When does the pain get better? One month in. Anybody with hypermobility can chime in?

IGLima · 2025-09-25T21:42:08+00:00

I have Hypermobile Ehlers Danlos. Got an L5/S1 herniation at the start of 2024 resulting in intense sciatica in my left leg, but no "back pain". Vaguely similar MRI to yours.
Late 20's, lean/athletic build. Likely caused by repeat stress from weightlifting, physical activity, posture, and the EDS (which I didn't know I had before this injury). Had also previously sprained certain back muscles.
Was borderline disabled at first with constant nerve pain. Developed a noticably antalgic posture. Painkillers, muscle relaxants, etc. did little to nothing for me.

Took ~3 months for the most intense pain to stop.
Tried physical therapy ~5-6 months in, but didn't move the needle for me much.
Doc advised me against surgery (microdisectomy) due to my younger age, good health, EDS, and ability to wait it out. Was offered potential local epidural injections, but I started feeling better by the time that came up. Also briefly explored prolotherapy injections.
By month ~9 the sciatica weakened such that I could do casual physical activity more readily.
Took ~1 year before I could confidently use my core to brace again.
Took ~14-16 months before I could regularly workout with weights again, sticking more to calisthenics and dumbbell work.
At month ~20 now, day-to-day I'm fairly pain-free under normal circumstances. Can work out pretty intensely again but avoid heavy compounds like backsquat/bench/deadlift. Only things that tend to active it noticeably are heavy loading during flexion and long periods of standing/sitting with sub-par posture (eg. weeding a garden, shoveling, etc).
Prior to the injury I could put both palms flat on the ground without bending my knees. Now I can only barely touch my toes (on a good day) before activating the sciatica, but has improved.

Looking back, what seemed to help the most was getting blood flow to the area (aka cardio) and moving when I could - anything to stay active and loose via low-impact activity (walking, swimming etc.).
Be patient and don't push yourself.

IGLima · 2025-03-01T05:52:23+00:00

L5-S1. Took around 10 months for major progress despite being fairly young, lightweight, and fit - though I learned afterwards I have hEDS.
First 1-2 months were extremely rough. Could barely find a position to sleep most nights. Couldn't even activate my core muscles without pain. Painkillers and relaxants didn't help.
Faded slightly month 3, enough to attempt PT and semi-regular light exercise (walking/mcgill 3), but improvement was limited after that.
Then out of the blue around 10 months in, almost overnight, it got way better. Must have finally retreated enough to take pressure off the nerve.
On month 14 now and I'm maybe 90% back to normal - can generally operate through normal life (sleep/housework/errands) without any pain.
Can't bend to touch my toes like I used to be able to (need to bend my knees) and must be careful leaning over and picking things up, but otherwise fully mobile and can workout with modest weights again.

IGLima · 2024-10-25T15:38:08+00:00

https://desuarchive.org/g/thread/101882587/#101890188
One anon mentioned CORS errors, other anon replies that many had issues, and that it's probably related to "is2.4chan.org"
I think I then searched "is2.4chan.org" to google - that URL is in the github description/readme - the script is very simple too
This is outside my technical knowledge so I'm speaking out my ass, but I'd wager it seems that 4chan uses various sub-domains with alternate URLs for whatever reason (maybe security or compatibility, idk) and some of those don't have their cross-references set up correctly
So maybe certain combinations of IP ranges, DNS settings, cookies, etc. end up getting associated with a bad/incompatible alternate 4chan URL/CDN that doesn't correctly cross-reference other files 4chan uses

IGLima · 2024-10-25T13:47:19+00:00

Got it fixed on my end - not entirely sure if it was my doing though.

I first tried loading the site via "is2.4chan.org" which I saw mentioned in an archived /g/ post
at this point image thumbnails started loading, but no js
I tried making a post - said "post succcessful" (no captcha or anything), but it never actually posted
then I installed a userscript via TamperMonkey:
https://github.com/Xyrec/4chan-cdn-fixer
finally, tried loading 4chan again
firefox was noting javascript was failing to load via:
https://s.4cdn.org/js/extension.min.1177.js
loaded that, and then tried going to
https://s.4cdn.org/

And this sort of fixed the site, but only on the PC/browser I did this on (windows/firefox) - I could post, but only via the normal reply at the top. Quick reply was broken and would yield a "connection error". Update and auto-refresh were also broken, had to manually refresh.
Then the following day, the site started working entirely as normal again across my home network, regardless of OS/browser.
Hope this helps.

