Joined: 8/6/2006
Posts: 784
Location: Connecticut, USA
Wow, DKC2 (and DKC for that matter) lend themselves so well to TASing (specifically in terms of enemy placement and the fact that Diddy is so much faster) compared to DKC3...
I need to watch Comical's run again, since I don't exactly remember what's new, but here are some comments:
- It's great that you're able to switch Kongs without losing much (any?) time at all.
- I liked the water glitch where you ducked and then jumped really high as the water rose.
- Sexy free-fall in Topsail!
- Nice Krow manipulation.
That fun water glitch was on Flop's run already, I think. But he doesn't use "Arne's Castle Crush broken glitch" :P. And very nice improvement NxCy! 102% is cooler because the "Lost World" is also played.
Jungle Jinx Complete!
A cool new(ish) glitch, which caused the screen the scroll crazily, was used here. I also found several minor time savers in Hot Head Hop and Kannon's Klaim.
Finishes Jungle Jinx 1873 frames (31.216 seconds) faster than the current run (around 34 seconds if you include Funky).
Joined: 6/13/2006
Posts: 3300
Location: Massachussetts, USA
Just letting everyone know that NxCy and I are just starting world 6 (currently at clapper cavern), so we should be completing the run soon, depending on how much it takes to optimize these last few stages.
We've had to go back and redo most of Castle Crush due to more improvements, but we're almost done with this damn level now. The run itself should definitely be finished sometime this month.
Sorry if this has already been mentioned, but I just stumbled upon the glitch which allows you to skip the whole credits scene after the first K. Rool fight.
http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/1369297013/credits_skip.smv
By doing a team up one frame before you defeat K. Rool, you can avoid losing control of your character. After that, you can escape the stage by pressing the start and select buttons one frame before you can no longer pause the game. At this point, a flag that triggers the ending cutscene is already set, but that can be reset if you enter the boss stage again.
The problem with the glitch is that the final Kremkoin, which is required to enter the last two stages, never appears once you use the glitch. So it probably wouldn't be useful for a 102% run. But who knows? Anyway, enjoy the movie.
Joined: 6/13/2006
Posts: 3300
Location: Massachussetts, USA
Looking at what that glitch can offer, I don't see it being useful for either run. For the any% run, you'd end input on the final throw against K. Rool. For the 102%, you need that Kremkoin to drop so that you can get the % increase and then start the Final Lost World level. The only thing it'd be useful for is a playthrough run that tries to show as many glitches as possible.
The K. Rool fight seems unique in that it doesn't work with the other bosses. Teaming up at the right moment seems to not matter as that Koin falls regardless. You can delay that koin. I did however find that if you press Pause at the right frame, you can freeze the game in pause while Dixie's victory music plays. Fun but again not useful.
I feel it's important to mention that with the various new techniques and improvements NxCy and I found in the 102%, I have started working on improving the any% as well. I just managed to improve the Krow fight even further (not losing any frames I was losing earlier) and am starting world 2, where I previously found more than 1 second of improvements.
Joined: 6/13/2006
Posts: 3300
Location: Massachussetts, USA
Any% Update.
Before my laptop went kerplooie, I was stuck on the Golden Rambi glitch in Castle Crush, but thanks to a new glitch NxCy pointed out to me (from some nicovideos user), I'm restarting Slime Climb. I'm going to try splicing that in, and then hexing in all the stages I've finished; Kreepy Krow should be the only stage that needs a real redo due to randomness, but I'll keep an eye out for any possible improvements to stages in the rest of world 3, 4, 5 and 6 up until where I was stuck at Castle Crush.
Joined: 6/13/2006
Posts: 3300
Location: Massachussetts, USA
Yes I did incorporate it into my WIP, which means I have to redo many stages. I was able to save more than 194 frames.
But in the future I'd appreciate it if you privately message me any findings rather than publicly posting them, since I prefer my movies and the new tricks used to be a surprise when submitted.
Thanks for reply!
Anyway, I tried to make any% but I failed... Maybe I never continue to make it, because of luck of my DKC knowledge.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpOypKA-oh4
Joined: 6/13/2006
Posts: 3300
Location: Massachussetts, USA
You mentioned in the youtube video being 14 frames faster when you got to Krow... in my run (which I have bene working on for many months now; I had gotten up to castle crush before restarting), I'm 69 frames ahead, and I also managed to enter Krow on the first frame, as well as save time in the fight itself.
But if you do know of tricks (there's one potential glitch NxCy and I are studying that if possible, could vastly alter the run), or know of nicovideo users who know tricks, then you can PM them to me.
