Load Remover (and Autosplitter)
8 years ago
United Kingdom

So Zoton and I have been working on a script for Livesplit, which pauses the timer when the game is loading. We think it's pretty much ready for release, but it seems a good idea to make a thread and take suggestions before we do.

Spoilers: anything I say in this post could be wrong and Zoton might jump in and correct me.

How it works: The script looks at memory addresses that the game uses, and uses them to detect if it's loading (and what kind of load it is). Livesplit then pauses its 'Game Time', which runs alongside real time. Presumably this will only work on the one .exe we've used (which is the one we both got online to avoid playing from disc), but in theory it shouldn't be a problem for someone to swap to this if need be.

The loads it detects are:

  1. Loading into a new level
  2. Loading to a mission (after using Mission Select)
  3. Loading a mission (briefly, before the mission description appears)
  4. Loading the main menu

As it stands, we can't detect the loads when entering/exiting a building, nor loading into a cutscene (if this IS a load), so the timer continues through these regardless.

The timer DOES carry on when in the bonus game (lol), or when the game is closed.

We'll make the load remover separate from the autosplitter (I think), which splits when loading from one level to the next (but is easy to change to split between any given pair of levels - see my 100% stuff)

Any questions/suggestions/objections/memes/corrections? Once we get a vague consensus, Zoton can make it available through Livesplit.

Victoria, Australia

So I assume that this is only able to be used for PC versions? and if so, will console versions be able to calculate their load times out and add those times, rather than real time, on the leaderboard?

United Kingdom

Yeah, it'll only work on PC. We'll still order the leaderboard by time WITH loads, but we'll have the extra information there if people choose to use the plugin. Consoles will still be the same as before - you're welcome to go through a run and calculate time spent loading, but it'll be just as tedious as it was before (sorry)

Victoria, Australia

ah, no worries, just figured I would ask in case the leaderboard was sorted by times w/out loads. Although I still might comb through the load times on one run if I ever PB to see where console can be w/out load times if that info will be displayed.

Norfolk, England
zoton2
He/Him, She/Her, They/Them
8 years ago

If anyone doesn't understand number 3, this is when you start a mission by talking to the correct NPC and it gives you the mission title and brief on the screen. For a small moment it will say "Loading" before it says "Continue", it's that loading that is counted.

http://i.imgur.com/mFwhiVF.jpg

New Zealand

It should work between all EXEs so long as they're not changing anything to do with how the variable is started, if you found a static pointer to the loading variable it should work across all copies.

Norfolk, England
zoton2
He/Him, She/Her, They/Them
8 years ago

OK, after posting this and getting people's feedback and such, me and Mango have decided to release the load remover.

I will change the leaderboards to accept times without loads and write a guide to set up your LiveSplit soon, although it's very easy: set your game to "The Simpsons: Hit & Run" in LiveSplit and below it click the "Activate" button to activate the load removal script. Your splits will record both RTA and time without loads.

Although we will have the time without loads on the leaderboard, we will still be organising by RTA for now.

@Kakarot: usually when a different EXE is used for a game, the memory addresses move. Right now we are supporting the no-CD EXE a lot of us seem to use, but we can support more in the future if needed; the LiveSplit devs have been adding the possibility of having more than 1 game version recently.

United Kingdom
seasonerr
He/Him, They/Them
7 years ago

Is there a way to easily work out load times and remove them on non-PC runs?

Victoria, Australia

I removed them manually from my PS2 run, so, not really.

Western Australia, Australia

Any chance of an Autosplitter for Missions instead of just having Levels

United States

Hey guys, I'm new to hit & run and I need some help setting up the auto splitter and load remover. I have the game on disc so it's not working for me. Can someone give me a download link to the no cd exe and explain to me how to replace them? I have a slow computer so the load times are weighing me down. Any help is greatly appreciated. :D

Nova Scotia, Canada
Sadly
He/Him, They/Them
6 years ago

It's in the resources section in the discord

United States

Okay thank you very much sadlybadlyy

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