Hi nice to see you around !

• About discussing changes, all the post I've made about changes on this board remained unanswered for weeks. Scroll UP, read the threads and you will see I've been talking about changes before doing them.
• now about the subject of adding levels afaik reverse levels are part of the core game. And extended Time levels are also part of the game, as much as the 16 additionnal "gold" levels.
• Are we talking about Aztec ans Fallen then ? Well these are official additionnal levels too, like Mine, like Megapol or any other official tracks. Yes they were not released in an official pack, it's the only difference.

Check out other racing games, all the levels are often displayed.

Nowadays anybody wanting to play POD will be using POD Platinum. And POD Platinum contain all the tracks thx to Ray's wonderful job. What I Can do is post a direct link to Pod's discord server on our ressource page where people can find POD Platinum easily.

Why should we limit content here ? Let's drive people to content instead.

I'd be glad to discuss changes ideas with you but I have the feeling you're kinda off the game and off SRC as well. Maybe if you showed up more frequently ? I'm posting board threads and news articles to announce/discuss my ideas. So far only Splaysh answered once or twice, Always positively.

To end this, all the changes I've made were made to improve the page while trying to stay true to the game.

Next step would be to add the OEM tracks. Because they're so nice ;)

edit : News from the 27th of May :

https://www.speedrun.com/pod_planet_of_death/news#ch3_Upcoming_changes

Sorry this one wasn't discussed on the board. I went straight to the news feed. But it could have triggered a discussion if someone read it. ^^

I would hesitate much more populating the list with some weird fan-made track with discutable design, weird gameplay, bugs, glitches, etc. But all the tracks added so far are official, and offer a good gaming experience.

Hi there,

I'm moderating Pod : Planet of Death.

This is a 1997 sci-fi racing game where the main sport is time attack on the individual levels. Full game runs are possible of course, but usually less popular than regular IL time attack.

I've recently learned the existence of SRC API and after reading some ressources, I'm starting to believe I could achieve some project I've been thinking about for a while.

I would like to recreate some leaderboard layout that the old Pod's record site was offering, and also recreate some kind of cup standing. Attributing points to players, according to their ranks on each IL leaderboards.

1. Leaderboard layout :

Old site was offering a TOP5 for each track on the same page : http://web.archive.org/web/20010922182550/http://qball.simplenet.com/pod/ghostsio/top5.html

2. Cup standing :

That same old site was featuring a leaderboard somehow similar to a cup standing. Players would get points according to their rank on each tracks (IL). The point earned would determine their position on this "global ranking".

My question is, can I reproduce those two features using the API and some personal hosting/website ? I've been reading the API ressources, but I'm not experimented with JSON or JS and before diving in, I'd like some expert insight.

I'd need to extract full leaderboards for each IL. Then get "positions" for each "players". Not sure if this is possible, I was not sure reading the "leaderboard" JSON API ressource...

Once I get those datas, I guess I'll find out how to use them to create my own layouts, points standing, etc...

Thanks a lot !

Wah been playing the track yesterday evening and didn't even think about this ! Wp for creative mind ;)

It can probably win some time on the 3 laps too...

Hey well done ! Nice to see you grind at other tracks ;)

You're not far from Bart's old record with this one ! gg

Source :

http://web.archive.org/web/20010922182550/http://qball.simplenet.com/pod/ghostsio/top5.html

Go get it ! ;)

Opening this thread for discussions relative to Individual Levels Leaderboards.

Let's start right away with some ongoing testing taking place on Beltane leaderboards, before being extended to all the levels.

I've been looking for a way to meets several needs :

• display the fastest run by default, glitched or not.
• having glitchless leaderboards for people who likes classic drive style, without checkpoints exploits or Deuch flying.

So what I did to try to reach these goals :

• created a "Any Method" sub category wich would be the default category for ALL the IL runs. It doesn't matter if the track allows glitched runs or not. "Any Method" is the way to go.
• created a "Glitchless" sub category wich will be used ONLY if some glitched runs are posted on the track. For example here on Beltane - 1 Lap , there are two glitched runs with Deuch. So all the glitchless entries are sent to the "Glitchless" Leaderboard.

