Salutations to the community of Tool Assisted Speedruns! I have come (with peace on my side) to post my progress on a new TAS: Bugs Bunny's Crazy Castle. I remember playing this as a kid on the Game Boy version with my uncle. We've beaten it quite a few times. But enough with my childhood, that's not what you guys want.
Bugs Bunny's Crazy Castle is a Puzzle game which most of you know by watching the Angry Video Game Nerd. I, for one, do not fall in that category. There are 60 levels in this game, which I intend to do 1 for each day.
The reactions?
<Nach> Mysterypea: if you do a good job at it and submit in 2 months, I promise that I'll think twice before rejecting it outright with substandard reasoning
<_4matsy> yeah, go for it :D
Well, let's ignore that.
Right now, it's day one (of course). I will update this post when I finish each level. When that is done, I'll play the entire game on one segment (unless someone suggests me something better to do). My progress will also be marked on my youtube channel.
STAGES:
1- Complete / Improved thanks to Randil - LinkInput File
2- Complete LinkInput File
3- Complete LinkInput File
4- Complete LinkInput File
5- Complete LinkInput File
6- Complete LinkInput File
7- Complete LinkInput File
8- Complete LinkInput File
9- Complete LinkInput File
10- Complete / Will be improved on the official run LinkInput file
11- Complete LinkInput File
12- Complete LinkInput File
13- Complete LinkInput File
14- Complete LinkInput File
15- Complete LinkInput File
16- Complete LinkInput File
17- Complete LinkInput File
18- Complete Input File
19- Complete (I'm proud of this one) Input File
20- Complete (I'm proud of this one, too) Input File
21- Complete Input File
22- Complete Input File
23- Complete Input File
24- Complete Input File
25- Complete Input File
26- Complete Input File
27- Complete Input File
28- Complete Input File
29- Complete Input File
30- Complete Input File
31- Complete Input File
32- Complete Input File
33- Complete Input File
34- No progress made
35- No progress made
36- No progress made
37- No progress made
38- No progress made
39- No progress made
40- No progress made
41- No progress made
42- No progress made
43- No progress made
44- No progress made
45- No progress made
46- No progress made
47- No progress made
48- No progress made
49- No progress made
50- No progress made
51- No progress made
52- No progress made
53- No progress made
54- No progress made
55- No progress made
56- No progress made
57- No progress made
58- No progress made
59- No progress made
60- No progress made
Progress: 1/60 = x/100 = 1.666...% per completed level
54.9%
Joined: 4/20/2005
Posts: 2161
Location: Norrköping, Sweden
I TASed the first four levels of this some time ago, just for fun. I have no intention of continuing it. We used the the exact same strategy on the first level, but my version is 33 frames faster. I also started the first level 1 frame faster, but that's a small detail. Here's the movie file. Perhaps you can shave off even more frames from it!
And also, welcome to the forum! :)
I TASed the first four levels of this some time ago, just for fun. I have no intention of continuing it. We used the the exact same strategy on the first level, but my version is 33 frames faster. I also started the first level 1 frame faster, but that's a small detail. Here's the movie file. Perhaps you can shave off even more frames from it!
And also, welcome to the forum! :)
This will help me a lot, thanks!
EDIT: I have improved my run by 30 frames thanks to you, and I know that there are some really minor improvements to make on that run (First and second time when going up the stairs, I seem to stop for a frame or two).
Link
Joined: 4/8/2005
Posts: 1573
Location: Gone for a year, just for varietyyyyyyyyy!!
Hi Mysterypea! I have recorded some levels for Crazy Castle IV, so I'm looking forward to your run. The Lua script I used might be easily convertible for this game too.
I'm not really a script wiz, but I still took the time to read what the lua file contains. I'll try it out for now to see if it works, although this lua file is intended for a GBC game.
EDIT: This is really a bummer, I don't have lua installed, so I can't really do anything. Either I download lua or you provide me a lua file if it isn't too much to ask.
Joined: 4/20/2005
Posts: 2161
Location: Norrköping, Sweden
The beautiful thing about lua script is that you don't need to install anything, they automatically work if the emulator supports lua, which FCEUX does.
