Joined: 11/17/2005
Posts: 278
Location: Massachusetts, USA
TNSe wrote:
To give you a more direct answer:
Does not make a run a TAS:
- Physics glitches
- AutoHotKey scripts (See this as a controller with auto-fire)
- Other glitches (Out of Bounds)
- Input recording and playback.
Does make a run a TAS:
- Slowing down the game in order to allow a human to perform complex operations. Playback needs to happen at full speed.
- Making programs to alter or edit player input (hex editing, rerecording). Playback still needs to stay in sync.
- Making a program ('bot') that plays the game.
Of your last three, the first one fits the 'A' and the last two fit the 'T'. (In 'TAS'.)
But of your first 4, I'm pretty sure that 2 and 4 qualify as tools too. They both do the same as a bot. AutoHotKey is just semi-automatic instead of fully-automatic. Macros have been used on console runs.
Sweet WIPs! They definitely looked tool-assisted. Is there some sort of a trick where you can use the gravity gun to pull items below your feet and make yourself levitate? I recognized a part that was like Ocarina of Time where you got on top of a 'wall', ran around the outer rim of the map, and jumped onto the roof of another area. I don't know why you punted all those rocks but I'm sure you had a reason. You're already publishing yourself on youtube so it doesn't matter that there's no PC sub-forum here. Just keep going!
Joined: 4/18/2006
Posts: 179
Location: East Petersburg, PA
Catastrophe wrote:
Of your last three, the first one fits...
Thanks. It takes alot of work to do these. Throwing the rocks had nothing to do with anything; i just had time to spare since i had to wait for Alyx's dialog. That area is completely walled off until she finishes her dialog :(.
"I think we can put our differences behind us... for science, you monster."
Joined: 4/18/2006
Posts: 179
Location: East Petersburg, PA
A recent discovery I found is that Source engine games have the ability to play through PER FRAME. At that point, you are pretty much TASing the game. You need to limit the frames per second by changing it to something like 60 fps, using the command fps_max 60. Then you use the command called singlestep, and set it to 1. Then use next, and set it to one to advance to the next frame. So, an example on how to TAS as a speedrun; my console commands would look something like:
fps_max 60
bind f "next 1"
singlestep 1
record TAS_testrun
Now, all I have to do is press f to advance to the next frame. Its sort of strange to play a modern game per frame, because everything looks jittery while frame advancing, but when you play it back, it looks fine. To stop recording and frame advancing:
stop
singlestep 0
Its as simple as that. I can't believe I never found that before now.
"I think we can put our differences behind us... for science, you monster."
Joined: 4/18/2006
Posts: 179
Location: East Petersburg, PA
I posted this in my Portal Speedrun thread in the Speedrun Competitions section of the forum, but i'll put it here since it is relevant:
I did a testrun a couple weeks ago after figuring out about frame advancing. Its not that good, but at least you can see how quickly you can aim and move if you were to make it a TAS-like run. Check it out:
Portal - Chamber 13 - TAS Test Run: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBZVn9TNaTU
I also just made a Chamber 19 test run, using the old way of portaling down the hall ways. These are just testruns, so I end up wasting a few frames while turning and shooting the portals.
Portal - Chamber 19 - TAS Test Run: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoLiKKfh3tU
Well, i'm going to be doing a normal speedrun using OoB glitches soon. But, if I ever did a TAS, it would mostly consist of standing in the elevator the whole time. I'm highly considering it, since its not difficult to do. I wouldn't have a website or anything to submit it to :'(.
I'd probably only work on that project if people had an interest in it.
"I think we can put our differences behind us... for science, you monster."
Joined: 4/18/2006
Posts: 179
Location: East Petersburg, PA
Bisqwit wrote:
You must then provide a video of the playthrough as an AVI so people can frame-advance through it.
Youtube does not support frame-advancing :(
I uploaded them to Vimeo. You can download the AVI's in the lower right hand corner of the page when they are finished converting. BTW, the AVI's that they provide for download are not compressed, but are the quality I uploaded.
Portal - Chamber 13 - TAS Test Run: http://vimeo.com/912584
Portal - Chamber 19 - TAS Test Run: http://vimeo.com/912596
"I think we can put our differences behind us... for science, you monster."
Joined: 4/18/2006
Posts: 179
Location: East Petersburg, PA
Twelvepack wrote:
that was really, really awesome. I hope you see that project through to the end.
I'd only start the TAS after I normally ran it, so it may be a while. I haven't even finished perfecting the routes for every level yet. It takes hours and hours of gameplay to find and possible timesavers, especially with OoB glitches being used. There are multiple ways of making yourself end up at the end of the level.
"I think we can put our differences behind us... for science, you monster."
DO IT! DO IT NOW!
