Hello TASvideos :)
For my first TAS, I choose one of my favourite game and one that will keep me busy for a while. It's now complete and features a little more than a 22 minutes improvment over the japanese TAS from niconicovideo. I hope you'll enjoy it.
About the TAS itself.
Emulator used : Psxjin v2.0.2 svn0
RNG :
We have a pointer located in 0x7b720 and the table related from 0x7b724 to 0x7b92f. Everytime a random number is needed, the game look at 0x7b720 and pull out the number related in the table. When the pointer reached 0x7b92f, the table is renewed and it goes back to 0x7b724. Usually the pointer moves at his own speed depending on what screen your on, but sometimes there's things you can do to make it go faster or slower.
Outside battles :
- Sometimes moving makes the pointer go faster than standing still. This is for exemple used in Alexandria Castle where you have to wait for the rotating platforms.
- When you exit a screen, standing still on the last frame will usually make the pointer go one step further, while walking on the last frame will make it stop one step before, without wasting time.
- If there's a character animation during a dialogue scene, sometimes delaying your entrance to the screen may shortened the animation and thus allow to reach earlier RNs.
In-Battle :
- The RNG bumps ahead everytime a random number is needed. In consequence, you can do some apparently unnecessary actions to make it go faster. This is for exemple used in Ipsen Castle where I hit myself twice (one for the right steal, one for inflicting status).
Random Encounter :
Except when you enter the screen where you have a little bit more time, the game perform a check every 9 steps to see if there's a battle.
First it checks the field value (0x7954F,1u). If it's 0 then no battle is possible (like in town). If not : it checks the Distance Variable and the RNG. If Distance Variable / 8 > RNG there's a battle.
In the World Map there's no other choice than Stop and Go technique to avoid a battle. Also entering or exiting a forest reset the encounter check.
Elsewhere there's 3 possibilities. Stop and Go (wastes 2 frames), walking (if done once, no time loss, twice loses 2 frames), or running along walls.
In-Battle specifics:
Size of the ATB : (60-Speed)*160
Starting ATB : [RN*257] Mod (Size of the ATB)
It fills up by 14 every frame at max speed.
When attacking, you can cancel the animation of your character by pressing L1+R1. This saves around 20 frames each time.
Critical hit :
Depending on the Spirit. With a Spirit < 24 you can't Critical. Which is why I stole the Leather Wist in the Evil Forest. To boost Zidane's Spirit. With a Spirit between 24 and 27, the odds are 6/256. With a Spirit between 28 and 31 like in the end of the TAS the odds become 9/256.
Miss :
Same as Critical.
Counter :
If Spirit >= RN Mod 100, you Counter
Stealing :
Two checks are performed. 1) If RN MOD (Lvl + Spr) > RN MOD (Enemy Lvl) then the steal will be succesful. 2) Then if RN = 0 you steal the Very rare item. if 1 < RN < 16 you steal the rare one. 17 < RN < 64, the uncommon. RN > 64 the common one.
Trance Bar : Has a size of 255 and fills up by [Spirit-[RN*7]] Mod (Spirit) everytime you get hit.
Quina's Limit Glove : Will deal 9999 damage if Quina's HP = 1. Deal 1 otherwise.
Zidane's Lucky Seven : Will deal 7,77,777, or 7777 damage if Zidane's HP end with a 7, depending on RN mod 4. If = 0 then deal 7, if 1 deal 77, ...
Steiner's Charge! : Makes all the characters in Critical HP, attack the ennemy.
Notable battles or tricks:
  • Escape from the Evil Forest :
I manipulate the Plant Spider to only target Zidane while still having the best outcome to fill his Trance Bar, so I wouldn't have to wait for Black Waltz 1 to fill it.
  • Dali :
To make Dagger appear in the Weapon shop you have to visit 3 places first. However there is a bug which allow you to go twice in the pub and still counts as two places.
  • Black Waltz 3 (1st round) :
I set up BW3 first attack to be Thundara (all). However he can only perform that while in the air, and he gets in the air only if attacked by a physical hit. So by not attacking him right away, his attack failed and his ATB is reset to 0. Then as soon as his ATB is refilled, I attack him with Zidane, so his taking off takes priority and is attack is send to the bottom of the queue line. That way he didn't even had a chance to attack ^^
  • Cleyra's Antlion :
I manipulate the Antlion's first attack to be Sandstorm. Attack who lets everybody with 1<HP<10. So Quina could Limit Glove right away. It's faster than just killing and reviving him/her.
