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Posted: 5/13/2009 8:02 PM
Post subject: Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars
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TRT
Former player
Joined: 5/13/2009
Posts: 132
I think this is a great game to try to make a tool-assisted speed run of. I tried it out on the DeSmuME and it works pretty well. Because the map of the game is huge, there can be a variety of approaches and the luck manipulations can drastically impact the game (spawn a needed vehicle or manipulate the locations of certain targets). Furthermore, with slowdowns and re-records, you can perform perfect turning in cars, perfect attacks on enemies, even perfect use of the touchscreen. I can see that this might be a big project, though. Optimizing each move, manipulating luck, and other things can take quite an effort. Does anyone else think this is a good idea?
Posted: 5/13/2009 9:32 PM
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Greenalink
Player (62)
Joined: 9/2/2008
Posts: 289
Location: United Kingdom
Well I think this is going to be an interesting run to watch. It's a huge improvement over the GBA release. However in terms of sharing AVI formats of WIPS via Youtube isn't Copyright Friendly (yes Take Two can remove your Chinatown War videos). So the only way is either upload it to FileFront or a sharing site (such as RapidShare, Megaupload, etc). I do know a few time savers on each mission and if I might I'll try and make some good strats of each mission run and post it on the forums. The game does have some money/drug count requirements on certain missions. I think the early part of the game you need to have 20 weed and another one wants $5000. Too bad that Rockstar Social Club content including: Early Fully Cocked Weapons, Bulletproof Infernus Bulletproof Hellenbach (Limited time offer May 1st to 8th) and Extra money from Mr Wong's Laundromat mini-game can't be used in a TAS run, it's mainly the technical reasons like making "fake""RSC accounts and emulating the Nintendo Wifi connection.
greenalink.blogspot.com
Posted: 5/15/2009 3:25 AM
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TRT
Former player
Joined: 5/13/2009
Posts: 132
I found a map of the entire Chinatown. It can help plan out routes, and then the missions that involve chasing a moving target can be manipulated to favor those routes. @greenalink: Time savers that you know can help greatly. The chainsaw is the quickest killer (it kills at a tap of the "a" button) and the SMG is the most abundant weapon (gang members have them) that can also be used on vehicles. I'm sure that with slowdowns and rerecords, the chainsaw is enough while on foot. I'm thinking of the NPG 900 should be the main vehicle of transportation, being the fastest vehicle in the game.
Posted: 5/15/2009 6:53 AM
(Edited: 5/22/2009 7:43 PM)
Post subject: edit: Isn't the term called "speed/entertainment trade-off"?
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MUGG
Editor, Expert player (2372)
Joined: 5/15/2007
Posts: 3940
Location: Germany
Gameboy TASer of 2015 NES TAS of 2013 Gameboy TASer of 2011 Gameboy TASer of 2010
I got the game recently. It's quite funny! I haven't progressed much in the plot though. All I want to express with this post is that a play-around or speed/entertainment trade-offs may be a better choice than a pure speedrun. Didn't the author of the GTA advance run (I can't remember his name) do the same?
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Posted: 5/22/2009 3:27 PM
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TRT
Former player
Joined: 5/13/2009
Posts: 132
MUGG wrote:
I got the game recently. It's quite funny! I haven't progressed much in the plot though. All I want to express with this post is that a play-around or entertaining trade-offs may be a better choice than a pure speedrun. Didn't the author of the GTA advance run (I can't remember his name) do the same?
That sounds like a good idea. A pure speedrun can be impossible to optimize fully. Imagine if a future speed run obsoletes the previous just because that person made a better turn in a vehicle, saving 1 second. I guess the speedrun of GTA:Chinatown Wars will have entertaining trade-offs then.
Posted: 5/22/2009 3:48 PM
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Apo123
Joined: 5/17/2008
Posts: 212
Location: Virginia
I feel this will be a FAR better and more interesting run than the GTA Advance run. Unfortunately, I do not have this game so I can't really be of much help. As for entertaining tradeoffs, yes the GTA Advance one did have some tradeoffs (the f11 race, max wanted level throughout Portland), but I mainly aimed for getting every mission done as fast as possible. The game just had too much driving and too few action segments to be very entertaining. Go for no damage, even if you have to spare some frames. I can't imagine anyone getting through a GTA game unassisted and taking no damage (the crappy hit detection in Advance helped with this a lot). Best of luck making the run, I'll try and watch all your WIPs as you post em.
adelikat wrote:
It started off fairly tame, but as more balls entered the picture it sure got a lot more entertaining.
Posted: 10/23/2009 1:05 PM
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Greenalink
Player (62)
Joined: 9/2/2008
Posts: 289
Location: United Kingdom
I discovered something huge last week that I made a full TAS run of it. The reason it's not on the workbench is because I'm having problems with the internet browsers as it fails to login to the site (not the forums) even when I type it up correctly. Part of my submission text.
