For some reason PlayStation players seem to be able to skip some dialog using ingame emotes, I gave it a bunch of tries but nothing happens on the PC version for whatever reason, this is kind of a problem considering it's already a few minutes I cannot save within the first fourth of the game (and very likely much more over the course of the game), is there any more complete explanation of how this glitch is performed? so that i can check whether I'm simply missing something or the PC version simply cannot perform that glitch at all.

However PC has a trick to answer that technically, if you remove the voice banks from the game folder the game will basically act as if the dialog instantly ends, this is obviously very fast but so much so that the PlayStation cannot reasonably be put in the same category anymore (we're talking a dozen second to several minutes of time save on almost every mission ), I'd like for that to be a separate category at the very least

Another thing entirely is that due to PC having various weird issues load times progressively get longer which is resolved by restarting the game, which is obviously a time loss, I'd like to know a few things regarding what would be allowed regarding mitigating that.

First is at which point am I allowed to quit the game to restart it, can I reset as soon as the mission complete banner pops up or do I have to wait for the game to go back to the menus?

Second is whether I'm allowed to have multiple instances of the game (I'd also need to check whether this is even possible to begin with but I think it is) running at once to reduce time loss from having to reboot the game every time? and if so when am I allowed to switch from one instance to the other?

Third is whether I am allowed to modify the game to not have intro logos anymore (nothing else would be modified except the absence of logos), which results in a restart being about 4 seconds instead of 18 (considering I'm thinking I'll need to restart every12-20 missions that is a significantly lessened impact.

Pretty much what the title says, while trying to route a specific level in a game I run (in short have to destroy 10 targets spread across a large area, no obstacle and no required order) and recalling some Trackmania video talking about it I realized that what would save me a lot of testing and headaches would be a way to bruteforce one of those problems, and since I'm likely not the first one to encounter such a problem I figured someone around here would have encountered a similar issue and would have a solution and / or maybe inspire someone to make a tool for such cases. Even better would be a solver that allows me to pretty much just feed it the map and spit me the shortest path.

tl;dr how2bruteforce traveling salesman problems for dummies

Hi, I've been experimenting quite a bit to see if there were any easy way to improve my current run, and it seems like changing the difficulty mid run is one of the things I can do for an easy improvement. Problem is, the run submission form doesn't allow for that unlike multiple classes, so I'd like to ask for that option to be added or be specifically denied as right now it's unclear whether you can do it or not.

I was wondering if someone would be willing to either walk me through the full process of getting an auto splitter with load removal made or make one for one of the games I currently run which has a lot of load time inconsistencies and other issues which an auto splitter would solve nicely (EARTH DEFENSE FORCE 4.1). I'm willing to provide a copy of the game on steam if someone is interested in doing so but doesn't have the game itself.

The game seems to have loads that not only get longer over the course of the run but are fairly random in lenght to begin with. Obviously the ideal solution to that would be an autosplitter / LRT.

But since that's not a thing and I'm clueless as to how you even make one to begin with, I have came up with the next best thing, restarting the game every so often. Thing is it's actually fairly complex to test out what the optimal places to do so are and it would also help to know as a rule where exactly the game considers a mission cleared or not to know whether I have to get back to the premission screens or if I can quit right as the "mission clear". For now I'm going with restarting every 20 levels since that equates to 4 restart in a run and even a single one of those restart seems to save enough time to cover for all 4 restarts

So i kinda wanted to start running the game, 100% in particular, but there's a few things that aren't discussed in the rules and since the only ru has no video I can use that as an example. I see emulator isn't banned, if possible I'd prefer running emulator because I don't really have a decent setup to record of a console right now, is any emulator accepted or is there anything I should know regarding emulator runs on this leaderboard before I start submitting runs that won't be accepted? Can I use the mission simulator at all? That one is important considering the route would see fairly major changes depending on it (mainly starting by going through hard mode first instead of normal and obviously not being able to use superplanes to go through the other difficulties). Can I use the hidden weapon select? (press start + a facebutton until the mission starts while in the mission simulator) It doesn't matter much to me but the run is faster if I can use it (regular missiles on superplanes and access to O.S.L before completing hard mode) so I'd like to be sure. Is a blank memory card required for 100%? I'd assume so but having a 100% save on the memory card before starting if it was allowed it would be faster (not having to play Normal to unlock the mission simulator and not having to play hard to unlock the O.S.L) so I just want to be sure.

