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Post subject: oh no spoilers
Masterjun
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Joined: 10/12/2010
Posts: 1185
Location: Germany
dwangoAC wrote:
Fortunately, SMW is a very quick hop into complete control and it has the advantage of SMW which means we can easily show SMW. At one point, we'll allow Twitch Chat to SMW which could get kind of crazy.
Warning: Might glitch to credits I will finish this ACE soon as possible (or will I?)
Post subject: Re: oh no spoilers
Moderator, Senior Ambassador, Experienced player (907)
Joined: 9/14/2008
Posts: 1014
Masterjun wrote:
dwangoAC wrote:
Fortunately, SMW is a very quick hop into complete control and it has the advantage of SMW which means we can easily show SMW. At one point, we'll allow Twitch Chat to SMW which could get kind of crazy.
Heh - I deserved that. :) No, the [redacted] is in no way, shape or form SMW. 3 years in a row was pushing it, 4 would produce some pretty creative Twitch "commentary" on the trend. :)
I was laid off in May 2023 and became too ill to work this year and could use support via Patreon or onetime donations as work on TASBot Re: and TASBot HD is stalled. I'm dwangoAC, TASVideos Senior Ambassador and BDFL of the TASBot community; when healthy, I post TAS content on YouTube.com/dwangoAC based on livestreams from Twitch.tv/dwangoAC.
Post subject: At AGDQ, fighting hardware problems but working the solution
Moderator, Senior Ambassador, Experienced player (907)
Joined: 9/14/2008
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We (micro500, p4plus2, mediamagnet, serisium, Tompa and I) are all at AGDQ and we did a rehearsal yesterday. Unfortunately, one of the new PSoC devkit boards had the MicroUSB port snap off the board before the rehearsal so we only had two working at the time. The sound techs were troubleshooting some wiring issues so we opted to defer our rehearsal to midnight and work some more. We managed to get another board flashed with the correct firmware to replace the failed one but over the course of the evening leading up to midnight we started seeing strange, strange behavior with the consoles such as consoles not powering on when connected to the board. Eventually, the MicroUSB connector snapped off a second board and we discovered that it was likely shorting out the 5v to ground and causing problems. As we were packing up for the second rehearsal attempt we discovered that a third MicroUSB connector had popped off leaving us with only one currently working board. We have a good idea of what the problem is (the DevKit boards don't have solder around the outer legs of the connector leaving only the 5 legs for data and power as the only connection point) and how to prevent it from happening again (add solder before they snap off). We have two extra boards but no other spares so we don't have margin left. I believe serisium is going to attempt the solder work today. We have great news - the one thing that did go well during rehearsal was a complete NES Classic resync of Gradius (adelikat's run resynced by link_7777, replete with a spirited attack against the volcano that caused the AGDQ 2014 desyncs) . We are exploring the option of making it a donation incentive, but that will only happen if the schedule is not too far behind and we can demonstrate that we will not be running over. That will require extensive commentary rehearsal which will likely take place on Thursday and Friday. I'll try to keep updating here. I've neglected the top post, I'll update it now.. One other last piece of good news - we've fully confirmed the $1k award from GeekPwn, we've received $770 out of the $2k we have in expenses, and we'll be donating 10% of whatever we receive. That brings the donation I'll be making on behalf of the site and the TASBot team up to $1,077 with an additional $500 pledged as a matching donation to the Prevent Cancer Foundation from my employer after the event making the current final donation $1,577. I'm very happy about this but could still use some help with the remainder of our expenses; if our expenses are fully covered (meaning I give $200, i.e. 10% of $2k) it'll bring the final total to $1.8k! If we're fully funded I may even be able to sell some Bitcoin to push that donation even higher. Thanks again to everyone for the support, and it's not too late to help out - details are in my signature and on this post with the list of current donors. Thanks again for the support, everyone!
I was laid off in May 2023 and became too ill to work this year and could use support via Patreon or onetime donations as work on TASBot Re: and TASBot HD is stalled. I'm dwangoAC, TASVideos Senior Ambassador and BDFL of the TASBot community; when healthy, I post TAS content on YouTube.com/dwangoAC based on livestreams from Twitch.tv/dwangoAC.