  • Cleyra's Beatrix :
Stealing the Ice Brand from her here is way faster than picking it up in Alexandria Castle. Also this is the first time I switched Characters position so the trade their RNG. I needed Zidane to have the second RN in order to act before Beatrix.
  • Alexandria Castle's Beatrix :
The characters can counter even if the ennemy misses. As Steiner can't survive a hit but deal a whole lot of damage. It turns out to be pretty useful.
  • Fossil Roo :
After passing the last axe, if you go back toward the monster, you'll trigger his spining animation faster than if you just wait for him. This saves about 50 frames.
  • Madain Sari :
You can bring Dagger to the Eidoleon Wall before actually being asked to. This save a back and forth trip.
  • Iifa Tree :
There are 3 "easy" ways to kill undead ennemies. Phoenix Down, Life, Elixir. In order from the fastest to slowest. However Phoenix Down has only 1/11 chance to kill. So it's use as much as possible but not all the time. Also Vivi is killed so Zidane get more Exp. and reach level 17 by the end of Disc 2. That way when he'll equip the HP+20% ability, his max HP will end by 7 and allow him to Lucky Seven.
  • Before Amarant's fight :
This is the only place in the run, where auto-firing X and square makes the RNG go further than it normally would. It doesn't look clean but it's needed.
  • Tetra Master Tournament :
Having two cards fighting each other is extremely time consuming. Flipping a card also cost time. As I needed to win the 3 matches, I had to turn at least one of the opponent's card. Winning the 3 matchs reward you with a Rebirth Ring which will be extremely needed in Disc 4.
  • Mistodons in Alexandria :
By tricking the first Mistodon I managed to avoid the first battle. On the second screen, there's supposed to be a mandatory fight. However, the loading zone of the fight and the exit of the screen are very close. By walking for one frame and standing still on the last frame possible, you reach both zone at the same time. And the exit takes priority.
  • Desert Palace :
Taking the bloodstone, desactive the Boss (Valia Pira) defense enhancement, so Freya can deal a lot of damage. Otherwise she would only do 70 damage. The Shield Armor is a good bonus though.
  • Mont Gulug :
Amarant has Venom has added Status to his Claws, so he can stop the ennemy. If all the ennemies are stopped, the fight end.
  • Ipsen Castle's Boss (Taharka) :
Taharka is vulnerable to heat which happens to be the added effect of Steiner's Flame Saber. When affected by heat, any attack will suicide the character. That's it for a quick death. ^^
  • Earth Shrine's Boss :
It takes 2 Lucky Seven + 33 damage from Quina to get this boss under 25% of his max HP. Which is the limit under which Quina can eat the ennemy. Eating is less time consuming than a Limit Glove.
  • Branbal :
To trigger the FMV, you need to visit all outside places with Eiko. Going back and forth in the third one is way faster than taking the grand detour.
  • Pandemonium (the blue light you activate with a switch):
Normally passing close to a blue light triggers a fight. But by pressing the opposite side for one frame, you're out of the trigger zone and can go straight to the exit.
  • Memoria's Nova Dragon :
Here is the most complicated fight of the TAS. To kill him I needed 3 characters attacking first. One doing a Critical. Nova Dragon not countering any attack (which he does a lot). His 2 attacks needed to be Psychokinesis on Amarant + Aerial Slash that would leave my character in Critical HP. That was a lot to manipulate. Needless to say I was happy when it worked.
  • Memoria's Kraken :
This Boss is particular in the way of you had to kill his 2 arms first. They both have 10000 HP but you can't kill them with Charge, just arm them. So I had to make Charge target one time each arm and twice the middle, then finishing the arm phisically.
  • Final Fantasy IX Final Boss (Necron) :
Another particular ennemy. This one got 4 ATB and can attack with 2 of them whichever come first.
Useful adresses :
0x7b720 : Pointer of the RNG
0x108F28 : ATB Char. 1
0x108FF8 : ATB Char. 2
0x1090C8 : ATB Char. 3
0x109198 : ATB Char. 4
0x109268 : ATB Ennemy 1
0x109338 : ATB Ennemy 2
0x109408 : ATB Ennemy 3
0x1094D8 : ATB Ennemy 4
0x7AE10 : Target of the ennemy
0x109264 : Life Ennemy 1
0x109334 : Life Ennemy 2
0x109404 : Life Ennemy 3
0x1094D4 : Life Ennemy 4
0x8B02C : In Game Timer
0x7AE50 : Distance Variable
0x7954F : Field Value
That's it for now. That was all I had in mind.
I'll add more info if something come on my mind or if any question need to be answer ;)
Enjoy the run !

