BELMA - Battle Elasto Mania

Bludek · Post by **Bludek** » 11 Nov 2009, 19:31

Madness wrote:Just few words..
One-life, First Finish, Slowness, Survivor, Last Counts, Flag Tag, Apple, Speed, Finish Count, ARE SO FUCKING USELESS THINGS !

"Slowness, Survivor" useless shits, elma is about making best times, not worst ones imo.
"Last Counts" must be really some hilarious joke, or wtf ? I'm not gonna stop playing level after 1 random good time.
"Flag Tag" will be really awesome if 100 ppl online :/
"Apple" pointless kind of pipes. o/
"Speed" there will be a tachometer ? What's the use of doing the top speed ?
"Finish Count" the next ruining of levs, short hoyla levels are nice, but playing just for the most number of finishes ? Isn't it stupid ? Ppl don't have to find any styles, just drive an average one, and play like a loony ?

No offence

All

I totally disagree. Ofc elma is about making best times, but sometimes can be good to play it a bit different. I think most of the special types of balles rule, but only if you play 'em from time to time. It wont be fun to play slowness over and over again, sure, but noone does it.

All

Madness · Post by **Madness** » 11 Nov 2009, 20:42

Blud wrote:I totally disagree. Ofc elma is about making best times, but sometimes can be good to play it a bit different. I think most of the special types of balles rule, but only if you play 'em from time to time. It wont be fun to play slowness over and over again, sure, but noone does it.

All

Yep, it can be good sometimes. But some people start them over and over again.
And I'm kinda afraid, that there will be very fewer normal battles (which are best ofc), if so many useless kinds of battles available.
I still can accept FF's, maybe Slowness or Survivor battles, but I will NEVER accept battle types like "Only the last run for each player counts. Everytime you enter the level your time will be reset." or " The most number of finishes of the level wins." or "Everytime you take an apple, Throttle/Brake and Left/Right volt are switched.".
These are just holy stupid. Or am I wrong ?

Hosp · Post by **Hosp** » 11 Nov 2009, 20:56

Madness wrote:
Blud wrote:I totally disagree. Ofc elma is about making best times, but sometimes can be good to play it a bit different. I think most of the special types of balles rule, but only if you play 'em from time to time. It wont be fun to play slowness over and over again, sure, but noone does it.

All
Or am I wrong ?

Yes, but if it's too many it's not nice... =/

Bludek · Post by **Bludek** » 12 Nov 2009, 00:28

Madness wrote: Yep, it can be good sometimes. But some people start them over and over again.
And I'm kinda afraid, that there will be very fewer normal battles (which are best ofc), if so many useless kinds of battles available.
I still can accept FF's, maybe Slowness or Survivor battles, but I will NEVER accept battle types like "Only the last run for each player counts. Everytime you enter the level your time will be reset." or " The most number of finishes of the level wins." or "Everytime you take an apple, Throttle/Brake and Left/Right volt are switched.".
These are just holy stupid. Or am I wrong ?

I want try all of 'em them at least few times. Maybe they will be shitty, but it'll be fresh air to elma..

DaFred · Post by **DaFred** » 12 Nov 2009, 11:53

like xiph said, not every noob should be able to start them. But if there's a good level for a battletype then I think every battletype can be great!

SveinR wrote:In EOL you don't have to be in the level yourself to spy.

ah meganice! =)

Mawane · Post by **Mawane** » 13 Nov 2009, 17:43

I was thinking to that, and realised that speed-o-meter while you play and/or watch recs will be useful to improve times and making training levs will be so easy

but tell me more about that feature, where will it be shown, when, will it show only fastest speed, possible to look at it while you watch a rec, i want more details :)

DaFred · Post by **DaFred** » 13 Nov 2009, 21:09

Mh I don't think it will be shown, except in battleline after you did a faster one, cause mila had to add an extra textfield for that and I don't think he did that ^^
but what did I know...

DaFred · Post by **DaFred** » 13 Nov 2009, 21:11

[wah double post, sorry]

Bismuth · Post by **Bismuth** » 13 Nov 2009, 22:47

Maybe a shortcut like time and navigator, a speedometer somewhere in the screen, but I don't think it'd be useful during play, only when comparing replays. And even, hardly, I think.

Madness · Post by **Madness** » 14 Nov 2009, 00:04

Maybe it will be in 3D...

Post by **SveinR** » 14 Nov 2009, 00:22

Mawane wrote:but tell me more about that feature, where will it be shown, when, will it show only fastest speed, possible to look at it while you watch a rec, i want more details

In a run, it is always shown, unless you turn it off (just like the timer or the map). It shows both your current speed and the fastest speed achieved in that run. It's not possible to have it shown in a replay.