Spikestuff
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Joined: 10/12/2011
Posts: 6435
Location: The land down under.
dwangoAC wrote:
We have great news - the one thing that did go well during rehearsal was a complete NES Classic resync of Gradius (adelikat's run resynced by link_7777, replete with a spirited attack against the volcano that caused the AGDQ 2014 desyncs) . We are exploring the option of making it a donation incentive, but that will only happen if the schedule is not too far behind and we can demonstrate that we will not be running over.
If it's allowed to be a donation incentive if they have the time for it please call it The Revenge of the Gradius TAS. (I will never stop requesting that name)
WebNations/Sabih wrote:
+fsvgm777 never censoring anything.
Disables Comments and Ratings for the YouTube account. Something better for yourself and also others.
Dama1138
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Joined: 8/10/2015
Posts: 6
Location: St. Louis
Spikestuff wrote:
dwangoAC wrote:
We have great news - the one thing that did go well during rehearsal was a complete NES Classic resync of Gradius (adelikat's run resynced by link_7777, replete with a spirited attack against the volcano that caused the AGDQ 2014 desyncs) . We are exploring the option of making it a donation incentive, but that will only happen if the schedule is not too far behind and we can demonstrate that we will not be running over.
If it's allowed to be a donation incentive if they have the time for it please call it The Revenge of the Gradius TAS. (I will never stop requesting that name)
+1 for Revenge of the Gradius TAS... lol.
rusty fuck-it bay
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Joined: 3/31/2010
Posts: 1466
Location: Not playing Puyo Tetris
+2 for Revenge of the Gradius TAS The Prince of Ocean says it must be done.
When TAS does Quake 1, SDA will declare war. The Prince doth arrive he doth please.
Moderator, Senior Ambassador, Experienced player (907)
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hegyak wrote:
+2 for Revenge of the Gradius TAS The Prince of Ocean says it must be done.
Your wish is my command: https://gamesdonequick.com/tracker/bid/5665
I was laid off in May 2023 and became too ill to work this year and could use support via Patreon or onetime donations as work on TASBot Re: and TASBot HD is stalled. I'm dwangoAC, TASVideos Senior Ambassador and BDFL of the TASBot community; when healthy, I post TAS content on YouTube.com/dwangoAC based on livestreams from Twitch.tv/dwangoAC.
Spikestuff
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Joined: 10/12/2011
Posts: 6435
Location: The land down under.
$40k? Jesus... Mate, I was expecting $25k Best of luck those with the money.
WebNations/Sabih wrote:
+fsvgm777 never censoring anything.
Disables Comments and Ratings for the YouTube account. Something better for yourself and also others.
Post subject: Preparing for insanity
Moderator, Senior Ambassador, Experienced player (907)
Joined: 9/14/2008
Posts: 1014
Spikestuff wrote:
$40k? Jesus... Mate, I was expecting $25k Best of luck those with the money.
It was met! We're on in the next 45 minutes and while we had a last minute scare or two we think what we have to show is going to be really amazing. Thanks again to everyone who supported our efforts - catch you guys on the flipside!
I was laid off in May 2023 and became too ill to work this year and could use support via Patreon or onetime donations as work on TASBot Re: and TASBot HD is stalled. I'm dwangoAC, TASVideos Senior Ambassador and BDFL of the TASBot community; when healthy, I post TAS content on YouTube.com/dwangoAC based on livestreams from Twitch.tv/dwangoAC.
Post subject: Re: Preparing for insanity
Spikestuff
They/Them
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Joined: 10/12/2011
Posts: 6435
Location: The land down under.
dwangoAC wrote:
It was met!
Thanks The Yetee for the $28k...
WebNations/Sabih wrote:
+fsvgm777 never censoring anything.
Disables Comments and Ratings for the YouTube account. Something better for yourself and also others.
Joined: 5/9/2005
Posts: 752
Best of luck out there guys!
Player (171)
Joined: 7/1/2016
Posts: 263
You didn't show that 7-bit / 52 kHz audio on nes. WHY???
jdaster64
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Joined: 12/1/2012
Posts: 103
Location: New Donk City
I assume this video and audio data has to be loaded in real-time via ACE; I'd have to think even with hardcoded data, that'd be super taxing on the SNES's RAM / CPU, let alone the input polling frequency this'd require. What kind of format did this require?
