Booting to firmware or directly to game is a sync setting, along with other settings that can be changed from the DS' firmware program.
Real96 wrote:
firmware.bin gives this error: note: given hash is with blank user data)
That's not an error; it's telling you that BizHawk cannot automatically find the firmware file because everybody's firmware file will be unique. (This will hopefully be changed at some point, but it kinda requires re-doing the entire automatic detection system.)
Right-click the entry for firmware.bin and select "Set Customization", then select your firmware file. It can verify the firmware, so if it's good you should see a green check mark.
Yes I have a question. Is microphone support in the works right now? There's some games I want to test but can't since they require the microphone to progress, Club Penguin and SpongeBob's truth or square are a few examples.
Also the audio briefly plays at a higher pitch whenever I load a save state.
Microphone support is on the todo list.
I'll also try to fix the audio issue. It seems to happen after pausing.
CoolHandMike wrote:
Ahh I have a question regarding consistency. If I start seriously doing a TAS and there are changes exactly how bad could desyncs become?
I would expect most things to not have serious desync issues, but it is possible. MelonDS is still being actively developed by Arisotura and future updates, whether or not intended for BizHawk, may cause desyncs. I do not know how accurate the emulation is at this point.
A bigger issue might be incomplete savestates. I've come across a few things that I've had to add to them already. I did complete an IL TAS of NSMB using TAStudio with zero desync issues, but this is not an absolute guarantee of reliability.
I have created a tool which allows you to TAS with the mouse. I would highly recommend that every TASer use it, as it is extremely helpful.
It will take some getting used to, as it is a very different experience than TASing with a keyboard/controller, but well worth the learning curve. Make sure to save and backup your movie frequently while learning, though, as desyncs are rather easy to accidentally create if you're not used to TASing this way.
Download link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/78drfv476wx04dk/DeSmuMe%20Movie%20Editor.exe?dl=0
This tool only works with Windows, and using either DeSmuME_0.9.9_x86.exe or DeSmuME_X432R_AVI_x86.exe.
Use version 0.9.9 if you're having any trouble with SRAM and movie recordings. 0.9.10 and 0.9.11 are both bugged, as jlun2 said.
IIRC the later versions just ignore the SRAM data in the movie file and use the same save file that is used if you aren't recording/playing a movie. So you can make get the movie files to play back correctly, but it's very easy to mess up and you have to keep separate save files for each movie file.
First, do you have RAM addresses for speed and position?
No, I do not. I doubt this is in the actual BizHawk software though since it would be strange if I missed it after playing around with different settings for an hour or so...? Then again I turn out to be awful at searching from time to time.
None of the game's RAM addresses will be built-in, you have to find them yourself via the memory search tool. (As explained in the link andypanther posted.)
Do not even attempt to do a TAS without critical memory addresses. It will become much easier once you have them, and the result will almost certainly be a lot better.
I don't recall even seeing that when I TASed. You could try hacking various values to try to isolate whatever is affecting it. (e.g. hack the level timer to see if finishing with a low time remaining is what causes it)
Have you tried jumping over the last teeter-totter part? You can jump up onto the brick ceiling soon after the starman, and with that much speed maybe you can jump over.
I found an improvement in 1-2 at the walljump off the red block so it needs to be re-done. I still don't know what causes pipe entry delay for some of the pipes.
I tried to watch your WIP's, but the RNG manipulation (red block movements in the map) doesn't line up. I still managed to watch all of the first WIP because you still get the blue shell in 1-2, but in the second WIP you get a 1up mushroom in 1-2.
I love how he uses the shell's double jump ability. :)
Any idea how to do this? I haven't been able to figure out how.
The speedy downhill shell trick is a huge boost on 5-2
Do you mean 5-3? There's no koopa shell you can use in 5-2 or a downward slope for that matter.
I remember having some troubles with movie file syncing, probably caused by using 0.9.10. I can't say how to fix any desync, unfortunately. :/ I suppose you could hack the RNG value wherever needed , though?
Also I can't remember how the pipe entry delay thing worked either...I know I had that figured out before...If it's the last pipe on 1-2 you're having trouble with, I seem to recall having to land before touching the pipe for that one.
To double jump with the blue shell, you have to come out of the shell while vertical speed is exactly 0.
Yes, I meant 5-3. The icy one with the big downward slope at the start.
New any% in 20:43.72 by Onii Channel2Improvement to any% 1-2 by Hartmann
So it looks like some new tricks have been discovered with the blue shell recently. The two main ones are using the shell-speed gaining trick in combination with the Starman power, which allows you to travel at 72 speed both on the ground and the air, and seemingly "double jumping" out of a duck jump. Those tricks can save a lot of time as seen in the new any%.
I still think there's a few improvements that could be made in the new any%, so I made a short WIP of 1-1 and 1-2 that incorporates Hartmann's improvements to 1-2 with DeSmuMe 0.9.9 with Advanced Bus-Level Timing OFF and dynamic recompiler at 100. Unfortunately, I have a problem with pipe entry delay at the end of 1-2 and bad map RNG afterward, so I stopped here for now. The WIP currently saves 1 frame in 1-1 and 109 frames in 1-2 over the current any%.
