Lets racing time

The sticking point on the Rockin' Kats video has been splicing nameless's video with an image. There are a variety of reasons this wasn't working, but Torgo's notes helped get me over the hump. Here's what I've learned.

What happened was, nameless ran out of HD space about an hour before the race ended. So after his video I wanted to stick in a note explaining what happened, followed by an infinitely-looping animated gif. Avisynth won't splice a video with an image, though, so first I had to convert the images to videos. It also won't splice two video clips of with different audio settings. Here's the finished working script:

This line defines nameless's video as "nameless_vid". (The others are "brick_vid", "narcodis_vid", etc.) I use ConvertToMono and ResampleAudio to make sure the clip will splice with the images later.

namelessnote.png is just a small image with a note saying "nameless done fucked up, everyone laugh at him" or whatever. I wanted it to be onscreen for a few seconds in between his video and the gif. I use ConvertToYV12 to define "note" as a video clip and change the FPS to 30. Then I use AudioDub to give it some silent audio so it will splice with nameless_vid later.

Avisynth makes a distinction between "a clip with no audio" and "a clip with silent audio", which was my main hang-up. I couldn't figure out why it wasn't working. The AudioDub command here gives my note clip a single silent channel at 44000 bitrate.

These lines do the same thing, except for the animated gif, which has to be declared a little differently. For one, the gif wasn't the correct size, so I use LanczosResize to change it. (Otherwise, it won't splice with nameless_vid, which is 256x240). The default Loop command tells the clip to loop forever. If I only wanted the gif to play 20 times, I could tell it ".Loop(20)" and it would work.

Finally, I splice note and apple onto the end of nameless_vid. Now, whenever the nameless_vid clip is used, it will play his video, the note, and the gif spliced in a line. The plus sign is a shorthand operator for the Splice command Torgo introduced me to upthread.

This is rad. Good on you figuring all this stuff out, guys.

We still down for Thursday for a race? Are we still thinking all 4 disney NES games?

Thursday I probably won't be availible until after 8 Mountain (10 Eastern?)

Yeah, Sovan and I are down. He says he hasn't practiced. That is a mistake on his part.

We don't have a time hammered out, and I know there are more than four people who wanted to do this race, so we may have to run two groups. I think Sovan wanted to do it later in the evening. Who all is available when?

If nothing else, I hope I can get video evidence that you can avoid that bee in the Amazon, and that one ghost in Translvania :P

I'm on leave that day, so I'm available at any time.

Hey Brickroad, I found you a font for the Disney Afternoon race.

I am theoretically available any time (graveyard shifts this week), though anytime after 5pm PST is the most ideal so I can catch some solid sleep. If the turnout is six or less, I'd honestly think one group is fine. That said, splitting it up and running at different times sounds like it could be the best solution to getting the most people interested in on it. I say play it by ear.

I'm down, but consider me a hole filler for any group. Except for maybe kinda sorta Duck Tales, none of these are really 'gotta be in it!' for me, and I'll happily give up my spot to a more interested party. I'll also take on any video processing duties as might be needed.

On the subject of Disney races, I would totally be into a future Mickey's Magical Quest race.

I should be available at the usual time.

Approx 10 Eastern and beyond!

Rockin' Kats is now up. Better clear 2 and a half hours from your schedule.

Bah, the end of the video didn't cut where I wanted it to, for some reason.

OH WELL

Man, I remember long weekends trying to beat this game.

What happened to nameless around the 1:40 mark, anyway (or possibly later, the point where his volume is dropped so low I can barely make out when he's talking and his frame-rate drops to single digtis)?

He ran out of HD space, which caused all sorts of hilarious problems.

That's really cool! Like a piece of history right there.

And Rockin' Kats has its flaws, but I can see and appreciate what they were trying to do with it.

Those sure are grappling mechanics! But hey, if it helped set the career for the dude who made Trauma Center, I ain't gonna argue. I haven't gotten through the whole video yet, but diggin' it so far. Especially love the background music. And that "bonus" stage looks like an exercise in torture.

So has a time been worked out for today? I'm gonna hit the hay soon, but my plan is to be up by 6pm PST at the latest, though I'm gonna aim to be up by 5pm. After that I should be available until midnight or so, again PST. (You guys had daylight savings a few days ago, right? That would put the West Coast three hours ahead of me.)

Anyone feel free to add me on skype: torgohiggins

I replayed the game and it went a lot smoother, until I reached Kong, then I just started save stating like crazy, and I still couldn't beat the last boss.

The Bull Band, with the double damage item, takes 22 hits to defeat, just so you know.

Sorry we haven't set a time yet. Sovan and I like to play fast and loose, I guess. Also I haven't seen him online yet today. It'll probably be a little later than we normally do it, but I don't know how much later just yet.

Alright, I'm home and ready to go whenever you guys are.

I can either start right awayish, or later this evening, if there's still a slot?

Now I really wish I could do this.

So did Brickroad's crew do a run?

And if so, who was in it?

It was me, Sovan, narcodis and Umbaglo. All old RPGMaker guys! Didn't plan it that way, just happened.

We're all rendering right now, but we might do another race if people are still awake. Anyone else up for a late-night run?

I'm up for something.

EDIT: Megamanz Too? Or hell, something I'm terrible at, it's all good.

I would be down. I got a good four plus hours before work still yet.

It's going to take me about 90 minutes to finish rendering, but I'll be awake and ready to go for whatever you guys decide.

I was looking at random ROMs and saw a game I played a couple of times called Dynowarz.

Then I thought "No, that'll be like Rockin' Kats, no one will know it."

But I'm say that one for another time.

I think Torgo and I are both agreeing on Mega Man 2?

Here's the Rockin' Kats LP I mentioned during the race. There's a bit more info in there on how the grapple and swing mechanic work.

I noticed the lead singer has a different palette in the last level. I'd be interested in seeing if the boss refights take more hits*.

* As if they needed to be any tougher.

Yes indeedy. Relatively short and sweet. I had some last minute recording issues, but an emulator switch seems to have remedied them.