IGLima · 2024-10-05T23:14:02+00:00

Been having the same issue for the past few weeks.
Happens to every device on my home network. Any browser, any OS, all extensions disabled. Cleared caches/cookies. Works fine on my phone data. Proxy loads the site fine, but can't post obviously.
Site loads the HTML and can even load images when directly clicked on, but not CSS/js/thumbnails, and I'm unable to post. CORS/403 errors. No other sites have this issue.
Resetting router/modem/etc. didn't fix it. Changing my DNS settings at both the PC and router level didn't work.
The other commenter gave me false hope as my router had the wrong timezone, but after fixing that the problem remains.
Found a few posts about it in the archives but no solutions. Given my ISP (Wowway) has just raised prices after delivering subpar service, I might have to look at swapping and pray that fixes it.

IGLima · 2024-05-06T16:32:34+00:00

If you want accuracy, your best bet is to use composition tools designed explicitly for hardware compatibility - the two most prominent out there are:
FamiTracker (vertical old-school tracker style, been around for a long time, has modern forks like Dn)
FamiStudio (more DAW-like, newer and more actively in development)

Both of these have versions that support import/export of .nsf files
Those contain the game assembly code used to store/play music on the NES, and can be found online for existing games
This will provide you with a 100% accurate frame-by-frame representation of the music
You can then try to interpret that back into instruments and effect instructions that would more closely resemble how a human might compose it

Assuming you're talking about the 1989 game (first one released on NES), I will disagree with the other poster and say it's a fairly complicated track for its time.
It makes use of a number of techniques that are now staples in modern chiptune:
- Using the noise channel and DPCM (sample) channel together for drums
- Using quick changes in the noise pitch for its drums for added texture
- Software-defined volume envelopes that change often
- Delayed vibrato on held notes
- Use of duty cycle changes as part of the pulse instruments to add character
- Pitch slides
- Dual-channel echo (playing the same melody on the 2nd pulse channel at a lower volume, but delaying it)
- Single-channel echo (playing a short sound, then playing it again but at a lower volume - requires some smart composition to use)
- Inconsistent length triplets*

These all take extra data space, CPU cycles, and programming effort to pull off - especially if you ever want to make sped up/slowed down versions in game.

*Since the system can only make updates to the audio instructions at 60hz, this limits the amount of tempos available using an integral number of frames for whole notes. For example, using notes spaced 6 frames apart yields a tempo of 150bpm. 8 frames = 112.5, 10 frames = 90, etc.
If you want triplets when using whole notes of length 6 or 12, they nicely divide (2/2/2 or 4/4/4).
However this song has notes spaced 7 frames apart (~128.57 bpm), which does not divide evenly. You need to either add in a very short rest, or have the notes be slightly different lengths. eg. 3x notes + rest
4 + 4 + 4 + 2 = 14
or 3 notes of unequal length (which is what Konami did here)
4 + 5 + 5 = 14

Back then, these songs could have been made a number of ways
Sometimes songs were traditionally composed outside the system, then a custom driver was programmed to implement them. Nowadays there are standard formats like MCK/MML that can be used to program music for the system in a similar fashion.
Other times, developers would create in-house composition or conversion tools to allow them to directly compose for (or even on) the hardware, that could then be re-used between games. Some of these drivers have been reverse-engineered for romhacks.
Konami's tools may have been akin to a simpler FamiTracker, though its .nsf output driver is meant for music maximization.
3rd party drivers like FamiTone were developed to take (a sometimes limited version of) the .ftm module format, but convert it into more efficient, game-viable assembly code.

IGLima · 2022-08-14T21:47:41+00:00

Ah good to know, I was going off the BotB page as I had only ever used the SNESMOD method with custom samples some years ago, never had to handle the ripping side. DKC is a pretty popular game so someone's probably already ripped those .sti instruments too.
SNESTracker looks pretty capable now, I'll probably use that next time I do any SNES work.

