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yeah, if you could record a quick demo of your progress on that, that would be great.  I just got done hiking the grand canyon twice this past weekend, so my body is completely sore....which means i'll probably have a little more time to work on this for the next week or two Smiley  Will have a decent segment 6 up by the end of the week.
Edit history:
UCpro: 2011-06-10 02:55:15 pm
found a new possible shortcut for the mess hall section....still need to test it out a lot.  Also found a shorcut right after that in the area where you raise the platform up.  And also a potential shortcut right after the save after the collapsing bridge.  Again, still needs a lot of testing to see if these would work (they all require the rewind trick, and that's a lot of sand to be used if i did them all).  I'll post videos of these once i work on them a little bit more.


EDIT: i played up to the observatory and it turns out you can't skip that fight.....i skipped it and tried to move on, but Farah don't follow (go figure).  So now i'm trying to re-plan how i'm going to do my segments up to that part.  I'm thinking about maybe fighting at least some of the enemies in the mess hall now, because i want to have haste for the observatory fight.  Still a lot to figure out for segment 6...so it might be a while before i actually figure out how i want to do everything.
Edit history:
Reaver: 2011-06-10 05:36:50 pm
I decided to edit and upload the recordings of the stuff I had mentioned in my previous post, however after reviewing them today I found that FRAPS had decided to stop recording sound correctly with my normal settings. The sound is ok for about a second or two in various places throughout the video; however the majority of the sound appears to be distant, only coming through one channel and has a weird echoing effect in places. I found it rather annoying and didn’t want to subject anyone else to ~10+ minutes worth of bad quality sound so I decided to sort the sound problem and re-record. After many hours of fiddling with settings, driver updates, searching the internet for answers and testing I have come to the conclusion that it just decided to stop working correctly for no reason other than to bug me. Thankfully I had an alternative method of recording sound so I was finally able to produce another demo. Despite the delay it did give me the opportunity to test some other ideas I had, two of which I have included in the video as they were the two that worked. I am not sure if they are faster or slower than current methods as I have not checked the timing for comparisons but they are there for reference. 

The first trick involves going out of bounds in the caverns section. I think this trick could potentially be used elsewhere in the game. It seems once you get onto the invisible ledge you can go through any wall and get out of bounds (At least on the PC version). It’s worth investigating this trick in some other areas of the game for potential shortcuts.

The second shortcut involves a variation of getting the 2nd sword. I had the idea a long time ago before I was aware of the rewind trick, but of course without the trick it wasn’t possible to get the height required. It isn’t that easy to get up there with the trick either (took a lot of restarts to get the wall run right).

Some other stuff I tried:
I attempted to look for a shortcut in the raised platform area today. I came close, even managed to get outside without pulling levers using the rewind trick but didn’t get much further (Didn’t record anything). I’m looking forward to seeing what you came up with.

Quote from UCpro:
EDIT: i played up to the observatory and it turns out you can't skip that fight.....i skipped it and tried to move on, but Farah don't follow (go figure).  So now i'm trying to re-plan how i'm going to do my segments up to that part.  I'm thinking about maybe fighting at least some of the enemies in the mess hall now, because i want to have haste for the observatory fight.  Still a lot to figure out for segment 6...so it might be a while before i actually figure out how i want to do everything.


Snap! I also did some small tests in the observatory today. I was able to open the door without fighting the sand monsters, but Farah was determined to stay and fight. Unfortunately you need her to pull a lever on the bridge above you in the next section to progress any further. There didn’t seem to be a way to manipulate her into moving forward past the fight. I was just about to post to say all this since I've finally finished recording and uploaded to youtube Smiley

When you get the 1st sword and drop down to the where the wall you have to break to progress is, I think there is a wave of 8 enemies then a brief pause before the next wave. You could kill the first 8 then break the wall to enter the next section. With the 25 in the baths, plus the 5 in the hall of learning that'll be enough to get haste for the observatory.



Are the annotations in my vids helpful or do they just get in the way? I can disable them if you feel they aren't needed.
Edit history:
UCpro: 2011-06-10 10:27:36 pm
awesome Reaver!  oh, i like the annotations...keep them up!!

the trick you show in the caverns (rewind trick off the ledge and then being able to "ledge walk" oob) is basically what i've been testing for many other parts of the game.  Right now i'm testing it in the mess hall trying to get something to work (there's many ledges in there to do this trick)...but nothing is working as of now.