Joined: 6/2/2009
Posts: 1182
Location: Teresópolis - Rio de Janeiro - Brazil
After become open source, the Dolphin emulator had a great improvement.
I know the TAS is kinda open source already, but I don't want to be sued
for using someone else's work on my TAS.
If I had to press left for 100 frames then press B, what difference will make
if I copy-and-paste or enter the input manualy?
I know that this idea looks lazy, but it can speed up the TASing proccess,
so I'm using it to make an open source TAS of Donkey Kong Country 2.
After two weeks of hard work, here it is.
(believe me, it was a pain in the @ss to make it sync with the original TAS)
Source Code: NxCy and Comicalflop's 102% TAS.
Tools Used: snes9x 1.43 and TAS Movie Editor.
What's changed: Changed the difficult level. (aka no barrels).
What's better: Nothing, it's just different.
What's worse: Boss battles. (Krow and Kleever)
I am old enough to know better, but not enough to do it.
Joined: 6/13/2006
Posts: 3300
Location: Massachussetts, USA
I'm having trouble understanding exactly what it is you're doing, but let me try and tackle things one at a time.
Your basic question of whether it's ethical to copy someone else's input; I'd say that copying in someone's input automatically makes the person you're copying from a co-author. (see for example an NES star wars movie.) Especially if you don't ask their permission first.
I don't quite know what you're doing. Are you making a new any% movie by splicing in stuff from my 102% movie? If so, I have a couple things to say about that. First, I think you're trying something like Super Mario 64 with open source, as in the TAS is open to everyone and whoever beats a stage the fastest gets it hexed in? If so, that's not going to work for a couple of reasons.
For one, super mario 64 is insanely hex friendly. DKC2 is not. The bosses all have some sort of randomness, and some stages desynch when hexing due to randomness, sub pixel positions, or lag.
Second, I have been working on an improvement to Arne's any% for a long time now. I had previously gotten up to Castle Crush, and I'm currently hexing in improvements. As I've been making this movie, I haven't taken any of Arne's input. I've recreated every single stage as I go along, rather than assume "Oh, Arne did this level optimally, so I'll redo it." So far, I have completed 13 stages (out of 34) that aren't even 25 frames faster than Arne. But there is only one stage so far that I didn't save any frames. This is because I have recreated every stage, looking everywhere for improvements, rather than saying "in the 102% there were some improvements, and hexing them in = fastest" because I have found MANY new tricks, shortcuts, and timesavers that aren't in Arne's movie, nor the 102%.
However, how are you 114 frames faster at Krow's Nest using only splicing? Sounds suspicious to me.
Joined: 6/2/2009
Posts: 1182
Location: Teresópolis - Rio de Janeiro - Brazil
What I mean is that the time required to implement an improvement,
and then completing a level without any significant change can be decreased drastically.
ex: Topsail Trouble took me only one hour to improve, paste your "code" and get rid of the desync.
I am old enough to know better, but not enough to do it.
What I mean is that the time required to implement an improvement,
and then completing a level without any significant change can be decreased drastically.
ex: Topsail Trouble took me only one hour to improve, paste your "code" and get rid of the desync.
How did you manage to save 114 frames up to Krow? That's more than the new any% in progress. Have you found something new? Also, do you know of any other new tricks/strategies for the rest of the run? Comicalflop and I have discovered quite a lot of new things here and there, but maybe you've found some different stuff.
I still don't understand what you're doing. Are you copying sections from the current any% and 102%? I recommend you don't, as quite a lot of improvements for the 102% have been found since it was made.
Joined: 6/2/2009
Posts: 1182
Location: Teresópolis - Rio de Janeiro - Brazil
Comicalflop wrote:
However, how are you 114 frames faster at Krow's Nest using only splicing? Sounds suspicious to me.
It sure sounds... but I'm using only inputs, in fact I don't even know how to watch memory adresses.
/and speaking of sounds, Arne uses mono, but I'm using stereo sound courtesy of your input.
NxCy wrote:
Are you copying sections from the current any% and 102%? I recommend you don't, as quite a lot of improvements for the 102% have been found since it was made.
Don't worry, I'm not going to submit it, it's just a concept to show the benefits of an open source TAS.
Besides, I don't know if I can save time from here on since on the boss battle with Krow I lost 50 frames!
Antoids wrote:
It looks like he wants to copypaste a really redundant section he needs to do.
That's it! I'm using an existing code to speed up the process, otherwise I would spend a month doing exactly the same input.
edit: Too bad, the any% can't be improved this way, can't do the hold-air trick on Castle Crush.
I am old enough to know better, but not enough to do it.