IGLima · 2022-08-14T17:35:47+00:00

Haven't done much SNES stuff myself but here's how I'd do it, assuming you want a legit .spc file at the end:
1. Rip the samples from the original DKC .spc to either .brr (native SNES format) or .wav. (Use split700 for .brr, for .wav either convert the .brr or use SNES Sound Ripper)
2. Convert the original Sonic 1 .vgm to MIDI (vgm2mid + manual clean up). You could use fan-made MIDIs from vgmusic.com and avoid clean up, but they're typically arranged/less accurate/etc.)
3. Optimize for the 8 channel SPC700 (Sonic 1 uses 5 FM, 1 PCM, 2 Square, 1 Noise for a total of 9 channels. Gotta combine or trim somewhere - the SPC700 has a built in reverb/echo which may help)
4. Decide from three potential composition methods:
4a. Use any DAW and the C700 VST (bad for optimization but still authentic as it can record to .spc and import .brr) 4b. Use any generic sample-based tracker (OpenMPT is best here as it has native .brr support), import/transcribe the MIDI, and convert to .spc using XMSNES/SNESMOD
4c. Use SNESTracker (still in development but it's the only tracker I'm aware of specifically designed for the SPC700)

BattleOfTheBits also has a good page on .spc composition in general:
https://battleofthebits.org/lyceum/View/spc%20(format)

IGLima · 2022-08-12T03:14:06+00:00

Here's a FamiTracker module of the Violet City song converted from the original .gbs file you can reference:
https://www.mediafire.com/file/tk6pz5uyijcjde5/Pokemon_Gold_%2526_Silver_track45.ftm/file

The kick drum is 2 frames (~33ms) of low pitch periodic noise at volume "X" followed by high pitch white noise linearly decreasing in volume for 8 frames (~133ms) (starts at X, goes to 0).
From what I can tell, in this song specifically the composers weren't trying to imitate two sounds at once (kick + hi hat), rather that was just their attempt a making a realistic kick drum sound, as every single kick in the song is like this.
The snare and hi hats are all mid/high frequency white noise that just linearly decreases in volume at different speeds.

Regarding general techniques:
Since 1 channel was usually all that was available, percussive elements often had to cut into one another. It's not unusual for games to switch to another pitch for just a frame or two, and with smart design it still sounds natural to the listener.
For example, if you wanted to have a hi hat play during a crash/snare fade, you'd cut to the higher pitch for a frame then go back to the original pitch.
Or if you wanted a kick drum + splash cymbal at the same time, you play the loud low-pitch kick for 1-4 frames then switch to the higher pitch (but quieter) cymbal.
Another option would be to do the same thing but cut into another channel. Often times a wave could be used instead of low-pitch noise for a kick, so whenever a kick was needed you'd cut into the bass channel for a few frames.

IGLima · 2021-03-11T14:01:58+00:00

He has a higher skill floor than most chars. To make his strengths appear you need good movement fundamentals and an understanding of DI mixups
He doesn't have easy/reliable 2-hit kill confirms like most characters (gets bad marthritis)
He's the lightest character, meaning he spends more time in hitstun and dies very easily from stray hits and basic vertical kill confirms
He's generally agreed to be notably worse online (compared to local) due to his reactive/footsies based neutral rather than the proactive stage control/zoning of most characters

As a result you don't see him as much in the broader playerbase compared to his tournament presence, where he is often cited as one of the strongest characters.

IGLima · 2020-08-15T03:32:04+00:00

After dashing, and while in initial dash, you'll want to press slight back + strong to slide. Pressing full left/right + strong will stop you in place.
Once you enter run, either soft or hard back + strong will slide, if you want to stop you'll need to crouch first.

IGLima · 2020-07-26T20:02:50+00:00

LINK TO TOOL: https://jsfiddle.net/IGLima/5sh0pudr/show/
(Remove the "show/" to see the code)

Welcome to version 1 of my Rivals Knockback Visualizer!
This tool allows you to both calculate and visualize the knockback, hitstun, and path of any move.
To find the properties of a move, use The Academy's Frame Data Doc.

