[START HERE] Beginner's Guide

# Setup (PC)

This video covers all the setup you need to do:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wx8Ph3hvs00

There are some written guides that cover some of the same things:  
[Removing Catwoman](https://www.speedrun.com/arkhamcity/guide/v42lq)  
[Mousewheel Binds](https://www.speedrun.com/arkhamcity/guide/xiqk2)  
[Language Differences, and changing the language](https://www.speedrun.com/arkhamcity/guide/apyas)  

# Other Guides

[Any% Beginner Walkthrough](https://www.speedrun.com/arkhamcity/guide/369h4) by @ShikenNuggets - Doesn't cover all the newest and most advanced strats but it has everything you need to finish your first run.

[Any% Tutorial](https://www.speedrun.com/arkhamcity/guide/2obkh) by @JohnStephenEvil - Fairly outdated, but still a decent starting point for learning Any%.

[New Game Plus Tutorial](https://www.speedrun.com/arkhamcity/guide/4p6yy) by @FOK

[100% Tutorial](https://www.speedrun.com/arkhamcity/guide/412h5) by @BubblesDelFuego

100% Tutorial (by BubblesDelFuego)

Current Tutorial:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6_DakKGtsU

Old tutorial, very outdated but may still have some relevant info:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kunmTGpyyU

Any% Advanced Tutorial Series (July 2023)

**The series is split into two parts:**

• The glitches and strategies you need to know

• The series itself (Split into 5 videos)

**[I highly advise you check out the “Start Here” guide](https://www.speedrun.com/arkhamcity/guides/mxskn)**

**Spanish is about 11-12 Seconds faster when doing this route for any%**

To ensure proper functioning of zips on your PC, make sure the game runs at 62fps, which is the default frame rate without v-sync. If it's running at 60fps, disable v-sync in the game's launcher and ensure that no third-party programs, such as Nvidia Control Panel, force v-sync back on.

Additionally, turn off PhysX and disable DirectX 11 Features and Tessellation in the game's settings. PhysX tends to cause lag, and although the specific impact of DX11 on the speedrun is unknown, it is advisable to keep it off for optimal performance.

**The things I will not be covering in the series are:**

*• Bell Tower Skip*

*• Not Doing Fiona Skip*

*• Jammers in Order*

*• Not Doing The Optimal Way Of Dino Skip*

• *Not Doing The Optimal Way Of Protocol Ten Skip*

[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3NjZyZbYK0QYdSDcqoc1NgjQ7k5LTwZS](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3NjZyZbYK0QYdSDcqoc1NgjQ7k5LTwZS)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHpU5ZybPfw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2BhqXDY4GA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fz3Xf6cWNRs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKZIU-f0OWs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVliYu5idAk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxBsOIqhIbU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUeHpgwGk5w

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92i0arUUB6U

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqAk5S854tw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrtvJkrngYg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqUizIVluVU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsUt872SSnw

**The Any% Route is subject to change over time.**

Any% Beginner Walkthrough (2021/10 route)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRKrxLPc8LQ

This walkthrough does **not** cover:  
-[Intro Fight Skip](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8e9YVOHMGQ)  
-[Bell Tower Skip](https://youtu.be/4OHz90mO0QY?t=586)  
-[Church Skip](https://youtu.be/K_WLQRpSHrQ?t=454), and all the route changes that come with that  
-[Jammer 1->2 zip](https://youtu.be/K_WLQRpSHrQ?t=1199), and the [harder/faster Jammer 2->3 zip](https://youtu.be/4OHz90mO0QY?t=1301)  
-[Harder/faster version of Protocol 10 Skip](https://youtu.be/4OHz90mO0QY?t=2980)  
-Any other discoveries made since this was last updated  


Timestamps:  
3:39 - Start  
11:35 - Dive Roll Cancels  
14:12 - Courthouse Fight (Ground Takedown Cancels)  
16:20 - Church Fight Skip  
27:59 - REC Door Cancels  
29:34 - REC Storage explanation  
32:23 - Hammer Skip  
40:13 - Corner Zips  
48:04 - Batarang Storage / Storage Zips  
52:07 - REC Jumps  
54:40 - Zipping out of the subway  
57:00 - Zipping out of the subway (alternative)  
58:55 - Museum Fight Skip  
1:00:17 - Dino Skip (easy two-zip method)  
1:09:26 - Dino Skip (harder one-zip method)  
1:12:25 - Gel Warp  
1:26:13 - Zip to unlock tightrope upgrade  
1:30:26 - Dead Parents Skip  
1:35:42 - Partial Trials Skip  
1:42:56 - Ra's Cutscene Skip  
1:44:21 - Leaving Ra's (main zips + backups)  
1:49:30 - Weird gel ceiling thing after Ra's  
1:53:06 - Mr Freeze Fight  
1:54:57 - Vicki Cutscene Skip  
1:56:14 - Zip to Industrial + Steel Mill 2 Skip  
2:03:54 - Funhouse Fight  
2:07:39 - Protocol 10 Skip  
2:19:12 - Phase Skip (Clayface)  

