Hey guys, I just want to post a little thing addressing some of the issues we are having with the rules for this game regarding timing, fps, etc.

First, this is only regarding single segment runs.

1: Version Use purefaction, preferably the latest version. The game doesn't run properly without it.

2: in-game FPS We can go two ways here. We can either allow changing of fps during the run, or decide on a set limit or range of fps to do the entire run at. Changing the FPS can shorten the length of cutscenes and postiviely(or negatively) influence enemy AI.

The game runs "best" at 55-60 fps, so, for the sake of consistency across a full game run, I vote for using 55 or 60 fps and NOT switching during a run.

Really though, whatever you guys want to do here is fine. I don't care much at all what we decide on the FPS issue.

3: Real time (RTA) vs In-Game Time

This is the biggest sticking point.

For the sake of clarity, we should define the RTA timing as beginning as soon as the player takes control of Parker after ending the opening cutscene and ending as soon as the bomb has been solved and the player loses control of Parker.

In-Game time is being defined as using a timing program that stops timing during loading screens. This is useful as it gets rid of small inconsistencies relating to load times across varying players' hardware and across any certain players' individual runs. This will result in "lower" times, but that's just a categorization issue--the run isn't really any 'faster," it's just timed differently. The starting and ending of timing for an in-game timed run will obviously be the same as described previously for RTA runs.

REASONS I DISLIKE IN-GAME TIME: This "in-game" timing is done by using the LiveSplit timing program. That's all fine, as one can set up live split to time both real time and in game time. Hypothetically, we could just have everybody using livesplit to record both and use both times for the leaderboards. Right now, in theory, real time would always be "slower" than ingame time and vice versa, but what if something dumb happens and that's not the case. No one wants to deal with that. Or let's say one players Ingame time is the fastest, but the real time for the that particular run is "slower" than another players real time. What do we do there?

I understand that cutting out load times makes for "faster" times and helps even out the SMALL inconsistencies in load times across players and their hardware...but I still dont like it. It requires you to use livesplit. Like...let's say i dont want to use livesplit--how am i going to get my in-game time? Also, let's say one day livesplit isn't supported as a timer, what do we do then?

Using Real timing I think is better in the long run. If someone thinks their computer isn't as "fast" as someone else's, and as such, feels they suffer a time loss from longer loading times then...tough shit right? That's just how it goes. That's how things have been going in speedrunning forever. You start timing when you get control and end when you lose control. Load times might differ slightly, but we wouldn't be relying on an EXTERNAL program to cut those out. Speedrunning, to me at least, isn't necessarily about manipualting time soruces to get the lowest time value--it's about hitting start on a game and beating faster than others. If you're gear isn't good enough to mesh with better times from others with better gear than tough shit. If i want to speedrun the new Doom right now, my times are probably going to be slower than another player with better hardware but I'm not gonna say that the timing method should change.

Red Faction is an inconsistent game sometimes regarding load times, enemy ai, etc. And that' because the engine is jank. But I still don't think we should rely on livesplit's ingame timer function as a way to, in my opinion, falsely lower times.

This is all just my opinion. It's really up to you guys to agree on whatever. I dont even really mess with single segment runs. We could even have separate leaderboards for RTA's and ingame times. Please discuss and give your thoughts so we can nail down a consistent rule set for everyone to use.

Thanks!

Hello, i would like to submit my segmented uber run. Currently, there is not such an option for that category in the submission section for the game. I was hoping to PM someone rather than start a forum thread about this, but I am unfamiliar with this site and can't find a way to do so, if it's possible at all.

I would also like to add some videos/written material to to the "resources" or "guides" section of this game as well, but have no idea how to do so. (and some of the content that Ivy and omfg_cob have around should be there as well.)

So yeah, if I could get some of those two things going on.... that would be great. : )

http://speeddemosarchive.com/Wolfenstein2009.html <---- the run