EgixBacon
He/Him
Player (184)
Joined: 4/15/2013
Posts: 331
Location: In the attic
Based Sockdress Nidoqueen Lookalike Sorceress fight indeed... Good luck with the rest of Midnight Mountain!
FanFiction|Youtube Still on Win7! Take that, Microsoft!
Editor, Expert player (2098)
Joined: 8/25/2013
Posts: 1200
These are being released incredibly quickly. I love it.
effort on the first draft means less effort on any draft thereafter - some loser
Spikestuff
They/Them
Editor, Publisher, Expert player (2642)
Joined: 10/12/2011
Posts: 6437
Location: The land down under.
WebNations/Sabih wrote:
+fsvgm777 never censoring anything.
Disables Comments and Ratings for the YouTube account. Something better for yourself and also others.
Spikestuff
They/Them
Editor, Publisher, Expert player (2642)
Joined: 10/12/2011
Posts: 6437
Location: The land down under.
WebNations/Sabih wrote:
+fsvgm777 never censoring anything.
Disables Comments and Ratings for the YouTube account. Something better for yourself and also others.
Experienced player (584)
Joined: 2/23/2008
Posts: 266
Location: CA, USA
Link to video Looks like it's almost done!
Active player (461)
Joined: 4/9/2013
Posts: 29
Quick message to inform people here that I am going to do an Onstream reveal of the TAS Saturday at 2PM EDT (Yes, it's done!) Stream will start at 1PM for setting up and answering questions. I'll also be preparing the TASVideos submission so that I can submit and make the TAS public as soon as the reveal is done.
Editor, Expert player (2098)
Joined: 8/25/2013
Posts: 1200
Nitrofski wrote:
Quick message to inform people here that I am going to do an Onstream reveal of the TAS Saturday at 2PM EDT (Yes, it's done!) Stream will start at 1PM for setting up and answering questions. I'll also be preparing the TASVideos submission so that I can submit and make the TAS public as soon as the reveal is done.
Awesome! Congrats on finishing it!
effort on the first draft means less effort on any draft thereafter - some loser
YaLTeR
He/Him
Joined: 12/2/2011
Posts: 129
Location: Moscow, Russia
Experienced player (588)
Joined: 2/5/2011
Posts: 1417
Location: France
HYPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
Current: Rayman 3 maybe? idk xD Paused: N64 Rayman 2 (with Funnyhair) GBA SMA 4 : E Reader (With TehSeven) TASVideos is like a quicksand, you get in, but you cannot quit the sand
YaLTeR
He/Him
Joined: 12/2/2011
Posts: 129
Location: Moscow, Russia
Damn, what an amazing piece of work that was. Great job!
EgixBacon
He/Him
Player (184)
Joined: 4/15/2013
Posts: 331
Location: In the attic
Link to video I know this is a month old, but... ANY% TAS WHEN?
FanFiction|Youtube Still on Win7! Take that, Microsoft!
EgixBacon
He/Him
Player (184)
Joined: 4/15/2013
Posts: 331
Location: In the attic
Any% TAS Route

SUNRISE SPRING

Sunny Villa
Enemy proxy off first rhynoc as RTA does.

Seashell Shore
Due to the TAS-only SiA method, it should be better for TAS to do this level second, and CS fourth. It may be possible to proxy off a shovel rhynoc to reach the EoL faster.

Molten Crater
It may be possible to proxy over the high wall in the first outdoor area, but IDK, haven't tested.

Cloud Spires
Hyperglide, obviously.

Sheila's Alp
Use either TAS-only SiA or current RTA method, whichever is faster, to enter this level. Run through it as normal.


MIDDAY GARDENS

Enchanted Towers
Use regular level skip, obviously.

Bamboo Terrace
Use under-the-bridge SiA to enter this level. Proxy off the first firework rhynoc as 117 TAS does.

Spooky Swamp
Proxying off the first gator should be enough to reach the high ledge with the miniworld portals, then on to the EoL.

Byrd's Base
OoB glide in, complete level as normal.

Icy Peak
I happen to know that it's possible to wall-glide past the first ice wall without destroying it first.


EVENING LAKE

Bentley's Outpost
OoB glide in, complete level as normal.

Frozen Altars
Enemy proxy off the baby elephant as RTA does.

Fireworks Factory
Use firefly proxy at beginning.

Lost Fleet
It should be more efficient to take damage for the Zombie at each acid stream, rather than all at once near the end.

Charmed Ridge
Proxy off the second crossbow rhynoc (or first cat wizard if that's possible) to reach the end.