The raised platform area, i think we both found the same way to get to the outside area by using the rewind trick....this i think is a trick we can use, but we still have to pull all the other levers first to get the platform higher.  Since it takes Farah sooooo long to climb and pull her second lever, it will be a lot of time saved to do the rewind trick to get outside as she is climbing up to that second lever (she'll actually pull the lever during the cutscene when the prince rips his sleeve off)....my guess is that will save about 20 seconds (the cutscene showing the platform rotating doesn't play because thats happening during the cutscene that's already playing where the prince rips off his sleeve).

We'll have to figure out how much time is saved/lost with the 2 shortcuts you found.  Keep in mind that rewinding actually doesn't count towards the in-game clock (i'm focussing on the in-game time for this run)...so i'm not counting rewind time in when comparing which routes are faster.

I'll try to get a video up sometime soon of some of the stuff i've been working on.
Yeah the one in the raised platform area I was attempting to skip a lever or two to save some time, but you need them all to get across. Even in a 100% run you wouldn't have the sand tanks necessary to skip the levers without causing problems. At least you can save time with Farah. 

Seems my youtube vid has randomly switched to 240p and no longer possesses the annotations.... I'll try sorting it a bit later. Seems like I've had nothing but trouble with editing and uploading lately :S
here's a video of a new timesaver i found last night....skipping the ladder.  Also i show how to skip the cutscene before the beam section.



I'm still trying to figure out a good method for the mess hall section, but it's not looking like there's anything better than the route satvara took.  That's going to be hard to pull off in a run...
Nice timesavers. I never thought of jumping directly onto the beam like that. That ladder skip will be especially handy for me. I am rather awkward with the controls and a lot of the time I miss that ladder Cheesy

Have you managed to pull off Satvara's route through the mess hall? I have tried on several occassions but it always ends in a game over as soon as I get outside and the little cutscene ends. I'm wondering if it's because you are too far away from her at that point. Maybe you can you skip that cutscene where it shows the draw bridge you have to lower? Might stop the game overs unless there is another way.
nope, i haven't pulled off satvaras route through the mess hall yet....i've come close before.  The tricky thing is that you need to enter the mess hall without Farah making it in there...that's hard to do.  IDK yet, but it's still possible that i'll save in the mess hall.  I still need to do more testing with that area though first before finalizing my plans.  There's still a chance i might discover a new route for that part.  The only difficult thing after the mess hall will be the rewind trick in the platform raising section.
It's just occurred to me that we've mainly been jumping from ledges then rewinding looking for the shortcuts. Have you ever tried jumping from a rope or climbing pillar then doing the rewind trick? I tried it yesterday briefly off a rope and I did appear to attach to an invisible rope in mid air, but couldn't get off of it. If it works on pillars, ladders and ropes then it might be very useful elsewhere. I'll try again later on when I get home from work.
Edit history:
UCpro: 2011-06-16 01:34:02 am
UCpro: 2011-06-16 01:29:36 am
UCpro: 2011-06-16 01:26:17 am
Quote from Reaver:
It's just occurred to me that we've mainly been jumping from ledges then rewinding looking for the shortcuts. Have you ever tried jumping from a rope or climbing pillar then doing the rewind trick? I tried it yesterday briefly off a rope and I did appear to attach to an invisible rope in mid air, but couldn't get off of it. If it works on pillars, ladders and ropes then it might be very useful elsewhere. I'll try again later on when I get home from work.


Yeah i have tried doing the rewind trick off a rope or pillar, but i've never had success.  But i also haven't really put a ton of time into testing whether or not it's possible.  Let me know if you have any success with that when you get a chance to play again.

OK, so i have a couple videos....




first part shows the closest i've come to finding some new route in the mess hall section. Just a dead end though.

the next part is a timing comparison for using the rewind trick to advance quicker through the platform part. In-game seconds it's about 18 seconds faster using the rewind trick. Real-time its about 9 seconds faster. If i decide not to save in the mess hall i'm probably not putting this trick in my run. If i do save in the mess hall, i'll put this in.

