User Files from FatRatKnight

f23518 *** STAGE 1 ***
f24482 Segment 0: 964
f25066 Segment 1: 584
f25163 Segment 2:_ 97
f25347 Segment 3: 184
f26108 Segment 4: 761
f26600 Segment 5: 492
f27412 Segment 6: 812
f27647 Segment 7: 235
f29066 Segment 8:1419
=== END OF STAGE 1 (Frames: 5548) ===

Well, I fixed up the traversal of the flame tunnel after miniboss. 2 frames there.

Applied Shot Counter glitch again. +2 lag, -4 frames taken to climb past an enemy we once had to delay for. Might be possible there's a better enemy to shoot the laser on for lag purposes.

Optimizations in the final rightward segment, and threw away a frame intentionally to sync boss. I feel we have 4 frames delay on dialog frame rule.

f23518 *** STAGE 1 ***
f24482 Segment 0: 964 (pr: 963)
f25066 Segment 1: 584
f25163 Segment 2:_ 97 (pr:_ 96)
f25347 Segment 3: 184 (pr: 210)
f26108 Segment 4: 761 (pr: 760)
f26605 Segment 5: 497 (pr: 496)
f27418 Segment 6: 813 (pr: 812)
f27653 Segment 7: 235 (pr: 236)
f29072 Segment 8:1419
=== END OF STAGE 1 (Frames: 5554) === (pr:5576)

Compared against previous bests. Did what I could to resync. Currently delaying 24 frames at stage select.

Don't like transition of Segments 4 to 5, particularly as we delay for an enemy we have to destroy. That is my suggested next target for improvements.

Basically, the Shot Counter glitch allowed us to switch weapons while the charged spikeball was going. It is triggered by firing an uncharged laser and having it hit an enemy many times, generally by using the screen edge for rapid respawns. Not my doing, ThunderAxe31 was doing some intricate analysis and determined Team 2 had the right idea somewhere.

f36993 *** STAGE 5 ***
f37726 Segment 0: 733
f38205 Segment 1: 479
f38512 Segment 2: 307
f38635 Segment 3: 123
f38712 Segment 4: 77
f38827 Segment 5: 115
f39283 Segment 6: 456 (Saved 2 frames here)
f40017 Segment 7: 734 (Wot. 2 frames here as well. How?)
f40294 Segment 8: 277
f40411 Segment 9: 117
f40653 Segment10: 242
f42060 Segment11:1407
=== END OF STAGE 5 (Frames: 5067) ===

I kept getting reminded of that ledge landing in Segment 6. Well, okay, it was only three times, but it clearly wasn't stylish. My only solution to it was to select a different height to solve it, ultimately by climbing down the ladder for 9 additional frames.

Let's talk about the falling cycle. Address 1E6C. At terminal velocity, this cycles through 34 going up to 42, then snaps back down to 34. It is 9 frames long. When it reads 42, the next frame will be zero-speed (or, if camera is scrolling, then the frame after that). So we have 8 frames of 4-speed and 1 frame of 0-speed. The terrain is positioned in such a way around that ledge that I get three or four frames of this 0-speed. It is also positioned so perfectly that I need four of these 0-speed frames in order to get the time I need to fall past the ledge. Because of how the fall cycle works, it only matters where I begin falling, as opposed to when, so the only real hope here is to adjust the height where I began falling in the first place. Ladders are slow, I had to climb down 9 pixels, 1 at a time per frame.

We're sitting on 4 frames before the door, a frame on the ladder leading up to the door, and one more before the Flame Charge underneath that wall on the way to the up segment. We're 3 frames away from a frame rule. Oh, and I basically ran out of useful ammo at the boss, but at least it was just enough.

The reason why the delay before that Flame Charge I mentioned, is because I fall through the floor I wall jump up to without the delay. Apparently this is due to some frame rule.

Oh, and I did change up the 1st boss re-fight to something less satisfying. My weapon choices pretty much force me to take damage either because I can't reach the boss on the first vulnerable frame, or because it would trigger lag frames otherwise. But at least I consume ammo I won't be needing too much of.

Huh, so now we have five boss skips. I don't think ammo management is a problem anymore. Knew that one enemy looked fishy.

