United StatesIt's a bit faster to vid warp after Truck Hustle, call Bell (unlocks Pegorino) while looking for a taxi, then taxi to Pegorino.
The only thing new is how the first pickup is handled (saves about 5 seconds): -While waiting for the next yellow blip to appear, hold W and S, let go of S and begin to hold D once the yellow blip appears on the radar
Everything seen here is self explanatory, other than: -Jump just before triggering the cutscene to get as close to the informant as possible -Have the grenade ready, aim at the informant, drop one at his feet and run inside -The rail climb saves about 5 seconds and is extremely consistent if you move into the corner, aim and turn to the center of the upper platform, wait until the camera zooms in, then press W and jump to climb -Run straight off the rail and into the other rail to hit the trigger for the next section (you'll probably pick up the health on the left if you're able to) -After dropping the grenade in the center of the room, reach the kitchen entrance and turn around to trigger the next section
Some old and new techniques, with explanations: Part 1 -Just before gaining control in the bank, spam jump and hold W, switch to the SMG in midair, hold sprint and press jump while going down the stairs to quickly descend (Derrick's dialogue will not be heard if done optimally) -Shoot Packie twice with the pistol to skip his dialogue -Hold sprint and W during the fade in and call Brucie ASAP, let his voicemail play, switch to the grenade when Niko hangs up and immediately begin to prime it (I believe the call, done in this manner, is what speeds up the first section of the shootout) -Aim your grenade as I do, kill the spawns, move to the corner and wait in that spot while firing some shots into the car (you're waiting for Packie/Derrick to reach a trigger point so the car can be blown up from a few shots) -There's armor near that car if you need it -Run to the alleyway
Part 2 -Done optimally, the subway entrance across the street is faster by a tiny amount -Hold sprint and continue to jump while descending the stairs, always stay to the right of the railing in the center -Run past the cops (health on the left if you need it) -Quickly kill everyone below and move to the where Packie/Derrick will turn around to shoot -Call Brucie before P & D reach the pillars, hang up when they begin to move towards the tracks (I'm unsure if this speeds things up by a tiny bit) [watch your health] -Everything else is self explanatory from here on out
Paper Trail -can save up to ~45 seconds
The less obvious: -Don't spam a skip cutscene input until the cutscene begins to fade in (you could bypass the scene and softlock the mission) -It takes 43 seconds for the mission to fail after skipping the cutscene -Don't get too close to the road when calling the police (this can block the spawns) -If you're too close to Jacob's heli when the mission fails, you'll have to watch a cutscene before receiving the restart mission text (the radius reaches nearly to the point where the backup cop usually comes to a stop, so be careful) -The optimal way to handle the computer section is to wait on the 2nd option on the first screen, press UP ARROW when you hear the beep, press ENTER, then use W or S to move to your target selection, then PRESS AND HOLD ENTER -The cop car that you're using the computer in will be permanently locked once you respawn and it will be waiting where you left it, unless it's sitting where Niko spawns in at (in that case, it will despawn) -Controlling Niko while unable to see isn't as easy as it may look (PRACTICE!) -The yellow GPS line appears the very moment you can drive the car (this is when you should let go of ENTER, starting the vigilante mission) -Never hold any other keys (W or S) when letting go of ENTER (if you're holding W, the selection can move up one slot, you'll then have to let go of W for your selection to process, and if you're holding S, the selection will can move down one slot, in either case you'll be forced to select the highlighted slot) -If all of your vigilante locations are bad, you absolutely have to enter the police car and drive down to the heli before letting go of ENTER (the bad vigilante locations don't give you enough time, driving to the heli will distance you from all of these locations, thus giving you enough time) -NEVER PICK 'GRUMMER ROAD', even if you're driving and holding (criminal target spawns can literally be next to the heli, some vehicle target spawns can as well) -If all three of the vigilante locations are for 'Grummer Road', pick a vehicle target (if you don't have a vehicle target, pick a gang activity (multiple targets)) -The game will crash if you enter the heli after reaching your vigilante target (even if you pass or fail the vigilante mission) -The optimal cop car exit is ~10-20 meters from the gate -To spawn under the map, you must hold 'pitch forward' (left analogue stick in the forward position OR Numpad 8 ) as soon as Niko starts to enter the heli. Then, wait to skip the cutscene with 'throttle up' (A or X on the controller OR W) and hold 'throttle up' as soon as the cutscene starts to fade out (hold 'pitch forward' the entire time) -Spawning above the map is less optimal due the time it takes to reach the target heli's radius (not a huge deal, unless your timer is short for some reason) -Call someone after entering the target's radius to block the next set of dialogue between Niko and Jacob (hang up this call as soon as the mission passes, though sometimes it won't work, try holding the hang up input to get it to work and/or let go of throttle up and then press the input) -There are many good places to descend into the void, so find one that you're comfortable with -If you don't practice this strat at least 50 times, you're asking for trouble
-Scenario 1: The vigilante mission fails while inside of the target's radius. Fly away from the target heli to despawn it and pass the mission. -Scenario 2: The vigilante mission fails while outside of the target's radius, but you've spawned the target in. Continue to fly towards the target until you've entered its radius. Then, fly away to despawn it and pass the mission. -Scenario 3: The vigilante mission fails while outside of the target's radius, and you haven't spawned the target in. The mission is softlocked. -Scenario 4: You fly into the target's radius, then exit it's radius before the vigilante mission fails. If you don't turn back quickly, you'll fail the mission. -Scenario 5: The vigilante mission fails, you're inside the target's radius, Jacob exits the heli due to descending too low into the void or due to simply getting too close to a surface. The target hasn't despawned, you begin flying away from both the target and Jacob. The game crashes due to getting too far away from Jacob before the mission passes.
