10 Star Rank Requirements

A lot of the common wisdom you'll find about how to achieve this ranking on the internet isn't accurate, so here's a guide that explains accurately what the deal is with this.

How the 10 Star Rank is calculated:

The 10 star rank is calculated as a score out of 100 points, in order to achieve 10 star you need to acquire all 100 of these points throughout the course of the game. So what are the requirements.

Difficulty:

Easy Mode: -5 Points
Normal Mode: 0 Points
Hard Mode: 0 Points

Due to later requirements, you are forced to play the game on Hard to acquire the 10 star ranking. But you do not gain any points for the correct difficulty, you merely don't lose them.

Game Clear Number:

5 clears: 10 points
4 clears: 8 points
3 clears: 6 points
2 clears: 4 points
1 clear: 2 points

In order to achieve the 10 star rank, you need to have 5 completed playthroughs already done on the savefile you're trying to get 10 star on.

Ending Type:

Good+ : 10 points
Good: 5 points
Bad+: 3 points
Bad: 1 point
UFO: 0 points

The Good+ ending is necessary for 10 star.

Save Count:

0-2 Saves: 5 points
3-5 Saves: 4 points
6-10 Saves: 3 points
11-20 Saves: 2 points
21-30 Saves: 1 point
Over 31 Saves: 0 points

Continue Count:

0-1 Continues: 5 points
2-3 Continues: 4 points
4-5 Continues: 3 points
6-7 Continues: 2 points
8-9 Continues: 1 point
Over 10 Continues: 0 points

Due to the nature of the IGT, dying and continuing or saving and reloading makes the run not single-segment and thus ineligible for submission anyway, but if you're just playing casually or practicing, you're allowed some saves and continues.

Clear Time:

0-90 minutes: 10 points
~120: 9.5 points
~180 minutes: 5 points
~240 minutes: 3 points
~360 minutes: 2 points
~720 minutes: 1 point
Above 721 minutes: 0 points

If you're speedrunning even decently, you'll clear this requirement, but it does mean that 10 star runs intrinsically can't be slower than two hours ever.

Item Count:

Above 150 Items: 10 points
Above 135 Items: 9 points
Above 120 items: 8 points
Above 105 Items: 7 points
Above 90 items: 6 points
Above 75 items: 5 points
Above 60 items: 4 points
Above 45 items: 3 points
Anything below or at 45 items: 0 points

"Items" refers to literally anything you pick up over the course of the run like bullets and health drinks and such. You need to collect over 150 over the whole run.

Special Item Count:

5-6 Items: 10 points
4 Items: 8 points
3 Items: 6 points
2 Items: 4 points
1 items: 2 points
0 Items: 0 points

Special items refers to the NG+ unlocked by clearing certain endings, so it means the Katana, Hyperblaster, Chainsaw, Gas Can, Rock Drill, Channeling Stone. You start with the Hyperblaster already in your inventory, so it's only necessary to collect 4 other items.

Kill Count:

Ok, this is where it gets incredibly dumb.

http://i.imgur.com/ETIafTG.jpg

Your score for this is calculated according to this formula and what it basically amounts to is that you need a large number of both kinds of kill (shooting and melee), but in a roughly even ratio, if you have too large a quantity of one kill compared to the other even if you have a larger total killcount, you may not acquire the 10 star rank. 

Additionally, you may also note the game docks you points for using "Bonus Weapons", this refers to any weapon unlocked via NG+ like the Katana, Hyperblaster, Chainsaw or Rock Drill. But you're allowed more uses of the bonus weapons the more clears you have registered on the savefile, so having a high clear count will enable you to use the bonus weapons more which is genuinely useful in a 10 star run so be aware of it.

You want to get at least 30 points out of this calculation, so plan your route accordingly.

Shooting Style:

This is another bizarre and arcane requirement but the game ranks you according to how many of each kind of kill you got by shooting.

It's calculated according to this formula:

Short Range Shots = A
Middle Range Shots = B
Long Range Shots = C
No Aiming Shots = D

(Ax10+Bx20+Cx30-Dx40) = Your point score, the best you can get out of this is 10 points.

As you can see a "No aiming shot" will decimate your score, and No Aiming Shots are caused by shots that don't hit anything at all or any shot by the Hyper Blaster. The Shotgun consists of a really wide spread of pellets, many of which won't hit the target so using the shotgun at all will push your No Aiming Shots up.

Also, testing has been done on it and it's been found that sometimes shots that totally connected and killed enemies were counted as "No Aiming Shots", so that can also present an issue to scoring the best you can on this category.

