problem uploading large zipped recording

Post by **mahlemiut** » Sat Dec 13, 2003 6:38 pm

LN2 wrote:I personally wish the pc-mame dev team would bitch slap the mac dev a few times to get him to match the PC replay file format.

Uhh... the file format is the same, minus the header, whose only use is to tell what game should be used when playing it back. It's all the apparent differences between the official MacMAME and other MAME ports that is the problem. That's why I keep saying that you should use X-MAME.

LN2 · Post by **LN2** » Sun Dec 14, 2003 12:04 am

mahlemiut wrote:Uhh... the file format is the same, minus the header, whose only use is to tell what game should be used when playing it back. It's all the apparent differences between the official MacMAME and other MAME ports that is the problem. That's why I keep saying that you should use X-MAME.

Nope, it goes beyond that. it's an issue where an extra couple of frames need to be added beyond the header also for some games.

Again I'll have to check what Gaz did. It was more than just adding the header info. He added some little data buffer right after the header that put it in time sync.

pac-man along with many others playback but just not in time sync until that slight correction is done. it surprises me since you think the popping of the credit etc. would make it sync...so it goes beyond that.

It's odd.

it's also why for example, my replay files for games like millipede, and marble madness just go into service mode at the start of the playback.

if you add that buffer data at the beginning after the header then you don't get the service mode. I had manually tried that with one of my marble madness ones. The issue was it still was a tad out of time sync...so I needed to add the little bit more gaz added to my pac-man inp and that might allow playback of my marble madness in time sync as well.

I'll check what he had e-mailed me a while back and see if he has the details on what he did to convert it.

The header info has been proven to not be necessary even for playback of macmame inps in pc-mames. You just have to manually select/specify the game to play it back in first instead of it autoselecting the game.

Post by **mahlemiut** » Sun Dec 14, 2003 2:32 am

Most MAME ports seem to want to class the info screens as frames. But for the most part, this really doesn't seem to mae any difference when playing them back. That Pacman inp of yours is the ONLY one I have got to playback by adding/removing frames. I have tried others, and all have failed. The header being there makes zero difference.

LN2 · Post by **LN2** » Sun Dec 14, 2003 2:58 am

mahlemiut wrote:That Pacman inp of yours is the ONLY one I have got to playback by adding/removing frames. I have tried others, and all have failed. The header being there makes zero difference.

yeah, but when you think about it...given it should be synced from when a credit is popped...til when the pac-man actually starts moving...why on earth isn't it in time sync where you had to add/remove a frame to get it to sync??!?!?

BTW, when I played around with my marble madness inp(check the readme for one of my submitted replays for info on that(it's in the description to I think) I added like 8 bytes near the beginning of the inp.

That allowed it to play in PC-mame instead of just going into service mode...but was a tad off time-sync. It got through the first maze find...but on the second maze in the real game I just missed hitting that ball enemy and in the replay it hits it....which then makes it really out of sync. hehe

I figure a slightly different adjustment versus what I had made previously would get it in time sync. It might be where I could just add/remove whatever was done to the pac-man one where both perhaps are off that same time amount.

dbh · Post by **dbh** » Sun Dec 14, 2003 1:03 pm

Well, I hadn't wanted to really get into it here until I beat the score, but this is a member who had several scores disqualified for slowdown, and when alphamame became "mandatory" (sorta), he disappeared.

Ok, thanks for the clarification.

BTW, might I prevail upon you to try your hand at arcadecl-sc?

Sure...I played a few times yesterday to get a feel for it. I had two games in the low to mid 400K range. The spiders are much more difficult in this version (more erratic and reverse direction after 100K), but the side feed is almost a joke.

Rick, thanks for all the info about Macs. If I do buy one it would primarily be to watch existing recordings, not to make my own.

Donald, which replays in particular did you want to watch?

Some are cross-platform compatible...others like pac-man, can be converted so playable in pc-mame.

Nothing in particular. It's just that sometimes when I'm looking through the MARP scores, I'll see a Mac recording that I'd like to see. I was not aware that some are cross-platform compatible. Based on what I had seen with playback using different MAME versions on the PC, I didn't think there would be much chance for any Mac recordings to play correctly on a PC without conversion like your Pacman recording

Well, my main point was perhaps I would do better and get better tracking using a ball mouse instead of my optical mouse.

I agree with this. I'm using just a regular mouse right now for my recordings. I have an optical mouse at work and even just in regular use it doesn't always seem to respond correctly (it's wireless, too, and it tends to "sleep" when not being used enough). For home, I recently bought an optical trackball mouse but this appears to send way too much information and triggers the analog overflow issue more often. One thing I haven't tried yet is a touchpad. I'd be curious to know if anyone has tried this yet.

LN2 · Post by **LN2** » Sun Dec 14, 2003 3:43 pm

dbh wrote:It's just that sometimes when I'm looking through the MARP scores, I'll see a Mac recording that I'd like to see. I was not aware that some are cross-platform compatible.

I actually used to test all of mine before submitting them in VirtualPC to see if they playd back successfully in pc-mame of the same version.

Ones that did are noted as such in the description with many actually listed as being played with that pc-mame version...but noted in the description as being played in macmame but the replay is cross-platform compatible.

I stopped testing for those recently though. They playback so slowly in VirtualPC(emulation in an emulation...hehe) that it wasn't worth the time just to confirm the playback compatibility. In many cases I was starting a playback in VPC when I knew I was going to be away from my Mac for a few hours or before I go to sleep etc...then come back and see if the final score matched.

In other cases like many of the golf games, I had to watch them at completion cuz the final score isn't saved in any score table etc.

It seems the Mad Planets replays I submitted just this past week are cross-platform compatible cuz they got confirmed.

