For GTA:SA we have a massive thread on SDA, and sometimes big import things get a bit lost there (45+ pages), so I'm thinking we just have this thread for minor strat and route talking.

Anyway, first thing to add to the thread is a small thing I found in Concrete Jungle while learning strats. Sorry if this is already known but the only Knowledge base doesn't mention it and I've seen no one do it.

When you get to the house, run straight in and kill the three guys who normally spawn in the main room, this skips the cutscene about the shotgun guy and the window, and you can kill the guy on the stairs on your way out.

More optimization for this one. You can skip the health tutorial cutscene by picking up the health beforehand.

More small route stuff, I was going to test a few of these I was doing.

In "Its Your Call" I see everyone go around the park, but I've always gone straight through it, so I made a comparison video. td;dw even though my route gets off to a slower start somehow it still wins by a good few seconds

Another thing much later in the game I just found as I was watching Dispersor's WR vod I noticed that in the mission "A Long Way to Fall" you need to point a gun at someone to get the location of a targets apartment. Then on your way to the apartment the guy you interrogated calls the target to warn him about you.

Then as you can see from Dispersor's video (I hope this link works) you have to kill all his guards.

(Embedding the video didn't work so here is a link to the right spot) www. twitch.tv/dispersor/c/3053070?t=162m30s

Well I was wondering what happens if you just shoot the guy you interrogate after he tells you the location, and it turns out by doing that the target's guards don't have any time to react to your arrival and you can just run straight to the target.

Not only is it faster because you skip the cutscene but its faster and safer because you don't shoot anyone :P

i guess there two driving patterns on "ivan the not so terrible"? depending from which side you drive towards the depot, which one is faster?

I made a quick video rough video to show what happens when you go the other way in Ivan the Not so Terrible

haha :D ty for pointing it out

push strats on Three's a crowd. dont know if its consistent and actually faster

http://www.twitch.tv/scha_de/c/4156478

I've seen some people have trouble with the phonecall to Dimitri on Russian Revolution, as well as being a bit slow in the warehouse or getting health before.

The phonecall seems a bit strange, but you can get it consistently if you wait for the popup that says "You can phone Dimitri.." and then be at the right spot when the phone connects.

In the warehouse you can spam Forward and Jump to immediately jump to the armor. You shouldn't get shot before you get it. Then you can make your way to the health while shooting the enemies on the ground floor on the right/center. LJ should follow you if you do it right.

I made a video about that as well as added the info to the wiki: https://kb.speeddemosarchive.com/Grand_Theft_Auto_IV/Missions

Getting the coke in The Snow Storm. There may be faster ways to do this, but this is what I found, it seems pretty efficient.

You basicially just shoot the first two guys outside, then sprint to the coke where you have to kill the two enemies. On the way back I kill the SWAT guys so they don't take off all my armor. I also collect some health for what I lost on the way in.

Of course it won't always work as well as in the video, but you should get out with a lot of armor and health.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkYitzfo4

There's been talk regarding whether or not it'd be a good idea to include the date with French Tom in a run. Technically, it's not needed to complete the game, but it may save you time later on depending on how phone calls go. In a recent run, I noticed I received a total of four texts from Roman, reminding Niko to check his email for a reply from French Tom, before receiving all of the wedding calls and ultimately the call from UL Paper for "That Special Someone". What this means is that there were four opportunities to receive more important calls earlier on which were blocked by these texts from Roman.

At the moment, this is my idea of how to best fit the date into a run, that is, if the email from French Tom has arrived in your inbox by this point in the run. -The mission Wrong is Right -Quickly kill the driver (within 1-10 seconds) -Mission complete AND you should be very close to the internet cafe + the pay n spray down the street -French Tom will always want to meet at 18:00 (6pm) and you're always able to begin the date two hours early (16:00-18:00~) -Optimally, the time should be between 16:00 and 18:00 when you kill the target during "Wrong is Right" -Drive to the internet cafe and check for the email from French Tom -Use the positive reply -If the time isn't between 16:00-18:00, use the Pay n Spray to move ahead 3 hours per spray until your in game time is between 16-18:00 -Drive to the diner which is located seconds from both the Internet Cafe & Pay n Spray -Walk in the diner, DON'T WALK TO THE BOOTH WHERE TOM IS SITTING -Simply look for where he's sitting and shoot him in the head from where you entered -Date complete, leave the diner and proceed with the run ¤(This should only take you about one minute to complete)¤

If you complete the date early on, you won't have to worry about these texts blocking the important calls. Once I've tried this, I'll update this post.