DarkKobold: Judging, for great justice.

DarkKobold: Easy acceptance.

natt: Processing...


Joined: 11/22/2004
Posts: 1468
Location: Rotterdam, The Netherlands
The Amarant one is good :)
Active player (301)
Joined: 9/2/2006
Posts: 504
Yeah Amarant one is truly hilarious. I'd definately use that one.
Tub
Joined: 6/25/2005
Posts: 1377
(this is taken from Dada's somebodys WIP encode, thus it has some artefacts. It's at 3:12:56 into the video, at the end of the second gargant ride, before meeting ramuh.)
m00
Joined: 7/26/2006
Posts: 1215
As funny as that image is, I think word screenshots are discouraged. A lot of people wanted the "It's not a simple tas" screenshot for Majora's Mask, too.
Active player (301)
Joined: 9/2/2006
Posts: 504
So what about Goldeneye? "Too slow James!"
Joined: 11/22/2004
Posts: 1468
Location: Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Tub wrote:
(this is taken from Dada's WIP encode, thus it has some artefacts. It's at 3:12:56 into the video, at the end of the second gargant ride, before meeting ramuh.)
I don't think I made that. Thanks for looking up when that is, though, here's a higher quality screenshot. Another good one: Encode for FF9 is delayed a slight bit because Youtube apparently doesn't handle VBR audio too well.
bkDJ wrote:
As funny as that image is, I think word screenshots are discouraged. A lot of people wanted the "It's not a simple tas" screenshot for Majora's Mask, too.
Author preference is important/leading in deciding on a screenshot.
Sir_VG
He/Him
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Joined: 10/9/2004
Posts: 1913
Location: Floating Tower
Wyster wrote:
So what about Goldeneye? "Too slow James!"
It wasn't just the text that made it funny, but that he was ACTIVELY SHOOTING 006!
Taking over the world, one game at a time. Currently TASing: Nothing
Former player
Joined: 5/4/2005
Posts: 502
Location: Onett, Eagleland
Any updates for the encode?
I think.....therefore I am not Barry Burton
Joined: 11/22/2004
Posts: 1468
Location: Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Pasky13 wrote:
Any updates for the encode?
Sorry about the delay. It's very nearly there. In fact the last pieces are being uploaded right now. I had some trouble with the audio because I was forced to use something other than regular uncompressed PCM, which caused some problems for Youtube's processing. Plus some issues with psxjin and audio sync. Link to video Link to video Link to video Link to video The fourth disc hasn't started uploading yet so I don't know the URL yet. This encode is much larger than the longer run of FF8, by the way. FF9 has more complex scenery and does a lot more screen panning, which looks great but is poison when using a fast lossless codec that doesn't use motion vectors. So the full FF8 encode (2560x1792, 30fps, lossless, close to 9 hours long) was 19.5GB, the full FF9 encode (same specs, just over 8 hours long) is 41.97GB. Well over the 20GB limit imposed by Youtube. Maybe I'll make an H.264 version at some point so we can have the full HD encode without segmentation, but it's a lot priority since it won't get processed properly anyway. edit: okay, so the FF9 encode uses 32-bit color mode and I'm pretty sure I used 24-bit mode for FF8, so let's say they're more like 19.5GB versus 31.5GB. Still a major difference.
Joined: 2/15/2009
Posts: 329
Why not make a 20GB per disc target output?
Working on: Legend of Legaia, Vagrant Story
Joined: 11/22/2004
Posts: 1468
Location: Rotterdam, The Netherlands
exileut wrote:
Why not make a 20GB per disc target output?
No need, only the full encode of all discs combined is so large. The individual discs are neatly under 20GB. I might do a H.264 encode targeting 20GB for the full thing.
Joined: 8/23/2008
Posts: 417
Watched this today. Can't see any reason not to vote yes. Well done.
I will not use self-reference in my signature.
Editor, Emulator Coder, Site Developer
Joined: 5/11/2011
Posts: 1108
Location: Murka
The run fully syncs with the 1.1 greatest hits US disks as recorded on redump.org. PSXjin 2.0.2 "svn0" I'm making downloadable encodes (but it's going to be another 16 hours of encoding before they're done, heh). Game looks pretty spiffy.
Skilled player (1604)
Joined: 6/11/2006
Posts: 818
Location: Arboga, Sweden
I) Thanks a lot for the encode Dada! II) Thanks a lot for the run Lil_Gecko! III) It is possible to download the videos from Youtube using Realplayer. Trying to download the first one now, 508 MB. I'll get back to you when I know how the quality holds up.