Midnight Mountain
Get perfect helmet proxy, glide into the loadzone.
tl;dr: Different level order in Sunrise, get proxies wherever possible, general TAS strats here and there. Does this route seem all right?
FanFiction|Youtube Still on Win7! Take that, Microsoft!
Active player (461)
Joined: 4/9/2013
Posts: 29
First, there is a most likely faster Midday Garden route that you may have missed (Did you watch JeremyThompson's runs?) You'd also want to test various route that seem equivalent for yourself - i.e. roughly TAS them once, without completing every level just to compare it with the others. Some routes have proven themselves RTA but TAS has a lot more potential.. Molten Crater: it is indeed possible. It's been used since before the end of my 117% TAS. Cloud Spires: Hyperglide? I know what you mean but you shouldn't randomly give names to tricks. Also there is a proxy on the winged rhynoc that will be used in a TAS. Sheila's Alp: RTA strat, but different. But testing both is a good idea (no assumptions allowed) Enchanted Towers: You can proxy off jackhammers. Icy Peak: I believe it's been known but was deemed slower. Frozen Altars: You proxy atop the last area and enter it from Oob near the cat hockey portal. Lost Fleet: There is a slightly faster strat than completing the level the normal way. I forgot exactly how it's done, but it exists. Might require death. Charmed Ridge: Test them all. You could be surprised as to which is faster. For information, I've been planning to do the Any% TAS as I side project myself. I went through the game mentally a few times myself to figure out the route using all I know about the game along with other theorie. In fact, I AM going to do the Any% TAS eventually.
EgixBacon
He/Him
Player (184)
Joined: 4/15/2013
Posts: 331
Location: In the attic
Thanks for the suggestions, Nitrof. I'm sorry if a lot of my suggested strats are untested/sloppy, but I'm probably not going to make anything more than a theory TAS because I suck too much at this game (I did once make a theory run quite recently, but it was crap). I'm pleased to hear that you're thinking of making a proper run - you're THE man for the job, of course. But, it will still take a while - it's not like S2RR where you can skip straight to the bosses... But I can wait. It's cool.
FanFiction|Youtube Still on Win7! Take that, Microsoft!
Editor, Skilled player (1334)
Joined: 1/31/2010
Posts: 330
Location: France
There will be a stream reveal of a TAS of this game done by me and Nitrofski in five days, I will not give more details until the reveal but be ready to see some high quality content. 2019/12/07 9:00 PM UTC @twitch.tv/Nitrofski
Joined: 9/12/2014
Posts: 540
Location: Waterford, MI
Nice to hear! In my time zone I would have to watch it the day after.
Active player (461)
Joined: 4/9/2013
Posts: 29
Reveal occured, you can now watch both the TAS itself and the reveal stream with 3-phase co-commentary. TAS itself: Link to video Reveal stream recording: Link to video We'll try to get our submission live in the upcoming days. Keep an eye out for it.
Zinfidel
He/Him
Player (206)
Joined: 11/21/2019
Posts: 247
Location: Washington
Hey Nitrofski, I have some questions about how you discovered the RNG for Spyro. You mentioned in the submission that the RNG used was the "usual" glibc LCG for PSX, but with the exception that Spyro used a memory address different from 0x9010. I've been searching high and low for information about the PSX rand function (I've heard it's a BIOS function) but have turned up little, so I'm curious where you learned about this function's favored memory location. My initial idea was to monitor the PSX registers in BizHawk using Lua and watch for common LCG constants to pass through the temp registers, then go to the program counter to see if I found the LCG. Unfortunately it seems that BizHawk doesn't have support for debugging PSX memory, or I straight up don't know how to use the debugger. Once I read your submission post and found that the game I'm working on uses exactly the same RNG parameters, I thought to use callbacks on the memory address to find the LCG, but again, BizHawk doesn't seem to have support for callbacks on PSX right now. So, did you use external tools to disassemble the game and find the rng parameters? Or did you use BizHawk in a manner I'm unfamiliar with? If Armored Core used a different memory address than 0x9010, I don't know that I'd be able to find it currently, so I'm intensely interested in how you did it. Any info helps!
Active player (461)
Joined: 4/9/2013
Posts: 29
I have no credit to claim here. lapogne36 is the one who found the address for RNG and how it works. I'll let him know that there is a question on the subject here.
Editor, Skilled player (1334)
Joined: 1/31/2010
Posts: 330
Location: France
Over the years and the various PSX TAS I made, I noticed that the RNG followed the same formula, and most of the time at the same RAM address, so I assumed it was the default PSX RNG value. The few PSX games I know that use another RNG system are RPGs. About finding the address in the first place, there is this forum post that may help you. If you want a quick summary, get two savestates at the same frame, but one of them with a previous change in the input that clearly modified the RNG. Check all the RAM values that are different between these two savestates, and the RNG address is the one that will always give the same "random" result in the game if you freeze it.
Zinfidel
He/Him
Player (206)
Joined: 11/21/2019
Posts: 247
Location: Washington
Thanks to both of you for replying! I can add one more data point to your list of PSX games that use the glibc LCG and stores the value at 0x9010 then! I am familiar with that topic, but was having difficulties locating the address with traditional techniques like watching memory because Armored Core has a tremendous amount of display lag that causes the rand function to "hitch" in unpredictable ways. Most of the time, the rand function is being called dozens of times per frame, so it's always changing, regardless of input, but on *some* lag frames, it stalls completely. This made it very frustrating to try to isolate because I made the assumptions that it would change specifically w/ regard to input, or that it would be different every frame no matter what. Both assumptions proved false! I would like to thank you both again for the entertaining Spyro TAS, and also for the comment about the RNG, as it helped alleviate a lot of frustration for me! Also I'm a sucker for a TAS with voice commentary!