every time i reset the timer goes back to 0.00 even though i changed it in the settings, i've heard a lot of people had this issue but i cant find a fix. i use the autosplitter addon and vault save.

Firstly, you don't need to record demos if you're using vault save.

Realtime always sets itself back to 0.00 (even if you change it in the Edit Splits menu). Gametime however always accounts for the 53.01, so just rightclick your splits -> Compare Against -> Gametime. If you still care about your realtime (though it doesn't really matter since the leaderboards are sorted by gametime anyways), you can just manually add the 53.01 to your realtime.