Some goals and notes * Aims for the fastest time * Contains speed/entertainment tradeoffs (in some parts) * Manipulates luck (Police car’s position, traffic) * Uses a glitch that lets me go to the final mission of the main game very quickly. * Tales no damage (only Huang’s health meter) ‘Dirty AVI’ Download link (for people who have problems with the DS emulator) http://www.megaupload.com/?d=05QHAXO8 (193 MB) The input movie ends during the Shotgun blast but an extra Start button is pressed after the movie during an AVI recording just to show that the game is cleared. The ending cut scene doesn’t require input but it is pretty long. Possible Improvements: * The Police Patrol could be a bit closer but I couldn’t work out the full math if a small delay like 10 frames before triggering the cars would make a good difference. * The Comet could be better for going to Hsin’s Penthouse but with poor grip it could be difficult for optimisation. * Having the car camera set to default would make optimisation a bit easier but I chose dramatic to make the car driving sections a bit more interesting. This is the first ever GTA Chinatown Wars TAS to be submitted and I hope there will be some good competition with the future improvements of the run. Frame wars would be more challenging with the luck factor in play and optimising simple turns too. Hope you enjoy this surprisingly short movie and happy TASing.
Any questions, feel free to reply on this post and I'll respond.
greenalink.blogspot.com
Posted: 10/23/2009 1:31 PM
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Baxter
Skilled player (1410)
Joined: 5/31/2004
Posts: 1821
TAS of 2013 SNES TAS of 2013 Speedy TAS of 2007 Innovative TAS of 2007
GreenaLink wrote:
* Uses a glitch that lets me go to the final mission of the main game very quickly.
How does this work?
http://tasvideos.org/Baxter.html
Posted: 10/23/2009 1:36 PM
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Greenalink
Player (62)
Joined: 9/2/2008
Posts: 289
Location: United Kingdom
Basically when selecting New game there is still gameplay before the Autosave message arrives. But this kind of gameplay is pretty glitchy so you save it and load it up to start the glitchy file. I call it the Time Paradox glitch mainly because the missions are out of order. Some of the mission marks takes you to a different location. The final mission itself starts partway through the mission itself with the glitch.
greenalink.blogspot.com
Posted: 10/23/2009 6:07 PM
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TRT
Former player
Joined: 5/13/2009
Posts: 132
Sneaky, unexpected, and gamebreaking. I like this glitch. Was stealing the police car part of the entertainment tradeoff (for the police chase)? Because I thought that the NPG 900 was the fastest vehicle, although one of the most craziest to handle (unless that motorcycle is unavailable in the area you were in).
Posted: 10/23/2009 7:17 PM
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Greenalink
Player (62)
Joined: 9/2/2008
Posts: 289
Location: United Kingdom
Stealing a police car gave me a shotgun with 5 shells allowing me to kill Kenny quickly. He usually takes 2 shots from the shotty but because you cannot change weapons straight away in the different place (Hsin's penthouse) I did a roundhouse kick combo and I have to make sure that Huang has enough idle frames so that he fires the shotgun straight away after selecting it. You can't fire a shotgun during the recovery frames of a roundhouse kick. The NRG900 is the fastest vehicle in the game but they do not spawn around East Island City (near by 1st safehouse). Hellenbach is probably the only car in the area that could out run the Police Patrol but you don't get a Shotgun for free from those cars.
greenalink.blogspot.com
Posted: 10/24/2009 9:29 AM
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thommy3
Joined: 12/10/2006
Posts: 118
Sweet glitch! Looks great.
Posted: 11/22/2009 5:23 AM
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jlun2
Skilled player (1743)
Joined: 9/17/2009
Posts: 4986
Location: ̶C̶a̶n̶a̶d̶a̶ "Kanatah"
GBA TASer of 2010
Can you please post the input file so that others can improve on it? Also can you please post the video on youtube because I can't seem to access Megaupload because:
This service is temporarily not available from your service area.
LLCoolDave wrote:
This seems to be competing for the "Worst looking TAS of 2011" Award.
Posted: 11/22/2009 10:02 AM
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Greenalink
Player (62)
Joined: 9/2/2008
Posts: 289
Location: United Kingdom
I can't upload it onto Youtube because of Copyright issues (they will take it down). I'll post a .nds movie file onto Filefront if I can and possibly Dailymotion too. If anyone does get to submit this run, make sure you mention me for the discovery of this save bug please. Without it I doubt a 'first ever' GTA CW TAS would be made until 2011. http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xb8c04_gee-tee-ayy-chineenaa-toowwn-warrss_videogames Here is the video. Inaccurate spelling on the title is to prevent Take Two from finding it when searching "GTA Chinatown wars"
greenalink.blogspot.com
Posted: 11/22/2009 4:11 PM
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jlun2
Skilled player (1743)
Joined: 9/17/2009
Posts: 4986
Location: ̶C̶a̶n̶a̶d̶a̶ "Kanatah"
GBA TASer of 2010
Thanks for the video!
LLCoolDave wrote:
This seems to be competing for the "Worst looking TAS of 2011" Award.
Posted: 11/24/2009 1:52 PM
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jlun2
Skilled player (1743)
Joined: 9/17/2009
Posts: 4986
Location: ̶C̶a̶n̶a̶d̶a̶ "Kanatah"
GBA TASer of 2010
Hi again! I tried to break open the car window like you did, but it seems that I can only hit(kick?) it 5 times rather than 6 like shown in the video. So the question is, how do you do that? Can you please tell me?