The last part of the video shows a potential shortcut....instead of running all the way across the bridge, hop onto the last bit of ledge and jump over to an opening in the wall. Then jump back and forth until you reach a spot you're not supposed to reach. I couldn't find anything beyond doing this though. You'll see i tried to use the rewind trick to grab an edge, but gave up trying to make that work after numerous attempts.




made this to see which route is faster. Not saving is about 5 real-time seconds faster....but only 2 in-game seconds faster. After making this comparison video, i'm definitely going to be saving at this save point, even though it's slower. The reason is that i won't have to save once i reach the bottom of the caves (that'll save me 6 seconds right there, already making up the lost time from this new save), and also it will allow me to make a super polished segment 7, and also a more polished run at the beginning of segment 8 (down to the bottom of the caves). I think using this save point may save me about 10-15 seconds after it's all said and done.


Right now i'm thinking i will use Satvara's route through the mess hall (won't kill any sand creatures in the mess hall, or any other sand creatures up to that point) and then i will NOT use the rewind trick in the platform section (i think it's going to be too risky after pulling off a successful attempt through the mess hall).  Then save after the bridge collapse.  NOW, if we figure out a successful shortcut stemming from the progress i made at the end of my first video in this post (the part where i jump from the ledge on the bridge that normally collapses), then i will save in the mess hall and then use the rewind trick in the platform section.

A lot to take in, i know Smiley
Haven't had much success with ropes or pillars. I managed twice with a rope, one time I couldn’t swing or climb or get off. The second time I could climb up and down and get out of bounds but couldn't swing or get off the rope.

Nice stuff. Haven't looked at the mess hall just yet. I did find this on the broken bridge. It IS possible to do it with four sand tanks, managed it twice although I couldn't manage it with FRAPS recording. I'll try again when I get some more time but I thought I'd upload it now. I also include a clip of why I had to jump back instead of forwards. If you go straight on you miss the loading trigger. If you can pull this off it'll save some time, but it isn’t easy to do. Might be worth it if you save at the bridge. I’ll keep looking for an easier method in the meantime.   

hahahaha, hilarious end to that video Reaver Smiley .... i was actually playing around with doing that trick before seeing you post that video, didn't get it to work though with 4 tanks.  I wonder if you could do the rewind trick onto that poll by rolling off the high wall that i was on OOB at the end of the video i posted earlier (basically skipping the bridge collapse cutscene and the save).  If that is possible i would definitely save in the mess hall....but i guess i wouldn't be able to do the rewind trick in the platform section because i would need the sand tanks to get onto that poll.  Hmmmm, well we'll have to see if it's even possible to skip the bridge cutscene.  More testing i suppose....
Hahaha yeah that ending I just had to have in there for the laughs Smiley

It's odd but the first few times I did that I managed it with 4 sand tanks and I can't do it anymore. Maybe because I'm thinking too much about it rather than just doing it, but it is possible. I'll do some more testing when I get home from work to see anything else is can be done in that section. I'll check out the mess hall as well for possible routes. Haven't really looked around too much in there yet.

I did do some more testing with the observatory and I think you will have to do that fight. I couldn't find a clear way of manipulating Farah to follow you. Even if you trap her in the hall of learning you can climb about 2/3rds of the way up the observatory before it goes into an infinite game over loop. I was hoping she would spawn near the lever in the observatory but it didn't work. 
My feelings on The Demon Rush
Wow you guys are seriously breaking the game.

Also, ROFL that ending.
Edit history:
UCpro: 2011-06-18 12:16:12 am
UCpro: 2011-06-18 12:02:43 am
Got the bridge collapse skip!!  probably around 25 seconds saved with this.  Moderately difficult to pull off...you need to get the birds in the right position to kinda bounce off them correctly when you jump off the ledge.  No sand tanks required for this (the one i used was just because that bird killed me, lol).  I'll play around with better, faster, more consistent methods of pulling this skip off, but at least we know it's possible now.  I've pulled it off 3 times now.



With this discovery i think i'll probably be saving in the mess hall to end segment 6.  Then for segment 7 i'll do the rewind trick in the platform section and also the new bridge collapse skip.  End segment 7 where i showed in my previous video (after swinging on the 4 poles).

