RussiaI have compared 5 different ways (to the best of my ability) of moving forward, to see which one is the fastest. Obviously, there are not that many opportunities to utilize only one of them, due to enemy positioning, walls that block your progression and the general level layout - so the usability of each of those may vary.
Chosen level is the MISSION-6: Part 2, since it has a very nice long straight that you can use after clearing all the enemies.
The results, from fastest to slowest (in accordance with their position on the video):
- Bottom-left (1m31s): Sprint press (L2) + high jump (hold X),
- Top-right (1m34s): Sprint press (L2) + short/low jumps (lightly press X),\
- Top-left (1m37s): Constant sprint press (L2),
- Bottom-right (1m37s): Short/low jumps (lightly press X),
- Middle (1m47s): Constant running forward after pressing sprint (L2) once.
For the convenience of recording, the comparison was done on PCSX2 v1.7.5717
Sorry for the late response, this site is great at sending notifications.
I don't see a problem with adding it. I will think over the rules and potential intricacies in the next few days - I'll report here with another post once it's done.
Updated Discord link to hub with notes and discussion: https://discord.gg/pwe7yncyHF
I think it would make sense for the enforced Vsync rule to show FPS as well, just the simple Steam overlay display. Would be easier for verification purposes too.
Also, has anyone heard of any loading times problems on PC? It has been smooth for me so far, they are practically non-existent and consistent.
I agree with Standard difficulty being enforced for MTR. Another thing to consider would be the fps for PC runs - I am doing runs at 60fps, vsync ON in options - and I don't know what happens if you unlock it, it might become the case where the player with better PC will be able to skip the text and scenes faster. This needs a proper test, especially since nearly all of Team Zero Escape games on PC are extremely notorious in that regard when it comes to speedruns.
Remaster's FPS cap is hard-coded and there is no known way to remove it. You need the original release.
They are accepted, just under "Emulator Legacy" category, according to rules. IGT was implemented in my Resources page scripts for ePSXe, you are free to take the logic from there and implement it for Duckstation if you want to. I had IGT displayed in my latest hundo run, so you can see it's behavior when you open doors, etc.
Game itself doesn't have a Vsync option, so the only way to uncap it is through GPU settings of your PC/Laptop for this specific game, so keep looking. Could also suggest using an external program to display your fps, so you could confirm that fps is actually the issue.
Damage is FPS-based, if some settings of your graphics card cap it to 60 (aka V-sync) or your game graphics settings are set too High - you will be doing less damage, in both Wulf and Queen of the Underworld fights.
For comparison: 60 FPS:
Uncapped FPS (400+):
Recent updates:
- You can now pause the timer if game crashed at any point - restart it, press Continue and once you loaded back into the game - unpause the timer. That's the only instance when you are allowed to pause the timer during a run - please note that in your submission if you did.
2.1) Onyx items are back in action on PC across all categories. You are allowed to use any savefile that you find containing them. I will be uploading one to Resources page soon enough.
2.2) Even though Onyx weapons are not as superior as they were thought out to be - they still able to save you a second or two per some of the fights utilizing bombs compared to base game items - so for Console runs they are still forbidden, due to inability of transferring savefiles between consoles + requirement of online play to read out friends list + having friends who play the game. You still have to show your inventory (amulet name, to be precise) that you were using in the run - either during tutorials that open up the inventory for you or after you completed the run and stand in Treasure Room - for both full-game and ILs. Refer to this as your mini-guide to how Onyx weapons look. https://www.speedrun.com/lctoo/guide/zr360
2.3) Due to DLC items being barely on par and not better than base game high-end ones - DLC/No DLC variable will become obsolete for both PC and Console.
- If you are submitting runs for Console online co-op - please submit both perspectives due to 2.2)^
At some point load remover will be implemented for PC runs, finally allowing for checkpoint reload timesaves, so look out for that too.
Want to remind that runs that have speed bug in it - where Violette runs almost at double/triple of normal speed (and does all actions with increased speed as well) will be rejected.
It has something to do with this game's programming and hardware acceleration on the PC.
If you want to make sure that your game runs normal & smooth - restart your PC before you start streaming/recording. Because that bug seems to appear after you have watched videos for a while or PC has worked for a long period of time without restarting.
If we could ever figure out a way to replicate it consistently - we could make a separate category for it, game would probably be 16-17mins long w/o loads.
Apparently, you can fly through the 2nd door in the Bar Tender with your drone, which isn't useful here, unfortunately.
After playing around with Main Story quest "Lure the Matsugane Family Out", which is chapter 10, i came to a couple of conclusions.
To progress the story as fast as possible you need to:
- Trigger Kaito's dialogue in the small alleyway near the Nakamichi Alley.
- Run a certain amount of distance to get his 2nd dialogue which also progresses the story and sends you to Tender.
