Bionic Commando Rearmed

2014-08-19 07:05:08 am

Hi there everybody, registered for the site just now to post in this thread. I've been looking at SDA's speedruns for many years now, really liking what they do. And the AGDQ and SGDQ events are fantastic! I'm also very impressed by your findings in this game, awesome work everyone.

An urge to speedrun have been building up inside of me for a couple of months now, and I feel that Bionic Commando Rearmed is the game for me. However: I worked as the Quality Assurance Project Lead for this game and I wonder if it's against the rules to speedrun a game you've been working on? It's been six years since its release and I left the business five years ago (when GRIN went bankrupt) so a lot of time has gone by.

Also, the only version I'm able to play on is the PS3 version. What's the easiest way to record from a PS3?

Omnigamer

2014-08-19 09:39:49 am

All the things

There's a thread in the Tech Help forum specifically for helping people capture on PS3, but the short version: either use SD capture stuff, use component cables, or use a device to strip HDCP from the HDMI signal. In any case, welcome to the forum! I don't think it's possible to have "rules" against a game you were specifically involved with; you're free to have fun and do runs however you want.

PJ

2014-08-19 09:41:46 am

Is PJ

Yea I second what Omni says. There was one game where the developer himself had the fastest time (I think it was Iji?), and nobody had a problem with that. You're good to go! Good luck. Cheesy

BagtheTea

2014-08-22 01:09:38 am

Boom

Cool Viewtifulviktor I am glad to see someone else run this. The more the better!

I also worked on this game as a QA tester but that was only a patch.

Here is my Any% progress so far:
(I want to thank all of you on these SDA forums for the help you are all amazing)

Note: You may want to turn the volume down my mic kinda sucks.

So I also agree with Kenny TRUCKS SUCK! I would have been sub 24 if it weren't for their "randomness" . There are still many little places to make up some time and also the Boss 6 and 10 need some practice.

I will say that if anyone can do the power claw skip you can run this sub 20 EASY but that's only if you can do it quick enough.

And as always any tips or ideas would be appreciated.

PJ

Edit history:

PJ: 2014-10-21 02:19:04 pm

PJ: 2014-10-21 11:56:38 am

PJ: 2014-10-20 07:00:26 pm

PJ: 2014-10-20 04:31:08 pm

2014-10-20 01:59:49 pm

Is PJ

I guess I should bump this thread.

Something possessed me to play this game again, so I decided to look into the trucks a bit. I'm sure that most of this has already been known by Kennyman and BagtheTea, but I'll write what I've noticed anyways:
-The trucks move in set patterns, just like the NES version. One truck makes a simple loop from 3-2-16-5-6-3, the one above it does 4-1-4-5-15-4, the upper right truck circles 10-12-11-10, and the two on the right go 7-18-8-19-8-18-7 and 6-8-18-8-10-8-19-8-6. They will never deviate from these loops.
-While the map is loading, you are able to move before the trucks move. This has been known. You can intentionally use this to gain ground on some of the trucks, but doing this in some areas guarantees a truck encounter even if the truck isn't there. It seems like the game internally tracks the trucks by their "spawning" location during the time before they are loaded on the map. If you move early to the right from area 3 to area 6, you will hit the truck even if it is by area 5. Same goes for moving to the right from area 18. I'm sure this is true for other locations as well, but those are the two I noticed immediately for any%.
-Sometimes when you complete a level, every truck resets to its starting location. This is the part that truly baffles me. I have only noticed this after completing areas 9 and 7. I've never seen a truck reset in any of the earlier levels. I'm not entirely sure what causes this, honestly. During my testing, I got the truck reset 4 times in a row after area 7 so I assumed it happened every time. Then it didn't reset on the next test. I'll be investigating this more later.

So with this in mind, it should be relatively easy to find routes for any% and 100% with 0 or 1 truck, especially if we enter levels and exit to get an early movement advantage over them. It is extremely flexible in this game. If we can manipulate the truck resets, it will be especially trivial.

The other thing I'd like feedback with is the 100% definition. Kennyman and I have been talking on IRC about this but can't really come to a decision either way. It turns out that if you collect the shotgun upgrade in area 8 without actually getting the shotgun from area 2, the game gives you the upgraded shotgun anyways. Therefore, to get all items, you don't need to actually *beat* area 2. You can collect the secrets and leave. So, does the 100% definition require simply collecting all the items/secrets/etc, or does it require also beating the stages? As far as I can tell, area 2 is the only level up for debate regarding this, but it would skip a rather annoying and time-consuming boss.

More updates to come.

Edit: Here's another tough question. You can collect the grenade upgrades without collecting the grenades. It shows up in your inventory just fine. However, you can't throw them until you collect the initial grenade from area 1. If you aren't required to be stages for the 100% definition, and this shows up in the inventory, would it count towards the 100% completion? Or would it not count because, even though the game says you have grenades, you cannot use them?

Edit2: Found some more stuff for the crusher room. Yay invincibility glitch!

Edit3: Ok. I've "figured out" the trucks. It looks like if you do the "early movement" after certain levels, and you haven't gotten into a truck encounter yet, the trucks will reset their positions. I have been able to do this with 100% consistency in areas 6, 9, 7, and 17. It doesn't matter if the level is completed or not. If you want to reset the truck positions, you can just go to one of those areas and enter/exit/early move. The best any% route I have found will get into 1 truck encounter between areas 10 and 11, but none others. I need to do a full playthrough again to make sure it works, but here is what I came up with:

Area 0 -> Area 1 (enter and exit immediately)
Area 1 (early move) -> 4 -> 5 (beat stage)
Area 5 (early move) -> 15 (collect stuff)
Area 15 (early move) -> 4 -> 5 -> 6 (beat stage)
Area 6 (early move/truck reset) -> 3 (beat stage)
Area 3 (late move) -> 6 -> 14 (collect stuff)
Area 14 (early move) -> 6 -> 8 -> 9 (beat stage)
Area 9 (early move/truck reset) -> 17 (collect stuff)
Area 17 (early move/truck reset) -> 9 -> 8 -> 18 -> 7 (beat stage)
Area 7 (early move/truck reset) -> 18 (collect machine gun)
Area 18 (late move) -> 8 -> 9 -> 17 -> 9 -> 8 -> 10 (beat stage)
Area 10 (early move) -> Forced truck encounter (quit game, reload)
Area 10 (early move) -> 11 (beat stage)
Area 11 (early move) -> 12 (beat stage)
Area 12 (early move) -> A (finish game)

Summary: do an early move for every map movement except for areas 3 and 18. Doing the early move in area 10 forces the truck encounter ~3 seconds sooner than you would normally hit it. I didn't find a good way to skip that truck, so I trigger the encounter as early as possible and then just quit out to skip it. The truck positions are reset 4 times throughout this run (areas 6, 9, 17, and 7). Resetting the position at 7 is the only way to avoid a truck encounter on the return trip.

