How to Crash SM64 Using a Pendulum (Commentated)

I explain how to crash Super Mario 64 using a pendulum.

Thanks to the following people for making this possible:

Timestamps:
0:00:00 Background
0:01:32 TTC Settings
0:02:56 Pendulum Variables
0:10:41 Pendulum Code
0:12:31 Variable Types
0:14:57 Floats
0:20:18 Converting a Float to a Signed Integer
0:21:50 Creating and Running the TAS
0:22:47 Corners
0:24:25 RNG
0:30:15 Brute Forcer
0:31:20 The Mini Pendulum
0:32:56 Phase 1
0:38:28 Phase 2
0:42:51 Fixing the Sleep Problem
0:44:17 Watching One Complete Swing
0:45:24 Phase 3: Intro
0:47:00 Float Rounding
0:51:44 The Modulo Operator
0:54:08 Phase 3: Rounding Explained
1:05:49 Phase 3: Pendulum Behavior
1:07:23 Will It Crash?
1:08:50 Stats
1:10:56 Ending

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[kylehill]

This does something for me that nothing else does

[TimTom]

Babe wake up! Pannenkoek just uploaded an hour long video about floating point precision!

[Narokkurai]

brb gonna prank my dad by standing in a corner and scuffing my shoe at incredibly precise intervals for 39 days straight until the universe collapses.

[HopUpOutDaBed]

I always wondered why my game always seemed to crash when I played for 39 1/2 days straight making dust clouds as a kid. Glad you finally solved the mystery.

[InfernoPlus]

This is secretly a CS lecture disguised as a Mario 64 video.

[snekdrek]

Time is a valuable thing
Watch it fly by as the pendulum swings

[Roebey]

You know, for as smart of a person pannen is, it should not be understated how effective of a communicator he is. I'd argue the skill he has for explaining these dense and complex topics to such a wide audience is just as important as the discoveries behind the topics he talks about. Magnificent work, pannen.

[TJ-Henry-Yoshi]

Incredibly interesting video. Hard to believe 7 years ago all this was way too much for me to comprehend and nowadays, I can follow every bit of it thanks in part to my last several years of computer science studying.

As a side note, I found the meme at 28:26 especially funny because I KNOW pannen just threw that in there as a sign of having fun with this video and that's a very enjoyable thought. Even if it represents a tiny portion of editing this massive project

[BanzaiChuck]

Born too late to explore the Earth, born too early to explore the universe, born just right to wait 39 days for a pendulum to crash Super Mario 64.

[Bismuth]

Congratulations on seeing this massive project through! Trust me, I know better than anyone how much work it represents.

[TheGrimSmile]

I love Pannen's sense of humor, it's so analytical and reserved, and it's even funnier to hear him say "I'm real sassy". Also, this is the first time I've ever really understood floats and float precision errors. I knew floats had limited precision, but never knew how they still managed to represent more precise values than integers AND with a greater range without taking up huge chunks of memory. It's honestly so smart to presume that more precision is needed close to zero, and larger gaps in precision are less likely to be important when you're already working with numbers so large. And yet, here we have a perfect case of needing to account for accumulated errors.

[fpltqgs]

when you've been a fannenkoek for 5 years so you can't decide whether to skip all the stuff you already know or listen to the explanation again cause it's so good

[beatroot]

A fact that bears repeating: it was New Year's Eve 2021->22, this video was one and a quarter year in the making, to add to the 39 days of swingmania. Absolutely insane dedication.

[AppleIPie]

I like how he doesn't take for granted that people know math shit, for the most part. If Pannen was my math teacher I would have passed math.

[Huggbees]

You are the smartest man on this website, and I mean that sincerely.

[Exowave]

the part where he read off chat messages when it finally crashed was euphoric. literally a perfect video and everything that I hoped it would be

[Kosmicd]

Really impressive work! Conceptually, and presentation-ally

[ElvenSonic]

YES! YES! Oh man I thought we’d never get another main channel commentary ever again. I’m so excited, watch for rolling rocks is genuinely my favorite piece of mario 64 content of all time. I can’t wait.

Edit: Pannen did not disappoint. A masterclass in Mario 64’s rng calcultion system, precision systems, and even an intro to real world velocity and acceleration calculations. Excellent commentary, just the right pacing between shifting topics and reframing data, an all around excellent proof an explanation.

Since this wasn’t a commentary on specifically the A press challenge, I’m really hoping we get future commentaries on mario 64’s various obscurities. Particularly ones covered on your “uncommentated” channel. Lovely work, keep it up.

[soulofresolve]

“…And it basically involves making dust on certain frames to manipulate RNG.”

As someone who’s just now getting interested in the SM64 speedrunning community, this absolutely sent me.

[slidsilver]

Nothing quite like tricking people into listening to an extensive math lesson by wrapping it in the garb of a batshit insane speedrunning video. :D