Update: Long story short, Niss3's computer couldn't handle encoding at 60fps, which is what caused us to see clock drift. Niss3's run at 29.97fps had no drift -- though I got to make my usual adjustment of adjusting people faster because they started their timer early. Niss3's now recording at 30fps.
Note: I don't believe this is nefarious. No evidence of foul play, likely a technical explanation for the discrepancy.
Whenever I moderate a time, regardless of the length, I manually verify runs. This is regarding Niss3's River City Ransom speedrun submitted on April 2nd, 2016 (). After first manual verification, I noticed my timing was ~5 seconds off. Re-verified, to get the same result (to within 0.2s). Re-verified again to notice clock drift as I was watching the run.
Video here: Looking at ~5.1 seconds of clock drift between the end times (probably more like 6+ seconds of drift considering Niss3 split early when starting the run), against two separate devices (Core i7-2700 on 150Mbps connection, and iPhone 6S Plus). No evidence of splicing. Likely a technical explanation. However 29.97 vs. 30 fps would only yield about a ~0.45s difference. 25 vs. 24fps would yield a far larger discrepancy (~18.5 sec).
Niss3: If you can supply your Twitch broadcast settings for OBS/XSplit (particularly framerate), and also the original recording, that'd be great.
In the meantime, the frame-correct average of my three timings would be 7:41.867.
It is becoming evident that there may be multiple version of the River City Ransom (NTSC-US) ROM that were released in the United States.
On my cartridge, the first gang encountered (outside of Cross Town High) is ¤always¤ The Frat Guys. However, if I use FCEUX with a ROM, the first gang encountered is ¤always¤ The Generic Dudes. Moreover, Darkwing_Duck_SDA's 7:40.35 run also starts with The Generic Dudes. Elipsis who is using either a PowerPak or EverDrive also always starts with The Generic Dudes. Again, this points to different ROM versions.
On my cartridge, the top of the label says, "NES-DN-USA MADE IN JAPAN". On the reverse, the numbers "1 1" are imprinted in the top-left corner of the label, and "REV-A" is printed on the top-right corner of the label in white text. I received this cartridge I believe in 1990, for my birthday.
If anyone has different cartridge labels than the above, please provide information so folks can identify cartridge versions. The differences between the runs likely do not provide any material advantage for speedruns, but in the event it is discovered that one particular version imparts some advantage, this information will be needed to provide separate categories.
Currently there are no listed rules for River City Ransom on speedrun.com. The goal here is to change this by ensuring rules are codified so timing can be consistent, and potential new runners can more easily find this information before they plan their own attempts.
I've heard multiple allusions to "SDA Timing" for River City Ransom. I've probably Googled for a course of 8 hours across three separate days, including manually trawling the speeddemosarchive.com forums for what timing may be. I cannot find a written record of SDA Timing for RCR. If someone knows where it is, bringing this information forward would greatly simplify this. In particular, if Darkwing_Duck_SDA or Feasel are willing to chime in, your input would be greatly appreciated!
Since there is no existing record, I have used existing runs by Darkwing_Duck_SDA and Feasel to infer timing, of which I believe my understanding is accurate. So using these runs as a guideline, I propose using their timing as a baseline, which is as follows:
"Timing starts when the player(s) gain(s) control outside of the Cross Town High scene. Control is gained when the scene has faded to full brightness, and "Th" of the gang announce text (ex. "The FRAT GUYS' turf!") is visible. Timing ends when the screen fades to black after Simon's post-defeat exposition, which is the exact frame when control of the player character(s) is lost."
