Speaking of things so close, did anyone ever check to see if the Pumpkin Hill 5 "suicide launch" is possible with perfect precision, getting the high piece in the 2.9 seconds you have between death and fade out?
Completed:
2010-Current | Sonic Adventure 2: Battle - Individual Level TASes
2014 | Spongebob: Battle For Bikini Bottom - Any% in 1:05:03.23
2014 | Sonic Adventure 2: Battle - Hero Story (w/ THC98) in 25:11.87
2016 | Metroid Prime - Any% in 00:37 (In-Game Time)
2018 | Spongebob: Battle For Bikini Bottom - Cheat% in 1:42.350
2020 | Spongebob: Battle For Bikini Bottom - Any% in 0:39:20.10
2022 | Spongebob: Battle For Bikini Bottom - Cheat% in 1:25.567
Currently working on:
SA2:B DARK STORY
Completed:
2010-Current | Sonic Adventure 2: Battle - Individual Level TASes
2014 | Spongebob: Battle For Bikini Bottom - Any% in 1:05:03.23
2014 | Sonic Adventure 2: Battle - Hero Story (w/ THC98) in 25:11.87
2016 | Metroid Prime - Any% in 00:37 (In-Game Time)
2018 | Spongebob: Battle For Bikini Bottom - Cheat% in 1:42.350
2020 | Spongebob: Battle For Bikini Bottom - Any% in 0:39:20.10
2022 | Spongebob: Battle For Bikini Bottom - Cheat% in 1:25.567
Currently working on:
SA2:B DARK STORY
4 second time-save over the last TAS lol
Link to video
Completed:
2010-Current | Sonic Adventure 2: Battle - Individual Level TASes
2014 | Spongebob: Battle For Bikini Bottom - Any% in 1:05:03.23
2014 | Sonic Adventure 2: Battle - Hero Story (w/ THC98) in 25:11.87
2016 | Metroid Prime - Any% in 00:37 (In-Game Time)
2018 | Spongebob: Battle For Bikini Bottom - Cheat% in 1:42.350
2020 | Spongebob: Battle For Bikini Bottom - Any% in 0:39:20.10
2022 | Spongebob: Battle For Bikini Bottom - Cheat% in 1:25.567
Currently working on:
SA2:B DARK STORY
Hey. I made this TAS last week. The goal was to beat the current RTA record, which is 1:46.94. Kinda salty that it was so close to a 1:42, but it can be optimized a bit more. I'm pretty sure I lost some time on the first jump, the tunnel of dashpads before the vertical tubes, and the last jump.
Link to video
I want all good TAS inside TASvideos, it's my motto.
TAS i'm interested:
Megaman series, specially the RPGs! Where is the mmbn1 all chips TAS we deserve? Where is the Command Mission TAS?
i'm slowly moving away from TASing fighting games for speed, maybe it's time to start finding some entertainment value in TASing.
ayo is there someone who knows things about this game that could help me (like give me the inputs or describe how it works or something) with this thing where sonic gets on the side of the gravity switch (https://youtu.be/bB3L1-C2Rrw?t=22m31s)? I think it'll be useful for a tas I'm working on (m2 on that level) but idk cause I haven't been able to figure out how to do it in a few hours of dicking around
Hey. I made this TAS last week. The goal was to beat the current RTA record, which is 1:46.94. Kinda salty that it was so close to a 1:42, but it can be optimized a bit more. I'm pretty sure I lost some time on the first jump, the tunnel of dashpads before the vertical tubes, and the last jump.
Link to video
I give you credit for picking such an awful stage as your first TAS. Those gravity drums are a nightmare to optimize, I've always avoided touching this stage.
That strat at 0:28 surely was interesting, do you have numbers on how much it saved over the old method? It looks like you don't actually have much speed in the air with gravity like that. Though the other start is pretty slow too, so I'm wondering how much time it saved in comparison.
Flossy wrote:
ayo is there someone who knows things about this game that could help me (like give me the inputs or describe how it works or something) with this thing where sonic gets on the side of the gravity switch (https://youtu.be/bB3L1-C2Rrw?t=22m31s)? I think it'll be useful for a tas I'm working on (m2 on that level) but idk cause I haven't been able to figure out how to do it in a few hours of dicking around
My memory is a little hazy, but If I recall correctly, the angle you approach the switch determines the velocity you're given after. If you approach it in certain ways, sometimes you get a small speed-boost either backwards or forwards once the switch has been pressed. I remember it being a combination of having forward speed and holding a certain direction. Upon rewatching the clip with frame advance on YouTube, I would assuming I was initially holding up-right, maybe for 4-5 frames, and then switched to either forward to upleft to cause Sonic to snap to the side of the switch. It was quite finicky if I remember, not particularly precise, but maybe "trial and error" is the proper description.
