Batman: Arkham Asylum

2014-01-15 07:20:17 pm

The Dork Knight himself.

Ok, so the official best time for Easy mode is 1:45:19, which can be found here. I originally thought the stopwatch on my phone was off but after doing a more proper timing of the video I realized I just forgot the exact time (for some reason I thought it was 09 instead of 19). Now going by how bad that run is, I'd say almost a full minute or more can be saved with slightly better luck and more solid execution.

Btw if anyone playing PC wants to get higher framerates (so long as you don't mind some screen tearing), do this: From the launcher, open up the settings panel and disable vsync. Then, open up the folder that has the default config files (for me that would be C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Batman Arkham Asylum GOTY\BmGame\Config) and edit DefaultEngine.ini in Notepad/similar text editor. Find the section that has bSmoothFrameRate. There will be a bunch of entries there. You can either set bSmoothFrameRate to False, OR you can simply increase the MaxSmoothedFrameRate to whatever you want. I have mine set to False and 120. For some reason on my system using False doesn't completely disable the feature, so I just increased the max to what my monitor can push out (120hz refresh FTW!!!). It's very possible to get way over 120 in this game. In fact 200 is pretty easy. The biggest benefit to the higher framerate is the game controls respond much quicker, making quick attacks easier to time during fights.

Ok, so the official best time for Easy mode is 1:45:19, which can be found [url=http://ge.tt/3EmGkUE1/v/0?c]here.[/url] I originally thought the stopwatch on my phone was off but after doing a more proper timing of the video I realized I just forgot the exact time (for some reason I thought it was 09 instead of 19). Now going by how bad that run is, I'd say almost a full minute or more can be saved with slightly better luck and more solid execution.

Btw if anyone playing PC wants to get higher framerates (so long as you don't mind some screen tearing), do this: From the launcher, open up the settings panel and disable vsync. Then, open up the folder that has the default config files (for me that would be C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Batman Arkham Asylum GOTY\BmGame\Config) and edit DefaultEngine.ini in Notepad/similar text editor. Find the section that has bSmoothFrameRate. There will be a bunch of entries there. You can either set bSmoothFrameRate to False, OR you can simply increase the MaxSmoothedFrameRate to whatever you want. I have mine set to False and 120. For some reason on my system using False doesn't completely disable the feature, so I just increased the max to what my monitor can push out (120hz refresh FTW!!!). It's very possible to get way over 120 in this game. In fact 200 is pretty easy. The biggest benefit to the higher framerate is the game controls respond much quicker, making quick attacks easier to time during fights.

OllieJS100

2014-01-16 02:58:29 am

Arkham Speedrunner

Should we not leave the frame rate as the game intended? If we start messing around with files and what not does it not give you an unfair advantage over someone who has the normal frame rate or cant run it at 120fps?

OllieJS100

Edit history:

OllieJS100: 2014-01-16 07:14:22 am

2014-01-16 07:13:42 am

Arkham Speedrunner

I found a new strat in the botanical gardens predator room 1. You can skip the entire predator room altogether by simply never triggering the predator room, much like in the pump predator room. Ill post a highlight below. Also is seems really consistent so shouldn't be to difficult Tongue

Also the thugs are still there on the way back after saving carl todd so i also included a way to get into the room with the electrified water without being seen.

http://www.twitch.tv/olliejs100/c/3558188

OllieJS100

2014-01-16 08:18:17 am

Arkham Speedrunner

Ok so found another skip for the second predator room in the botanical gardens. Again by never triggering the predator room you can go in and out of doors no problem. This skip is a little more tough as the line launch position is a bit more tricky because when you use the line launcher on the stairs you move a few steps. Also if you are too low on the stairs then the thugs see you when you line launch past them. And if you are to high then your line launcher gets caught on the arch way above you will drop down in front of the thugs.

I guess the backup strat for this would be if you mess the line launch up you can always use the batclaw and just take everyone out that way

http://www.twitch.tv/olliejs100/c/3558343

RoboSparkle

2014-01-16 08:44:42 am

Magical. Flying. Bathtub

Looks great, I'll have to try them when I get my Xbox set up again.