LLCoolDave wrote:
This seems to be competing for the "Worst looking TAS of 2011" Award.
Posted: 11/24/2009 4:37 PM
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Greenalink
Player (62)
Joined: 9/2/2008
Posts: 289
Location: United Kingdom
Are you refering to the bit where you get out of the car by smashing the window (Touch screen). I'm not sure if it is luck based or not, I haven't done much research on that part other than the minigame accepts a new smash every 6 frames after the previous smash.
greenalink.blogspot.com
Posted: 11/26/2009 12:16 AM
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jlun2
Skilled player (1743)
Joined: 9/17/2009
Posts: 4986
Location: ̶C̶a̶n̶a̶d̶a̶ "Kanatah"
GBA TASer of 2010
Sorry Greenalink but....... I found a way to beat the game in 4:00 I plan to find a way to get a sub 4:00 time before I submit it. Edit: Is the Hellenbach faster than the Duke? If it is, How does it look like?
LLCoolDave wrote:
This seems to be competing for the "Worst looking TAS of 2011" Award.
Posted: 11/26/2009 4:40 AM
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TRT
Former player
Joined: 5/13/2009
Posts: 132
jlun2 wrote:
Sorry Greenalink but....... I found a way to beat the game in 4:00 I plan to find a way to get a sub 4:00 time before I submit it. Edit: Is the Hellenbach faster than the Duke? If it is, How does it look like?
I believe the Duke is slower. Hellenbach is probably one of the fastest common cars. By the way, I like how that run looks.
Posted: 11/26/2009 4:25 PM
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Greenalink
Player (62)
Joined: 9/2/2008
Posts: 289
Location: United Kingdom
Well done jlun2. There were some cool ideas I never thought of like getting in the police near by the mission marker for a free shotgun. But I'm not sure if it would save time overall. Huang's Roundhouse kick combo is very deadly and at the most you should only need to do the combo 2-3 times, the time it took to get the police car to get a free shotgun is a bit too long (even though it was optimised) as it took 3 extra seconds before triggering the mission. In the Dukes/Hellenbach hold B+Y for at least 1 (or 2) frames in the car and on the next frame release the Y button to get a burnout. You'll see it on my Dailymotion video. 1 more question, the Comet is notably faster after seeing your video but can you enter Hsin's building when the yellow marker is displayed on the road or not (this is when you chase Kenny)?
greenalink.blogspot.com
Posted: 11/26/2009 4:58 PM
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MUGG
Editor, Expert player (2372)
Joined: 5/15/2007
Posts: 3940
Location: Germany
Gameboy TASer of 2015 NES TAS of 2013 Gameboy TASer of 2011 Gameboy TASer of 2010
How about using the police car for the whole trip so you don't have to change cars? How about beating up a gang member at the start for a machine gun?
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Posted: 11/27/2009 11:23 AM
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jlun2
Skilled player (1743)
Joined: 9/17/2009
Posts: 4986
Location: ̶C̶a̶n̶a̶d̶a̶ "Kanatah"
GBA TASer of 2010
How about using the police car for the whole trip so you don't have to change cars?
Police cars/patrols seem to be slower.
How about beating up a gang member at the start for a machine gun
Sure, I'll try that. Thanks for the suggestion!
1 more question, the Comet is notably faster after seeing your video but can you enter Hsin's building when the yellow marker is displayed on the road or not (this is when you chase Kenny)?
I'll try and see if I can enter it. Also, is it possible to have a comet or some fast car spawn near the safehouse?
LLCoolDave wrote:
This seems to be competing for the "Worst looking TAS of 2011" Award.
Posted: 11/27/2009 12:02 PM
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jlun2
Skilled player (1743)
Joined: 9/17/2009
Posts: 4986
Location: ̶C̶a̶n̶a̶d̶a̶ "Kanatah"
GBA TASer of 2010
One more question. Can I use the secret input codes during the Tas to get weapons? Because doing so would save alot of time. Edit: If I can't, then can I use it to raise my wanted level to the highest just for fun?
LLCoolDave wrote:
This seems to be competing for the "Worst looking TAS of 2011" Award.
Posted: 11/27/2009 5:07 PM
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Greenalink
Player (62)
Joined: 9/2/2008
Posts: 289
Location: United Kingdom
Those cheat codes by pressing certain buttons in a order? None of the GTA runs do that so I'm guessing it isn't allowed. The main advantage of getting a machine gun is that your selected weapon inside Hsin's house will already be a machine gun. 20 bullets will be enough to kill Kenny. The car spawned by the safehouse will always be a Dukes. All of theses factors are a good cause of a complex frame war (loads of submission updates with a few or so frames saved).
greenalink.blogspot.com
Posted: 11/27/2009 5:10 PM
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Derakon
Joined: 7/2/2007
Posts: 3960
Generally codes aren't allowed. Certainly giving yourself all the weapons is out; you might be okay with giving yourself four stars though.
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