This layout will allow having two distinct Leaderboards on tracks where glitched runs are possible. And there are quite a few...

I also added a "Original 8 cars" category. For those nostalgic racers who want to race Gamma versus Scorp ! ;)

Feedback is welcome before I extend this to all the tracks ! ;)

Quelle cruauté ce 0.01s :D

Hi guys,

I'm thinking about organizing the full game leaderboard slightly differently. Maybe tell me what you think about this, current WR's would be backed up then resubmitted ofc.

Instead of having EASY/MEDIUM/HARD/CRASH as main categories. I'd rather go for :

16 Retail Tracks Championship 16 Gold Tracks Championship

And maybe leave room for future

4 Extra Tracks Championship 7 OEM Tracks Championship

With some variables for each categories.

• EASY/MEDIUM/HARD/CRASH And why not a variable for a classic driving category, without checkpoint exploit/abuse.

Let me know what you think about this.

39.08 de moyenne. C'est qu'il va falloir s'énerver pour aller chercher ça... ;)

So for the ghost thing, here's what I did as a test :

• Created a third Individual Levels Leaderboard named "3 Laps Ghost"

Here are the rules :

• Must be recorded in GHOST Mode.
• Users must host a .zip archive containing the ghost files (trackname.ght and trackname1.seq) and post the link in the description of the run when doing the entry. Video is welcome for new runs.
• Old ghosts without full run videos are accepted since the ghost files are enough for verification and validation. A short video from the ghost times loaded in the Time Attack Menu is welcome.

!!!TOP1 ghost for each track will be shared in the ressources section!!!

So I guess this could be that Legacy leaderboard we were talking about, while leaving it open to new/modern entries. This will be independant from the other two leardeboards, after all Pod has three time-attack modes, so three leaderboards sounds good right ? ^^

I have posted one entry for each leaderboard on BANK.

"1 lap" and "3 laps" entries have full run videos each. For the "3 Laps ghost", I used an old ghost and the procedure I just wrote up there. Wich mean that ghost file is available, and a short video displaying the ghost times in the game menu also.

Example on Bank : https://www.speedrun.com/pod_planet_of_death/run/yj2kl9gm

As discussed before, one of the goal here is to allow old ghosts, and thus the best performances ever recorded on Pod, to be displayed somewhere. Mine will definitely be shared, and I know Algor38 might be tempted to post too. Maybe I can find other old players and convince them to come here and share... :p

Hi there,

Yes it's probably complicated from what I'm seeing in the admin user interface. I don't even see a way to send Ghost files as validation proofs. Well it's not built in SRC it seems...

And yes for the older players you're probably right. It's not to anyone else to post their Times/runs.

But let's Say I post a Ghost on Alderon, I'll get 1st place on the leaderboard, but I have Algor38's Ghost in my library wich IS faster...

Feels wrong :)

Even though validation through Ghost files sounds right/legit.

Hi there,

Thanks for the admin rights.

A crash run is a run realized with the "crash" cheat code. That code disable all collisions with movable objects and other cars. During the prime years of the game, it was common practice to use this code BOTH while online gaming on game service, AND for time attack 3 laps ghost recording.

On game service, Pod's network code was so crappy that huge lags were observed at all times. Collisions against lagged images of your opponents were ruining the fun of racing against each other, so everybody was using the "crash" code.

For time attack, it was simply to avoid collision with movable objects who would randomly affect your runs. Forcing you to clean the objects out of the way before starting the run, and thus losing a lot of time at each attempt. Typing "crash" was much faster. I even had a macro set up on one of my steering wheel button to type it... ;)

About the potentially sped-up run, all it takes is to check that the race timer is going at the same speed than any real timer. I guess it's fine, it takes only a minute to do it...

So I'm still wondering about the ghost file validations, and that idea of filling the leaderboard with proper verified times from the past. Those old ghosts files are proof of previous WR's. They represents hours of countless attempts for the players who did them. To me these belong to this game's legacy.