DaFred · Post by **DaFred** » 14 Nov 2009, 00:44

sick! =)
Where will it be shown? In the middle?
Oh and can you post a screenshot or is it still a secret?

pawq · Post by **pawq** » 14 Nov 2009, 01:40

SveinR wrote:It's not possible to have it shown in a replay.

well no matter how brilliant eol is or will possibly be, i have to honestly admit, that this is merely stupid. who the fuck will look at the speed while driving? who the fuck?? the only place where it is needed, is replay viewer damn it

FinMan · Post by **FinMan** » 14 Nov 2009, 10:49

Pawq, i honestly admit how can you say so by admitting honestly. Everyone will use that. Max useful at hoyling.

pawq · Post by **pawq** » 14 Nov 2009, 13:18

excuse me, do you play with even timer on while seriously hoyling? hoyling needs focusing, and how can ya focus while looking at the speedometer?

Igge · Post by **Igge** » 14 Nov 2009, 13:50

I play with timer on. It's nice to know if you're ahead your previous run. I can also imagine checking speed during long, boring parts, say the part after the bounce in he he, or the part before the bounce in labpro.

Lee · Post by **Lee** » 14 Nov 2009, 14:23

playing with speed is fun. i know from experience. don't dis

FinMan · Post by **FinMan** » 15 Nov 2009, 02:27

Pawq, in serious hoyling you dont need to even really watch to screen in easier parts and start. Of course i have timer on, of course i look at it every single moment. Max easy way to compare runs fast. Merging takes so much time and power. Speedometer and its wonderful.

Grace · Post by **Grace** » 15 Nov 2009, 02:27

i use timer and map when i hoyl, Pawq.

Hosp · Post by **Hosp** » 15 Nov 2009, 03:46

Me too, Pawq.

Madness · Post by **Madness** » 15 Nov 2009, 09:56

I don't, Pawq.

Smibu · Post by **Smibu** » 21 Nov 2009, 22:31

Did one more patch...
-FPS shown after ride (you must press esc to update it, but wait at least a few seconds before escing because it takes average fps or something). It doesn't use f_rate.inf anymore (that was sucky style kinda).
-Fixed editor's lev size check.
-Too long filenames not shown in editor list.

Changed resolution to default 640*480 because it always causes problems (why not working, ...).

EDIT: this has some bug, see ecchis post... that's why link is removed...

Kazeta · Post by **Kazeta** » 21 Nov 2009, 23:14

i think smibu is going to deserve the gaa of contribution ofc

Ecchi · Post by **Ecchi** » 22 Nov 2009, 09:39

Theres something weird about that patch, when I hoyl ints (any one) and go back to level select menu it automatically pops back to flat track=o

EDIT: also says flat track in every level I play aswell=o

EDIT2: if I get new times in other levels they only get on the "flat track" best times aswell, new wr ftw

Level 2, Flat Track:
00:14:96 tmYn
00:15:64 tmYn
00:17:23 tmYn
00:17:28 tmYn
00:17:29 tmYn
00:17:30 tmYn
00:17:31 tmYn
00:17:31 tmYn
00:17:31 tmYn
00:17:32 tmYn

Smibu · Post by **Smibu** » 22 Nov 2009, 15:01

Damn, well it's fixed now (stack was not balanced while leaving one function)... how didn't I see that bug... well I tested it in flat track all the time :/ Should definitely be bugless now.

http://up.k10x.net/wngzopzvjmgqo/belma.exe

Forgot to say it's possible to save recs in int 55 now too.

Smibu · Post by **Smibu** » 29 Nov 2009, 17:57

Number of chat lines - patch:

http://up.k10x.net/nernzkdjmmfih/bs_15lines.dll

http://up.k10x.net/bjmkoihxnwfid/bs_50lines.dll

Obviously everyone understands to rename the file then ;)

Only 15 and 50 lines versions because 15 is good for me and Jappe asked for 50 (which seems to be better in screen than I thought, I might keep that). If you want some other number of chatlines, you don't necessarily need to ask that because it's simple with any hex editor:

The byte at offset 0x4E4B holds the number of chatlines shown in screen, so maximum is 255 of course (and don't try with 0).

The double word at offset 0x5B67 holds the y-coordinate of top chat line, counting from bottom of screen. If you know the number of chatlines, then this value should be 10+12*[number of chatlines] (where 10 and 12 are decimal numbers).

