@UbuntuJackson suggested yesterday I do a full-game run.

I looked at it, and the easiest way to record the time and get useful information along the run seems to be with LiveSplit. Or is there a better way ?

Has someone ready splits to share for 0.9.3 ; for any% and expert% ?

Thank you for the splits. I'll try to see what I can do.

I'd a first story mode test run in 50 minutes, but with 2 minutes replaying a level I'd done in silver instead of gold by mistake ; 5 minutes trying to use the gates exploit, and several big unused checkline exploits (like in green valley).

I think going sub-40 won't be hard, but 35 or 33 doesn't seem to leave much margin to error.

I got an expert% run in 1h05m56s (I used @Kitoko 's splits). Won't post it, as there were many big mistakes (lose the FTL race once ? Yes ! Fail to trigger properly some big recuse shortcuts and lose dozens of seconds ? Yes ! Even though in time-trial I got it consistently. And a lot of smaller things).

Loading times are a real issue over the course of a full-run. I don't have a powerful PC, and over 40 races, the delay adds up. Especially as the overworld must also be loaded after each races. Even with 2 seconds of average load, that would amount to 2m40s total.

The pause menu trick to get the start count faster also is not consistent across tracks. The moment it is ready seems to depend on the track complexity. It's very quickly ready in math class, while in cocoa temple or cornfield crossing I have to wait for thunderbird to start going down. It's probably more stable with a powerful enough computer.

If you learn to use properly the double GP skip, given your any% time, I think you can absolutely do it. 1h06m is 12% slower that Kitoko's time, that's a lot. If you have mastered the exploits, you can get it by playing safe. Why have you not put up an expert% run, by the way ?

If I avoid major screw ups, I should be able to post a time around 1h01m-1h02m. I'd rather have you not do two reviews when only one is necessary.

It would be good if we had a way to deduce loading time from the total.

I think I'll try to get a patch in for an IGT timer for 0.9.4. STK's codebase is currently undergoing a change in how time is handled to better keep synch in networking, but once it's settled, it should be doable.

It would be more fun if we had a SuperTux Story Mode ; but from the look of it, it will remain shallow in the foreseeable future. The overworld is an unmanageable mess ; the structure of the Story Mode is basically the same since 5 years because changing it would mean a new overworld and this means new modelling, and they prioritize tracks.

GP skips are honestly not one of the thing giving me difficulty in my runs.The new GP points from 0.9.3 onwards makes it easier than before.

You will win 3 races and get 18 points. If someone else get 18 points, you win the tie. The maximum someone else can do is 24 points. To do 19 to 24, an AI will need to have a near perfect score. Often, you won't even have to try that hard to correct things. In other cases, you may need to be a bit more patient.

For the 2 races you skip, the strategy is as follows : 1)If it's the first race, skip immediately. 2)If it's a race in the middle : try to get the 2nd behind another AI kart or two (preferably not behind only the 3rd). If the 2nd is normal/heavy and there are light karts in the GP, they will overtake it at the very start, so you'll be able to skip after a few seconds. 3)If it's the last race : if the 2nd has 12 points or less, skip immediately. Otherwise, race until he has another AI in front (if it has 13 or 14 points) and skip. Try getting some cake or bowling ball and destroying the 2nd. If it has 15 points or more, you'd need two others AI in front and that can be hard, but that practically never happens, especially if you have been careful in the first skip.

It's useful if you can count well enough to quickly check in your head what's the minimum you need to be safe while the level loads.

And that's for the 5 races GP. For the 4 race GP, you do a simple skip and don't have to worry as you're sure to win.

That said : I did another run.

I improved significantly my previous score (which was actually 1:05:53 ; not 1:05:56) ; with 1:03:41.40. You can check out the splits here : https://splits.io/2g7g

I didn't beat a personal best split until Zen Garden, and got at +1m24s against my best segments after Abysses. Then, I got a few good scores, and despite a screwup in green valley, it was down to +1m13s. Then, I had an awful string of unluck. The two minigolf races were an ordeal, and I got out of the 3rd GP with +1m45s. Most of my remaining PB were bad, so I got it significantly down in the end.

