Actually, I think flash relies entirely on the CPU. That's why watching a video in youtube's flash player uses so much more CPU compared to downloading the mp4 and just watching it in a standalone media player.
Actually, it kinda depends on the what part of the video you're looking at. Sure, the intro video, some cutscenes, the "demo" scenes (if you don't push a button on the title screen), and even some portions of gameplay run at 00024446, which of course will looks smoother as 00224466 (essentially 0123). But not all. At least, not with a plugin that shows the puzzle transition, lens flare, and underwater sections, unless I overlooked one :/
...Anyway, I don't think I said this yet but I finally saw the stuff after RBB. Click Clock Woods was great, and the final battle was hilarious! :D
Hmmm...I admit I did only check the very beginning of the video. I didn't think Banjo-Kazooie would be that random.
Uh, whoops. You guys would be right if what I said was true. I could easily fix a 0,0,0,2 pattern to be 0,0,2,2. But I made a mistake with my post up there. the pattern is really 0,0,0,3,4,4,4,7. Post-processing that to 0,0,3,3,4,4,7,7 actually makes the motion look worse. Sorry for the confusion.
I decided to look into this issue myself and I have come to the conclusion that each unique frame in the video is separated by a constant amount of time. In other words, the pattern is best described as "0,0,0,1,2,2,2,3". The best thing to do would be to convert the video to 0,0,1,1,2,2,3,3 or even 0,1,2,3.
However, in addition to the strange pattern, the game sometimes displays the same frame multiple times when there is legitimate lag (think Dire Dire Docks from the Super Mario 64 TAS) Also, the game lags and displays the same (usually all black) image for several frames when a level is being loaded.
Despite all this, I think I managed to smooth out the video. However, to achieve this I relied on MKV's support for variable frame rate video. I basically deleted all duplicate frames from what Mupen outputs. Then, I generated a custom timecodes file and used it with mkvmerge so I could arbitrarily set how many milliseconds each frame is displayed when the mkv is played. Here is what I came up with:
http://aqwertyz.googlepages.com/BK_Compare.7z
Especially pay attention when you see the exterior giant witch's hat of Gruntilda's lair and the view of slowly climbing the spiral staircase when comparing the two videos.
One more thing: VLC does not seem to like variable frame rate MKVs. The KMPlayer (what I usually use), however, seems to handle them perfectly.
Edit: I added a 3rd video file to BK_Compare.7z. There are 3 files now. "OriginalFPS.mkv" should look like the published run. "ConstantFPS.mkv" is a normal MKV with a constant frame rate (which means the audio desyncs, but it looks super smooth). "SmoothFPS.mkv" is supposed to look smooth and still sync with the audio. However, all of this is outdated if what bkDJ said below this post is correct.
Okay so I finally decided to investigate this problem 23 months later (!)...I downloaded the source (mupen64_src-rerecording-v8.7z) and I think I discovered that the problem occurs when the audio is resampled before it is written to the AVI.
Anyway, I am somewhat embarrassed to report that this problem had already been solved by Bisqwit here: http://tasvideos.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=84748#84748. The left and right audio channels are reversed, but other than that the audio sounds great! The audio/video desync problem was apparently also fixed. (I didn't even know about that problem until more recently.)
I would have thought this problem would have been documented more thoroughly. Does this mean that every published N64 TAS on this site was encoded using some obscure copy of Mupen that no one can find, or am I just missing something here?
*DEAD*
Those clips are AMAZING. The people that produced them have exponentially more patience than I do. This is an excellent preview to what a TAS of SMB1 and SMB2 will look like in the future...
I didn’t think it was boring at all! Then again, I’m probably biased because I used to love playing this game when I was younger. If you do finish this run and submit it to this site, I know I’ll vote for it.
Just a comment... I wonder if Mupen64 does not use floating points for positioning or something because there were many times that the movement of Banjo was quite jerky... This has nothing to do with your run's quality, but it makes me wonder why the movement was so jerky...
It's actually a problem with most plugins rendering this particular game. I'll try to explain. If instances of time of Mupen's 60fps are numbered 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7, most 30fps games would show the following: 0,0,2,2,4,4,6,6. That's all well and good. In fact, some plugins even do that with Banjo-Kazooie, but they have problems like blacking out the screen when underwater, and discolored stuff and missing effects. Unfortunately, the best video plugins treat BK's 30fps like so: 0,0,0,2,4,4,4,6. If you try to ignore it, your eyes kinda adjust. But yeah it's fucking awful and I don't know what to do about it except pretend that it isn't a problem.
There are scenes in the game that are only 20 fps as well. The pattern goes 0,0,0,0,1,1,2,2,2,2,3,3. Obviously it would be better if it was 0,0,0,1,1,1,2,2,2,3,3,3.
What I hate is when people actually bother to type "www." in their address bar when almost all websites don't require it.