Today I made a lua script for this game that checks if you lose a frame anywhere. Basically, what the script does is compare your X and Y position between two frames, and if they're the same, the program will tell you that you lost a frame there. This works well for this game, because you should be constantly moving in a TAS. I have tested the script, and it works very well.
Here's the script, uploaded to mediafire. The only thing you need to do to get it to work is to go to File->Lua->New lua script window. In the new window that pops up, select browse and choose this script, then click on "Run" to start the script. Unpause the emulator if it is paused. The top left corner of the emulator should now say "Lost frames: " and then a number. Now, play one of your movie files with this script running. Whenever "Lost frames" increases, the script alerts that you have probably lost a frame here, so you should investigate it further. Pretty handy, right? No more checking for lost frames manually!
The beautiful thing about lua script is that you don't need to install anything, they automatically work if the emulator supports lua, which FCEUX does.
Today I made a lua script for this game that checks if you lose a frame anywhere. Basically, what the script does is compare your X and Y position between two frames, and if they're the same, the program will tell you that you lost a frame there. This works well for this game, because you should be constantly moving in a TAS. I have tested the script, and it works very well.
Here's the script, uploaded to mediafire. The only thing you need to do to get it to work is to go to File->Lua->New lua script window. In the new window that pops up, select browse and choose this script, then click on "Run" to start the script. Unpause the emulator if it is paused. The top left corner of the emulator should now say "Lost frames: " and then a number. Now, play one of your movie files with this script running. Whenever "Lost frames" increases, the script alerts that you have probably lost a frame here, so you should investigate it further. Pretty handy, right? No more checking for lost frames manually!
This is going to help for sure. What's left is something that removes those useless frames, but I doubt that would ever work.
EDIT: I'm not sure if this route for stage 2 is faster than randil's route.
Also, I don't care at all if i messed up the password part, it won't be part of the official run.
Oh and by the way, if someone finds any good routes for the game OR finds a glitch that will help complete the game faster, share it with me, I'll put you on the special thanks list.
I've also finished stage 5, 55 more to go.
Wow, I played this a lot back in the days. I'd love to see a TAS of this game.
Games to TAS:
1. Rampart (NES)
2. Pokemon Yellow (GB)
3. Aladdin (SNES)
4. Shadowrun (SNES)
-----
<sonicsonic3> and please tell me...WHAT IS THE BACK LONG JUMP CODE!? [on SM64's BLJ]
Pressing Up, Down, Left, Right all at the same time is not possible with the arrow keys (due to limitation), but by turning num lock off you can press 2, 4, 6, 8 on the keypad all at the same time, it's possible.
For game controllers, set up to up on the d-pad and the left analog stick, down to... you get the idea.
FCEUX can assign more than one key/button to the same command.
Joined: 4/20/2005
Posts: 2161
Location: Norrköping, Sweden
I've tried left+right and up+down in this game, and right+left seems to have the same effect as just pressing right, and up+down as just pressing up, so I don't think this can be abused.
Woohoo! Half-way through this TAS!
I just noticed that Special stages exist in this game, I won't do them since I've experienced S1 (A real maze of pipes).
Possible glitch here?
Ignore the file name
Actually, ignore the glitch thing. I guess it's just the dev's fault for forgetting this glitch. It's easy to do.
So, I wanted to do a TAS of Bugs Bunny: Crazy Castle 3, but I realized that this would be very annoying to watch because you need to enter so many unnecessary doors. Furthermore, after TASing the first 3 levels, I realized that this wouldn't be very fun. A such, I think I'll give the NES version a shot. Screw what the AVGN says; if Birthday Blowout made for a good TAS, then this should too. It might also give me the opportunity to try some luck manipulation on the movements of the enemies. What do you think?
Joined: 4/20/2005
Posts: 2161
Location: Norrköping, Sweden
There is already thread for this game here: http://tasvideos.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9604
Mysterypea made some good progress, and has finished up to level 33, though he says he has put it on hold for now. Maybe you want to get in touch with him. I messed around with this game a bit too some time ago, so I would be interested in seeing this game TASed.
