SETTINGS: I change the GAME SETTINGS under the main title options to the following: Bullet Cam = no Then, when you start a new game, I change CONTROLLER SETTINGS to Turn Speed = Max, Motion Center = no

Here's the tech that I use in this chapter:

BODY JUMPS: McClane tends to jump at the edge of a surface; we use this to our advantage often (though in some chapters I negate the auto jump by holstering and walking backwards). However, it turns out that McClane will also auto-jump off of someone's head, too, which makes using bodies for boosting purposes quite easy to do.

URKEL SKIP: In this first chapter I use body jumps for a skip that I lovingly call URKEL SKIP. This skip involves forgoing the long forced dialogue with Al (the actor being from the TV show Family Matters, hence my use of the name Urkel) in order to open the door into the museum. Instead, I body jump off of the cop to the left of the door, which allows McClane to land on top of the man working on the door. Then I position McClane so that he is partially inside the door. It's at this point that I can use a variation of McClane's crouch-jump (to be discussed at a later date) to complete the skip. For this skip, you simply: A. get McClane partially inside the door as I have done here; B. hold jump, and if you've positioned McClane correctly, you'll see and hear him vibrate in the door; C. once you've started vibrating, you then hold crouch and push forward. With a little practice, you'll be through the door in no time, saving about a minute.

SOFT LANDING and DASHMAN SKIP When most people playing DH:V's first chapter cross the atrium (the large, open-ceiling, two-storied room with a statue and pool in the middle), they head downstairs and then get annoyed by the enemy who is scripted to run between the pillars at the bottom (I call him Dashman). We can negate this script by not using the stairs and instead jumping from the top floor to the bottom. However, in an effort to reduce fall damage, I have McClane jump down firmly onto the base of the statue. There are some irregular objects in the game that do not cause fall damage, and this statue's base is the first of several I use in my full run. Of note: McClane does not auto-jump off of this base, so you have to force the jump (what other games simply call "jump") in order to not waste time falling into the water. A potential optimization here would be to jump backwards once you've landed on the statue base. Regardless, you'll find Dashman in his corner awaiting a script that will never come.

The rest of this chapter is simply movement and reload optimization and enemy patterns. Now, this run is not as perfect as I'd like it to be -- for example, I would like to be able to one-cycle (one ammo clip) the final set of enemies just prior to rescuing the daughter (the eight standard enemies as you round the corner into the helicopter area just before the hostage battle). As is, I try to line up the first three enemies to conserve ammo, and I want to line up the two enemies on the raised platform, but they're a little trickier. If we came up with a reliable strat for shooting the hostage taker w/o wasting ammo on the flower pot to stun him, that would help immensely.

ITEMS I HAVE NOT FOUND A USE FOR YET As you exit the museum at the end of the level, you can actually get on top of the pillars surrounding the sitting statue, and from there the roof of the platform that separates the two sides of the open area. By switching between long and short jumps (weapon-ready and holstered) you position yourself on the statue's head, then you use a trick we'll discuss later called mash-jumping to get to the boards running across the pillars. Once you've done that, you mash-jump to the roof, and from there you're actually able to jump atop the helicopter's spinning blades (which results in a fun glitch). Maybe someone out there will find a use for that :)

Thank you for taking the time to read this! I hope that the tricks inspire you to find something new or to develop your own strats. Please let us mods know and we will disseminate the info to the community!

--hinduc.