Los Angeles, CA, USAHey guys, after months of testing and fine-tuning, we’re happy to announce that the new load remover timer will be made official in three days (7/18). Hopefully by the end of today, the new LRT will be submitted to LiveSplit, so people will have easy access to the script like they did before. To give some info on the new timer for the uninitiated:
-This is a load-remover that removes nearly ALL load screens. On top of door loads, this timer removes all inventory and merchant loads as well. And on top of THAT, it compensates for frames dropped during a run, making this by far the most fair and accurate timer so far, thus leveling out the playing field completely. -This timer was originally made by Pitted, who also made it so it split on specific doors. The script we’re making the “official” one is a variant of Pitted’s script made by Wipe, who increased the amount of options and customization in the script. Wipe’s script works on ALL categories where it didn’t before, including Ada categories, NG/NG+ Easy/Amateur, and No Merchant categories. You’ll also be able to choose between splitting on chapters or splitting on doors. This script also works on 30 FPS, besides just working on 60. -Subsplits currently aren’t available for Easy and No Merchant categories, but you can use chapter splits for them. Subsplits ARE available for the Ada categories, though.
To give some explanation on what took this change so long, it’s due to the fact that we wanted this to be the “ultimate” timer, with no rocks left unturned. Also, we want this to be the very last time we have to change what timers we’re running on. From now on, we’re hoping there won’t be any more timer memes, and we can just focus instead on actually running the game and optimizing it even more.
Like the last change, all former times done with only the former LRT won’t be invalid. Though if you did a run with both the old and new LRT open, we’ll go ahead and edit your times to reflect the faster LRT. DM one of us if you need your time edited.
And one final note: people can keep running on Pitted’s original script if they want, but we encourage people to pick up the new script and move over to that for the sake of uniformity, and also because it’ll give you more options. Also, we’re explicitly banning the old LRT from use in the Separate Ways and Separate Ways+ categories, as the old LRT gives a massive advantage in being completely paused in between chapters.
Thanks for reading this, and happy 1-1 reseting everyone!
For console, unless your run is WR, the run doesn't need to be recorded. All we need is a picture/short video of the final typewriter save so we can verify your time, difficulty, saves, etc. One of the things you can use is of course a phone camera; just use whatever you have on hand.
Good luck on the runs.
Unless a past run is proven to be spliced or something (in which case it would be removed, rule change or not), then any past run is fine. It would be unfair for us to retroactively reject a ton of runs cause the runners didn't know about a future rule. This rule change is merely for all future runs, as we believe this is something that should've been a rule for a LONG time now.
Since you're on console, don't even worry about sharing from LiveSplit. Unless you somehow tied it to the actual game (which has been done before) to make it match IGT, then the timer is going to give a different result and will most likely be RTA. Splits on console are there primarily for the runner to know what their pace is, not to actually submit as part of their run. Just upload your run with the IGT and final typewriter save at the end and we'll be able to verify it.
IMO mods should only ever be allowed in speedrunning if they fall under one of two categories:
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The mod fixes game-breaking bugs, optimizes the game more, and just in general makes the game more accessible and enjoyable to play by improving performance and allowing more options (DSFix in Dark Souls 1, FAR Mod in NieR: Automata).
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The mod removes some aspect of the game that many in the community find unenjoyable and aims to make the run faster and more enjoyable (HRH Mod in Bioshock: Infinite, Door Skip in REmake).
And even if they fall in one of those two criteria they should still be heavily regulated, and be easily accessible to everyone. Not allowing texture and audio mods due to them having unforeseen side effects is pretty common sense, honestly.
I honestly agree with Trance in that the way the game has been moderated recently has been just fine. The board looks great compared to how it was Day 1. I was initially against separating the boards, but now as the times begin to become more and more distant of each other, I'd probably be in favor of making different subcategories for 60 and 120, just to give some attention to 60 and to motivate more people to run it over 120 if their rigs aren't powerful enough to run the game above that framerate (though 120 should probably still be the main category out of sheer popularity).