No matter what I do, I can never find the threads for these games. Oh well. Can a mod merge these topics? Also, if Mysterypea would allow, I'd happily continue his progress, submit it, and get bottom billing. Why reinvent the wheel? I'm going to watch it now and see if I see any potential improvements.
Edit: I'm discussing with Mysterypea the fate of this. I'm probably going to work on my own version first and see if I can find any improvements. I finished Level 1 with ease with the same path. Also, Randil, can you provide that script you made? The link is broken in the old topic.
Joined: 4/20/2005
Posts: 2161
Location: Norrköping, Sweden
Brandon wrote:
Also, Randil, can you provide that script you made? The link is broken in the old topic.
Of course! Here you are:
Language: lua
xnew=0
ynew=0
lost=0
while true do
mover=memory.readbyte(0x512)
xpos1=memory.readbyte(0x501)+256*memory.readbyte(0x502)
ypos1=memory.readbyte(0x503)
if xpos1==xnew and ypos1==ynew and mover==0 then lost=lost+1 end
xnew=xpos1
ynew=ypos1
gui.text(10,10,"Lost frames: " .. lost)
FCEU.frameadvance()
end
(I don't know why I didn't post the script like this in the first place)
The script simply checks if you are constantly on the move. If you for any frame stand still (both in terms of X and Y position), the "lost frames" counter will increase.
Good luck!
Thanks, Randil! So, I discussed with Mysterypea, and he agreed that I should only add him as a coauthor if he gives significant contributions to the new version. Otherwise, I will just credit him in the submission. My strategy right now is to run each level using his path (If the AI don't conflict because of a desync), then try to beat that time. I tried doing this for level 1 and failed because the path is perfect. However, I made a massive improvement of 71 frames to Level 2! See my progress here. Only 58 more levels to go...
EDIT: Level 3. For some reason, Mysterypea unnecessarily stalled in several places. Why is this? Was it a simple mistake, or do the AIs run on a variable that carries over from level to level? Would adding empty frames in between levels cause a desync? This could be a big deal, as it'd mean that I can't go back and edit levels easily. Will test around soon. Any feedback would be helpful.
Level 3. For some reason, Mysterypea unnecessarily stalled in several places. Why is this?
I think the more appropriate question is, Why is the rerecord count 666?
I am an absolute perfectionist; When I collect a carrot, I will find the exact frame to turn around in order to potentially save time. I have a feeling, at this point, though, that this doesn't make a difference with these game physics. If someone confirms this, I'll probably speed through this more and use less rerecords. The 666 is just mere chance.
Edit: I just tried to insert some frames in between levels, and it doesn't change anything. I think that I just somehow manipulated the AI differently than Mysterypea, often not intentionally. One factor to consider is what direction you are pressing when you are going up the stairs. I once went up the stairs pressing right and pressing left, and they resulted in the Sylvester moving in a different direction. This has two conclusions: I can edit fixes into particular levels, and I should always try to manipulate the AI before prematurely halting movement. Will continue on shortly.
Edit 2: Up to Level 7. I am positive now that the enemies move based on input, not on result. Does anyone think they can somehow look into their physics? Don't get me wrong, I think this will make a great blueprint for this game as it stands, but levels 2, 5, and 7 use paths that would not be optimal if you removed the enemies from the screen. If I can truly manipulate the movement of these enemies, it'd stand to reason that all three of those levels, and presumably many levels in the future, can be improved. Let me know if you have any ideas.
Edit 3: OK, now this is getting ridiculous: I can influence AI after dying. That's just silly. I'm going to go back to Level 2 and try to make it so that I never once stall. I'll repeat this for 5 and 7, and hopefully, I'll get a result. It'd be best to understand the AI, but it seems like brute forcing might be the only option.
Bugs Bunny's Crazy Castle is a Puzzle game which most of you know by watching the Angry Video Game Nerd. I, for one, do not fall in that category. There are 60 levels in this game, which I intend to do 1 for each day.
The reactions?