At the end of the run, if you've satisfied all these requirements and scored all 100 points, you will achieve the 10 star rank and unlock the Green Hyperblaster.

10* Guide by Andyrion

Some outdated aspects to the route, in terms of enemy kills, item pickups, and the final boss. Otherwise, good information

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/234085827238428672/470463261058269215/10_Star_speedrunning_guide.rar

Bad+ and Good+ Maps

http://imgur.com/a/yp6jK

These 28 maps show lines for running Bad+ (Any%) and Good+. I didn't include some of the areas (Motel, Town Center, Hospital 4th Floor, etc.) in part because I am lazy and didn't feel like drawing those. I'd recommend downloading the maps in case the link ever goes down. Maybe some day we can image host on SRDC and avoid that issue. Otherwise, just contact me if the images go down, I'll be happy to send them your way.

I added some notes and enemy placements to the maps, but if you want a more detailed look, watching a run will help you more. These should serve for general purpose and learning. Plus, you'll never need to pick up a map in the game! As long as you know where you are relative to the map, of course.

Credit to "ProtectionJoel" for posting the fan-made map of Nowhere to the Silent Hill Wiki.  

P.S. I am unlikely to do 10¤ maps.

Edit: Map 16 incorrectly states you need to go to the furthest vending machine for the health drinks. You can go to either.

Edit 2: Map 22 shows the method of navigating this area without the Antique Shop Out of Bounds.

Edit 3: Regarding Midwich Elementary,  this level has a lot of variations in movement. Some are safer, some are more risky. Depending on your own strategy (and how fast you want to go), you will like or not like these lines.

NG (Easy) (Bad+ Ending) Tutorial

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7ysyrx2Dfw

NG Easy Good+ Ammo Routes (Obsolete)

EDIT: The Antique Shop OoB obsoletes this guide. Also, you should start attacking Incubus when it starts charging the lightning.


In NG Easy Good+, ammo management is tighter than Bad+. This is because the rifle isn't viable against Incubus for speed. Thus what ammo you choose to pickup is important.

Here are four ammo routes for Good+, in order of riskiest to safest.

1. YOLO Route

This is the world record route and the one most prone to error. You also need to know how to play the bosses effectively without wasting ammo. You pick up the bare minimum of shells and do not pick up the rifle at Twinfeeler. If you don't get good RNG at Incubus (it can take 12 to 14 shells), you'll likely die at the end of the game. This route is less risky if you get a five shot Twinfeeler. If you run out of shells at Incubus, you can switch to the handgun and hope you do enough damage. You could also pick up the rifle as a back up for Incubus.

Shotgun Pickup 6 > 2nd floor Class Room 18 > Hospital Basement 30 > Motel Garage 42
OR
-5 for Split Head (13) > -2 for Hospital Nurse (11) >  -5 or 6 for Twinfeeler (18 or 17) > -13 for Floatstinger (5 or 4) 
> -1 for Lock (4 or 3) > -2 for Nowhere Nurse (14 or 13)

2. Rifle Route (no Antique Shop OoB)

This is a route I developed to save time in comparison to safe routes. Plus this route gives you more flexibility, as you can go for the YOLO route if you feel like it or get the five shot Twinfeeler. After you pickup the rifle, you use the rifle to finish off Floatstinger. My rule of thumb is 11 shotgun shots, then switch to rifle. Then, use the rifle to destroy the lock before Sewers. This should save you ~3 shells. Swap back to shotgun when using the magnet in Kaufmann's hotel room. If done optimally this saves a second or two over the safe routes. 

Shotgun Pickup 6 > 2nd floor Class Room 18 > Hospital Basement 30 > Rifle Pickup > Save 2 - 3 Shells at Floatstinger and Lock > Motel Garage 42
OR
-5 for Split Head (13) > -2 for Hospital Nurse (11) >  -5 or 6 for Twinfeeler (18 or 17) > -11 for Floatstinger (7 or 6) 
> -2 for Nurse (19 or 18)

3. School Basement Route

This route is reliable, consistent and very safe. Instead of going into the valve room at the end of School, go to the other room and pick up the two boxes of shells (and the ampoule if you want).

Shotgun Pickup 6 > 2nd floor Class Room 18 > School Basement 42 > Hospital Basement 54 > Motel Garage 66 (Optional)
OR
-5 for Split Head (31) > -2 for Hospital Nurse (29) >  -5 or 6 for Twinfeeler (36 or 35) > -13 for Floatstinger (23 or 22) 
> -1 for Lock (21 or 20) > -2 for Nowhere Nurse (19 (31) or 18 (30))

4. Backup Route

This route is if you go for the YOLO route, get scared and want safety (or if you waste shells). I don't recommend it but I wanted to offer it. You pick up the shells in the garage as normal, but also pick up the shells in the Antique shop in Nowhere. They're in the back of the room, on the table. You can strafe to the box after putting in the Stone of Time, or pick up the box then go to the Clock.