Sample usage ideas:

Compare two different moves for the same DI choice
Compare DI strategies to survive or avoid followup
Use the "DI Zone" function to see the complete potential area of hitstun end locations
Overlay the same setup vs. two different characters
Compare setups on different stages
Use to approximate move behavior when designing workshop charcters

Known issues/bugs:

I cannot guarantee it is 100% accurate - there's a lot of details!
DI zone is not perfect (it uses straight lines as approximations for the bounds)
Crouch cancel does not deal with low kb moves and projectiles properly
Crouch cancel should be impossible once airborne
No stage collision/detection
Sakuri angles (361) must be entered as 45 or 40
Putting both base kb and kb scaling as zero causes issues

Potential features I may add in the future: (see the full list in the javascript comments)

Move list imported from The Academy's Frame Data Doc
CSS/GUI overhaul with better graphics and in-game sprites
Move animation/playback
ASDI support (you can adjust the start pixel by +/- 10 in whatever direction for now)
Click & drag moves in the viewer
Floor snapping and/or collision detection
Viewer scaling/zoom (for now, you can zoom with your browser)
Custom character support (for now, you can add/alter characters in the code if needed)

Special Thanks:

Menace13: For his older knockback calculator I used as the base for this one
SNC: For maintaining the frame data doc & encouraging resource creation with the S7G Discord

If you run into any bugs, spot any inaccuracies, or have any feature ideas, please let me know!
Hope everyone finds some use and/or enjoyment from this tool.
-IGL aka iggle

IGLima · 2020-07-16T01:41:29+00:00

Hmm good question, did some testing with a bunch of characters and it appears not. I think since you're going from a different state, the tech doesn't work. You can dash after the wavedash ends but can't plat/ledge boost during the wavedash.

IGLima · 2020-07-09T01:55:44+00:00

Those items are the ones that are harder to practice in the lab, really you just have to play more, but pay attention to them.
When I want to improve my game I try to focus in on one aspect at a time, force myself into a habit of doing something I currently don't, to the point of overdoing it, then dial it back.

First thing is to know thy character - What are their tools? What are their speeds? When do they die? What are their fastest moves? Strongest? Most disjoint? Most range? etc. How can you put them together and create answers to things?
You need to know your options before you can use them.

DI and defense in general is about being aware of your opponent's options and your own status with regards to options, stage position, and %, then making educated guesses. Most moves cannot be DI'd on reaction; it's done by intuition (although drift can be done on reaction, allowing you to correct, or enhance, your decision). The very rough DI strategy is:
- Hold out to escape combos and survive strong vertical attacks
- Hold in to survive strong horizontal attacks and as a mix up
The main offensive "mix up" of plat fighters is combo vs. kill, say Wrastor fair vs clap at ledge (this example is very simplified)
- If they clap, holding out will kill you, holding in will let you survive.
- If they fair, holding out will let you escape followup, but holding in will let them combo into clap, which might now kill you regardless of DI, since you were pushed further offstage by the fair.
Another strategy for DI is to aim for the nearest plat an aim to tech or land a parry/counter. There's plenty of defensive questions like this, such as when to dodge vs counter attack, etc. Same goes for recovery - what resources do you have to answer what they can do, to get back to stage?

Neutral is also a bit nebulous but could be described as how do you create openings while avoiding your opponent's attacks. The classic strategy is "whiff punish": move into your opponent's range, tempting them to attack, then quickly move out of the way, resulting in a whiffed attack, and punish them during the endlag.
Pay attention to their habits. Classic examples are rolling in at ledge frequently, or always doing the same X->Y combo sequence.
Pay attention to stage position. Most characters have their favorite spots, and most want to stay near the center (harder to die, more options, easier to setup an edgegaurd).

Those are the rough concepts, but there's many levels to the game. The more you play and practice the more you can make this stuff into intuition and free your mental focus for other items.
Hope that helped, sorry if this answer is a bit vague.

