I haven't run the game in months. I assure you this has nothing to do with me 😂

@Lucylover and @WaxyFun

In a competitive scenario, top runners are unlikely to use the knife defensively since it would assume that you got grabbed and would be losing time/resetting anyways.

That being said, the purpose of this category isn't to be consistent with other categories. In fact, quite the opposite is true because of how many categories rely on the knife. This category is being introduced to create a route where speedrunners can run the game the way it was envisioned at launch, where the knife would probably only ever be used defensively and other weapons would be used for killing bosses, etc.

If a significant amount of people would prefer the knife to be banned defensively as well, we can definitely consider that, but it would sort of defeat the purpose of why people approached the mods to do this in the first place.

My only other thought would be if you have a better name for it instead of No Knife, I'm all ears! I definitely understand how it can be confusing to read No Knife but it's still allowed for defensive use.

Hey everyone!

I hope everybody is doing well and enjoying their runs. I've been getting a lot of interest regarding No Knife categories, and after chatting with Maxylobes, we are ready to propose a No Knife category which would be added to the Category Extensions. Check out the details below and reply with your thoughts!

When RE2R was first released, many runners were shocked to see that the knife took a lot of the variety out of the run, despite the game having a ton of categories. Lately, several runners have expressed interest in Standard and Hardcore categories where the knife is not permitted as an offensive weapon, allowing the arsenal of weapons in the game to have a place to be featured in speedruns. Overall the response has been incredibly positive and we are eager to bring this category to the CE boards as soon as possible.

Here are the proposed category rules:

Beat the game without the use of Infinite Weapons. Out of bounds/item duplication is BANNED.

The usage of knives as an offensive weapon is banned. Players may use a knife when the game prompts the use of a defensive item, but any damage dealt with the knife outside of its use as a defensive item will invalidate that run.

All runs must start from the main menu or scenario choice screen.

Submissions must contain all footage for the runs provided.

FPS must be capped at or below 120fps. FPS must be displayed during the entire run. You can activate this in "Steam > Settings > in-game > in-game. See forums for alternative suggestions.

FPS Settings may not be changed during the run. Graphics Settings may only be changed at Boss fights to allow higher/consistent framerate. If Graphics Settings are changed for Boss fights, it MUST be visible during the video. If Graphics Settings changes are cut from the video, the run will be rejected.

At this point all we are asking for is whether or not this is something you would like to see on the Category Extensions. If you're indifferent, that's okay too, but as long there continues to be people interested, I will create the category and add it into the CE boards next week.

Post your thoughts below! Thanks everyone!

Sup fam! I've been testing framerate swapping extensively over the past several days and have decided to:

1. Publish my findings for everyone's general knowledge
2. Bring to light that framerate swapping goes against what RTA should account for.
3. Propose a better solution that keeps things interesting, and most importantly, FAIR!

With that being said, here are my findings.

Looks like right now there's at least 14 instances where framerate swapping either gives you some degree of timesave (anywhere from 0.1 - 2.0 seconds in most cases), or makes running by an enemy slightly more consistent. I still have some more testing to do as I think there may even be 1 or 2 other spots where it works. The last one in Factory can be done multiple times, hence where I came up with 14 instances. Here's the ones I have confirmed so far:

• Lycan Siege (where you fight Urias)
• Castle Main Hall (after getting Courtyard key and Cassandra appears)
• Distillery (aka Blood Basement)
• Dungeon (after Ethan's right hand comes off)
• Castle Upstairs Main Hall (after killing Cassandra)
• Castle Side Hall (after rooftops)
• Village Trail (after Beneviento Manor)
• Stronghold (before going down the long staircase to Urias)
• Factory (after escaping The Sturm the first time)
• Factory (2nd heavily armored soldat after crafting Heisenberg's key)
• Factory (pretty much any time enemies are on the other side of a door (I found at least 4 times in a single run where this can work)

In each instance, it takes roughly 10-12 seconds to swap fps from 120 > 30, and then back to 120 after the manip is done. However, that time is not counted with the current timing method. I have heard that many people are indifferent because RE7 contained a few instances of framerate swapping, but I would like to present some counter-arguments to this logic.

-RE7 does not use RTA for PC speedruns. Village does. -RE7 only has a few instances. Village contains AT LEAST 14 as of now. -Many of us already agree that menuing is a skill and 100% affects the route as a whole. Changing the framerate this excessively without penalty completely removes a menuing component from the game, and is frankly an abuse of CursedToast's timing method, which is intended to be RTA.

I am proposing a slightly revised timing method that simply includes menuing in the settings as part of the RTA Loadless method to deter framerate swapping from being abused. CursedToast has already informed me that excessive framerate swapping is NOT the way he intended the timer to be used.

