Amnesia: The Dark Descent

2012-03-07 10:41:15 am

What?

Storage time comparison:

Time So far: 38.2s
Estimated: 55s (4-5s for rod boost, 9-15s for 2 Save warps & getting last drill bit)
Old Route With save-warp: 75s - 80s
Old Run: 88s

---
Days of attempts and route revisions (and days of experimenting with different places to go OOB near the drill bits) leads to about 30s of improvement. Not too bad :P.

This route exploits the save-warp to cover maximum distance. Before I would get the first drill bit and then go OOB and do a rather large walk over to the rods (Which wasn't even a straight line), and then do at least half that walk back to get the remaining drill bits.
Instead, I get the two drill bits and go OOB very close to the rods, negating that whole walk. In essence, the time difference comes from the time spent walking over to the rods from the first drill bit & then backtracking to the reamining drill bits VS the time spent collecting the 2 drill bits from the start door & performing the new jumps to get over to the rods. I am effectively cutting out moving along about 3/4 of the map - hence the rather shocking time difference.

Storage time comparison:

[b]Time So far:[/b]  38.2s
[b]Estimated:[/b]  55s  (4-5s for rod boost, 9-15s for 2 Save warps & getting last drill bit)
[b]Old Route With save-warp:[/b] 75s - 80s
[b]Old Run:[/b]  88s

---
Days of attempts and route revisions (and days of experimenting with different places to go OOB near the drill bits) leads to about 30s of improvement. Not too bad :P.

This route exploits the save-warp to cover maximum distance. Before I would get the first drill bit and then go OOB and do a rather large walk over to the rods (Which wasn't even a straight line), and then do at least half that walk back to get the remaining drill bits.
  Instead, I get the two drill bits and go OOB very close to the rods, negating that whole walk. In essence, the time difference comes from the time spent walking over to the rods from the first drill bit & then backtracking to the reamining drill bits VS the time spent collecting the 2 drill bits from the start door & performing the new jumps to get over to the rods. I am effectively cutting out moving along about 3/4 of the map - hence the rather shocking time difference.

André

2012-03-07 11:03:31 am

Main Work!!!

Wouldn't that been faster if you take the left drill part, pass the grunt, Grab the 2nd drill downstair, dodge the grunt, grab the last drill part, save-warp through wall(end of seg.), Boost up the wall before falling and save(end of seg.), Boost, Boost and save(end of seg.), insane jump, grab the rods and savewarp through level(end of storage). I don't know if what I said was faster, but your plan seem pretty damn beast.

Apjjm

Edit history:

Apjjm: 2012-03-07 11:13:48 am

2012-03-07 11:12:25 am

What?

I have a feeling i might need to trigger the flashback to stop myself getting mauled by mr face.

Edit: put up the spreadsheet of times and stuff to google docs:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AjfUC8H5ZnjWdEU0emVBZy15Q3RYWGRBUUJQbi1JYkE#gid=0
I can't promise i'll remember to update it but i will try to as i perform new segments.

André

Edit history:

André: 2012-03-07 11:13:41 am

2012-03-07 11:13:27 am

Main Work!!!

I'll do and upload a video it's possible without but it's very, very hard. You need the stair boost.

Apjjm

Edit history:

Apjjm: 2012-03-07 11:27:04 am

Apjjm: 2012-03-07 11:26:40 am

Apjjm: 2012-03-07 11:26:39 am

2012-03-07 11:24:17 am

What?

Ok so, it does seem possible. Just got an attempt which was alright (i'm near 100% reliable at the initial save glitch now which is very useful as mr face doesn't like co-operating!). Going to try and use that as my TTB (37s). I need to get under 36 really.

André

2012-03-07 11:32:12 am

Main Work!!!

I just uploaded a video to help you a bit, you only need to close the door but only a little so the grunt will start to hit it a little away and you'll reopen the door to go to the next spot here it is:

André

2012-03-08 08:59:47 am

Main Work!!!

Almost done with my part 1(I'll upload a similar way to Apjjm(up to BH, up to Prison, up to Sewer, up to Ch3 and until the end), I only need to do the Archive tunnels which by the way I need your help Apjjm and Adam. I start the segment, I go in the second room I throw the barrel in a straight line to the other barrel to angle them perfectly together so that I can boost and I don't lose time to get on the roof(since I run in a straight line boosting up with them) but I need help on the second part, I think the jump between the beginning and the end of the level(where you use the barrel in your segmented AP(I'll reduce this way if you don't mind Tongue

), I think you can do it without a barrel by upward boosting on the little corner(there's a small square that is a little higher than the roof on the corner of it), up to now I haven't succeed boosting on this but I only test it out for like 3 hours and upward boost is my greatest weakness in glitching(just check the entrance of the cistern and the choirs of all my runs Tongue

).

