Speedrunning AvP 2 and Primal hunt expansion

YautjaElder

Edit history:

YautjaElder: 2007-09-24 02:47:35 pm

2007-09-24 02:45:19 pm

Speed is the key.

Sadly no, I have the latest patch installed (1.0.9.6, I believe).

I wont be able to skip the hacking device in that level though since I need it to exit the level. Might be able to skip the keycard and the disc though. I'll be sure to test it out asap, and if it's version specific, I'll strongly consider restarting.

Edit: Hold on a second, if it's version specific, I'm pretty sure it violates SDA's rules... I know a glitch from another game which was banned from speedruns because it was version specific.

Kibbo

Edit history:

Kibbo: 2007-09-24 02:58:31 pm

2007-09-24 02:52:15 pm

TIOLET!

I think you have to run the game completely unpatched, otherwise it won't work.

Edit: It might work with some of the really old patches as well. But I'm quite sure that from 1.0.9.2 and on it won't work.

chillout

Edit history:

chillout: 2007-10-07 04:27:55 pm

2007-10-05 08:51:07 pm

Havent seen this thread until now!

Downloading your vids right now..

edit.

Very smooth runs, very smooth.
You are shaving off a bunch of seconds. Nice mountain walk.

sarou

2007-11-29 01:52:22 am

one-armed bandit

I have a horrible segment coming in Gun so I decided to do something fun instead... improve Kibumbi's predalien obviously.

http://files.filefront.com/AVSP2PH+predalien+part01avi/;9143218;/fileinfo.html
http://files.filefront.com/AVSP2PH+predalien+part02avi/;9143527;/fileinfo.html

First two parts done. Part1 is 14 seconds faster and part2 is also 14 seconds faster. I'll probably run the last level tomorrow.

Kibbo

Edit history:

Kibbo: 2007-11-29 05:24:08 am

2007-11-29 05:17:09 am

TIOLET!

I think I will abandon this game, I just can't get the scientist skip in level 1 to work (I get killed in less than a second once the guards show up), together with a bunch of other tricks. Without them there is no reason for me to even try improving the run.

I won't have time for working on 2-3 projects at the same time anyway. The Doom 3 run has priority over this one.

sarou

Edit history:

sarou: 2007-11-29 03:34:20 pm

2007-11-29 03:33:50 pm

one-armed bandit

http://files.filefront.com/AVSP2PH+predalien+part03avi/;9146412;/fileinfo.html
Part3 done, 4 and half seconds faster. kibumbi's run was very good so I couldn't improve it more ;). tbh, the rocket launcher guy is at the wrong end for me when I'm more than 5 seconds faster there. This level is also ridiculous in terms of randomness, mostly the cockroaches blocking you (rofl) or 90% of the time when The Door won't open early.

Last part isn't any better. Hopefully I'll pull it off soon so I can submit :p.

sarou

Edit history:

sarou: 2007-11-29 11:10:29 pm

2007-11-29 07:15:47 pm

one-armed bandit

http://files.filefront.com/AVSP2PH+predalien+part04avi/;9149787;/fileinfo.html

Last part is little over a second faster and that makes it 00:34.581 faster total (by my timing obviously). Last part has some mistakes and I lose too much health to use the faster route to those last two computers. like the previous segment this is just filled with randomness and I just wanna get over with it. note though that the pounce after I destroy the first panel isn't really a mistake.

Well, I'll be submitting this now.

Edit: verifiers needed :p

YautjaElder

Edit history:

YautjaElder: 2007-12-01 06:46:13 pm

2007-12-01 06:45:11 pm

Speed is the key.

