If it is somehow represented in memory and you can find the responsible address(es), then you can have a script that informs you of such an upcoming event.
Otherwise it becomes more difficult but may still be doable. One way such a bot can predict it is if the image info doesn't exist in memory until the frame you can see it, find the info when it is on screen, write a bot that saves state, goes forward 2-3 frames, checks for the image related info, then loads state and if the info was found, write a heads-up on screen.
I will try that then. I want to see if I can do it myself first though. Would be hard to learn if someone just give me what I wanted. Also the fact that I have a goal in mind that will help me overall save time will push me to learn what seem to be a very useful feature.
http://tasvideos.org/2278S.html
Don't seem like I get to see Maria TASed on SotN on Youtube today.
Minor issue but an issue nevertheless as I assume you wish to keep the site up to date as much as you possibly can.
Sorry in advance if there is a better way to report issues like this, if there is then please let me know so I can learn from my mistakes.
Edit: Seem like it works depending where you look at it from. Maybe linking error?
Sorry, kinda jump the gun on that one but nevertheless there is an error.[/img]
Excessive use of auto-fire and auto-hold can induce lag in some games, so even if you can hold a button through-out the entire TAS, it might save frames not to hold it when it isn't needed, and also it looks more professional if it's only held when necessary. If you have a movement where you need to press a button on every other frame for 4-5 seconds, auto-fire can make that section faster instead of going frame-advance, hold button, frame advance, release button, frame advance, hold button ... Same goes for auto hold.
These tools were added for comfort, this is also why we have LUA scripts despite there being RAM watch etc. Because it can be so much nicer seeing things as images or following the object they're representing on screen, specially when keeping track of many addresses. Also it gives you the power to write bots that do things for you if it's a very repetitive thing. I cannot speak for how Kriole TASed Aria Of Sorrow and Dawn Of Sorrow, but such movement can be an example of when you might want to write a short bot.
Bots can also become more advanced like the scripts used in the current NES Rockman TAS, or even to the point where the bot no longer is a LUA script, but a program specially designed to TAS a certain game (MrWint's Pokemon Blue for example)
I didn't think about lag so I will make sure not to abuse it. You basically answered my question fully and then some. I really need to learn how to use LUA scripting as it sound extremely useful. There is a moving image that appears in the chat and I am able to move the chat along two frames before that image appears. Any chance a script can catch something like that? That would basically remove any worrying about dialog on a very text heavy game and would make my life much easier.
Patashu wrote:
There are some games where two different buttons do the same job (advancing through text, menus, whatever it is you're thinking about). In those games you can alternate between the two buttons and get frame perfect everything.
(Even better case - in Paper Mario, all you have to do to skip text frame perfect is hold down one button. Perfect for RTA speedruns!)
Yea I saw that and understand that but sadly my game only allow one button to move the text along. I also was a huge fan of AGDQ before I ever thought about doing TAS so I am fully aware of Paper Mario. In fact I started to want to do TAS as I have the reaction time of a dead cow but still want to do speed runs. I assume the time it take to get everything frame perfect is more or less the time RTA speed runners would have spent getting better themselves. So either way you use up a lot of time before getting something decent as an end result.
Seem like in my case I'm just better off finding the exact frame, go back two frames then act on it unless I can find/create a script that does so for me if it is even possible.
Trying making a TAS on a real game now.
I have a question about the auto hold and auto fire for the VBA mainly.
For the auto fire isn't it technically possible for it to be always one frame off of the perfect time of hitting the button? Wouldn't this feature only encourage laziness? Maybe I am understanding it wrong which is why I am asking. I am assuming it is impossible to press a button twice in two frames as that would be seen as the same as pressing the button and holding it down for an extra frame by the game.
As for auto hold if I am playing a game where B button is use only for running and canceling out of menus (which it must be pressed then) then is it acceptable for me just to have the whole movie have that one button pressed down permanently or could this cause issues during the run and/or is generally frown upon? I'm playing a overview RPG so there is no reason for the character not be running as there are no platforming tricks or such available anyway.