Here are short videos of different approaches that you can use, those didn't have any enemies in it - despawn them with the Drone if needed - especially important to not be in any fight when heading to Nakamichi Alley Kaito's dialogue.
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With going straight inside the Bar Tender and running around in it (1m15s):
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With going to the Tender and just doing circles near the entrance (1m4s).
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With passing Kaito's dialogue and running through random alleys for a bit (1m2s):
Timings are from [getting control] to [activating Mari's dialogue].
The one with going straight to Bar Tender i have tested the most, but still unsure if you need to wreck chaos inside, or you can just run inside the bar without touching chairs and stuff. One thing is for certain - running into the walls doesn't help, it doesn't get counted as distance traveled fast enough and ends up taking over 3 minutes.
This covers all the skips that we use in Any% Rogue. They work on other difficulty levels as well, as long as you take care in executing them whenever the guards are around you. 2 things to remember - you need to keep holding Run button to keep the storage with you. And if you run out of stamina - storage will get executed automatically (which is usually bad).
Feel free to add more below.
Chapter 2 - Vent storage. Aim a throwable object at the vent, press Action and run away. Once you get stuck in that place in the wall - press Action again to get dragged away and clip through - make sure you are still holding Run button while clipping through the wall, to execute Storage for the 2nd time.
Chapter 3 - The House of Blossoms OoB. If you don't have a throwable object - you can pick one up near the entrance (check video at the start). This section needs a lot of practice and understanding where NPCs are located at the moment; your main object is to alert blossom near the bird cage (you can softly bump into her to make sure), so the guards runs up to her to ask what's wrong - this will move him away from your part. Before activating the storage - regain a bit of your stamina by standing still, then do it - and once you see heartbeat icon again in the middle of the running - stop again. Don't forget to press LMB while running - this will save your bottle for next location. As long as you follow inputs and directions in the video you should be able to make it to the end - once you see Autosave symbol appear - hit F9.
@TheStunningParallel does it in the different place which is faster by a few seconds, check it out:
Chapter 3 - Bookshelf skip. This is an absolute shitshow of a skip, and you need one throwable object for it. You store the animation of opening the chest and run down the staircase - then you will have to try this skip for yourself and see where it works best for you. In the video i stand in the specific place where skip works 9 times out of 10 for me. Just let go of all buttons to execute the storage and get booted into the window, from where you can safely reach next checkpoint.
Try to save the bottle, because you will need it later on in the ruins. to do storage for the lever, which is rather simple on it's own.
Chapter 4 - Great safe clip. This works easily on 1.0 and 1.1 versions of the game. It BARELY works on 1.7 - you have to do some insane moves to try and clip through, while on early patches you literally hold 2 buttons and clip through, after cancelling out of safe code inputting.
Chapter 5 - Vent storage. Another storage, but this time - we pull out a bow and aim it to be able to crouch, while still having the storage saved. It doesn't matter which arrow you use.
Chapter 5 - Treatment Center storage. One of the easier tricks, since no one is in your way - however, you still need to chill for a couple of seconds before attempting this storage - just to regain your stamina. As you can see, i ran out of it by the end and barely managed to do the storage - you need to get behind that chair and let go of all buttons to get "warped" into nearby room and proceed to the vent.
Starting 29/02/2020 new set of Rules has been implemented. All runs submitted before the time of this post are not affected by it.
As of now, new submissions must:
- Show items (their names) that were used during the run. You can show them after the final battle, in the Treasure room. It's required for verification purposes, because:
- Onyx items are banned. Using Onyx items in the run doesn't add anything significant enough to justify a separate category for them - most of them, specifically Amulets and Weapons have alternatives in the base game's content, for ex.
- Osiris's Gold Fire Crook and Flail,
- Set's Silver Fire Crook and Flail,
- Spitfire. Those items (Epic & Legendary quality) perform just as good as Onyx ones; knowing that and the nature of how you acquire Onyx items in the first place - it was decided to forbid them to get everyone on the fair ground, especially people who don't have many friends playing the game (which is a main requirement to acquire those items).
Same deal with DLC items - they are, however, allowed in the runs, because of how insignificant they are to the speedrun. Majority of those items are sub-par to Epic quality items from the base game and don't affect, improve or add anything in current route to justify a separate category for them.
Reason to separate PC and Console:
- on high FPS PC version of the game allows Croft to roll through collision for a short period of time - if you can bomb yourself with the right timing you will appear on the other side of the collision you were trying to roll through. As far as I'm concerned - those tricks don't work on console due to the low FPS, but they are saving reasonable amount of time to set platforms apart.
- On high FPS game starts to drain resources of your computer at insane rate, which makes those skips possible mainly on high-end machines - if runs including those skips will be submitted - we will most likely separate it from 60 FPS ones to keep p2w-ness away.
Check Guides section for more information regarding those skips.
