Hello.

Probably over a month ago I requested to be the moderator of Spelunker HD. The old boards were totally abandoned, had like 100 categories and no moderators assigned.

I'd like to request to be the moderator of "Spelunker" on NES, a related game, as it also has no assigned moderators. Seems the same moderator who used to be in charge of the newer remake version also resigned (as did possibly others.)

https://www.speedrun.com/spelunkernes#Any_First_Loop

I have an interest in this game, too. Thank you.

Ah that's cool. I was watching @Acmlm stream earlier (March 1st) and if you check their VOD, they showcased a script and also talked about some of their TAS findings (but you can check it for maybe some more information). Maybe where the bug happens in terms of position matters.

It seems the bug regardless has some pretty adverse side effects in what he showed off related to it, so I'm again not sure it can have any kind of beneficial use. Maybe, though!

This happened to @Kat_kunoichi a long tme ago, but it clipped into the grass (sort of looked the same). I forget exactly what caused it, so maybe she can remember and tell you, but as far as I remember anyway it was just a graphical glitch and we couldn't figure out anything to do with it. D:

Hi there.

I'd like to request to take over moderation on a game called Spelunker HD.

The current leaderboard is an absolute mess, has like 100 categories and no assigned moderator:

https://www.speedrun.com/spelunker_hd

I took an interest in this game recently and would like to run it. :) Thanks.

Huh, that's interesting. Good to know!

I talked here and there to the person who dumped the game and preserved Sim City (also why I linked it in the header on the left side.) There was some information iirc about how programming wasn't finished/bugged:

https://gamehistory.org/simcity/

Yeah, best time I ever had on Twitch or speedrunning in general myself was sharing games with people, like Kat or a runner most people might not remember or be aware of anymore named Baize. It's always fun when there's a shared interest and competition in the games you run.

The strats evolving were really cool to see. I never expected Metropolis to ever drop that low.

You're welcome Bokonon!

And ok! I think we all survived the great Sim City queue of 2020. I have:

• Frame counted and adjusted all previous runs.
• Frame counted all new runs.
• Changed the rules to accommodate the new timing.
• Added milliseconds for just the #1 times right now, so you know if it comes close to 1st place what the exact time is to beat. I don't think it's necessary to litter the boards with milliseconds for 2nd/3rd/other times unless they're close and competitive to each other.

I really wanted to do this a couple of days ago, but Speedrun.com kept displaying it was under a lot of pressure and it made editing everyone's runs basically near impossible. Anyway! There is ZERO runs in the queue. I think there was nearly 20 waiting while everyone was voting on how to time this now.

Thanks again for everyone's patience and feedback. :)

Alright, so lastly:

https://imgur.com/a/loDSdlo < these are the exact frames I'll be using for timing.

There's a 1F fade out (and a convenient frame counter in ShesChardcore's best current town run) that shows that. The first frame of fade out is where I've always timed runs from where it turns the darker shade of green, and the end frame will be as highlighted by that yellow box, when that line on the box finishes drawing, but yeah, these are the exact frames and I'll write them into the rules later.

If you don't know or care about frame counting yourself, just submit runs as-is and I'll do it for you (maybe make a note saying it needs to be frame counted and I'll erase the note after.)

I made an old video last year showing how to frame count if you know the start/end frames of a run if you want to learn how to do it yourself (it's actually quite easy):

Thanks again for everyone's patience and feedback. :)

I'll go do all that stuff now/later and everything should be caught back up after today.

And thanks in general with the patience with the queue on this game. :D

I understand it's definitely a little clogged while I waited, but I wanted to do things right the first time and not have to retroactively go back and figure out what I changed and what I didn't change and then adjust everyone's time according to what was voted as most preferable.

So, I'll literally download everyone's run, frame count them, adjust them, do the same with the new ones (and maybe make first place for now include milliseconds on each category until top 3 becomes close enough on each one) so if you get close and need to frame count yourself you know what to beat.

I'll likely include top 3 millisconds in general for town as it's competitive to that degree now.

Ok, thanks for all the replies and feedback!

I'll verify everything new with that rule in mind (was waiting for "everyone" to respond here before verifying everything so I didn't lose track). I'll also update all the old times on the board before verifying the new ones. I feel I've given this enough time to act now.

Hello everyone. :)

This little board has seen a bit of activity lately, and when I created it I really didn't expect tons of people to run it. I think, furthermore though, the activity it has seen is starting to make some of the categories very competitive to the point frame counting (from my side) will be necessary soon. In the past, the final timing was when the box appears, but this was unclear and just when the box literally appeared.