That said I'm becoming tired of the people complaining about 120 and asking why it isn't just "Variable." The reason I'm frustrated is because I feel a lot of arguments here are coming out of ignorance or people who are just salty about knife strats. Variable means the game would run at whatever your rig can handle, whether that be 70FPS, or 300+. A Variable category would make the category almost completely pay-to-win, as the competition would come down to who owns the best GPU/CPU, meanwhile an agreed upon cap like 120, which is achievable for many, allows us to use higher FPS strats without worrying about our GPUs not being good enough to compete. It's been tested extensively, and there is no cap to knife damage, it keeps scaling along with your FPS. Someone at 300+ FPS is just going to be doing more damage compared to someone who's running the game at 150FPS.
And to come back to those who are upset about the knife being so meta in the game: I'm sorry, but that's just the way it is. It's speedrunning, we use what's good and fast, and the knife is absurdly good on BOTH 60FPS and 120FPS, and is just faster to use and pick up compared to most other items/weapons. If that upsets you, then I'm sorry to sound rude, but this probably won't be a speedrun that interests you then. No one complains in RE4 that we use the rocket launcher to one-shot all but three bosses since it's so OP and cheap for what you get out of it, as it's what's fastest.
Also why is lowering graphics mid-run such a hot topic now? I don't understand how people can be opposed to this, as all it does is make the 120FPS category more accessible? Like what's the issue with making a category more accessible? People don't want to run the game at 400p the entire run when it only matters for small segments? This isn't giving anyone an edge or slowing down the run drastically by any means, it's just people taking like <30 seconds to change some settings so they can perform their strats before going back to normal.
Also the rule for audio is common practice in many games as to avoid people splicing runs. The rules on this as-is are completely reasonable IMO.
So to top it off: separation via subcategories for 60 and 120FPS should DEFINITELY be considered, as I do think it's warranted at this point and would give people more motivation to run 60FPS instead of feeling bad about not being able to compete with those at 120FPS. But saying shit like 120 just being Variable or unironically saying that 120 just be removed and forcing everyone to run at 60? Just idiotic.
IMO it would be best for OoB to just be a miscellaneous category rather than to be on a wholly separate board. I think when compared, NG+ is going to be much more popular than OoB and honestly the former should be a main category for that reason. OoB will still be there, but not quarantined off.
I'm fine going either way. I normally hate pay-to-win, but personally would prefer 120 to be the cap since this game feels like ass at 60. Any higher than 120 is pretty absurd though and would make the run a giant memefest.
Hey, that's awesome that you want to start running the game. We recommend joining our discord for help and more resources.
Unfortunately, all emulated runs are banned. If you want to run the game on your PC, we recommend just running the Steam version.
The subsplit timer Pitted uploaded to the discord yesterday will probably only be applicable in NG Normal/Pro and maybe NM Normal/Pro, since Easy has less rooms overall and NG+ doesn't have the room reset in Sword Room (though I think Pitted took out that split since it was unnecessary?). I'll link the other script that splits on chapters instead of every screen later in the discord and that should 100% work for people running on Easy or NG+.
The Pitted timer SHOULD work on all Main Game categories, so NG, NG+ and No Merchant, regardless of difficulty. The only reason it's been used so much for NG Pro exclusively is because that's by far the most active category for the Steam version of RE4. If people want to go use the timer on NG+ and NM then by all means go for it and let us know of your results.
30fps wouldn't be faster since frame compensation is only there for frame drops which only really happen on 60fps (as Pitted explained to me when he was making the timer).
Agreed that the timer probably shouldn't be made official until it works for ALL categories, but since no one in the community is willing to edit the code to include the values for the Ada categories that might not be possible.
Hey guys, as you might have noticed, we've had a new board approved on SRcom for the Steam version of the game. Why you might ask? Just to make it easier on ourselves in organizing each board, seeing as Steam PC has two separate timers (LRT and IGT) and several rules that are unique to it. Meanwhile, rules and ranking for console versions are mostly consistent. Furthermore, our desire to rank PC via LRT was hindered by the fact that setting LRT as the default method ended up breaking IGT rankings for all the console versions. With the two boards now separated, we can easily make it so there are no problems on both ends.
We're currently working on transferring all PC runs over to the new board, hence why some of you might have gotten a notifications saying your old PBs have been verified and submitted on someone else's behalf. From now on, though, submit all new Steam/UHD PBs over to the new board (linked below):
As a follow-up on this post. A tutorial for those wondering how to set up LRT or just Livesplit in general. Or just wanna see an example showing the difference between the two timers.