So I just tested a different chapter 1 mission order in classic%.

• Final Destination -> park turismo at bohan savehouse, grab a random car on the road and do the rest of the mission normaly . .

• Rigged to Blow -> don't go for a police car but take the parked turismo -> don't drive to brucie. drive to dimitri

• The Master and the Molotov -> park the turismo in the broker savehouse. Park it at the northern end of the lot where the chavos is parked (push it away) or it might despawn later -> take the chavos then finish both dimitri missions

-> after Russian Revolution you have a guaranteed no spoiler police car use that for brucie -> cancel the roman call if you get it on the way to brucie

-> after you're done with brucie grab a random car on the road call roman and do romans sorrow. Call roman immediately. if you are too close, he won't pick up. -> when you're at the savehouse switch to the turismo you parked earlier

With that route you do the long drive from bohan in a fast sports car instead of a slower police car. Also RNG can't troll you since you often get a police car with spoiler after rigged to blow. Sometimes no police car spawns and instead firetrucks or ambulances.

The drive from homebrew caffee to brucie is shorter than from bohan with a police car. And from brucie to romans sorrow is shorter than homebrew to roman. So both times a shorter drive. Really long bohan drives are done with turismo.

The route I'm trying out during my next run:

Escuela of the Asleep Street Sweeper Packie Shot First Christmas with Playboy

¤ (4-5 calls and/or texts during the drive/fly to "Out of the Closet")

Out of the Closet

¤ (Once you begin "Out of the Closet", fly to Playboy X's apartment, land in the save spot, use the computer in the apartment lobby to complete the mission, run outside to begin "Deconstruction") ¤ (No calls and/or text because the next mission is steps away)

Deconstruction for Beginners (Heli strats)

¤ (Immediately call Playboy for "Photo Shoot" after ending his call at the end of "Deconstruction") ¤ (1 call or text during the flight to "Photo Shoot")

Photo Shoot

¤ (Possibly 1 call or text due to the quick fly)

Train (The Puerto Rican Connection)

¤ (Call Elizabeta immediately after ending Mannie's end of mission call to spawn "The Snow Storm") ¤ Probably no other calls or texts will make their way in

The Snow Storm

¤ Short drive, probably no calls or texts

Have a Heart

¤ (Hope for no wanted level when you blow up the car) ¤ (Fly to either of the suit stores. I usually go the closest one to the Bohan safe house) ¤ (I almost always get a call or text seconds after walking in the suit store door [Don't walk very far into the store though. I wait next to the security guy at the door] ) ¤ (You'll definitely get another call or text while flying to "Call and Collect". Depending on your speed, getting an additional call or text in may require you to stand next to the mission marker for some time (5-20 seconds??))

Call and Collect

¤ (Should be able to get a call or text in while flying to "Final Interview". If it hasn't come in, wait a few seconds before entering the mission marker.)

Final Interview pt.1

¤ (The Lawyers should call on your way to "Wrong is Right". Answer and hang up, then wait for the automatic call to Francis before entering the mission marker for "Wrong is Right") ¤¤¤ (Hopefully Michelle has already called you for "Wrong is Right"....that is after all the biggest concern up to this point and the reason I've changed my mission order so many times)

Wrong is Right Portrait of a Killer Harboring a Grudge Waste Not Want Knots Three Leaf Clover

¤ (Drive to the Heli Tours for a heli. Both Ray and Gerry should call by the time you fly back to where "A Long Way to Fall" begins)

A Long Way to Fall - (Land the heli on the piece of ground the stairs lead down from. Run over to the trigger area. The heli should be waiting where you left it)

¤ (Fly to Gerry for "Actions Speak Louder Than Words")

Actions Speak Louder Than Words - (Fly to the bomb, fly across the river to the mafia car, find a car, you're losing the heli at this point)

¤ (Take the Turismo which always spawns on the street after the mission begins, but be quick about it or you'll fail the mission) ¤ (Drive the Turismo to "Dust Off")

Dust Off I Need Clothes, Boots, Motorcycle

¤ (Drive the motorcycle to "Taking in the Trash")

Taking in the Trash Meltdown

¤ (At the end of "Meltdown", drive to the heli pad you took off from during "Dust Off". The helicopter should be there now that you completed "Dust Off". Pray that it's there, you must pray.)

