As I have already indicated, the final score depends on the .nv file. More exactly: The better the top 3 on the individual events, the higher your final score will be. Since we should have a standard to go by (so that the score will be the same regardless of who plays the recording back), that leaves only two possibilities: (1) The final score is the one that is achieved when deleting the .nv file first and then playing back the recording. (2) The final score is the one that is achieved using the .nv file of the person who recorded it. (Well, a third would be to always use some standard .nv file, but (1) is merely a special case of that, and (1) is a lot easier to do.)(posted 9288 days ago)The first clearly is the one we should go by. I can immediately think of several arguments against using the second alternative:
- We have been talking recently about confirmers not having to jump through a lot of hoops to get a recording to play back. Copying someone else's .nv file first (and making a backup of your own, in case you don't want to lose your own scores), then, afterwards, restoring your own is more work then simply temporarily renaming your own .nv file (if there is any to start with) and later on restoring it.
- Alex Weir claimed a score of 362,060 on Hyper Sports, and I have no doubt that that was really the score he got when he recorded it. However, if he had played it back then (without deleting the .nv file), he would have seen his own recording produce a score of 378,060. Had he then included the .nv file resulting after that playback with his .inp, he could have claimed a score of 378,060. Obviously, this is a very easy way to "artificially" get a higher score, and there is no real way of detecting it, except if the person using this trick overlooks one simple thing. Again, Alex, clearly you did not do this (or else you would have claimed 378,060), so please do not take this the wrong way. I am merely using your recording as an example.
- Take the previous point one step further: Download a lot of different "good" Hyper Sports .inps, play them all back without deleting the .nv file in between, and, lo and behold, you'll end up with an .nv file containing a lot of great top 3 times/scores on the individual events. Then record a Hyper Sports recording yourself, and all the work done by others will result in you getting a higher score. Is that fair? No. Is it detectable? No. Unless, again, the person doing this overlooks one simple thing.
So: In the case of Hyper Sports, the .inp will play back correctly, regardless of whether the .nv file is deleted first or not. The only thing that may differ is the final score. If you don't want to lose all your scores, then, at least in the case of Hyper Sports, don't delete the .nv when you start recording, but temporarily rename it before you play back your own, and claim the score that results from that playback. Then you can restore your old .nv file and you won't have lost any of your scores, while at the same time keeping the playing field even.
As a final note: I don't know if the actual machine behaves the same way, so if, on the actual machine, getting a top 3 height on pole vault will never cause the mole to appear, but if so, then the TG people may have to have another look at the rules for getting and accepting world records on Hyper Sports. Because, assuming the actual machine behaves the same way, the following scenario is possible: Let's say Alex Weir starts a game of Hyper Sports on an actual arcade machine that has just been reset. At the same time, I start a game on a different machine, one that has really great top 3 times/scores on every single event.
Now, Alex is a much better player than I am at Hyper Sports, so let's say that on EVERY SINGLE EVENT, he does at least as good as I, or even better. And let's say that for both of us, the game is over at the 5th round long horse. There is a chance then that, even though I never outperformed Alex on a single event, my final score will be higher than his... . Clearly this is not fair. And, clearly, not everyone has access to a Hyper Sports machine on which the top 3 on every event is very good. This makes the playing field uneven. This makes it possible to break a world record while never performing better on any single event than the previous world record holder. Since this "trick" of getting higher scores is not available to everyone, it should not be allowed. So, I repeat, in my opinion, the TG people should have another look at, and revise the rules for Hyper Sports world records. (Again, assuming that the mole on pole vault works the same way on the actual machine as on MAME.)
Cheers, Ben Jos.