A couple of important key facts:

-This proposed new timing method DOES NOT affect any other strats in a significant way. For example, Restart Checkpoint skips still work under this method, as restarting the area will prompt a load, which stops the timer as it normally would under RTA Loadless.

-There are 2 potential ways the timing method can be improved.

1. The 1st is by simply removing the pause timer, which has already been tested and works 100%. Cutscenes still stop the timer, as does a pause during a cutscene, so there are still plenty of opportunities to take a break during the run.
2. The 2nd way would be to see about finding a pointer specifically for the Options menu. CursedToast has committed to spending some time searching for it if the community would like to use the proposed new timing method. If a pointer was found, then simply pausing would stop the timer as normal, but going into Options and changing the framerate would cause the timer to resume. Worst case scenario, the 1st way is 100% functional and can be deployed almost immediately.

-My goal of this proposition is not to restrict the run by preventing a strat from being used... in fact I would like to think that by limiting the use of this strat, the door to many other strats would open instead of just pausing the game and timer to change settings. The reality is that if our timing method was truly RTA Loadless, then the time spent menuing to change settings would be included on the timer as well. As mentioned earlier, it takes 10-12 seconds RTA on average to perform a framerate swap from 120 to 30, then back to 120, and in most cases the area being manipulated isn't anywhere near 10-12 seconds of gameplay.

-It has been really awesome seeing how many people support RTA for Village. This proposition would bring TRUE RTA Loadless to Village, and prevent CursedToast's timer from being abused.

Would love to see what the community thinks, and I am happy to answer any questions to bring clarity to the community if it was necessary to vote on it before the boards go live on Friday.

When performing the Castle Skip, I found that when you interact with the dagger and there's that approximately 10 second delay before the cutscene begins, you can go into the inventory and organize your gear. For this section only you basically get real-time inventory as the game will pull you out of the inventory to start the cutscene after that time has elapsed. Free timesave!

RTA and load removal should work fine for PC.

Console is going to get rekt regardless of what happens though. IMO, if console goes by IGT, retrying from death would have to be banned in order to prevent people from rolling back their IGT, and inventory/menuing would need strict enforcement on how much time can be spent "off the clock". I would say it needs to be incredibly strict, for instance, shopping with the Duke kept to 1 minute or less. To keep it fair, retrying from death should then also be banned on PC as well to keep things consistent. Unfortunately, I don't really see an easy way to go the RTA route with console as there would be NUMEROUS issues with load times between platforms and likely would just result in chaos amongst the community. That being said, RTA across the board would probably be the cleaner and more accurate method in the long run. It's a shitty situation, but something we would just have to deal with for this game.

I encountered this bug as well. Before entering the stronghold I ran back towards the Village to see if it would despawn the enemies guarding the gate, which it did. When I entered the stronghold, there were enemies in my first attempt, but when I died and respawned, just the 2 large Lycans were there, and no others. Not sure if this is related either, but I did fall onto the bottom floor the moment after the first large Lycan spawned. When I reached Urias he was not there, but I had saved in the room before, and when I reloaded he spawned in just fine.

With all the discussion around the frame rate cap and viability of 120 FPS on low end machines, I made a video using a budget PC to show the viability playing at 120 FPS while streaming with quality video and audio.

You can use a computer even lower end than this and still achieve 120 FPS, as my CPU load with this setup was still only at 26%, GPU at 70%, and only 7.7/16GB of RAM were used even while streaming at 1080p60 with 6k bitrate and running the game at low settings. A slightly cheaper processor and hard drive should save you another $100 or so, but this PC was built for under $600 and I was able to reuse an old case and power supply.

As you can see, this is clearly not a pay to win situation, and you can still achieve great quality gameplay and streaming on an incredibly affordable PC. Check the description for the full list of PC specs and specific details around how I have OBS, RE3, and my GPU configured.

If we were talking about a completely different route due to framerate, we would likely resort back to suggesting the split like we did with RE2R. In that case, most of the 60 fps categories required a completely different route in order to complete the game quickly due to memes with the knife. That does not apply here. We are just talking about load times, which has absolutely no effect on the route, and to be quite frank, 120 fps is not that difficult to achieve even while recording, as numerous benchmarks have shown at 1080p resolution with MAX graphics, a 2060 base model still outputs close to 120 fps (see one example here https://www.techspot.com/article/2004-resident-evil-3/). With that being said, even while recording if you run at a lower graphics configuration, you should have no problem reaching 120fps during loads while recording your gameplay. If not and you're rocking a 2060 GPU or better with a decent processor, you have a different problem with your setup that is outside the scope of this thread, and you need to do some troubleshooting on your own.

