I'm trying to get into T.A Death. I have a joystick that works with my computer, i have TAP (with the cheat), and i am now using windows since my mac died *cry*... So anyways my question is: What is the best way to train for T.A Death? Currently i can get to around 200-240. I've been playing death for about 8 hours a week for the past month and i have seen very little improvement. Is there a better way to train or am i just hopeless?
My rule of thumb is to play on the speed that pushes my limits. I'd say play at level 200 using the cheat until you feel comfortable (that's quite subjective). You might not notice huge improvements if you often play from the opening levels. You do improve though regardless of what you think albeit in small increments.
I agree with DIGITAL's advice, however I wouldn't recommend it to cdsboy at this time. I'd have to see an .inp to be sure, but I suspect 20G alone is killing him and extra speed just overwhelms in a way that prevents learning essential 20G strategy in a timely manner. I'd recommend playing Master using the 20G code. Or alternatively, playing Master locked at 501 and seeing how long you can survive. After doing that for a few sessions, come back to Death with a stronger foundation of the right reflexes and start ramping up the speed as DIGITAL suggested.
To see if it really is 20G that is screwing you up, you can try playing LJ Death with TGM movement rules (200 ms entry delay, Arika rotation, no floor kicks, 60 Hz DAS, IRS on) and cranking the lock delay way up.
tepples, my man, we have talked about excessive LJ pimping, have we not? i agree with ct, if you're having trouble surviving indefinitely (read: for a long time) at 20g, playing death mode isn't going to be the most effective practice.placement is what is really important, death mode tests how quickly you can remember/decide/execute the things you've learned in other tetris variants (although the 20g skills are much more important here). if you don't have super solid skills to build on, it's like trying to do well on a final exam for a difficult mathematics class that you didn't take.
I know 20g well. I am still dying around level 200 in Death. I don't think that is the problem. I haven't improved much in Death since 2005. There may be limits in keyboard input for me. I feel my keyboard is lagging, or Mame is lagging. Just enough to make me do mistakes that lead to death. Does it matter if I die at level 200. I still can't survive one move over 300. We are taling about getting Gm here, or at least m. Nothing else matters it seems.
Having fun ? For cdsboy: try to play master mode a bit, if you can reach 999 on a regular basis, you will feel pretty much more confortable in death. But, if you really want to play death, try first to play master mode starting at 701 using the cheat. I felt MASSIVE improvement when I tryed this for a week.
@L0st: i have the same problem: while playing your trainer game that starts at 699, i have no big problems to survive some time. but with mame, it just does not work. there is some strange delay/lag or such. maybe one needs a killer-highend pc to run mame without any lags. but soon... i will have a core2duo
I already have 4 CPUs running at 2.2 GHz. Doesn't help much I must say. I played death a few times. a cupple of minutes ago. I was surprised how many mistakes I made with my hands compared to what I see. I know where to put the active tetramino, as well as the next tetramino. But for some reason when I press the down arrow to lock, the tetramino moves one block to the left or right. It is so irritating. Because I need sometimes to move the tetramino one more time extra before locking. It is very irritating. Especially when I reach level 100. Then one of those input delays costs a game over. I don't know what to blame. What I know is people use all kinds of joysticks. And when we are talking about the big guys, they don't even run Mame. They buy the real hardware. It isn't very fair to compare against them. The performance must be the same in order to compare. Note that I am not a cheater! I never start at level 100. My own trainer is actually the first "cheat" I have allowed myself to use.
scrub ! Yes MAME have Frame delay, and possibly more if you use some shity USB adaptator coupled with non PC joystick. Please check with colour_thief for retreiving an specifically enhanced Mame version for TAP. Internally modified by shade, this version remove most of the lag but 1 frame still exist. I agree that 3>5 frame delay is very huge, especially in TGM, but this version is very playable. You will also have to run it with a command line but a simple shortcut command line is finally faster than using the standard mame32 GUI. If you play better or don't feel input delay in other trainers, then use and abuse of those training tools ! i don't know very well about LJ but Heboris is a very very good one. Force yourself to train in extreme condition. Even with lot of mistake, if you can survive at least one section (100 lvl) in 20 attempts then it is not useless. I currently train in a modified Death 500 speed with a lock delay of 12 frames instead of 15. i can't survive for a very long time, and maybe completed 4 or 5 times a section. but coming back to normal Death 500, it become more "cool". Just yesterday evening i've survived 5 consecutive section : 500>999, more than 3 min30 if i count the "staff roll"... it shall finally payback to anybody ps : i've also bough an X-Arcade byo kit, and i don't feel input lag anymore
Oooooh boy. Jago you initated a PM-bomb for me. First, the version of MAME jago is speaking of does not exist. It was planned, but never finished. I have a feeling that it was a "Don Quixote" effort to combat lag that didn't exist in the first place. The "special" fast MAME versions I do have: MAME 0.63 with extra speedup hacks. This version was created by Hong Kong players. It's sole purpose is to run on ghetto PCs. It is barely faster than 99u4, and ugly as hell with graphical glitches. The background is simply black instead of animated, and the invisible challenge does not display correctly making it impossible. You should not want this version at all if you can run normal MAME fullspeed. I would not recommend any of those versions. And anyone who thinks there is huge lag is lying to themselves for their shortcomings. I've played a lot of MAME and the real thing. While they are not identical, the maximum lag is 1-2 frames. This should not be killing you... I can survive for very long locked at 501 in MAME, and about the same on the real thing. any thoughts mat?
Yes, that would be a huge source of lag. But if you can run it full speed (press F11 to check) there should be very little lag. Though... This stuff is actually pretty complicated and I'm not an authority. Here's a decent thread about emulation and lag: http://www.bannister.org/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=36;t=000059
To verify if it's lag or "lag", try playing in LJ or Heboris with the correct settings to simulate Death.
We doin' big pimpin', we spinnin' Ts Check 'em out now Big pimpin' on my S-M-G We doin' big pimpin' 'gainst T-T-C It's just that DIGITAL, caffeine, and T-E-P-P
Well thanks for the imput guys. I haven't had much time to surf the forums in the past days. Sorry for not checking in. I'll post an inp later. I think you may be right about getting killed by 20g. How do i improve me 20g skills?