Xiphias · Post by **Xiphias** » 29 Nov 2009, 18:13

sick :O it worked =)

Mawane · Post by **Mawane** » 29 Nov 2009, 21:12

i wanna clarify things for real nabs like me, smibu explained me more very well

Smibu wrote:Number of chat lines - patch:
http://up.k10x.net/nernzkdjmmfih/bs_15lines.dll
http://up.k10x.net/bjmkoihxnwfid/bs_50lines.dll

Obviously everyone understands to rename the file then

you must rename "bs_50lines.dll" to "bs.dll"

Smibu wrote:Only 15 and 50 lines versions because 15 is good for me and Jappe asked for 50 (which seems to be better in screen than I thought, I might keep that). If you want some other number of chatlines, you don't necessarily need to ask that because it's simple with any hex editor:

you can use Free Neo Hex Editor if you don't any idea what to download

Smibu wrote:The byte at offset 0x4E4B holds the number of chatlines shown in screen, so maximum is 255 of course (and don't try with 0).

offset is the number of line + number of column, you won't find exactly 0x4E4B, because in fact it is 00004E40 (maybe zeros before the 4 can be removed) for the number of line and B for the column. 0x is not there because but it means that following number is hexadecimal. so once you found it, you can enter the number of rows you want, but it must be in hexadecimal number. to get it, open Windows Calculator with scientific mode with number system: DEC , write the number u want and check the HEX mode to convert, so 76 lines = 4C.

you can use another method like smibu explaned me: v*65536 + w*4096 + x*256 + y*16 + z*1 = 76 where x is 4 and y is C. v, w, x = 0 and they're before the number, so its not needed. 0004C = 4C
1=1, 2=2, ...9=9, 10=A, ...15=F

Smibu wrote:The double word at offset 0x5B67 holds the y-coordinate of top chat line, counting from bottom of screen. If you know the number of chatlines, then this value should be 10+12*[number of chatlines] (where 10 and 12 are decimal numbers).

you must edit this too, thought only last was enough but not. Lets take again 76 lines as example: 10 + (12*76) = 922. lets convert it in hexadecimal: 39A because (3)*256 + (9)*16 + (A)*1. the problem in hexadecimals, you dont have enough place to write 3 characters, only 2. AND, you cant insert the number in that order. So, you gotta put it by pair like this: 03 9A and swap to 9A 03 in those offset: 0x5B67 and 0x5B68 respectively

i hope this helped some

milagros · Post by **milagros** » 29 Nov 2009, 21:41

there is one great tool in windows called 'calculator' and if you change it to view/scientific it allows you to convert numbers to hex OMG

Zweq · Post by **Zweq** » 30 Nov 2009, 10:59

straight from elma readme.txt

"No portion of this software may be disassembled, reverse engineered, decompiled, modified or altered, except by some random pros such as milagros"

which fuckin part dont you nabs exactly understand?

Mawane · Post by **Mawane** » 2 Dec 2009, 01:57

it is the 2nd time that this happens to me, i'd like to know how, why and what happened
dunno about first one but 2nd happened in a FF. I was driving then suddenly, i died. i thought there was an invisible wall, so watched my replay. it was exactly like i drove except a part at end that i didnt drive. that part started when i died when playing, its like a bonus 2-3s rec. so thought it would be a lag, but how could all my movements during balle be fine and only lag end? it foreseen my death and told me i failed before i really do? lol, but i hope this isnt caused by smibus patch

roope · Post by **roope** » 2 Dec 2009, 02:05

i accidently the died? what i do?

Xiphias · Post by **Xiphias** » 2 Dec 2009, 02:24

did anyone say ... "google translate"? xD

Smibu · Post by **Smibu** » 2 Dec 2009, 09:31

Mawa I don't know about that :) It should have nothing to do with my patches (I haven't touched parts that deal with playing/watching recs).
Anyway I made yesterday a patch that reduces lev & rec files loading times quite a lot. In code there was just a useless loop that got executed x^2 times where x is number of levs/recs.

http://up.k10x.net/uysgvxffwpdqh/belma.exe

Orcc · Post by **Orcc** » 2 Dec 2009, 10:07

I can recommend that patch for everyone, zero loading time.

Mawane · Post by **Mawane** » 2 Dec 2009, 13:24

moved all my 14 553 replays together and no delay

sick smibu xD

Orcc · Post by **Orcc** » 2 Dec 2009, 14:32

Mawane wrote:it is the 2nd time that this happens to me, i'd like to know how, why and what happened
dunno about first one but 2nd happened in a FF. I was driving then suddenly, i died. ---

The same thing happened to me twice during three minutes of play in a normal lev. I haven't used any Smibupatch before, and now the first time I play with one this happened. Also the loading delay removal puts levels and replays in chronological order instead of alphabetical and makes typing search not work.

