Hey! We have have a lot to share with you today regarding the growing concern around game-damaging updates from IOI and the future of hitman speedrunning.

1) First, we all hope you are enjoying the new Herbalist Elusive Target, and we are happy to share that the leader board has been updated to include Snoop. Additionally, the ET will be split between the official Elusive Target + Arcade and the new Special Assignment due to differing spawn-point availability. Finally, we will also be changing the elusive target order from chronological to reverse chronological to make it easier for players to find the most recent, and often times most popular, elusive target at the time (https://www.speedrun.com/hitman_woa_ets).

2) Unfortunately, the new ET wasn't the only thing added to the game in the last update, as we also saw game-breaking AI changes (for the second update in a row) to a level we haven't seen before. This update would normally have invalidated nearly all Mumbai skywalk, Hokkaido bomb launch, Sapi tower, and Colorado any% individual level runs as well as all the S1, S2, and Trilogy full-game runs on the leader board (again). Instead, after months of consideration and debate, we've decided that the best way to future-proof ourselves is to allow down patching for all Hitman WoA leader boards. This was something that was previously polled during the last update and saw a majority of players in favor of down patching of some kind after a much less damaging update.

How will it work? All Hitman WoA leader boards will now allow players to down patch to any version from 3.100 to current and submit runs. In defense of fair play, we are banning all versions before the release of Hitman WoA on Steam (3.100) and all tech associated with those versions (Druz wall bang, Berlin utility hole, etc.). We will work quickly to move all applicable NLP runs back to the leader boards and abolish the NLP category in favor of an external spreadsheet for all runs that used still banned glitches. We understand the concern that this may cause console players and I promise I am personally looking into a mutually beneficial solution, but this was something we needed to address quickly considering the number of runs affected by the latest update. Any and all information pertaining to down patching can be found here (https://rekt05.github.io/hitman-downpatching/), including what down patching is, how to do it, and notable patches. We encourage everyone and anyone to reach out for questions, as we understand this is going to take some time to get used to, but we hope, given some time, that we find ourselves in a more stable position with the game we all love so much. Thank you so much for your time and good luckInformation on downpatching Hitman WoA

All Y1 banned runs are preserved and can be found here (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1reUOH0CxtILSQR3VhQs2uZoZ3ONMiaxcEx1VhW3qDaI/edit?usp=sharing).

Hey! Hope you're all enjoying the newest elusive target and most recent update to Hitman: World of Assassination. We just have a few speedrun-related changes to go over briefly below. Thank you for your time. (https://ioi.dk/hidden/h3-patchnotes)

Jar of Mom's Spaghetti Collision: Collision has been removed from the Jar of Spaghetti item introduced as part of the Slim Shady ET. This has invalidated all runs that use it as a boost item and we will work to NLP those runs as we find them. Unfortunately we can't just search spaghetti on SRC.

Chawls and Ninja Starts: Both of these starts were previously broken in the last major update and have now been fixed. All runs invalidated by this (mostly Chawls) have been re-verified as possible on the SRC leaderboards. If we missed any runs, feel free to reach out to let us know.

New Elusive Target: The Harbinger elusive target has been added to the game and, as such, we've added a leaderboard for this level found here: https://www.speedrun.com/hitman_woa_ets/leaderboards?h=the-harbinger-SASO-standard&x=l_drpgy88w-n2yew6mk-onv70m7n.rqv9oz6l . This ET includes two categories because of the '12mins later' starting location that adds an additional automatically infected target and exit to the level. The different starting location is NOT included in the ET (Official or Peacock) and only exists in the arcade (accessible via Harbinger Pack) which also contributed to our decision to separate the level into two categories.

Small Clarification: Jar of Mom's Spaghetti still has particles so it can be used as a throwable boost item. What changed is you can no longer place it to boost or drop it to boost like VHS.

Hey everyone ! After waiting for the dust to settle around the most recent major update, I'm here to talk about everything we know and talk about the decision we've, made with the help of the poll, regarding downpatching.

Firstly and most importantly I want to talk about downpatching. The poll resulted much like our mod vote where most people would be okay with downpatching (w/ caveats), but nobody could agree on how to implement it leaving the option to treat this patch the same as others the most popular preferred choice. Because of this and our subsequent mod discussion we've decided the best course of action is to treat this patch the same as others, NLP relevant runs, and move on (for now). Something tells me this will be further discussed in the future, but for now this is how we'll proceed forward on SRC. Below you can find all the changes we know of and how they've affected the leaderboard. Thank you for your time. (NLP = No Longer Possible)

Changes:

• Newspaper KO changed to soft KO (confirmed intentional) -> NLP
• Subdue Glitch Patched (confirmed intentional) -> NLP
• Guard AI Changes (the extent is unknown) -> NLP on a case by case basis, but nothing so far
• Movement Changes (lunge and nullification of strafing) -> Not NLPing right now
• Chawls start CS is shorter and camera spawns in the ceiling (who knows) -> NLP until a future patch we hope
• Ninja start camera spawns backwards (again, who knows) -> Not NLPing as CS is same duration and no time is lost due to time to uncover

Hey everyone! We have a rather lengthy laundry list of things to announce today, but I will try to keep it concise and let you all get back to your runs.