Actually, i'm starting to wonder if it would be better to skip the mess hall fight, use satvara's route through the mess hall, then fight the sand creatures on the draw bridge to save at that portal.  I guess it all comes down to which fight is faster.  I would prefer to save at the draw bridge, and i think that one would be the faster option (considering satvara's mess hall route does save time) and there is also a brief delay between the 2 waves of sand creatures in the mess hall.  And saving at the draw bridge would make segment 7 A LOT easier since pulling off the rewind trick in the platform area AND doing the bridge collapse skip (not to mention a few difficult jumps after that as well as a somewhat difficult wall-rebound jump off a door frame to skip a cutscene) will be very difficult.  Plus, it would be nice to have that mess hall skip in this run Smiley
Guys... you have broken this game so incredibly, it's amazing. I cannot wait to see the final product(s).
Edit history:
Reaver: 2011-06-18 07:21:23 am
There have been times when I've wanted to break this game, but it wasn't in this way Cheesy

Really nice timesaver UCpro. A lot easier than my method. Skips the cutscene and saves on sand tanks for your next section. Killed 2 birds with 1 bird.... Or something like that.

Probably easiest to stick to the wall you run towards as you cross the drawbridge in the fight. Gets problematic if you approach the bridge and sometimes Farah gets knocked off or you can.
Glad people are enjoying the breaking of this game Smiley ....can't put an estimated time on it yet, but this run could push close to the mid-1:20s at the final save.  Would be sweet to go sub-1:30 for the whole run....i think that'll happen Smiley

i'm trying to figure out what other battles i could potentially use haste at latter in the game (since i'll either be doing the mess hall fight or the drawbridge fight).  I could potentially get haste in time to use at the end of the baths battle against the 25 enemies (probably not a good spot to use it at though).  I could maybe use it on the 5 enemies in the hall of learning, and then just get a sand cloud after that to use haste in the observatory.

If it doesn't make sense to use haste outside of the observatory and elevatory fights, than i don't need to retrieve sand from every sand creature i face up to those parts.  Dagger freeze and kill is faster than retrieving sand from enemies, so that would make the fights easier and faster.

Actually, now that i think about it, using haste on the 5 enemies in the hall of learning could save quite a bit of time...will have to test it out later.  And we still need to time that new route you discovered for that part Reaver.

As of now, i'm kinda up in the air about whether to do the mess hall fight or the drawbridge fight.  Decisions, decisions, ....
I've decided i'm going to save in the mess hall to end segment 6.  That fight is just going to be a lot easier than the drawbridge fight, especially since i'll be entering the mess hall without Farah.  Since she won't be there, all the enemies will gather around me, and i'll just plan on taking them all out in that tight area where the save portal spawns.  Should go super fast, and i'll be right next to the save portal after the fight is done.

I did some more testing with the bridge collapse skip, and i'm starting to get a better feel for the best position for the birds to be in when i jump from that ledge.  I can get it about 1 in 8 tries now, and half the time i end up on the ledge on the OTHER side of the wall (not the opposite wall, just the other side of the wall that you climb around too.  So, i think segment 7 may not be super difficult, and i can afford to start that segment in the mess hall.

I think i'm almost ready to start segment 6 attempts now that i have things figured out.  There's only one spot i want to figure out a little better....and that's the area right before the mess hall.  I'm trying to figure out a consistent way to quickly break through that wall without killing any enemies.  I don't want to take the time to kill any of them, but i can afford to dagger freeze one of them if i find that helps me in any way.  Once i get that figured out i'll start recording attempts and hopefully can put up a decent attempt soon!
Here's a decent segment 6 attempt...



Time at the save is 39:38 and i see about 40 seconds of improvements on this.  Might be able to get 38 minutes at the save with a good attempt, but it would be tough.  Anyways, please watch a see if there are any other better strategies/improvements (besides the obvious couple mistakes i made).
My feelings on The Demon Rush
The only thing that I noticed is that you still don't wall-run about 2:16ish. I'm pretty sure it's faster to wall-run there, unless if there's something I'm missing.
Nice stuff. I honestly though this segment was going to be a lot longer than 9 minutes. Still some minor things to iron out, but other than that pretty good.

Does your strategy for smashing both those walls work the majority of the time?

