Heyo everyone! Did you guys notice that the final time varies between your speedrun atempts even though you're not slower but maybe in some cases faster than before? Well, if you think there's a problem with the in-heist timer, you're correct. The in-heist timer starts with a different value after each restart meaning that getting a good run after practice will require you to roll RNG for the lowest possible starting timer (Which seems to be 00:01, and never 00:00). This has been observed by me and Haracookie while running the game.

If you don't believe us, here is the proof:

I would also encourage to brainstorm possible solutions here to help payday 3 speedrun board think of a possible workaround.

Credits to Haracookie for the video

I noticed this too in some of my runs and also that the "3 seconds" to stay in the box to escape are NOT 3 seconds. It s like 4.6/4.7

I havent timed it but the exit times seems to take about 5 seconds for everyone, I don't think there's a difference there

Ye well, If it takes 5 seconds why say "Escape in 3 seconds" ? Thats what grind my gears

ofcourse thats also pretty annoying (And i assume related to the servers, offline mode would have you instantly leave i think) but its the inconsistency of the starting timer that kills runs. If everyone's has an escape timer that takes longer but its the same for everyone, then at least thats fair. but if everyone's starting timer is different, that is just plain unfair, because faster routes and better runs would somehow have an in game timer 2 seconds slower than an actual slower run.

Rock The Cradle on console is one of the most intensive maps. It is the only one with frame drops and stuttering. I tested it several times on different, less Civ heavy maps, and did not have it happen. I didn't have it happen on Cradle after full restarting from the main menu. The Escape time happens but that is included in the time on the end screen.

Yeah I had a feeling some of the timings were off, I had some perfect runs where the IGT was showing me slower than some imperfect runs and the escape timer defintly felt longer on some. Its defintley a problem for heists liek RTC where the time is so short, fractions of a second are beginning to matter.

Glad you investigated it!

I've never speedrun anything before so I have no idea how to retime things with an external timer, Ive seen videos where they use video editing software to check like number of frames and stuff

ra_the_sun_dude: it would be interesting if that timer issue is not present on consoles. Unfortunately I don't know anyone that has Payday 3 on console so I wasn't able to check that with them

LadyLoranda: Yes, we would most likely have to use an external timer to correctly time these runs until Starbreeze patches this out. Unless there will be a solution stated in the run rules

To expand on what I said, I never had the "jump" in time as the video shows. It always started a new timer with every reset. I think that the end timer would have to be fixed by Starbreeze. As of rn, I believe it to be a unload the level/load the end screen type deal.