Hi,

I´ve been moderating for a while now and i have encountered numerous bottlenecks on this site. Some are smaller, some bigger. One that I believe many moderators understand though is not being able to enable certain timing methods for specific categories.

For example, our Sonic Colors IL Leaderboard only needs IGT to be filled in. We tell runners that in the rules too, but people do not read rules. Thats just how it is really, not only for IL´s but full game runs too. I cannot tell you how many run submissions others and I had to edit (across all games) because people fill in the wrong column; I never liked to reject submissions that had that issue as the boards would be a lot emptier. It is a small QoL change, that would save soooo much time in the long run, over us not having to edit every 3rd submission.

I wonder if this has been brought up before as site feedback, surely others have had that thought before? Is that something SRC has on it´s list to add for the future? Should I create a ticket for it?

Best regards,

Subbaro

Hi everybody,

We've got some important updates regarding the use of the emulator for Sonic Colours (Wii).

After some careful consideration we´ve decided to review the rules to not only keep up with time but also make it more accessible for you guys.

Currently we have only allowed runs to be on the board if the Dolphin version used was strictly 5.0, nothing below nor above. With this point now changing, certain settings to play the game in a way that's acceptable on the leaderboards needed to be adjusted.

These are the new Emulator rules:

• (NEW!!!) Dolphin version 5.0 or later must be used.
• (SIMPLIFIED!!!) Default emulator settings have to be maintained:

1. “Emulated Disc Speed” must be enabled.
2. “Enable CPU Clock Override” must be disabled.
3. “Skip EFB Access from CPU” must be disabled.

• (NEW!!!) The window's title bar showing the emulator version, framerate, etc. must be visible in the video. If your version doesn't show FPS in the window bar (versions past 5.0-17995), you must enable the following manually:

1. Check “Show FPS” in the Graphics settings (Graphics → Advanced).
2. Check “Show Frame Counter” in the Movie settings (Movie Tab).

• Modifications, cheat, editing .ini files and emulator exclusive functions are not allowed.
• Emulator must run at full speed. An occasional lag spike is fine, but consistent slowdown is not.
• Emulator is only allowed for Egg Shuttle and Individual Levels.

Need any help finding these settings? Check out the sticky emulator thread on the forums.

Note: Any of the emulator rules shown above may be changed and retroactively applied if new information about emulation is found that would require a rule change. The moderation team reserves the right to reject any run in case of suspicion of emulator build inaccuracy or falsification.

So what has been changed?

We have simplified several rules regarding settings that are already set up the right way on a fresh install of Dolphin. For reference these settings included the following:

• ""Speed up Disc Transfer Rate" must be disabled in the properties of the game iso."

This setting was inverted to "Emulate Disc Speed" and is enabled by default. This setting can be found by right clicking the game on your games list.

• ""CPU Clock Override" must be set to 100% or turned off completely."

The actual setting's name (in 5.0 as well) is "Enable CPU Clock Override", and it's disabled by default.

• ""Under the graphics settings, in the hacks tab, please uncheck "Skip EFB Access from CPU"".

This setting remains the same and is unchecked by default.

Newer versions (past 5.0-17995) do not show the FPS-Counter in the window's title bar. Therefore you now need to manually enable it as explained in emulator settings.

For further reference on how these rules came to exist in the first place and as they are still the basis of our new rule set, it's best to check out the thread on the Sonic Heroes SRC page, as well as the old Emulator Announcement Thread on the Sonic Colours (Wii) SRC page.

Sonic Heroes: https://www.speedrun.com/sonicheroes/forums/4m5el

Sonic Colours: https://www.speedrun.com/sonic_colors_wii/forums/imscw

As of November 19, 2023 the updated rules will apply to the leaderboards of both Egg Shuttle and Individual Levels.

Lastly, huge shout-out to @Avikaielef for researching and giving us all the advice we needed!

Your Mod-Team