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Ryason55: 2014-11-21 05:40:15 pm
Ryason55: 2012-06-11 07:49:26 pm
Ryason55: 2012-06-11 07:49:03 pm
Ryason55: 2012-06-11 07:48:30 pm
Ryason55: 2012-06-11 07:47:08 pm
Ryason55: 2012-06-11 07:43:52 pm
So hey, planning on doing a single-segment speedrun of Serious Sam 3: BFE. I've actually been planning this for quite some time (on and off) and really, this just requires a bit of confirmation on a couple things and then me actually pulling it off. This will be on Tourist difficulty, just for the sake of getting things done as fast as possible without having to worry to much about dying to non-instant death means. There are a lot of places in my route where I can mess up skips, either costing me a hell of a lot of time, or getting eaten by Sandwhale (both being resets).

Most of my practice for this has been segmented runs at the levels (using a save before trouble points). Here are my best times for the levels so far:
Code:
#  Level Name:		      My Best Times:
1  Summer in Cairo		 01:37
2  Into the Spider's Nest	 01:33
3  Broken Wings			 04:51
4  No Place To Hide		 01:50
5  Under an Iron Cloud		 02:24
6  The Silent Riddler		 05:10
7  Unearthing the Sun		 01:07
8  The Dark Bride		 00:55
9  The Power of The Underworld	 03:56
10 The Lost Temples of Nubia	 02:53
11 The Last Man on Earth	 04:39
12 The Gaurdian of Time		 03:26
---------------------------------------------
Total Time:			 34:21

Last Updated: November 21, 2014


I expect my single-segment run will be within 5 minutes of that total time. I'm not sure how much mucking about I'll tolerate during the run; I'll probably aim for as perfect as possible for the first 4 levels, and then give a little bit of slack past that. The first 4 levels are where I have to do the most precision platforming to perform skips anyways.

Now, just a couple questions:
-What should be prioritized in regards to video settings: quality or performance? My current settings have the game running at about 30 FPS while recording.
-Leave the ending cutscene in?

I did have more questions, but then I actually read the FAQ, and then everything was mostly great.
Thread title:  
-What should be prioritized in regards to video settings: quality or performance? My current settings have the game running at about 30 FPS while recording.
Performance is the most important one, but preferably a mixture of both Smiley

-Leave the ending cutscene in?
That's completely up to you.

Looking forward to the run Smiley
Oh my god, can't wait!!!
SS3 has only 12 levels?
hi
Quote from djcj:
SS3 has only 12 levels?


I don't see anything surprising about this.

TFE had 15 levels and TSE had 12. Seems pretty standard.
A bit of a preview; showing the route for the first level:



Timing is based off the ingame timer, not the end-of-level time, as that is unreliable due to not being shown after the final level.

Anyways, here's my route for the first level of Serious Sam 3. Quite a different approach from what has been posted on YouTube so far. Also faster.
First off, I completely skip the Hammer and just jump off the starting building right from the get-go. If you're playing on not Tourist difficulty, you have to jump to the building to the left of that shorter one, and then drop-down from there to survive the fall.
From there on, I depend on Gnaars to break down the two walls in the path. The first one is simple, as there's a Gnaar breaking it down right as you're entering the area. Sometimes though, after it hits it the first time, it'll play its "angry" animation instead of getting off the second hit on the wall. I believe this is caused by being too close to it when its AI is thinking of what to do between attacks. This is a reset if it happens.
The second wall is a bit of a thing. I lure the group of Gnaars from the street after first wall. I have to stop sprinting for a duration while luring them in order to not completely lose them.
From then on it's a sprint to the finish. I avoid the pistol for kicks, and because I don't need it for the rest of the level. The game will give me it and the hammer at the start of the next level anyways.

[Record Date: June 11, 2012]


Also, updated my segmented times in the first post. Really only shaved off a total of about 31 seconds, but hey.
Stalker!
http://www.gamefront.com/files/21680852/Summer_in_Cairo_mp4

i did some running of summer in cairo some time ago, but with a slightly different approach..
Might be interessting for you.
I swear this is not dead. My goal is to get the run out before the DLC comes out, which is the 16th this month.

Anyways, a question has come up in regards to one of the console commands I've been using. "prj_fCutSceneDontSkipPeriod". By default it is set to 1, and this makes it so for the first second of a cutscene, you cannot skip it. The intended purpose of this is help prevent cutscenes from accidentally being skipped. But, since I'm doing a speedrun, I have all intentions of skipping the cutscenes (barring the ending/credits one). Under these conditions, would changing it's setting to 0 seconds (so I can instantly skip cutscenes) be allowed under SDA rules?

