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Might be magic...
I believe QFG2VGA was a fan remake, so probably best to do the original EGA version Smiley

I'm glad these games are being added to the hall of speedrun fame.
Everyday is puppies and sunshine...
Glad to work on them.  :D. They were long overdue.  I will almost certainly run the EGA version, but a major beneficial bug was patched out of the GOG release which would require a major route change, which means finding the older version. 

The VGA remake was a bit more than a fan remake; they were working on commercial titles as well, even though it seems like it fizzled out (in psuedo-Sierra fashion).  And it ran beautifully.
Edit history:
mrprmiller: 2015-02-04 07:33:09 am
mrprmiller: 2015-02-03 11:40:57 pm
mrprmiller: 2015-02-03 11:40:34 pm
mrprmiller: 2015-02-03 11:40:22 pm
mrprmiller: 2015-02-03 11:13:32 pm
mrprmiller: 2015-02-03 11:13:17 pm
mrprmiller: 2015-02-03 11:13:01 pm
Everyday is puppies and sunshine...
FINALLY cracked the code behind the fast dance.  We were completely over-thinking it by trying to see if it was random or based on what side of the screen you entered from, because it is actually linked to a skill we never consider in speedruns.  It isn't, or at least it isn't TOTALLY random (a significant RNG skill jump could affect it).

It is directly linked to Agility.

If you have lower Agility, you will trigger the fast dance over the long one.  It explains why I have been able to trigger it more frequently with the Fighter and the Magic-User, but never with the Thief (who starts with 25).

The odds of getting the fast dance to trigger with the Thief must be either a) impossible or b) highly, highly unlikely.

Twenty tries from start (10 w/normal agility, 10 w/glitched low agility), and I can report 100% success on fast versus slow dance.
Edit history:
mrprmiller: 2015-02-03 11:45:44 pm
mrprmiller: 2015-02-03 11:43:10 pm
mrprmiller: 2015-02-03 11:39:42 pm
mrprmiller: 2015-02-03 11:37:15 pm
mrprmiller: 2015-02-03 11:36:25 pm
mrprmiller: 2015-02-03 11:36:12 pm
mrprmiller: 2015-02-03 11:34:49 pm
Everyday is puppies and sunshine...
And here is your proof of concept:

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0Bz8PB20oNMfrflJuQnRfUjZiVmtYemRQVHpRMlFlZGtndmNIencxWHhZTXZRMFFwOVJORlU&usp=sharing

Two save files (aptly named) "Agility 25" and "Agility 24"; you should see that the one with an Agility score of 24 gets the fast dance every time, and the one with the Agility score of 25 never gets it.

This is simply one save file split into two with an edited Agility score of one less point to demonstrate it.  Also something I did not know: doing the fairy dance gives a boost to the agility stat.  Cheesy

This means that short of glitching the stat sheet at the beginning of the game, which is easy to do but something I would absolutely constitute as cheating, the Thief can never get the fast fairy dance.  Fighters and Magic-Users have a base Agility stat of 15.  Thieves have a base of 25 (and are therefore out of luck).  Turns out that I actually have been chasing a unicorn.  Sad

That being said, this is an annoyance I can finally get off of my mind.
Might be magic...
Nice, well done figuring that out Smiley
Edit history:
mrprmiller: 2015-03-24 09:54:04 am
mrprmiller: 2015-03-24 09:53:40 am
mrprmiller: 2015-02-04 09:35:41 am
Everyday is puppies and sunshine...
I chanced into the status screen while trying to sleep through the night at the Dryad's tree.  I had accidentally done the same while Resting for 60 to turn it night at the Meeps.  Agility had gone up three points in that time, and that seemed a little strange.

Just incase anyone wants to see a glitched stat Thief run:
Edit history:
mrprmiller: 2015-03-23 09:30:34 am
mrprmiller: 2015-03-23 09:25:41 am
mrprmiller: 2015-03-23 09:25:11 am
Everyday is puppies and sunshine...
Well... ready for the next level of skips?  I've blown up the route, broke the game, and am laughing so hard because it is such a ridiculous skip.

My new time for the Thief is 4:23.  That is not a typo.  I've cut off about five minutes, no stat-glitch required.  Just the biggest skip, and it's 100% RTA safe.  We've all over-thought things.  I will post the video soon.  Wink
Edit history:
mrprmiller: 2015-03-23 10:59:35 am
Everyday is puppies and sunshine...
It also is category busting, because all three classes are basically identical because of it. It might be worth its own category.
Everyday is puppies and sunshine...