Any% NG+ Tutorial

# General Information and NG+ on PC

Before getting into the run, download the NG+ savefile from resource page (or make up your own) and [remove Catwoman DLC](https://www.speedrun.com/arkhamcity/guide/v42lq)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpmmZ7oYAOo

The video is separated in two parts:
1) Basic Glitches and other stuff you need to know
2) The NG+ run itself
*You can find more info on specific things near the timecodes in video's description*

*Update 22.07.2022* - As for today, 22.07.2022,the fastest language for this category is German, it is faster than English by 0.4 seconds

# NG+ on console

You *can* do main zips (Processing Center and Elevaor Zip) on Console Version (Original PS3/Xbox 360 release, Return to Arkham and Nintendo Switch version), but this video covers only 62 FPS strats. The console versions run at 30 FPS, so you need to do this strats:

Processing Center:
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/908502782?t=6m39s
Elevator:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwZUuVitqLQ

*IMPORTANT* Full AI skip (Timecode 16:11) is possible to do ONLY on Xbox 360, PC and Nintendo Switch versions of the game

For Xbox Series X/S you can hack the panel first and then do the AI skip normally: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1301513291?t=00h09m18s

For PS3/4/5 and Xbox One versions after you finished the predator room you have to go down to the panel, hack it and then go back up: https://youtu.be/MAJ6oaNMyP8?t=602

Any% w/Cat Console Tutorial (July 2023)

# General Information:

French is the fastest language by 10.01 Seconds, although Spanish is only faster at 10.98 Seconds if you do Church Skip.

These zips do work on the Xbox 360 and PS3 as they run on 30 FPS which is the same as the Remasters. You can also uninstall Catwoman from those versions as she comes as a DLC you manually have to install to play as.

To change the language of your game you have to change the language of your Console itself, you most likely have to change your region as well to properly change the language of the game.

## This video is separated into two parts:

1.  The first part being all the glitches you need to know.
2. The Zips, Skips and the General route.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUjjx6h-dXs

*The Any% Route **is** subject to change over time.*

How to remove Catwoman DLC from the GOTY version

Four Catwoman segments were originally a Day 1 DLC and optional to install, but when the game was rereleased in Steam as the Game of the year edition, they became an integral part of the game. However, since many runners dislike these segments, we found a way to remove it by editing an .ini file, without affecting the rest of the game. That's why you will find separate categories on the leaderboard.

If you want to play without the Catwoman segments, find the Steam folder on the disk where you installed the game, go to X:\Steam\SteamApps\common\Batman Arkham City GOTY\BmGame\Config\PC\ and open PCGame.ini

Find the line +DLCBundlesInstalled="Catwoman" and comment it out without removing it (so you can easily restore it when necessary):
//+DLCBundlesInstalled="Catwoman"

The line repeats second time later in the file – do the same thing to it and save the changes.

Obviously, if you want to restore DLC later, open the file again and remove slashes.

Note to those who want to try a run with Catwoman: as decided by ancient gods, all four segments count as parts of the main story gameplay, even though the last one begins after the credits, so:
- Start timer when you gain control of Catwoman in the intro;
- End timer after you defeat Twoface (instead of Clayface as Batman), because only after that you gain ability to change characters in freeroam. Collecting money from Twoface's thugs is technically a sidequest so it's not necessary.

Language Differences, and How to Change Languages

**TL;DR**: Almost every category is fastest in Spanish. A few are fastest in French. NG+ is fastest in German.

There are a few points in the game where playing on a different audio language results in dialog ending faster, and allowing you to progress through the game faster. You can view a [full spreadsheet detailing all known language differences here](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1IKkIDsWLHIBuIRkccrBSSW0kj0DUEJzlh97NLzSERkw/edit#gid=0).