Almost done with my part 1(I'll upload a similar way to Apjjm(up to BH, up to Prison, up to Sewer, up to Ch3 and until the end), I only need to do the Archive tunnels which by the way I need your help Apjjm and Adam. I start the segment, I go in the second room I throw the barrel in a straight line to the other barrel to angle them perfectly together so that I can boost and I don't lose time to get on the roof(since I run in a straight line boosting up with them) but I need help on the second part, I think the jump between the beginning and the end of the level(where you use the barrel in your segmented AP(I'll reduce this way if you don't mind :P ), I think you can do it without a barrel by upward boosting on the little corner(there's a small square that is a little higher than the roof on the corner of it), up to now I haven't succeed boosting on this but I only test it out for like 3 hours and upward boost is my greatest weakness in glitching(just check the entrance of the cistern and the choirs of all my runs :P ).

AdamAK

2012-03-08 11:21:43 am

Totally rad

Using an upward boost sounds a lot more difficult than the barrel strategy to me. I'll try some stuff out over there in the coming days, though. Will let you know how it works out.

Apjjm

Edit history:

Apjjm: 2012-03-08 01:56:04 pm

Apjjm: 2012-03-08 01:53:16 pm

2012-03-08 01:52:38 pm

What?

I had tried with the corner but I think the height difference is too small to get a boost off of, i had also looked for spots to get a speed boost off and then bunnyhop but, again, no joy with that. Not saying it isn't possible but i do recall spending a good few hours at it without it working once.

Hopefully will have a video up (on my new youtube account) of the back hall area by the end of next week :).

André

Edit history:

André: 2012-03-08 04:09:39 pm

André: 2012-03-08 04:09:21 pm

André: 2012-03-08 03:52:22 pm

André: 2012-03-08 02:08:45 pm

2012-03-08 02:08:18 pm

Main Work!!!

I saw you had a new Youtube account when I received a message saying Apjjm subscribe to you and I was like "He didn't already". that's sad for the Archive tunnels but I'll stay with the older strat. Good news, I found a way to skip the Parasol cinematic Smiley

. As soon as I'll finish the "Damn" Machine Room, I'll upload my segmented run up to the end of CH.1 and you'll see how in this vid Smiley

. Finally it's done, I'm currently uploading it so it should be up soon, so finally, the first glitch I ever found in this game will be useful Tongue

. I'll explain the glitch before the video end uploading, first I use my old route in the Back hall(stair ramp, floor ramp and 2nd floor ramp jump) to start with the Study, then I do the guess and the storage but when I'm done with the storage, it appear that the cinematic hit box is a lot smaller when you do it in this order(like only around the fountain, it's a square(the size demarcation is the walls and pillars right aside the fountain)). When the video will be upload, I'll edit Smiley

. Ok, it's upload and should be accesible soon:

I'm planning on redoing the Rainy Hall and the Wine Cellar because the RNG is really a B***H with me(the wine cellar puzzle is the best I got in over 5K attempt and it's late in the segment). The machine room of course and maybe the archive tunnel if my new strat may work.

I saw you had a new Youtube account when I received a message saying Apjjm subscribe to you and I was like "He didn't already". that's sad for the Archive tunnels but I'll stay with the older strat. Good news, I found a way to skip the Parasol cinematic :) . As soon as I'll finish the "Damn" Machine Room, I'll upload my segmented run up to the end of CH.1 and you'll see how in this vid :) . Finally it's done, I'm currently uploading it so it should be up soon, so finally, the first glitch I ever found in this game will be useful :P . I'll explain the glitch before the video end uploading, first I use my old route in the Back hall(stair ramp, floor ramp and 2nd floor ramp jump) to start with the Study, then I do the guess and the storage but when I'm done with the storage, it appear that the cinematic hit box is a lot smaller when you do it in this order(like only around the fountain, it's a square(the size demarcation is the walls and pillars right aside the fountain)). When the video will be upload, I'll edit :) . Ok, it's upload and should be accesible soon:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zR9v8bInQx4

I'm planning on redoing the Rainy Hall and the Wine Cellar because the RNG is really a B***H with me(the wine cellar puzzle is the best I got in over 5K attempt and it's late in the segment). The machine room of course and maybe the archive tunnel if my new strat may work.