Basically, there's this fish enemy we can spawn. Exonym's previous attempts didn't get this one to move, but I then found we can face left and jump early enough. Our important pixel gets us past the floor tiles, and down low and early enough. Once it's out of the de-spawn zone, it's a matter of delaying it long enough to meet the boss, then kill it. That enemy moves rather quick and will de-spawn off the right side of the screen without the ouch delays.

If anyone's curious, the base movie the savestate came off of was Team 4's run.

Stage 4, end of Segment 6. Some time before that last ladder of the stage.

Didn't like making that jump at all. Not after the Flame Charge, and not before it either. Let's get rid of it entirely!

This did mean I needed to adjust my dash, throwing away two pixels so that I remain on the platform for one more pixel. This was exactly enough for a turnaround landing after Flame Charge.

From there, I spent some saved frames by avoiding save platform lag, as otherwise the frame rule would eat my savings,

Seg7 - 120 (Current: 95)
Seg8 - 112 (Current:134)
Seg9 - 281 (Current:253)

Our total is 513 frames. The latest movie is 482 frames, so this alternative path I just uploaded is 31 frames slower.

Shame. Would be a nifty "what the snap" factor.

f56656 *** STAGE 2 ***
f56880 Segment 0: 224 (**: 224)
f58479 Segment 1:1599 (T3:1554)
f58540 Segment 2:_ 61 (T3: 265 ; T7:_ 61)
f58641 Segment 3: 101 (T3: 105)
f58869 Segment 4: 228 (T4: 236)
f59063 Segment 5: 194 (T4: 189)
f59841 Segment 6: 778 (T4: 792)
f59937 Segment 7:_ 96 (T3:_ 96)
f60064 Segment 8: 127 (T5: 127)
f60156 Segment 9:_ 92 (T6: 106)
f60428 Segment10: 272 (T7: 234)
f61756 Segment11:1328 (T3:1378)
=== END OF STAGE 2 (Frames: 5100) ===

Looking over the starter input for Segment 0, there is a fix we need to do. I would leave it an exercise to experienced Zook TASers, or anyone who has read my latest post (well, it was the latest until I make one linking to this file), but basically, first dash tap before jump is the clear frame improvement. Fix that, later.

We miss the frame rule by one frame. Snap. At least I got rid of an Ammo Tank refill. Frames were lost on item manipulation, so this stage is extremely sensitive to the 32-frame cycle. Met the boss of s2 on two barrier HP left, which is a problem because I need to take damage to reduce lag, so lose the HP against two of the shots.

Oh, and implemented Boss Skip for the second boss re-fight. SegmentCounter script claims 180 frames on that fight now.

All frames from earlier stages have been carried forward to the end. We've lined up on the 32-frame cycle after Stage 3, so sync happened without issue on Stages 6 and 2.

The basic strategy was to use the billions of frames we've saved, and incrementally lose them on the way to the end until we're left with only a few. Somehow, the stage had a lot of added lag, apparently 4 extra lag, so we'll need to reduce that. I have thrown away three frames, two of them at the end of the stage, so now might be the time to find ways of strategically delaying to get around the lag. However the delays work, as long as we don't leave our current frame rule, this will not affect sync of the remainder of the run.

I've carried all the saved frames we had into Stage 3 now. This would be the 8 frames from before s5, but I had to find more hidden about in various spots, and ultimately ended with another frame rule pulled right out from s5.

I went ahead and changed a dash right at the breakable blocks. Keep in mind, when jumping out of a dash to a short ledge, it is faster to do the first tap as you make the jump, and finish the second tap when you land, as this way, you have one of the zero speed frames from tapping overlap with the zero speed of ending a dash with a jump. Actually, a lot of savings in Stage 5 was thanks to implementing this trick.

I made a few attempts at the lazy-sync for the segments after the miniboss. Well, we did save a touch over 32 frames, did we not? The game wishes not to sync on this matter.

Well, I saved frames in Stage 7, carried that through Stage 1, and here we are in Stage 4 trying to squeeze out more savings. I removed a pause thanks to better item drops. This dropped a frame rule. I had 2 frame rules before this stage and 2 frame rules after. Now that I carried the 2 frames rules forward, that would be 4 frame rules, which I can trivially remove for the 32-frame item cycle, but since I saved an extra frame rule, I'm now stuck with 8 frames delay in stage select after Stage 4. I guess I'm not getting a free ride in manipulation if I want to get rid of that delay. I saved too many frames for my own good!