I also want to talk about upgrades very briefly. This year is an upgrade year for most people. With new consoles coming out, developers are going to slowly stop optimizing their games for old hardware. The same thing happened in late 2013 when the Xbox One and PS4 originally released. By late 2014, that support was almost completely gone and if you wanted to play the newest games, you no longer had the choice to play them on a potato PC or PS3/Xbox 360. This year begins that process once again (for both console AND pc), and if you are in a situation where you want to speedrun competitively with outdated hardware, upgrading is going to be a must if you have not done so already. I understand that equipment is more expensive in certain countries, etc... but if speedrunning is such a big part of your life that you want to be competitive, you need to figure out how you can get those upgrades to stay competitive as the gaming industry releases cutting edge hardware this year.

I've also seen responses to why 120 fps is the chosen number. I think that's honestly quite obvious, but I'll elaborate anyway. Next gen consoles are targeting 120 fps, and that standard has been attainable on PC for nearly 7 years now with the right hardware. At this point, even on the low end of the GPU spectrum, most of them are getting to the point where they are natively able to render 120 fps. An RTX 2060 is a relatively affordable GPU that should essentially be setting the standard for the minimum hardware required to run most games from here on out. If you think that your speedrunning ability is limited by the fact that your hardware is outdated, I highly suggest you take @CursedToast up on his offer and prove that the reason your time isn't better than the top runners is because of your hardware. I should also remind you that whatever RE game we get after RE3 is probably not even going to be released on Xbox One and PS4, so by that logic, be mad at the developers for not supporting your platform or your outdated PC, not the moderators of the game who have no affiliation with Capcom or the RE franchise. We are making the decision based on benchmarks and standards that are being set across the entire industry as of this year, and if a situation arises where we can find a way to do a load remover, we can always remove the fps cap rule without having to migrate runs.

For the framerate limiter, I know some people are concerned about installing 3rd party software on their machines. Both NVIDIA and AMD GPUs actually have framerate limiters built into their control panel, so you don't even need to install anything outside of the latest drivers for your graphics card. Then go into the control panel and enable the framerate limiter and set it to 120.

For AMD GPUs, go into the AMD Catalyst Control Center and turn on FRTC (Frame Rate Target Control) and set it to 120.

For NVIDIA, use NVIDIA Control Panel, go into Manage 3D settings and set the Max Frame Rate to 120 fps.

I hope this helps everyone get a better understanding of what we're trying to do. We are by no means saying that you can't run the game at any frame rate between 60 and 120 fps and still get a good time, just know that it is a couple of seconds slower and there is 0 reason to make an entire section of new categories for something that doesn't change the route or strategy of the core game at all. I am always available to have a CIVILIZED discussion of your concerns and give you the information you need to speedrun the game per the rules.

It's probably someone who is active in the community and made this account because they were afraid of scrutiny if they posted this under their primary alias. If you genuinely have an issue with who the mods are, there's a way better way to go about expressing your concerns and us having a real conversation about that without masking who you are in the first place. That in and of itself discredits whoever decided to start this thread.

Hey guys! I put something together to provide some context in what the mod team looks for when we verify runs. Continue to refer to the feedback attached to your run if it is rejected, but if you're a new runner or have been having some problems with your runs, a full analysis is covered in this video:

P.S. When submitting any run that IS NOT Ghost Survivors, please do not include milliseconds. Milliseconds are used for Ghost Survivors only.

@MaterialBurst that's a BS statement to make. You can't make a decision on behalf of someone else of what is or isn't fun. I think they're really fun, and less easy to burn out in because they're nice and short. I'm obviously not the only one who thinks that since we're seeing more runners come into that category. But that's derailing this thread, so let's move on.

@vinev I proposed the changes from Glitched to Any% 6 months ago. I've held the records in every PC Glitched category since May, and NOBODY ran the categories that entire time since I picked up all the records. 1 person started running the category a few weeks ago, and I decided to bring the discussion back up after they asked me to mod because I felt we might be able to get more people into running it. I am (or should say "was") the top runner for 6 months, and I completely, 100% support and endorse the decisions that were made based on the idea I started 6 months ago when I was the only one running the categories. It actually feels good to see that category getting attention again, which was the entire goal of those changes in the first place. But even this is beside the point of this thread. I am with @mondomantra in that if theres a compelling reason to make changes and the overwhelming majority of the community agrees, I would help implement, but I just dont see enough benefit to the proposal given that it creates new problems as it solves old ones.

