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twitch.tv/oneginiii
The only new thing I can think of besides small optimizations is locking the golden kid inside the room where he spawns in Life of the Party, so he doesn't block you at the kitchen door. It's probably been done before though. I think the routes are otherwise the same as they have been. I haven't used the wiki myself, so I'd rather not mess with stuff there (and I'm kinda lazy at writing stuff anyway).
I didn't want to bump this until I was ready to go ham on this game again (trust me I've learned my lesson about doing more than one game of this complexity at once doing admin work for SDA as well), but there's currently a bunch of Thief 2 boxes, unopened though not in wraps, sold on ebay by a UK-based guy who seems to have found a big lot of them. He said not long ago that he still had over 40 of them... So anyone reading this not already in possession of one: this is your chance! Oh, and they're dirt cheap... though I'd imagine import and shipping to the US might be prohibitive for you guys.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Thief-2-The-Metal-Age-BRAND-NEW-PC-Big-Box-/162351079235?hash=item25cce0df43:g:lVcAAOSw241Ycpf3

Gives you access to the faster 1.07 version too if you can set up your XP, or are God in virtualization. I'm assembling a computer that can actually record stuff so look forwards to that! I will do my best to be done with Alone in the Dark soon (I'm getting tired of it anyway), but it will be half a year more for sure.
Edit history:
Xmodule999: 2017-01-24 04:45:16 am
Xmodule999: 2017-01-24 04:38:48 am
Xmodule999: 2017-01-24 04:36:06 am
Here is a speedrun made by Poesta ( ), I want to know how to open the door (by mines and fire arrows) at the moment 0:05 with Thief 2 1.24? I can't open it. I have installed polish version of Thief 2, maybe here is a problem?
Xmodule: Well well well... I never expected to see you here out of all people. As I said earlier, I'm in the middle of an exhaustive check for all T2 related tricks and stuff and as such will later be able to inform speedrunners if there's any tricks they're missing. It's almost all in the Strategy Guide (in the Knowledge Base) already though. I just don't know what's available in later versions and what's 1.07 only.

The damage (as you probably know) from fire arrows and mines is somewhat random isn't it? If it's not that, I don't explicitly know about version differences that affect individual missions when it goes past version 1.18, but maybe they made the door resistant to being blown open? Try the English version too... the Guide has some info on version differences BTW, and that's basically all that is known.
Edit history:
Xmodule999: 2017-01-25 05:38:29 am
Xmodule999: 2017-01-25 02:46:33 am
I tested Thief 2 from GOG and with this version is possible to replicate this trick. I don't understand why, but it does.

First City Bank and Trust is now the easiest mission from original missions for speedrunning (I mean all difficulties), second place would be for Ambush!, third place? Rather Running Interference.
I'd like to point out that if you're not interested in submitting runs on SDA (like you weren't with your many T1 runs which are just kind of gathering dust on your YT page), I will have very limited interest in collaborating with you. It's a fact that I currently know the game better than right about anyone, well at least version 1.07, but then later versions tend to be a kind of slice of that version anyway (with the exception of better mantling). This is why no-one's running it before I've done more work on the rest of the missions, 8-15, and told them about all the more advanced trickery there. I don't wanna sound haughty: I know you're full well capable of something similar, but I think this is what SocratesJohnson is waiting on. I'm sad about deciding to try to do another game on the side, which is impractical now when I've also agreed to do SDA admin work etc., but I feel it's the right thing to at least get it outta the way once and for all.

Meanwhile, if you DO wanna collaborate in a constructive way (which I would be very happy to see!), no-one has done proper preliminary routing for any of the other categories. The next logical one would be either any% on hard (we'll accept all three difficulties BTW), 100% on normal, or maybe even low% on normal. I personally feel it's better for runners to spread up to cover a bit more ground with this game, there's so many different runs you can do, but I don't wanna sound like I'm dictating things. This way not everyone is learning the exact same route for minimal (in my eyes) payback. Read the Guide as I said. It has almost everything I know, except I'm not sure what works only in 1.07. That we'll figure out later and the Guide will be updated.

Another idea would be to copy-paste the T2 guide and create one for T1... that would be amazing too, because you have too much information about that game that's probably just in your head if I had to guess.
Okay, so I deleted that message because it was incredibly unconstructive. If you want, you can try again, but after that you're just banned.
Quote:
It's a fact that I currently know the game better than right about anyone


Do you have anything to back that claim up? Do you have any kind of reputable speedrun times? That's the most baseless comment I think I've ever seen on sda, and probably one factor of why this board is so dead tbh. Ban me if you want, I don't think I'll be missing out on much. You just seem to talk about playing this game. If you want to realistically be considered the best then maybe get something that actually backs that up
Edit history:
LotBlind: 2017-02-01 05:37:51 am
LotBlind: 2017-02-01 05:37:03 am
Since when did "know the game well" equate with "being the best at [speedrunning] it" or whatever kind of connection your mind drew there? I'm here to test and study games so they can be speedrun in an optimal way, not because I want some kind of reputation for myself actually. You might have taken a wrong turn somewhere, you sure you didn't want speedrun.com?
Testing in an optimal way, like not realising going through the side corridors in bank is 10 seconds quicker, or routing masks a minute slower than the next fastest runner. Okay.