In other news, I copied Team 3 straight to the first boss we can skip. Having not put in much time on trying the skip (I took more time typing this paragraph than trying the skip), I have not succeeded. As Exonym is the one who confirmed the skip, that's the one to ask to make it happen again, as first-hand experience should make it a lot easier.

f23518 *** STAGE 1 ***
f24481 Segment 0: 963
f25065 Segment 1: 584
f25161 Segment 2: 96
f25371 Segment 3: 210
f26131 Segment 4: 760
f26627 Segment 5: 496
f27439 Segment 6: 812
f27675 Segment 7: 236
f29094 Segment 8:1419
=== END OF STAGE 1 (Frames: 5576) ===

Turns out, this stage was on the good side of the frame rule before the 12 frames, so then it went onto the bad side. I poked about for stray frames and got on the good side again. I also exited the boss a frame earlier, but this will be lost due to animation frame rule on the next stage. 17 frames delay right now, hopefully Stage 4 will prove receptive to 16 of these (and again, that last 1 is lost to frame rule).

2 frames on Segment 0 was saved. One of them, apparently, was because I started a dash a frame late, so I enjoyed an extra frame of 0 speed at the tail end of the previous dash. Fixed. Also, some complicated jump mechanics got me another 2 pixels, which ended up worth a frame.

After that, I somehow ended up at a different height on the transition to the final horizontal segment. A few adjustments were made to deal with the change, and apparently it's faster.

Stage 4... After I get rid of the intentional delay, I'll have items to manipulate all over again. This was a tricky stage to get right. We'll see if I can lose zero frames on item drops.

Also, copied in Team 3's input to the start of the end stages.

Exhibit 1: Stage 7
Remember those ceiling clips I said I was frustrated about? I took a crash course in "bashing your head through problems" and learned that the magic position is being in Screen Y Position 40. Or 41, if you're stuck in odd numbers. This is the magic spot that lets the next wall jump clip through three solid tiles, provided you are high enough. At 39 or less, you're too close to the top of the camera, and the clip will fail.

Apparently, the demonstration is on an animation frame rule, so although the SegmentCounter script claims I saved only 9 frames, the animation frame rule got me to enter stage select 12 frames earlier. Stage 1 is on the bad side of the dialog frame rule, so it is projected to turn into 16 frames after redoing Stage 1.

Exhibit 2: Stage 4
Messed around with the ending a touch, trying to beat the frame rule. I think I'm just one frame away, again! I took a different route, landing on the save platform, and it is enough to save that frame rule, but at a cost of 3 lag frames from the save. That's a steep price and I'd like to save another normal frame somewhere, but a frame rule is still an improvement. I have no idea about the transition on the way to the stage select, but I've seen it adjust by 1 a few times now, and it used to be better before this improvement. Overall, one frame rule at +4 lag.

The transition from Stages 4 to 5 is delayed 16 frames. If I combine the earlier frame savings and redo Stages 1 and 4 without loss, I will end up with 32 frames delay here. With item drops on a 32 frame cycle, this means I can remove that delay and keep full sync of later stages. Yes, this will save effort in item manipulation, but only if it works out.

Exhibit 3: Stage 2
The right side climb is showing very good promise. At the moment, it's just about tied with climbing the left side, but if we can find time to get another bubble barrier up, then the right side climb will easily win the duel. Thanks, Team 5! Knowing it is possible will let us save a few more frames off this run!

Stage 4, for some reason, had a damage near the end before using the 2nd to last Flame Charge. This damage is removed, 14 frames, but it's not enough for two frame rules. 8 frames intentionally inserted in stage select for lazy-sync.

In Stage 2, with little concern for optimization, I shot a block with a full-charge basic shot. Since we need 140 frames of charging to even hit this block, there's no way to deal with these enemies other than to have a Charge Swap Bubble Barrier already in play. Apparently, hitting the block like this means we can't switch weapons until we shoot once more first, but at least an uncharged shot counts. Two frame rules here, but again, no concern for careful optimization.