The current list of possible vigilante locations:
Pick from: Columbus Vauxite Ivy Drive Vespucci Union Drive Topaz
Never pick: Grummer Boleyn Exeter Frankfort Galveston (this location seems to always reset the "Please re-enter your cop car before failing" timer once it hits 0 seconds)
Another way to do this (riskier)
The focus is on the final drive of this mission. This new route saves 3-4 seconds. Going up and over the grass seems to the be the only way to lose the pursuers as I tried going straight towards the marker's spawn location and even all the way up to barricade, just before the road, and still didn't lose them.
Mawfeen discovered that if you kill the passenger in the Pavano's car during Payback (something everyone should have already been doing to avoid getting shot at the top of the hill), you're no longer able to lose them by getting too far away from the car. This allows for the following technique which saves about 1-2 seconds and is much easier/safer due to your rocket-firing position. I've yet to get a wanted level before the mission passes as well (using 1 VD).
WARNING: Do not take this route if you fail to kill the passenger or you will fail the mission.
It worked every time (a total of two times). You can then turn around and complete QUB3D (you pass it coming in).
↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓ ↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓ ↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓ ↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓
THIS GUIDE OUTDATED DUE TO THE RELEASE OF THE "COMPLETE EDITION". I REPEAT - THIS GUIDE IS OUTDATED! IT WILL NO LONGER WORK IF YOU'RE STARTING WITH THE "COMPLETE EDITION". IF YOU WANT TO DOWNGRADE THE COMPLETE EDITION, CLICK THE BELOW LINK TO BE TAKEN TO THE RESOURCES PAGE WHERE YOU'LL FIND HOXI'S DOWNGRADER. LINK: https://www.speedrun.com/gtaiv/resources
↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑ ↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑ ↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑ ↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑
Step 1: You may not have these folders, but check just incase. Make sure to show hidden folders and files. How to: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/show-hidden-files-and-folders-in-windows-vista/ Delete everything in (X:\Users(...)\Documents\Rockstar Games\GTA IV). Delete everything in (X:\Users(...)\AppData\Local\Rockstar Games\GTA IV).
Step 2: Perform a fresh installation of the game. Attempt to launch the game and reach the main menu. Then, exit the game from the main menu. If you're unable to launch the game, continue with Step 3.
Step 3: If using Steam, enter your Steam Library, right click on Grand Theft Auto IV or Grand Theft Auto IV: The Complete Edition, click "Properties", click the "Updates" tab at the top, set 'Automatic updates' to "Only update this game when I launch it", select "CLOSE" at the bottom of the page.
**Step 4: ** Download the 1.0.4.0 patch from the following link, then install it: https://www.speedrun.com/resourceasset/eoztl
¤If an error occurs during the installation, use the archive which contains the patch files. Merge the content of the archive with your GTAIV folder (X:(...)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Grand Theft Auto IV\GTAIV) and overwrite everything. The archive can be downloaded here: https://www.speedrun.com/resourceasset/ybsnd
Step 5: Change the name of your "GTAIV" folder: (X:(...)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Grand Theft Auto IV\GTAIV) to something other than "GTAIV".
Step 6: Download the "Rockstar Social Group Tool" (RGSG). Download link: https://www.speedrun.com/resourceasset/zuzkl
Step 7: Install the RGSG-Tool that you downloaded in 'Step 6'. It creates a new "GTAIV" folder with the Tools components in (X:(...)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Grand Theft Auto IV).
¤If an error occurs during the installation, use the archive which contains the RGSG-Tool. The archive contains a folder titled 'RGSG' and in that folder is the content which needs to be merged with your 'GTAIV' folder (the one you renamed to something other than 'GTAIV', that is, if you did any renaming, otherwise if the folder was never renamed, you'll be placing the content of the archive in 'GTAIV') (X:(...)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Grand Theft Auto IV\GTAIV). The archive can be downloaded here: https://www.speedrun.com/resourceasset/3slmh
Step 8: Take all of the files in the newly created "GTAIV" folder (the one created in 'Step 7') and copy them to the other folder that you renamed in 'Step 4'.
¤If an error occurred during the installation of the RGSG-Tool, you can skip this step because you've already manually installed the tool.
