The m-Roll true conditions!

Thread in 'Discussion' started by LOst, 27 May 2007.

  1. EDIT: This post is outdated. Please read the wiki page: http://www.tetrisconcept.com/wiki/index ... The_M-Roll


    ___________________________________


    Thanks to an anonymous extreme player from Japan (Gm player in TAP), I have been able to study the true conditions for m-Roll in TAP, and also TA!


    For those who doesn't understand what m-Roll means, it is the only condition in TAP/TA Master Mode where you can become Grand master.

    Normally when you hit level 999, a 1 minute staff roll will appear while you have to play only to survive. The catch is you need to remember the playfield because it is becoming invisible. Once every tetramino locks onto the stack, it takes 5 seconds for it to totally disappear.

    If you can stay alive for 1 minute, you will get the orange grade. Else you get the green grade. So it doesn't really matter if you have grade "S6" or grade "S9", you will not be able to get any higher grade at/after level 999.


    Now, if you managed to meet the conditions for the m-Roll during the game, you will get the "m" grade at level 999 (In TA, you will see the "m" grade at once. If you play in TAP you have to survive, or die in order for the "m" grade to show up).


    The m-Roll is extremely hard! Every tetramino will disappear 3 frames after it has been locked. You will not see the playfield stack at all. you have to remember your every move, and survive for 1 minute.

    If you survive the m-Roll you will get the "Gm" grade.


    There are two Gm grades available. The green Gm and the orange Gm. The green Gm is the easy one to get. The get the orange one, you need to clear at least 32 rows during the m-Roll.

    The anonymous player from Japan who helped me, got the green "Gm" grade, and he only got 27 cleared rows. He also says he have only gotten the orange Gm grade 4 times. While he has taken the green Gm more than 100 times.


    Some people may say some conditions for the m-Roll are invalid since they are not making sense. Then you must know both TAP and TA were rushed games. TA was even replaced with TAP very early. And you may understand why by studying the two's different conditions for m-Roll.


    Before I'll show you the conditions, you must understand that a section is a "new background". So section 0 is level 0 to 99, section 4 is level 400-499, etc.


    Okay here we go:


    Code:
    ========================================================================================================
    
    m-Roll condition for TAP Master Mode figured out by LOst:
    ---------------------------------------------------------
    
    Time conditions:
    Section 0's time in less or equal to 1 minute and 5 seconds (exclusive flag)
    Game time at level 500 in less or equal to 6 minutes and zero seconds (exclusive flag) (not used!)
    Game time at level 999 in less or equal to 8 minutes and 45 seconds (exclusive flag)
    Section 9's time in less or equal to 0 minutes and 45 seconds (exclusive flag)
    Each section time of Section 0 up to section 8 in less or equal to 1 minute and 5 seconds (shared flag)
    
    Tetris conditions:
    At least "2" terises per section at section 0 to section 4 (shared flag)
    At least "1" tetris per section at section 5 to section 8 (shared flag)
    No need for any tetrises at section 9 (no flag used)
    
    Grade conditions:
    Grade "S9" at level 999 (exclusive flag)
    
    (shared flags are applied at the beginning of the game, and removed when the conditions aren't met)
    (exclusive flags are applied when the conditions are met)
    
    ========================================================================================================
    
    Code:
    ========================================================================================================
    
    m-Roll condition for TA Master Mode figured out by LOst:
    ---------------------------------------------------------
    
    Time conditions:
    Section 0's time in less or equal to 1 minute and 30 seconds (exclusive flag)
    Game time at level 500 in less or equal to 6 minutes and zero seconds (exclusive flag)
    Game time at level 999 in less or equal to 9 minutes and 30 seconds (exclusive flag)
    Section 9's time in less or equal to 0 minutes and 45 seconds (exclusive flag)
    The section times of Section 6 up to section 8 in less or equal to 1 minute and 8 seconds and the odd 46 centiseconds (shared flag)
    
    Tetris conditions:
    At least "1" tetris per section at section 0 to section 8 (shared flag)
    No need for any tetrises at section 9 (no flag used)
    
    Grade conditions:
    Grade "S9" at level 999 (exclusive flag)
    
    (shared flags are applied at the beginning of the game, and removed when the conditions aren't met)
    (exclusive flags are applied when the conditions are met)
    
    ========================================================================================================
    
    So now you know how to get the m-Roll conditions. One thing to note here is that the TAP level 500 condition in less or equal to 6 minutes is not used in TAP. It is being ignored. So it is a leftover from TA.


    Feel free to ask questions. Most of the conditions have been double checked, and sometimes tripple checked, so they should be 100%. Else I wouldn't have post them here.


