With the most recent patch to the GOG version, the IGT issue in the menu seems to be fixed and so we will allow it on the board. We are still recommending that you use the Classic REbirth patch for the quality of life features, but the base GOG version is perfectly fine. As always, running in Japanese will save minutes over other languages, so you should run on the Japanese version, but the LiveSplit autosplitter is set up to work with the English version as well.
We are currently looking at the GOG version to see how to best incorporate it into the board. It will follow the same rules as the current PC category. We will make this final decision over the weekend so that we have time to look for any surprises, so feel free to start doing runs on the GOG version if you would like to, we just ask that you please hold off on submissions until we make the final call!
From our early tests, it seems that this is just the usual Mediakite version we've all been running on for years, so it will likely just be let into the existing PC boards. The existing autosplitter works with the Japanese language version (the other languages are minutes slower, so they're not a priority to incorporate into the autosplitter at this time) and the Classic REbirth patch also works with it. I have actually updated the autosplitter to work with English to see if it worked as expected, and it did, so you will be able to submit runs in either Japanese or English. (Again, English is minutes slower than Japanese, as are the other languages, so it is strongly recommended to run in Japanese.)
We have recently come across the fact that the final time on the timer during the gameplay and the final time on the results screen do not match in the PAL version, with the results screen time being lower by up to 9 seconds based on info we've gathered. Frame counting shows that the timer during gameplay is accurate, so for PAL runs, we will be taking the time that the timer freezes at upon killing Tyrant as the leaderboard time.
This discrepancy likely has something to do with the way PAL games function (either by recalculating the IGT accounting for the 25/50 fps vs NTSC's 30/60 or by speeding up gameplay to account for the slower fps) and them not quite correctly implementing the fixes into battle game. If I had to guess, based on what we've seen, it appears the gameplay was sped up to match NTSC speed, but the IGT was still recalculated as if it were the slower fps.
PSP has finally been separated from Emulator. There is a new category called PSN for submissions of any digital version of the game: PSP, PSTV, PSVita, PS3 (through PSN download), PS4, PS5. If you play the game with the physical disc on PS1, PS2, or PS3, submit to the PlayStation category.
The rules have also been freshened up a bit to be presented and organized better. Some clarifications have also been made such as explicitly specifying that on all platforms we time by IGT.
You may fastforward through the credits at the end of runs, if you would like. The IGT ends at the fade out after launching the flare/killing Tyrant, so fastforwarding at any point starting at the FMV with Brad landing the helicopter is fine, as long as you make sure the ending IGT screen is still easily viewable. Fastforwarding at any other point in the run will result in rejection of the run.
For Duckstation runs we will be updating the rules to include checking both "Show Game Frame Rate" and "Show Display FPS". Both of these can be found in Display Settings. Any runs submitted before this without both checked won't be removed or anything, this is more to avoid future confusion and give clarification on the rules.
Here is a link to the required settings as of this point:
For the Sega Saturn version, we have done a good deal of testing and as far as we can tell, none of the OOB step ladder glitches work, Barry/Serum/Radio Skip do not work which most likely means Rope Skip will not work as well. Plant 42 skip might work, but performing it successfully will lose so much time on doors that it will lose you time overall. The only Major Glitch that we've been able to reproduce is Chemical Skip, so following the lead of the DS version, we do not feel this one glitch is enough justification for a category split and we have therefore combined the boards and changed Major Glitches to a variable instead of a sub-category.
If it is ever proven that these glitches do, in fact, work, we can revert the change.
We've added PC as an option using the Battle Game mod found here: http://aydanwatkins.x10host.com/
Since this has its own timer on the screen, we are not requiring the use of LiveSplit or an SRT to display IGT. You can find submissions for the Battle Game under the Level Leaderboard.
With the most recent patch to the GOG version, the IGT issue in the menu seems to be fixed and so we will allow it on the board. We are still recommending that you use the Classic REbirth patch for the quality of life features, but the base GOG version is perfectly fine. As always, running in Japane