Completed:
2010-Current | Sonic Adventure 2: Battle - Individual Level TASes
2014 | Spongebob: Battle For Bikini Bottom - Any% in 1:05:03.23
2014 | Sonic Adventure 2: Battle - Hero Story (w/ THC98) in 25:11.87
2016 | Metroid Prime - Any% in 00:37 (In-Game Time)
2018 | Spongebob: Battle For Bikini Bottom - Cheat% in 1:42.350
2020 | Spongebob: Battle For Bikini Bottom - Any% in 0:39:20.10
2022 | Spongebob: Battle For Bikini Bottom - Cheat% in 1:25.567
Currently working on:
SA2:B DARK STORY
The gravity tube bounce drops your initial speed a bit. When you hit the tube, it's around 8. It's tanks to about 6 for about half a second. For the majority of the gap the speed is between 5 and 6. You can make it across before dropping below 5 speed.
The previous TAS takes around 8.33 seconds IGT from the top of the first vertical tube to the platform across the gap. From the top of the first vertical tower, this TAS takes about 6.34 seconds.
Also, I just realized that the old TAS gets to the top of the first vertical tube way before me because of a light dash earlier (18.22 compared to 19.00).
AFAIK piner7500 was the one who first started messing with this strat, and shibakee tried for a few days to see if he could do it in runs consistently.
Link to video
It seems to save a small amount of time, but surely it's faster than the old method.
Completed:
2010-Current | Sonic Adventure 2: Battle - Individual Level TASes
2014 | Spongebob: Battle For Bikini Bottom - Any% in 1:05:03.23
2014 | Sonic Adventure 2: Battle - Hero Story (w/ THC98) in 25:11.87
2016 | Metroid Prime - Any% in 00:37 (In-Game Time)
2018 | Spongebob: Battle For Bikini Bottom - Cheat% in 1:42.350
2020 | Spongebob: Battle For Bikini Bottom - Any% in 0:39:20.10
2022 | Spongebob: Battle For Bikini Bottom - Cheat% in 1:25.567
Currently working on:
SA2:B DARK STORY
Probably, this wasn't very optimized. The ending especially feels really sloppy, I rushed to finish it because I wanted to go to bed. Some other movement is rushed as well, I imagine optimization could maybe sub 1:30. I'll spend a few days trying to think of better strats, and then maybe in a month or so, when THC98 is available, we could see how low we can push it.
Edit: Well... there goes 3 more seconds.
Link to video
Edit: Another second and a half.
Link to video
Completed:
2010-Current | Sonic Adventure 2: Battle - Individual Level TASes
2014 | Spongebob: Battle For Bikini Bottom - Any% in 1:05:03.23
2014 | Sonic Adventure 2: Battle - Hero Story (w/ THC98) in 25:11.87
2016 | Metroid Prime - Any% in 00:37 (In-Game Time)
2018 | Spongebob: Battle For Bikini Bottom - Cheat% in 1:42.350
2020 | Spongebob: Battle For Bikini Bottom - Any% in 0:39:20.10
2022 | Spongebob: Battle For Bikini Bottom - Cheat% in 1:25.567
Currently working on:
SA2:B DARK STORY
Work In Process #1 of the new Dark Story TAS that THC98 and myself are working on. It took just over one month to make this stage, so at this rate, we'll be done in a year or so. I think because of school and other things, progress will likely slow down though, so this project could be a long time in the making.
Link to video
Completed:
2010-Current | Sonic Adventure 2: Battle - Individual Level TASes
2014 | Spongebob: Battle For Bikini Bottom - Any% in 1:05:03.23
2014 | Sonic Adventure 2: Battle - Hero Story (w/ THC98) in 25:11.87
2016 | Metroid Prime - Any% in 00:37 (In-Game Time)
2018 | Spongebob: Battle For Bikini Bottom - Cheat% in 1:42.350
2020 | Spongebob: Battle For Bikini Bottom - Any% in 0:39:20.10
2022 | Spongebob: Battle For Bikini Bottom - Cheat% in 1:25.567
Currently working on:
SA2:B DARK STORY
Link to video
Lots of timesave came from slowing down at certain points to catch declines. This could probably go down to a 2:10. This loses time on lap 3 over the Hero Story TAS, and I'm not exactly sure how to improve that. I can also use the brake to speed up the slow-down parts. I'll try this again later, but I wanna try for a good R280 time first.
Also, does anyone have an idea of how much time can be saved on the straightaways? Most of the time working on this was spent with cornering and stuff, and long straightaways were kinda an afterthought.
Joined: 6/9/2005
Posts: 171
Location: Southern California
Regardless of whether or not you actually lose speed, hitting the walls and hearing Tails go "Ugh!" seems pretty sloppy... there were a few cases where it looked really avoidable, too!
I'm not 100% familiar with the way you gain Boost, but if it's every X number of rings, is there a reason you hold on to a Boost while collecting additional rings? It seemed as if you had opportunities to boost that you didn't...