{f56712 *** STAGE 2 ***
f56936 Segment 0: 224 (**: 224 ; T7: 220)
f58535 Segment 1:1599 (T3:1554)
f58596 Segment 2:_ 61 (T7:_ 61)
f58697 Segment 3: 101 (T3: 105)
f58925 Segment 4: 228 (T7: 233)
f59119 Segment 5: 194 (T4: 189)
f59902 Segment 6: 783 (T4: 792)
f59998 Segment 7:_ 96 (T3:_ 96)
f60178 Segment 8: 180 (T5: 127)
f60301 Segment 9: 123 (T6: 106)
f60537 Segment10: 236 (T7: 234)
f61862 Segment11:1325 (T3:1378)
=== END OF STAGE 2 (Frames: 5150) === (T3:5412)}

Threw some segments together. I'm not satisfied, so expect a few more frames out of this stage before I move on to the final stage.

For the first half, I took Team 3 and only found a few frames to save before the miniboss. I'm not entirely certain about the route between frames 57850 and 58350, which is more Team 4's route. Miniboss Skip, and up the wall with bubble barrier.

I took Team 4 for the rest of the stage, with a few differences. I still consume an Ammo Tank, but with 2 barrier HP, a change in route was done. I feel as though the stage can benefit more from abusing bubble more than I already have. I have not yet even looked at Team 5's rise through the last up segment.

Blindly copied in Team 3's boss strat, adjusting enough for position. Changed the finisher a bit, and apparently SegmentCounter claims I saved 53 frames? Well, okay. I haven't put time into analysis for the difference, I'm just pulling together a nice start before crunching down more for optimizations.

Just to check, SegmentCounter script claims I enter the end stages at frame 62901. The script also claims Team 4 got there at frame 64957, so 2056 frames ahead of the leading team. I'm not fully satisfied with this stage, particularly as I have not investigated Team 5's rather swift Segment 8. Again, I just threw this together so I have a better baseline than Team 3 to work off of.

f56712 *** STAGE 2 ***
f56936 Segment 0: 224
f58535 Segment 1:1599
f58596 Segment 2:_ 61
f58697 Segment 3: 101
f58925 Segment 4: 228

I'm ahead in this first half.

5 frames ahead of T3 at some point, then I lose the advantage somewhere around the final breakables of Segment 1. May be worth checking if T3's route in the area is preferable, though the interaction of the route with bubble barrier and Miniboss Skip might not be good, not sure.

The skip itself needed a delay for flame charge, as I don't really see any way to avoid hitting the enemy's back. Can't think of any good ways to strike it remotely.

Charge Swap Bubble Barrier proves its worth once again on the ascent. 1 HP remains when I ended the movie. For some reason, I'm thinking taking damage might be preferable at one point, for Charge Storage in the upcoming segment. Are my thoughts any good? Low on flame ammo.

f43046 *** STAGE 3 ***
f43562 Segment 0: 516
f44237 Segment 1: 675
f44966 Segment 2: 729
f45071 Segment 3: 105
f45132 Segment 4: 61
f45267 Segment 5: 135
f45600 Segment 6: 333
f46602 Segment 7:1002
f46723 Segment 8: 121
f46845 Segment 9: 122
f47079 Segment10: 234
f48755 Segment11:1676
=== END OF STAGE 3 (Frames: 5709) ===

Saved a dialog 8-frame rule. In turn, I removed the intentional 24 frames inserted between stages, as now we're lined up on the item drop 32-frame cycle. Nifty how planning things out based on a frame rule can let me work on a later stage and get things to sync with zero trouble, so the overall movie file is 32 frames shorter. Well, 33, since I dropped a lag frame.

Saved a frame on miniboss entry, thanks to a suggested pixel. The transition to the down segment afterward was not playing nice, and after many trials, I finally found a result I like. Item drops approved of this, and I got through with minimal pain, other than a single lag frame (down from two). Stage 3 is now nice and smooth.

I suppose I'll take on Stage 2 next. Not a lot of choices left.