    /LOst


    EDITED: Updated the orange Gm grade condition
     
  2. It means that TA is easier than TAP ?

    Btw, we want vids of your japanese friend ^^
     
  3. tepples

    tepples Lockjaw developer

    Good job. This can also be expressed as 21 distinct conditions that can disqualify the player:


    Section 0 > 65 seconds

    Section 0 without 2 4-line clears

    Section 1 > 65 seconds

    Section 1 without 2 4-line clears

    Section 2 > 65 seconds

    Section 2 without 2 4-line clears

    Section 3 > 65 seconds

    Section 3 without 2 4-line clears

    Section 4 > 65 seconds

    Section 4 without 2 4-line clears

    Section 5 > 65 seconds

    Section 5 without 4-line clear

    Section 6 > 65 seconds

    Section 6 without 4-line clear

    Section 7 > 65 seconds

    Section 7 without 4-line clear

    Section 8 > 65 seconds

    Section 8 without 4-line clear

    Section 9 > 45 seconds

    Section 0-9 > 525 seconds

    Grade at end of section 9 < S9


    I know how to measure all except the grade. I seem to remember that the grade is based on a timer that drains during play time other than ARE and line clear delay and restores upon each line clear, with larger clears worth disproportionately more, and once this timer is full, ++grade. Are any other details known?
     
  4. DIGITAL

    DIGITAL Unregistered


    Evidence points to yes. As for vids, there's an inp on ct's FTP I believe.
     
  5. Thanks. That's a new way for me to state conditions. It's a good one!


    For the grades. I am not ready to give out any information. This is because the grades depend on the structure of the main game loop. One single difference will lead to a wrong final result.

    In about a year, there will probably be a clone out there to visually explain the main game loop. But until then, the grades will be as hidden as before.

    I can tell you that you can gain grades faster by making combos, beginning with a Tetris. And that the grades and the combo medal are related closely.
     
  6. ct's FTP is private. Don't give it out. instead, wait for Jago to make a youtube video.
     

  7. I knew it !!!

    Go go go go training !
     
  8. Yeah please don't share my FTP as I serve that off my PC. [​IMG]


    Lost may have reverse engineered the grading system, but he doesn't understand how to use the rules effectively. Yes combos give you a marginal benefit, but the main thing that must be done is playing fast. Otherwise all the grade points you earn will be decremented into nothing, making slow combos useless.


    Triples/tetrises, and playing fast. That's all you need to hit S9 consistently.
     
  9. I decided to rearrange the conditions into a more practical, human readable form:


    Code:
    m-Roll conditions for TAP Master Mode
    ---------------------------------------------------------
    
    Time conditions:
     0-999 within 8:45:00
    900-999 within 0:45:00
    All other sections within 1:05:00
    
    
    Tetris conditions:
     0-500 achieve at least 2 tetrises per section
    500-900 achieve at least 1 tetris per section
    900-999 (no tetrises required)
    
    Grade conditions:
    Grade S9 at level 999
    Code:
    m-Roll conditions for TA Master Mode
    ---------------------------------------------------------
    
    Time conditions:
     0-100 within 1:30:00
     0-500 within 6:00:00
     0-999 within 9:30:00
    600-700 within 1:08:46
    700-800 within 1:08:46
    800-900 within 1:08:46
    900-999 within 0:45:00
    
    Tetris conditions:
     0-900 achieve at least 1 tetris per section
    900-999 (no tetrises required)
    
    Grade conditions:
    Grade S9 at level 999
    It's interesting to note that the TAP requirements are a superset of the TA requirements. TAP is significantly more hardcore than TA... If we all played TA, I'm sure we'd have many M ranked players already. And now that I know that TAP is lax about 2 tetrises per section above 500, I'm really motivated to get that M. I'm confident that the first S9 I can get below 8:45 will be M. Overall this is a relief, because it means that in the end none of these conditions really affect your play style, and ultimately it's just reduced to a TGM1-like time attack.


    The TAP conditions seem very plausible, but TA has me raising an eyebrow. I'm sure you would have triple checked the 1:08:46 requirement... Are you sure it's applied starting at 600? There's a speed change at 500 and again at 700, so it seems weird to start requiring it at 600. It would be more logical to start at 500 or 700.
     
  10. just a little practical question: Tap is the rom that has death mode included and Ta the one withouth ?
     
  11. That is correct. TA also lacks TGM+ mode, and Doubles mode must be activated with 2 credits and a special code, as opposed to from the menu with 1 credit.


    I previously thought Normal/Master were the same across games. Now I'm quite curious what else they may have tweaked.
     