Warp wrote:
omg lol this is so fake!!!1 the nes cant produce music like this!
Editor, Emulator Coder, Site Developer
Joined: 5/11/2011
Posts: 1108
Location: Murka
Cardboard wrote:
I) Thanks a lot for the encode Dada! II) Thanks a lot for the run Lil_Gecko! III) It is possible to download the videos from Youtube using Realplayer. Trying to download the first one now, 508 MB. I'll get back to you when I know how the quality holds up.
If you're in no hurry, you might want to wait for downloadable. I project it will be about 2GiB (which will probably be about the same as the 500MB per segment you're downloading from youtube), and will probably look better simply because of no youtube reprocessing.
Skilled player (1604)
Joined: 6/11/2006
Posts: 818
Location: Arboga, Sweden
Yeah well, I have already watched them :) But I tend to download stuff to see if they are of good quality. I'll be sure to link to your encodes for everyone who wish to see the TAS though!
Warp wrote:
omg lol this is so fake!!!1 the nes cant produce music like this!
Joined: 11/22/2004
Posts: 1468
Location: Rotterdam, The Netherlands
natt wrote:
The run fully syncs with the 1.1 greatest hits US disks as recorded on redump.org. PSXjin 2.0.2 "svn0" I'm making downloadable encodes (but it's going to be another 16 hours of encoding before they're done, heh). Game looks pretty spiffy.
Ah, nice. Glad that you're doing it. I was thinking of doing them but since I have to renew my setup (using a pretty old x264) I wasn't looking forward to it.
Tub
Joined: 6/25/2005
Posts: 1377
Cardboard wrote:
III) It is possible to download the videos from Youtube using Realplayer.
youtube-dl even allows you to select the quality before downloading. I started watching, but I guess I'll switch to natt's encode when available. Anything that wasn't up- then downscaled again is bound to look better.
m00
Post subject: A Call for Chapters
Editor, Emulator Coder, Site Developer
Joined: 5/11/2011
Posts: 1108
Location: Murka
The encodes are going along nicely; Normal and Hi10 are finished at about 1.35GiB each, and _512kb is processing. They look as good as anything on psxjin possibly could. 8 hours is a very long time. I've added a few chapters to the MKV: just the disk switches, the start, and the end. Most encodes have no chapters at all, and I don't think it's terribly necessary, but if someone wants to make more in depth chapter files with major game events, FMVs, bosses, or whatever you think is relevant, I can add that in.
Joined: 11/22/2004
Posts: 1468
Location: Rotterdam, The Netherlands
You should really get natt's encodes if you want to look at them outside of Youtube. On Youtube they're massively upscaled and probably not encoded as well.
Joined: 3/14/2012
Posts: 13
Location: San Diego, CA
After lurking on TASvideos for upwards of a year, I finally had to register solely to post in support of this TAS. Hotly anticipating its publishing. :) Well done!
Editor, Emulator Coder, Site Developer
Joined: 5/11/2011
Posts: 1108
Location: Murka
Consider these not ready for publication. I hope to get the author's .srt track in at some point, as well as possibly better chapters, as well as possibly redump because an outstanding bug in psxjin was fixed. Archive.org collection http://www.archive.org/details/PsxFinalFantasyIxusaIn73712.28ByLil_gecko Primary[1.4GiB] http://www.archive.org/download/PsxFinalFantasyIxusaIn73712.28ByLil_gecko/finalfantasy9-tas-lil_gecko.mkv 10bit[1.4GiB] http://www.archive.org/download/PsxFinalFantasyIxusaIn73712.28ByLil_gecko/finalfantasy9-tas-lil_gecko_10bit444.mkv
Synahel
She/Her
Former player
Joined: 1/19/2011
Posts: 260
Location: France
At last, done watching. I was afraid you would over-use Limit Glove and Lucky Seven, but I was relieved to see how all the last battles were handled. Amazing. Charge! is pretty incredible.
Editor, Emulator Coder, Site Developer
Joined: 5/11/2011
Posts: 1108
Location: Murka
For anyone interested in such things, here's http://www.mediafire.com/?5vsxm6d5fwnj34c the audio from the dump from 7:38:56.643 to the end, compressed as FLAC. The idea is to decide if the vorbis compression in the downloadables is sufficient... Edit: Got some feedback and am going to up aotuv to -q3 for the final encode. That won't be updated for a bit though...
Former player
Joined: 2/19/2007
Posts: 424
Location: UK
It took a long time to watch, but I enjoyed it. Your entertainment choices were nice, moving the cursor to the music, for example. And it was fast. I voted yes.