United StatesHehe, activeboard used to be the place for early forums! It and gamefaqs was pretty much reddit for certain games. Simpler times.
It's way faster now. Also heavier items make the process faster.
I think as long as you get RoR, it now makes sense to use in part 2 and 1+ 2. Really trivializes the end part of the game and Surtur with the right glitches. Guess it's really a choice of where you want to deal with your RNG though, up front or later.
As for the warping possibilities, If there was a way to increment up or down, I could see using it to wrong warp to floor 25. But warping to the end screen probably isn't possible this way.
I've used resource hacking tools on the executables before to view the icons that make up map tiles and monsters, and can confirm that the end screens of both games are full bitmap images and not icons. There's event triggers that call the bitmaps that look separate from the process that calls the tiles and town bitmaps, so it's unlikely that Rune of Return calls these as well.
Can't be sure though. It's entirely possible that RoR changes a ton of stuff inadvertently, due to the way this was coded!
So, long story short as a kid I remembered there being a way to use Phase door shopping to target which items you want to steal from shops, the problem was, you needed to have never left town. I thought it was something to do with the spell Rune of Return, since it positions you in the same space that you left on, but I couldn't figure out how to make time pass in the shop screen.
I was poking around today on some older forums, and discovered the rest of the trick: https://37911.activeboard.com/t2411657/cheating/?page=1
The gist is:
- Phase door in the shops as normal.
- Go back in and cast Rune of Return.
- Move your pack to and from your belt until you receive the message that "you've been yanked" in a direction (works with any item and slot, this action is just the most optimal). Click OK.
- You will notice you are still on the shop tile but out of the shop screen. Without moving your character, go into the inventory screen and collect all the items! Well okay, not all, that will crash the game and corrupt your save. Leave one!
This only works if you haven't entered the Dungeon, and likely is only useful in part 2 as Rune of Return is not a spell you can learn from level ups early on.
Here's a vod demonstrating it:
Just gonna reiterate that the best defense against cheating in a tournament setting is not any specific sort of device, hardware, or even general precautions. It's knowledgeable humans who know what to look for. I personally would be wary of any competition that relied on technological crutches almost exclusively. I'm sure many other speedrunners would feel the same.
There isn't a one size fits all easy and automated solution for authenticating speedruns. Software and the machine are only two, very very tiny pieces of the puzzle when it comes to validating runs.
In example, some games and categories require proof of button presses in the form of an input display or hand cam. Some require full displayed game resets, settings displayed at the start or end of a run, or other things to ensure RNG manipulation is not done. There are some emulators that show input displays, frame rate, and other options that can further authenticate a run. Some emulators can even record a run and give detailed information about button presses, ram/rom state, and the emulator itself which can then be used to authenticate runs.
Fact remains though, that it's unlikely that automation alone would be able to catch someone who really puts tons of effort into cheating. Once they know what the automation is looking for, it would be simple to defeat. There's so much variation and so many things to look for. Heck, sometimes the best humans in the world miss things.
In most cases, in a tournament environment it would be highly obvious to experienced runners if a competitor was cheating or not following the rules, simply because tournaments take precautions, have experienced runners commentating, and most cheating is fairly difficult to do live without anyone noticing. If you want specific info on what is normally used, I'd ask the organizers of one of the many tournaments already running.
You could also get one of these (which is what I use) if you just want something that's nearly plug and play: https://www.amazon.com/AVerMedia-Definition-Composite-Cyberlink-C039/dp/B00603S1OS
But in general I'd advise to go with the GV-USB2 unless you really know what you're doing. Far more guides for it.
Okay, so this is a weird one, so here's a FAQ:
#Why these specific Emulation settings for DOS?
This game runs terribly on x86 computers from this era (1994), so the compromise I made was emulating it at speeds from later generation PCs (1997-1999) that would allow it to run similar to the Amgia CD32 version, which is probably the most well known version.
This at least makes it not an entirely awful experience to speedrun, and seems to be more inline with the developer's intent. There's never been an official release of this game on any modern store like Steam or GoG to look to, so the best I can do is assign an arbitrary CPU setting for runs.
I watched game play from the Amiga CD32 version and attempted to replicate the speed of that game in DOSBOX, which seems to be around 20,000 Cycles.
However, I know even authentic Amiga hardware had many revisions, much like x86 machines of the era, and many supported this game albeit at lower speeds. Likewise, running this on real era accurate x86 (DOS) hardware would also be at lower speeds than what you'd see with the accepted DOSBOX settings.
I'm not terribly sure how to handle this, all things considered. If we do ever have folks doing attempts on real hardware, I suppose we could break things down a bit to machine types, but I'm inclined to leave things simple. If someone manages to get this running on real hardware, it's an achievement in itself, but I suppose we could at least separate higher end x86 and the CD32 from the lower end Amiga and x86 hardware just to make it interesting.
Another thing I haven't done enough reading on is Amiga and CD32 emulation. Getting the most accurate experience isn't terribly high on the priorities list, but making sure that it's at least functional and not too different is something I want to do.
#Why are runs done on HARD? Simply put, it's the only difficulty setting with any challenge to it. If we have more folks interested in running on EASY, or there ends up being something interesting about the settings on different versions, things could be broken out.
#Are the streets in this game really that dangerous? No, no they are not.
Let me know if you have any thoughts or questions!
Take a read through this thread: https://www.speedrun.com/Streaming_Recording_Equipment/thread/havyr
TL;DR: I recently got an Elgato HD60S refurbished for around 70$ and it's been treating me well so far.
You could also separate the game into two categories, any% and any% (no restarts). More concerning is the fact that there are some platforms that I'd think can't replicate the PC version's closing time saves.
Considering how few runners there are, I'd look to solving the most obvious problem that might prevent folks from submitting runs in the first place rather than wading into the minutiae of loads on single platforms.
Bot that keeps repeating text from earlier in the thread. Probably gonna edit in links in a day or so. https://www.speedrun.com/sailiyatsa/allposts
Seconded! That's the same one I use and it's great! No input lag.
Yes, the MegaSG might get counted as emulation in a lot of communities, but there's nothing wrong with emulation!
Especially when it's as accurate as the MegaSG. The important part is if it allows you to play the game more comfortably. FPGA hardware has some unique advantages over traditional hardware and emulation in terms of input latency and compatibility with modern TVs. If there's no real difference to you in terms of real hardware versus emulation, you're really good at adjusting to latency, or the considerable cost is too high knowing all of this, then perhaps the MegaSG doesn't make sense to buy.
https://www.speedrun.com/jaisongomes/allposts
Yet another one of those one bots that edit in links a few days after sign up. Take a look at the first post now.
https://www.speedrun.com/porthrajgomes/allposts
Looks like this is one of those bots that edit in links a few days after sign up.