Shotgun Pickup 6 > 2nd floor Class Room 18 > Hospital Basement 30 > Motel Garage 42 > Antique Shop 54
OR
-5 for Split Head (13) > -2 for Hospital Nurse (11) >  -5 or 6 for Twinfeeler (18 or 17) > -13 for Floatstinger (5 or 4) 
> -1 for Lock (4 or 3) > -2 for Nowhere Nurse (26 or 25)

OoB "Guide" (maps coming soon!)

First off shout out to Orophene who found this glitch at the motel, I took this a step further and tested it on like most other transitions throughout the game before finding this one and only useful skip lol

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So this trick involves being knocked to the ground during a transition (NOT a loading transition) by a romper (the only non boss enemy able to do this) which then somehow messes with the games' collision detection with walls and doors. The following video will go more into detail and also cover romper behavior:

https://youtu.be/gwvmvWub1QU

One thing I forgot to mention is that this is only pixel/frame perfect if stood still, you can improve your chances by actually moving towards the transition as the romper attacks you by walking, running and sometimes even quickturning on the spot there.

If the romper isn't too hot on your heels and you have time to line this up, here is your pixel perfect sweet spot (this is a PS1 game and the following was recorded losslessly in amarec, but its still pretty difficult to make out):

https://i.imgur.com/iuQhaAd.png

https://i.imgur.com/JLGkWWe.png

Upscaled Video showing the above in motion:

https://youtu.be/udJnl_OJIXA

Bottom line: Practice this a LOT, even then its not consistent, but 1:10ish saved if first try. Good luck

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Proof this doesn't work through Loading Transitions
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/254329737

Out of Bounds tutorial - English and PT-BR

Step by step guide on the romper damage boost to get out of bounds in the antique shop.

English:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sgvgx36yOM4

Portuguese:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83Nn6fq-Tss

If there are any questions left, feel free to ask on our discord.

Playing the Intro Area Effectively

One of the benefits of running Silent Hill with the in game time (IGT) tracked rather than real time is the runner can judge whether certain strategies work better than others. I would like to give an example of this at the very beginning of the game. 

Disclaimer: This strategy is for IGT purposes, not for a real time attack (RTA). 

First, after the loading screen of Harry walking, do not immediately press your skip button (for me that is X or triangle). If you watch the scene, Harry takes a few (real world) steps forward before standing still and saying “Cheryl. Where could you be?” Once Harry has stood still/begun saying that line, skip the scene and immediately run forward. If one skips the cut scene after Harry stands still, you save about 0.3 seconds over skipping the cut scene immediately.

Harry will shout “Hey wait…stop!” Then you’ll chase Cheryl, preferably five to fifteen degrees to the right of Cheryl’s distant image. A cut scene will play and Harry will take some extra steps into the alley. If you run to the alley in another way, such as running on the sidewalk or going too wide, Harry will not take as many extra steps into the alley during the cut scene as the effective method.

After that, make sure to the hug the left edge of the Alley, turning smoothly into the gate and avoiding the bonk (i.e. slamming Harry’s body into the gate).

Below there is a video demonstrating what I described. Thanks to Succinct and Punchy for his tutorial video; it provided the groundwork for this guide.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgQjvvJuwn8

P.S.  There are likely other rooms and areas in the game where research can be conducted on effective IGT strategies; this is just an easy example.

Silent Hill "NG (Easy)" Blind/Beginner Speedrun Guide

Made this guide to help me learn the game blind. Watched SuccinctAndPunchy's video and came up with it in the process. Hope it helps.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NHb-H1fcL2WAuh3qtMifbPvvqGLhOk8vzlWWg9N3DzU/edit#

Star Ranking and Unlockables Guide

Silent Hill Star Ranking and Unlockables Guide

====== Introduction ======

This information has been taken straight from the game's code. It was extracted from the US version and verified on the Japanese version. I did not check if it applies to the PAL version as well. Although the well-known Japanese guide is much more accurate than many guides around the internet it still has flaws.