I'm calling it the "Wesley Glitch," because my son was sitting on my lap and bumped my mouse hand.  It made me select the Dagger instead of the Dispel Potion, and I instinctively clicked and threw the dagger, but not at Elsa.  Then I could move, and I was able to exit without dealing with her.  My jaw dropped, and I made this video.

Cheesy
Might be magic...
Yikes! That's a brilliant glitch. You should definitely submit a revised run.

Actually what would make it even more funny is if you killed the bear - neglecting to save both of the baron's children and still winning the game would be pretty awesome Smiley
Edit history:
mrprmiller: 2015-03-24 06:14:52 am
Everyday is puppies and sunshine...
That would be pretty funny. Lol. Actually, I'm thinking the new Fighter route will save the bear, as Throwing becomes obsolete, who stealths around the world for the first half of the run.  Check out the Casual Run marathon thread too.  I posted full glitch runs for each class; the Fighter is the slowest route, at 2:35. Lol
Edit history:
mrprmiller: 2015-03-24 09:56:05 am
mrprmiller: 2015-03-24 09:55:36 am
Everyday is puppies and sunshine...
Alright, I'm definitely submitting this as a separate category, because it really does break the game just that much.

I did a few tests, and the Magic-User and Thief have the EXACT same route with the EXACT same actions; no differences at all.  It basically kills the full game and the differences between the classes, and doesn't show off enough of what makes them different or any high-level play; its worse than QFG2 in that respect.

That being said, I never imagined I would sub-5 minute this game.  I never imagined I would get lower than Rainault's EGA run for that matter.  All that worry about fast/slow dance, spirea seed throws and everything else ends up being totally pointless if you are really going for the fastest route.
Might be magic...
Yeah, runs with the big glitch would definitely be in the "Major Skips" category, so your existing speedruns would still be the fastest under the general categories.
Edit history:
mrprmiller: 2015-10-11 10:18:52 pm
Everyday is puppies and sunshine...
Managed to improve Renault's 2007 run by nearly three minutes through use of the original Hero's Quest version 1.00 and an exploit in that version, along with a little better understanding of the day/night system and how to progress quickly.  There is plenty of room for improvement.  I would work a bit more on it, but my main PC that I used for recording the other runs is unfortunately kaput until I manage to replace whatever hardware component that is giving me the trouble (I'm guessing the motherboard.)

As it stands now, recording off of the ZMBV DOSBox codec is not going to cut , and the laptop I am using is a little too wimpy CPU wise for Fraps (despite i7 quad core).

Hope everyone enjoys either way. Cheesy

Might be magic...
Nice work! Makes me feel like running through the series again.
Wait if it's running in DosBox why can't you use ctrl-alt-F5 to record?
Edit history:
mrprmiller: 2015-10-14 12:20:14 pm
mrprmiller: 2015-10-14 12:20:01 pm
Everyday is puppies and sunshine...
Huh, I assumed the quality difference would be drastic enough.  I actually was able to get FRAPS to record full speed after some adjustments, and there is a noticeable difference.  File size alone should indicate that.  My recording from the ZMBV codec DOSBox records through made the file size for this run a meager 63MB, whereas the FRAPS recording clocks in at nearly 5.5GB with noticeable quality difference.  (PS, I also shaved about 30 seconds off of this time, and am looking for a quality check in the technical support section.)

For my own information, though, is the DOSBox built in recording SDA approved?
I've assumed it is allowed, because for the game I run, I can't see any quality drop at all. Sometimes it has slowed the game down, which ofc is not so hot, but even that is more of a hindrance than advantage when you lose inputs.

I assumed DosBox just records efficiently because it's its own output.
Edit history:
mrprmiller: 2015-10-14 01:23:20 pm
Everyday is puppies and sunshine...
Something I just found out in Windows 10 is the native recording it can do for games.  WinKey+G brings up the option to mark something as a game, and then you can press WinKey+Alt+R to record at 720p.  Pretty nice, and the file size is actually about what DOSBox does.

EDIT:
Apparently the recording in Windows 10 only does 30fps at the moment.  As to why, no one really seems to know, but there was a limited test of 60fps so they are working on it.  I tried 30fps on QFG5:Dragonfire and was very happy with how easily the game recorded.  If they get this 60fps this sorted out, I'll be thrilled.
I wonder if the overhead is lesser or greater than with DosBox recording... my compy probably won't be able to handle it. :/
Everyday is puppies and sunshine...
I'll do some testing and let you know.  My laptop that I'm on has a good processor and tons of memory and SSD, but no dedicated graphics, and it's using Windows recording with pretty much no problem.  I'm impressed so far.  Just need to get 60fps and that is likely going to be my preferred tool as I don't do streams.