I'm posting a new topic cause I couldn't find one for this particular game. Point me to it if I'm wrong.
I was just messing around with this game to see what I could come up with since I had some free time tonight. I only played through the first level, and it seems like a standard platformer.
I made a quick test of the first level, and here are some things I can point out:
- double tapping either direction will cause the character to sprint. Spongebob and patrick appear to be the fastest characters, while squidward is definitely the slowest.
- X speed: 03000552
- Y speed: 03002B9A
- it's possible to jump infinitely as spongebob by abusing his absorption technique. If you jump the exact frame after canceling the technique in the air, you can perform a jump, and repeat as many times as desired. This will be useful to skipping a lot of the game.
- Pressing B while sprinting will make your character do a special attack. It is almost necessary to defeat enemies that are in your way without slowing down significantly. Of course at the end of this special attack you'll completely stop and have to reactive the sprint. This also happens whenever you fall from a ledge, so it is often useful to perform this attack over a ledge to extend your sprinting speed (and only losing about 2 or 3 frames before sprinting again).
I'm already aware that in this little test my abuse of the infinite jump is not the fastest. I just did a quick test to see what it would look like, and it can/will be improved later (if I decide to do this game..). However if you notice anything else, please don't hesitate to tell me!
The rerecord count is pretty high for this little test, and only because I spent a lot of time looking for glitches (of which I only found the jump glitch).
I don't have any idea how long the actual game is until I unlock all the levels. Any thoughts if this would be interesting at all?
http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/1561674525/Exxonym_SSLCP2.vbm
The rerecord count is pretty high for this little test, and only because I spent a lot of time looking for glitches (of which I only found the jump glitch).
Ok, I'm finally done with my personal stuff and have just checked the run. It's pretty fast paced for a spongebob game, similar to the spongebob squarepants movie. I'm going to try to improve the first stage, since this seems like a fun game to TAS.
Edit:
X. Pos - 03002B86
Y. Pos - 03002B92
I've found a very minor glitch/trick that speeds you up by 1 pixel according to the above address. I've saved 3 pixels using this trick by frame 1994. According to the address, at least 4 - 5 pixels must be saved for 1 frame to be saved.
Edit2:
56 Frames Saved!
The majority of the improvements were from better luck at the lasers near the end. The rest are from minor optimizations with a variety of pixel tricks.
Edit3:
Can we work on this run together, Exxonym? :)
Nice! I figured the bad luck at the end could be avoided. I didn't think about pixel optimization, so knowing the x and y position seems really helpful.
About working together, I have no problem with it. I just wonder how my schedule will match up with yours as I'll probably be busy this summer. Also an easier way to communicate would be nice. I'm always on IRC but I also have AIM and MSN.
About the pixel optimization, does it come from jumping (Edit: Pressing B) for one frame after landing?
About the pixel optimization, does it come from jumping (Edit: Pressing B) for one frame after landing?
I've just checked, and it seems it isn't always faster to do that. It seems to depend on some kind of sub-position, since sometimes, doing so reduces your pixel by 1, or have no effect at all. Which means the test run is probably improvable by several more frames by better pixel manipulation.
Edit: All this luck/(sub)-pixel manipulation is going to make it really hard to hex edit. :P
Sorry for the double post, but I feel this is important. The X Speed is actually 03002B8E. Changing 03000552 does absolutely nothing to Spongebob's speed, while changing 03002B8E affects it.
That makes more sense, I thought the other address seemed a bit unstable for runspeed, but I figured since it changed consistently with the way he was moving that it was the runspeed. I wonder what that other address is really following then.
I played through the second level normally and it seems like it might be a little more challenging to TAS. We'll see.
Edit: Did you try playing as any other characters? I never really tested them much besides their basic run speed, but it could be possible to glitch them in other ways since spongebob can.
Sorry to post again so soon, but I've saved another 15 frames in the first level with a couple tricks. First of all jumping up to a ledge can be cut short by doing the B A combo while double tapping right to run, this saves a few pixels each time. Also there are places that were better optimized, such as jumping over the ledge where you collect those stars, rather than just falling off.