Also, in regards to timing the run as a single-segment, would it be possible to use the individual level times for timing the run? That'd really only exclude the loading times for 11 levels (since timing starts only after the first level is loaded).
Yes the level times are used for SS, in HD there's a total time in the stats page but not sure about this one. I think that command would be allowed, but better ask SDA staff (like if you need to turn cheats on first then it's probably not allowed). As far as I know, the cutscenes do not add up to the level time anyway, so would be good to skip that 1 second.
The in-game stat screen in SS3 doesn't give a total time. In fact, after beating the final level, you don't get a stat screen, it just boots you back to the main menu once the cutscene is done. I will have the in-game level timer visible throughout the run though, so that can be used. It'd just include what few frames of cutscenes aren't skipped.

Cheats don't have to be enabled or anything like that for the command to work. I'm pretty confident that this command is allowed, but I just thought I'd double-check.
Pac is Back
There's DLC coming out!? Ooh Smiley
Well, while it's not exactly the run I wanted, it's the only run I managed to complete on such short notice (I may have put it off until I had 3 days left to my deadline):

Quote from Video Description:
About freaking time I got around to this. This isn't the most successful run, but it's the only run I've managed so far that actually completed the game without dying or screwing up a critical jump. My goal was to get this out before the Jewel of the Nile DLC came out... and I decided to wait until I had 3 days left (1 of which would be spent uploading the stupid thing) to actually get it done. Fun times. I kinda don't want to submit this run though. Really don't like how badly I screwed up in The Gaurdian of Time...

(Note that the timing is based off the time shown the frame before each level ends. The times shown in the stat screen between levels may differ by a second due to not including the time during cutscenes.)

Please be sure to check out the level notes here:
http://forums.seriouszone.com/showthread.php?t=62798

I'll probably try the run again at some point later to see if I can get something I want to submit. Also, Jewel of the Nile is coming out, so I'll have to take a look at that to see how speedrunnable it is~

[Record Date: October 14, 2012]
Pac is Back
Great stuff man.  I'll check that out when I have some free time.  Going to see if I can clear time on my schedule to play the DLC today.
Pac is Back
Anyone running DLC?  How's 4:50 for the first level sound?
Okay, so I've taken a look at the first two levels of the DLC.

First level looks pretty solid. I have found a way to get past the door that blocks off the end touchfield... but unfortunately, that touchfield is disabled until you collect the Isis Seal (which opens the door and lets you actually get to the touchfield in the first place). This level will have to be played straight if something can't be arranged...

For the second level, I've found a way to skip collecting the Nefertari Statue from the puzzle-like temple-thing. However, this skip will require the run to be segmented. The amount of movement and jumping precision required for it is a bit insane. Also skipping getting the C4 by boosting over that one gate with a werebull.

I'll look at the third level once I actually go and play it on my own.
Edit history:
rayvex: 2012-10-29 01:57:54 pm
rayvex: 2012-10-29 11:10:37 am
rayvex: 2012-10-29 11:10:33 am
rayvex: 2012-10-29 11:10:33 am
rayvex: 2012-10-29 11:10:04 am
rayvex: 2012-10-29 11:09:44 am
rayvex: 2012-10-29 11:09:42 am
rayvex: 2012-10-29 11:09:41 am
rayvex: 2012-10-29 11:03:19 am
hi
Regarding the new DLC campagin, this is what I found:



Some nice boost just at the beginning of the first level.
While you're on that metal thing, repeatedly jump and touch the crates in order to get boosted.
Sometimes it will boost you towards a nearby rock that will serve as a ramp, so with a decent enough boost you can slopejump onto the roof of the Temple aswell (incase theres any use for it).

(And yes, it's a crappy camera recording Tongue I found that the more FPS you have, the higher is the knockback of the boost that you get (and fraps lowers the framerate too much on the settings that Im running)
So as it turns out, this isn't actually dead; I'm just really bad at getting to things ever.

So anyways, how about that Jewel of the Nile. Went and recorded a Segmented Normal run because I could:


Quote from Video Description:
So yeah, here's this. Had this route in the making for quite some time now, just recently got around to actually recording it. I decided to do it on Normal difficulty because... well, this run is nigh-impossible to do Single-Segmented, and Segmented Tourist might be overkill in terms of difficulty reduction. Now, one flaw with my plan to do Normal is that I've never actually practiced Normal Segmented; just Tourist. So, I had to do a LOT of reloading saves due to getting absolutely slaughtered in a few areas. I was outright seething by the end of the run. As a fun thing, keep an eye on the time in the top-right corner to see how long I took between segments.

I might explain what's going on at some point later, but for now I'll let chaos ensue in your minds.

For the unaware, a Segmented speedrun is essentially a speedrun where you can save and load. Any time where you have to load a save is a segment. While you could spam the save key to essentially TAS the game, it's preferable to use as few segments as possible.

Times:
Gathering of the Gods  -  04:26 (4 Segments)
Together Forever  -  02:08 (7 Segments)
Born Again  -  04:16 (5 Segments)
------------------------------------
Total  -  10:50 (16 Segments)

While this run is definitely improvable, I'm not sure if it can be taken lower than 10 minutes. Best improvements I can see are sprinting while edge-walking out of bounds, and possibly killing the boss faster. It'd also be nice to get it in less segments.
Anyways, I might do a full-speed Segmented Tourist run later. At the very least, having this Normal-mode video up before that means I can punch anyone who bitches about speedrunning on Tourist in that.
Also, to anyone who wishes to do this route single-segment, I wish you the best of luck.