Player (224)
Joined: 10/17/2005
Posts: 399
Wat just happened? wat
<adelikat> I've been quoted with worse
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Joined: 3/10/2004
Posts: 7698
Location: Finland
I think this was the best and most polished TAS block so far. The diversity of types of TASes showcased was excellent, there was a good amount of variety, and their length was very appropriate. A classic old-school TAS, and a good amount of absolutely breaking games and consoles. And the commentary and explanations were polished and informative. During the "SuperN64" and "Portal" segments it started to feel a bit worrying because while it was very cool, there was zero explanation of what exactly is happening. Not as in explaining what the video is showing, but about what exactly is happening with the video. But then the explanation came, which saved it perfectly. And it had that wow factor that has become expected of the TAS block. I think this was pretty much the perfect TAS block, and there's very little to criticize, barring some very nitpicky and mostly irrelevant things.
Joined: 4/13/2009
Posts: 431
I think this was the worst TAS block so far. So we got Gradius. Cool. Impressive at first, the the excitement kind of died down as the run went of. There's just so much you can do with an auto scroller and a NES game. Then we got several short ones where we basically just played around with total control. Yeah, there was the Mario game, but that was kind of not as much fun as the quality was subpar. Why TAS a N64 game on a SNES? Lower resolution, worse color information, less framerate. What's to like? Nothing! ...Well, except the cool factor. I still think you could have saved that for an actual system, if such a thing is possible. Then there was a shooter which does not resonate with me. Maybe it did with others, but I just find them boring. So in the end, it didn't feel like we got any nice run to really enjoy. Too little content because too much was wasted on "cool tricks." I also think the explanations were very bad, especially what a TAS is. Again. Oh, a TAS is an emulator and we do a little save states and frame advance. But that doesn't explain what a TAS is! We need to put ourselves in the shoes of people who know nothing of what a TAS is. Explain how a TAS is produced, what concepts are used in a little more detail. In short: my opinion is that we need some actual cool runs that aren't just 5-10 minutes long and less of the funs n' giggles with total control and all that. Sure, I get it, people like it. I like it too. But nothing this year was amazing. Nothing was really wow. I would like to see something cool, but would also like to see a real TAS that has at least some length, a TAS that actually completes the game and isn't just used as a scapegoat for some total control or something. Just throwing out my opinion there in the wild...
jdaster64
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Posts: 103
Location: New Donk City
Yeah, I must have tuned out right before the SM64/Portal streaming stuff was explained. Really impressive from a tech standpoint, but I feel it might have had a better reception if it were explained more beforehand.
Post subject: Clearly SMW was missing.
Masterjun
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Joined: 10/12/2010
Posts: 1185
Location: Germany
Guys this AGDQ TAS block was really bad because we didn't have SMW in it. I knew it all along! (No but seriously, good job presenting all this!)
Warning: Might glitch to credits I will finish this ACE soon as possible (or will I?)
Spikestuff
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Editor, Publisher, Expert player (2631)
Joined: 10/12/2011
Posts: 6435
Location: The land down under.
I do apologize for this. AGDQ2017 was not the best TASBlock... especially for AGDQ. NESMini Block that was fine. Too bad everything was a desync... I should've done more for Galaga... but I had horrendous time management... So I apologize on my massive glaring fault on that. Mario 3 / Mega Man Yes for how the start and with what happened after the glitch execution. Legend of Zelda The setup for it all was lovely and everything... The Video Feed TASes. Super Mario 64 / Portal. I was literally falling asleep as these were just feed TASes, Portal hurts to watch... and with a border that thick it didn't help. SkHype Lovely, lovely concept. Reminded me of SethBling collaboration with Verizon in Minecraft. But it felt flat. Twitch can Color a Dinos-- And emotes were allowed into it and that killed anything from that... Seriously guys, good job and all but it felt flat... and I must again apologize on my screw up aswell.
WebNations/Sabih wrote:
+fsvgm777 never censoring anything.
Disables Comments and Ratings for the YouTube account. Something better for yourself and also others.