• Alt + Entering (Banned)

Recently it was discovered that runners could use "Alt + Enter" to switch between fullscreen and windowed screen in order to quickly lower fps for avoiding the bad golf instructor spawn on Sapienza or to fall slower from drops. The issue is this produces inconsistent and sometimes rather drastic issues with blanks frames and missing footage when recorded. Because of this we've decided it's safest and best to just not allow Alt + Entering for speedruns on SRC and hope you all understand our reasoning.

• Tranq Glitch (Unbanned for ETs and ESCs)

As some of you will recall, Tranq Glitch was unbanned not too long ago from the main Hitman WoA leaderboards. During the time since, we've seen TG be accepted and utilized to further push the game in what we view as a very positive direction. Because of this, we've decided it reasonable to unban TG for the Elusive Targets and Escalations leaderboards as well. However, TG WILL remain banned for CEs and Freelancer because of the nature of the categories.

• Magic Guns/Scripted Guns (Banned for CEs)

Scripted Guns is a glitch that occurs when weapons from scripted game events (e.g., the FUSIL G1-4/C in the Colorado training evacuation) retain abnormal properties like incorrect sounds (no loud gunshot. gun is treated as silenced) or bodies found not affecting Silent Assassin rating. Similarly to Tranq Glitch, use of the Magic Guns glitch is allowed on the Hitman WoA main, elusive targets, and escalations leaderboards, but remains banned for the category extension leaderboard.

• Bangkok/Sarajevo Six Penalty (Removing Additional Penalty)

To keep it simple, we've decided that the Bangkok/Sarajevo Six specific penalty of 10 seconds has become outdated quite quickly and is not longer something we feel necessary to keep. All resets for any Hitman WoA fullgame speedruns will now follow the same default penalty rules.

Thank you all for your time and goodluck!

Hey everyone ! You may or may not have noticed some of the LBs changing to include ms for many more runs than before. Currently we're in the process of converting roughly the top 10 runs for every individual level LB to milliseconds to hopefully encourage more competition, optimization, and innovation. This will apply to all Hitman WoA individual level leaderboards only and will NOT affect fullgame leaderboards. This is the first step towards our ultimate goal of all speedruns being timed via milliseconds and where every run earns it's place on the leaderboard.

In addition, we will immediately convert all incoming IL submissions to milliseconds during verification. If you discover any speedruns where the milliseconds timing is wrong, please reach out to a moderator so we can take action. We thank you for your time and wish you goodluck!

Milliseconds Calculator --> https://solderq35.github.io/time-calc-under-5/

Hello! With the release of Hitman WoA on the Switch 2 and mobile (unreleased), we've been forced to discuss and decide that these versions of the game are so uniquely different that they cannot be allowed on the same leaderboard as PC/Console.

Switch 2 - It's been made clear to us that the port to the Switch 2 has produced many bugs in the game that are not present on any other platform, and could absolutely give an unfair advantage. Unless all of these Switch 2 specific bugs suddenly disappear, we believe this justifies a separate leaderboard for all Switch 2 speedruns.

Mobile - We understand that the mobile version of Hitman WoA is yet to be released, but we have certain expectations of the game and how it will work. We believe how different the game is physically played and the hardware limitations of mobile justify treating it as it's own game.

I will support and assist any speedrun interest that spawns from the Switch 2 and mobile communities, but I believe that these leaderboards should only be managed by players from those platforms. As it stands, this means we'll personally take no steps in establishing leaderboards ourselves, but feel free to reach out with any questions. Thank you all and goodluck!

Hey gamers , Twitch has officially gone live with their 100 hour limit on highlights which means any runs with a "dead link" will be rejected in compliance with the rule requiring all runs to have a viewable video. This doesn't affect anyone wishing to resubmit their runs with a valid link, but we ask that all runs be submitted via Youtube, Bilibili, or Google Drive (visibility set to public).

In addition, we're making one final change regarding game audio to bring our rules more in line with the standard of most games on speedrun.com. All future submissions to any Hitman WoA leaderboard will be required to have game audio audible, doing away with moderator discretion. This will also apply to large gaps of muted audio within a run with an emphasis on any audio being better than no audio.

Thank you and goodluck!

Hello everyone, I hope you're all having a great start to the new year! We have 3 pretty important topics below to share new rules about so I appreciate you all taking the time to read this!

1) TG Poll Results - After about a week or polling and a subsequent week of deliberation we have decided that the poll didn't reflect strongly enough in favor of allowing TG for CEs, ETs, or Escalations. While roughly 60% of players were in favor of TG on at least one leaderboard, the votes were evenly spread across the three LBs meaning no single leaderboard received a significant majority vote in favor of allowing TG. Tranq glitch will remain unbanned ONLY for the main Hitman: World of Assassination leaderboard.

2) Nvidia Profile Tweaker - Tweaking the games visuals beyond the extent of the in-game settings menu via third party tools such as nvidiaprofileinspector, or editing the game's .ini files will not be allowed. These tools create an unfair playing field for speedrunners and throw verification of runs into question.