Also I don't buy you saying you don't want any kind of reputation for yourself when the reason I responded in the first place was you saying
Quote:
It's a fact that I currently know the game better than right about anyone


Also yes, I do use speedrun.com. You do realise aside from you, and 1 post from xmodule, the last post here was 10 months ago, right? This board seems like more of an echo chamber for yourself than for people looking to actively run the game.
Edit history:
LotBlind: 2017-02-02 11:42:59 am
LotBlind: 2017-02-02 11:42:46 am
LotBlind: 2017-02-01 11:38:43 am
Out of everyone I know, I know the game's mechanics the best because I never saw any documentation for many tricks or route improvements anywhere else after discovering them myself. Of course not everything will save minutes. The routes (in the more mundane sense) are all by Socrates (and others), and in that sense I haven't done any testing virtually, just told him to test whether some alternative will save time or not. So yes, I was careless not being more specific in what I meant. As if that warrants this kind of attack.

If I wanted to do this for my own ego, I'd probably have set up recording at some point instead of being happy telling the runners (the ones showing up here) how to speed their runs up instead. So can you go slander someone else please?

I see there's been faster runs recently. Good for you guys! My information, due to my long absence, isn't up-to-date in this way. You could do us a big favor by creating an any% normal guide for the game in our Strategy Guide and also adding all the new tricks you've found, if there are any, in the relevant subpage.

EDIT New runners: Note that some tricks in the Guide are probably v. 1.07 only, or that and 1.18. I can't tell which ones exactly, but we will do thorough testing with Socrates later (or someone else if they like) to establish what's doable in later versions as well. So if you can't get something to work, that might be it. There's also the idea of creating some tutorial videos (you know, useful stuff?) for all the tricks to make it clearer what each of them mean. If you got the trick from the Guide, or indeed from Socrates' runs, could you please call it what it says in the Guide? Or if you can see a better name for something bring it up here.
Edit history:
Xmodule999: 2017-04-06 04:32:26 am
Xmodule999: 2017-03-22 06:54:38 am
Xmodule999: 2017-03-11 01:41:21 am
Xmodule999: 2017-02-03 09:12:50 am
Xmodule999: 2017-02-03 09:10:43 am
Interesting. I tested this trick from page 20 (9 post) about slow fall potion. Only need to keep fast run forward, look very high, use potions and lean forward, Garrett will be blocked. Impossible to leave doors by blackjack trick. Is possible to return to start place if guard will subtend me (without his attack) but this is very hard (by blackjack and jumping).

Some time ago I understood rules for speedrunning mission "Eavesdropping" - I need to hear last words while conversation ends and go to mentioned location (the best location is of course Factory area).

For mission "Casing the Joint" loot from missions "Precious Cargo" and "Kidnap" is allowed as I know.

Two versions of Thief 2 I tested in mission "Sabotage at Soulforge" and I know that with GOG version to activate infinite speedpotion trick only need to make save and load it+drink, with some other versions (for example with my polish version "THIEF ANTOLOGIA") to activate speedpotion trick the player need to make save and load it, then step aside, make save and load it+drink.
Edit history:
Xmodule999: 2017-08-12 01:47:27 am
Xmodule999: 2017-08-04 10:49:40 pm
I'm not interested to record new speedrun on expert difficulty for mission "Casing the Joint", but I want to watch this speedrun that would be faster than video by TheStefan2. Anyone is interested to record it?
Edit history:
Xmodule999: 2017-10-15 06:43:02 am
I need hammer for something in mission Life of the Party, where can I find hammer in this mission?

(I found hammer in this mission in Angelwatch [second floor]).
http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=141831&page=2&s=603c9cc75a20481f51fd2b4b0ff41ff8
This might sound strange, but does anyone remember any doors or door-like objects that automatically close some time after being opened? (doors being closed by guards do not count)
I might find some doors like this during the next play-through, but maybe someone remembers a location off the top of their head.
I was looking at the Thief Gold/Thief 2 scripts again and the StdDoor script in Thief 2 caught my attention with the way it uses timer handles to auto-close the doors.

Turns out that if you find a door like that, you can activate an infinite speed potion using it:

Hey, not to throw any hate at the site, but it's pretty much dead here. Most of the people still even sort-of interested in running any of the games in the series have moved over to a discord, which you can find on some srcom threads for the games. That's your best bet to get some actual discussion about what you're looking in to, which is pretty rad btw keep it up. I made a thread for some of the Dromed MASTERS to help dissect the glitch for us over on ttlg forums too.
Edit history:
LotBlind: 2018-03-17 07:19:00 am
The best place to store info on the tricks etc. overall is probably the wiki here. A Discord is also fine to have of course and this site doesn't have that feature anyway. It's NOT a good way to store the information.