OllieJS100

2014-01-16 03:13:36 pm

Arkham Speedrunner

Its just occured to me that darthknight uses these new predator room strats in his new 1:42:49 run found here

Surprised you didn't share them with us darth seeing as you didn't do them in either of your SDA submitted runs

OllieJS100

Edit history:

OllieJS100: 2014-01-16 03:15:26 pm

2014-01-16 03:13:44 pm

Arkham Speedrunner

Sorry double post

honorableJay

2014-01-16 03:25:36 pm

The Dork Knight himself.

Ollie: changing the framerate doesn't make a run invalid unless the game starts behaving erratically. Since the game still runs at the same speed no matter the framerate, then it's perfectly fine to disable the frame smoothing. The only reason the feature is there is to keep the game running smoothly without the constant frame rate changes that throw off a lot of players. As far as the unfair advantage, the difference between 60 and 120 isn't as great as the change from 30 to 60 (Robo can attest to that).

RoboSparkle

2014-01-16 04:14:41 pm

Magical. Flying. Bathtub

Quote from OllieJS100:

Its just occured to me that darthknight uses these new predator room strats in his new 1:42:49 run found here

Surprised you didn't share them with us darth seeing as you didn't do them in either of your SDA submitted runs

This - you've obviously known about them for long enough to find the refinements that make them both quicker and safer than Ollie's strats. Also I'd really have appreciated knowing that you could skip Croc's fixed spawn after spore 3, that's fantastic!

Also, we'd all really love it if you could start racing with us on SRL - it's kind of a shame that we have someone so interested in speedrunning this game who isn't part of the races. We do regular races on Sunday evenings but if you have IRC join #Batman on the SpeedRunsLive IRC server as that's where the Arkham Speedrunners hang out. Actually that paragraph goes for anybody reading this who is interested in running the game Smiley

Diablohead

2014-01-16 04:16:57 pm

Arkham speed runner.

Just seen your highlights ollie, why have we never thought of that before, good stuff.

RoboSparkle

Edit history:

RoboSparkle: 2014-01-16 04:22:31 pm

2014-01-16 04:22:14 pm

Magical. Flying. Bathtub

Quote from Diablohead:

Just seen your highlights ollie, why have we never thought of that before, good stuff.

Actually Darthknight got there first Tongue

on his video it's 57:38 going in and 1:05:37 going out. Both of those appear to be quicker and definitely safer than what Ollie found.

Diablohead

2014-01-16 04:30:24 pm

Arkham speed runner.

There are some other fights I wanted to try and find skips for but never could, not without an early line launcher at least.

Need to watch darthknight's run in full tomorrow, I skipped over it to compare my splits to his, made me cry!

RoboSparkle

2014-01-16 04:42:11 pm

Magical. Flying. Bathtub

Lol, there are a few minor sloppy areas where he takes a punch or two in combat, he gets a Bane Taunt (unfortunate RNG) and doesn't use my gel strats for Scarecrow 1. There are the odd 1-2 second instances dotted throughout so a small (and I do mean small) amount of time can be shaved off but I know without timing it that his Killer Croc is the fastest recorded version out there and if he submits this to SDA I'll accept it without hesitation.

What made me cry is the utter and repugnant lack of Batflaps. Literally the worst crime imaginable...

Sorry for the spoilers.

OllieJS100

2014-01-16 05:25:45 pm

Arkham Speedrunner

Yeah the run was great darth just share your strats next time Wink

honorableJay

Edit history:

honorableJay: 2014-01-17 10:29:34 pm

2014-01-17 10:22:36 pm

The Dork Knight himself.

Ok, so here's something interesting. I just timed the differences between getting the twin bats vs the remote bat as the second upgrade, and apparently both routes take about the same amount of time. When comparing my best time with Darth's best time, here's the breakdown

Medical 1: 29s (me) vs 33s (Darth)
Gas Room: 31s (me) vs 34s (Darth)
Zsasz: 12.4s (me) vs 12.4s (Darth)

Granted we didn't do each section 100% perfect, but the time differences are pretty interesting. Medical is clearly faster to use the twin bats, and the gas room is a a few seconds faster if you can get the no-action-cam glitch on the second switch (otherwise it's pretty much even). If you want to save more time with the gas room, then my strat to fly the remote bat directly at the switch will have to be used (4s flight vs 9s flight). The Zsasz fight is the funniest, because even though he technically missed his first attempt, assuming the remote bat hit then it would've taken him the same amount of time.

