Forum posts

> And again, PhotN + controller is identical to Xbox/emu mechanically.
I don't agree with that and this is my main argument against the inclusion.

I dislike setting the precedent of allowing significantly different versions of the game under the same category.

> I would argue that there is no difference, aside from not being able to buffer inputs through doors.
I disagree. As somebody that has run Alucard Any% on DXC the game feels very different. There is an inherent buffering system that smooths out inputs resulting in both positive and negative effects. Phone version also has a checkpoint continue function allowing for way more leniency on death.

My issue is not with any advantage the macros provide, but that DXC and Saturn are far enough removed from the original that they warrant separation even though in the case of Richter the route is the same.

While you are absolutely correct that it will never touch the top tier runs, it breaks the comparability of runs below that. Even playstation warrants separation on that account, but at least it and xbla work identically on the mechanical level.

I would be up for adding it as it's own subcategory just like DXC is there for Maria, but only if there is enough activity to warrant that. (which arguably Maria doesn't even have) And even then Phone SOTN's continue and macros present issues over DXC.

For me personally there is just not enough of an incentive to break the boards just to accommodate runs with the lowest possible commitment or effort and absolutely no merit or aspirations to be competitive. I think those runs should absolutely be shared in the forum or discord, but until there is enough activity to warrant a leaderboard I don't see the need to add them.

As of this post the new restriction comes into effect. Currently verified runs, that were done on now banned emulators like psxjin or epsxe, will remain up. This only applies to new submissions.

Playstation emulation has always suffered from inconsistency, inaccuracy and performance issues. We have kept the restrictions to a minimum for the longest time to accommodate for people with low-end systems and keep it as accessible as possible. That said emulators have come a long way and we have been testing them.

At the center of the problem lies ePSXe, which is unfortunately both the most popular one to newcomers and the most inconsistent/inaccurate one. Thus far it has been allowed because it has been the most stable performing option for people with slow computers.

This is where Bizhawk and Mednafen come in. Bizhawk is a multiplatform emulator designed for accuracy and TAS. It can be a bit inconsistent on the performance end, but for everything except low end systems it is stable and accurate. Mednafen is actually the origin of the core that Bizhawk uses, but it is a much more minimalistic emulator, so it is very light to run and works on weak PCs.

The proposed new rule is to restrict all Playstation emulation to exclusively Bizhawk and Mednafen, which was already done for Sega Saturn a few months ago. While it can be argued that this creates restrictions, I would say that it will be much easier to just create two exact guides to set the emus up, instead of having to explain directions for every one individually.

When it comes to competition there aren't really any concerns, all the current top emulator runs are either done on these platforms or can be beaten on them. Current runs that are using epsxe, psxjin, etc. will of course stay up and verified.

What are your thoughts on this matter?

Only your equipment is on your body. You keep everything in your inventory. And I think when there is space you get potions from your belt, but I don't remember it's been a while.

That thread only contains noteworthy runs. There are many that are not included.

Requem is not acceptable for PSX/360 categories.

You don't need the category to be on a board to run it: https://www.speedrun.com/sotn/thread/8k17g

By taking away all of the fun?

Proposed timing method for loads:
• Every area load, internal load and boss load gets removed from the first duplicated frame up to and including the black frame before the first faded in frame.
• Second castle warp load gets removed from the frame when white teleportation animation around maria disappears up to and including the last frame where that same animation is there in 2nd castle.

For now we will put times without loads inn the time column and put RTA in the comments. It is definitely not the desired way to do it, but there has been some conflicting reports about how turning on the integrated loadless time or IGT columns may affect an already populated leaderboard. Until I know for sure that it won't wrongly affect nearly 1000 runs I won't use that.

Yea it would be a bit jank, but would be a working solution. That's why I made this thread first to know for sure.

There was a thread that said enabling times without loads will switch every currently submitted time to times without loads. I absolutely want to avoid something like that from happening.

We want to change the timing for a single category (variable subcategory) to loads-removed on a leaderboard without affecting the others. We also want to keep track of RTA for it. From the looks right not it is not possible to use the built-in feature for just one category and turning it on for the whole game seems to reportedly have some catastrophic consequences due to poor implementation.

What would be the best solution for this without risking bricking the whole board? Would enabling IGT and using that field work? How does timing priority work? I don't want to turn it on just to test it. I am also hesitant to do so in case all the current times, which are RTA, get irreversibly shifted over to IGT for some reason. Safest bet seems to be for us to use the time field for the load-removed times and put RTA in the comments, though obviously not being presented very well.

Should be able to switch "Separate load times" on for a category or variable instead of the whole game.

That pretty much sums it up. I found it by frame counting videos to see why the clock statue opened faster for some. Asked a few people to send me 10 minute videos sitting in the clock room and stuff like that. We still don't know why it opens as fast for dr4gonblitz as it does for the European console, since his is confirmed to output at 59.94, yet seems to run as if it is 60. It doesn't help that they are all just designated "Xbox 360 Slim".

Just a side point to clarify something, 360 does not have consistent performance. European 360s run the game at 60 fps, due to having 60hz output, while NA ones do 59.94. Additionally some 360 seem to load drastically faster than others and some even have lag.

Seems like it is a solution to me, since absolutely nobody does read them. Yea they should, obviously, but they don't. That part aside, I feel like there should be a system to notify runners that a category's rules have been updated outside of a forum post, which they might not even see if they don't follow the game.

People basically never read the rules, so it would be useful to have a page that makes them read the rules when they go to submit a run. Would happen once per user per category and would only reappear for them if the rules are updated.

This comes up every few months, but subcategory url routing or a better way to organize leaderboards seems like it should be among the priorities.

There is no such thing as a PS2 version. Use Bizhawk when you run. Also if you stream your attempts live the full emulator window rule does not apply.