DaFred · Post by **DaFred** » 2 Dec 2009, 15:33

Smibu wrote:Mawa I don't know about that It should have nothing to do with my patches (I haven't touched parts that deal with playing/watching recs).
Anyway I made yesterday a patch that reduces lev & rec files loading times quite a lot. In code there was just a useless loop that got executed x^2 times where x is number of levs/recs.
http://up.k10x.net/uysgvxffwpdqh/belma.exe

quite cool but cant you give it mila or arrange it with him so we don't have hundreds of patches?

The_BoneLESS · Post by **The_BoneLESS** » 2 Dec 2009, 16:02

Smibu wrote:In code there was just a useless loop that got executed x^2 times where x is number of levs/recs.

Orcc wrote:Also the loading delay removal puts levels and replays in chronological order instead of alphabetical and makes typing search not work.

Maybe that useless loop was some sorting algorithm?

milagros · Post by **milagros** » 2 Dec 2009, 17:22

that implies sorting is actually useless

Zweq · Post by **Zweq** » 2 Dec 2009, 17:46

optimize sorting with asm, sounds fun, not.

Xiphias · Post by **Xiphias** » 2 Dec 2009, 18:20

thihi fail patch? =)

Sla · Post by **Sla** » 2 Dec 2009, 18:41

In the original game there is a little delay when you die that allows you to do certain moves before pressing enter in 'Play again', that has been removed in your patch. This could help when hoyling some levels, but itsnt possible to do for example, the start of wr style in What the Heck, where its necessary to press down+right after dying and before pressing enter to play again (because if you press down+right in menu you will select 'Play next'. Maybe players who have tried this style will understand it better. If not, trying the start could help to understand. Hope someone understand!!

milagros · Post by **milagros** » 2 Dec 2009, 18:59

there is nothing you can do in previous run to affect teh next one
you can hold those keys in the menu before you press enter to get teh same effect (it's quite ez to proof with some autoplay stuff)
anyway, this delay will stay in the final eol version (various reasons) and won't be easy to remove it for semi-pros, cause code will be fucked up
i may try to change that maxsort algorithm to quicksort, i guess ez 10x faster

Smibu · Post by **Smibu** » 2 Dec 2009, 19:09

Ok you're right - it's actually a sorting subroutine. I only didn't see it doing anything because FindFirstFile/FindNextFile APIs (that belma uses) give filenames in alphabetical order in NTFS file system, according to what I read from some sites, like this one:

http://www.tech-archive.net/Archive/Win ... 00010.html

If file system is FAT, those APIs give different order, which is the case for some people I guess. So ye, partially it was a fail patch but I'm gonna keep it myself at least... I seem to get lev & rec lists sorted always.

Post by **SveinR** » 2 Dec 2009, 20:44

sla wrote:In the original game there is a little delay when you die that allows you to do certain moves before pressing enter in 'Play again', that has been removed in your patch. This could help when hoyling some levels, but itsnt possible to do for example, the start of wr style in What the Heck, where its necessary to press down+right after dying and before pressing enter to play again (because if you press down+right in menu you will select 'Play next'. Maybe players who have tried this style will understand it better. If not, trying the start could help to understand. Hope someone understand!!

Just press down+right, hold those buttons and press up, then enter?

Hosp · Post by **Hosp** » 2 Dec 2009, 21:00

That patch is a bug! I replaced it with old Belma.exe and now it is just alot of black places and different settings in my belma
instead of normal

Xiphias · Post by **Xiphias** » 2 Dec 2009, 21:05

Thorze wrote:That patch is a bug! I replaced it with old Belma.exe and now it is just alot of black places and different settings in my belma
instead of normal

That's probably becuase you have to reconfigure (belmaConf12.exe) the Belma.exe file.

Hosp · Post by **Hosp** » 2 Dec 2009, 21:10

Still alot of black stripes everyvery, and died at first run suddenly even if my head was in high air.

Smibu · Post by **Smibu** » 2 Dec 2009, 22:41

The reason for random dying is probably because I have assigned esc alias to § key (thx to Antz for finding out). And Thorze - those black stripes are because of vsync off setting and your driver has some bug. I had them too at first, but then I updated my driver with Windows Device manager and the problem was gone. Maybe you should try that too.

Btw, now you can get rid of golden belma while playing by pressing backspace: http://up.k10x.net/xbbqabajqrsrd/belma.exe

EDIT (can't be bothered to post over and over again): Turn animation removed. Björn wanted this at least and I'm using this too (no other changes, so don't download if you want to have animation): http://up.k10x.net/wzjsexgayumoh/belma.exe