As of right now emulator runs are allowed for any category provided that they conform to the following rules, those are not retroactive so any runs already present that violates any of those rule will be kept. Some of those rules might be overlooked at the moderators discretion for any run below the top 3 or not within a certain time of the current world record. If you have trouble understanding some of the rules please contact me @TransparentBlue and I'll clarify for you. If you have trouble with your emulation setup at all please contact me @TransparentBlue on the community Discord server ( https://discord.gg/tw4vFGv ).

##> For All platforms Exempt from any of the the following is PCem, Wine, graphic wrapper (i.e. dgVoodoo, WineD3D etc) and Virtual Machine to run the PC version on modern systems, if you use those just include the fact that you did use that and the host / guest systems (i.e. running an XP VM on Windows 10 would mean that Win 10 is the host while XP is the guest) or the name and version of your wrapper in the submission text. You include the windows border in the video You include the exact emulator version or build with your submission You include the configuration files you used with your submission You have a FPS readout onscreen at all times during the run You must, if using a Retroarch core, show the core and latency options after you complete your run, to note that overclocking of any kind is disallowed as it has been shown to make the game unstable and make some things act in unintended ways, CD read speed is allowed for now as it doesn't impact IGT, runahead is allowed for now as it cannot reduce the input lag below console level.

##> For the PS1 version > Following emulator are explicitly banned

PCSX / -df / -R /-R PGXP / -ReARMed etc, any version ePSXe, any version Avocado, will be reevaluated once it's more complete No$PSX pSX / pSX-fin PSXACT, will be reevaluated once it's more complete hpsx64, will be reevaluated once it's more complete Rustation, will be reevaluated once it's more complete Bleem! SSSPSX PCSX2 PSXeven Emurayden Connectix VGS WiiSX POPS, only the PS2 version Bleemcast FPse Bizhawk

> Following emulator are explicitly allowed

Mednafen, any version past 0.94, launcher used irrelevant BeetlePSX, excluding the HW version XEBRA, most recent version as long as plugins aren't used. POPS, PSP / PSVita / PSTV / PS3 versions

If whatever emulator you're using is not mentioned here bring it up and someone will look into putting it here (probably in the not allowed list though so be aware of that)

##> For the N64 version Currently being reconsidered, please contact me @TransparentBlue for clarifications.

##> For the GBA version > Following emulator are explicitly banned

VBA / -M / GX etc, any and all version iDeaS GBE+, will be reevaluated once it's more complete MAME Meteor Nanoboy Advance NO$GBA FatGBA BoyCottAdvance PlayBoy Advance My Boy! GBA.emu gpSP TempGBA4PSP Bizhawk

> Following emulator are explicitly allowed

mGBA , preferably most recent version but anything above 0.6 should be good, include the libretro core version if using Retroarch, must use a BIOS image and prove you do by resetting at the end of a run to show the GBA boot animation. Higan, most recent version only.

If whatever emulator you're using is not mentioned here bring it up and someone will look into putting it here (probably in the not allowed list though so be aware of that)

##>For GB Since someone has went out of his way to make a proper speedrunning emulator for that platform all run must be done on GambatteSpeedrun with a GBC bios image, no exception.

Since the ruleset is getting a bit crowded and some of those rules are not necessarily obvious as to why they exist here's an explanation for most of those as well as a few other things. If you need further details or your question isn't answered just ask here or in the discord and I'll be happy to answer

##> IGT instead of RTA or LRT The game is primarily timed through IGT because it's consistent across all 3 main platforms (PC/N64/PS1) and is also available on one of the portable ports (GBA). It's also not sensitive to slowdown or load times which isn't the case for either of the other ones and would put PC at a massive advantage since it runs without slowdown and sometimes even slightly faster than it should depending on hardware configuration and has exactly 1 frame of load times per world if your PC is fast enough, in addition the PC version is very temperamental regarding what it will run on which makes it the least accessible version of the lot, that coupled with the relatively small runnerbase makes it more practical to try and make all platforms be able to compete in a singular leaderboard, this will be reconsidered once/if there's enough runners to fill a leaderboard for every platform or if the IGT is shown to be inconsistent or inaccurate enough. It also allows emulator to compete without having to care about loads or lack of slowdown. Nothing is stopping you from using RTA to track your progress obviously.

##> Requiring to include the end of world timer All 3 platforms have an extremely rare glitch where the end of game timer can show 00:00, obviously that cannot be accepted as an actual time so in that eventuality you still have the possibility to manually add every end of world times to get you actual ingame time. Second it's mandatory for categories that stop before the end of the game since they don't feature the end of game timer and the only way to get your IGT is to manually add every single world. And obviously it allows you to use any kind of run to submit in any other category that is a subset of that run (i.e. submitting Earth% or ILs off an Alien World % run)

##> Demo Mode Glitch? First discovered by Ivanzypher then researched more in-depth by thestrangepie it's a simple glitch that allows the N64 version to play normally during the demo mode thus allowing you to start the game on latter worlds right away.It can be manually triggered by pressing A to start a game during the fade-out to demo mode. In addition to allowing you to start on latter worlds it also locks your difficulty to Normal and affect the "Mothership" stages in the middle of worlds by making all motherships spawn from the left in a line which.