The route for 100% will be a lot more complicated I think, but I should be able to avoid every truck until area 10 again now that I can control the resets. I don't know how the resets behave after getting into a truck encounter, so I may have to find a workaround for the area 10 truck in 100%.

Edit4: Confirming that the truck route is consistent. I just did a full-game practice run and ended up with a 23:05 by SDA timing. http://imgur.com/1vGVfJR I wasn't really planning on actually having a decent run so I didn't bother recording. Was just testing trucks mainly, but this had no unintentional deaths. Played it really safe on the Albatross. Fell down in Area 11 once. Plenty of time to be saved. I guess I'll start actually recording now and see what I can come up with. I still can't do the power claw skip, so I'm not even going to bother.

I guess I should bump this thread.

Something possessed me to play this game again, so I decided to look into the trucks a bit.  I'm sure that most of this has already been known by Kennyman and BagtheTea, but I'll write what I've noticed anyways:
-The trucks move in set patterns, just like the NES version.  One truck makes a simple loop from 3-2-16-5-6-3, the one above it does 4-1-4-5-15-4, the upper right truck circles 10-12-11-10, and the two on the right go 7-18-8-19-8-18-7 and 6-8-18-8-10-8-19-8-6.  They will never deviate from these loops.
-While the map is loading, you are able to move before the trucks move.  This has been known.  You can intentionally use this to gain ground on some of the trucks, but doing this in some areas guarantees a truck encounter even if the truck isn't there.  It seems like the game internally tracks the trucks by their "spawning" location during the time before they are loaded on the map.  If you move early to the right from area 3 to area 6, you will hit the truck even if it is by area 5.  Same goes for moving to the right from area 18.  I'm sure this is true for other locations as well, but those are the two I noticed immediately for any%.
-Sometimes when you complete a level, every truck resets to its starting location.  This is the part that truly baffles me.  I have only noticed this after completing areas 9 and 7.  I've never seen a truck reset in any of the earlier levels.  I'm not entirely sure what causes this, honestly.  During my testing, I got the truck reset 4 times in a row after area 7 so I assumed it happened every time.  Then it didn't reset on the next test.  I'll be investigating this more later.

So with this in mind, it should be relatively easy to find routes for any% and 100% with 0 or 1 truck, especially if we enter levels and exit to get an early movement advantage over them.  It is extremely flexible in this game.  If we can manipulate the truck resets, it will be especially trivial.

The other thing I'd like feedback with is the 100% definition.  Kennyman and I have been talking on IRC about this but can't really come to a decision either way.  It turns out that if you collect the shotgun upgrade in area 8 without actually getting the shotgun from area 2, the game gives you the upgraded shotgun anyways.  Therefore, to get all items, you don't need to actually *beat* area 2.  You can collect the secrets and leave.  So, does the 100% definition require simply collecting all the items/secrets/etc, or does it require also beating the stages?  As far as I can tell, area 2 is the only level up for debate regarding this, but it would skip a rather annoying and time-consuming boss.

More updates to come.

Edit:  Here's another tough question.  You can collect the grenade upgrades without collecting the grenades.  It shows up in your inventory just fine.  However, you can't throw them until you collect the initial grenade from area 1.  If you aren't required to be stages for the 100% definition, and this shows up in the inventory, would it count towards the 100% completion?  Or would it not count because, even though the game says you have grenades, you cannot use them?

Edit2:  Found some more stuff for the crusher room.  Yay invincibility glitch!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2iq9ylb9WE

Edit3:  Ok.  I've "figured out" the trucks.  It looks like if you do the "early movement" after certain levels, and you haven't gotten into a truck encounter yet, the trucks will reset their positions.  I have been able to do this with 100% consistency in areas 6, 9, 7, and 17.  It doesn't matter if the level is completed or not.  If you want to reset the truck positions, you can just go to one of those areas and enter/exit/early move.  The best any% route I have found will get into 1 truck encounter between areas 10 and 11, but none others.  I need to do a full playthrough again to make sure it works, but here is what I came up with:

Area 0 -> Area 1 (enter and exit immediately)
Area 1 (early move) -> 4 -> 5 (beat stage)
Area 5 (early move) -> 15 (collect stuff)
Area 15 (early move) -> 4 -> 5 -> 6 (beat stage)
Area 6 (early move/truck reset) -> 3 (beat stage)
Area 3 (late move) -> 6 -> 14 (collect stuff)
Area 14 (early move) -> 6 -> 8 -> 9 (beat stage)
Area 9 (early move/truck reset) -> 17 (collect stuff)
Area 17 (early move/truck reset) -> 9 -> 8 -> 18 -> 7 (beat stage)
Area 7 (early move/truck reset) -> 18 (collect machine gun)
Area 18 (late move) -> 8 -> 9 -> 17 -> 9 -> 8 -> 10 (beat stage)
Area 10 (early move) -> Forced truck encounter (quit game, reload)
Area 10 (early move) -> 11 (beat stage)
Area 11 (early move) -> 12 (beat stage)
Area 12 (early move) -> A (finish game)

Summary: do an early move for every map movement except for areas 3 and 18.  Doing the early move in area 10 forces the truck encounter ~3 seconds sooner than you would normally hit it.  I didn't find a good way to skip that truck, so I trigger the encounter as early as possible and then just quit out to skip it.  The truck positions are reset 4 times throughout this run (areas 6, 9, 17, and 7).  Resetting the position at 7 is the only way to avoid a truck encounter on the return trip.

The route for 100% will be a lot more complicated I think, but I should be able to avoid every truck until area 10 again now that I can control the resets.  I don't know how the resets behave after getting into a truck encounter, so I may have to find a workaround for the area 10 truck in 100%.

Edit4:  Confirming that the truck route is consistent.  I just did a full-game practice run and ended up with a 23:05 by SDA timing.  http://imgur.com/1vGVfJR  I wasn't really planning on actually having a decent run so I didn't bother recording.  Was just testing trucks mainly, but this had no unintentional deaths.  Played it really safe on the Albatross.  Fell down in Area 11 once.  Plenty of time to be saved.  I guess I'll start actually recording now and see what I can come up with.  I still can't do the power claw skip, so I'm not even going to bother.

KennyMan666

2014-10-21 02:20:47 pm

Precursor

Nice.

I'll get onto X360 testing when the weekeend comes, got quite a busy week at university this week. Guess I should stream as well!

BagtheTea

2014-10-21 11:22:39 pm

Boom

Very nice PJ! I cant wait to see you run this!

Just got a PB for the any% run on PC clocked in at 23:50.

Found a much better way to handle room B (PC only) in the Albatross which should save some 20 seconds but I found it after the run.

