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Posted: 6/26/2005 1:06 AM
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Zurreco
Former player
Joined: 8/1/2004
Posts: 2687
Location: Seattle, WA
So... uhh... I guess I'll just tinker some more, then. I really have to rehearse my Balore fight, because, well, if you saw my WIP way back when, you know. It's rough. If and when Hoe can be super-mega-ultra-awesome and somehow make a specially patched VBA that can run this program in the background without affecting how the game itself is handled, I will definitely dive straight in to finishing this movie. Pretty much all planning is done, all I need is some software support and a little practice with some things. The only things I haven't planned are Chaos and the last warp. As it stands, I don't know if I will be able to get a decent any% out any time soon. I currently work 40 hour weeks, but I still have time after work to dabble in these things. Once school starts again in late September, though, I will be hard pressed to get a lot of work done. So, that being said, nothing has really changed. I am still currently stuck trying to get a Combat Knife from the first Zombie Soldier (although is still interchangeable with the Zombie Officer, but I prefer this method) and/or getting the Skeleton Knight from either of the first two Skeleton Knights. No luck so far. And, for inquiring minds, everythin in that latest WIP will also probably be the first ~2 minutes of input for my any% movie. Since that one has less focus on power leveling, though, the routes and tactics change pretty dramatically as soon as I enter the castle's main area.
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Posted: 6/28/2005 10:41 PM
(Edited: 6/29/2005 4:34 PM)
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Hoe
Joined: 7/31/2004
Posts: 183
Location: USA
I highly doubt I'll ever get the time or patience to learn my way around the VBA code base, as well as actualy write the required code. Any one else out there? I've go no problem figuring out the additional algorithims needed to calculate the stuff, but I doubt I I'll ever write the required software to make it useable. Things needed to know (am I missing any thing?): Drop item calculations Critical hit calculations (---edit: Woops, no critical hits) Things known: Soul drop calculations If some one shows intrest in actualy writing the software portion of it all, I'll gladly figure out what else is needed.
Posted: 6/29/2005 12:42 AM
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Zurreco
Former player
Joined: 8/1/2004
Posts: 2687
Location: Seattle, WA
There are no critical hits in Aria, FYI.
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Posted: 8/4/2005 5:44 PM
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Zurreco
Former player
Joined: 8/1/2004
Posts: 2687
Location: Seattle, WA
I figure, since it has been forever without any progress, that I am going to continue with the warp run. I have given up on trying to strongarm the Skeleton Knight soul/Zombie Soldier knife, so we will all have to be OK with the fact that I will be losing a few seconds until I get to the minotaur before the Giant Armor. Everyone is OK with that? Good. It also gives me something to improve down the line a bit. I will submit an imperfect movie if there is no real progress in the soul drop program by the time I finish with it. I can't work on the movie right now, though, because my main computer is still refusing to turn off. Until I can figure what is wrong with that PC, I will either not work on the movie, or my boredom will eventually drive me to move my operations to my other PC. We will see...
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Posted: 8/5/2005 2:45 PM
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McBAIN
Joined: 1/9/2005
Posts: 219
Location: The Netherlands
Cut the power? :)
http://www.megazpeed.com - THE site for the ultimate MegaMan Zero superplay movies.
Posted: 8/5/2005 3:37 PM
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Zurreco
Former player
Joined: 8/1/2004
Posts: 2687
Location: Seattle, WA
No. When I got my PC back from my brother's place (he held on to it for a week while I moved, but it was never used), it needed a new power supply for some reason. I replaced it, and it ran fine. Then I put in a new soundcard, and it began to give me troubles. At first glance, the new soundcard has teamed up with my video card to overheat and exhaust my processor/motherboard. Like I told mike a few days ago, it's probable that one of those two may have been damaged by the heat. I still have to test a new motherboard to see if that is the problem (which it probably is). Otherwise, whatev. Looks like I will take both PCs to school with me, then. In either sense, I am still going through with the warp movie. I'm just not worried about not-totally-important souls right now. That means that the Skeleton Knight is disposable, for now. I should still get the Minotaur, since I need to beef up for Balore and Chaos. I should probably also get Red Minotaur, which I was planning on getting, since that alone will save me 10+ seconds on Balore and Chaos. To recap, the soul and equip set ups should go like this, ideally (quotes go around things that are disposable, and armor isn't included): -intro- Winged Skeleton no blue no yellow Knife no accessory -enter castle- Winged Skeleton Flying Armor no yellow Baselard no accessory -first glitch- Winged Skeleton Flying Armor 'Skeleton Knight' 'Combat Knife' no accesory -giant armor- Winged Skeleton Flying Armor Minotaur 'Combat Knife' no accesory -second glitch- Winged Skeleton Manticore Minotaur 'Combat Knife' 'Power Belt' -balore- Red Minotaur Manticore Minotaur Laevatain 'Power Belt' -chaos- Red Minotaur Giant Bat Minotaur Laevatain 'Power Belt' I am pretty sure there won't be any deviations here. If I ever really really really need help with souls, I might grab the white dragon soul in the dance hall on my way through. I don't care for any item drops, but a mind up wouldn't hurt. I don't think I will see any, though. Keep in mind that I will have Gravekeeper and Malphas as the only two skill souls taken in this version. I had planned out all of the exp ahead of time to avoid all unecessary fights, but the addition of picking up the Laevatain kinda ruined all of that, so... more testing is needed! TO THE GBA! Comments are always helpful.
