EnglandTo give a more thorough explanation than my esteemed colleague above:
Undertale uses two action keys during text scenes, Z and X. Z immediately displays the remaining text in a text box, and X progresses to the next text box when the text has finished displaying (I may be getting these keys reversed, but the basic point is correct.)
These actions are mirrored by two keys you can use with the right hand: Enter and shift. Ultimately all that is required to text mash is to use the two action keys in rapid alternate succession; a TAS could achieve optimal text mashing by using only Z and X on alternating frames, but this is obviously not possible for humans, so we use both hands to facilitate faster mashing. (Note how some older runners such as TGH on occasion use a controller for specific cutscenes where you don't need to move immediately after the text finishes, on these occasions they're doing this "TAS style mashing" where they're just alternating between two buttons very quickly)
There are two main 'methods' of mashing, at least these were the two methods that were common when I ran actively: Random mashing, and Piano mashing. Random mashing is exactly what it sounds like; you just go wild on the keys and hope for the best results. I don't like this method very much as it has no guarantee of consistency since you have little control over key rollover (Performing the same action on multiple keys on the same frame), but some high level runners like Cookiepocalypse get really good results with this style.
Piano mashing by contrast is more methodical, and is what a lot of runners, myself included opt for. Referring back to what I said about the action keys being Z and X, mirrored on the right hand with Enter and Shift, the technique is to use a rolling action with your index/middle fingers on alternating hands to achieve a rapid Z > X > Enter > Shift > Z > X > Enter > Shift in an infinite sequence. The co-ordination required to do this efficiently can be tricky to develop, but it comes more easily with practice. My favourite way to practice this without having access to have any special tools is to open Notepad and perform the action for an extended time. If you output something that looks like this:
zx zx zx zx zx zx zx
Then you're doing it correctly. If it looks something like this:
zxzx zx zx zxzxzx
zxzx xz zxz x XZ zx
Then you're making a lot of errors. Notice as well how in the first instance there are no capital letters, this indicates that by the time I'm pressing Z, I've already released Shift, this is an important habit to develop early on if you intend to run the latest versions of Undertale as there are bugs concerning input rollover; if a key is currently pressed, the game will not register input from the opposite corresponding key. This is not present in the 1.01 version which a lot of people run, so you have a lot of options to consider.
Make your submissions here, two submissions per runner: https://t.co/Y3ZJGqWTTK
Marathon: Escape To The City (ETTC) Venue: Online Stream: https://www.twitch.tv/drakodan Moderators: Myself This is a fundraiser marathon to help SuperSonic raise the funds to get to ESA and peform his Sonic 1 Glitchless run. It will run on my stream on the listed dates for 12 hours each day, 10AM-10PM EST. Date: June 8th-9th
I recommend joining the Discord server and directly asking for help in the Sonic Adventure 2 channel in that case, you'll be able to describe the issue in greater detail and receive better help in response.
Could be worth trying a couple of things like running Sonic Adventure 2 and the Spades Tool as an Administrator, and making sure the MANIFEST file for Spades Tool is present in its file directory. It's been ages since I've set it up or fiddled with it, but I recall that being a necessary step in the configuration.
There's registry settings you can change so that Windows will never force a shutdown without your express permission, the fact that it's not default is baffling to me though.
Please check the forums before just creating a thread. This has been reported... At least ten times over the last couple of days.
The site staff. All of the site moderators responding in this thread have social media links, and the site Discord is easily accessible through the More menu at the top. These sorts of issues when aired publicly never amount to anything but a shitstorm of flaming, and it honestly can just worsen your case instead of help it.
Oh boy one of these cases again.
Why are you not having this addressed privately? There's OBVIOUSLY nothing that can be done without more specific details being provided, and this isn't the sort of thing that should be discussed publicly in the first place. Just take it to DMs.
Just because a mod will retime your run as part of their duties doesn't mean you should just expect them to do it for you, though. Game moderators can have a tough time keeping up with submissions if a game is active, and it's not fair to make their job harder by adding to their workload. Please make every effort to time your own runs (It's really not rocket science.) and only defer that responsibility if there's some technical knowledge involved that prevents you from accurately calc'ing the time.
Many people do opt for a 6-button, yes, and others still are fine with the original 3-button. Worth trying different options and seeing what works for you.
If you'd like to ask more questions and get faster responses, you should also join the community Discord server, which is shown on the left-hand side.
You're almost always going to need to ask for regulations and rules on a game-by-game basis, so a specific game's forum is a good place to ask these questions, or directly contacting the moderators.
Generally speaking with controllers, you don't have to stick with the original hardware as long as the controller you're using doesn't facilitate actions that can't be used on the original controller (Such as no simultaneous up+down inputs, no turbo etc) and this is the case for Sonic 2 at the very least.
The leaderboards themselves are where you post your times, such as the Sonic 2 boards. The moderators will ensure that your details are correct before verifying (or reject the run if anything is blatantly wrong, please read the rules before submitting a run.) but we do ask that you do make an effort to submit correct timing, as it makes our workload a lot easier.
Please be sure to read the rules before asking questions like this, also you've been submitting to Sonic 1 when the game you're playing is Sonic 1 2013. Game-specific questions are best asked in the game's own forum rather than the general forum since most site users will not have the technical knowledge to answer these questions. Sonic 1 2013 currently does not have IL boards, but for the other games the IL timing is just the IGT displayed at the end of each stage, which you can verify yourself just by checking the other runs on the board. Currently all starts are still just submitted under Real Time.
So you just used Level Select to go to the last stage, then.
Can't see this catching on.
@Daravae "Series are better off without series moderators in general." What is the reasoning behind this? I'm not trying to undermine you, but genuinely asking why this is the case since I would have thought the opposite is true, unless it's purely a concern of individuals having power where they shouldn't have it.
There's no 'need' per se, I just figured it's better for the series to be with a series mod than without one. It's no odds if I'm not added since it's unlikely that the series will see any new releases.
Please could I be added as a Series Mod for the Rocket Knight series?
https://www.speedrun.com/rkseries
I'm the only user on the site to run/moderate every game within the series, but nobody currently has Series Mod powers so there's nobody for me to ask.
Yes, that's the point of an IL. The only stat that matters is the time displayed on the final results screen.
Looks like the last time a moderator for that game was online was 16 days ago. Typically once 21 days have passed that's cause for concern. I'd reach out to the mods over social media, both to ask for your runs to be verified and whether they'd be fine with you being added as a mod for the game, and if you get no response, post in this thread:
