[RELEASE][Shenmue I] ShenTAS

LemonHaze

Banned
Joined
Dec 25, 2018
ShenTAS is a new tool which allows you to skip cutscenes and manipulate time.

1681406237378.png

This was originally commissioned by and designed to be used for speedrunners (hence the name), as the majority of cutscenes aren't skippable in any releases of the game and these account for a large portion of playtime and timed events are also a challenge as there isn't a "wait" functionality for all of them. However, when I had finished the overall work, and their larger plans for the tool had fallen apart, they cut contact with me after stating there would still be payment. Since this is the case, I have decided to release the tool in its current state and intend to add the rest of the intended functionality later down the line.

In its current state, it only supports Shenmue I (version 1.00 and 1.07), however I do plan to add support for Shenmue II.

To use it, open Shenmue I and then open ShenTAS. If you're not using v1.07, you must uncheck "Latest Version".

Once detected, you can now check "Auto Skip" which will automatically skip any scenes that previously required you to press the 'E' key. In addition, you can also check "Skip Cutscenes", which will skip cutscenes for you.




Please note that for the intro cutscene(s), you shouldn't enable 'Skip Cutscenes'.

This is because the intro sequence(s) operate slightly differently to that of the rest of the game. The intro sequence is comprised of a unique set of assets which are only ever used for the purposes of chaining multiple cutscene sequences together, along with a script which does so. This means that when the game attempts to load the intro assets, it is operating under the assumption that a cutscene is about to play. ShenTAS's "Skip Cutscenes" feature works by stopping the game from properly dealing with the relevant files needed to do this and so if you were to enable this before starting a new game, the scripts and engine would crash.

If you're starting from a new game, it's advised you start a new game with "Auto Skip" enabled and once you reach Ryo's bedroom for the first time, enabling "Skip Cutscenes":



Hotkeys
Code:
ALT+NUM+        :       Use custom time scaling
ALT+NUM-        :       Use default time scaling
ALT+C           :       Toggle cutscene skips



The latest version of ShenTAS can be downloaded here.

~Team Wulinshu
 

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Hey so thank you all so much for developing and releasing this. When practicing before I've had ways to adjust the time/time-scale but the cutscene skip is next level. This will help with practicing the run so much.

Already, practicing the Chai fight at the arcade is significantly less annoying now that I can easily skip the cutscene where he eats the ticket. I might actually try to win the fight in runs now after some practice!

I've done a couple of practice any% runs with ShenTAS and my PB is 2:54:54. Pretty nuts!

I ran into a few issues I wanted to report so that others can be aware when trying this out. I appreciate y'all doing this so much and I really don't want to put any pressure on y'all for fixes since everything can be worked around.

Crashes:
• Crash when entering the Jimmy QTE when not facing the door to the Asia Travel Company. Workaround is to face the door before pressing the button to open it.
• Crash when skipping the cutscene in the old warehouse district before the stealth section, after the QTE

Fight issues:
• Ryo and/or the enemies spawn out of bounds in the fight when skipping the cutscene during lunch the first day of work (My lunch!)
• Enemies spawn out of bounds when skipping the cutscene after the long motorcycle QTE (before the Charlie fight)
• Chai spawns out of bounds when skipping the cutscene before the final fight

Other issues:
• Skipping the cutscene in Old Warehouse 8 where Ryo shows master Chen the Phoenix Mirror makes the QTE with Chai not start properly (it fades to black over and over). Disabling cutscene skip, completing the QTE and re-enabling before the camera cuts away is a workaround.
• Skipping the final cutscene where Lan Di rides off in a boat makes the final QTE not trigger.
• Skipping the cutscene where Fuku gives Ryo his savings doesn't add the money Ryo would usually get. So when you pay for the ticket you end up with negative money. Workaround is to just not skip this cutscene.
• Skipping the cutscene where Ryo withdraws money from the bank still adds the correct amount, but it only adds after the amount of time the cutscene would normally take. This doesn't seem to happen with the Fuku cutscene.
• Ryo spawns out of bounds in the harbor (over the water) when skipping the lunch cutscenes on some work days
• Camera angles during/before QTEs and cutscenes that aren't skipped are weird. Not a real problem, pretty funny imo, but can be alarming when waiting for a QTE to start while staring at a wall.

Edit: I should have mentioned, all the above was tested on v1.07. I had some issues getting the time scaling to work consistently on v1.00 but it may have just been user error.
 
Last edited:
Hey so thank you all so much for developing and releasing this. When practicing before I've had ways to adjust the time/time-scale but the cutscene skip is next level. This will help with practicing the run so much.

Already, practicing the Chai fight at the arcade is significantly less annoying now that I can easily skip the cutscene where he eats the ticket. I might actually try to win the fight in runs now after some practice!

I've done a couple of practice any% runs with ShenTAS and my PB is 2:54:54. Pretty nuts!

I ran into a few issues I wanted to report so that others can be aware when trying this out. I appreciate y'all doing this so much and I really don't want to put any pressure on y'all for fixes since everything can be worked around.

Crashes:
• Crash when entering the Jimmy QTE when not facing the door to the Asia Travel Company. Workaround is to face the door before pressing the button to open it.
• Crash when skipping the cutscene in the old warehouse district before the stealth section, after the QTE

Fight issues:
• Ryo and/or the enemies spawn out of bounds in the fight when skipping the cutscene during lunch the first day of work (My lunch!)
• Enemies spawn out of bounds when skipping the cutscene after the long motorcycle QTE (before the Charlie fight)
• Chai spawns out of bounds when skipping the cutscene before the final fight

Other issues:
• Skipping the cutscene in Old Warehouse 8 where Ryo shows master Chen the Phoenix Mirror makes the QTE with Chai not start properly (it fades to black over and over). Disabling cutscene skip, completing the QTE and re-enabling before the camera cuts away is a workaround.
• Skipping the final cutscene where Lan Di rides off in a boat makes the final QTE not trigger.
• Skipping the cutscene where Fuku gives Ryo his savings doesn't add the money Ryo would usually get. So when you pay for the ticket you end up with negative money. Workaround is to just not skip this cutscene.
• Skipping the cutscene where Ryo withdraws money from the bank still adds the correct amount, but it only adds after the amount of time the cutscene would normally take. This doesn't seem to happen with the Fuku cutscene.
• Ryo spawns out of bounds in the harbor (over the water) when skipping the lunch cutscenes on some work days
• Camera angles during/before QTEs and cutscenes that aren't skipped are weird. Not a real problem, pretty funny imo, but can be alarming when waiting for a QTE to start while staring at a wall.

Edit: I should have mentioned, all the above was tested on v1.07. I had some issues getting the time scaling to work consistently on v1.00 but it may have just been user error.

It's honestly really useful to have this information. Despite the research done, when we force programs to function in ways they weren't intended to, the side effects themselves can be interesting in their own right, so I find this stuff interesting, thanks!

I do intend to fix things as and when they're needed, so when I've properly sat down and ingested all of this and had a look through the research, I can work from there.
 
ShenTAS is a new tool which allows you to skip cutscenes and manipulate time.

View attachment 18023

This was originally commissioned by and designed to be used for speedrunners (hence the name), as the majority of cutscenes aren't skippable in any releases of the game and these account for a large portion of playtime and timed events are also a challenge as there isn't a "wait" functionality for all of them. However, when I had finished the overall work, and their larger plans for the tool had fallen apart, they cut contact with me after stating there would still be payment. Since this is the case, I have decided to release the tool in its current state and intend to add the rest of the intended functionality later down the line.

In its current state, it only supports Shenmue I (version 1.00 and 1.07), however I do plan to add support for Shenmue II.

To use it, open Shenmue I and then open ShenTAS. If you're not using v1.07, you must uncheck "Latest Version".

Once detected, you can now check "Auto Skip" which will automatically skip any scenes that previously required you to press the 'E' key. In addition, you can also check "Skip Cutscenes", which will skip cutscenes for you.




Please note that for the intro cutscene(s), you shouldn't enable 'Skip Cutscenes'.

This is because the intro sequence(s) operate slightly differently to that of the rest of the game. The intro sequence is comprised of a unique set of assets which are only ever used for the purposes of chaining multiple cutscene sequences together, along with a script which does so. This means that when the game attempts to load the intro assets, it is operating under the assumption that a cutscene is about to play. ShenTAS's "Skip Cutscenes" feature works by stopping the game from properly dealing with the relevant files needed to do this and so if you were to enable this before starting a new game, the scripts and engine would crash.

If you're starting from a new game, it's advised you start a new game with "Auto Skip" enabled and once you reach Ryo's bedroom for the first time, enabling "Skip Cutscenes":



Hotkeys
Code:
ALT+NUM+        :       Use custom time scaling
ALT+NUM-        :       Use default time scaling
ALT+C           :       Toggle cutscene skips



The latest version of ShenTAS can be downloaded here.

~Team Wulinshu


Just an update - I updated ShenTAS shortly after release after @supermoe1985 requested that the scripted camera changes could still run. To give an idea as to what I mean by that, here is a GIF showing me skipping the Iwao cutscene with Ryo:

ShenTAS_7GLLPcVYqS.gif



And here is the updated skip, with the newer version of ShenTAS you can find at the bottom of this post:

ShenTAS_F4gajPI5X6.gif


As you can see, the camera's transition animation now plays back before the skip actually occurs. This can make things a lot better to look at :)


Enjoy!
 

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