California, USAIf you have questions about the run or want to talk about the game, you're welcome to drop by the translation discord we used to make the English version for the game!
After seeing the quick guide zackcat just made, I wanted to add some optimizations from my run that weren't in that guide.
- At the start go to the RIGHT side of the table. This avoids a cutscene with Dadcula
- For the cog puzzle, I just set the left lever to middle, the right level to up, push button twice (until red dot is in the center), move the left lever up (both should be up now) then just mashed the button. Less levers that way.
Took a glance at it on my lunch break, but didn't see any particular options that stood out.
I was able to reproduce this by opening the script BEFORE opening the game, resulting in:
Error: NullHawk does not implement memory domains Unable to find domain: WRAM LuaInterface.LuaScriptException: .\LiveSplitUtils.lua:16: Failed to open LiveSplit named pipe! Please make sure LiveSplit is running and reload the script.
So make sure to open the game first, then open the script while Kirby's main menu is open. if that doesn't work, try rebooting the core by clicking Emulation -> Reboot Core. Then refresh the script. If that still doesn't work, I'll look more into it tonight.
Odd, sounds like your computer cannot find the livesplit process or something. I'll look into it a bit after work today and see if I can find anything. Does your LiveSplit have permission to access the internet? Should be able to test it by selecting a race option and seeing currently running races in a drop down if I remember right. Not sure why it would need internet for the autosplitter, but something to test for now at least.
We have a discord for this game, you can join it here: https://discord.gg/BFAYdg9
Feel free to come by, even if you just want to say hi and aren't planning to run. We'll be more than happy to help with questions you might have!
I've noticed my older gamecube memory card will sometimes fail to save and the game will give me an error message that it couldn't be saved and the memory card is dead. If I try again, it'll usually save just fine. It might be that their card is old and the game tries a couple times until it succeeds. That's just speculation though.
So not sure if it would fit for your class, but the OpenAI Gym has some Atari games set up for you to practice writing bots for: https://gym.openai.com/envs/#atari . I've been meaning to play around with some of these myself, but you can play each game with either access to RAM or screen graphics only depending on how much information you want your AI to have.
Hi! So I'm looking into running the updated version of this game that just released on Steam/PS4. I wanted to know your thoughts on where the appropriate place to submit it would be.
Do you think it should be a different category of run on this page or would it be better to have it submitted as a new game?
We probably shouldn't allow emulators for this category though, since a crappy snes ball mouse will lose dramatically to a modern day gaming mouse haha
So apparently the SNES mouse is incredibly broken for this game. You move forward by dragging the mouse forward, but the game does not limit your max speed in any way. This allows you to move as fast as you can throw your mouse across the mouse pad. You can throw yourself forward or back in no time at all.
This drastically speeds up the dungeon sections of the game, but is incredibly difficult to control, especially going through doors. Also the mouse lags like crazy. Due to the drastic nature of the run and the fact that it requires an extra controller, it should be its own category. You have to use a controller for the overworld sections and it's easiest to use both the d-pad and the mouse at the same time, hence the idea for 1 player 2 controllers (1p2c).
This should be a really fun category since you can get way faster times than normal, maybe even sub 40 min!
I practice this game using the BizHawk emulator due to simple RAM watch integration and LUA scripting functions. I really enjoyed just taking this game apart, so I wanted to post stuff related to memory values for you guys to mess with.
Note: Any boolean (true/false) values, such as "Ship Cleared of Dinosaurs" will evaluate to false if equal to 0000, any other value true. So you can either increment it to 0001 or FFFF, it's all the same.