That's why I had the idea of recording these into the database. But there are two main question :

• Does that make sense to anybody beside me ? Or shall the past remain forgotten, and this database be only for fresh retro-players ?
• If yes, how should it be achieved technically speaking ? How do I validate a WR for an inactive player who doesn't even have an account here ? :D

Just thinking out loud ;)

Hi !

Yeah after all speedrun rules are usually defined by players habits and tastes.

The idea of a full championship in TimeAttack #crash mode certainly triggers some excitation here. Even if I already fear the potential waste of time it can be to achieve a good run...

About Time calculation, what I'm trying to say is that players could unvoluntary post some full game runs with a biased RTA timer because of a game running too fast unnoticed. I Guess it's quick to verify...

For the old ghosts, I Can definitely share them. But should we add them in the leaderboards, and somehow restore the old "World order" from the past ? ;)

Concerning Time attack runs rules, here are some thoughts to discuss :

• Write in the rules that the CRASH code is allowed to disable collisions with movable objects. Time-attack is about driving fast, movable objects shouldn't be in the way.

• For old WR already recorded, allow validation through ghost (.seq) files check. Loading a trackname1.seq file into the game takes about 10sec, and you can quickly check the total 3laps time + the best lap time of the three into the game menu. This could allow old records to be posted, and fill the timeattack leaderboards with actual old WR's. I have a ghost library with the WR ghost files for each track. Players are either, Algor38, Bart, Vienna or me in most cases. Should we post files for inactive players ? Or is this wrong ? Maybe this is just a bad idea, that why I leave it to discuss here ;)

Hi there,

Concerning the old discussion about Full game runs, here's my opinion. I'm also adding a few ideas :

• For regular runs, leave it as it is. It seems to me that players should adapt to track order when going for a default championship.
• Adding a "#crash" category to the Fullgame runs section to open a new leaderboard. More based on pure 16 tracks timeattack, without having to deal with other cars.
• Time calculation : Pod runs differently on every system. On some installations, higher FPS count with increase the speed of the game. Sometimes a lot, sometimes just a little. In these conditions, I feel like it's not safe to use "out of the game" timers to time the runs. For example if I force Pod to run@80fps through Nvidia control pannel, the game will run about 20% faster, speeding my Fullgame run from 20%... To me the solution would be to use the built in timer for each race, and simply addition the times at the end of the full run.

To illustrate what I'm saying, I invite you to watch this video :

It's a sewer lap recorder with the platinum version of Pod running at a slightly higher framerate than intended. Pod timer says 1:05.82s, wich is totally right considering the lap I did. But if I time it with a IRL timer, the lap last about 1:01.50s. This mean that with the current system, admin would have to manually check the integrity of each full game run with an IRL timer, to make sure the entry run timer is correct.

To me a good solution would be to keep using full game run videos as validation proof, but instead of checking the video timer, admin should addition each track/race total time. I know it sounds more complicated, but with Gog Pod and Pod platinum, we don't have any other solution. The other solution is to force users to manually patch (erase Pod .exe with a prepatched one) with a Pod executable that has the GS2 patch applied. This patch fixes the speed issues and lock the game timer at the correct speed. (I'm using this now) But how could we check that the game version is correct ?

Just some thoughts ;)

Hi there !

Just posted 25 entries today... Anybody home to validate these ? :)

Hi guys,

Just discovered this place.

I used to play the game a lot and to post a lot of three laps Ghosts on Qball Ghost gallery back in the days.

http://web.archive.org/web/20010922182550/http://qball.simplenet.com/pod/ghostsio/top5.html

Like it's been said here, those lap times might seem insane for people new to the game. But back in 1998/2001 it was just normal high level Pod playing ;) It wasn't rare to see those top times live while playing online on gameservice.

I've started a YT channel showing HowTo those fast laps.

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhjsnzYnSRJjYNJrt9ruL9ShY8JWhAdIW

Someone told me today to post this here also.

So I've posted 25 TimeAttack entries today. 2 of them with a #nocheckpointbug on Roc and HQ because I hate those dumb shortcuts ;)

The rest of the tracks will come in Time. And.I might be tempted to try my Luck on a full run.

I would love to see a #crash subcategory for the full run. Just to allow a Real Time attack full run.