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Posted: 8/8/2005 8:26 PM
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Hoe
Joined: 7/31/2004
Posts: 183
Location: USA
A few weeks back I fiddled with VBA's code a bit to cause it to allocate the GBA buffers as shared memory, but it wouldn't compile properly. I'll dick with it some more when/if I feel up to it. If I can get the memory shared, doing this (as well as for other games) will be extreamly simple.
Posted: 8/8/2005 8:47 PM
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Zurreco
Former player
Joined: 8/1/2004
Posts: 2687
Location: Seattle, WA
Glee. If you can get the memory shared, I will buy you a cake. And no, I am not kidding. In other good news, my computer decided to wake up again. I will have to check out my mother board's settings to see if it has been overheating lately. If that isn't the case, then my problem should be that my power supply is too weak, which can be remedied with a quick trip to Fry's. Either way, things are comin' up Aria!
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Posted: 8/8/2005 8:49 PM
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TNSe
Emulator Coder
Joined: 10/9/2004
Posts: 453
Location: Norway
Yaying.
Posted: 8/9/2005 10:42 PM
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Hoe
Joined: 7/31/2004
Posts: 183
Location: USA
I've been trying for a bit to compile my modified VBA with no luck. It's having a lot of trouble with my version of Visual Studio (2005 beta2) and I'm rather sick of messing with it. Any one out there half decent with C++ and feel like doing this? gba.cpp line ~1773 find 
internalRAM = (u8 *)calloc(1,0x8000);
replace 
mapIRAM = CreateFileMapping((HANDLE)0xFFFFFFFF,NULL,PAGE_READWRITE, 0, 0x8000,"vbaIRAM");
internalRAM = (u8 *)MapViewOfFile(mapIRAM, FILE_MAP_WRITE, 0, 0, 0);
(Above is untested) You'll also need to declear it (HANDLE mapIRAM; in gba.h, and include windows.h there). Some of my trouble:
  • To build 2xSaImmx.asm, it assumes masmw.exe is in "c:\program files\nasm\" and that there's no spaces in the path to the .asm. I had to assemble it seperately from the build process.
  • Wount build the DirectX headers.
  • Needed to make all of the implicit 'const char *' to 'char *' convertions explicit.
  • And plenty more!
Edit--- Oh, you may want to close the handle at some point, too, otherwise it will linger till you restart.
Posted: 8/20/2005 6:42 PM
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Ike
Joined: 4/25/2005
Posts: 9
Location: USA
How is your progress coming with the modification to VBA? I am new here (but a long time lurker) and I'll lend my help for this cause if you need it. I have these changes implemented in the Linux version of the code using POSIX shared memory functions; however, I assume most people do their emulation/disassembly in Windows. I'll install VC++6 and see if I can get the changes you mention to build if you are still having problems with Visual Studio.
Posted: 8/21/2005 5:14 AM
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Zurreco
Former player
Joined: 8/1/2004
Posts: 2687
Location: Seattle, WA
Aye, I have a windows OS. Sorry.
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Posted: 8/22/2005 12:04 AM
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Ike
Joined: 4/25/2005
Posts: 9
Location: USA
Alright then. I reinstalled VC6 and got the VBA codebase built with the shared memory changes posted here. I read over the thread. I have some time I could spend working on AOS-specific tools. Give me a description of the kind of tools that would best suit your task, and if the others want to assist with their disassembly expertise it would be very helpful. I'll begin looking over the AOS internals.
Posted: 8/22/2005 8:24 AM
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Zurreco
Former player
Joined: 8/1/2004
Posts: 2687
Location: Seattle, WA
The only tools that would really be necessary for an optimal movie: A soul-drop tool: reads the game code and interprets into a 'kill on this frame and target enemy will give up soul' sort of read out. An item-drop tool: same as the above tool, although maybe it can predict which item will drop, in case enemies can drop more than one item, or if they can drop large/small hearts/jewels. this one isnt as important, but its still needed for an optimal movie. That is all the tools one would need to be able to make an ideal emulator movie for AoS. Thanks in advance for any progress you can make.
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Posted: 8/22/2005 9:11 AM
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McBAIN
Joined: 1/9/2005
Posts: 219
Location: The Netherlands
Have you checked at Bisqwit if it would be ligit to use a different emulator btw? Not sure how these things work, but yah, better be sure it's safe.
http://www.megazpeed.com - THE site for the ultimate MegaMan Zero superplay movies.
Posted: 8/22/2005 5:46 PM
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Zurreco
Former player
Joined: 8/1/2004
Posts: 2687
Location: Seattle, WA
It wouldn't matter, you don't need the modded version of the emulator to playback the final version of the game, and the modifications don't alter the game in any way. It just interprets the game for me.