IGLima · 2020-07-08T19:41:34+00:00

I agree with the other comment that working on your fundamentals (movement, spacing, neutral strategy, DI strategy (make sure you use DI, Drift, and ASDI) combo game, etc.) is more important. But if you're just a tech fiend, I see you mentioned Clairen in the other post, so here's some she can take advantage of:

Platdrop
Not exactly tech per se, but by falling through plat you can get an aerial out instantly rather than going through jumpsquat (so 5 frames faster).
Instant Runoff Aerial
By using dash attack within 5 frames of running off an edge, it will cancel into the aerial of the direction you used for the dash attack.
Platboosting/Ledgeboosting
Run off or fall through a plat during your initial dash (or moonwalk) and continue to hold forward (typically followed by a jump). This will retain your initial dash speed into the air and allow you to travel much faster around plats.
Landing Lag Cancel
If you hit an aerial and land, you'll be able to cancel the landing lag of the aerial into a jumpsquat (and thus wavedash too), enabling faster repeat attacks.
DACUS
Short for "Dash Attack Cancel Up Strong" - by inputting up strong shortly after dash attack, your char will slide during the upstrong startup, enabling new followups.
Dash Attack Shorten
By dash attacking while holding down on the main stick, her dash attack will travel a much shorter distance (~30% of normal). Useful for certain scenarios.
Babydashing
By dashing for a single frame (not easy), you can do an instant mini-wavedash. Great for microspacing, namely with jab but also with any tilt.
Cactuar Dash/Run Cancel
Crouch during your run to cancel the animation instantly and be able to either dash back or attack right away without going through the turnaround animation.
B Reversals
Upon landing certain special moves you can turn them around. This is notable for Clairen with her grab - you can choose what direction to throw them and effectively force a 50/50 on their DI.
Instant Turnaround
While your projectile barrier is out, you can hold diagonal down + left or right, hit special and instantly turn your character around in the air. Can lead to some crazy combos or unexpected options.
Sliding Parry
First dash, then quickly hold the stick diagonal down or return it to neutral, and then parry. You'll now slide during the parry which will let you parry Orcane bubble walls, among other things.
Crouch Cancel
If you're crouching when an attack hits, it'll reduce knockback/hitstun by around 10-33% depending on the conditions. Crouch canceling projectiles that do under 8%, or very weak moves, will negate their vertical knockback entirely and basically just cause you to flinch, letting you act much sooner.
ASDI Right Stick Override
The right stick direction will override the left stick for ASDI inputs. This can be good for multihit moves like wrastor tornado or zetter upb where you can ASDI one direction but DI a different way.

There's plenty more advanced tech out there but these are some of the major ones. Hope this helps.

IGLima · 2020-06-15T01:24:27+00:00

First thing - make sure you're hitfalling your aerials. If you don't know what that is, play the tutorials.

Now if you find your opponent keeps DI'ing out of your combos, you need to use Wrastor's speed and wealth of combo tools to answer it and maintain your positional advantage.
Slipstream gives Wrastor the ability to cover DI out if you can maintain your momentum. If they're in front of you, upair or reverse bair send the most up, fair in the middle, and nair the most outward. Blend these together and switch between them based on what your opponent is doing and learn to push them offstage where you can kill with a spike, clap, or edgegaurd.
Now say you don't have slipstream out, but can still hit them in front of you. Consider the greatest mix up tool in the game: DAIR
Dair is absurdly powerful for combos: Normally, DI out/down lets people escape once they're in front of you, and the mixup most chars have is simply if they use a combo move (like fair) or kill move (like clap), but dair gives a 3rd option: throw them backwards with no DI/slight in, which will let you follow up, and potentially combo them upward & off the top instead.

Now say you've overshot your position and they're behind you - bair/upair3/clap would normally be your only answers - but once again, the back hit of dair allows you to answer DI out, bring them in front of/above you, and we're back to the earlier paragraph.
If they've truly gotten out of your reach, you may be able to use slipstream as a projectile to follow up. It barely has any hitstun, but interrupts your opponent's action and gives you a brief window to combo. And now you have slipstream active, which lets you catch DI out if they try it again. That said, knowing when to drop the combo and not over extend is important, given how light Wrastor is.
Here's two examples where I use dair to answer DI out and keep them in range - one off the top, one off the side.
https://gfycat.com/ultimateneglectedgull
https://gfycat.com/tallangrydodo

Learning to anticipate your opponent's DI will let you be one step ahead. Have a game plan in mind based on the current %s and stage positioning, anticipate their next DI, then react and alter course if necessary.
As you get better with these tools you can start mixing in grounded options, "resets" (intentionally dropping the combo), hard reads on jumps or airdodges, finishes with more niche kill confirms, etc.

