Two years ago, when we worked to make TheXTech IGT-viable, it was discovered that SMBX increases the Framerate from 65 to 100 during Keyhole exits, artificially inflating the counted time by ~1.685 seconds. Wohlstand added a fix for TheXTech immediately, but to maintain consistency with X2, the fix was disabled for Mode 2 + 3.
An X2 Dev did state that he wants to fix this issue on his side as well, but said he can't make any promises regarding when. In the meanwhile, TheXTech continued to mature, in some cases gaining better backwards-compatibility than X2. [#401] [#539]
The X-Tech Team made the following conclusions:
-
We are obligated to maintain accuracy to 1.3. It's a top priority for us and we hold ourselves to the highest standards.
-
We don't care about consistency with X2. That is beyond our scope.
-
We have planned features in our roadmap that aim to make TXT the most attractive program for speedrunning SMBX64 episodes following version 1.3.7. We don't want unrelated projects to artificially hold back our progress.
For these reasons, we have decided to enable the fixed framerate in Mode 2 and 3 from 1.3.6.1 onward:
https://github.com/Wohlstand/TheXTech/pull/550
Additionally, Mode 2 will enable critical bugfixes like #50 and #284.
1.3.6 is the last version where Mode 2 aims to mimic X2. Mode 2 will continue to represent an authentic SMBX 1.3 experience with only the most essential bugfixes in place.
What does this imply for the SMBX Speedrunning Community?
The SMBX Speedrunning Community will have to decide where to go from here. Possible Options akin to what other Speedrun Communities do include:
-
Split Leaderboards between TXT, X2 and 1.3, giving each their own different set of rules.
-
Make 1.3.5.3 and 1.3.6 the only allowed TXT Versions on the Boards. (If X2 fixes the Keyhole Exit issue, this needs to be revisited.)
-
Don't adjust rules and accept that some versions are inherently advantageous over others. This would mean that:
-
TXT is the best Version for Full Game runs, followed by X2, followed by 1.3.
-
1.3, if allowed, is the best Version for Level Runs as RTA doesn't track Frameskips. TXT and X2 stay equal.
If you have any questions or feedback, you can contact me or Wohlstand here, or join the Moondust Discord/Matrix:
There is a small additional note from me: the keyhole fix will NOT affect single-level runs. Basically it will affect episode runs where player have to exit by a keyhole at least once. Also, this fix makes in-game timer being consistent with a real time, just because keyhole moment will no longer add extra seconds anymore.
Honestly, i think the best option is just only allow 1.3.5.3 and 1.3.6 cuz honestly. Splitting each version will just make wayy too many empty categories and obviously we shouldn't do option 3 because a version being an advantage is never a good thing. Only problem with option two tho is verifiers will never actually know what version of the thextech ur using and i cant really think of a way to fix this particular issue :/
As I already said, this change affects only episode runs in condition that at least one keyhole exit is being used. This change does NOT affects single-level runs and they should be fine to be accepted at new versions too. And also, this change does NOT affects the external real-time measurement. I.e. if you measure the playthrough using external timer, it will show the same result on all versions.
Only problem with option two tho is verifiers will never actually know what version of the thextech ur using and i cant really think of a way to fix this particular issue :/
1.3.6.1 introduces an Animation for the Keyhole Exit that is not present in 1.3.6 and older:
That makes it easy to distinguish.
So apparently, beta 5 fixes the keyhole bug so using versions 1.3.6.1+ in full game runs should be fine now
If you want to verify you can use this Test Case: https://files.catbox.moe/xdgbqe.7z
Playing as Toad should result in 11.746 seconds on the newest X2 and TXT Versions.
ok so with both versions im getting 6.630, not 11.746. But either way since both versions gets the same time, 1.3.6.1+ should definitely be fine now