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Posted: 8/22/2005 6:11 PM
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Hoe
Joined: 7/31/2004
Posts: 183
Location: USA
Ike; Thank you very much for your effects, would it be possible for you to email me a copy of your build (email: jlennox[at]gmail[dt]com)? I will begin work on making an AOS tool as soon as I recieve the new binaries.
Posted: 8/22/2005 6:47 PM
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TNSe
Emulator Coder
Joined: 10/9/2004
Posts: 453
Location: Norway
Excellent everyone involved, this hopefully will lead to people attempting this for other games. (FF6 US with this for snes? ...)
Posted: 8/22/2005 8:24 PM
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Hoe
Joined: 7/31/2004
Posts: 183
Location: USA
TNSe wrote:
Excellent everyone involved, this hopefully will lead to people attempting this for other games. (FF6 US with this for snes? ...)
I fully intend to help every one out to the best of my abilities, given enough free time, for any GBA game that I have interest in that others are planning on speed running. I also fully intend to do the same for NES if any one decides to release a version of FCEU with the same feature. I am glad others are taking interest in such matters, since this truly is a higher level of tool assisted speed running. Edit--- Some thing that could be made from this is what I was working on for Doom a while ago- Speed running bots :) Edit 2--- Ike; I am woundering if you could compile it to share all of the gba's memory? Including rom, iram, wram, etc. I wish to read the rom's header to switch my programs functionality based upon what game is loaded. This way I can keep a single code base for all games and allow it to autodetect. Also, this should probly be split to a seperate thread.
Posted: 8/23/2005 9:19 PM
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Ike
Joined: 4/25/2005
Posts: 9
Location: USA
Sorry about the delay, I've been dead to the world the last few days. I sent an e-mail with a link to the binaries and modified source. If anyone else wants a copy I'll create a new thread "vba hacking" in the VBA forum with links. Starting a new thread is probably a good idea, so we can keep the AOS-specific stuff here and the emu tools hacking elsewhere. http://tasvideos.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=44398#44398 [a VBA Hacking Thread]
Posted: 9/4/2005 6:02 PM
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Atma
Former player
Joined: 9/1/2005
Posts: 803
Just curious if you've made any progress in this run Zurreco, as I wouldn't mind seeing this one complete (I'd potentially do an all souls run, but damn, if i was to do that dashing for the whole thing up to getting the black panther soul that'd put me off pretty damn fast, given that you'd have to essentially play the game frame by frame).
Posted: 9/4/2005 6:10 PM
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Zurreco
Former player
Joined: 8/1/2004
Posts: 2687
Location: Seattle, WA
I'm in Germany right now. At the earliest, expect some form of update on the... 16th? That will be after I move into my new apartment and whatnot. I'm still mainly waiting on the hacked VBA for soul collection. An all soul run would still be awesome, and I am very willing to support and collaborate with anyone willing to do it. The route alone will be pretty rough and whatnot. I would say go for it, but yeah, any movie for this game would require frame advance to be submittable.
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Posted: 9/6/2005 10:44 PM
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Hoe
Joined: 7/31/2004
Posts: 183
Location: USA
Zurreco wrote:
I'm still mainly waiting on the hacked VBA for soul collection.
I got some stuff done just as proof of concept to my self. I'm currently implimenting tons of new stuff into the code base, but havn't had too much time to work on it at the moment. I should be able to make some progress this week. I'm moving the output over to a TreeListView with an abstraction layer for updating, and I'm moving the main VBARead class over to a child of the abstract EmuRead. Thouse things are what are taking up most of the development time at the moment. I'm putting in a lot of effort to make sure that expanding the software for additional games and emulators is as simple as possible. Hopefuly soon I'll be able to go back to working on adding in game specific features opposed to program features, as I wish to do.
Posted: 9/16/2005 10:22 PM
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Zurreco
Former player
Joined: 8/1/2004
Posts: 2687
Location: Seattle, WA
Update: There is no update. I move out tomorrow, and I now need a new motherboard for my emulator PC. Yep, life sucks. At least Hoe is making some progress on his project.
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Posted: 9/26/2005 9:05 PM
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Atma
Former player
Joined: 9/1/2005
Posts: 803
I decided I will do the 100% soul run, but like you said Zurreco, planning a route is hard stuff. my initial progress This is a test run of course, given that I'm not using the <dont really know the timing> dash jump thing in your avatar, and i haven't really decided on a route yet, but the idea would be to get souls as early as possible, unless i'm able to encounter an enemy much later when i can kill it a lot faster (or if they help me destroy bosses/ enemies significantly faster; the only one i'm really missing right now that can do that is the creaking skull, given i couldn't find a frame within 100 that it would drop it on). Also, given that this is a different type of run, would it (dash thing)be something you'd like to watch being done for 3/4 of the run? albeit it would seem to save a significant number of frames over the course of the run up until the black panter soul, I don't think it'd look that good for it, but eh. For some reason I seem to start around 120 or so frames later than you do in your earlier glitch vbm, is that related to 'start from reset' as opposed to 'start from power-on'?
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