Iv been working on a different way to do the powerclaw skip by claw canceling 2 times for 2 small boosts into the air. Not successful yet but I think it can be done.

I guess its time to really start playing this again!

Thanks PJ

PJ

Edit history:

PJ: 2014-10-22 02:32:19 pm

PJ: 2014-10-22 01:39:18 pm

PJ: 2014-10-22 01:37:38 pm

PJ: 2014-10-22 09:18:59 am

2014-10-22 08:51:52 am

Is PJ

I'm not even going to try the power claw skip. I have done it exactly once. I'd much rather focus on clean movement at the moment. Don't let that stop you though! Please do it if you can!

I've been looking into some new stuff for room B as well. I haven't quite found one I am happy with, but I am getting there. There are a few swings in the last few sections that I'm trying to iron out, but it'll definitely be faster than waiting. I'll post a video of my route once I'm happy with it. The other levels don't have any huge breakthroughs in terms of routing, except for Area 6. I made a video of that:

The main improvements there are just skipping waiting for the second ball at the beginning, some cleaner swings (and killing the flydroid operator with a rocket! I stole that from you, BagtheTea :P), and my approach for the climb on the second screen. Unsure if this is the fastest route but it is the one I am most comfortable with.

I made a minor change to Area 10. I take a different approach than you for the first room, and it feels super consistent. You might be faster there, though. I also do the spike skip with a damage boost and then kill the flydroid operator afterwards with vector cannon. It is 100% guaranteed. Again, unsure about speed but it works every time.

Crusher room in the Albatross is an issue in any%. I cannot find a good setup for the invincibility abuse, so I've just been waiting it out. Sometimes I can skip 3 crushers per cycle and get through one cycle sooner, but I usually end up dying when I try. This room and room B are what need the most work in my route still.

I really want to stream attempts but I don't think my internet can handle that + recording. I want to record in 1080p, but I can't handle a stream in even 720p. Xsplit is my recording method because everything else seems to slow things down too much. I'll be recording any attempts I do and I'll post a video of a PB as soon as I get one, but idk if I can stream this. Sad

Sorry.

Edit: I can't record in 1080p without the recording having terrible issues, so I'll be sticking with 720p. Also, I've finished routing the game I think, so I did another full practice run to get some splits. I don't think there were any intentional deaths but I haven't rewatched it all yet. Honestly, I might not bother rewatching because it was pretty rough...

Anyways, the final time was 22:06 RTA timing/21:57 SDA timing. The video is uploading atm, and will be done around 4pm EST. There were a TON of mistakes in this run, so sub-21 should be pretty free. I'll probably shoot for 20:30 as my first goal time and then take it from there. Still can't do the power claw skip so this plays area 6.

Edit2: Video is done processing! I found a minor improvement a few minutes ago regarding route. It should be faster to take the route 1-4-5 as before, but then go to area 15 before area 5. Grab the Green Comm there and then reset the trucks as you move to area 5. Reset the trucks again after that on the way to area 6. This should save 1-2 seconds over the route in my PB.

Again, note that this has a TON of mistakes. Nearly everything went wrong. I'd list it all but it's pretty unnecessary. Most of my bosses were terrible (especially areas 5 and 6) and a lot of the levels had huge issues. This is more or less just for proof and to show the Room B route. Tongue

I'm not even going to try the power claw skip.  I have done it exactly once.  I'd much rather focus on clean movement at the moment.  Don't let that stop you though!  Please do it if you can!

I've been looking into some new stuff for room B as well.  I haven't quite found one I am happy with, but I am getting there.  There are a few swings in the last few sections that I'm trying to iron out, but it'll definitely be faster than waiting.  I'll post a video of my route once I'm happy with it.  The other levels don't have any huge breakthroughs in terms of routing, except for Area 6.  I made a video of that:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovyKimZ6cec

The main improvements there are just skipping waiting for the second ball at the beginning, some cleaner swings (and killing the flydroid operator with a rocket!  I stole that from you, BagtheTea :P), and my approach for the climb on the second screen.  Unsure if this is the fastest route but it is the one I am most comfortable with.

I made a minor change to Area 10.  I take a different approach than you for the first room, and it feels super consistent.  You might be faster there, though.  I also do the spike skip with a damage boost and then kill the flydroid operator afterwards with vector cannon.  It is 100% guaranteed.  Again, unsure about speed but it works every time.

Crusher room in the Albatross is an issue in any%.  I cannot find a good setup for the invincibility abuse, so I've just been waiting it out.  Sometimes I can skip 3 crushers per cycle and get through one cycle sooner, but I usually end up dying when I try.  This room and room B are what need the most work in my route still.

I really want to stream attempts but I don't think my internet can handle that + recording.  I want to record in 1080p, but I can't handle a stream in even 720p.  Xsplit is my recording method because everything else seems to slow things down too much.  I'll be recording any attempts I do and I'll post a video of a PB as soon as I get one, but idk if I can stream this.  :(  Sorry.

[b]Edit[/b]:  I can't record in 1080p without the recording having terrible issues, so I'll be sticking with 720p.  Also, I've finished routing the game I think, so I did another full practice run to get some splits.  I don't think there were any intentional deaths but I haven't rewatched it all yet.  Honestly, I might not bother rewatching because it was pretty rough...

Anyways, the final time was 22:06 RTA timing/21:57 SDA timing.  The video is uploading atm, and will be done around 4pm EST.  There were a TON of mistakes in this run, so sub-21 should be pretty free.  I'll probably shoot for 20:30 as my first goal time and then take it from there.  Still can't do the power claw skip so this plays area 6.

[b]Edit2:[/b]  Video is done processing!  I found a minor improvement a few minutes ago regarding route.  It should be faster to take the route 1-4-5 as before, but then go to area 15 before area 5.  Grab the Green Comm there and then reset the trucks as you move to area 5.  Reset the trucks again after that on the way to area 6.  This should save 1-2 seconds over the route in my PB.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wd9YiGLIkpo

Again, note that this has a TON of mistakes.  Nearly everything went wrong.  I'd list it all but it's pretty unnecessary.  Most of my bosses were terrible (especially areas 5 and 6) and a lot of the levels had huge issues.  This is more or less just for proof and to show the Room B route.  :P

BagtheTea

Edit history:

BagtheTea: 2014-10-22 04:39:19 pm

2014-10-22 04:16:49 pm

Boom

Here is the short cut I found for Room B in the Albatross.

I just wanted to record this real fast so its very sloppy but you will get the idea.

Also amazing work so far PJ!

I still think this game could be done sub 20 hopefully without the power claw skip.

Also something to watch out for is what I call the *Super Swing* which is when you go for a diagonal max distance grab on a ceiling and the claw does not connect until the claw is on its way back (like a pixel or 2 after it starts coming back). These swings give you MAJOR speed compared to normal swings. I get these maybe 1 out of 100 swings but I don't normally aim for them because the RNG is NOT in your favor. (Really fun when they connect)

PJ how do you cancel from a swing and NOT pop up in the air? I watch you drop straight down from where you were swinging. I need that!