That's the reason why my Speedy Gonzales runs are not verifiable.
Watched it and it reminded me of Sonic but without going faster then the speed of walls. Quite enjoyable and the only dull moment was with the 2nd boss but I'm guessing you have your reasons for what you did and why you choose to not goof around there. The 3rd boss was quite entertaining when you attack him without getting hurt in the progress and easily make up for that though.
It is a shame it isn't verifiable.
Not sure if there is a simpler way of doing it but I found View > Advance Controls > Frame by Frame
I haven't got too deep into it yet myself.
EDIT: Seem like two people Ninja'ed me. Nice.
CoolKirby wrote:
The complete GoodTools suite is available here. Also, the DesyncHelp page has been updated with this new link, thanks for reporting that problem.
No problem. You guys been helping me so I don't mind helping back. It isn't like I am just sitting on my thumb asking questions at random, I am exploring the site and hopefully have all of the knowledge it can give sink into my head.
I really want to get into making TAS runs and normally I would be the type of person who only look but never posts. Sadly I am also an active visual learner and reading text often don't sink in as well as it should for me. So you can see how that can be an issue. So instead of trying it for a day then giving up I decided I should just take a risk and dive into the community for once. You have no idea how against my personality that was.
boct1584 wrote:
SNES9X v1.51 had its' sound emulation core completely rewritten from v1.43's, which caused differences in emulator timing; that's why you can't play movies from v1.43 on v1.51. Movies and savestates from v1.51 and newer should be cross compatible between those versions.
lsnes, on the other hand, uses emulation cores from byuu's emulator bsnes, which was coded with emulation accuracy as its top priority. It's far more accurate than any version of SNES9X; enough that console-verifying movies made with it is possible. (I think so far it's only been done for Super Mario World's glitched run.)
O, it seem like I pick a winner with lsnes then. I now can see how different emulators can give give different results. I guess it would be hard to make a perfect emulator and still have added features to it. I guess even the most minor differences between the emulator and the real hardware can potentially screw with a movie by the RNG alone.
Looking at this page: http://tasvideos.org/DesyncHelp.html
The GoodTools link take you to a blog page with "Sorry, the page you were looking for in this blog does not exist."
Who should I report this problem to? The last time the page seem to be edited was earlier of this year by a user named henke37 who seem to still be quite active but I want to make sure that the right person I should report it to before I start PMing random users. For all I know the site could use some kind of weird Wikia system and he just fixed a typo at the time.
Patashu wrote:
VLC has speed up, slow down and frame advance.
O, that sound perfect. Frame advance is a must for me and being free isn't something I can complain about. Thanks for the recommendation.
I already try the emulator they used but I really dislike it personally. It did look neat though.
The emulator I use for SNES is lsnes and the emulator they used is Snes9x. My emulator seem to save in the same format but add a l in front of it. So my emulator play lsmv movie files while they have a normal smv file.
Honestly I just want to watch this: http://tasvideos.org/3813S.html but with the ability to speed things up or slow things down for a closer look. Hopefully with lsnes if possible.
Sorry I been asking so many questions. I'm sure I just missed a guide or something explaining different format somewhere. I'm trying my best to not be discouraged from learning TAS though just because I am well...Learning. At the same time I don't want to use that as an excuse to be lazy.
Thanks
There a movie I want to watch on an emulator that was made by someone else.
Would I need to download the emulator that the guy used to be able to see it?
The SNES emulator that I want to use save movie files in a different format. Even if I change the format is there a chance that it would screw up the movie because I am watching on a different emulator?
Well, there is memory watch and Lua scripting (the first might be pointed out by tutorials, the latter can be used to do the former). Those are very helpful (especially memory watching).
Making a good TAS without memory watch is very difficult. What is shown on the screen just isn't accurate enough.