Holland Nights Lure Hostile Negotiation Night at the Reset No Way on the Subway Late Checkout Smackdown Babysitting Tunnel of Death Blood Brothers Undertaker

(and from here on, it's the same, for now)

This is probably already known, but whatever. You can spawn traffic by flicking the camera, much like in GTA:SA. I have not been able to despawn any cars, though.

I wonder how the following would affect a speedrun. Just thinking about mission duping at the moment.

1. Exiting a vehicle while the camera stays "stuck" on the vehicle. You're able to run around while this happens. http://www.twitch.tv/kyledoesit/c/4159085 http://www.twitch.tv/kyledoesit/c/5475920

2. While logged into a police computer, while in a police vehicle, you're able to drive around. I managed to get this to work one time, but couldn't recreate it after I accidentally logged out of the computer. (No video) The wiki's state you need to be stationary, as one would expect. "When the player is stationary in any police vehicle they can access the police computer...". I really need to test some things out while this is happening.

K I'll just post mostly basic information on the game as I find people seem to not know many things on the game itself

¤when waiting for a phonecall NEVER pull out your phone, doing this resets your timer

¤when at the tollbooth to avoid cops either be in a cop car, pull out phone when approaching the gate or drive in through the middle

¤When having to call someone you can't do it with a wanted level

¤ for gunfights instead of reloading switch your weapons to reload faster like in previous games, doesn't work if the clip is gone

¤You can use quick weapon switch to access certain guns 1 is fist, 2 is melee, 3 is pistol, 4 is close combat, 5 is SMG, 6 is assault rife, 7 is sniper , 8 is any heavy weapon, 9 is grenades.

¤Vehicle Statistics http://www.gta4.net/vehicles/ this is a website that shows the information on all the cars in GTA IV (doesn't include episodes) it also provides a screenshot so you know how it looks. Very usefull for people new to IV.

¤Calling 911 to repair car if broken down

¤vehicle warp, if door/s are blocked then you can exit the car fast without having the animation, missions like bleed out in IV and Chinese Takeout in TBOGT take advantage of this trick.

¤Drifting/learning how cars work in IV - Video to be made some time

¤Be cautious when approaching vehicles on the roads that are at high speeds, chances are they can run you over and get you sucked under causing you to die.

¤Move Your Vehicle Mid Air Refer to Mangedamn's thread http://www.speedrun.com/gtaiv/thread/hba91

¤when getting a taxi have no guns out in hand as 10 seconds are wasted.

A Police Maverick which is still considered "NPC" (will fly up when exited unless turned off) will always despawn during No Love Lost. If you want to use the heli during this mission, try to leave it on the Bohan save spot during Shadow. It will become "non-NPC" and repaired after a Shadow cutscene if left on the save spot.

Odd that this occurs during this mission and not during any of the others (Do You...Protection, Final Destination, Concrete Jungle, to name a few...)

Also, if you want to kill the biker without getting into a vehicle, run towards the intersection that the biker will turn right at. As you run towards this intersection, the biker will receive a red blip over his head, which will also appear on the mini map. The biker becomes vulnerable when these blips appear.

I thought I'd make a post to explain the fastest way to handle certain races.

Classic% Roman's Sorrow w/o Brucie's missions:

Beginning at the end of Easy Fare... Hopefully you get a good car for Jamaican Heat Concrete Jungle immediately after Jamaican Heat Normal route up until the end of Crime and Punishment: Bull in a China Shop -> Hung out to Dry -> Clean Getaway -> Ivan -> Uncle Vlad -> Crime and Punishment Drive to the Annihilator at the airport Do You Have Protection with Annihilator Final Destination with Annihilator Shadow with Annihilator Get back in the heli and fly to Logging On Fly to No Love Lost Fly to Rigged to Blow -> Fly to the truck Drive to Master & the Molotov -> Russian Rev. -> Roman's Sorrow End.

More to come once the fastest route is known for sure, or at least pretty close to being sure...

Helpful strats. A 35 second break if you need to get a drink, use the bathroom, feed the dog, mow the lawn, etc. Also, you can receive the health pack inside the building by running along the building's outer wall.

There's a heli strat for Hostile Negotiation which saves about a minute. It involves your heli falling off the edge of the warehouse roof, down onto the street. It's very risky. I'll get a video posted later regarding this.