====== Basic stats ======

Mode (penalty):
Easy: -5 points

Game clear (10 points):
2 points per game clear up to a maximum of
10 points for at least 5 game clears

Ending (10 points):
Good+: 10 points
Good: 5 points
Bad+: 3 points
Bad: 1 point
UFO: 0 points

Saves (5 points):
0-2: 5 points
3-5: 4 points
6-10: 3 points
11-20: 2 points
21-30: 1 point

Continues (5 points):
0-1: 5 points
2-3: 4 points
4-5: 3 points
6-7: 2 points
8-9: 1 point

Total time (10 points):
less than 90 minutes: 10 points
less than 180 minutes: 5 points
less than 240 minutes: 3 points
less than 360 minutes: 2 points
less than 720 minutes: 1 point

Items (10 points):
1 point per 15 items up to a maximum of
10 points for at least 150 of the 204 available items

Special items (10 points):
2 points per special item up to a maximum of 
10 points for at least 5 of the 6 available special items

====== Shots / hits / defeated enemies ======

The game counts your shots/hits in several categories of which only some affect the ranking.
Distance to enemies is measured in all three dimensions.

No aiming shots, Short/medium/long range shots (only the first matching rule applies):
- Each Shotgun or Hyper Blaster shot always counts as a No aiming shot; only Handgun and Hunting Rifle shots can count in any of the other categories (¤this was doubted and needs more testing¤)
- Each shot which does not hit an enemy counts as a No aiming shot
- Each shot when the flashlight is usable but off (otherworld, boiler room, etc.) which hits an enemy counts as a Medium range shot regardless of distance
- Each shot which hits an enemy more than 5 meters away counts as a Long range shot
- Each shot which hits an enemy more than 2 but less than or equal to 5 meters away counts as a Medium range shot
- Each shot which hits an enemy less than or equal to 2 meters away counts as a Short range shot

Special Weapon usage:
- Each Hyper Blaster shot counts as a special weapon use
- Each Katana slash counts as a special weapon use
- Each Rock Drill start counts as a special weapon use, each stab counts as two special weapon uses
- Slashing the Chainsaw counts as four special weapon uses per second
- Note that neither aiming with the Rock Drill nor with the Chainsaw counts as a special weapon use regardless of dealt damage

Shooting style (10 points):
Points according to the following formula, but at least 0 and at most 10
Points = (Short range shot percentage + 2 ¤ Medium range shot percentage + 3 ¤ Long range shot percentage - 4 ¤ No aiming shot percentage) / 10

Defeated enemy by fighting/shooting (30 points):
Points according to the following formulas, but at least 0 and at most 30
If no shot was fired during the whole game a bonus of 100 enemies defeated by shooting is granted; because the last boss of the regular endings require you to either shoot them or get rid of all your ammunition by shooting this bonus is only possible with the UFO ending
Divisor = max(Special weapon usage - 5 ¤ Game Clear - 10, 5)
Fighting score = Defeated enemy by fighting / Divisor
Shooting score = Defeated enemy by shooting / Disivor
Points = max(Shooting score, Fighting score) / 2 + min(Shooting score, Fighting score)

====== Stars und Unlockables ======

If the number of points is positive a large star is awarded for every 10 points and a small star is awarded for every remaining point.

Unlockables for following playthroughs:
- Gas can, Chainsaw, Rock drill: always
- Katana: achieve both a Good or Good+ and a Bad or Bad+ ending
- Hyper Blaster: achieve the UFO ending

Hyper Blaster beam color (can degrade again):
0-7 stars: red (Handgun strength)
8-9 stars: yellow (Shotgun strength)
10 stars: green (Hunting rifle strength)

Version Differences

This is to help those of you wanting to buy the game and run it legitimately. There are 3 regions with 5 different versions of Silent Hill (NTSC-U/C, NTSC-J V1.0, NTSC-J V1.01, NTSC-J V1.1 and PAL). For speedrunning, the latter three do not have the Amusement Park skip (using the Aglaophotis on the first Larval Stalker / ghost child that you encounter), and are not optimal for speedruns.

**NTSC-U/C**

https://i.imgur.com/2kdOJ7q.png
(left to right: Black Label, Greatest Hits, PlayStation Network)

Unlike NTSC-J, the Greatest Hits version retains the glitch, all three releases are fine for speedrunning.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**NTSC-J (aka "V1.0")**
https://i.imgur.com/iIj4dhv.png

**NTSC-J "Konami The Best" (aka "V1.1")**
https://i.imgur.com/ys1GlX8.png

**NTSC-J "PS one Books" (aka "V1.1")**
https://i.imgur.com/ysoI2Ye.png

V1.1 fixes the Amusement Park skip. Make note of the case and especially the disc. You do not want this version if you want to speedrun (except UFO category because the run ends before the Amusement Park).

