Hello! I'm kinda new to speedrunning and saw in another forum someone talking about RTA and SDA runs. What do these terms mean?
Thanks in advance!
RTA means Real Time Attack. Which means you use a timer like a stopwatch, LiveSplit etc.
I have no idea what SDA means, though.
SDA refers to the timing method Speed Demos Archive uses. https://kb.speeddemosarchive.com/Rules#Timing
[quote=Speed Demos Archive]For games without timers, a simple real-time measure is used. There are many different types of software that can do this. Avidemux for example (be sure to use a version that allows frame count, at the time of writing, that means v2.5 or earlier).
-
Starting point: when the player first gains control of the game's character, timing begins. This is defined as the frame before the character starts to move (in case that's hard to define, a reference point, such as fade-in can be used instead). If the game starts by going through menus that have an impact on the gameplay (adjusting stats or equipment) or an overworld map (or level selection screen etc), then those are defined as ”gain of control”. However, if character creation is done as an independent activity before the game starts, it's not considered as part of the run time, even when it involves defining stats, equipment or similar. Having camera control (for example Half-Life), but no means of impacting the character's movement, is not considered gain of control for the purpose of SDA-timing.
-
Ending point: at the end when control is lost, even if that's long after the final battle, the timing stops. This is generally defined as the frame the character freezes on. If loss of control is hard to define for a game, a reference point, such as fade-out to credits can also be used. For RPGs, we use the frame the hit points of the final hit on the final boss shows up (unless there are gameplay elements coming after that point). Possible movement that can occur during or after the ending credits does not count (unless it involves actual gameplay elements that affect the outcome).
-
Loading screens are counted for console games, but not for PC. For segmented runs, timing for a segment stops at the first system-dependent activity. It can be the save screen (automatic saving) or when the save menu screen appears (manual saving). The starting point for a segment depends on if you actually load a game state or if you're just back at the starting menu with your progress saved. If there is a loading of the save, we will use the frame before the loading screen fade-out as starting point. This means timing might start with a cut-scene, even though there is no character control at that point. In the second case (you start a new segment from the start menu), timing will begin as soon as you activate the menu option that starts the new segment. This is generally the option that leads to a new menu with gameplay-related, and not only cosmetic, options.[/quote]
[Quote=SpiderSponge]RTA means Real Time Attack. Which means you use a timer like a stopwatch, LiveSplit etc.[/Quote] A timer doesn’t have anything to do with RTA. RTA timing means that once you start timing, you don’t stop until the run is completed or you reset. You could do an RTA run with no timer and frame count it afterwards and it’ll still be RTA as long as you don’t stop timing at any point.
Most RTA timing starts on first input (pressing start on the title screen in most cases) compared to SDA's start time of character control. SDA timing is meant to cut out time that has little to do with playing the game (character naming, optional settings before the game starts, prologue cut-scenes).
End points for RTA timing sometimes include the full credits, but that depends on a game community's rules.