I'm uploading the video ; but despite playing with low graphics quality in 720p ; and despite the fact that the game itself felt snappy enough during the run ; the recording with OBS has an awful framerate during races. I'd say 15FPS or so.

I think I won't do more full-game runs on this computer.

"I think I won't do more full-game runs on this computer."

What bothered me was producing an horrible quality vid and having the run-time destroyed by loading time. But I get a decent quality if I record on Linux rather than on Windows. I'll try something.

EDIT : You can slash down loading time by preloading all the tracks in the RAM before the real run. Use a profile which has them all unlocked. Over the course of a full run, it can easily mean 30s saved if you have a computer like mine. (There still will be load time as the game need to render the track, but the "get it from the hard drive part" is at least skipped)

I finished a run five minutes ago. I beat my record despite an enormous mistake. I need to treat the video before uploading it.

Otherwise, no, I know nothing about Fouks, except what I've read on this forum. It seems he has deleted his account. That's sad for sure, I'd be curious to know too why, but we can't know.

@UbuntuJackson : why is the time for my latest run not the same in the leaderboard and in the video ? Have I missed something ? I thought putting the same times in the form.

Not that I'm against winning 2 seconds, but it's weird having different times displayed, and it's not like it affects the ranking anyways.

(By the way, the Hacienda's time of Kitoko is also wrong by 2 seconds)

Okay. I stopped time on GNU appearing while you stop counting a bit earlier, before this last loading screen. I'll take note for the next run.

It bothered me to have a time I could yet improve a lot.

So I did some runs tonight.

I avoided having too much big mistakes, and managed an exceptional double-skip in the "at world end's" GP (the one with 4 races), thanks to which I can proudly announce that despite those freakin' loading times, I have a new 0.9.3 Expert% WR. With bunny ears on most karts...

I still need to do some treatment on the video. Then, I'll upload it for verification.

Video treated ; now it only needs to be uploaded (that's taking time...) (EDIT : done !)

I raced without direct run comparison, only with my clock. It appears that I remained close to Kitoko until the 2nd GP. Here, I did some mistake and lost nearly 30 seconds to him.It grew slightly until Blackhill Mansion. I hate this shortcut, because it's quite random. Even after a lot of practice (and using the horse kart because it is the one with which I get the more consistent result here), I failed twice on three laps. Then, I did two good single race challenges ; and two excellent closing GP (I got blackhill mansion perfectly the second time). After that, it was a matter of not screwing up. The final time is at 58m12s. Splits : https://splits.io/2h56

@UbuntuJackson : I think you meant expert% ! And it would sure be cool to have a run from you in the 0.9.3 expert% leaderboard.

Personally, I find the GP skips interesting to do.

I did a full-game run using the new built-in timer which discards loading time.

A terrible frustration.

Final IGT counter : 59m39s433 Total loading time (discarded in the IGT total) : 1m15s482

I was at 30m47s IGT (31m21s RTA) at the end of the second GP (record run : 31m20s RTA) I failed a bit in mansion and gran paradiso and a lot in green valley. Combined, probably more than a minute lost due to stupid needless errors. Still I managed a very nice double-skip in the 4-race GP and was at 47m24 IGT after it (48m21s RTA) (record run : 47m40s RTA, but the loading time aren't always the same even for a given player) Then, I completely failed green valley again. I hate the "wrong direction message" which hinders view. I lost over a minute minute over the two laps with accident triggering recue for the first and having to do the full way back from the checkline to the lapline next. I wasn't far from failing to win the race. I lost nearly two minutes over the whole GP...

@Alayan "while in cocoa temple or cornfield crossing I have to wait for thunderbird to start going down It's probably more stable with a powerful enough computer."

It doesn't matter how fast your PC is, Thunderbird drops on those levels are impossible for some reason. Are they the 2 most recent levels? I remember that Cornfield is new, but was Cocoa maybe added in 0.9.2?