Syndicate run challenge

slYnki

Edit history:

slYnki: 2005-08-17 08:15:54 am

2005-08-16 06:36:11 am

XXY

God DAMN this game is old. I was structuring a list of my all time favorite games a few minutes ago, and BAM, suddenly this game came to mind. Anyone else remember it? It was some old game I used to play through DOS. It was so sweet and addictive, but I almost ended up putting an axe through my computer moniter as a result.

If anyone even has this game anymore, someone should really consider doing a speed run of it. Some levels can probably be beaten insanely fast. When I played it as a kid, I just played it through the normal way, who knows how wide the array of tricks and glitches is. Besides, you can get speed upgrades for your characters, so this game atleast has potential for speed running :). But yeah, someone should really do a run of this if they have the game. It would be so awesome to see.

This run definately deserves a speed run to its name.

Thread title:

Dromiceius

2005-08-16 09:53:39 am

I know Syndicate Wars is free to download at www.the-underdogs.org

I'm pretty sure that's the game you're talking about. It'd make for some kickass runs, what with all the guns and options available. I haven't played in long time, but I remember you could really put some thought into the research- you could intentionally rush certain weapons research for the purposes of speed running.
I don't remember what the weapons are, though, so I don't know how useful that particular idea would be... Still, lots of potential in the research department.

Corhellion

2005-08-16 11:19:27 am

Oooooold school

Syndicate, I believe po is talking about was sort of a top down angled camera third person shooter. You had to assassinate people and run and hide, do missions sorta thing.

I'd watch a speedrun of that anyday!

It was an addicting game...too bad I only had a demo of it...

mOO

2005-08-16 01:08:13 pm

I love YaBB 1G - SP1!

Syndicate Wars is the sequel to Syndicate. I had totally forgotten about Syndicate mostly remember running around shooting everything with the gauss gun. Tongue

Morfans

Edit history:

Morfans: 2005-08-16 05:47:28 pm

2005-08-16 05:47:04 pm

Hell is where the heart is.

Yay! Between the Gauss gun and the mini gun you didn't really need anything else. (except the flame thrower for a laugh)

I think Syndicate Wars might be too big to be entertaining to run, but the original Syndicate. Hmmmmmm.

slYnki

Edit history:

slYnki: 2005-08-16 07:29:00 pm

2005-08-16 07:27:39 pm

XXY

The original Syndicate is somewhat prime for speed runs. Except those missions where you have to run around and kill a certain amount of security guards. But you can research certain things faster, like leg upgrades. Although, agents are a pain in the ass, and running by them is no option. This would be awesome if someone could successfully speed run this.

Kibbo

Edit history:

Kibbo: 2005-08-18 11:54:00 pm

2005-08-18 04:25:11 pm

TIOLET!

I definetely remember that game, I still have it on the original CD (unfortunately it only seem to work on DOS). I figure it would be a long run, there's like 25+ levels in that game, right? And some of them can take very long time to complete, specially the assassination missions. But if I somehow get the game to work I might try, after some refreshers since it was like 9-10 years ago I played this game (released in 1993).

Update: I actually managed to get the game to boot in WinXP, now the problem is to make sure it will use english language instead of spanish and to make sure that the saves get right Grin

Now the language is english, the saves are working but I can't get any sound. If someone know a good guide to get the sound working please post.

Another problem just appeared. I tried to record a little with Fraps and noticed that this game wont activate the Fraps features.

Now I have solved all problems, unfortunately this involves using a DOS emulator (DOSbox 0.63) which allow you to set certain speed parameters (number of CPU cycles used), so this run wouldn't be a legit one :-/

Getting tired of updating this post. Now I have played the game for a few hours, looking for glitches and other things that might help you speed up the process a little. So far the only glitch I have found is that you can shoot through certain walls and roofs/ceilings, which is great for staying behind cover and killing enemies at the same time (the enemies can't shoot back through it). But then comes the biggest nut to crack, money and research. Already 3-4 missions into the game I noticed that if you didn't have certain weapons/body parts (try taking out like 25 enemy agents armed with long range when your best weapon is uzi) the mission was more or less impossible, or took like at least 30 minutes to complete.