The reason I haven't made any more progress with my Marine run is that I'm having problems with some doors in the third level (Betrayal). Unless I find a solution to this, I may have to quit doing the run. We'll see what happens.

sarou

Edit history:

sarou: 2007-12-04 04:26:58 am

2007-12-04 04:26:06 am

one-armed bandit

http://files.filefront.com/AVPS2PH+predalien+SS+sarouavi/;9183990;/fileinfo.html
I made a single-segment easy run today, it's about 5:45 with loading screens (I'm too lazy to time it properly). I chose easy because the last level (even) on normal is just so much more random/harder. First two levels are practically the same though.

so stop being lazy and go verify :p.

sarou

Edit history:

sarou: 2007-12-05 04:14:43 am

2007-12-04 10:26:35 pm

one-armed bandit

Ok I'm not going to submit any of those previous runs because this will do just nicely.

http://files.filefront.com/AVSP2PH+predalien+SS+sarolavi/;9191148;/fileinfo.html
It's single-segment on normal in 05:37.833 (by my timing of course), while the previous segmented run was 05:46.800 and kibumbi's run is 06:20.581.

(yes, verifiers needed)

edit:

Kibbo

Edit history:

Kibbo: 2008-01-23 01:42:18 pm

2008-01-23 01:36:53 pm

TIOLET!

So I have finally made up my mind on how to go about the AvP2 vanilla runs.

Alien: Segmented
Marine: Single segment
Predator: Single segment

All runs on Normal difficulty and all of the runs are planned to be improvements over the earlier ones. Especially the Marine run can be improved since I plan on using the no-hacking-device trick in one of the pod levels, although there is a chance of this trick backfiring. I still have to make a full investigation on it.

I decided to stick with segmented for the Alien campaign since that campaign isn't very well suited for SS runs. All the tricks that wasn't working before for unknown reasons are now working as well, which should allow me to improve Birth alone with about a minute.

Of course, my new system allow me to record this game at ridiculous settings. 1280x960 60 fps is what I've chosen, so finally someone is gonna make use of the XQ settings. And I will be doing these runs alongside the Doom 3 project, so don't expect these runs to be done within a week as was the case for the first Alien run.

So I have finally made up my mind on how to go about the AvP2 vanilla runs.

Alien: Segmented
Marine: Single segment
Predator: Single segment

All runs on Normal difficulty and all of the runs are planned to be improvements over the earlier ones. Especially the Marine run can be improved since I plan on using the no-hacking-device trick in one of the pod levels, although there is a chance of this trick backfiring. I still have to make a full investigation on it.

I decided to stick with segmented for the Alien campaign since that campaign isn't very well suited for SS runs. All the tricks that wasn't working before for unknown reasons are now working as well, which should allow me to improve Birth alone with about a minute.

Of course, my new system allow me to record this game at ridiculous settings. 1280x960 60 fps is what I've chosen, so finally someone is gonna make use of the XQ settings. And I will be doing these runs alongside the Doom 3 project, so don't expect these runs to be done within a week as was the case for the first Alien run.

YautjaElder

2008-01-23 02:49:06 pm

Speed is the key.

Good luck. Smiley

nate

2008-01-23 06:07:53 pm

oooh, xq.

Kibbo

2008-01-26 04:27:44 pm

TIOLET!

This weekend I decided to work on the first segment in the Alien campaign. I have no clue as to exactly how the old run was timed, so my time comparisons will probably differ a bit from the SDA time.

In the segmented run I will make full use of the game's autosave feature, which will result in roughly twice the amount of segments as in the old run. This is because the game autosaves after every single loading screen, and most of the levels have a loading screen smack in the middle of it.

YautjaElder

2008-01-26 04:37:50 pm

Speed is the key.

Do what needs to be done. Wink

Kibbo

2008-01-26 05:19:24 pm

TIOLET!

First successful on the facehugger part ended up being 25 seconds faster than the old run. I can do it slightly faster.

AjAX

2008-01-26 05:51:58 pm

How does quality works nowadays. IQ is what, 5000kbps and 640x480, so I suppose XQ is like 10000kbps with whatever resolution?

YautjaElder

Edit history:

YautjaElder: 2008-01-26 06:13:36 pm

2008-01-26 06:09:22 pm

Speed is the key.

The knowledge base says that XQ should have a bitrate of 10000. Doesn't say anything about resolution, but since it says that you shouldn't resize for HQ and IQ (except if the aspect ratio in incorrect), I'd assume that all those three qualities should be at whatever resolution you've recorded your game at.

