I might be being ignorant right now but, I'm not sure how text mashing really work because I'm a new runner, could someone explain it to me in a sub-thread if possible.
To give a more thorough explanation than my esteemed colleague above:
Undertale uses two action keys during text scenes, Z and X. Z immediately displays the remaining text in a text box, and X progresses to the next text box when the text has finished displaying (I may be getting these keys reversed, but the basic point is correct.)
These actions are mirrored by two keys you can use with the right hand: Enter and shift. Ultimately all that is required to text mash is to use the two action keys in rapid alternate succession; a TAS could achieve optimal text mashing by using only Z and X on alternating frames, but this is obviously not possible for humans, so we use both hands to facilitate faster mashing. (Note how some older runners such as TGH on occasion use a controller for specific cutscenes where you don't need to move immediately after the text finishes, on these occasions they're doing this "TAS style mashing" where they're just alternating between two buttons very quickly)
There are two main 'methods' of mashing, at least these were the two methods that were common when I ran actively: Random mashing, and Piano mashing. Random mashing is exactly what it sounds like; you just go wild on the keys and hope for the best results. I don't like this method very much as it has no guarantee of consistency since you have little control over key rollover (Performing the same action on multiple keys on the same frame), but some high level runners like Cookiepocalypse get really good results with this style.
Piano mashing by contrast is more methodical, and is what a lot of runners, myself included opt for. Referring back to what I said about the action keys being Z and X, mirrored on the right hand with Enter and Shift, the technique is to use a rolling action with your index/middle fingers on alternating hands to achieve a rapid Z > X > Enter > Shift > Z > X > Enter > Shift in an infinite sequence. The co-ordination required to do this efficiently can be tricky to develop, but it comes more easily with practice. My favourite way to practice this without having access to have any special tools is to open Notepad and perform the action for an extended time. If you output something that looks like this:
zx zx zx zx zx zx zx
Then you're doing it correctly. If it looks something like this:
zxzx zx zx zxzxzx
zxzx xz zxz x XZ zx
Then you're making a lot of errors. Notice as well how in the first instance there are no capital letters, this indicates that by the time I'm pressing Z, I've already released Shift, this is an important habit to develop early on if you intend to run the latest versions of Undertale as there are bugs concerning input rollover; if a key is currently pressed, the game will not register input from the opposite corresponding key. This is not present in the 1.01 version which a lot of people run, so you have a lot of options to consider.
i never thought to test it with notepad and as it turns out i can mash so much better than i used to now haha
thanks for the tip!