All those reasons is why it has it's own category (Any% because it's the fastest way to go from starting the game to the end credits as of right now) and a separate category in the levels leaderboard.

##> ILs allowing starts from saves but not level select Saves allow you to retain powerups whereas level select doesn't and only allows for fresh starts, that coupled with allowing ILs to be submitted from full runs makes submitting ILs from a fresh start with no powerup meaningless as you're at the mercy of RNG (powerup drops are based on a per board table that drops in a random order if you hit a mothership that will spawn once you ave killed a certain amount of aliens onscreen provided there's not another one already present in which case it will be queued, but said queue will be discarded if it is supposed to spawn as the last non projectile entity in a board) until you get the right powerups which translates to up to two minute of handicap on certain worlds.

If need be a separate set of categories will be made under the condition that someone has a set of runs to submit for it before the category is made before it's made

##> Differences between difficulty levels Normal has the slowest movement speed for every entity and has the least aggressive AI for aliens although bosses are unaffected, it also stops at the 8th world.

Expert has slightly higher movement speed for every entity and a more aggressive AI for regular aliens, it also allows you to play the final two worlds of the game.

Maniacal has 200% speed compared to expert for your tank and your projectile, regular aliens are also faster than expert and their AI becomes overly aggressive.

##> Differences between platforms First off both portable ports are different games although the GB port has nothing in common with the others outside of being from the 1999 series of Space Invader ports from Activision whereas the GBA version tries to retain most of the content of the main version with some fairly big changes, I won't go more in-depth regards those since they're in their own separate categories.

Then comes the PS1 and PC version they're extremely similar with two main differences, the PS1 has very long load times and a fair bit of slowdown throughout the game making it the easiest to run, both the PS1 and PC version have the same tricks and glitches available (no glitches are actually useful in a speedrun as of right now) with one exception as the PC version will crash if you kill a large amount of enemies simultaneously (which thankfully is not actually that frequent and will only be an actual problem in two specific boards)

N64 on the other hand has some fairly big differences, it spawns entities models in each boards faster than the other versions although the hitboxes themselves are present at the same time. It also modifies a few things regarding how it checks enemies being hit or not leading to one special weapon in particular (the laser one) being far more effective than in the PC/PS1 version On the other hand the N64 version modifies the behavior on a few bosses leading to some quick kill strats not being as easy or straight up not being possible. It also apparently has a few exclusive glitches, if you reset intensively for some time the game will end up having desynced audio and if you use the Mercury special weapon the game has a chance of resetting your projectile speed back to what normal mode would give you (this is especially bad if playing on maniacal and the risk seems to increase with each use or if playing coop).

##> Glitches? As of right now only 4 of those are known to exist and only one of those being beneficial in a speedrun.

"Boss pseudo softlock", sometimes the result screen will not pop up immediately after killing a boss and will sometimes take up to several minute to come, it's unknown if the IGT is still counting while this is the case though, there isn't any known specific or way to trigger or avoid it and it affect all 3 main version, it has been known to happen on the Uranus, Mars and Mercury boss particularly

"Saturn boss suicide win", if for some reason you were to kill the Saturn boss while his laser is firing the game will not advance until you suicide into it, this is extremely hard to trigger on accident and should never actually happen in a normal run since it requires you to kill the laser last which is both slower and harder to do.

"Attack speed reset", as described earlier this one only exist in the N64 version (as far a current runners could tell) and is triggered by using the Mercury special attack, easiest known way to avoid it is to simply not use that attack.

"Demo Mode glitch", specific to N64, by either pressing A to start a new game during the fade out to demo mode (or it can also apparently trigger on it's own sometimes) the game will let you start the game where the demo mode would usually take place, meaning in practice you can start the game at mars and skip 5 worlds, as discussed earlier it locks your difficulty to normal and alters a few RNG behaviors in the game "Mothership" stages in particular.

The two higher difficulty levels present in the game are in my opinion interesting enough to run but because they don't have the same content the can't really share a single category. If you'd prefer I could submit a run of those difficulty levels so you can see for yourself beforehand and/or not have to add a category that's empty.

Hi, would it be possible for new categories to be added? Namely Guardian Mode, maybe the other difficulty levels and NG+ too.