Possible improvements:
2:05 You can wallrun along the inside of both walls to avoid the rotating blades, or roll under them. Not sure if it's really faster but it gets you clear over them without having to worry about the timing of your rolls Smiley
2:16 Like Mikwuyma said, it would be faster to wallrun along that wall.
4:51 Scarabs - Might be better to just fly off the wall once or twice. With the new sword it only take 2 swings to dispatch them so might be a little quicker to slash at them.
6:18 You can probably wallrun along that wall once you've smashed through the wall.

So what happens next? I've never trapped Farah outside the mess hall then saved. When you reload is she in there with you? Or does she appear at the top once you get outside?



Edit history:
mikwuyma: 2011-06-28 01:23:56 pm
My feelings on The Demon Rush
I agree with Reaver about the Scarabs, way too many of your wall dives missed, and it takes time to push up against another wall.
Yes, Farah appears in the mess hall at the start of the next segment.  You're able to continue on just like normal.

The strategy for breaking through the wall works most of the time.  Probably about 80% of the time for the first wall.  The second wall i think i have a good strategy, but i haven't done it enough to figure what my odds of success are there.  Maybe 30-50%?  It's definitely a lot harder to pull off than the first wall, but the strategy i use is pretty good i think.

Yeah, i'll wallrun a lot more for my real attempt.  This attempt was a little lazy, kinda just wanted to get something up without any major mistakes.

Good thinking about the scarab fight.  I'll do that.  Sometimes after the fight, that cutscene doesn't play (the one with the prince putting away his sword)...i noticed that happening when i did a wall attack that killed 2 scarabs at some point in the fight.

Also, i should point out that i will be using the dagger freeze and instant kill on a few of the enemies in the mess hall (i didn't do that at all in this attempt).  Since i'm not pressing for sand with this route i can afford to do that, and it is faster than the wall attacks and taking the enemies sand.

I'll probably put up another progress attampt before i get a final attempt.  This might take a while to get something i'm happy with before moving on.
Edit history:
UCpro: 2011-07-03 06:15:39 pm
UCpro: 2011-07-02 11:51:14 pm
OK, so i played off my 'decent segment 6' file and played up to the part where i will end my segment 7....the 52% save.  I saved after the bridge collapse and then proceeded to the 52% save.  My time was 47:08.  Just trying to calculate what i time i want there for my finalized attempt.  I know i can save at least 40 seconds from my 'decent segment 6' attempt, i didn't do the rewind trick in the platform area (18 seconds), had about 10 seconds of possible improvements up to the bridge collapse save, the bridge collapse skip will save about 30 seconds from what i did in these practice attempts, and then i had about 4 seconds of possible improvements up to the 52% save.  So....that's 1:42 i should be able to cut off from the 47:08 time, which would put me at around 45:26.  So my guess is 45:2x is the best i will be able to do.

Now, the reason i wanted to calculate that out is that i want to compare it to the route where i would skip the mess hall fight and save at the bridge collapse save (not doing the rewind trick in the platform area).  Not doing the rewind trick or the bridge collapse skip will cost around 45 seconds, but the fight in the mess hall took me around 1:45+ (and would maybe only be brought down to 1:30 in a really good attempt, plus the time it takes to save).  So, even though the segment would be harder, i could afford a little more mistakes and might still come out with a faster time than the 45:26.  After the bridge collapse save, i could potentially use Revear's rewind trick to the pole right after the save to start off segment 7, and then still end it at the 52% save.

Now all i have to do is time a decent segment 6 going up to the bridge collapse save....that'll be fun.  But at least i'll be able to nail down the best method time-wise up to the 52% save.  I'm thinking 44:xx might be possible at that save, but i'll just have to test it out and see.


EDIT: i played for a little over an hour and wasn't able to get from the cliffs and waterfalls save to the bridge collapse save.  Satvara's route through the mess hall is difficult to pull off.  I know i can get it, but i'm having issues keeping Farah's health all the way up upon reaching the mess hall, and then breaking through the wall without having her follow me into the mess hall, AND THEN not getting the game over as soon as you leave the mess hall.  If i could get all those to work i would be golden the rest of the way (for finishing the segment enough to time it and calculate potential time saved).  I'll get it soon, and i'm starting to think this route is going to be quite a bit better than saving in the mess hall.