I already managed to trigger the Shot Counter Glitch, I even managed to get it to -2... Too bad this didn't help with the miniboss at all, since the current WIP is already charging the second attack while the miniboss is still invicible.
I also tried replacing the first attack with a charged missile, but when swapping to laser the game crashes, just as repored on the resource page.
About the script, it's just that I like highly-friendly interfaces. I'm noob inside.
Now with the news: have you noticed how using Flame Dash cancels the Shot Counter Glitch? Well, I found a way to avoid losing it. Just fire some shots before changing to Fire weapon and charging. When the Flame Dash starts, it sets the Shot Count to 1, and then when it ends it sets it to 0. But if after the Flame Dash ended there are still some of your bullets on screen, these will trigger the Shot Counter Glitch again when they disappear.
I've tried triggering Shot Counter Glitch by using Fire shots alone, but it was impossible, because the shot disappeared off screen before the Flame Dash ended. For the moment I only managed to do it with Spikeball shotsm by having the Shot Counter Glitch already active before Flame Dashing. Maybe Missiles and Fragile Barrier will work as well.
Edit: here you can download a .tasproj that documents what I've said:
https://filebin.net/9tjnod8saldiqcv2/ZM_s6ShotCounterGlitch.tasproj
The fourth branch features Shot Counter Glitch re-triggered after firing Charged Laser, after Bubble shots; if you use Spikeball shots first intead, you get Zook freezed in place forever.
Edit 2: miniboss killed, 6 frames saved.
4 frames saved thanks to Shot Counter Glitch triggered by barrier, and 2 more frames saved in segment 2 thanks to a new strategy. Desyncs after beating miniboss.
Edit 3: Looks like my new strategy that saved 2 frames in segment 2, but made lose 1 frame and 1 X screen pixel. Here is a .tasproj file if you're interested to analyze:
https://filebin.net/8h27620je3pobh46/ZM_s6seg4tests.tasproj
Since in segment 4 we're much close to the right edge of the screen, it could be problematic to handle some collisions and drops, so I've prepared 3 extra routes with 1, 2, and 3 less X Zook pixels. All these are present as TAStudio branches in that file.
Edit 4: Stage 6 almost done... 7 frames saved until segment 5.
Edit 5:
Zook Man ZX4 - Stage 6 clear, stage select in 56280. Because of frame rules, I lost 4 frames in Segment 6. But I may have done something wrong there. Need someone to double check for possible improvements.
Edit 6:
total of 12 frames saved in Stage 6.
Edit 7:
Resynced Stage 1 after the 8 frames improvement in Stage 7 by keylie.
Edit 8:
Resynced Stage 4 until miniboss.
Edit 9: keylie
Resynced Stage 4 completely. Also added two improvements in Stage 5, respectively 2 and 5 frames, but still need to resync because a Shot Counter Glitch usage got broken.
I found a
1 frame save in Stage 8, but boss battle needs to be resynced.
Edit 10: In case someone is wondering about the 2 lag frame introduced with the improvement by keylie, I have to tell that even if you avoid them, they will pop out in another place. Here is the proof:
https://filebin.net/7nxu52764otjrp1z/ZM_s4failedlagsave.tasproj
Edit 11:
Resynced Stage 3 by keylie. 2 frames were saved, but it didn't get to the dialog rule.
Edit 12: I want to save another lag frame in Stage 3, segment 7. For this reason, I reworked segment 6 in order to get Flame ammo replenished completely earlier... Though I was still unable to save the lag frame. Someone help please:
download movie
Edit 13:
keylie managed to save that Stage 3 lag frame.
Edit 14: Stage 6 resynced, but not the boss battle.
Edit 15:
Stage 6 boss resynced. Now we have to look Stage 2 thorough for possible improvements.
Edit 16:
keylie improved Stage 2, then I improved it further, by saving about 10-11 more frames. Segment 8 and the boss fight need to be resynced though. Here is a .tasproj file:
https://filebin.net/m3fn5qm1nu14sqmz/ZM_s2bosstosync_29.tasproj
*Note* that there are 2 improvements branches: the first is 1 frame faster, but is slightly less likely to be resynced.
Edit 17:
keylie finished resyncing Stage 2. Stage select at 62358 (-9 frames)
Edit 18: I remember FatRatKnight saying that the first boss-refight couldn't skipped because the enemy to make spawn was just a mare 1 pixel away. We gotta try hard to get that pixel.