I posted it in the Discord, but for those who haven't joined it yet, I did as much research as I could to piece together a solution that looks at BOTH sides of the argument, and pays respects to those who have sunk time into the game, as well as looking to grow the community with being inclusive of potential new runners. Feel free to check out the highlight here:

I vote that there should be separate categories for Grenade Launcher and Magnum, respectively. Whether we choose to keep any% at all is a totally different conversation, but hypothetically if we separated the categories, and moved every run from any% into their respective categories, everyone would either stay at their current place OR move up on the boards, and still have the option of running either category, and using the tool would be allowed in favor of either. As a new runner to the game, I have been thinking about what is attractive to other new runners, and a big reason why I have avoided this game up until recently was a fear of disliking one of my favorite games because of a hard reset point. I think a big problem has to do with giving up the name "any%" with the game. Although any% can have various definitions throughout different games, it feels awkward to allow a mod that sort of defeats the purpose of having an any% category.

I've recently revisited some glitched runs, and here are my personal thoughts on it after a week of experimenting. I would appreciate if the community would consider the below proposition, as I have put a great deal of thought into it and have many hours under my belt actually running, routing, and optimizing the categories.

• I feel like we need to rename this category to any%. Feelings aside, it is, by definition, an any% run. You can kill as little or as much as you want, and the only objective is really to finish the game as quickly as possible without the use of external assistance such as Cheat Engine. The vast majority of any% categories that are run across the entire speedrunning community, not just RE, follow similar rules that we have set for the glitched categories, and even though RE2 does not feature decision-making and alternate endings (take RE1 for instance, where any% allows you to pursue any ending), it still seems logical that any% can be used to describe optional boss encounters, cutscenes, and item pickups instead like many other speed games that do not have alternate endings do.

-I also feel like New Game and New Game+ need to be combined into 1 category, leaving each scenario intact (Leon/Claire, 1st/2nd runs respectively), and from that point just keep them split between PC and Console, leaving unlocked FPS as an option for those who are interested. From what I have routed, almost all of the categories have the same route between the NG and NG+ counterpart. While NG+ generally has more timesave, it is only by a few seconds, and just does not seem significant enough to have an entirely separate category, unlike NG and NG+ standard runs, which are minutes apart in their optimized form. The most important thing about combining these categories though, is that it eliminates the pay-to-win aspects of the game for any%. After some testing, even with a ridiculously high framerate, I have observed considerable diminishing returns with using the knife after about 200fps, and even with a framerate that high, infinite weapons still come out just a few seconds faster. At this point, higher FPS becomes a quality of life improvement, rather than an absolutely necessary thing to do to be competitive.

-As far as which patch to run, I think we should give the runner the freedom to decide. We do not require a particular patch on any other category, therefore I don't think it is necessary to require any runner be on a specific patch. That being said, some patches will likely be faster than others by a few seconds, and in order to achieve an optimal time, a downpatch may be required. I understand this poses a problem for console users that bought the game digitally, and while our goal is to be as inclusive as possible to get more people running the game, we should also look to simplify the solution as much as possible. I believe allowing runners to choose which patch they play on keeps it inclusive, yet simple if a runner decides to run the game on the current patch. There are still skips and tricks to be performed in all patches currently, and the timesaves associated with them are significant regardless. There is also nothing stopping console players from purchasing a physical version of the game to perform any% speedruns. Yes, it sucks if you already bought it digitally, but I could also argue that I'm not able to submit runs for the game at all on console as a PC player unless I actually pay the money to buy the game for my Xbox One. It's a really unfortunate situation, but I really feel like this method will be more inviting to people that want to learn these categories. I would also think it a good idea to include the patch number with a submission, primarily so people that want to learn the run on a specific patch can filter based on that, but I don't feel like it would be required.

The way I propose it, the categories would look as follows:

Any% (PC) Leon | Claire | Leon 2nd | Claire 2nd

Any% (Console) Leon | Claire | Leon 2nd | Claire 2nd

We would simply adopt the rules from NG+ Glitched from each category and allow infinite weapons to be used for any%. This reduces the insane amount of categories for OoB, and enables a more inclusive and accurate depiction of what the run actually is, which translates to:

Beat the game as quickly as possible. You may use any unlockable, in-game glitch, patch and framerate (PC only) in your run. Mods are still prohibited. GL/HF.

In closing, I would like to see categories on this page that people will actually run and that have names on the board. The skips are really cool, and with enough practice just like the memefests of G2 and G3, you can perform them with a moderate level of consistency. The runs are so short that losing time a few minutes in to a failed skip causes nowhere near the level of frustration that a run that dies on G2 or G3 does. I honestly feel like there is a lot of unjustified hate going towards this category for what would otherwise actually be a fun, bite-sized category to run. It need not be the main category of this game, AT ALL. But it is a cool category to have fun with, so lets give it the love that it deserves.

I just uploaded a downpatch to the resources page, with a super easy to follow readme if you're not familiar with handling game files. It will revert you to patch 1.02 and from what I can tell, the new autosplitter still works, and the SRT will regain functionality until Squirrelies has a chance to update it for 1.03.