Comments
Overfiendvip5 years ago

All I did for your run's real time is change, primarily, the start time for your run, because the way I time these runs is based on player control. Control is gained right after the first checkpoint save in the game (once you've landed after parachuting) and control is (mostly) lost when you're congratulated at the end. I think timing based on such control gain/loss is the most fair thing to do. Additionally, what a timer says is not gospel, since it could be inaccurate for any number of reasons - the main one being that the player simply didn't start it or stop it at the right time - so I personally always open the run up in a video viewer afterward and check the start and end frames to confirm the actual time.

Yes, I basically would want a more sophisticated means of automatically removing the moments of time that the game is not in player control. From what I can tell, such autosplitters only detect when the bar on the loading screen is moving from empty to full, which is only roughly half the time the game is spent outside of player control. It's not ideal and not what I consider a proper calculation of "in game time" or otherwise, but again, I have no idea how to have a program know how to calculate out every instance of lost control, and thus, have always done this process manually for my own runs, even despite the amount of time it consumes for me to do so.

Overfiendvip5 years ago

Wasn't sure what to title this.

As most people who speedrun PC games seriously are aware, having to deal with ever-evolving hardware is the underlying problem with trying to do so, and that it feels more fair to compare runs based on their execution (their time 'without loads') than to compare runs based on their real time (their time 'with loads').

For my personal bests, I've always tried calculating out all of the frames I observed the game spent frozen in a 'read' or 'write' state - similar to how I think SDA verifiers performed their calculations when handling my runs in the past - to the best of my ability. I've always done this manually; I've never had an automatic means of doing this. And I've always wanted these leaderboards to have a column for this "excluding loads" time I'm describing, but didn't want to implement it until there was a way to do this automatically.

I don't expect to return to F.E.A.R. much anymore, so making an automatic process that would accurately detect every instance of when the game is not in player control (due to a read/write condition) and calculate that time out of the splits is not something that I will be trying to do, nor do I have prior experience in anyway.

I do want to stress that my intention was to have every instance of the described player non-control be involved in the calculation, rather than making a crude program that only recognizes between-stage loading screens. That means checkpoint saves, quicksave saves, save loads, et cetera. A program that only calculates out SOME of the loads and produces a time from that would just feel (more) arbitrary, in my opinion.

So to anyone that comes across this, I just wanted people to be aware that it's not my intention for these leaderboards to only have a "real time" column, but didn't want to incorporate an "excluding loads" column that only excluded a portion of the loads. I did consider making what I described a reality myself, but, well, never had enough of an interest compared to other affairs to devote time to it, let alone experience making such programs.

I don't have any expectation of this being made a reality, and I can't foresee there being enough runs (at least, anytime in the near future) for this issue to even matter on a significant level, but I figured this thread would be worth making for posterity's sake if nothing else. If anyone ever shows up that actually attempts to do this, you have my gratitude.

Spl1t likes this
Overfiendvip6 years ago

I don't see the harm in having a glitchless category here. The original game appears to have quite a few glitchless runs, so there's at least a group of individuals that want to play such a category. There is definitely a significant difference - at least in the original game and its expansions - between a run that applies all possible exploits (like my personal best) and a run that doesn't apply any. Therefore, if that's one of the ways you and/or others enjoy running the game, then that's fine with me.

Overfiendvip6 years ago

G'day,

I have removed the "100% (Glitchless)" category because, among other reasons, I could not determine what made the run listed there "100%", nor do I myself even know what would constitute "100%" for this game. However, I do think that a "100%" category would, at the very least, involve acquiring every health and reflex booster, which the run that was listed there did not do.

Additionally, "Any%" now exists, as do individual level listings for each of the bonus stage/difficulty combinations.

Thank you for your understanding!

thread: The Site
Overfiendvip6 years ago

Requesting control of https://www.speedrun.com/f.e.a.r._pm

Since I'm in the process of creating a page for the other expansion (Extraction Point), I figured now would be the time to request this. I have worked on this game off-and-on since 2013, along with other F.E.A.R. games. The two moderators there appear inactive, and neither have a time in this game. There also isn't an "Any%" category, only a "100%" category with nonsensical rules listed.

About Overfiendvip
Joined
9 years ago
Online
8 months ago
Runs
74
Games run
Super Metroid
Super Metroid
Last run 4 years ago
32
Runs
F.E.A.R. Perseus Mandate
F.E.A.R. Perseus Mandate
Last run 5 years ago
14
Runs
Secret of Mana
Secret of Mana
Last run 8 years ago
8
Runs
Super Metroid ROM Hacks
Super Metroid ROM Hacks
Last run 5 years ago
5
Runs
F.E.A.R. Extraction Point
F.E.A.R. Extraction Point
Last run 5 years ago
3
Runs
F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin
F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin
Last run 9 years ago
2
Runs
Super Metroid Category Extensions
2
Runs
Games followed
Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen
8
visits
Panic Bomber
Panic Bomber
Last visit 7 years ago
1
visit
Ultimate Air Combat (Aces: Iron Eagle 3)
2
visits
F.E.A.R. Extraction Point
F.E.A.R. Extraction Point
Last visit 4 years ago
162
visits
F.E.A.R. Perseus Mandate
F.E.A.R. Perseus Mandate
Last visit 4 years ago
440
visits
Games moderated
F.E.A.R. Perseus Mandate
F.E.A.R. Perseus Mandate
Last action 5 years ago
16
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