  12. Yea, double checked it. It is a dword constant value value 0x100C which gives the time 1 : 08 : 46. It is checked against your section time if you are above section 5 when hitting x99. So that makes the first check at level 699. And not checked if the section is equal to 9
     

  13. Is this poor wording, or is it actually checking you section time at x99 instead of when you pass the section?
     
  14. Exactly when you pass level x99 (passing the section). Poor wording by me. Sorry
     
  15. Nobody has mentioned it here yet, so I guess I will:

    Passing the m-roll will get you a green line on your ranking record.

    Passing the m-roll with more than 32 lines cleared will get you an orange line on your ranking.


    Obviously the orange ranking takes much more skill. [​IMG] I have a question: does the game rank an orange Gm over a green Gm? Or is the clear time the ultimate factor?
     
  16. a question: does the line clear delay affects grade progression? i.e. is it a bad idea to clear many singles and doubles , because line clear delay slows down tilesperminute speed?

    if so, wouldnt it be always better to do tetrises, because this minimises line clear delay time?
     
  17. No, because the game doesn't care what you're doing during line clear delay or ARE, the grade points value decreases only while you have active control of a piece.
     
  18. K

    K

    very interesting difference between green and orange. It must clearly show difference between player struggling to survive and those who master it....
     
  19. Edo

    Edo a.k.a. FSY

    This is partly in response to Amnesia's post over on the records thread, where he was expressing doubt over one of the m-roll conditions. I thought it best to post this information here, where it belongs, rather than clogging up the records with a mass of information.


    Okay, firstly, massive thanks to L0st, who had already done most of the work for me. Secondly, thanks to Amnesia, whose continual skepticism prompted me to double-check the conditions. (I was actually slightly wrong with one of my conditions on the wiki, but don't worry, it's corrected now!)


    It might help for you to know how the m-roll flags work: there's 7 in total and they are stored at 06064BD0 in the RAM (so a binary watchpoint might be useful).


    Flag 1 is for time on reaching level 100. For TA it's 1:30, for TAP it's 1:05. This is redundant in TAP, as it's duplicated as part of flag 5's conditions.

    Flag 2 is for time on reaching level 500. 6:00 for both TA and TAP. Because of flag 5's more stringent conditions, this is also redundant in TAP.

    Flag 3 is for time on reaching level 999. 9:30 in TA, and 8:45 in TAP.

    Flag 4 is for the final section time. 0:45 for both TA and TAP. However, as you'll see in a minute, in TAP the condition is not required (although it is still checked).

    Flag 5 is for individual section times. This is quite complicated, and is difficult to prove, but I'll provide as much evidence as I can below.

    Flag 6 is for tetrises. TA only requires one tetris in each of the first 9 sections. TAP requires 2 in the first five, and 1 in the next four. No tetries are required in the last section for both TA and TAP.

    Flag 7 is for grade S9 at level 999.


    Flags 1, 2, 3, 4 and 7 are set to zero initially, then activated as soon as the condition is met. Flags 5 and 6 are set to one initially and then removed as soon as a condition is failed.


    So, Flag 5, the complicated one. I'll deal with TAP first, and then if I find time later, I'll look at TA.


    For all of the following images, the records were reset between capturing each image, so each list of section times are all from a single game. Also, in case you're wondering, I used a cheat to control the timer.


    In the image below, apart from the fact that times slower than 45 seconds in the last section can still get GM, I'd like to draw your attention to the first 5 section times, and how they affect the 6th section time requirement:
    [​IMG]

    See for the GM grade on the left, the 6th section time is 17 seconds slower than the 5th, yet GM is still awarded. On the right, we see that .01 of a second makes all the difference. What's special about this 47 seconds? well, the first 5 section times are: 45, 45, 45, 45+15, 45-15; an average of 45 seconds. The 6th section time must be no more than 2 seconds slower than the average of the first 5 section times. If you're not convinced, here's some more evidence:
    [​IMG]

    See how the 1st section time has been increased by .25, so the average has been increased by .05.


    Okay moving on: We've already established that it doesn't matter if the 6th section time is more than 2 seconds slower than the 5th section time (below, I made the time 2 seconds for convenience), but for the next 4 sections it does matter: the 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th section times must each be no more than 2 seconds slower than the previous section time. Below we can see first the GM, and then 4 S9s that were .01 of a second too slow:
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    Finally: the first 5 sections must be completed no slower than 1:05. I think most of you have already accepted this, so I won't bother showing that 1:05.01 will fail. However, you might be wondering if the last 5 sections can be slower than 1:05. The answer is, they can:
    [​IMG]

    In theory, the last 3 sections can also be slow, but in practice, due to the flag 3 condition, it's not possible.

    In summary, the conditions as listed on the wiki are currently believed to be correct.
     
  20. Excellent work here Edo.


    The coles notes version:

    The only difference between the previous and current m-roll requirements is that section 500-600 must be no slower than 2 seconds more than the average of the first 5 sections.
     

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