Sharing MAME Save States - An Untapped Resource

[stella_blue]

I can't see any reason why this would not be possible.  I understand that the playback of a save state recording requires both the INP and STA files, but for the purpose of practicing various game situations, isn't the STA file essentially a standalone snapshot?

I think it would be great if we could upload a zipped archive to a free file hosting site, containing the STA file and a text file that briefly describes the game situation.  Players could then download the archive, rename the STA file (to avoid any conflicts with save states already created), extract it to the STA subdirectory, and practice away.  If this is doable (and why wouldn't it be?), then we might be neglecting a potentially valuable learning tool.  What do you think, guys?

Hold on, let's take a question from the audience...

I also thought it would be cool if anyone had some crazy save states they could share.  Basically, I'm going to play here and there, while I commute or whatever and just want to hit the hard stuff hard. 

Are there any crazy situation save states to practice the worst Kong can throw at me?  Might as well practice that is what I was thinking.

Glad you asked.  I have a Level 1-1 save state that I created a few seconds before an attempted left wall jump on the 3rd girder.  It's tricky, and involves precise positioning and timing, but it can be done.  I've practiced it close to 100 times, and my survival rate is barely 10%.

Perhaps I can upload the save state, if anyone wants to give it a shot.  I've never really used any of the free hosting sites, particularly for non-media files.  Does anyone have a recommendation?

[JCHarrist]

.sta files are generally pretty small. You should be able to just attach them to your post.

[stella_blue]

.sta files are generally pretty small. You should be able to just attach them to your post.

That's great news.  For some reason, I was under the impression that we could only attach images.   

[JCHarrist]

Here's a test. This is a Level 5-1 savestate at 104K with no deaths. Assigned to the "O" key ( The letter, not zero).

WolfMame 106

[corey.chambers]

It works! There is sound distortion but it works functionally. Great idea. I am sure there are some players who are still trying to break 100K that would probably love to try their hand out on this level 5 start save state!

[stella_blue]

Here's a test. This is a Level 5-1 savestate at 104K with no deaths. Assigned to the "O" key ( The letter, not zero).

Yeah, for save states that are created at the beginning of a stage, it's a good idea to make the score a nice, round number.  For players wishing to monitor their scores on that particular board, it simplifies the math.

I've attached 4 save states, one for each Level 5 screen type (with 0 deaths).  The starting scores are all even multiples of 10K, for easy tracking.

B = Barrels (120,000)
C = Conveyors (130,000)
E = Elevators (150,000)
R = Rivets (160,000)

Using the "e" save state, it's possible to score 6800 while skipping all 3 of the prizes.  It's a good exercise, and shouldn't take many attempts to accomplish.

[VON]

Here's a save state for practicing barrel grouping.  Notice the absence of blue objects.

Save state is set to "G" key.

[gstrain]

Note that save states are MAME version specific and generally don't work unless used with the same verison of MAME they were created in.  So it is probably worth mentioning what version of MAME your save states were created in.  I think everybody is using .106 for these save states but I wanted to mention this in case anybody has trouble getting them to work.  Also note that if the name of a save state somebody posts conflicts with one you already have, you can just change the file name of the save state to avoid the conflict and it will work fine.  For example you could just rename dkong-b.sta to dkong-i.sta and it would load from the "i' position.

-George