4)
Death Road - Bomb the first bomb over the portal without taking damage, for the second portal jump in and take damage. Take one damage (3) Grab the heart at the end of the level. One Heart (4)
Float Zone - Take three damage (1), One Heart (2), Take one damage (1)
After this point you will not need to grab any hearts that are off path for the rest of the run.
Okay, this is the bit which has confused me. In death road, im quite sure that you don't need to take damage, you can just land on the edge of each portal. (I'll check that when i reach it)
As for float zone, are you taking damage to get out of the bubbles or something?
Nevermind, i'll wait for the test WIP so i can see for myself.
And another thought, how many blue crystals did you collect during the run, ie. is there enough to bring total health to 5? or would that be unreasonable?
It takes 200 crystals for the extra health, I had like 60 at the end of the run. Also, that extra health comes "empty", not with an extra heart, so it won't help us at all.
ThMrksman wrote:
In death road, im quite sure that you don't need to take damage, you can just land on the edge of each portal.
I double checked this just now. I'm pretty sure you can't, at least not with the first portal where I tested.
Float Zone - Yes, take damage to get out of the bubble every time. It saves probably like 3+ seconds each time.
EDIT: I forgot to add. In your Last WIP, you stopped for a few frames in front of the pillar before you grabbed the body armor.
Here's the rest of it, I decided I would put my WIP up for public viewing in case someone knows of timesavers I'm missing.
Baruda: Get the first hit in as soon as possible. Make sure he doesn't get away from you, you should hit him as soon as possible every time after that. I enjoy the lethargic helicopter spin at the end personally.
Bonus: Skip this by pausing and exiting again.
Hades Crater: Grabbing the crystals is probably the best stylistic choice at the beginning. All that really matter is hitting the last tower on the first frame possible.
Magma Lake: Pretty straightforward.
Magma Dam: I think I made the best possible health rationing and route choices here.
Crysta Hole: The last jump is all that really matters obviously.
Death Temple: The jump across the pit can be made from the second (top right) platform if you jump to that platform and run vertically on the left side of the stone head. If that doesn't make sense ask and I'll clarify,
Death Road: Don't take damage getting into the first portal. Jumping into a dagger is probably best to get into the second portal.
Float Zone: Jump onto the Bubble Powers to be highest off the ground when you start floating. You won't need the first heart that I grab. Hanging on the ledge at the end is slower. Just stand and jump when you can get in the door.
Aqua Tank: No heart needed. Do your best with the last jump/throw.
Aqua Way: Going into the creature is about 1 second faster than doing the stage normally.
Nitros: My starting hits here were quite amazing, unfortunately I could not recreate it on final Nitros.
Hard Coaster: Try to keep us entertained. Do things we haven't seen yet. Do the charged bomb throw. Maybe to try lay four bombs in each cardinal direction from you and kick them as fast as possible. Be creative. There has got to be a better way to open that last crate without wasting so much time.
Dark Maze: Salt one of the slugs if you can.
Mad Coaster: I doubt you need to bomb that enemy at the end of the first track. If you need to, throw the bomb such that after it dies you can immediately jump up.
Move Stone: This seems to be the most optimized solution. I don't think it matters if you jump in or walk in at the end.
Bolban - Shouldn't be too hard.
Hopper Land - When wall jumping, Try to jump into the wall from a distance such that you land as low as possible at the top. Optimally you should jump from far away and your first wall jump should be off the very bottom of the wall.
Junfalls - There has got to be a better way to do those first platforms, I came close, but couldn't produce much better.
Cool Cave - Grab the first or second ice bomb, the third one clearly wastes a small amount of time. Unfortunately we have to wait for that last guy to raise up just a little bit. Maybe you'll beat me there by enough that it doesn't matter. If you can recreate my damage taking jump, it will look really good. For the last guy if you have time position yourself such that you can freeze him and still jump on him.
Snowland - Easy
Storm Valley - Same thing applies with walljumping here as previously. You should be able to jump on the first windmill and initiate a walljump afterwards without having to stop before it like I did. Oh, and I broke the game. I did this run using only the 8 cardinal directions (keypad), so I had to turn the camera to get him to turn the direction I needed.
Snow Circuit - I'll leave it up you you to solve the physics of this mess. I would guess going straight is fastest. Jumping may or may not slow you down.
ARGH I DESYNCED HERE. I'm not doing it again though. My notes should be enough from here on though.
Heaven Sky - The boss takes quite a while, your entertainment potential should be good though. Why three water levels and one jet level =(
Eye Snake - Towards the beginning of the course you can jump off the course onto another part, other than that just cut corners with jumps. You can walk on the left side of the enemy at the end.
Air Room - Jump into the very bottom right air duct, go all the way up, drop onto the platform to the left, jump into the air duct in the center, land on the rising platform in the back. Jump into the air duct in the back left. Fall onto the CD and go into the door.
Zero G Room - Jump and bomb the switch from a distance, ride the platform up. Bomb the gravity enabler from the platform directly to your right. Jump and bomb the last switch such that you are falling far down to the lower platform instead of onto the top platform. Never land on the top platform. Fall to a lower platform. One jump should get you to the door.
Mirror Room - Once you climb up the hill at the very right of the stage. Jump up, grab the ledge, start running towards the portal. You should be able to bomb the switch from the direction. In the back half of the level you can make some semi ridiculous jumps to make a somewhat linear path across the level.
Vs Natia - Get Natia off the screen before you kill Cronus. You can manipulate multiple hits on Natia per drop down. I believe I hit her three times once because she insisted on cartwheeling away from me while on a hill above me.
Endol 2 - Easy
Baruda 2 - I think the best way to do this is to get him to fly diagonally across the screen so he isn't so far away when he is over the hole and you can still bomb him.
Cronus 2 - Try to minimize the number of cycles he requires, some of his attacks allow more hits than others.
Nitros 73 - Killing the pillars is harder this time.
Bolban 2 - The easy way to do this is to oscillate up and down and fire when necessary.
Natia 2 - This should look really cool. I was jumping over one Natia's whip while threading the spikes upon landing, and alternating which one I was bombing. On second thought see if you can manipulate them within blast radius of each other. dodging the attacks isn't that hard.
Bagular Phase 1 - I managed to hit him once right before he went to teleport, he teleported and I hit him again faster than usual.
I apologize for the short comments on the latter end. I'm kinda frustrated that I desynced in Heaven Sky, but it was my fault for not checking sync periodically. If you need help on the later portion, I can describe it more in detail.
The final bosses should look really good though. I look forward to seeing your progress. I will either edit this post or add a new post when microstorage is back up with my progress up to Heaven Sky.
Joined: 8/3/2008
Posts: 157
Location: The Land Down Under
Thanks so much for all you've done so far to help Kirkq!
Also, tips for keeping it entertaining are appreciated, because some of the segments (Most of World 3 area 3 for example) have the potential to be really boring . .
I've done up to the end of dragon road now, and i will be working on the first Nitros battle shortly.
By the way, stopping at the pillar was unavoidable, i tested it, and i think that there is no way to improve on it. The fire resistant vest is necessary as it saves 12 frames overall (even with the pause considered).
One more thing,
Can i actually see the WIP by any chance?