# Fastest Language by Category/Platform

**Any%**  
*PC/PS3/Xbox360* - Spanish (9 seconds faster - 7.9 seconds w/Cat)  
*PS4* - Spanish (6.7 seconds)  
*XB1* - Spanish (6.8 seconds)  

**Glitchless**  
*PC/PS3/Xbox360* - Spanish (20.5 seconds - 19.5 seconds w/Cat)  
*Return to Arkham* - Spanish (18.3 seconds)  

**New Game Plus** - German (0.4 seconds)  
**New Game Plus (w/Cat)** - Spanish (2 seconds)  

**HQR** - French (8.4 seconds)  

**100%** - Spanish (17 seconds - 16 seconds w/Cat)  
**100% (NG+)** - French (21.9 seconds - 20.7 seconds w/Cat)  

# How to Change Language (PC)

Navigate to the game's configuration folder in:  

```
Documents\WB Games\Batman Arkham City GOTY\BmGame\Config\
```

and open "UserEngine.ini" in a text editor. In that file, find the line (should be line 31) that says  

```
Language=Int
```

and change "Int" to the language code you want. For taking advantage of the language differences, you must choose a setting that results in non-English audio, interface language only makes one minor difference. The five audio languages available are English (**Int**), German (**Deu**), Spanish (**Esn**), French (**Fra**) and Italian (**Ita**).  

Here are all known language codes:  
**Int** = "International", Full English. Unrecognized language codes will default to this.  
**Deu** = Full German.  
**Esm** = Spanish interface, English audio.  
**Esn** = Full Spanish.  
**Fra** = Full French.  
**Ita** = Full Italian.  
**Jpn** = Japanese interface (at least in theory, the text doesn't work for me), English audio.  
**Kor** = Korean interface (in theory, same deal as Jpn), English audio.  
**Pol** = Polish interface, English audio.  
**Por** = Portuguese interface, English audio.  
**Rus** = Russian interface, English audio.  

Mousewheel Binds for Skipping Dialogue, Countering, etc

Here is how you set up the optimal mousewheel bindings for this game. Alternatively, if you are fine with using the game's default binds, we have a pre-made file in the [Resources section](https://www.speedrun.com/arkhamcity/resources).

- Open the game's Launcher, choose Settings -> Controls
- Unassign "Previous Gadget" and "Next Gadget" (also make sure mouse wheel isn't being used anywhere else)
- Assign Mouse Scroll Up to "Run/Glide/Use"
- Assign Shift+Mouse Scroll Up to "Counter/Takedown"
- Assign Shift+Mouse Scroll Down to "Strike"

When you're done all that, close the launcher. Opening the launcher again will reset everything we're about to do, so **never open the launcher again, if you do you will need to redo the next step and any other config file edits that you do.**

Then, open the UserInput.ini file found here > "Documents\WB Games\Batman Arkham City GOTY\BmGame\Config\UserInput.ini"

and add this full exact line, including the period at the end:

.Bindings=(Name="MouseScrollDown",Command="QuickGadgetB | VenomShockwave | BlockBreaker | ExitAgilityMode | SkipCutscene | CancelGadget | DebugMenuSelectB | CancelBatarangCamera", Shift=false, bIgnoreShift=true)

With all that setup, you'll have:  
-Mouse Wheel Down skips dialog  
-Mouse Wheel Up opens grates, dive rolls, etc  
-Shift+Mouse Wheel Up counters (for the Ra's boss fight)  
-Shift+Mouse Wheel Down strikes (mainly for Hammer/Sickle fights)  

cojo

Feanorus

ShikenNuggets

30Puns

kalxys

Batman: Arkham City

Lost City

Top of the World

Xbox One

JacksonSR

Easy

Hard

With Catwoman

No Catwoman

Normal

Console

Batman

Catwoman

Robin

Nightwing

Difficulty

Catwoman DLC

Version

Character

Moving forward we will be implementing a blacklist for users who violate the rules, people on this list will not be allowed to submit runs to our leaderboards. Anyone on the list will be contacted and be made aware of that, otherwise the list will remain anonymous. We won't retroactively delete runs

Name	Author
[START HERE] Beginner's Guide	ShikenNuggets 3 years ago
100% Tutorial (by BubblesDelFuego)	cojo 4 years ago
Any% Advanced Tutorial Series (July 2023)	30Puns 1 year ago
Any% Beginner Walkthrough (2021/10 route)	ShikenNuggets 3 years ago
Any% NG+ Tutorial	FOK 2 years ago
Any% w/Cat Console Tutorial (July 2023)	kalxys 1 year ago
How to remove Catwoman DLC from the GOTY version	Feanorus 9 years ago
Language Differences, and How to Change Languages	ShikenNuggets 1 year ago
Mousewheel Binds for Skipping Dialogue, Countering, etc	cojo 4 years ago