Kibbo

Edit history:

Kibbo: 2008-01-30 04:25:35 am

2008-01-26 06:10:29 pm

TIOLET!

Moving on here. Now 30 seconds faster than the old run in the facehugger part. It feels like I'm closing in on the final time for this segment, but I can still shave a couple of decimals I think.

For this run the video setup will look this.
XQ: 1280x960 60 fps
IQ: 1024x768 60 fps
HQ: 640x480 maybe 60 fps, I'll see how the quality ends up first.
MQ: 320x240 30 fps
LQ: 320x240 30 fps

Edit: Managed to squeeze another 2 seconds from the time. The times you get in the facehugger part are really damn dodgy, mostly thanks to all the weird pounces.

Edit: The reason I'm wobbling back and forth when looking up or down is a result of the game's retarded sensitivity handling. The horizontal sensitivity is about twice as "fast" as the vertical. So I have to make very huge movements up and down while I barely have to move the mouse to the left or right to make the crosshair jump all over the screen.

YautjaElder

Edit history:

YautjaElder: 2008-01-26 09:49:28 pm

2008-01-26 09:46:24 pm

Speed is the key.

Looks awesome. I'm curious though, at 0:19 in the vid, would it be faster to pounce towards the hole in the wall and then climb up into it? I'd suggest testing the same thing at 0:30 aswell, if you haven't already.

As for gameplay, it doesn't get any better than this. If you keep this up, you might get a time below 16 minutes. Grin

Kibbo

Edit history:

Kibbo: 2008-01-26 10:22:32 pm

2008-01-26 10:22:14 pm

TIOLET!

I have tried it, but from the looks of it it's just as fast. I did manage to get another 0.4 seconds off the time, but I was trying out a new method of getting up the ladder in the beginning as well, so I'm not sure what actually made the run faster.

ballofsnow

Edit history:

ballofsnow: 2008-01-27 12:08:41 am

2008-01-26 11:38:53 pm

Quote:

so finally someone is gonna make use of the XQ settings

whoa

Keep HQ at 60.

edit- I wonder if you'll actually get the full 10 mbps with this game since it's so dark. Your first part is only 6703 kbps since it hit the min q.

Anyways, good luck with your run. Smiley

sarou

2008-01-27 12:50:42 am

one-armed bandit

yay, you finally skipped the scientists! Wink

Kibbo

Edit history:

Kibbo: 2008-01-27 03:05:04 am

2008-01-27 01:20:34 am

TIOLET!

1:11.383 seems to be the best I can do for the facehugger part, which is almost exactly a 32-seconds improvement.

As for the chestburster part, I managed to find a "shortcut". I have no idea yet if this is actually faster than just doing the good old "slide through the level while ignoring all the guards" thing. It involves using the slope climbing to get up on the catwalk-like things, and then from there jump over the fence where one of the guards is investigating the cat sound. And voila, about 1/3 of the level is skipped. However, pulling this little stunt off is very difficult and takes a lot of time, so I'm not sure if this actually saves time.

Edit: Ok, the shortcut has to be scrapped since slope climbing with chestburster doesn't work when Fraps is recording. I have been trying now for about 20 minutes and every time I record with Fraps it's impossible to get up, and as soon as I stop the recording I get up within 5 seconds. So once again Fraps is fucking everything up.

Edit: Even though playing this part of the level more or less identical to the old run, I still managed to improve it with about 6 seconds on the first successful attempt.

Edit: Another 0.8 seconds shaved off, not enough to lower the time with another second though. 4 more frames needed for that.

Edit: Time lowered with another 0.35 seconds. The time for the chestburster part is now 1:47.733. It could've been faster if Fraps didn't have that nasty habit of messing game physics up.

1:11.383 seems to be the best I can do for the facehugger part, which is almost exactly a 32-seconds improvement.