Step 9: Now delete the "GTAIV" folder and rename your old folder back to "GTAIV". The folder should still be in (X:(...)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Grand Theft Auto IV).
Step 10: Download Xliveless here: https://www.speedrun.com/resourceasset/znjpn
Step 11: Open the xliveless archive and place the xlive.dll file in the "GTAIV" folder located in (X:(...)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Grand Theft Auto IV\GTAIV). Be sure to run LaunchGTAIV.exe instead GTAIV.exe to prevent "drunk" camera, when using Xliveless.
Step 12: Download this "fonts.zip" from: https://www.speedrun.com/resourceasset/zjr9b (this is needed because certain menu text is no longer visible when using xliveless)
Step 13: Copy both files in "fonts.zip" ('fonts.dat' & 'fonts_r.dat') and paste them in (X:(...)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Grand Theft Auto IV\GTAIV\common\data), overwriting the existing files of the same name.
Step 14: Navigate to (X:(...)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Grand Theft Auto IV\GTAIV). Right click on 'LaunchGTAIV.exe', click or hover over 'Send to' and click 'Desktop (create shortcut)'. You will want to use this shortcut to launch your game from here on out.
Step 15: Right click on this newly created shortcut on your desktop. Click 'Properties' at the bottom. Within the 'Shortcut' tab, add the following to the 'Target' field: '-noprecache -nomemrestrict -norestrictions'. These are launch options and it's important that you include these to avoid issues. The target field should look exactly like the following, where the 'X' is whatever your drive letter is ("X:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Grand Theft Auto IV\GTAIV\LaunchGTAIV.exe" -noprecache -nomemrestrict -norestrictions). Don't include the parentheses, but do include the quotation marks! Click OK at the bottom of the 'Properties' menu.
Step 16: Always use this shortcut to launch the game. You will get a window which mentions creating an Xbox account. Ignore everything here and just click 'Play' whenever this window appears. The game will launch.
Finished.
Aim Sensitivity can be left on medium. I'm pretty sure I forgot to change it before and never had trouble.
If you want to get the clip capture strat working on Jamaican Heat, SEE MAWFEEN'S POST BELOW!
Who knows, maybe someone will do some tests and figure it out once and for all?
The change of route at the start saves around 3 seconds. Getting in on the passenger side of the cab is about 750ms faster than the opposite side.
After the explosion, you have two options, go for a cab or run and then vid warp. If you run, you should turn to the right and run to the warehouse door that you enter during Escuela Of The Street, as this takes 10 seconds while the other route takes 11.5. I can tell you that the cab strat at the end of RtB isn't worth going for as it can only save a second or two if you get an optimal cab spawn and on average will be no faster than the run/vid warp strat.
My current Algonquin route (Kand, Leo, Lino, Juan, Barry, Simon, Christov, Tommy, Covey, Shon). Keep your siren off the entire time as having it on will alert the targets at a greater distance.
Below are two routes for Alderney. They don't show the targets being taken out, just the driving route. Ignore the timer in each. It's hard to say which one is truly faster, though I'm leaning towards #2 (1-5 seconds). In terms of consistency, I'm leaning towards #1. I'll be using #1 in runs.
#1 order - Keenan, Sergi, Glenn, Rodney, Phil, Danny, Marty, Mervin, Noel, Harrison #2 order - Keenan, Sergi, Glenn, Rodney, Mervin, Marty, Danny, Phil, Harrison, Noel In #2, after parking the car at Harrison and jumping down, you'll have to run to the south and shoot the guy waiting in the grass. He can be killed from the platform, though sometimes he hides and is pretty hard to see/hit.
"...the fact about when saves were made and reloaded. I doubt he would think about everything if he edited his run."
You've got to be kidding. Only a grade-A moron would fail to look into the timestamps/get them correct in a cheated run. It's one of the first things we all looked into, I'm sure.
Isn't it quite odd that Flying has been answering questions and providing new strategies over the past few days, but refuses to answer the many calls asking him to explain how he does what he does on Home Invasion? I ask any of you who have made accounts within the past few days to share your opinion on this one.
Here's a simple one: Have Flying explain how he does the single frame turn around strat on Home Invasion. I've yet to see an explanation show up on this forum. Why should this run get a pass with something like this going unexplained? There isn't a single runner involved with this community that would get a pass while seemingly refusing to provide an explanation that would prove their innocence.
The entire GTA speedrunning community should really adopt this sort of policy (taken from another speedrunning community), especially for times like these.
You are not able to have a record on the rankings if it involves a new strategy discovery, until there is a video and proper explanation of said strategy made public for everyone to access....While discouraged, hoarding a new strategy is allowed so that you can keep it to yourself and keep playing until you obtain an untied world record or otherwise personally significant record. However said record will not be ranked until a video and explanation are made public.
Obviously this type of policy would be more or less put into effect for the most extreme situations, i.e., this 4:01:13, especially when the runner is called out for a strat that isn't easily understood just from watching.
Calling someone before the final van blows up will skip the NPC dialogue and save 2-3 seconds.