Whoops, not 58423. Deal with mis-named file.

f49858 *** STAGE 6 ***
f50793 Segment 0: 935 (T3: 933)
f51689 Segment 1: 896 (T3: 925 ; T4: 870)
f51782 Segment 2:_ 93 (T3:_ 95 ; T5:_ 92)
f51977 Segment 3: 195 (T3: 223 ; T5: 219)
f52779 Segment 4: 802 (T3: 822)
f53536 Segment 5: 757 (T3: 780)
f53785 Segment 6: 249 (T3: 248 ; T2: 228)
f54037 Segment 7: 252 (T3: 254 ; T6: 247)
f55825 Segment 8:1788 (T3:1785)
=== END OF STAGE 6 (Frames: 5967) === (T3:6065)

Almost the entirety of this stage was taken from Team 3, then improved on where it looked possible. Team 4 was used for Segment 1. I re-did the boss with the closest thing to zero effort without copying any movie, I recommend applying entertainment. Unless you think seeing the player not really bothering to do anything except hit boss on earliest frame to be entertaining.

Charge Swap Bubble Barrier was abused to the fullest extent, once more. This let me ignore some damage Team 3 was stuck with. Changed up the laser on the miniboss so that I lose only 3 barrier HP to it, by being further left and having it finish the laser a few frames later. Didn't need to do a lot of item manipulation, it seemed as though this stage doesn't need a lot of ammo, though Flame Charge still needed some. Nice to see I'm decently ahead of Team 3.

Frame rule does not impact this boss. Will use motions based on when it first appeared, not based on dialog, and there is a rather long invincibility move done at some point.

f49858 *** STAGE 6 ***
f50793 Segment 0: 935
f51689 Segment 1: 896
f51782 Segment 2: 93
f51977 Segment 3: 195

I cast barrier again. Beats Try #3 by several frames, and is also in a good spot to dash at the end. When the movie ends, I'm at 1 barrier HP. Miniboss ate 4 of the HP.

24 frames are inserted between Stages 3 & 6. This is in anticipation that we save a dialog frame rule in Stage 3, I hope. If we don't save it, I will re-order the stages and try Stage 3 with a different frame count.

The Flame Charge at the end of this movie shows what happens when you hit a rapidly respawning enemy. Shrapnel shower.

Ah, I am not keeping much of those 12 frames, am I?

Someone find a frame, somewhere! Sorry about the short description.

Well, now I'm done producing a status panel. Contents:

Well, I don't know how much realtime info I can put in there that makes sense to do so. I'm hoping the status panel is pretty, its intent is to feel like I'm giving useful information that can be understood, for the most part, without having to pause. The precision depicted is not useful for TASing, and it's not as though the information is all that vital, either. But hey, it's pretty. It's interesting. And it lets you know how much of each weapon I'm using.

f37033 *** STAGE 5 ***
f37768 Segment 0: 735 (T2: 736 ; T4:761)
f38248 Segment 1: 480 (**: 477)
f38557 Segment 2: 309 (T4: 309)
f38680 Segment 3: 123 (T3:_ 91)
f38757 Segment 4:_ 77 (T3: 241)
f38872 Segment 5: 115 (11: 116)
f39331 Segment 6: 459 (T3: 451)
f40069 Segment 7: 738 (T2: 735)
f40347 Segment 8: 278 (T4: 279)
f40464 Segment 9: 117 (T4: 129)
f40702 Segment10: 238 (T3: 234)
f42109 Segment11:1407 (T4:1408)
=== END OF STAGE 5 (Frames: 5076) === (T3:5310)

13 frames better than my previous.

Removed a mistake in Segment 2 where I forget to hold Right on the frame I release my Flame Charge.

It may seem like not all that much. I mean, camera scrolls 1 pixel/frame after touching the door. So how can 81 be so much worse than 80? I'll tell you. ScrX 81 vs. ScrX 80 is greater than the difference of 2 lag and 2 normal frames that alternative route gives us. The boss spawns much later sitting on that one pixel. This pushes us back behind the dialog frame rule. We lose the frame rule. We lose all gains and then some from one pixel. Vicious.

Or maybe I do take the route. I obviously have a bad memory on what I did. Took me a while to realize what I uploaded. The times are correct, just that I thought I did one route. I am confused.