Here's where things get a little trickier, the **Konami The Best** version is easy to tell, it has **Konami The Best** on the disc of course, however the PS One Books version has gone back to the V1.0 disc design. Here's how to tell them apart: Look very closely at the disc (not the case, because we don't know if the store or wherever you're buying from has switched discs around etc.), look very closely where the "EN" in **SILENT HILL** is, all three versions have unique codes:

**V1.0**
https://i.imgur.com/F1i3NP2.png
**V1.1 "Konami The Best"**
https://i.imgur.com/qfQTcVj.png
**V1.1 "PS one Books"**
https://i.imgur.com/4L7UJps.png

**So you're looking for "VX131-J1 / SLPM-86192"**

But wait! There's another version:

**NTSC-J (aka "V1.01")**

As if it wasn't complicated enough, there seems to be this extremely rare hotfix version that I bought off ebay, 99.9% of the case, manual and disc are identical to V1.0 except for a bullet point after VX131-J1, make sure to check the disc very carefully, this version seems to have fixed the Amusement Park skip but has no other changes. We will call this "V1.01".

**VX131-J1**
https://i.imgur.com/7wDymoS.png

**VX131-J1⚫**
https://i.imgur.com/dkYd7v7.png

I've not seen any of these before or since, so it seems to be so rare that you probably don't need to worry about it, but check that line on the disc if possible when buying the game.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**PAL**

https://i.imgur.com/qs6Texc.png
(left to right: Black Label, Platinum, PlayStation Network)

The Amusement Park skip was fixed in all PAL versions. You do not want any PAL version if you want to speedrun.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**NTSC-J with Modchips (no stealth)**

The NTSC-J version has Anti Modchip protection which produces this screen when the "KCET" logo appears:
https://i.imgur.com/eoAtrSM.gif
If using a modchipped console that has no stealth. To get around this you can use a gameshark code to disable the Modchip check:

**D01E778E 1040 
801E778E 1000**

Alternative code (for V1.1?):

**D01E7804 2021 
801E7800 FFF6 
D01E7804 2021 
801E7802 1000
After Check:
D00CC08C 0003 
800CC08C 0001**

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A note on the PSN versions: PS one Classics are nothing more than ISO dumps. There is no code alterations or differences to that of the disc versions. PS one Classics can be played on PS3, PSP, Vita and PSTV. These devices use a PS1 emulator (even for discs on PS3). Emulation on PS3 tends to be relatively poor with slowdowns, long load times and sound glitches, however because the ingame timer slows with the framerate, speedrunning this version is still fine. Playing a disc version on PS3 tends to perform better. PSP, Vita and PSTV use the same emulator which is much better than the PS3 emulator overall with some minor glitches (no fades between doors, some framerate drops in other areas). Neither NTSC-J version was ever released on PSN.

PSP: Having "Interlaced" selected in the Video Output section will allow PS one Classics to run in their native resolution of 240p. However for Silent Hill, the menus switch to 480i so you will have cutouts when jumping from the game (240p) to the menu and map (480i) - this will occur even if you have the PSP hooked up to a CRT. Setting the Video Output setting on the PSPs Video Options to "Progressive" overcomes this and outputs a constant 480p. In addition, to optimally run the game you will need a DualShock for analog stick movement on cursor screens, only the PSP go has built in bluetooth and works with a DualShock 3.

Punchy

Aaron

Quidrex

Plywood

Palmer

Andyrion

Silent Hill

PlayStation 2

PlayStation 3

HemZar

JJFoxLegacy

USA / NTSC

JPN / NTSC

Normal

Hard

Console

Emulator

Difficulty

Platform

Going forward we will be requiring a visible IGT timer on submissions performed on emulator, using one of the IGT scripts available under the "Resources" tab for your emulator of choice. Most people already do this, but we're making it mandatory to make run verification easier. Thank you for your un

Nome	Autor
10 Star Rank Requirements	Punchy 5 years ago
10* Guide by Andyrion	Plywood 5 years ago
Bad+ and Good+ Maps	Plywood 5 years ago
NG (Easy) (Bad+ Ending) Tutorial	Punchy 7 years ago
NG Easy Good+ Ammo Routes (Obsolete)	Plywood 5 years ago
OoB "Guide" (maps coming soon!)	Aaron 6 years ago
Out of Bounds tutorial - English and PT-BR	Andyrion 3 years ago
Playing the Intro Area Effectively	Plywood 7 years ago
Silent Hill "NG (Easy)" Blind/Beginner Speedrun Guide	Palmer 7 years ago
Star Ranking and Unlockables Guide	Quidrex 6 years ago
Version Differences	Aaron 3 years ago