Story triggers: ########### Generator On - 00026B Rebooted Computer - 00026D Motion Sensors On - 000287 Ship Communications Sent - 001E15 Mainland Communications Sent - 000275 Ship Cleared of Dinosaurs - 001E17 Security Level 1 Obtained- 000265 Security Level 2 Obtained - 000267 Sealed Visitor Center - 00026F Nerve Gas (1 = obtained, 2 = deployed) - 001E0F
- Note: The game only checks for a non-zero value before letting you destroy the raptor nest. Actually deploying doesn't matter, just that you get line of sight to the eggs while this value is non-zero. Enable Ship Communications - 000270 Enable Mainland Communications - 000274
- These two values mean that you've achieved the objectives necessary to activate the communications. See the flow chart under Resources for info on what those objectives are. Current Egg Count - 000E0F All Eggs Obtained - 000289
- Triggers when "Current Egg Count" goes from 1 to 0
To spawn the helicopter and beat the game, all you need is "Mainland Communications Sent" and "All Eggs Obtained"
IDs:
Robert Muldoon's ID - 000257 Ray Arnold's ID - 00025D John Hammond's ID - 000253 Ellie Sattler's ID - 000255 Dr. Wu's ID - 000261 Dennis Nedry's ID - 00025F Alan Grant's ID - 000258 Donald Generro - ? Ian Malcom - ? (I forgot to look these up, they should be in the area of 0002XX. You can flip bytes until you find it or let me know if you need help figuring them out)
Player:
Alan X Position - 002476 Alan Y Position - 002C4A
- Map max (x, y) values are (4096, 4096), though you can get past these numbers if you jump off the ship. Jumping speed - 005B42
- This one is fun, set it to 20 and have a blast. Too fast and the game won't load textures quite right :P. Is Moving (boolean) - 000B26
- Pretty useless, just evaluates to true if you are moving. Health - 0002EB
- 0 is full health, 255 or FF is death. Freeze this value if you want invincibility for testing something out. Related to Move Speed - 002861
- The value changes depending on your direction, so there's a little math here I never figured out.
Weapons: ######## Weapon Type 1st Slot - 00028D Weapon Type 2nd Slot - 000297 Weapon Ammo Count 1st Slot - 00028B Weapon Ammo Count 2nd Slot - 000295 Weapon Type Values: 00 - Shotgun 02 - Rockets 04 - Bolas Snare 06 - Gas Grenade 08 - Tranquilizer? Note 1: You can set weapons to the wrong slots if you want to dual wield rocket launchers. Note 2: The game immediately crashes if you set it to an odd number, so careful.
Gates:
- Non-zero value means unlocked. You can leave all 3 unlocked Gate 1 - 00024D Gate 2 - 00024F Gate 3 - 000251
Ship:
Floor 1 Count: 001E20 Floor 2 Count: 001E2D Floor 3 Count: 001E2E Floor 4 Count: 001E2F Floor 5 Count: 001E30 Floor 1 Clear: 001E3B Floor 2 Clear: 001E48 Floor 3 Clear: 001E49 Floor 4 Clear: 001E4A Floor 5 Clear: 001E4B Current Floor UI Message: 0017A3
3D Sections: ########## 3D Collision IDs - 0000EA
This one is a bit interesting. This is the ID of what the player is currently colliding with. Doors, walls, computer, etc. all have different IDs. If you set this value to a dungeon entrance or computer, you will instantly access that dungeon/computer IF you are in a building. This is also the cause of the glitch where when getting Ray Arnold's ID, you can get caught in the corner between the computer and the wall. The game thinks you're colliding with a computer, but uses the ID of the wall to figure out which computer, causing the game to lock up.
Here are some values I've determined: Computers: 224 - Complains generator isn't on 225 - Security level 2 computer 226 - Mainland communications computer 227 - Ship communications computer 228 - Nublar Utility Shed computer 231 - Reboot system computer 232 - Security level 1 computer 233 - Computers about generator but with number glitching on the right
239 - Generator collision object at start of game
Dungeon Exits: 243, 244 - Secret Level 245,246 - Raptor Nest South 247,248 - Raptor Nest North 249 - Ship 250 - Nublar 251 - Beach 252 - Visitor Center Entrance 253 - Visitor Center Roof 254 - Raptor Pen 255 - North Utility Shed 240 - Spawns you at (36640, 17156) with the ocean music playing 241 - Spawns you at (119, 36586) 242 - (43392, 544) Jungle music.
I saw this trick on Leon's route after clearing the ship for the second time. I couldn't bring myself to risk warping back to the ship on a mistake just to save 5 seconds ;_;
Feel free to post any strange things you've found in the game that may or may not be useful to a speedrun.
¤ If you use Ellie Satler's id to enter the Raptor Pen from the Visitor Center, the game will check to see if you have the Visitor Center night vision when entering Raptor Pen dark rooms. This is because the game only checks to see if you have a dungeon's night vision when you first enter a building and never in the middle. I'm not sure what would happen if you have the Raptor Pen night vision then try to get the Visitor Center night vision, would be interesting to see.
¤ You can turn faster in buildings by holding the shoulder button while you turn. So if you hold Left and L, you'll turn left even faster. I use this when I need to turn large angles, such as 180 to leave a room or a non-precise 90 degree turn. Due to the low framerate and increased turning speed, it can kind of throw you a bit, so don't use when you need more tight of a turn. Practice it and you'll figure out when is best to use it.