Apjjm

Edit history:

Apjjm: 2012-03-08 05:00:15 pm

Apjjm: 2012-03-08 04:59:28 pm

Apjjm: 2012-03-08 04:59:17 pm

Apjjm: 2012-03-08 04:53:44 pm

Apjjm: 2012-03-08 04:46:31 pm

Apjjm: 2012-03-08 04:44:42 pm

Apjjm: 2012-03-08 04:41:03 pm

Apjjm: 2012-03-08 04:13:01 pm

2012-03-08 04:12:41 pm

What?

Firstly, nice find. It appears the combination of the note + all 3 machine rods overrides a flashback trigger with the guardian event.

From rough estimates as an upper bound this would save 6 seconds. I am going to contact flip and ask if I am permitted to re-route keeping my newest storage segments (i am happy to go back one or two segments (i'm at the study now)) provided I end up with the correct sanity & health values (which i can calculate). If this is not the case i wil have to skip this change as i don't think i'll ever get storage segments as good as i just did :(.

3:13 - The physics deforming bookshelf made me laugh
Entrance Hall - Nice boosts
Archives - This is a really nice route and especially considering the segment length execution is nice.
Wine cellar - Getting caught on the barrel was a little bit unfortunate. Might be able to use a save-glitch to get through the door in the room you get trapped in.
Laboratory - cuprite Tongue

Refinery - you can move all the boxes by just picking up bottom back one.
Water part - Does the wheel count as a puzzle? you could just save glitch through.
Water part Chase - this can be done faster but I know it is very hard.
Study - You can use the spade to glitch through the wall to save time. I am assuming you are not using save warps?
Storage & Machineroom - There are save warps here too if you are using them. Machine room could be smoother but this place is very annoying Wink

.

Firstly, nice find. It appears the combination of the note + all 3 machine rods overrides a flashback trigger with the guardian event.

From rough estimates as an upper bound this would save 6 seconds. I am going to contact flip and ask if I am permitted to re-route keeping my newest storage segments (i am happy to go back one or two segments (i'm at the study now)) provided I end up with the correct sanity & health values (which i can calculate). If this is not the case i wil have to skip this change as i don't think i'll ever get storage segments as good as i just did :(.

3:13 - The physics deforming bookshelf made me laugh
Entrance Hall - Nice boosts
Archives - This is a really nice route and especially considering the segment length execution is nice.
Wine cellar - Getting caught on the barrel was a little bit unfortunate. Might be able to use a save-glitch to get through the door in the room you get trapped in.
Laboratory - cuprite :P
Refinery -  you can move all the boxes by just picking up bottom back one.
Water part - Does the wheel count as a puzzle? you could just save glitch through.
Water part Chase - this can be done faster but I know it is very hard. 
Study - You can use the spade to glitch through the wall to save time. I am assuming you are not using save warps?
Storage & Machineroom - There are save warps here too if you are using them. Machine room could be smoother but this place is very annoying ;) .

André

Edit history:

André: 2012-03-08 05:01:46 pm

André: 2012-03-08 05:01:18 pm

2012-03-08 04:59:38 pm

Main Work!!!

I just don't want to use save warp at all, including to get through walls, The room I'm trapped in is a puzzle by itself sadly because I found a way to get out without save warping. I might reconsider the Refinery but it's freakingly hard to do without falling insane, the reason why I do the whole cellar archives with my sanity so low that I look drunk. For the moment, the place I'm sure to restart are the Rainy Hall, Wine Cellar, Study(btw, the window is a puzzle) and the machine room and I'll check for the rest. I don't want to use save warp and I also don't want to use more than 1 seg by level.

Apjjm

Edit history:

Apjjm: 2012-03-08 05:08:05 pm

2012-03-08 05:07:11 pm

What?

Ah of course, the window in the study. So far it looks good, there are places it could be smoother but i'm sure you know them already and taking into consideration the segment length (my longest segment IS the machine room) they shouldn't be an issue (except the ones you said you would redo). Nice run so far Smiley

André

2012-03-09 01:10:52 am

Main Work!!!