Alright, here's what I did: I jumped that tricky route, got to screen position 81, because being in 80 would trigger the enemy's attack and lag the game hard. Then after the next segment loaded, I specifically moved back and forth just to set myself in screen position 80 for the door. Despite the frames needed, this is still faster than just taking the door at 81, and I trigger the boss earlier as a result. I don't remember doing this, but obviously I had to have done it, since no one else decided to have a secret TASing session on my laptop. My memory is definitely not perfect.

In other news, I did avoid one spot of damage and kept the barrier so I can get a better spot for the last Flame Charge. For whatever reason, I had trouble with falling through the floor in the transition between Segments 7 & 8, and delaying a frame let me land normally. Curiously, the delay I chose let me avoid a shot that just barely hit me. So the barrier lasted long enough for my needs.

I'm selecting out things that make sense to read in real-time. Fiddly numbers like when item drops happen is difficult to display appropriately in real-time.

Currently shows barrier, weapons, and size of current segment. I hope it's pretty.

f37033 *** STAGE 5 ***
f37768 Segment 0: 735 (T2: 736 ; T4:761)
f38248 Segment 1: 480 (**: 477)
f38558 Segment 2: 310 (T4: 309)
f38681 Segment 3: 123 (T3:_ 91)
f38758 Segment 4:_ 77 (T3: 241)
f38873 Segment 5: 115 (11: 116)
f39332 Segment 6: 459 (T3: 451)
f40070 Segment 7: 738 (T2: 735)
f40330 Segment 8: 260 (T4: 279)
f40475 Segment 9: 145 (T4: 129)
f40709 Segment10: 234 (T3: 234)
f42122 Segment11:1413 (T4:1408)
=== END OF STAGE 5 (Frames: 5089) === (T3:5310)

Preliminary look at Stage 5. I'm on the bad side of the frame rule by the boss. Stages 3 & 6 were tacked on the end of this TAS, as proof of concept as to how readily I can just sync stages however I please, though I did need to fix a few weapon swaps.

Bubble Barrier Charge Swap was used extensively, from the start of the stage to its very end. I'm not happy with all 18 hits the barrier took, I can benefit from keeping just one more hit for the end, as I prematurely fired my Flame Charge, landing me on the save platform. It was that or wait out 16 ouch frames. Probably time to look for the least costly hit to preserve.

Still, the Miniboss Skip accounts for 150 frames, give or take 50. I'm 221 frames ahead of the leading team, so at least Miniboss Skip can't really take all the credit from the improvements. I did not carefully compare optimizations between this run and the teams, so this stage can stand for another look over.

Felt nice to just go straight through enemies. I refused to preserve Bubble Barrier whenever it meant I get even one frame of lag.

Removed the stage select delay between Stages 1 & 4. Not only have I found the ammo to maintain a speedy run, but I even removed one lag and saved a frame rule. 24 frames delay inserted between Stages 4 & 3.

Items seemed to manipulate themselves before the miniboss, balancing out exactly with what I had before. The Ghost Fall segments needed some tweaking to get the ammo I need. After that, a change in strategy was needed, and the route had enough rigidity that I couldn't stop the game from producing a bunch of small ammo refills out of reach. Whatever the case, I got enough to reach the end, and the game still had to throw one more refill out of reach when it was no longer important. Somehow, I find this humorous.

I'm more in a mood to look at a stage I haven't optimized. Expect either a fixed Stage 3 or progress on Stage 5. I'm pretty sure anything I do in 4->5 can be readily transferred into 4->3->6->5, as I don't think the weapons in 3 and 6 give any benefit in 5. Probably just a matter of handling extra weapons in the swaps, hopefully 2 frames per swap isn't a major problem in the route.

I'm pretty sure jumping through a ceiling should cause a headache or two. Still, I'm through one faster, and overall now have Stage 7 done 4 frames sooner.

The intentional 8 frames delay between s7 and s1 is also removed. Going through Stage 1 again, I've started it 12 frames earlier, which is 1 and a half dialog frame rules. We were delayed half a dialog frame rule to begin with, so we started the boss 2 dialog frame rules ahead, and so I leave Stage 1 with 16 frames advantage.

That 16 frames advantage is tossed away in the delay between s1 and s4. Stage 4 heavily uses Flame Charge. Item drops are critical.