It's hiding in the B Sytem version. If you want to play tetris with the poweron pattern, i suggets using mame romset "tetrista" That one sounds better than the "tetrist" romset, and those are the only two that actually have the poweron pattern.
i'm pretty sure it has, but i don't know where. i'd do it myself if i knew how. i do know the 1999 sega version for dreamcast has the same RNG in it, and on one of the levels seeds it with the value that produces the poweron pattern. Unfortunately the really nasty 5 Z in a row series that are in that poweron pattern are brutal, and the damn ceiling restriction and lack of kicks is really hurting my game. BTW, i found JGOtris finally. it's arcade mode does NOT have segas poweron pattern.
I'm not sure if the algorithm is known, but I would be very surprised if some Japanese resource didn't at least give the first x pieces of the sequence. I haven't come accross any of it though.
Needle did a while ago, in for form of a spreadsheet that analyzed ways of getting to 999999 efficiently, but I have since lost the spreadsheet and he has lost where he found it... zaphod: If you could document the first 1000 or so pieces af all of these power-on sequences, that would be very helpful.
Well, I'm trying. it' not so easy to transcribe when you can't touch type. But if someone wants I can send a mame inp that should show at least 1000 I can also confirm the sequence continues after the piece in the preview window at game over.
That's what I said... i can't touch type. i tried to transcribe the first game, and then i double checked and found a mistake. or at least I thought i did...
As someone whoo has experience with transcribing, I can offer the following advice: Try to watch through slowly, if you can. I don't know if it's possible to slow down an .inp, but if you convert to avi, you can slow that down, or even framestep, if necessary. Know the limit of how fast you can go. Mine is just under 30tpm. Games that display more than one next piece are easier, because you have some buffer space. I don't have experience of trying to do a game with only 1 preview, but I imagine that it would be slower. If possible, try to type on a different computer than the one that you are watching it on, so that you can pause and move around the video without having to switch windows. I've found that using my DS to write the sequence down works well. You may find that writing them down and then typing them later may be easier for you.
I can't pause without the playback desynching, so i have to transcribe in real time. and once the speeds gets up there, i can't keep up with glancing back from screen to keys to make sure i hit the right one. and of course there is only one next piece, which doesn't help any.
Can yo convert it to an avi? If you ask in one of the IRC channels, they might be able to help you with this.
what would really help is if I had an onscreen keyboard for tetrominos. i'd simply click as I saw them and it would place the letters in the notepad.
I don't know if this is news to anybody, but it appears that the SEGA power on pattern is available in heboris mini, and the first 1000 pieces is transcribed in the heboris.ini file. I reproduce it here for your viewing pleasure: Code: TITIIJILSJOZZJLSJISLZZZJIJJJOLZJSILTLJOIOOTJTOSZZO ISLZTOJJLSJOIIZZZJSIIZLZZOIOOTSZZSSSTJOZITZOSLLTZJ JZZJJIZOSOJLOZLZJLJIIOTTOOIZSJSSSTLZLJTZOLLOOILTSZ TTOILZOJISLTILLZTSLISTTIIJSSZTTLLILJZOOZTIISZTIJIJ TSOLTTLIITIOLTSJILIOOJSOZZLZZLLSZJZOSZLLLZZJITZTSL OISOLLOSOOZLJSJOZJZISZSLLJITTISJZIIOOOOTJZZIOJOZOJ JJSZJTJTJJSJSSSILOTLOITJISSZJIOOOZOISTSJLSTTSLLOSL ZJSOLIJJLIZSTJISSSTTIJOJZJIOLLLIIOIZSLTOOLOOZJOJSS LJSTZTZJLZITZTSJLIZSZSTITJZTJOJIJSJJLTOOSZLIOSIJOI OOLSZJLSLJIZLSJIIJITSTLSISLZZOJZSSIOZTLZTJZIZSJTOT TLOTSTTJLILJSOOJOLTLOILTSIJIJTZJLZIITIOOLZLLTIIJTZ TLSITLSSISTTTLILISLTLTTTITLTJTJLLSIITLZLTSZJZOISOS IOTSOJLJJSSZJOSOTOISLSTJLZSLZZSLISLJZTJLJSZZLSSSII JTOJJSZLJLIZOIJSSJLSTSJOSJTOLLTTSTIJLZTOTZLSZLJTOL SSTTLTIOSTTILSJZTLILIZIOTTZSOJLILSJOOIJOZIJJISIOII OIZZLOIITTZTTIZTLIILSITTOSZOTZSSTJZOJJLOOSJZJLOIJS TOZTZZTOZLOLOLJOZLOIISLJZIOZTTTZISOTOIIZZZLITSLTIZ ZISZSJTIOZLZOLOSJSLIJLILOJTZJOJLTOLSOLIZJJOZIILTIT IZZJTSTSTITILTSTLOJZZOLZOZLJJJOTITLTSSZTOSTZSTOTJJ LZSIIZZSISJSSSZIJIIOIOZOIZJTJIJOIISTTJJTTTJITTITSI Correct me if I'm wrong, but that is the power on pattern, right?
I had another check, and it appears there's (at least) two power on patterns. The 1988 version of SEGA Tetris, running on SEGA System-16 hardware, has the famous power on pattern that I listed in my previous post. The 1989 version, running on the Taito B-System, has a different power on pattern, that begins LOOJSI... The Taito pattern is probably the lesser known of the two, and I don't know if it has been transcribed anywhere. zaphod77, if you want to upload your .inp somewhere, I wouldn't mind having a go at transcribing it.
Does Heboris restart the sequence after 1000 or revert to some other randomizer? I guess it wouldn't be that important for its TGM simulation modes, which end after about 750 pieces (level 999) or 950 pieces (level 1300). Thanks.
Ok mystery solved. You must CLEAR YOUR NVRAM to reproduce the poweron pattern in MAME. The B system version does not save nvram, and thus restores the poweron pattern. It appears that the transcription in heboris mini is indeed the poweron pattern, from a fresh nvram. It will repeat the sequence, i believe. The setting for it is "custom" randomizer. Alternatively, the bootleg version doesn't save mvram on my version of MAME, and always gets the poweron sequence. Is the bootleg version the most common on location? SOmeone needs to test their real board and see if they need to wipe nvram.
Btw, for those who want to try and transcribe. http://eunich.cochems.com/~zaphod/tetristinp.zip I have confirmed that the piece in the next at game over and the piece you get in the next game are consecutive pieces in the pattern.