Honestly, that was the reason why I didn't want to do an segmented run because if I wanted it to be perfect, I would try like over 3 weeks by segment to be perfect. So that's why I have the impression that I don't have what it take to do a segmented run of Amnesia, since I use to judge my SS like a barely acceptable segmented run. So when it came to the segmented, after reconsideration, none of my segment are acceptable. So if I don't find a way to record SS without lag of this game, I'll probably let this project down even considering it's been 8 months I've been working on this Sad

.

weawer

2012-03-12 04:19:24 am

hmm maybe i should take up the challange off SS again now... worked on one before but quit becouse of uni stuff

André

2012-03-12 11:13:28 pm

Main Work!!!

First, hi weawer, it's been a years Tongue

. Second, I think but I'm not sure that I found the cause of the lag spikes in my speedruns, it's almost always happening when I'm doing my new OOB trick in the entrance Hall, so even if it save about 20 seconds, I'll have to stick with the oldest one, if it does work, I'll probably continue working on this until I hit 30(since my best recorded speedrun is 31:05 and the one with huge lag spike was 30:21. I would really love you guys beating my current record but if this is the only problem with my run, I should restart destroying this game soon enough Wink

.

AdamAK

2012-03-13 01:28:16 am

Totally rad

You mean the boost-jump on the ruined stairs is ruining things for you? That's really odd. I can experiment with it for a bit to see whether the same happens to me.

Haven't been able to figure anything out in the OOB Archives Tunnel, by the way (about boosting across the gap).

The magic 30-barrier has to be broken soon!

André

Edit history:

André: 2012-03-13 07:42:16 am

André: 2012-03-13 07:41:51 am

2012-03-13 07:40:49 am

Main Work!!!

First, it seems to work, I'm not completely sure but I've been able to record three run, The first one 31:18, The second one 33:12(a really bad run for me :S ) and the last one, 31:20 with a 1m25 seconds in the inner sanctum glitch(which mean if I would have done it in less than 5 seconds, I would have sub 30 Sad

) and there was a 30 seconds archives tunnel but I succeeded to go across the gap in a SS Smiley

. I wasn't talking about the stair boost, I was talking about the OOB on the window without a chair and finally, I've decided to not do the Archive tunnels gap, because I'm playing so safe that it's finally slower, I won't do the huge choir boost and my morgue strat.

I tried boosting the AT an additional hour but I don't think it's possible Sad

.

Apjjm

2012-03-14 01:15:21 pm

What?

Back hall hub completed Smiley

André

2012-03-15 01:20:21 am

Main Work!!!

That's totally insane, the only place that bother me a bit is the Study, I'm pretty sure a second could be shaved but the rest is simply perfect thumbsup

. You make my SS look like a Toy "r" us Tongue

.

Blazier

2012-03-15 06:55:26 am

Awesome Apjjm! Long wait... but it was worth it.

André

2012-03-15 05:20:14 pm

Main Work!!!

Here's a couple of thing,
let's start with the bad ones, if I want to do a segmented 100%, I'll have to restart from the beginning, it appear that screenflow doesn't recognize my 100% WIP speedrun, I can't open it anymore, god that I'm really getting tired with these thing.
a good thing, I know we won't restart every single time someone find something but if you eventually intend to do the entrance hall with the 3 boosts at the end, you might want to consider this one too, it's fairly easy to do(like 2 or 3 frames).

Apjjm

Edit history:

Apjjm: 2012-03-16 12:57:16 pm

Apjjm: 2012-03-16 10:37:12 am

2012-03-16 10:35:21 am

What?

I cant view the video you posted as it says it is private.
Certain segments i can go back and redo (the entrance hall is one of them, as is the old archives - I will spend more time on these at the end of the run). Study could have been a little cleaner so that may be subject to the same treatment when i've done the run. Going to try and crank out the next video over the following two weeks as term just finished at UNI and I have 4 weeks off to work on things. Working on uploading a seperate video of the storage route in my latest part (complete with a slowmo bit) just because the video up currently is quite dark and doesn't do it justice Tongue

André

2012-03-16 10:59:00 am

Main Work!!!

yeah I would want to see the third segment of your storage clearer(in brightness Tongue

) and my vid should be fixed.

Apjjm

Edit history:

Apjjm: 2012-03-16 12:58:15 pm

2012-03-16 12:56:43 pm

What?

Ok, so it appears youtube just doesn't like the format mp4s i'm uploading, so now rendering uncompressed and then converting into xvid instead using vdub which seems to fix the issue. Also applied some gamma and brightness adjustments to compensate for the storage being incredibly dark anyway without youtube making things worse. Will have a play around with the entrance hall boosts when the time comes to do some new attempts but nice find.