Holy cow I never thought I'd see the day. Duckstation is so back!

As of November 17th, 2025, the following PS1 Emulators have been banned from ALL PS1 Twisted Metal titles:

EPSXE: Has been banned due to hiding emulator speed.

BizHawk: Has been banned due to input file issues, as well as issues regarding expected performance.

This ban applies to: Twisted Metal (1995), Twisted Metal 2 & Category Extensions, Twisted Metal III & Category Extensions, Twisted Metal 4 & Category Extensions, and Twisted Metal Small Brawl.

Also a friendly reminder that if you choose to use emulator for any of the PS1 titles, you must use one of the listed approved PS1 emulators. PS2 emulators are not allowed for submitted runs of the PS1 titles.

So there is an update to this thread that needs to be addressed:

In the PS4/PS5 releases of Twisted Metal III, we have noticed approximately a .4-.7 second advantage in load times per level. We will be constructing a PS4/5 Variable Chart that will be separate from the normal loading chart because of this discrepancy.

If your PS4/5 runs are consistently loading faster than this variable chart by approximately that much, that is normal and your run will not be rejected due to this.

This also means that PS4/5 is now the most efficient system to run the games on in terms of time-save.

At this time, no other changes are being made, enjoy your runs and good luck!

Due to some confusion and questions regarding the validity of some runs, and the confusion around specific parameters and settings for DuckStation (Currently the most widely used emulator), myself and fellow moderator InSAMity have created a guide and Load Time Variable Chart for future use for both moderators and runners. This guide was prepared over the course of about a month of testing TM3 runs with approved emulator settings, and by comparing similar known DuckStation & PS2 Fast Disc runs and personal testing by us both. We are also using this thread to explain some known time saves that are done in-game to either decrease load times, or are known to increase game performance legally, as they are not currently explicitly stated anywhere public. We will also be clarifying specific settings that should be used for Duckstation that coincide with valid runs based on testing and comparing to PS2 Fast Disc performance and load times. We would NOT be requiring that DuckStation settings be shown at this time.

Known Time Save Improvements/Game Performance Improvements:

• Setting the "In Game Menu" option to ON will reduce load times (And makes it quicker to quit and restart). Once this option is set to "YES", you must start a match and exit out to activate the in game menu.

• Setting the "Skip Display Frames" option to ON will increase the in-game performance, preventing some slowdowns during heavy activity. This setting does not affect loading times based on testing.

• In the Cheat% Category: the "No Weapon Pick Ups" code will also improve in-game performance and prevent most slowdowns in game, it does not affect load times based on testing. That code is (Select, Select, R2, L2, Start)

DuckStation Settings: (These have been tested against PS2 Fast Disc/PS1 Emu load times and performance)

Settings -> Console

Fast Forward Memory Card Access: OFF

Disabled: 8MB RAM

Execution Mode: Recompiler (Fastest)

Enable Clockspeed Control: OFF

Enable Recompiler Cache: OFF

Read Speedup: 2x (This may be changed at a later date, however 2x has given us the most consistent load times compared to PS2 without going consistently faster)

Seek Speedup: None (Double Speed)

Preload Image to RAM: OFF

Apply Image Patches: OFF

Settings --> Emulation

Emulation Speed: 100%

Vertical Sync (VSync): OFF

Sync To Host Refresh Rate: OFF

Optimal Frame Pacing: OFF

Reduce Input Latency: OFF

Enable Rewinding: OFF

Settings --> Graphics

Renderer: OpenGL or Vulkan works best

Adapter: None or your native GPU

Internal Resolution: Set As Wanted (Higher Resolutions May Slow Game Down)

PGXP Geometry Correction: Set If Wanted

PGXP Depth Buffer: Off

Settings --> Post-Processing

Enable Post-Processing: OFF

Twisted Metal III does not always load frame-perfect against itself, due to this, we have created a LOAD TIME VARIABLE CHART: This chart should give you an idea on how fast your game should be loading, and accounts for the variables in which the game can load. These times are based on having the In-Game Menu switched to ON, and have been averaged based on PS1 Emu & PS2 Fast Disc Loading Times (Which are known to be the fastest).

LOAD TIME VARIABLE CHART:

Vehicle Select --> Hollywood: 3.9-4.6 Seconds Hollywood --> Washington D.C.: 2.9-3.8 Seconds Washington D.C. --> Hangar 18: 2.6-3.6 Seconds Hangar 18 --> North Pole: 3.3-4.1 Seconds North Pole --> London: 3.8-4.9 Seconds London --> Tokyo: 3.5-4.8 Seconds Tokyo --> Egypt: 3.6-4.4 Seconds Egypt --> Blimp: 3.8-4.8 Seconds

If your run occasionally (one to 2 levels per run) loads faster than this chart, that is normal. Any time claiming to be a podium level run or a WR will now be tested against the LOAD TIME VARIABLE CHART. Runs that CONSISTENTLY load faster than this chart throughout a run will be rejected. If your runs seem to load consistently slower than this chart, please re-check your duckstation settings and apply the in-game menu if you have not so you are able to take advantage of the legal time saves.

Check to make sure that the console tab in your Game Properties settings ALSO matches your console tab in your Duckstation settings, as the settings in the Game Properties will override the universal Duckstation settings. Due To this discrepancy, .ini files will not be considered as proof of a legal run, as DuckStation does not always write the needed information into this file, or the file will only show the global settings as unchanged even if the Game properties file is different. (No other emulators were used in the testing and verifying of this chart)

No worries, I could see how one would assume that. The way I've seen it, and with the albeit limited experience I have with other PS1 emulators, there shouldn't be any reason why confirming duck settings would be an issue, especially when there are already requirements for other emulators to show various settings using various methods as seen in the emulator rules forum.

I'm not sure what you mean by settings being impossible to verify. In my time speedrunning the Twisted Metal series for example, it was fairly common for runners to simply pull up these settings' window on stream/video, and runners still do this (despite it not being required for those games anymore). Is there some other reason that these are not considered able to verify that I'm unaware of?

From my understanding, the reason Duckstation is not allowed is due to the load times not being consistent with PS1/2 console runs & load times.I feel like this thinking would make more sense if the leaderboards combined emu and console runs, however, they do not. I can definitely understand the point that the intent of the leaderboards in their current state is to provide a consistent experience in posted runs throughout. However, I'm of the thought that Emu runners (especially when put in a different categoryfrom console) would be encouraged to run the most accessible or most optimal emulator, which Duckstation certainly fits the former, while the latter is debatable. Personally, I see this as a similar debate to when PS2 runs are made using fast disc speed compared to say, an original PS1 console.

I would propose that if the Duckstation settings are the current issue, a simple gloss over of relevant settings such as Emulation Settings, Console Settings,Post Processing and Graphics settings in video runs before or after runs (likely after, due to resets potentially making this a pain to review) may be a potential solution if the moderators wish to preserve run times as being as similar to console runs as possible, or simply just want to be assured that settings like overclocking are not being used (as is the case for Bizhawk and Mednafen runs currently), with a timestamp used in the description to mark when the settings were shown.

I'm certainly interested in what the community has to say on this issue though. I don't claim to be some expert on emulators or anything like that.