Also for some reason that spiked wall was sticking out this time (I'm not sure on the randomness of these objects) so I could cleanly jump to it rather than use that little boost in the air.
I'm pretty much done with the first level I think, unless you can come up with a couple more frames to save or something.
http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/812249762/Exxonym_SSLCP3.81.vbm
Nice, I was up to about 73 pixels ahead (about 18-19 frames) in my last attempt, but for some reason I lost some of them by the end, even though everything was done the same way. It ended up being 15 frames (about 62 pixels) faster. I don't know for sure, but your 2 frames could probably be from where I goofed, we'll see!
About the next level, we may possibly need to switch to patrick briefly in the area where there are breakable blocks on the floor, to avoid going out of the way twice. I still haven't tested whether just using spongebob to go around that area is any slower than using patrick to break through, but just a heads up.
Also I think the third level is a racing level, so that will be interesting.
I won't go in too much TAS'ing detail on the next level until you post that improvement though.
Nice, I was up to about 73 pixels ahead (about 18-19 frames) in my last attempt, but for some reason I lost some of them by the end, even though everything was done the same way. It ended up being 15 frames (about 62 pixels) faster. I don't know for sure, but your 2 frames could probably be from where I goofed, we'll see!
3 Frames saved, 2 frames was from lag reduction, and 1 frame just appeared out of nowhere, which leads me to suspect that there might be yet another possible improvement, but I haven't found it yet.
[url=http://uppit.com/c7n782zwcc8j/Test_SSLCP3.7_-_Copy.vbm
]WIP[/url]. (Using some other file-hosting site as MicroStorage is down at the time of writing).
Forget this post.
I found 1 frame of improvement in the first level, and found 14 more by accident at the end for a total of 15 more frames saved.
I was making a framework of the second level when I found the trick that saved the individual frame in the first level. Instead of jumping at ~ frame 3735 off the ledge, there is a 1-frame window at ledges where if you stop all button presses, you'll immediately fall with a speed of 4. It ends up being about 1 frame faster than jumping over it.
The other 14 I discovered by accident messing around with the end. I found that instead of jumping clear over the ledge, I jumped up to the ledge and used the newly found drop trick off the ledge. It clipped the ledge below allowing me to jump to those platforms without having to waste frames by jumping in midair. Of course since this was faster, it catches the electricity so I had to turn around twice in order to avoid them, so the frames saved could have been higher, but still ended up being 15 frames.
http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/71795707/Test_SSLCP3.82.vbm
EDIT: I saved one more frame by not turning around but canceling and reenabling the sprint.
http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/644987429/Test_SSLCP3.82.vbm
Nice! I couldn't manage to manipulate the laser, so I went ahead and played through the entire game.
In stages 2-1 and 2-2, its a platformer just like stages 1-1 and 1-2, except the levels are seperated by doors.
In stage 2-3, its a driving stage like 1-3, but instead of a race, you're supposed to crash into the opponent several times.
In stage 2-4, its the exact same thing as stage 1-4, where its like DDR but faster and slightly longer.
Stage 3-1 is a platformer stage where you must not stop running, or you'll get killed by a horde of fans.
Stage 3-2 is an average platformer stage with only 1 door this time.
Stage 3-3 is a minigame stage where you must block volleyballs from destroying the sand castles. The vollyballs must be deflected back to the bullies.
Stage 3-4 is a driving stage where you must make it to the end within the time limit.
Stage 4-1 is a platformer stage where you must find the light switch to open the door to the next room.
Stage 4-2 is your typical platforming stage.
Stage 4-3 is a minigame where you must grab hold of falling krabby patty parts in the right order 5 times. Luck manipulation is going to be a pain here.
Stage 4-4 is similar to stage 3-1, but instead of fans, you are chased by a boulder. You must use patrick as there are breakable floors that must be smashed.
The final stage starts off with the minigame in stage 4-3, then it becomes like stage 1-4, but shorter, and then it proceeds to a driving stage. After that, it becomes a dodging minigame where losing is faster time-wise than wining, and finally a button masher in which it never ends, so simply don't press a thing to watch the final "cutscene" and the credits.
In stage 2-4, its the exact same thing as stage 1-4, where its like DDR but faster and slightly longer.