Anyway, what I have always wondered about is this: If I go to google and type "tasvideos" in the search box and click "I'm feeling lucky", I end up with "http://tasvideos.org/" in the address bar (as expected) but I also get a 404 error.
Not Found
The requested URL / was not found on this server.
Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.
--------------------------------
Apache/2.2.9 (Debian) PHP/5.2.6-5 with Suhosin-Patch Server at tasvideos.org Port 80
My lazy way of omitting both the www. and the .com/.net/.org doesn't work for this site.
I don't think mainstream science accepts materialism as "truth". It is just that the point of science is to explain things that can be explained without the supernatural. Also, I think you are wrong about how compelling the evidence for (macro)evolution and the big bang actually is. That being said, I'd like to apologize for being rude. It is definitely a good idea to consider the philosophical implications of scientific theories. Scientists still don't agree on how to interpret quantum mechanics, for example. I also agree that it is not a good idea to just believe what scientists say. Instead, one should follow their reasoning as best as possible and see how exactly they came to their conclusion. But, it is important to keep in mind that scientists are in competition and would love to disprove each other's theories if they could. Science is very rigorous.
Also, I'd like to apologize to Bisqwit for posting things completely off-topic from the purpose of this thread.
i used to believe that the earth was round, but then i looked it up somewhere and i found that it was flat.
I am trying to understand how anyone can live in the real world and yet at the same time have such a poor grasp of reality.
Are you sure he wasn't simply joking? (I have hard time believing any sane person would write such a sentence seriously.)
I wondered that myself but nfq has said other things that are equally absurd. Still, maybe he has been secretly toying with us all along...
That's a bold guess. Literally.
Well what other alternatives are there besides actually believing the world is flat or just saying it is to see our reactions? I think he actually does believe it, based on his previous posts. Either way, I probably should never have bothered responding to his post. I just get really annoyed by ignorance.
i used to believe that the earth was round, but then i looked it up somewhere and i found that it was flat.
I am trying to understand how anyone can live in the real world and yet at the same time have such a poor grasp of reality. You question authority (which in and of itself is a good thing), but then what do you replace it with? More authority!...except this time the “authority” of new agebullshit. I don't believe the earth is round because people tell me it is. I believe it is round because it is round. (More specifically, if you ignore what people say and just look at the evidence, you see that the earth is in fact, round.) It is the same reason why I don't believe that evolution is wrong, that the pyramids were built by giants, that gravity is the same thing as electromagnetism, or that the many animals that, right this very moment, are being preyed upon and killed, dying of disease, starvation, or dehydration, consider earth a heavenly paradise.
Sorry for the rant but I get so annoyed when someone simultaneously denies science and uses a computer that owes its very existence to science. nfq shouldn't post anything about the physical world until he's had the giants build him a computer that is powered by the energy emanating from Stone Henge.
A similar regular expression is derived in my textbook, Formal Languages and Automata by Peter Linz. The only difference is that the number of bs must be odd instead of even. You can easily represent the solution to the problem as a finite automaton. Then you just follow an algorithm to convert it to a regular expression. The answer turns out to be:
(aa | ab(bb)*ba)*(b | ab(bb)*a)(a(bb)*a | (b | a(bb)*ba)(aa | ab(bb)*ba)*(b | ab(bb)*a))*
I am guessing the regular expression where the number of bs is even is similarly complex.
let y = x^x
ln y = ln(x^x)
ln y = x ln x
1/y dy/dx = x*(1/x) + (ln x)*1
1/y dy/dx = 1 + ln x
dy/dx = y + y ln x
dy/dx = x^x + x^x ln x
set dy/dx = 0, solve for x
x^x + x^x ln x = 0
x^x ln x = -x^x
ln x = -1
x = e^(-1) = 1/e
Therefore, the minimum value of x^x is (1/e)^(1/e) = 1/e^(1/e) = (e root of e)^(-1)
It is so satisfying to finally see the computer players' asses whooped in these games. They gave me endless frustration years ago when I played this myself. I doubt a run like this would ever be accepted on this site but thank you for making it available to me!
I would be really cool if a bunch of different people TASed the crap out of specific stars
www.YouTube.com/SilentSlayers
I have alot on there, but most are old and not maxed, still some good watches, and alot more coming in the future.
I mentioned before that I think that this would be a great collaborative way to make a 120 star TAS. The .m64 WIP is distributed to all the best Super Mario 64 TASers. They compete intensely to see who can collect a specific star in the least number of frames. After the mini frame-war ends, the new .m64 is redistributed and the process it repeated for the next star. The main advantage to this would be that a person that doesn't want to commit his or herself to the entire 120-star run could still contribute on and off. The more contributors, the better each star could be optimized.