Look at my list of submissions and you likely will find 30+ that are cross-platform compatible.

I suspect many others likely would be also if I did a similar conversion to what gaz did to my pac-man inp.

Post by **mahlemiut** » Sun Dec 14, 2003 10:52 pm

How about checking to see if your Mad Planets inps playback in official MacMAME?

LN2 · Post by **LN2** » Mon Dec 15, 2003 1:53 am

mahlemiut wrote:How about checking to see if your Mad Planets inps playback in official MacMAME?

They do.

I had already checked the mad planets inps I submitted using the unofficial macmame and they play back fine in the official macmame.

I had already changed the version for the mad planets ones once you had added the new macmame to the version list menu.

I'll have to go through my few others I submitted with that unofficial 0.77 and reverify those myself and change those to the official one as well.

Also BTW, given your above, I decided to give the arcadecl-sc another try also. I had played it a couple times months ago and submitted a so-so score.

I played it a bit earlier and got 450k which seemed pretty simple overall. The spiders and fleas are what eventually got me in the end. The side feed is still very manageable even at that point.

I think I can make a run at that 700k score myself in this case unless the side feed starts getting tough at 500+k.

For some reason the control is much better in this game versus the centiped rom set.

LN2 · Post by **LN2** » Mon Dec 15, 2003 6:46 am

LMAO....dbh and I were playing at the same time I guess.

I'm glad I didn't stop at 1 million.

So, you have 2 examples now Barry.

dbh · Post by **dbh** » Mon Dec 15, 2003 12:28 pm

LMAO....dbh and I were playing at the same time I guess.

I'm glad I didn't stop at 1 million.

Don't know about you, but I got *really* bored after passing 1M. I wanted to stop my score at 1,111,111 but that didn't come at a convenient level (it's best to be on the first wave with no fleas to do this). Then I wanted to stop at 1,200,000 but I didn't do it correctly and ended up shooting too many things.

LN2 · Post by **LN2** » Mon Dec 15, 2003 1:50 pm

yep, I was getting there myself...but actually was still improving and made a new challenge of it where I was doing my absolute best to try and not let side feed ever get started.

At one point around 1.1-1.2 million, I did 2 entire wave loops without letting side feed start at all!

Most of my other loops until the end, I would only end up with side feed on 1 of the waves in a loop.

I wish I had the control in regular centipede I had in this game. Although I had rebooted so perhaps I need to do that before playing the official centipede also and perhaps that would help.

I also improved tons as I was playing this game....got much better at my approach to firing sequences on the segments versus what I was doing before.

I think one aspect of this game is similar to regular centipede though. Once your score gets high enough where the fleas are always dropping so no poison mushrooms to worry about, the game seemed to get even easier. The hardest part is in the transitional period if you end up having some poisonous mushrooms and have fleas dropping afterward. Between that and those odd spiders something will get you.

I bet regular centipede is easier to a degree at that point also because you don't have to worry about trying to get the diving ones from poisonous mushrooms on the edges to prevent instead side feed and likely death.

I was down on my last man in that game from 196-200k then was built back up to 6 men at around 370k and essentially kept it there until the end.

I was planning on stopping at 2 million. I was falling asleep though and had a mental mistake where suddenly the whole bottom was a big mess that I couldn't clean up to keep the game going.

Chad · Post by **Chad** » Mon Dec 15, 2003 5:05 pm

cool recordings guys, looks like this is marathonable. but instead of wasting your energy on getting to score 3733700 or something why not lobby to make the rules of this particular game actually measurable for those who can play it adinfinitum?

I.e. limit lives or limit time/waves etc?

dbh · Post by **dbh** » Mon Dec 15, 2003 5:31 pm

I was down on my last man in that game from 196-200k then was built back up to 6 men at around 370k and essentially kept it there until the end.

That's funny, this happened to me to. I was on my last man just over 180K, but then built it back up and was never seriously challenged after that.

cool recordings guys, looks like this is marathonable. but instead of wasting your energy on getting to score 3733700 or something why not lobby to make the rules of this particular game actually measurable for those who can play it adinfinitum?

I.e. limit lives or limit time/waves etc?

A 5-man score category might be interesting. I'd prefer that over a timed thing. However, I actually don't plan on playing this clone any more. Without the threat of a real side feed it's really not much fun.

LN2 · Post by **LN2** » Mon Dec 15, 2003 8:02 pm

yeah, a 5-man only rule for this game would be sort of cool.

However, currently only dbh and I have done what you could even begin to call marathoning the game.

Don't at least a few others need to prove this title is too easy at the default settings to encourage a 5-man only rule?

I wouldn't mind it....just would require all current scores for it be wiped out or rewatched and their 5-man score posted instead.

It would change the strategy of playing it some also. When I got up to 4+ men, I would take a lot more chances with the spiders and fleas versus when I was lower in men.

LN2 · Post by **LN2** » Mon Dec 15, 2003 9:17 pm

I see the biggest difference between arcadecl-sc and regular centiped is really the spiders for me more than the side feed.

I just played a couple regular centiped games and in both of them I was at 180-200k with 5 or 6 men and then had my game promptly end by 5-6 spiders in a row for a wave getting me.

Even though I know their movements are somewhat random, it definitely seems like they are gunning right for me at times.

I have improved a lot at keeping the bottom area clean in a run-n-gun style of play...but either the spiders get me or fleas screw me over knocking that 1 last segment to the bottom so side feed starts.

Even though the spiders in arcadecl-sc after 100k can double-back their direction I think the spiders in regular centiped are far more difficult cuz they definitely move faster and in more various ways than those in arcadecl-sc which are quite predictable once you learn the few patterns for their movement.