Are those levels as boring as they sound? Doesn't sound like you can do much in a TAS of DDR.
About the run, I have started a test of the second level using spongebob (I think patrick would actually be slower because you'd have to switch to him and his pound attack is really slow). Have you started the second level or do you want me to post my results when I'm done? I'll still test the patrick thing to see if he's faster but I really doubt it, as you'll have to switch to patrick and then back to spongebob to be able to abuse his infinite jump.
About the run, I have started a test of the second level using spongebob (I think patrick would actually be slower because you'd have to switch to him and his pound attack is really slow). Have you started the second level or do you want me to post my results when I'm done?
Please post the results when you're done. I'm currently trying to find some tricks for this game, but it's hard, since I've discovered you CAN'T replay the levels until you beat the entire game, and even then, the game treats it as a "new game+", as in, you keep the unlocked minigames/stars, but every level is locked except the first. :P
Tl;dr - You can only beat each level once per playthrough.
Well, that level was longer than I though it would be. Anyway, here it is. I don't like some of the solutions/bad luck I had but was unable to make anything faster. Feel free to save some frames if you want. :P
http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/219055528/Test_SSLCP3.9.vbm
Also, I found some interesting things in the game. However, I couldn't make them glitch or do anything useful. The first thing was being able to stand in a certain wall. If you moved though it would just eject you out the top near the ramp.
Also I found a place in the ceiling where you can jump up in. I'm sure this is not intentional as you have to use the jump glitch to get in there at the max height. Again, however, I could find no use for this as it seems to be a closed off area.
Here's that VBM for curiosity (occurs near the beginning of the second level):
http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/1915127422/Test_SSLCP3.9ceil.vbm
Also I found a place in the ceiling where you can jump up in. I'm sure this is not intentional as you have to use the jump glitch to get in there at the max height. Again, however, I could find no use for this as it seems to be a closed off area.
Here's that VBM for curiosity (occurs near the beginning of the second level):
http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/1915127422/Test_SSLCP3.9ceil.vbm
For the past day, I was trying to get to this area, after I accidentally clipped in while playing around:
Earlier today, I figured to use cheats to explore the area, and found out that its a dead end; you're trapped, and forced to exit the level. Which means I've wasted the whole day doing nothing useful. >.>
I'm looking for improvements now for real this time. Sorry for the wait.
Edit: I found a minor clipping glitch. It allowed me to fall into the floor for 1 frame. I can't find any use for it atm, but anyway, here's the .vbm, incase you want to check it out.
I found a minor clipping glitch. It allowed me to fall into the floor for 1 frame. I can't find any use for it atm, but anyway, here's the .vbm, incase you want to check it out.
Yeah, I checked it out but I couldn't find any use for it either. I've been trying all sorts of things after my last post, but I haven't been able to find any glitching or timesavers. It's a shame because there are quite a few places where you can clip into walls, such as the one I posted before where you can actually stand in the wall. In all places it just pushes you out.
I feel like there should be some sort of zip glitch somewhere in this game, but I can't seem to find any.
Sorry if this post is useless. :P
Edit; Just some weird happenings with those spiked walls. I found that if you jump up into the top spiked wall, it will send you to the end of the spiked wall immediately, hurting you. So it jumps quite a bit faster than your normal running speed, but there doesn't seem to be any use for this either. Also, when you die on a spiked wall, and it switches to patrick, there is one frame of a purple dying spongebob before patrick switches in. ;P
Also I found a place in the ceiling where you can jump up in. I'm sure this is not intentional as you have to use the jump glitch to get in there at the max height. Again, however, I could find no use for this as it seems to be a closed off area.
Here's that VBM for curiosity (occurs near the beginning of the second level):
http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/1915127422/Test_SSLCP3.9ceil.vbm
Earlier today, I figured to use cheats to explore the area, and found out that its a dead end; you're trapped, and forced to exit the level. Which means I've wasted the whole day doing nothing useful. >.>
I'm looking for improvements now for real this time. Sorry for the wait.
Edit: I found a minor clipping glitch. It allowed me to fall into the floor for 1 frame. I can't find any use for it atm, but anyway, here's the .vbm, incase you want to check it out.