Normally on this site, a single author produces a TAS A of game X. Then, someone else produces a faster TAS B for the same game X. So on and so forth for TASes C and D, etc. I'm proposing a (theoretical) way to jump straight to TAS D in one go. This would probably be applicable to any game, not just SM64. SM64 just happens to be long and difficult to optimize (since it is 3D). Again, the main advantage would be that a lot of people could contribute with no central author. I guess I am saying this would be a way of making a TAS analogous to the way Wikipedia is written.
Anyway, it is just an idea and I put it up for what it is worth. I know mr_roberts_z and others are currently working on a run (I eagerly await) and wouldn't suggest they change the way they are currently making it.
Yeah unlike the entrance to the castle, the fake room on the other side of the door that leads to the 2nd floor actually appears like the real thing. However, I am pretty sure that if you walk up to the invisible wall in that room and look up the spiral staircase, there is indeed a black void.
Behavior of Shells in Mario Kart 64:Green Shells
When you shoot a green shell, it continues in a straight line.
Collisions:
Wall: It bounces off of it and continues in a straight line. The first time it hits a wall, it loses some of its speed. I am not sure if it loses any more speed on subsequent bounces.
Items on Track: The shell and the other item are simultaneously destroyed.
Player: The shell is destroyed and the player tumbles but is not launched very high in the air. If the player is using a star, the shell is destroyed. If the player is using a boo, the shell passes through them and continues.
Red Shells
When you shoot a red shell, it continues in a straight line for a short while (maybe about 1 second) until "heat-seeking" turns on. Then, depending on what place you are in (when heat-seeking turns on, not when you originally shot the shell), the shell behaves in varying ways:
If you are in 2nd, 3rd, 4th, or 5th place, the shell begins to seek the player in the place ahead of you. The shell becomes bound to that player and then it doesn't matter what place they are in - the shell will always seek that player. The shell heads straight towards the player it is bound to. If the player is far ahead and there is a wall between you and the other player, the shell will crash into the wall.
If you are in 6th, 7th or 8th place, the shell also becomes bound to the player in the place ahead of you. However, the shell does not head in a straight line towards the player. Instead, it follows the racetrack until it comes within a certain distance of the player it is bound to. Only then does the shell seek that player in the same fashion as described in the above paragraph. This reduces the likelihood that the shell hits a wall.
If you are in 2nd through 8th place and the player in the place ahead of you is using a boo when you shoot a red shell, the red shell can't "find" that player and after its initial one-second movement in a straight line, it tries to find a player to seek, fails, and destroys itself. If the player ahead of you is not using a boo when the red shell becomes bound to them but then uses a boo afterward, the red shell destroys itself at the instant the boo is used.
Finally, if you are in 1st place when you shoot a shell there is obviously no player ahead of you. The shell just follows the track as described in the above paragraph but it is not bound to any player. It just circles the track until it collides with something.
CollisionsWall: The shell is destroyed.
Items on Track: The shell and the other item are simultaneously destroyed.
Player: The shell is destroyed and the player is launched much higher in the air than they would be if they were hit by a green shell. If the player is using a star, the shell is destroyed.
Blue Shells
Blue shells do the same thing no matter what place you are in. They behave exactly as red shells do when you shoot them from 1st place. The difference is that when a blue shell comes within a certain distance of the player in 1st place, the blue shell then becomes bound to and seeks that player. Unlike red shells, the blue shell seeks the player that is in 1st place at the time it comes in range of that player, not the player in 1st place at the time the shell was originally shot. If the player in 1st place is using a boo, the blue shell still follows the track until it comes within a certain distance of the player in 1st place. Only then does the blue shell destroy itself like a red shell does.
CollisionsWall: The shell is destroyed.
Items on Track: The other item is destroyed and the blue shell continues.
Player in 1st: The shell is destroyed and the player is launched in the same way they would be if they were hit by a red shell. If the player is using a star, the shell is destroyed. If you are in first when you shoot a blue shell, it will come back and hit you.
Any Other Player: The player is launched and the shell continues. If the player is using a star, the shell is destroyed. If the player is using a boo, the shell passes through them and continues.
Note: This is mostly from memory but I think it is all accurate. I would never have written this post if I had realized how long it would need to be to cover all the details of shell behavior. I don't think any other version of Mario Kart has such complicated shell behavior.
Silent_Slayers wrote:
That was amazing. I don't even understand how you get the red shell to hit yourself lol.
The red shell was shot backwards from first place. The shell continued in a straight line for a short while. Since it was shot from 1st place, the shell then began to follow the track and would have circled it forever but xenos jumped in front of it before it had a chance.
Watch it in context and judge for yourself: http://www.tbn.org/watch/files/index.php?file=2008_4_21_300k.wmv&show=92.
As a side note, Stein took quotes out of context from the scientists he interviewed for his documentary. He even does it in the above link by making it look like Richard Dawkins believes life on Earth might have been seeded by aliens.