ArgentinaThe good thing is that, since this is an underwater level in which you can float, if we managed to replicate this we could theoretically just float out of bounds and make a beeline to the end.
I'm not sure if this would be particularly useful for Any% since you'd miss out on GACs and the last alien given the place we'd be clipping out of, but for NG+ All Bosses this sounds pretty useful.
https://www.speedrun.com/kelly21/allposts https://www.speedrun.com/Mishalk1/allposts --> No links yet (so I wouldn't ban them just yet), but talking about "Payment processors" in a speedrunning forum is a bit of a red flag.
Ohh yes, I had that happen to me as well in the past. We explored the effects alongside @Steb, but unfortunately it'd seem that a lot levels get some sort of softlock after performing this, while also having no way to dispose of its influence, which makes it something you want to avoid at all costs.
From what I've seen, I've found that if you just keep your distance from Gravitina during the cutscene you should be safe from this. If you get close and personal like in the clip you'll probably trigger it everytime.
EDIT: For anyone wondering what this was about since the original post was deleted, basically you can trigger a skip of the gravitina boss fight by getting close to her during the boss start cutscene. This does save time for that specific level, but unfortunately this triggers some major softlocks in future levels, effectively making this a useless skip.
This is an interesting experiment, and I actually thought about reviewing my own history. From the looks of things, I tend to focus on 1-2 games per month.
Anyways, here's mine:
For future reference, our friend @hdc0 has been taking a look at the buzz.exe file for the french version and it turns out this version presents some sort of DRM (ie. copy-protection) which is what was triggering that nasty pop-up @FOGamer was getting here.
Luckily, according to his findings these older DRM versions weren't very effective, so replacing certain encrypted sections of the code with the code from other versions to reconstruct the .exe file as it should be renders the DRM effectively harmless.
For legality's sake, I'm not exactly able to share the .exe file here, but if anyone ever finds themselves wanting to use this particular version feel free to DM me through here or discord and I'll be happy to assist you to perform the required modifications on your own. :)
PS: I'll be adding this info to the guide as well, so as to avoid further confusion towards this version.
Recorded a few extra attempts at Planet Z TT skip. Turns out that you don't need to jump to get it, and you don't even need to trigger the bomb either. In fact, you can even deplete your hoverboard fuel and walk right around the bomb (I usually go for the left)!
As a side note, in the unfortunate case you go for this skip and miss the timing, you can actually trigger it on a second spot further into the level, effectively giving you a second chance! This is the spot in question:
Basically, once you jump over the gap to the platform in front of buzz in the photo, you instantly win (though it's just as finnicky as the first spot). This spot also happens to have a bomb in it, which is getting hard to write off as a coincidence, but I'll let you guys decide for yourselves. :)
Anyways, due to medal restrictions for each level this particular skip is unusable on Any%, but at least it's great to have in mind for 100%!
As far as I know, there's no tool to see that kinda stuff, though for checkpoints/waypoints particularly I'd imagine that the arrow at the bottom-center of the screen always points towards the nearest one, so at least there's that.
As far as I can see in the video, everything seems to be in order according to the guide, so it's puzzling why the game is still looking for a disc.
The guide was made with the US version of the game in mind, so it's possible there's some unknown difference between the US and french versions of the game that might be at play here.
I'll try look into the issue, and hopefully we could have this solved in the near future. My apologies :(
So, during a run I got kinda clipped into the floor during the tunnel section of Bathyos. Since it was during a run, I didn't want to delve deeper out of bounds (since I don't have the faintest idea if it was going to kill my run or not), so I wasn't able to explore much.
...which is really unfortunate, since I haven't been able to replicate it at all ever since. I still have it recorded, so I thought I'd share it here for anyone to give it a try (and/or share your experiences in case you've happened to come across it before):
Upon further inspection of the screenshots you shared, I noticed that the layout for your game folder is different than mine. The folders "audio" and "rtlibs" are supposed to go inside the "data" folder, but for some reason they're at your game's root folder.
I'm glad you have the PS1 version as a workaround, but if you wish to give the PC version a try again I'd suggest starting the installation from scratch, as it'd seem at first glance that something went wrong during the manual instalation of files.
Anyways, good luck with your runs!
PS: I'll update the guide and divide that part into two separate steps, as I understand why the wording could get a bit confusing.
For some reason your registry still has the "cdpath" value, which we normally get rid of during the step-by-step process in the guide:
Did you perhaps forget to run this command? That should probably solve the "disc not inserted" prompt.
In the event the command itself isn't working for some reason, you can proceed and delete the "cdpath" value from the registry with the registry editor.
Yeah, you can get that effect in several levels. As far as I know, you can also get that in Jo Ad 1 at the first turn and in Bathyos in a very specific position at the beginning of the level.
My current hypothesis is that any levels that present that kind of behavior actually don't have any "instant win skips" in them, seeing as how all the levels that have the skips apparently don't glitch the progress bar at all. This is obviously all speculation on my part though (and I'd love to be proven wrong tbh).
EDIT: @Steb has brought to my attention that the progression bar bug is actually present in my second video for the Planet Z skip (which I linked above), so that debunks my hypothesis. Yay!
I'd be ecstatic to find a Time Trial skip on one of the earlier levels, but so far I haven't had any luck with any levels outside Trade World 1 and 2, Canis Lunis 2 and Planet Z.
This latest Planet Z skip seems promising though, since it's so finnicky to pull off that it kinda hints that there's something we're missing that might allow us to trigger even more of these skips in other levels. Only time will tell though.
New update: I've been fiddling a bit with the game and found a new spot on Planet Z Time Trial! However, it's soo finnicky I suspect there some unknown variable at play here other than the ones I mentioned in my guide. Here's two videos showing the new find (second take is much cleaner):
I'd imagine it'd have to do with the fact that PAL versions of PS1 games run at 50 FPS while NTSC versions run at 60 FPS. Is the timer perhaps running slightly slower for Siegel, allowing them to get better in-game times?
Haven't really delved much myself into in-game timers since I've been running mostly Any% full game, which is timed with RTA.
@MasterLeoBlue Yooo that's an amazing find man! Just tried doing it myself and can confirm it's working.
I had been toying with the idea of re-exploring every nook and cranny of every level to see if there were any new findings, and this gives me the small push I needed to proceed in that direction. Thanks!
I'll be adding this info to the guide, also creditting you for the discovery :)
Another cool idea to derive from this is to show this "peak" position of the run in the "Recent Runs" widget instead of the current position, as if I have two runs for the same category and one obsoletes the other, it pushes the rank of the older run below what it released in.
That run that shows as "4th" is only 4th if we include both my new run and the older one, otherwise it'd be 3rd. Showing the original rank it had when it was uploaded would be much more representative for this widget.