So I think there's two options (and I'll go back and retroactively adjust all the times and also write that into the rules):

1. When the box appears stating you met a population goal, on the first frame, or -
2. When the box finishes drawing on the last frame.

Does anyone have a preference as to where to split?

I would like to hear from everyone before deciding. Thanks!

Yeah, 13 hours is painful (thanks for the math), and I'm definitely of the mentality that it's very unnecessary considering again it doesn't actually do anything because you're not changing anything before the run starts or influencing anything in again any possible way, but even saying that, this game has been bottlenecked I think to some capacity (until some "new" manipulation is found that supersedes demo mode RNG), and proposing a separation of categories would probably not be the best outcome given the fact a RNG manipulation was later on found to exist.

I remember Endy explained it to me a long time ago, and he said there was no real reason to ever go back and run against the RNG UNLESS you went back to run for a certain spaceship kill. There's a RNG spaceship kill that saved 1.5 (I think?) over the current demo mode spaceship kill, but I'm curious what the other bosses patterns would look like, as every other boss, minus the E boss anyway, is extremely favourable in the demo mode RNG. Anyway, point is, you would be grinding for a certain spaceship pattern running against RNG that rarely shows up, and might lose time on the other RNG bosses as demo mode bosses/patterns have been optimized so much and are actually good patterns, so I'm not even sure running against RNG with how optimized the rest of the run has become viable even if you wanted to save time that's not currently possible within demo mode.

I think at that point, competitively, I doubt many people would run it. Endy is remarkably good at pushing and forcing strats and even forcing/grinding good RNG on others in other runs, and he also told me a while ago he wasn't that crazy to try to make the RNG spaceship pattern appear. So I feel the category would be added to be more meme-like than anything, people just wanting to see what kind of times they would get running against RNG, opposed to competitively trying to beat the record with a certain pattern not accessible within demo mode itself. A huge draw now (which wasn't there originally) about Chip & Dale is literally just that: there's no RNG, plus it would cause an unfair advantage if someone who knew how to run the demo mode RNG, ended up getting the demo mode RNG from a random start input running the "RNG" category.

Chip & Dale has a great board as-is with how competitive it is and how healthy it is in terms of people submitting runs to it. I wouldn't personally like to see that divided myself.

Huh? Just to make it clear: I never started any runs with a savestate, ever, this game or otherwise. I even ran this before posting this yesterday a few times, had a 9:55 and 9:58, and if you check the VOD I waited during demo mode like everyone else. I've always waited, I just meant when I export stuff to YouTube I get rid of the last reset so the run just starts from the title screen.

Even though it affects nothing, I can't respond in any kind of way where I can refute it wouldn't be unfair to someone still on a console and real cart/not Everdrive. It does give an advantage over someone with that kind of setup who physically can't load a savestate, so I guess there's not much else to say there.

Hmm, I'm not sure it would make it "easier". It's more so arbitrary.

Batman is a good example, I guess. You HAVE to run to the Joker to actually end the run. Otherwise the run doesn't literally end. In Wario's Woods once you beat a level (20, 50, 99) why do you actually need to run to the door to be "done"?

Arguably it would produce slightly more competitive times over time in this game if the round ends based on completion. There's arguably also not much strategy (though I can see where you're coming from) waiting on the right side after destroying everything, as it's just dead time until the area lets you pass through.

I think as both a moderator and runner I'd welcome that change more than I would be opposed to it as being included in the timing. I like the idea of the change honestly because running out the door doesn't make much sense. As you said as well if it ever came down to being stupidly optimized between categories it also makes it easier to time.

長い間遅れて申し訳ありませんが、人生は非常に忙しいです。 :)私は今そのカテゴリを追加したので、あなたのランを自由に提出してください。

I'll re-time it once you submit it to current timing.

Thanks. I'll add this soon.

Do you have a run already?

Hi there.

I will add the ability to submit Switch as a run.

I had no idea it was released as part of Nintendo Online on Switch.

What did you mean by "Special Clear", though?

I know he flees on the 4th turn if you didn't do enough damage, but does that mean you have 1 extra turn and he flees at the END of his fourth turn? Does he always flee at the beginning of the fourth turn?

Is there a way to for example slow him, if he does flee at the beginning, and get extra turns in?

How's the 4th turn work exactly?

I've always just assumed you have only 3 turns to kill him and he immediately runs on the beginning of the fourth, but I honestly don't know for sure.

Thanks. :)