The starman thing is new (as far as I know), but nothing else in Hartmann's video is.
I posted a DeSmuME movie file earlier in this thread for a 100% WIP. If you haven't already seen it, maybe check it out. It might prove interesting.
Suuper wrote:
EDIT: I've watched the any% run now. I love how he uses the shell's double jump ability. :)
It would be nice to see a faster run, though. The speedy downhill shell trick is a huge boost on 5-2.
Is there a good explanation of that super grinding glitch anywhere? Because it just looks like a lame TAS when I don't understand what's actually going on.
Back on topic, I'm always curious how exactly do people optimize 3D movement in situations that really require all 3 dimensions (bowser in the fire sky level, for example). How do you even start with what to improve? Do you people just start at what looks potentially improve-able and go from there?
You can just try what looks improve-able, or you can just try lots of stuff with trial-and-error. But ideally you'd figure out whatever you can with maths and then fit whatever pieces that gives you together as best as you can. Of course the math can get complicated, but whatever bits you can do are helpful.
(This is from my experience TASing other games.)
@niamek: I am unable to reproduce your error.
I don't see how doing something quickly would mess anything up, and I also don't know how quickly you mean for me to do it. If you could find a method of reproducing the error that doesn't require quick clicking, that would be great.
(It also seems that this situation is so contrived that nobody would ever accidentally encounter it...)
Also, please post the settings you have under "Metadata..." -> "Savestate History Settings"
When I tried it with branch states turned off, everything worked the way it is supposed to. With it turned on, however, I got a different error when I tried to re-open it. Bizhawk told me that the system Id did not match; the movie had no system Id set. (When I changed the code to bypass that check, it found other problems with it.)
I don't know if this is a problem caused by that setting being half-baked, or somewhere else. Could someone familiar with movie saving look into it?
(I tested with Mario Kart Super Circuit, US.)
I wasn't able to get a "Unable to read beyond the end of the stream." error. (I tried running a game for 2,000 frames, creating 10 branches, then saving.)
Do you have "Metadata" -> "Savestate History Settings" -> "Put branch states to .tasproj" enabled? (I didn't get the error either way.)
I fixed a few things that I did find, so maybe your bug will also be fixed.
Is it a case of waiting until you guys are on holiday?
Just wait until they have the time, making frequent posts here won't make it happen any sooner. (I expect it will actually get you less updates in the long run.)
While it's nice to see someone interested in TASing this game, the video you posted doesn't match previously made runs.
The best WIP is mine, which I don't have a video for. I posted my movie file earlier in this thread, though.
Someone else had a video of something that beats what you have, but I wasn't able to find it with my quick YouTube search. :/ I do however have a video TAS of 1-Tower 100% on my YouTube channel which I can link you to: https://youtu.be/uakgFs5R-zE
(late reply) I'm not actually sure myself.
Also, a no-glitch TAS. (Watch in 60fps)
Link to video
Rapid fire hopping can also be used to reduce airtime.
I think you mean non-SC? Rapid fire hopping is a glitch, right?
That's a wall clip. Hitting a wall very quickly changes your trajectory so that you're going perfectly straight (the way you are facing). Normally I can keep from slowing down that much, but this corner is particularly tricky largely due to not being off-road.
If you want to see more wall clips, watch my TAS of GBA Luigi Circuit.
bounces optimization is really hard, Suuper tried a lot to improve it and couldn’t do it.
It's not just the bounces (I have experience bouncing on courses like rCM), but the slippery road as well. Without that it'd be easy to go both straight and fast at the same time.
I went back to this, and found that I was indeed exiting Wrinkly's Cave 2 frames too early. Fixing this actually saved frames; the overworld loaded sooner.
Sounds like this could be something that happens often throughout the run. Check many frames when going through loading screens.
I think it has more to do with that the game has different/less stuff to do in the background (and maybe it started sooner too), than with random timings. I've had several different times entering other load screens without seeing more than a 1-frame difference.
I went back to this, and found that I was indeed exiting Wrinkly's Cave 2 frames too early. Fixing this actually saved frames; the overworld loaded sooner.
This also changed the RNG, so I re-did the bananas bonus level. [without trying to luck manipulate] I was reasonably lucky, being able to get every banana as soon as it appeared. The last banana was towards the left side, though.
The first lag frame after reaching the flag is now at frame 6,528. Here's my new input in a tasproj: https://www.dropbox.com/s/jlrv20nx3ygsn9h/DKC3_Input.tasproj?dl=0
Oh, that's too bad.
Anyway, I've watched all the videos linked to here and they're all really entertaining. I hope Huffle or someone makes a full GP/Mission Mode TAS.
I'm currently working on a full missions mode TAS, hopefully I will have the patience to complete it.
ALAKTORN is contributing with strategy ideas (and a bit of actual TASing). If anyone else has strategies or glitches, please share. I'm half way through level 2, but ideas for previous missions are
still welcome; I will edit them in.
I've created a game resources page for mkds, so check it out if you're into TASing this game.