I definetely remember that game, I still have it on the original CD (unfortunately it only seem to work on DOS). I figure it would be a long run, there's like 25+ levels in that game, right? And some of them can take very long time to complete, specially the assassination missions. But if I somehow get the game to work I might try, after some refreshers since it was like 9-10 years ago I played this game (released in 1993).

Update: I actually managed to get the game to boot in WinXP, now the problem is to make sure it will use english language instead of spanish and to make sure that the saves get right  ;D

Now the language is english, the saves are working but I can't get any sound. If someone know a good guide to get the sound working please post.

Another problem just appeared. I tried to record a little with Fraps and noticed that this game wont activate the Fraps features.

Now I have solved all problems, unfortunately this involves using a DOS emulator (DOSbox 0.63)  which allow you to set certain speed parameters (number of CPU cycles used), so this run wouldn't be a legit one  :-/

Getting tired of updating this post. Now I have played the game for a few hours, looking for glitches and other things that might help you speed up the process a little. So far the only glitch I have found is that you can shoot through certain walls and roofs/ceilings, which is great for staying behind cover and killing enemies at the same time (the enemies can't shoot back through it). But then comes the biggest nut to crack, money and research. Already 3-4 missions into the game I noticed that if you didn't have certain weapons/body parts (try taking out like 25 enemy agents armed with long range when your best weapon is uzi) the mission was more or less impossible, or took like at least 30 minutes to complete.

mytot

2005-08-19 09:18:46 am

evil does it

Oh...I would love to see a speedrun of this old classic. I remember I used to play it all day long back in those days.

Dromiceius

2005-08-19 09:31:08 am

Kibumbi:

I'm a bit confused. By default, doesn't the game run really fast on modern processors, and slower on others? I would think controlling the framerate with DOSBox would be an asset for the purposes of legit speedrunning.

Kibbo

Edit history:

Kibbo: 2005-08-21 05:08:50 pm

2005-08-19 11:27:15 am

TIOLET!

Quote:

Kibumbi:

I'm a bit confused. By default, doesn't the game run really fast on modern processors, and slower on others? I would think controlling the framerate with DOSBox would be an asset for the purposes of legit speedrunning.

I know that others have said the same thing, however, this is nothing that I have experienced at all. Both with and without DOSbox the game runs at somewhat normal speed. I have been playing around a little with the emulator now and the speed increase you can get from it is very minimal, when you have multiple explosions for example the game still slows down quite a bit and I'm playing with an Athlon 64 3500+, 1GB of RAM and a 6800GT, everything overclocked. The only area where I noticed any significant speed up is during loading, or when I increase the frame skip which makes the game more or less non-playable. Even with the emu the game fails to trigger the features of Fraps so I guess that a run of Syndicate would have to be captured using Camtasia or WME 9 which you can set to record any active window.

Now I have played through the entire game and feel quite comfortable with it. Still need to find a good way to manage money and research, without it (as I explained earlier) many missions will be impossible to complete in under 30min without some gear and weapons, and some will even be completely impossible without weapons like mini-gun and laser (which in turn require certain body upgrades blablabla), this will probably be a really tough one.

I really need some help with finding out a good "route" for the research, all tips are welcome.

[quote]Kibumbi:

I'm a bit confused. By default, doesn't the game run really fast on modern processors, and slower on others? I would think controlling the framerate with DOSBox would be an asset for the purposes of legit speedrunning.[/quote]

I know that others have said the same thing, however, this is nothing that I have experienced at all. Both with and without DOSbox the game runs at somewhat normal speed. I have been playing around a little with the emulator now and the speed increase you can get from it is very minimal, when you have multiple explosions for example the game still slows down quite a bit and I'm playing with an Athlon 64 3500+, 1GB of RAM and a 6800GT, everything overclocked. The only area where I noticed any significant speed up is during loading, or when I increase the frame skip which makes the game more or less non-playable. Even with the emu the game fails to trigger the features of Fraps so I guess that a run of Syndicate would have to be captured using Camtasia or WME 9 which you can set to record any active window.