3) OnlineTools SDK - OnlineTools was recently added to the ZHMModSDK as a simple and easy way to switch servers, even while the game is running. This mostly affects Peacock users switching between Official and Peacock thus we see no issue with players using the tool.

That wraps up our current SRC announcements. Thanks again for your time and I hope you all have the best luck in your runs!

Hello everyone, last announcement before the new year I promise!

We've decided to temporarily remove the "H3" and "All ETs" categories from the fullgame leaderboard for Hitman WoA: Elusives Targets. The reasoning for this comes down to the fact that IOI is actively releasing new ETs making these LBs NLP over and over. We fully intend to re-introduce these leaderboards in the future, but not before we get a more definitive idea of when IOI will stop releasing new ETs.

In addition, we've decided to no longer require The Fixer to be played for Hitman 2016 ETs. We hope this will encourage more people to give the category a try. See rules for Hitman 2016 ETs and Hitman 2 ETs for what missions are required.

Thanks for your time and have a Happy Holidays!

Hello Hitman WoA Speedrunners ! The moderation team and myself have been heavily discussing a number of topics over the last couple weeks that will undoubtedly change the future of the game. I hope you all understand that every decision listed below was not made lightly and we feel that these decisions will be best for the game going into the new year. Without further ado, thank you for your time and your trust. We hope you all have a Happy Holidays and good luck agents.

1) Tranq Glitch - We have decided that in the current scope of the game the ban on tranq glitch was outdated and not a reflection of the community's opinion on the tech. Because of this, we have made the first step in unbanning TG starting with the Hitman WoA main leaderboards on SRC. We will continue to discuss and monitor the community's thoughts on this in the coming months, but for the time being TG will remain banned for all other leaderboards.

2) Fullgame Reset Penalty - We have revised the rules regarding resetting during fullgame speedruns to apply a penalty for all resets from the start of the level to the end, including during cutscene. This will be a 1 second minimum penalty for all resets and after 1 second the penalty will be equivalent to the time on the in-game timer when the reset takes place. The only exceptions to this are Bangkok and all Sarajevo Six levels which will carry a higher 10 second minimum penalty. This is a change that will take time to be fully reflected on the leaderboards, but we will work as quickly as possible to retroactively apply penalties where applicable. This new rule applies to ALL Hitman leaderboards with fullgame speedruns.

3) Elusive Target Stuff:

• The Splitter LB - The Splitter has been added to the Hitman WoA Elusive Targets leaderboard. Because Agent 47 is forced to start in a disguise, Suit Only (SO) is not possible and we will only accept SA and Any% submissions.

4) Autosplitter Issues - I just wanted to end this by quickly addressing the issues that players have been having with the Peacock and Freelancer autosplitters by assuring you that we are aware and working on it. An announcement will be made as soon as these programs are back online and working.

Hello Hitman WoA Speedrunners! This is a very important and impactful announcement so I hope you all take the time to read this message in its entirety.

The moderation team and myself have decided to ban ALL visual and game changing mods from Hitman: WoA speedrun submissions going into effect immediately. I know this will be somewhat controversial, but I hope you all understand that our only goal with this is to ensure the integrity and validity of the speedruns we verify. All speedruns currently on speedrun.com that use mods will NOT be removed and are now grandfathered in. This new rule only applies to speedrun submissions from this point forward. Below I've answered a few questions I expect to be asked, but feel free to reach out to me with any further questions or concerns. Thank you for your time and trust. (Rules are updated on SRC)

1) Why make this change? This decision was not made lightly and has been discussed on and off even before I was ever a member of the moderation team. The core of this comes down to the sheer number of mods and an inability to verify that they don't impact the way the game functions.

2) Is Peacock still allowed? Absolutely, but Peacock plugins/mods are not.

3) Can I still have Ansel/Freecam installed? Yes, you do not need to uninstall. This rule applies directly to mods that are visible and game changing. As long as Ansel/Freecam isn't used or active during the run then it's okay.

As of today, we've completed the migration of Sarajevo Six runs and leaderboards to the main Hitman 3 leaderboard and have added leaderboards for Sarajevo Six category extensions. After the recent release of Sarajevo Six to the official game we felt it best to move everything to improve ease of access and discoverability. New leaderboards for the Sarajevo Six can be found here: https://www.speedrun.com/hitman_3 and https://www.speedrun.com/hitman_3_extensions. Thanks so much and good luck!

January 26 Edit: Updated Arcade Mode Rules: https://rentry.org/arcade_et_policy

Hi everybody!

Yesterday the Elusive Target Arcade was released by IOI for HITMAN 3 players on all platforms. Given that it allows very limited replaying of elusive targets, with some changes, we're going to allow it on a case-by-case basis as more groups of Elusive Targets are released. As long as specific elusive target's rules don't mention that ET arcade can't be used for that ET, you should be good. We'll let you know why with exact reasoning in the forum for this board.

Full game runs will remain Peacock exclusive at this time, but that may be changed in the future depending on the demand for such runs.

Thanks for running the ETs, and enjoy! :)