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Joined: 7/1/2016
Posts: 263
Twitch can Color a Dinos When this starts chat completely stops for me. I have decent pc and internet connection, but still there was so many messages that my config can't handle that. It completely stops. And also i was banned in the chat for absolutely nothing so i can't spam emotes :C So it was pretty sad edit: definitely this agdq was one of the badest for me. Not that many great games for speedruns. To many indy games. No classic nes runs that i wait every year. No battletoads, no smb3, no megaman 2, no gimmick, no zelda etc. I was so bored so i watch actually previous agdq events instead of strem
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Nice job on the block guys!
EEssentia wrote:
Oh, a TAS is an emulator and we do a little save states and frame advance. But that doesn't explain what a TAS is!
It's worse than that, "frame advance" means nothing to a regular player. You have to use normal English, not TASVideos non-English lingo to convey things.
Warning: Opinions expressed by Nach or others in this post do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, or position of Nach himself on the matter(s) being discussed therein.
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Posts: 663
jdaster64 wrote:
Yeah, I must have tuned out right before the SM64/Portal streaming stuff was explained. Really impressive from a tech standpoint, but I feel it might have had a better reception if it were explained more beforehand.
Welcome to GDQ TAS Blocks. This is how they all have gone. I'll keep my other opinions away from here as they won't be any more constructive. The block pulls in the dollars though.
true on twitch - lsnes windows builds 20230425 - the date this site is buried
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Joined: 6/15/2005
Posts: 3282
It's nice to have the TAS Block every year. That being said, I have some comments. In my opinion, the Portal TAS is too confusing for anyone who hasn't played the game to understand no matter how much of it is explained in words. And all this time I was wondering when the commentators were going to say that the Super Mario 64 and Portal things were just video streams. I mean, those couldn't be anything else (N64/PC emulators on SNES? How absurd), but explanations given sooner would have been nice. Though I think that in this case there are better things to stream on a hijacked SNES than TASes, and that SM64 should have been shown on an actual N64. (I mean, it is possible, right?) Interestingly, the Twitch emote spam crashed my stream, but that's just me. I don't use super laptops like others do. Other things: - I don't have infinite time, so I am selective about which AGDQ games/blocks I choose to view. So that helps. I chose to view Pokemon Emerald, Mega Man X, Mighty No. 9, Halo 2, and the TAS Block. - It is extremely important in all blocks to have good commentary; AGDQ should encourage this as much as possible.
Alyosha
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Nice work Dwango & Co! I liked the Gradius revenge on the mini nes, that was a really cool way to wrap up a loose end from before. Personally I think it would have been better to run the Portal TAS seperately so it had time for more exposition. The whole AV Skhype thing was a cool tech demo but didn't offer much entertainment value in my opinion. Also it seems like each AGDQ TASBlock relies more and more on behind the scenes computing and less focus on the consoles/games. It was even mentioned this time how latches in the NES were removed (somehow) to cram more data into it. Personally I prefer to see the consoles used as video game consoles and not so much as a data dump for whatever a behind the scenes computer is doing. Still though very impressive stuff as always!
Joined: 5/9/2005
Posts: 752
Yeah, my thoughts on this were; it was technically fantastic. You did a really really great job with pushing the limits to just what is possible. But the presentation was just off. Even as some one who is familiar with your memory manipulation stuff, you had lost me at when SM64 booted up as I felt you had broken the statement that you had made at the start of the block. That nothing had been modified. I mean, I knew you hadn't, by your definition, as I trust you guys. I just felt like; I don't know whats going on and this feels like a con. The realisation that you were running 3 consoles at once was amazing; but for me there was too long a period where there was the question in the back of my mind... are they pulling a trick? Skype stuff was fantastic, as was the twitch chat participation thing. I do wonder why traditional Tool assisted speed runs seem to be absent from the last two showings. IIRC the last two non memory corruption parts of the segments have been shumps? Where there is alot of time to show off.... but next to zero chance to go fast? That said; you lot pushing the boundaries as far as possible, as well as mixing stuff up where you can is great. TAS videos can do amazing things... I just don't know if the standard GDQ viewer could keep up with this. You all did a fantastic job showing off what TAS can do. I just fear you didnt make it relate able. ------------- I dunno, I feel like I'm being overly negative. Like I say; what you did was great. Maybe if you're going to be this smart you can also dumb it down a bit so people like I can understand? quick edit; oh by 'presentation' I mean the script guess; The gang on the couch were great!
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