Also in your Area 10 about 1/3 the way through I noticed you came across the *cant use diagonal swing when back is to a box* which I still don't understand WHY that happens but a neutral claw can solve that problem.

If you are ever going to take a hit from an enemy while climbing up from under them hold down and left or right it will cancel the hit stun.

Never use the end of game total time it is NEVER correct. My best time 23:50 using live split had an in game time of 27 min and one of my recent worst times 28 min had a 20 min in game time.
Still can't figure that one out.

Here is the short cut I found for Room B in the Albatross.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a448C5AB5_U&feature=youtu.be

I just wanted to record this real fast so its very sloppy but you will get the idea.

Also amazing work so far PJ!

I still think this game could be done sub 20 hopefully without the power claw skip.

Also something to watch out for is what I call the *Super Swing* which is when you go for a diagonal max distance grab on a ceiling and the claw does not connect until the claw is on its way back (like a pixel or 2 after it starts coming back). These swings give you MAJOR speed compared to normal swings. I get these maybe 1 out of 100 swings but I don't normally aim for them because the RNG is NOT in your favor. (Really fun when they connect)

PJ how do you cancel from a swing and NOT pop up in the air? I watch you drop straight down from where you were swinging. I need that!

Also in your Area 10 about 1/3 the way through I noticed you came across the *cant use diagonal swing when back is to a box* which I still don't understand WHY that happens but a neutral claw can solve that problem.

If you are ever going to take a hit from an enemy while climbing up from under them hold down and left or right it will cancel the hit stun.

Never use the end of game total time it is NEVER correct. My best time 23:50 using live split had an in game time of 27 min and one of my recent worst times 28 min had a 20 min in game time.
Still can't figure that one out.

PJ

Edit history:

PJ: 2014-10-22 05:00:17 pm

2014-10-22 04:56:10 pm

Is PJ

Oh great shortcut in Room B! I love it! I'll definitely see how that will work with my platform timing there. Thanks! That is my least favorite part of that stage too, so cutting that out will be great. Will save a ton of time too.

To drop straight down, you hold the grapple button and press down. It is a pretty critical maneuver in a lot of places. It can really help to space things out and speed up your movement.

Yea...Area 10 was really bad there. I normally do just a neutral grapple there because machine gun pushes me flush against the box. Unsure why I didn't do it there. Most of area 10 in that run was total garbage except for the spike platform skip. Hahaha. Really great suggestion about canceling the hitstun! I'll have to keep that in mind next time that's about to happen. Crouching is super useful in this game, especially against the area 7 boss.

I don't recall seeing one of those super swings. I'll keep my eyes peeled for them! I generally don't try for max distance swings in this game as much as the NES version. It honestly doesn't seem as advantageous here because there is barely any startup on swings but the hangtime you get from big swings is really significant.

In-game timer is hilarious in this. It is incredibly bad. Hahaha. Real-time is the way to go. Thanks for the suggestions! Those will definitely help. Sub-20 is honestly probably realistic now.

Edit: Another thing I'm having issues with is getting the hop off a grapple cancel when I am on the ground. When I swing over a pit/gap/whatever, it's a pretty simple mechanic, but if I cancel a swing when there is ground under me, the game usually just forces me to land there. There are a few situations where a hop is very advantageous (beginning the climb in area 3, and skipping the pillar at the start of area 7), but it's just not worth trying usually because I waste like 5 seconds trying to get it to actually function properly.

Oh great shortcut in Room B!  I love it!  I'll definitely see how that will work with my platform timing there.  Thanks!  That is my least favorite part of that stage too, so cutting that out will be great.  Will save a ton of time too.

To drop straight down, you hold the grapple button and press down.  It is a pretty critical maneuver in a lot of places.  It can really help to space things out and speed up your movement.

Yea...Area 10 was really bad there.  I normally do just a neutral grapple there because machine gun pushes me flush against the box.  Unsure why I didn't do it there.  Most of area 10 in that run was total garbage except for the spike platform skip.  Hahaha.  Really great suggestion about canceling the hitstun!  I'll have to keep that in mind next time that's about to happen.  Crouching is super useful in this game, especially against the area 7 boss.

I don't recall seeing one of those super swings.  I'll keep my eyes peeled for them!  I generally don't try for max distance swings in this game as much as the NES version.  It honestly doesn't seem as advantageous here because there is barely any startup on swings but the hangtime you get from big swings is really significant.

In-game timer is hilarious in this.  It is incredibly bad.  Hahaha.  Real-time is the way to go.  Thanks for the suggestions!  Those will definitely help.  Sub-20 is honestly probably realistic now.

Edit:  Another thing I'm having issues with is getting the hop off a grapple cancel when I am on the ground.  When I swing over a pit/gap/whatever, it's a pretty simple mechanic, but if I cancel a swing when there is ground under me, the game usually just forces me to land there.  There are a few situations where a hop is very advantageous (beginning the climb in area 3, and skipping the pillar at the start of area 7), but it's just not worth trying usually because I waste like 5 seconds trying to get it to actually function properly.

BagtheTea

2014-10-22 05:06:11 pm

Boom

Yeah snapping to the ground instead of being popped up drives me crazy!

If we can figure a way to always pop up from the cancel then I think I can do a double pop up on Area 3 to skip over the power claw barrier.

PJ

2014-10-22 05:15:14 pm

Is PJ

Quote from BagtheTea:

Yeah snapping to the ground instead of being popped up drives me crazy!

If we can figure a way to always pop up from the cancel then I think I can do a double pop up on Area 3 to skip over the power claw barrier.

I can always get the hop on short grapples like those off the barrier. I can't do it on medium-long range grapples though. I tried all sorts of hopping over the barrier, but it is simply not possible. Sad

PJ

2014-10-24 08:04:30 pm

Is PJ

Got a PB today, but it is really really bad. It is recorded but I'm not going to bother uploading it. The routes are the same, but I shifted my mistakes around to other levels. http://imgur.com/Pe1XCHC

PB by 24 seconds. 21:33 SDA timing. New in-game time PB by over a minute and a half! Woo...

Area 7 boss decided to just run away for a majority of the fight so I lost 23 seconds compared to my best split there. I got hit by the fabricator in area 11, so I had to sit through a third attack before I could kill him. I lost a ton of time on the Albatross too. A lot of my swings were just not connecting to the right parts of the ceilings, I was getting really bad enemy behavior, I missed the crusher skip once, and one of my rockets hit Master-D's cockpit but didn't do damage. My sum of best is now a 20:35 by SDA timing, with a bunch of time to save on the Albatross split still. I don't think sub-20 is within my reach atm, but I might be able to get a 20:30.