There are a few other areas I'd like to compare, so I'll post my findings later.

Ok, so here's something interesting. I just timed the differences between getting the twin bats vs the remote bat as the second upgrade, and apparently both routes take about the same amount of time. When comparing my best time with Darth's best time, here's the breakdown

Medical 1: 29s (me) vs 33s (Darth)
Gas Room: 31s (me) vs 34s (Darth)
Zsasz: 12.4s (me) vs 12.4s (Darth)

Granted we didn't do each section 100% perfect, but the time differences are pretty interesting. Medical is clearly faster to use the twin bats, and the gas room is a a few seconds faster if you can get the no-action-cam glitch on the second switch (otherwise it's pretty much even). If you want to save more time with the gas room, then my strat to fly the remote bat directly at the switch will have to be used (4s flight vs 9s flight). The Zsasz fight is the funniest, because even though he technically missed his first attempt, assuming the remote bat hit then it would've taken him the same amount of time.

There are a few other areas I'd like to compare, so I'll post my findings later.

OllieJS100

2014-01-17 11:14:54 pm

Arkham Speedrunner

His batarang flight will actually be longer then mine i believe, he takes a bigger turn. justsayin

honorableJay

Edit history:

honorableJay: 2014-01-18 01:01:08 am

2014-01-18 01:00:05 am

The Dork Knight himself.

Quote from OllieJS100:

His batarang flight will actually be longer then mine i believe, he takes a bigger turn. justsayin

Well then get me some footage of your fastest flight and I'll time it (but my flight plan is still faster) Wink

RoboSparkle

Edit history:

RoboSparkle: 2014-01-18 02:46:49 am

RoboSparkle: 2014-01-18 02:43:11 am

RoboSparkle: 2014-01-18 02:40:41 am

2014-01-18 02:37:46 am

Magical. Flying. Bathtub

Actually remotes for Zsasz (assuming you hit him) will always be quicker for non KB/mouse guys because the quick Batarang will not target Zsasz on Xbox (presume it's the same on PC Controller but as far as I'm concerned it's a moot point).

Also do you have comparison videos for the gas room as I'm still sure the remote is quicker albeit riskier. How do you cancel the action cams on the switches anyway, I didn't even know that was possible!

Actually I'd also like to see a comparison vid for Medical 1 as I find it very hard to believe that throwing a second batarang could possibly take 4 seconds!

Also also, it sounds like the point you're making (and if it isn't then you should be) is that it's not the route it's the execution so we should just shut up about which is faster and just do the more consistent and clean method. Which would be twins in the medical building and remote for Zsasz as far as I'm concerned. I need to not post here after just waking up and instead digest things first.

Actually remotes for Zsasz (assuming you hit him) will always be quicker for non KB/mouse guys because the quick Batarang will not target Zsasz on Xbox (presume it's the same on PC Controller but as far as I'm concerned it's a moot point).

Also do you have comparison videos for the gas room as I'm still sure the remote is quicker albeit riskier.  How do you cancel the action cams on the switches anyway, I didn't even know that was possible!

Actually I'd also like to see a comparison vid for Medical 1 as I find it very hard to believe that throwing a second batarang could possibly take 4 seconds!

Also also, it sounds like the point you're making (and if it isn't then you should be) is that it's not the route it's the execution so we should just shut up about which is faster and just do the more consistent and clean method.  Which would be twins in the medical building and remote for Zsasz as far as I'm concerned.  I need to not post here after just waking up and instead digest things first.

honorableJay

2014-01-18 09:25:37 am

The Dork Knight himself.

Zsasz: I'm not sure if you can quick batarang him so I've been just manually aiming a regular batarang.

I don't have any comparison videos to post up. Basically what I did was loaded up my fastest time and Darth's fastest time in Avidemux, chopped off excess video on the same start/end frames, and wrote down the times (at the most I'm off by about 5 frames). I think the reason that Darth was a few seconds slower is due to the way he takes out the guards under the gargoyle. Rather than bataranging both and ground pounding them, he bats one, then glide kicks the other before ground pounding them. This also makes the guard on the walkway move to the stairs instead of staying in his default spot.

