Any% Glitch Guide

This is a guide on how to optimize the skips that a glitched run would bring. To activate the glitched state, hold down the Esc key as the level loads, so that you can pause on the very first frame of the level. After unpausing, enter the speed multipliers before the ball spawns (ex. level 1: 9 down inputs and 3 right inputs must be done to give you 9x downwards and 3x rightwards speed), and follow the additional instructions, if any. Apparently, glitched states can also be achieved at checkpoints, but requires a frame-perfect input, and is much too difficult to investigate at the moment.

Level 1: 9 down, 3 right. Pause when the ball is between the first lamppost and the first wall it hits, and begin holding up-left. Unpause while still holding up-left; notice the wavy wooden bridge that flies by on the right. As soon as the beginning of this bridge disappears offscreen, stop holding up-left, and hold down instead. Hold down until you get caught by the stone transformer. Go around to turn back into wood and proceed with the level.
Level 2: 1 up tap, hold up (possible to retain 2x speed until paper transformer after 2nd checkpoint)
Level 3: 3 left, 7 up, hold up and left. As soon as the ball bounces off the first platform let go of up and left. Hold down and right as the ball passes the three suare platforms in the backgound.
Level 4: 1 up tap, hold up (possible to retain 2x speed until stone transformer after 1st checkpoint)
Level 5: 10 up, 5 right, hold up-left just after right lamppost disappears offscreen until you reach the paper transformer. After, transform back into wood, and proceed with the level.
Level 6: 5 up, 2 left, hold right at lamppost to paper transformer.
Level 7: 11 up, 2 right, hold up. Just after the ball spawns let go of up and hold down. As soon as the ball bounces off the rail hold left to hit the checkpoint (if it doesn't load in time, pause right in front of it).
Level 8: 5 up, 5 right, pause just before checkpoint so it can load properly.
Level 9: 3 up, 3 left
Level 10: 8 up taps. Hold Esc to pause right as the ball spawns, unpause and pause again just as the ball leaves the circular platform. Hold down during the second pause, unpause, keep holding down until the ball collides with a ramp. Immediately after this collision, stop holding down and hold up instead. You'll be aiming for the paper transformer just before the first checkpoint, so hold right while in midair the appropriate amount of time to land directly on it (depending on where you collide with the ramp, you may also need to adjust your landing position by holding up or down as well). 
Level 11: 4 up, 1 right, hold left slightly before intersecting left side of wavy wooden bridge.
Level 12: 14 up, 6 right. If the checkpoint doesn't load in time you need a higher framerate. (Pausing will make you hit the checkpoint, but it will change your trajectory and you won't hit the deathplane)
Level 13: 3 up, hold right to hit stone ball hard, hold left afterwards to paper transformer

Ideal timesaves (time saved from life-countdown at the end of the level is factored in, if applicable)
Level 1: ~4 seconds
Level 2: ~12 seconds
Level 3: ~22 seconds
Level 4: ~13.5 seconds
Level 5: ~8 seconds
Level 6: ~8.5 seconds
Level 7: [Not yet timed]
Level 8: ~1 second
Level 9: ~35.5 seconds
Level 10: ~1 minute, 22 seconds (compared against performing both gate and box skips) 
Level 11: ~11 seconds (compared against performing gate skip)
Level 12: [Not yet timed]
Level 13: ~3 seconds

Ballance Setup Guide

As is the case with most old PC games, setting up Ballance to run smoothly on a modern day PC isn't so straightforward. Thankfully, it's not too hard as long as you know what to do. This guide will cover the steps necessary to get Ballance working properly on a Windows 10 machine.

1) Install Ballance

Note: If you install Ballance from a game disc you are required to have the disc in your disc drive in order to launch the game. You can get around this by using a virtual disc drive to mount a Ballance ISO, however it is much easier to purchase and install the game from [Steam](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2000770/Ballance/) or [GOG](https://www.gog.com/en/game/ballance).

Level 13 (Twilight Zone) can be downloaded from the [Resources](https://www.speedrun.com/ballance/resources/xeuvh) tab. Installation instructions are included.

2) Set Compatibility Mode to Windows 95 for Player.exe

After the game installs it should create a shortcut on your desktop. Launching from this shortcut will start Startup.exe which is a launcher, which will then launch Player.exe after selecting "Play Ballance". It is Player.exe that you want to change the compatibility of.

- Right click the Ballance shortcut and select "Open file location".
- Open the Bin folder and find Player.exe.
- Right click Player.exe and select Properties.
- Under the compatibilty tab, check "Run this program in compatibility mode for" and select Windows 95.

Note: Using compatibility mode will force the program to run as administrator. Because of this, you must make sure your split program, OBS, etc. are also running as administrator to work correctly. (Right click the program icon, then select "Run as administrator".)

3a) Playing in Fullscreen

If you choose to speedrun Ballance in fullscreen, the following steps apply to you:

1) Set "Perform scaling on" to GPU in NVIDIA control panel.

- Right click your desktop and select "NVIDIA Control Panel".
- Under the Display tab, select "Adjust desktop size and position".
- Set "Perform scaling on" to GPU.

2) Limit and display the game's frame rate.

Playing Ballance in fullscreen mode allows the game to run with an unlimited frame rate. This is problematic as playing at higher frame rates will cause Ballance to actually run faster in almost every aspect. To prevent this from making the speedrun too ridiculous, the rules state the frame rate must be limited at 240fps maximum and the frame rate must be displayed on screen at all times during the run.

There are multiple ways to limit and display the frame rate, but I personally use [RivaTuner Statistics Server](https://www.guru3d.com/download/rtss-rivatuner-statistics-server-download/).

Click [here](https://i.imgur.com/XSKf3aA.png) to view my settings.


Note: Make sure the settings apply to Player.exe and **not** Startup.exe. You **must** launch the game from Player.exe directly for RivaTuner to limit and display the frame rate.

3b) Playing in Windowed Mode

If you choose to speedrun Ballance in windowed mode, the following steps apply to you:

1) Download and run the registry file from [Resources](https://www.speedrun.com/ballance/resources/35jy4).

2) Setup a frame rate display.

The game rules state the game's frame rate must be limited to 240fps or lower and displayed on screen at all times during the run. Running Ballance in a window will automatically limit the frame rate to 60fps, however it is still required to have a frame rate display.

There are a number of ways to setup a frame rate display. I recommend [Fraps](https://fraps.com/) or [RivaTuner Statistics Server](https://www.guru3d.com/download/rtss-rivatuner-statistics-server-download/). If you are playing the Steam version, you can alternately enable the FPS counter in Steam settings.

4) Set "Synch to Screen" to Yes.

- Launch Ballance using Player.exe.
- Go to Options then Graphics.
- Set Synch to Screen to Yes.

That should be everything you need to know to get Ballance ready to speedrun. Hopefully this helps!

If you have any quesitons feel free to ask them in the forum thread.
https://www.speedrun.com/ballance/thread/u80hg/1#cx6hi

Name	Author
Any% Glitch Guide	Winslinator 7 years ago
Ballance Setup Guide	Jezs 3 years ago