I believe I already seen the video tutorial about the memory watch. That is how you find out how fast character X is during some of his actions and his exact spot on the level right? The guy who did the video tutorials really did a great job on them.
Lua scripting I haven't gotten into at all but I seen a few videos that use it to keep the RNG from being annoying. I can see how it can be useful when it come to RPGs.
Honestly at the moment I just trying to get used to inputting stuff at the right time without wasting frames so I kinda been just ignoring memory watch. I want to take it one step at a time or else I might get bored of his little hobby before it even get started. The game I am currently testing this stuff out on is Mario & Yoshi.
So it isn't really even necessary as it is a simple game. I may move on to a platformer later but I guess you could say that I am just testing the waters before diving too deep.
Because VBA emulates the whole system, the real time clock only runs when emulation is running. If you were to pause emulation, the real time clock would pause as well, and if you loaded an earlier or later savestate, the real time clock would be set back or forward to that time. This is in contrast to a real GBC, where the clock would continue to run whether the game is on or off.
So these emulators were built with everything in mind. I honestly thought they were basically just like any other emulator but with added tools and the not-so-useful-for-TASers stuff taken away. Maybe I was underestimating the emulators and the thought put into them and just was generally being ignorance. Funny enough I tested to see if save stating won't stop time just to be safe on a normal emulator before I make a fool out of myself but I didn't take the time to do so on the specially made emulator. I should have honestly just take the 5 mins to try it out now that I think about it.
Thanks for answering. I feel kinda silly now that I think of what I could have done.
FractalFusion wrote:
and it breaks the rules anyway.
Yea, I guess it wouldn't make sense to wait for a day anyway when your goal is to beat the game as fast as possible even if it may be beneficial when it come to in-game time. That was more or less something I was just curious about.
Thanks for answering.
At the moment I have a simple goal of doing a TAS on a simple puzzle game for the Gameboy.
While this thread is up is there any other special "beneath the hood" features that I should be aware of when it come to these emulators that isn't pointed out on the tutorial videos or on the guides?
Sup, I am totally new here and hopefully I will start making my own TAS runs. I'm just planning to start simple and work my way up but for now I have what may be a slightly advance question. I'm not planning to use the knowledge right away but I also don't want it to bug me to hell and back at the current moment.
I had read all of the links including the rules and look at all of the guides already. Still have to take a deeper look at the common tricks page. I did a search for this question but didn't find anything though it is quite possible I may have simply missed it or type in the wrong key words in which case sorry in advance.
As far as I can understand because no game is truly random is exactly what allow TAS runs to exist and allow the runs themselves be repeatable which is why only inputs are recorded and nothing else.
http://tasvideos.org/1123S.html
Even though the game use real time a TAS run is still possible assuming you input what time you want or just go with the default (though it seem like the system month and day time also play a role as the linked TAS needed to be replay with VBA system clock set on May 19)
But how exactly can you take a break or save state without screwing the whole thing up? Wouldn't the time be your current computer time as soon as you load the savestate and start working on it again? Is there a way to disable your own system clock from effecting the game clock?
Sorry but this have been bugging me a lot lately.
Also a related question, with real time being a huge factor when it come to catching Pokemon on the 2nd gen Pokemon would using real time (turning the game completely off and coming back to it day later) be impossible to do on a TAS? Even if you go by ingame clock as your time you can't really input what time you turn the game back on so when you go to replay it the NPC/Pokemon won't be there and just screw the whole thing up right?
One of my later goals once I become somewhat decent was to do a 100% glitchless/corruption-free run of one of the 2nd gen Pokemon games just because it was something I wanted to do even if it may not be worth uploading anywhere but currently it seem like such a thing would be impossible with real time being a huge factor on that game.
Sorry, kinda jump the gun on that one but nevertheless there is an error.[/img]
So it isn't really even necessary as it is a simple game. I may move on to a platformer later but I guess you could say that I am just testing the waters before diving too deep.