If twitch would let me download videos I could do a few more comparisons by looking at footage from the rest of you guys. I can get youtube videos though so if you've got a link let me know.

Quote from RoboSparkle:

Also also, it sounds like the point you're making (and if it isn't then you should be) is that it's not the route it's the execution so we should just shut up about which is faster and just do the more consistent and clean method.

Yeah it does seem with a lot of our strat differences the execution makes more difference than the methods. I just want to know hands down what is quicker for myself so I can completely finalize my route since I'm getting annoyed by my sub-optimal play in a lot of areas.

Zsasz: I'm not sure if you can quick batarang him so I've been just manually aiming a regular batarang.

I don't have any comparison videos to post up. Basically what I did was loaded up my fastest time and Darth's fastest time in Avidemux, chopped off excess video on the same start/end frames, and wrote down the times (at the most I'm off by about 5 frames). I think the reason that Darth was a few seconds slower is due to the way he takes out the guards under the gargoyle. Rather than bataranging both and ground pounding them, he bats one, then glide kicks the other before ground pounding them. This also makes the guard on the walkway move to the stairs instead of staying in his default spot.

If twitch would let me download videos I could do a few more comparisons by looking at footage from the rest of you guys. I can get youtube videos though so if you've got a link let me know.

[quote="RoboSparkle"]Also also, it sounds like the point you're making (and if it isn't then you should be) is that it's not the route it's the execution so we should just shut up about which is faster and just do the more consistent and clean method.[/quote]

Yeah it does seem with a lot of our strat differences the execution makes more difference than the methods. I just want to know hands down what is quicker for myself so I can completely finalize my route since I'm getting annoyed by my sub-optimal play in a lot of areas.

RoboSparkle

Edit history:

RoboSparkle: 2014-01-18 12:54:33 pm

2014-01-18 12:52:51 pm

Magical. Flying. Bathtub

Oh well glide-kicking would definitely add 4 seconds but the quicker method with one batarang is to quick throw it twice which is what I do when I don't fuck it up. Also I was sure that you said you used the quick-rang for Zsasz because the mouse allowed you to aim it precisely but I guess I misheard. Although manually aiming rangs with KB/Mouse will be quicker for something like that anyway but again, only 0.5-1 seconds. I still prefer going for his Achilles' Shins because it's funnier.

Quote from honorableJay:

Yeah it does seem with a lot of our strat differences the execution makes more difference than the methods. I just want to know hands down what is quicker for myself so I can completely finalize my route since I'm getting annoyed by my sub-optimal play in a lot of areas.

This is stuff you'll need to remember if you come back to the Segmented run Smiley

Diablohead

2014-01-19 06:24:25 pm

Arkham speed runner.

Got a 1:48:12 on console tonight in a race with ollie, it's a huge time save on my splits (-2:09 at line launcher, -2:28 at ivy) so I am really happy with it, outside of being spotted at IT before scarecrow 3, could have saved about a minute there too.

New garden strats are great, I just need to get the leaving the gardens one working as I always get spotted.

OllieJS100

2014-01-20 03:55:58 am

Arkham Speedrunner

Quote from Diablohead:

New garden strats are great, I just need to get the leaving the gardens one working as I always get spotted.

Not sure if you were using darth knights strats for leaving the gardens but they seem to be much better then mine Smiley

Diablohead

2014-01-20 06:41:49 pm

Arkham speed runner.

I will have to make a save there and test it out, and check how he does it again.

I think 1:46:xx is possible on console right now, 1:45 is really pushing it because of loading times stacking up compared to the quicker pc stuff.

OllieJS100

2014-01-21 03:16:11 am

Arkham Speedrunner

I have multiple saves(for PC) in the botanical gardens and some other places, if you or anyone else wants them then lemme know and i can send them to you

honorableJay

2014-01-21 03:28:49 pm

The Dork Knight himself.

Since Robo saves on a thumb drive, I was wondering is it possible to swap saves between PC/XBox? What format are the saves in on the drive?