[Record Date: June 8, 2013]
Anyone still following this thread? I'm brand new to speed running and I'd like to try this run. Anyone want to give me a lil walkthrough?
I'm monitoring
Edit history:
Tezur0: 2014-08-03 06:01:15 am
can somebody explain me the sandworm manipulations? I can't do one on map 7 completely, I keep on getting eaten. I will probably have the problems with the rest aswell...
Oh yeah, I made a thread here or something.

"Berserk Sandwhale" was fixed during the Christmas update. They added a check during the subsequent lunges, meaning you can no longer stay out in the desert forever. While this does kind of suck... We've since found better and faster methods of snapping the levels in half (more info in the video description of each video):

Mutilator Sling:


Rocket Launching:


The latter is definately the most game-breaking, since it's not something directly tied to how the levels are built, so you can do it at any point after you get the Rocket Launcher. I do plan on doing a proper run at some point with the new route... it's just that some of the Rocket Launches I do are a bit inconsistant. ^^;


Also, I'll give a bit of an update on how timing works for this game. There's two consistant ways to do it:

1. Enable the on-screen timer (hud_bShowTime=1), and use the time shown on the last frame before each level ends. This works best if you disable the cutscene buffer (prj_fCutSceneDontSkipPeriod=0) so that you can skip cutscenes as soon as they start. If you don't have the cutscene buffer disabled, you can still compare the times by subtracting 1 second for each played cutscene (as it's set to 1 second by default).

2. The "Playing Time" shown on the statistics screen between levels. This was problematic before, since the final level does not give a statistics screen after you complete it. However, I've found that you can achieve the same effect by opening the menu and clicking on "Statistics" during the ending cutscene. "Playing Time" doesn't run while cutscenes are playing, so you can show it at any point during the ending cutscene. If you fail to show this screen (whether by skipping the cutscene or forgetting it), you'll have to use another timing method.

There's only a difference of a few milliseconds between the two, depending on how fast you can mash out the cutscenes. In general, the times will either be the same, or off by a second. If the times do end up different, I'd suggest giving both times for comparison.
Pac is Back
Woah.
Did you make an updated run? I saw there was a run in verification Smiley Been playing around with glitches but couldn't find anything interesting. Most of the ones from HD are not possible. That object boosting one rayvex posted works but not as effective and I couldn't find many objects to boost on. Tried to clip through the floor on 1.0 but only managed a few times and I don't really see where it could be useful anyway. The rocket launching glitch is really fun though and I did a run on the fifth level where you can launch yourself from the start and go a more direct way to the boss fight. Too bad it only launches you vertically and not much horizontally or there could be some serious boosting going on Smiley
So, for anyone who's been screwed over by The Silent Riddler just not ending randomly, here's the reason why:
http://steamcommunity.com/app/41070/discussions/0/617320168030573379/

Not sure if there's anything we can really do about this besides keeping an eye on the right side to make sure enemies don't just up and leave. If it does happen, it is salvagable (there actually is a way to get to those enemies)... but it's a huge waste of time, and you also have to make 100% sure no enemies are just stuck in the structures around the fight area first.


Anyways, I've been working a bit more seriously on the run. I've decided that I do want to get an improved speedrun of this up, cause the old one's really outdated at this point. I still want to do single-segment... however, a lot of the rocket launches I do are still a bit inconsistant (namely in levels 4 and 5), so it'll take some doing. I've updated my best times in the first post, for anyone curious. I don't expect I'll get anywhere near that in a single-segment run, but I'm hoping I can at least get under 40 minutes.


I have done some streaming on this, and maybe I'll do more streaming on this in the future:
http://www.twitch.tv/ryason55

Note that I'll probably only be streaming practice runs (with saves), cause when doing attempts, I'll need all the FPS my computer can muster, as I'll be recording with Fraps.
Edit history:
Freezard: 2014-11-21 07:38:08 pm
Interesting. I forgot to tell that I actually went ahead with IL running and will probably submit them soon. I've done a ton of attempts on The Silent Riddler and I found out most of the time the level doesn't end just like you described. I kind of figured out it had something to do with a Kleer hiding because, at the end, Kleers will spawn from the pyramid that you don't have to kill, so you don't really know if you've killed all those you are supposed to kill. Anyway my best time on that level is 5:02 which I believe has a close to perfect battle since there's a timed spawn of the final Major Biomechanoid. Although after the run I did discover "dune hopping" which would make the level about 4 seconds faster, but with the buggy battle it's really annoying to redo the level.

Here's Summer in Cairo in 1:21 using an object boost, most likely the only one that could be done somewhat reliably in a single-segmented run.