Now I have played through the entire game and feel quite comfortable with it. Still need to find a good way to manage money and research, without it (as I explained earlier) many missions will be impossible to complete in under 30min without some gear and weapons, and some will even be completely impossible without weapons like mini-gun and laser (which in turn require certain body upgrades blablabla), this will probably be a really tough one.

I really need some help with finding out a good "route" for the research, all tips are welcome.

henkie

2005-08-24 12:38:52 am

What worked best for me, regarding the research and money management, was to always do the research in 5 days (so plus one in the funding). Generally, the research would then be done while I was doing the mission, and I would still have enough money left to upgrade my cyborgs at a decent rate. I had all my research finished shortly after starting in Africa (after Europe and Asia), and could also begin equiping some of my spare agents with level 3 cybernetic implants (i.e. I had cash to burn). Of course, this was hardly under speed running conditions, so you might be able to do two missions while the research completes. If so, would naturally have to wait a bit longer before you've done all the research. I'd recommend researching on the mods first, and only research weapons when absolutely necessary (e.g. first encounter where enemy agents have miniguns). Whenever possible, pick up weapons you haven't researched yet, as this will give your research on that weapon a free boost (though I'm sure you already know this).

After your squad is fully modded, I'd try to boost research to lasers first, as they can considerably speed up your run, since they kill enemy agents in one shot, and have a very long range. This will cost you a lot of money, though, as you'd have to recharge all the lasers after every mission, and for some missions you'd probably still need miniguns, because you'd simply not have enough ammo to kill all the enemy agents (Atlantic Accelerator, anyone?).

What worked best for me, regarding the research and money management, was to always do the research in 5 days (so plus one in the funding). Generally, the research would then be done while I was doing the mission, and I would still have enough money left to upgrade my cyborgs at a decent rate. I had all my research finished shortly after starting in Africa (after Europe and Asia), and could also begin equiping some of my spare agents with level 3 cybernetic implants (i.e. I had cash to burn). Of course, this was hardly under speed running conditions, so you might be able to do two missions while the research completes. If so, would naturally have to wait a bit longer before you've done all the research. I'd recommend researching on the mods first, and only research weapons when absolutely necessary (e.g. first encounter where enemy agents have miniguns). Whenever possible, pick up weapons you haven't researched yet, as this will give your research on that weapon a free boost (though I'm sure you already know this).

After your squad is fully modded, I'd try to boost research to lasers first, as they can considerably speed up your run, since they kill enemy agents in one shot, and have a very long range. This will cost you a lot of money, though, as you'd have to recharge all the lasers after every mission, and for some missions you'd probably still need miniguns, because you'd simply not have enough ammo to kill all the enemy agents (Atlantic Accelerator, anyone?).

Kibbo

2005-08-25 07:54:42 pm

TIOLET!

Maybe it's better you try to do this run henkie, I simply have no time for a strategy game now when school has started and so have put my Syndicate run on ice and focusing more on Doom 3 which I know a lot better.

TriskiTekniks

2005-08-27 07:32:03 am

I would just love to see this game speed runned by anybody. I can hardly remember some of the levels, but I just remembered a feature of the game. Can't you increase the speed of your agents? I remember there was three seperate bars (Blue, Red, Green) or something like that.

I think on the second mission when you're fighting the security guards and rescuing those hostages or whatever, you could increase your speed with one of those bars. Damn I'm unfamiliar with this game.

henkie

2005-08-29 11:43:35 am

I've been practicing for a speed run, but it seems I would be forced to save every mission or so, due to the games instability, which causes the game to exit on a mission start or an exploding (especially multiple exploding) time bombs. This would add up to about 50+ segments, which is not how I would like to see the game done. In other words, until I can fix (if I can fix) these stability issues, you won't be seeing a speed run from me.

Too bad too, even after all these years, it's still a very addictive game, and there is so much room for tweaking a speed run by changing the order in which you do your research, how and when you equip your squad with mods, what weapons you need, how many squad members do you need, etc, etc.