¤ When you get into an elevator, use Left + L or Right + R to spin faster to face the door. When the door closes on you, it will shift you to the center of the elevator and rotate you to face the door. This action is slow and wastes time, so the closer you can be to facing the elevator door, the better.
I came up with an alternate route that is pretty close on time to the current WR route, but I decided against it. It revolves around getting Ellie Satler's ID at the end of the ship, then sealing the Visitor Center with it. The main issue is that you don't get the "XX Dinos Remaining" messages on the ship, so you have to rely on not messing that up. Interestingly enough, when you seal the Visitor Center, it'll flash the normal message, then quickly change to "Good Alan... The ship is free of dinos."
This route allows you to skip entirely Alan Grant's ID and the Night Vision for the Visitor Center.
Route: ¤ After restarting the computer and gaining Security Level 1, die as normal and spawn on the roof. This time, just leave through the main entrance. ¤ Head to the Raptor Pen. ¤ Head to the Night Vision on the ground floor, then die. To do this well, only kill the spitter blocking the door just after the elevator and intentionally walk close to the raptors so you die right after getting the Night Vision. ¤ Now stop on the middle floor, grab Ian Malcom's ID, then continue down. ¤ Grab Muldoon's ID, then die. ¤ Continue the route as normal, grabbing the nerve gas and clearing the ship. On B3 of the ship, grab Ellie Satler's ID. ¤ Now, after the mountain, enter the Visitor Center. Turn right through the Kitchen, then down the elevator to the basement. Continue straight past where you'd normally turn right for night vision, then turn left to find the elevator to the Raptor Pen. ¤ Seal the Raptor Pen, then death warp back to the Visitor Center. ¤ Now head to the Raptor Pen entrance, run to the computer and activate Ship Communications (requires sealing the Visitor Center). Death warp again. ¤ Next just clear the Raptor Nest and finish the game as normal.
Feel free to post any small time saving efforts here!
¤ Motion sensors are not needed for any objective in the game and can safely be skipped. You just need to restart the computer.
¤ You don't actually need to deploy the nerve gas, you just need to reach the hallway where you can see the eggs across the room. Once you cross the line into that last hall (there will be a medpack on your left), you can safely die and you'll be able to activate mainland comms. You can check out that part of my speedrun if you want to see it in action. There's no visual confirmation that it happens, I just observed a variable changing in memory to learn about it.
¤ After activating any program on the computer, you can click on its icon to return to the main menu. However, if you do this with Gate Operation, it'll take you back to the Gate Selection screen before the main menu, so I suggest you save it for your last computer action then exit. For example, if you need Security Level 2 then Gate 2 (for Raptor Nest), do Sec Level 2 first, then Gate 2.
The Magician Spitter ################# Not so much a technique, more an oddity I like. On the bottom most floor of the Ship (B4), go straight from the elevator to the 2nd large open room. If you look directly to the left, there's a spitter across the room near the door on the same wall as the door you just entered. Remember that one. Now clear the rest of the room and clear the night vision area. When you re-enter the large room from the opposite door, you'll see this dinosaur for a second, but he'll disappear when you get close. This has no effect on your dino count, but saves a bullet and is funny to watch.
Ghost Raptor Spawning ################### When you kill a spitter or a raptor with a snare, then shoot the explosion with a shotgun, it will spawn a raptor. (I'm assuming it tries to calculate damage for the explosion but it doesn't, so it spawns a raptor so that it can assign something damage? Just a guess.) The timing is very generous, just shoot the snare, wait half a second, then fire a single shotgun shell. Just don't fire 3 shells or you'll kill the raptor :P. This works with the tranquilizer as well, though I don't know any real reason to ever pick one up.
When you kill the original non-ghost dinosaur, the game will subtract one from the dinosaurs remaining counter for that floor. If it was the last dinosaur, the flag for the floor being cleared will flip. Once that variable is flipped, it doesn't matter if there's a ghost dinosaur or not. However, if you spawn a ghost dinosaur while there's still a real dinosaur left, you'll have to kill both since the game will "skip" the next decrement of the dinosaur count. tl;dr Use this on the last dino of the floor only, otherwise you'll have to kill your new ghost.
The only real use for this is to keep a raptor alive after you've cleared the ship. This is very important the 2nd time through so you can death warp after activating the helicopter. For the first time in the ship, I found this to be much more reliable than the previous death warp of having the spitter hit you after you've killed it (also I failed too many times that I hate doing that haha). When you're on the ship, you should already have the shotgun since it forces you to pick it up so many times so you should have all you need to do this. Also if you're full on health at the end of the ship, a raptor will kill you more quickly than waiting on a spitter to kill you.