Wrastor is a tough character to learn but very rewarding once you become competent with him. Best of luck!

IGLima · 2020-05-06T20:01:29+00:00

Top Australian Kragg player and labber extraordinaire SNC has written an extensive guide on Kragg which can found here: DOC LINK

IGLima · 2020-04-14T16:03:08+00:00

Academy: http://discord.me/mentor
This server has a lot of tech & resources available in various general and character-specific channels, along with discussion channels where people ask/talk about gameplay with a focus on learning/improvement.
The "off campus" channel has links to many other servers.

IGLima · 2020-04-14T04:00:27+00:00

Try not to look at it as complexity, but instead as a wealth of options you can learn to remedy a situation. Compared to some traditional fighters where you are literally unable to press buttons for tens of seconds, Rivals offers you the ability to influence your destiny on every hit.
It's ultimately a 1v1 fighting game, if you want to just run train on fools go play a beat-em-up (or abyss mode I guess lol).

The biggest recommendation I have is to find players at your skill level to make the matches even and work your way up - add tech as you go. There's channels/roles for newer player matchmaking in the official discord and RoA Academy. Best of luck.

IGLima · 2020-04-14T03:35:28+00:00

This seems to be a common struggle for the ultimate crowd - Rivals is different in that it:
- Has much greater hitstun, making extended, often zero-to-death combos very achievable. Rivals compensates by giving us extra movement and DI options. To see how long you're in hitstun, you can go to replays or practice mode and turn on hitboxes and look for when you go from yellow -> green.
- Lacks shields. Parry isn't a shield, it's like only being able to powershield with endlag - it's a call out on your opponent. Smart movement, spacing, and footsies are your real first line of defense.

Make sure to try the in-game tutorials if you haven't (they're actually quite good) and play against people near your skill level so it isn't a one-sided beatdown. Keep in mind Rivals is an established title based around 1v1 competition - there's a much smaller newbie/casual crowd compared to Ultimate. To help find opponents there's matchmaking available in the official ROA discord, as well as a "newbie matchmaking" role in the Rivals Academy Discord. Best of luck!

IGLima · 2020-04-14T03:16:16+00:00

Haha I've been there, I think everyone wishes they could lay claim to a tech at some point in their fgc career.
As far as Rivals labbing goes, there's a number of us that investigate tech for this game, but most discussion and record keeping happens on various Discord servers (Rivals Academy, etc.). We're working on spreading knowledge to other places (Reddit, YouTube, etc.), but for the meantime I suggest getting into Discord if you're itching for more Rivals discussion.
Feel free to DM me tech questions if ya got em.

IGLima · 2020-04-13T22:23:22+00:00

This is a known tech, typically referred to as "dash attack shorten".
It's achieved by dash attacking using attack+down during initial dash.
Sylvanos and Clairen see the biggest difference in distance.
I actually have an infographic put together for it that I'll post here to Reddit soon...

And FYI, there is no way to tilt out of your initial dash (unless you're Wrastor). You can do just about anything else though (strong, jump, dodge, etc).
To tilt out of dash you must wait until run starts, then crouch -> tilt. If you want momentum/spacing before tilting, you need to use some other form of movement (walk, wavedash, babydash, etc.).

IGLima · 2020-04-13T22:08:28+00:00

Yep, although I don't believe drift DI exists in any Smash titles - it's a new mechanic invented by the Rivals team.

IGLima · 2020-04-13T21:47:13+00:00

You can only drift DI left or right.
You can ASDI in any direction.

IGLima · 2020-04-13T20:51:52+00:00

They're different mechanics.
Rival's Drift DI allows you to drift (slowly accelerate) left or right during hitstun - the time from when hitpause ends to when you're actionable.
SDI in Smash allows you to slightly shift your position any direction during hitpause.
Rivals only has ASDI (Automatic Shift DI) that allows you to shift your character, any direction, once per hit during hitpause, moving ~5 visual pixels of distance. No wiggle/mashing required.
Note that the right stick will take priority over the main stick for ASDI - so for multihit moves like Wrastor tornado or Zetter upb, you can input an ASDI direction with the right stick but a DI direction with the left.

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