Somewhat disappointed you didn't play with the dialogue. "Tails, did you find the President?" "Almost, Sonic--just a few more POWER BOOST!"
Boosting does not gain additional speed if you're already moving at the cap. The goal is to hold onto them up to a point of unavoidable slowdown, which is normally caused by going in the air or going up hill.
Completed:
2010-Current | Sonic Adventure 2: Battle - Individual Level TASes
2014 | Spongebob: Battle For Bikini Bottom - Any% in 1:05:03.23
2014 | Sonic Adventure 2: Battle - Hero Story (w/ THC98) in 25:11.87
2016 | Metroid Prime - Any% in 00:37 (In-Game Time)
2018 | Spongebob: Battle For Bikini Bottom - Cheat% in 1:42.350
2020 | Spongebob: Battle For Bikini Bottom - Any% in 0:39:20.10
2022 | Spongebob: Battle For Bikini Bottom - Cheat% in 1:25.567
Currently working on:
SA2:B DARK STORY
The only wall hits I'm not confident with are the two u-turns on Lap 3. Those wall hits are unavoidable without slowing down, but I might've been able to save a tiny bit of time by trying different angles when hitting them.
All the other wall hits are on purpose. They are used in two different ways:
1. To hit declines in a way that gives you much more speed than just driving down them normally (often close to full boost speed),
2. To stay on the ground at the big jumps. (If you boost in mid-air you lose a lot of the speed when you hit the ground.)
The boost works off a counter which increases every time you get a ring or grab a balloon. When the counter hits 20 or greater, you get a boost and the counter resets to 0. Most balloons increase the counter by 20, effectively giving you a boost and resetting the counter. This is the reason why I don't bother grabbing the last line of rings on Lap 1 or the last two lines on Lap 3. The only exception is the balloon in the middle of Lap 2, which increases the counter by 10. The random amount of rings received from the balloons does not affect the boost counter.
Also, does anyone have an idea of how much time can be saved on the straightaways? Most of the time working on this was spent with cornering and stuff, and long straightaways were kinda an afterthought.
If I remember correctly, the curves you make in long straightaways don't actually matter because you're always with the same speed towards where the camera is facing. In other words, the speed you see in the memory address shows camera's forward speed, not Tails's forward speed. And that speed maintains constant as long as you keep turning everytime.
All you have to do to optimize R101 and R280 is to make sure you cut the curves in a good way (without losing speed and going in the shortest path possible) and manage your speed loss, boosting if necessary.
Also, there's something I will test on R101 and R280 when I get the chance (you can do it if you want too, it might take some time for me to test this lol): Sometimes when you hit the wall in a specific angle (facing towards the other side of the wall), you can GAIN a little bit of speed. I wonder if it's possible to hit both walls everytime to build up speed through the whole stage.
Does anyone have a way to take values from memory and do math with them? With R101 I was just working with separate X-Y-Z velocities, and if I were to improve on it further I'd want to be able to see the actual forward velocity (I couldn't find an address for forward velocity for karts). Is there a tool in Dolphin or an external program?
You could certainly write a cheat engine script to calculate that, though I am the exact wrong person to ask for help on doing such a thing.
Completed:
2010-Current | Sonic Adventure 2: Battle - Individual Level TASes
2014 | Spongebob: Battle For Bikini Bottom - Any% in 1:05:03.23
2014 | Sonic Adventure 2: Battle - Hero Story (w/ THC98) in 25:11.87
2016 | Metroid Prime - Any% in 00:37 (In-Game Time)
2018 | Spongebob: Battle For Bikini Bottom - Cheat% in 1:42.350
2020 | Spongebob: Battle For Bikini Bottom - Any% in 0:39:20.10
2022 | Spongebob: Battle For Bikini Bottom - Cheat% in 1:25.567
Currently working on:
SA2:B DARK STORY
Link to video
Overall I'm pretty happy with this. For the route I took, I think there might be an improvement by landing on the side of the 3rd gravity switch and manipulating gravity to get on the side wall, getting the item box down there and continuing forward. But I'm not entirely sure that that is even possible. I was able to land on the side of the switch while doing this but I wasn't able to make it to the wall before getting sucked up to the ceiling. Even if it is possible, the slowness of bouncing on the ceiling makes me not sure if it even would be faster. Even if that route is faster, I'm of the opinion that this one is way more entertaining so its whatever I guess.
Not sure what I want to do next with this game, but I do know I want to try and improve on something that would be harder to improve on, so I could work on getting better at optimization and figuring things out.
I got a cheat engine script rigged up tonight, and I blew through this in an hour. Found a couple places where you can gain some speed by bonking into walls, particularly the ramp on lap 1. This doesn't even have the optimal boost route, so this could easily go down by at least another second.