I am getting really tired of this game's random physics though. I am like 1 for 9 with completing area 10 because I keep falling through platforms, or the grapple will hit the ceiling but not grab, or the grapple will go through the corner of the spike I'm supposed to grab, or I ride the platform under the spikes and then instantly die a few tiles later from nothing, or my grapple goes *through* the lamps in the boss room without grabbing them. On top of all this, my game crashes about once per hour. This is an incredibly poorly-made game, but I'm going to continue.

Got a PB today, but it is really really bad.  It is recorded but I'm not going to bother uploading it.  The routes are the same, but I shifted my mistakes around to other levels.  http://imgur.com/Pe1XCHC

PB by 24 seconds.  21:33 SDA timing.  New in-game time PB by over a minute and a half!  Woo...

Area 7 boss decided to just run away for a majority of the fight so I lost 23 seconds compared to my best split there.  I got hit by the fabricator in area 11, so I had to sit through a third attack before I could kill him.  I lost a ton of time on the Albatross too.  A lot of my swings were just not connecting to the right parts of the ceilings, I was getting really bad enemy behavior, I missed the crusher skip once, and one of my rockets hit Master-D's cockpit but didn't do damage.  My sum of best is now a 20:35 by SDA timing, with a bunch of time to save on the Albatross split still.  I don't think sub-20 is within my reach atm, but I might be able to get a 20:30.

I am getting really tired of this game's random physics though.  I am like 1 for 9 with completing area 10 because I keep falling through platforms, or the grapple will hit the ceiling but not grab, or the grapple will go through the corner of the spike I'm supposed to grab, or I ride the platform under the spikes and then instantly die a few tiles later from nothing, or my grapple goes *through* the lamps in the boss room without grabbing them.  On top of all this, my game crashes about once per hour.  This is an incredibly poorly-made game, but I'm going to continue.

BagtheTea

2014-10-24 10:03:32 pm

Boom

I feel your pain PJ thats why I have not been running this so much lately but I too shall continue.

For me Area 10 is the make or break point of the run and A7 Boss "Growtie" is something I wish we could take out of the route some how. Area 7 is a stage I need to find a better route for all together and id love to see your route through it.

PJ

2014-10-24 10:19:05 pm

Is PJ

Yea Area 10 is definitely the hardest point. It honestly shouldn't be! The stage itself is fine if you do the damage boost approach for the spike platform skip. The boss is just so ridiculously annoying to get the quick kill on and it costs so much time if you miss it. Those lamps have horrible collision detection.

My route in area 7 varies a bit based on what the enemies do (crouch vs stand vs run a bit, etc). I don't really do anything fancy. I pull the barrels at the start instead of jumping over them because I don't trust the hop there, and then I climb diagonally up-right until I'm against the wall. It's a really basic route and probably not the fastest. If you want though, I can make a video of it. The main issue is the boss. I had two runs just now that gained 30 (personal best!) and 28.5 seconds over my new PB. One run died in area 10 and the other in 11. :/

PJ

2014-10-28 07:28:26 pm

Is PJ

This has moved up to claim the title of "The worst non-Lawnmower-Man video game PJ has ever had to play". Over the past 3 days, I lost 20-25 runs from collision detection outright failing, another 5ish runs to the game simply crashing, and 2 runs to just suddenly dying in an empty screen. The other 100ish failed attempts were either from bad RNG or from mistakes I made, which is fine. I am not ok with losing a run in area 10 that is up 45 seconds on my PB simply because the ceiling is not longer grabbable. I throw the grapple vertically, it hits the ceiling and goes *ka-CHUNK* and then it doesn't attach and I miss the boss quick kill. My grapples have like a 10% chance of simply going through 1-tile blocks like lamps and maybe a 20% chance of passing through corners without grabbing them. Enemy soldiers have bumped me off vertical grapples from 3 tiles away while standing still, and on one particularly good attempt, exiting area 17 brought me back to the start of area 17 instead of to the map.

This is seriously garbage. I am pretty sure I am done playing this game after my next PB. It's not just worth it. Also, I'm pretty sure the Steam version can't do 100% runs because the prototype weapon in the Albatross doesn't respawn even if you completely wipe your save data. The purple matrix has respawned for me once, but was absent from the other two fresh 100% playthroughs I did. What a piece of shit.

This has moved up to claim the title of "The worst non-Lawnmower-Man video game PJ has ever had to play".  Over the past 3 days, I lost 20-25 runs from collision detection outright failing, another 5ish runs to the game simply crashing, and 2 runs to just suddenly dying in an empty screen.  The other 100ish failed attempts were either from bad RNG or from mistakes I made, which is fine.  I am not ok with losing a run in area 10 that is up 45 seconds on my PB simply because the ceiling is not longer grabbable.  I throw the grapple vertically, it hits the ceiling and goes *ka-CHUNK* and then it doesn't attach and I miss the boss quick kill.  My grapples have like a 10% chance of simply going through 1-tile blocks like lamps and maybe a 20% chance of passing through corners without grabbing them.  Enemy soldiers have bumped me off vertical grapples from 3 tiles away while standing still, and on one particularly good attempt, exiting area 17 brought me back to the start of area 17 instead of to the map.

This is seriously garbage.  I am pretty sure I am done playing this game after my next PB.  It's not just worth it.  Also, I'm pretty sure the Steam version can't do 100% runs because the prototype weapon in the Albatross doesn't respawn even if you completely wipe your save data.  The purple matrix has respawned for me once, but was absent from the other two fresh 100% playthroughs I did.  What a piece of shit.

BagtheTea

2014-10-29 02:48:16 pm

Boom

These are all the reasons why I stopped running this for a month untill you decided to smash your face into this wall of RNG and bugs.

This was the first game I decided to speed run and very much am looking for something else to run. (was thinking Rocket Knight Adventures)

I do plan to do a run that is sub 21 or close too then I am done for good.

Gotta get through mid terms first tho...

PJ

Edit history:

PJ: 2014-10-29 07:10:12 pm

PJ: 2014-10-29 06:09:40 pm

2014-10-29 06:08:34 pm

Is PJ

I am done with this game!

http://imgur.com/JOmWHTP

21:04 RTA, which makes it like a 20:56 SDA timing. 39:54 IGT. Hahahaha. Close to 40 seconds improvement over PB, but my IGT is 22 minutes slower than PB. Holy shit. My sum of best is exactly 20:30, but I am not even going to try for that. I lost like 7 seconds in area 3 from missing the quick kill and getting stuck trying to drop off a ledge (yup), a few seconds in area 10 from general slop and bad grapples, and like 8 seconds in the Albatross escape from grappling a few pixels too far to the right in the "boss fight". I don't even care. I had 7 gold splits and really strong area 7 boss RNG. I made a TON of mistakes and got a lot of bad individual enemy RNG (in area 7, area 9, and Albatross), but I am just sick of this game. This run is easily beatable, but I do not have the patience to do it.