As for the chestburster part, I managed to find a "shortcut". I have no idea yet if this is actually faster than just doing the good old "slide through the level while ignoring all the guards" thing. It involves using the slope climbing to get up on the catwalk-like things, and then from there jump over the fence where one of the guards is investigating the cat sound. And voila, about 1/3 of the level is skipped. However, pulling this little stunt off is very difficult and takes a lot of time, so I'm not sure if this actually saves time.

Edit: Ok, the shortcut has to be scrapped since slope climbing with chestburster doesn't work when Fraps is recording. I have been trying now for about 20 minutes and every time I record with Fraps it's impossible to get up, and as soon as I stop the recording I get up within 5 seconds. So once again Fraps is fucking everything up.

Edit: Even though playing this part of the level more or less identical to the old run, I still managed to improve it with about 6 seconds on the first successful attempt.

Edit: Another 0.8 seconds shaved off, not enough to lower the time with another second though. 4 more frames needed for that.

Edit: Time lowered with another 0.35 seconds. The time for the chestburster part is now 1:47.733. It could've been faster if Fraps didn't have that nasty habit of messing game physics up.

YautjaElder

Edit history:

YautjaElder: 2008-01-27 08:23:05 am

2008-01-27 08:22:25 am

Speed is the key.

Quote:

1:11.383 seems to be the best I can do for the facehugger part, which is almost exactly a 32-seconds improvement.

As for the chestburster part, I managed to find a "shortcut". I have no idea yet if this is actually faster than just doing the good old "slide through the level while ignoring all the guards" thing. It involves using the slope climbing to get up on the catwalk-like things, and then from there jump over the fence where one of the guards is investigating the cat sound. And voila, about 1/3 of the level is skipped. However, pulling this little stunt off is very difficult and takes a lot of time, so I'm not sure if this actually saves time.

Edit: Ok, the shortcut has to be scrapped since slope climbing with chestburster doesn't work when Fraps is recording. I have been trying now for about 20 minutes and every time I record with Fraps it's impossible to get up, and as soon as I stop the recording I get up within 5 seconds. So once again Fraps is fucking everything up.

Edit: Even though playing this part of the level more or less identical to the old run, I still managed to improve it with about 6 seconds on the first successful attempt.

Edit: Another 0.8 seconds shaved off, not enough to lower the time with another second though. 4 more frames needed for that.

Edit: Time lowered with another 0.35 seconds. The time for the chestburster part is now 1:47.733. It could've been faster if Fraps didn't have that nasty habit of messing game physics up.

Hmm, that's too bad about the shortcut. I'm guessing recording at 60 fps might be the problem, normally the game runs at 75 fps. Perhaps you could try recording at 75 to see if there's any difference?

[quote]1:11.383 seems to be the best I can do for the facehugger part, which is almost exactly a 32-seconds improvement.

As for the chestburster part, I managed to find a "shortcut". I have no idea yet if this is actually faster than just doing the good old "slide through the level while ignoring all the guards" thing. It involves using the slope climbing to get up on the catwalk-like things, and then from there jump over the fence where one of the guards is investigating the cat sound. And voila, about 1/3 of the level is skipped. However, pulling this little stunt off is very difficult and takes a lot of time, so I'm not sure if this actually saves time.

Edit: Ok, the shortcut has to be scrapped since slope climbing with chestburster doesn't work when Fraps is recording. I have been trying now for about 20 minutes and every time I record with Fraps it's impossible to get up, and as soon as I stop the recording I get up within 5 seconds. So once again Fraps is fucking everything up.

Edit: Even though playing this part of the level more or less identical to the old run, I still managed to improve it with about 6 seconds on the first successful attempt.

Edit: Another 0.8 seconds shaved off, not enough to lower the time with another second though. 4 more frames needed for that.

Edit: Time lowered with another 0.35 seconds. The time for the chestburster part is now 1:47.733. It could've been faster if Fraps didn't have that nasty habit of messing game physics up.[/quote]
Hmm, that's too bad about the shortcut. I'm guessing recording at 60 fps might be the problem, normally the game runs at 75 fps. Perhaps you could try recording at 75  to see if there's any difference?