People not submitting runs with an LRT is covered in the doc, and like SeemNome has said, we're basically using those run's IGTs as a substitute for LRT. So yes, not using LRT will put you at a big disadvantage, but we're hoping that this will be the driving force towards people recognizing LRT as the primary timing method and using it for all their runs in every category.
Hey everybody, today we’re announcing a new set of rules for the leaderboard that will go into effect starting on October 1, 2018. It's linked below, and the two biggest changes we’re making are as follows:
-Runs on the PC leaderboard will now be ranked via load-remover time (LRT) instead of in-game time (IGT). -All submissions for every category to the PC leaderboard will now require video proof, regardless of time and rank.
These changes might seem drastic and controversial to some of you, but we believe that they’re steps that need to be taken for the future of the RE4 speed running community. While the game’s IGT, which includes all loading screens, might have been fine for console runs where most runners ran using the same hardware, on PC there’s a clear imbalance as some have PCs which are naturally faster than others. The LRT that’s been developed and used in recent months removes many of the game’s loading screens and provides a much more fair and competitive environment for the game on PC.
To address the second major rule change, we believe that runs on PC are simply too easy to cheat in some way due to the availability of trainers and cheat engine, and that picture proof of the final results screen and typewriter save just isn’t enough. On top of this, programs like OBS and XSplit are free to use for both streaming and recording long videos, giving little excuse for runners to not be recording their PC runs in some capacity.
We’ve taken most runs that were submitted without LRT and changed them to have their IGT act as their LRT, in order to smoothen the transition for when it happens. We hope that this two-week grace period will give everyone time to set up their LRT, troubleshoot it, ask questions, give us feedback, and to update their times.
Final things to stress:
-All runs that were verified before the new ruleset is enacted WILL REMAIN verified. You don’t need to worry about your old runs without VODs being retroactively rejected. -For console runners: almost nothing has changed on your end, as most of the major changes are for PC runners only, so don’t stress too much over the change. We do still recommend reading through the new ruleset, though. -The ruleset being linked is not final, and is subject to change before October 1. -The new ruleset for each individual category will be more fully fleshed out by October 1.
Link to a PDF containing a general overview of the new rules:
The first things to ask are: 1) What category are you running? 2) What platform are you running on? 3) If it's Steam UHD, what frame rate?
The general advice I can give is find the top runs for w/e category on whichever platform you're running on, then just copy what they're doing. Depending on how old the runs are, some strats might be outdated and you might need to update them by just asking in the discord what the newer strats and optimizations are. I also recommend asking questions on why certain things are done.
Make save files on the various typewriters for whichever part you feel you need practice on specifically. Since you're a newcomer, I recommend making saves for the areas that typically give people trouble when starting out and practice them non-stop: Del Lago in 1-3, Cabin in 2-2, Garrador and Water Hall in 3-1, pretty much have a save to practice all of 4-1, Salazar statue room and elevator in 4-4 (and also Salazar skip if you're running on 30), Krauser in 5-3, and one for 5-4 since that's just a tough chapter overall.
There's not really any resources to use here besides maybe input files on PC if you want to change your keybindings around, though I highly recommend joining the discord to just ask questions in general on anything that isn't clear.
Hey everyone.
Made a video explaining a trick to get through item text boxes faster since a lot of people don't know about it and just mash X instinctively when it's not the fastest way to mash. The video might not show the greatest examples of it but if you try it out for yourselves, you'll notice how much faster it is.
Basically it's like this, on an Xbox One/360 pad press X ---> A ---> X to get past the text. The game will recognize those inputs faster than if you were to just mash X.
On a keyboard and mouse, the equivalent is E ---> Enter ---> E.
The "no loads" time is in reference to the time you get using the Load Remover timer that RE4 Central provides for the Steam version. Like it says on the tin, the timer removes the time that would be gained in loading screens and thus takes out the randomness and inconsistency of loading times, as well as the "pay-to-win" factor of the normal in-game timer. The "loads" time is the time you would get at the end of the game on the results screen and is a timer that tracks loading times along with normal gameplay.
Since the load remover is only available for the Steam version, it's irrelevant if you're on any other version/platform. And even on Steam it's optional, though highly recommended to run alongside a normal timer tracking IGT.