I'll upload the video after I encode.

Oh btw, today the game decided to throw me a nice curveball: any time I try to do a short-length diagonal grapple, it instantly pulled me onto the platform unless I was holding purely horizontal on the dpad. Normally I can hold the diagonal and be fine, but for the attempts tonight I couldn't do that. Had to fight muscle memory for a lot of these stages, but I am proud to say I didn't accidentally pull myself onto a ledge once!

Edit:

I am done with this game!

http://imgur.com/JOmWHTP

21:04 RTA, which makes it like a 20:56 SDA timing.  39:54 IGT.  Hahahaha.  Close to 40 seconds improvement over PB, but my IGT is 22 minutes slower than PB.  Holy shit.  My sum of best is exactly 20:30, but I am not even going to try for that.  I lost like 7 seconds in area 3 from missing the quick kill and getting stuck trying to drop off a ledge (yup), a few seconds in area 10 from general slop and bad grapples, and like 8 seconds in the Albatross escape from grappling a few pixels too far to the right in the "boss fight".  I don't even care.  I had 7 gold splits and really strong area 7 boss RNG.  I made a TON of mistakes and got a lot of bad individual enemy RNG (in area 7, area 9, and Albatross), but I am just sick of this game.  This run is easily beatable, but I do not have the patience to do it.

I'll upload the video after I encode.

Oh btw, today the game decided to throw me a nice curveball: any time I try to do a short-length diagonal grapple, it instantly pulled me onto the platform unless I was holding purely horizontal on the dpad.  Normally I can hold the diagonal and be fine, but for the attempts tonight I couldn't do that.  Had to fight muscle memory for a lot of these stages, but I am proud to say I didn't accidentally pull myself onto a ledge once!

Edit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_A32ajUXbj4

PJ

Edit history:

PJ: 2014-11-04 04:50:09 pm

2014-10-30 07:51:49 pm

Is PJ

Alright, so I was curious about the 100% route today and decided to use what I found to make a route. This route is...pretty different. It is nearly entirely different than the current 100% route. There are a few things that won't make sense by looking at the route, so I'll try to explain those. First off, it is possible (and recommended!) to get both the grenade upgrade and the shotgun upgrade without the grenade/shotgun. Video example:

This also means it isn't necessary to actually kill the boss of areas 1 or 2 (and I don't plan to), but that might change depending on how you want to define 100%. I prefer the inventory definition so I'll be skipping those bosses. Either way, the route remains the same regardless of what you choose there.

The tunnels were previously a big concern for me because of how difficult/annoying it is to get back to the exit after grabbing the item. Well, it turns out that the game doesn't distinguish between an entrance and an exit for these levels. Therefore, you can simply grab the item, kill yourself, and go through the door at the start. The game will grant you passage as if you completed the stage. This also means the PC version can skip the switches in the bottom tunnel (though XBLA doesn't have switches to worry about). I haven't timed out where it is faster to die and use the starting door and where it is faster to exit normally.

I will have to do area 4 in the dark because it is preferable to visit area 13 at the very end of the run.

I kill the platoon bosses with iron boots (hence the detour to area 16 at the start) because I lack grenades. Both platoon bosses die in two swings (simply grapple above his head and start the swing; he dies shortly afterwards).

A final note on trucks: As I mentioned before, if you hold a direction as the map loads, all active trucks will reset their positions to their starting points. Doing this on areas 4, 3, 8, 18, or 10 will instantly initiate a truck encounter for the trucks that spawn on those tiles. Truck patterns are as follows:

4 (spawn) -> 5 -> 15 -> 4 -> 1 -> 4
3 (spawn) -> 2 -> 16 -> 5 -> 6 -> 3
8 (spawn) -> 19 -> 8 -> 18 -> 7 -> 18 -> 8
18 (spawn) -> 8 -> 10 -> 8 -> 19 -> 8 -> 6 -> 8 -> 18
10 (spawn) -> 12 -> 11 -> 10

If said truck is already gone, you obviously won't fight it. For example, if you do the early move on area 8, you will encounter the truck that makes the loop betweeen areas 7 and 19. That is the truck that will disappear. After a truck is killed/skipped, it will not respawn if you keep beating stages. I don't know why this is, but I know that after I fight the truck after area 10, it will not respawn after completing area 11 and area 12. However, if I enter/exit area 11 it respawns. This gives us a bit of control over their behavior. Also, if you do the early movement when a truck is respawning, it will not reset. Every other truck will, but the newly-spawned truck will spawn exactly where you fought it. If you do the early movement again, it will reset to its initial spawning location. Sounds confusing, but it all makes sense. With this in mind, I was able to construct a pretty efficient route.

(Note: Early/late at the start of each line indicates whether or not you hold the direction as the map loads (truck reset) or if you wait for the map to load.)

Area 0 -> Area 1 (enter and exit immediately)
Area 1 (early) -> 4 -> 5 (beat stage)
Area 5 (early) -> 16 (collect stuff)
Area 16 (late) -> 5 -> 15 (collect stuff)
Area 15 (early) -> 4 (beat stage)
Area 4 (late) -> 5 -> 6 (beat stage)
Area 6 (early) -> 3 (beat stage)
Area 3 (late) -> 6 -> 14 (collect stuff)
Area 14 (early) -> 6 -> 8 (beat stage)
Area 8 (early) -> Forced truck encounter (quit game, reload)
Area 8 (early) -> 19 (beat up POW)
Area 19 (late) -> 8 -> 9 (beat stage)
Area 9 (early) -> 17 (collect stuff)
Area 17 (early) -> 9 -> 8 -> 18 -> 7 (beat stage)
Area 7 (early) -> 18 (collect stuff)
Area 18 (late) -> 7 (Machine gun upgrade)
Area 7 (early) -> 18 -> 8 -> 9 -> 17 -> 9 -> 8 -> 10 (beat stage)
Area 10 (early) -> Forced truck encounter (quit game, reload)
Area 10 (early) -> 11 (beat stage)
Area 11 (early) -> 12 (beat stage)
Area 12 (late) -> 11 -> 10 -> 8 -> 9 -> 17 -> Tunnel2 (get item, then either exit or die and enter door at start)
Area 17 (early, use tunnel 2) -> 14 -> 6 -> 3 -> 2 (collect stuff, beat stage?)
Area 2 (late) -> 16 -> 5 -> 15 -> 4 -> 1 (collect stuff, beat stage?)
Area 1 (early) -> 0 (collect stuff)
Area 0 (early) -> 1 -> 13 (collect stuff)
Area 13 (late) -> 1 -> 13 -> 1 -> 4 -> 15 -> Tunnel1 (get item, then either exit or die and enter door at start)
Area 15 (late) -> 18 -> 8 -> 10 -> 12 -> A (finish game)

This gets into 2 truck encounters total, and both of them are forced trucks on spawn tiles, so the battles happen as soon as possible. There is a good chance I am forgetting to mention something significant, so please ask questions if you have them. I'll probably practice this route on PC but I don't think I'll do any attempts until Murphagator's Xbox 360 arrives. I don't like the instability of the PC version.

Alright, so I was curious about the 100% route today and decided to use what I found to make a route.  This route is...pretty different.  It is nearly entirely different than the current 100% route.  There are a few things that won't make sense by looking at the route, so I'll try to explain those.  First off, it is possible (and recommended!) to get both the grenade upgrade and the shotgun upgrade without the grenade/shotgun.  Video example:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgCa9l7nVus
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bq1ONSihTaU

This also means it isn't necessary to actually kill the boss of areas 1 or 2 (and I don't plan to), but that might change depending on how you want to define 100%.  I prefer the inventory definition so I'll be skipping those bosses.  Either way, the route remains the same regardless of what you choose there.

The tunnels were previously a big concern for me because of how difficult/annoying it is to get back to the exit after grabbing the item.  Well, it turns out that the game doesn't distinguish between an entrance and an exit for these levels.  Therefore, you can simply grab the item, kill yourself, and go through the door at the start.  The game will grant you passage as if you completed the stage.  This also means the PC version can skip the switches in the bottom tunnel (though XBLA doesn't have switches to worry about).  I haven't timed out where it is faster to die and use the starting door and where it is faster to exit normally.

I will have to do area 4 in the dark because it is preferable to visit area 13 at the very end of the run.

I kill the platoon bosses with iron boots (hence the detour to area 16 at the start) because I lack grenades.  Both platoon bosses die in two swings (simply grapple above his head and start the swing; he dies shortly afterwards).

A final note on trucks: As I mentioned before, if you hold a direction as the map loads, all active trucks will reset their positions to their starting points.  Doing this on areas 4, 3, 8, 18, or 10 will instantly initiate a truck encounter for the trucks that spawn on those tiles.  Truck patterns are as follows:

4 (spawn) -> 5 -> 15 -> 4 -> 1 -> 4
3 (spawn) -> 2 -> 16 -> 5 -> 6 -> 3
8 (spawn) -> 19 -> 8 -> 18 -> 7 -> 18 -> 8
18 (spawn) -> 8 -> 10 -> 8 -> 19 -> 8 -> 6 -> 8 -> 18
10 (spawn) -> 12 -> 11 -> 10

If said truck is already gone, you obviously won't fight it.  For example, if you do the early move on area 8, you will encounter the truck that makes the loop betweeen areas 7 and 19.  That is the truck that will disappear.  After a truck is killed/skipped, it will not respawn if you keep beating stages.  I don't know why this is, but I know that after I fight the truck after area 10, it will not respawn after completing area 11 and area 12.  However, if I enter/exit area 11 it respawns.  This gives us a bit of control over their behavior.  Also, if you do the early movement when a truck is respawning, it will not reset.  Every other truck will, but the newly-spawned truck will spawn exactly where you fought it.  If you do the early movement again, it will reset to its initial spawning location.  Sounds confusing, but it all makes sense.  With this in mind, I was able to construct a pretty efficient route.

(Note: Early/late at the start of each line indicates whether or not you hold the direction as the map loads (truck reset) or if you wait for the map to load.)

Area 0 -> Area 1 (enter and exit immediately)
Area 1 (early) -> 4 -> 5 (beat stage)
Area 5 (early) -> 16 (collect stuff)
Area 16 (late) -> 5 -> 15 (collect stuff)
Area 15 (early) -> 4 (beat stage)
Area 4 (late) -> 5 -> 6 (beat stage)
Area 6 (early) -> 3 (beat stage)
Area 3 (late) -> 6 -> 14 (collect stuff)
Area 14 (early) -> 6 -> 8 (beat stage)
Area 8 (early) -> Forced truck encounter (quit game, reload)
Area 8 (early) -> 19 (beat up POW)
Area 19 (late) -> 8 -> 9 (beat stage)
Area 9 (early) -> 17 (collect stuff)
Area 17 (early) -> 9 -> 8 -> 18 -> 7 (beat stage)
Area 7 (early) -> 18 (collect stuff)
Area 18 (late) -> 7 (Machine gun upgrade)
Area 7 (early) -> 18 -> 8 -> 9 -> 17 -> 9 -> 8 -> 10 (beat stage)
Area 10 (early) -> Forced truck encounter (quit game, reload)
Area 10 (early) -> 11 (beat stage)
Area 11 (early) -> 12 (beat stage)
Area 12 (late) -> 11 -> 10 -> 8 -> 9 -> 17 -> Tunnel2 (get item, then either exit or die and enter door at start)
Area 17 (early, use tunnel 2) -> 14 -> 6 -> 3 -> 2 (collect stuff, beat stage?)
Area 2 (late) -> 16 -> 5 -> 15 -> 4 -> 1 (collect stuff, beat stage?)
Area 1 (early) -> 0 (collect stuff)
Area 0 (early) -> 1 -> 13 (collect stuff)
Area 13 (late) -> 1 -> 13 -> 1 -> 4 -> 15 -> Tunnel1 (get item, then either exit or die and enter door at start)
Area 15 (late) -> 18 -> 8 -> 10 -> 12 -> A (finish game)

This gets into 2 truck encounters total, and both of them are forced trucks on spawn tiles, so the battles happen as soon as possible.  There is a good chance I am forgetting to mention something significant, so please ask questions if you have them.  I'll probably practice this route on PC but I don't think I'll do any attempts until Murphagator's Xbox 360 arrives.  I don't like the instability of the PC version.

Deuceler

2014-11-01 10:52:09 am

SPEEDruns not SAFEruns

100% hype is real! Can't wait to see a run PJ. I'm looking to pick up a "shorter" game and have been thinking either BC:RA or BC would fit, this is looking pretty awesome

PJ

2014-11-01 02:23:31 pm

Is PJ

I would highly recommend that you learn BC NES instead, but if you want to learn this I'll help you with anything you need. It is a lot easier on execution, but it is a lot more RNG heavy (except for the trucks...) and a lot less stable overall.

I'm not sure how much I'll do with 100%. I want to do it on XBLA instead of PC because I don't trust the PC version anymore, but I'm not super interested in grinding it out for a long time. We'll see how it turns out!

Deuceler

2014-11-02 07:27:18 pm

SPEEDruns not SAFEruns

Well, I have it on Xbox 360 so if there's anything you need testing with or want checked out let me know Cheesy

PJ

2014-11-04 08:12:39 pm

Is PJ

Alright. So I did a biiiit of routing of 100%. There is still a LOT of stuff that I need to revise, but I was getting antsy and wanted to try a full run. http://imgur.com/T3Hy2gT

Wasn't recording obviously, because this is my first single-segment 100% of this. I had upwards of 10 unintentional deaths, and I missed almost every single trick/shortcut in the game on my first try (except the area 10 quick kill!). I also made an erroneous map movement which added a few extra trucks. I won't be running this on PC because I don't trust it, so I'll just work on individual level practice now until Murphagator sends me his 360. I can easily cut 5+ minutes off of this time.

Things to note: I can skip trucks by quitting to the menu, and PC has faster loading than XBLA. Combined this is probably 5-6 minutes. The PC also has to hit the switches in the bottom tunnel and has to play through room B in the Albatross, which maybe makes up like 35 seconds. I'll have to get a better feel for a goal time after I play on XBLA for awhile. A time around 45 min should be pretty easy though.

I haven't been making videos of my level routes for 100% because most of them are pretty straightforward, but I was pretty happy with my Area 8 route so I made a video of that. Definitely the most technically demanding level in the game:

Alright.  So I did a biiiit of routing of 100%.  There is still a LOT of stuff that I need to revise, but I was getting antsy and wanted to try a full run.  http://imgur.com/T3Hy2gT

Wasn't recording obviously, because this is my first single-segment 100% of this.  I had upwards of 10 unintentional deaths, and I missed almost every single trick/shortcut in the game on my first try (except the area 10 quick kill!).  I also made an erroneous map movement which added a few extra trucks.  I won't be running this on PC because I don't trust it, so I'll just work on individual level practice now until Murphagator sends me his 360.  I can easily cut 5+ minutes off of this time.

Things to note: I can skip trucks by quitting to the menu, and PC has faster loading than XBLA.  Combined this is probably 5-6 minutes.  The PC also has to hit the switches in the bottom tunnel and has to play through room B in the Albatross, which maybe makes up like 35 seconds.  I'll have to get a better feel for a goal time after I play on XBLA for awhile.  A time around 45 min should be pretty easy though.

I haven't been making videos of my level routes for 100% because most of them are pretty straightforward, but I was pretty happy with my Area 8 route so I made a video of that.  Definitely the most technically demanding level in the game:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vX-Kf4ZZ_Ss

PJ

Edit history:

PJ: 2014-11-06 09:40:01 pm

PJ: 2014-11-06 07:42:06 pm

2014-11-06 07:32:57 pm

Is PJ

Did another run today after a lot more practice. I have routes for the tunnels that I am really happy with, and I improved a lot of routes for the individual stages. New PB is 42:08 (IGT of 30:42.56). http://imgur.com/TBEM5yn

The video is uploading. I lost a TON of time nearly everywhere. I missed the area 3 quick kill, and the quick kill on the area 11 boss (HOW?), but somehow got it in area 10. I think I only had two unintentional deaths, but they were pretty damn ugly. Area 9 was a disaster and I missed a critical grapple in area 11 and lost a lot of time. Missed the shortcut in Albatross' Room B for ~30 seconds and got crusher skip like 5th try. This is a truly horrible run. However, it does show the potential of this category. Sub-40 is easily possible on PC. Idk about console yet. I'll test when it shows up.

I also figured out how the IGT works. Kennyman pointed out that it doesn't time the truck stages or map movement (IIRC), which is awesome because I didn't test those. However, on PC at least, the game doesn't clear your stats when you start a new game. It appears as though it keeps using the stats (timer, kill count, even yashichis and prototype weapon/purple matrix) from your previous save file. If you start a new game, immediately quit, and then start another new game the timer should be consistent. If you grind practice on a completed file before doing attempts and then complete the very first run, your IGT will be super high. This is what happened in my finished any% run. For 100% on PC, you have to clear save data twice between each run anyways because it doesn't erase your yashichi progress otherwise, so the timer should be completely accurate for those runs. For any%, it will vary based on how well your previous run did. If your previous attempt made it super far, then the IGT will be really high. If it was aborted on the very map movement, it'll be accurate. Therefore, it is *possible* to use the IGT to compare runs....kind of. I would not recommend it for any official timing, but you can at least use it to compare between your own PBs if you have a consistent method of starting the run.

What a pain in the ass. Anyways, I'll edit this post with the video when hotel internet decides it is done uploading.

Edit:

Did another run today after a lot more practice.  I have routes for the tunnels that I am really happy with, and I improved a lot of routes for the individual stages.  New PB is 42:08 (IGT of 30:42.56). http://imgur.com/TBEM5yn

The video is uploading.  I lost a TON of time nearly everywhere.  I missed the area 3 quick kill, and the quick kill on the area 11 boss (HOW?), but somehow got it in area 10.  I think I only had two unintentional deaths, but they were pretty damn ugly.  Area 9 was a disaster and I missed a critical grapple in area 11 and lost a lot of time.  Missed the shortcut in Albatross' Room B for ~30 seconds and got crusher skip like 5th try.  This is a truly horrible run.  However, it does show the potential of this category.  Sub-40 is easily possible on PC.  Idk about console yet.  I'll test when it shows up.

I also figured out how the IGT works.  Kennyman pointed out that it doesn't time the truck stages or map movement (IIRC), which is awesome because I didn't test those.  However, on PC at least, the game doesn't clear your stats when you start a new game.  It appears as though it keeps using the stats (timer, kill count, even yashichis and prototype weapon/purple matrix) from your previous save file.  If you start a new game, immediately quit, and then start another new game the timer should be consistent.  If you grind practice on a completed file before doing attempts and then complete the very first run, your IGT will be super high.  This is what happened in my finished any% run.  For 100% on PC, you have to clear save data twice between each run anyways because it doesn't erase your yashichi progress otherwise, so the timer should be completely accurate for those runs.  For any%, it will vary based on how well your previous run did.  If your previous attempt made it super far, then the IGT will be really high.  If it was aborted on the very map movement, it'll be accurate.  Therefore, it is *possible* to use the IGT to compare runs....kind of.  I would not recommend it for any official timing, but you can at least use it to compare between your own PBs if you have a consistent method of starting the run.

What a pain in the ass.  Anyways, I'll edit this post with the video when hotel internet decides it is done uploading.

Edit:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=903pQ-CLmEw

Shiden

Edit history:

Shiden: 2014-12-06 05:20:59 pm

2014-12-06 05:20:24 pm

I helped PJ with the barrier skip. It is so on, game. You don't even know. I created a new video to demonstrate since my old 30FPS video got deleted and the 60FPS one really isn't relevant anymore. Basically you need to force Vsync on through your graphics driver control panel. This is something that EVERYONE can do. There is no option in the ingame settings because Grin was dumb. After that you just need to select any resolution that can do less than 59Hz refresh rate. For me and PJ it's 56Hz. This refresh rate seems to be the sweet spot.