WheretIB: Will take a good look for more doors etc. like that whenever I can get back to this game. I feel more than ever that turning the SS category into RTA was a bad idea because the more such tricks are found, the more we could have two at least slightly different routes through such levels instead of a slower RTA and slightly faster version of the same in a segmented run. Good catch BTW!

Jake: Hey, I just noticed you created a guide for ILs in the wiki. That's awesome! I'll take a closer look later.


Here's a little recording of me getting it to work on LOTP. If it worked on this elevator, one could assume it works on probably all of them. That would mean you can most likely enable the glitch on the elevator after the lock-pick section of the mission. This would speed up the level a decent amount.

Sorry for the weird audio stuff. I muted the wrong audio bar (desktop audio instead of mic audio) for the first recording of the glitch, so if its pretty quiet that's why.
I'm an Olympic Straferunner
Lot: Yeah, I started out trying to make guides for all of them, but it was right as many of the IL strategies were changing. So the ones that are there are pending revision and the rest have yet to be finished. I'll hopefully do a few more writeups this weekend.
Edit history:
Xmodule999: 2018-03-22 05:23:49 am
Xmodule999: 2018-03-22 04:17:23 am
There is 4x more easy to replicate blackjack anti-fall glitch in Casing the Joint than infinite speed potion in Casing the Joint. Infinite speed potion is hard to replicate in Casing the Joint, and is impossible at least for me in Kidnap.
How to replicate ISP bug in Kidnap? After about 600? attempts I had 0 with success. Anyone have savegame with this bug in Kidnap?
I'm an Olympic Straferunner
I've reverted the changes to the knowledge base because I forgot about the established discussions from the forums. Most of what I changed was just copied from another resource I wrote about categories (hence the "verified" part). Since no 100% or Low% runs have been uploaded to Youtube or submitted to SRC in the 350+ runs I've verified, but people regularly post in the speedrunning discord, on the forums, or PM me directly regarding 100% or Low% routes because they've seen them here, it's concerning that there still exist these dud categories that haven't seen a single run in over a decade that are still causing confusion to new runners. Most of the time they are either wondering why these categories are arbitrarily defined, or if, because no runs exist, they can just make up their own rules or modify the existing category.

That's not to say that people haven't explored the categories. TheCount did his version of 100%, which was Expert difficulty, all loot, all secrets, but NOT all pickpockets - only those which gave loot and not items like broadheads or keys - and they were supposedly "glitchless," a term which has never really been defined anywhere. Despite doing a considerably easier category, he was doing 100+ attempts per level, and some took him 300+ just to complete the level once. That's no comment on his skill either, he's the world record holder in both The Dark Project and The Metal Age. His "segmented" run - basically his Youtube videos together in a playlist, and without Soulforge, was a multi-month project. That doesn't include the time spent routing, only running. A full game, single segment run of the 100% category as described in the knowledge base is absurd unless you proceed so slowly and carefully that it is essentially a casual playthrough, which isn't fun to watch or play.

I saw that in an earlier post from 2014 you suggested the percentage calculation for low% being a simple sum of end-screen values, i.e. 1 KO+1 secret = 2 backstabs. There also needs to be clarification regarding overages on loot - does a 500/500 loot run with 6 backstabs invalidate a run with 505/500 loot and nothing else? In other words, do loot overage values also identically factor into the simple sum calculation? Or does a lower loot value obsolete everything? This should be added to the category description. It also reads "if someone else manages to get a lower % for a given mission, their run will obsolete yours barring awful execution." What defines awful execution? This seems like a needlessly vague and completely subjective criteria which looks very unprofessional.  Currently, there is not enough information as to how one run is supposed to invalidate another, and therefore the category is arbitrarily defined.

I'm not interested in changing what criteria determine SDA acceptance. I'm mostly concerned with making the SDA knowledge base an authoritative, permanent, and up-to-date resource for the community which is actually active, and that's SRC/Discord. Most of the traffic the knowledge base gets is from SRC players accessing it from resources we've posted. The problem is that because so much of it is outdated and vague, even when I direct people here, I have to personally tell them which parts contain good information and which parts they need to ignore. The 100% definition makes sense as it only concerns stats with a listed maximum (besides the fact that it's practically impossible on Expert as a single segment), but it's not a universally agreed upon definition such as would be the case with a true in-game percentage counter, as evidenced by the people who keep proposing alternate "100%" versions to be added to the boards. The Low% category can't even be run in a competitive environment because of the inadequate clarity I've mentioned. Part of my modernization effort was to point out that these categories have huge issues which explains why nobody has run or even attempted them. But for SDA's sake, I don't see any reason why they can't remain valid categories. Maybe by 2029 someone will submit a run.
To solve the practical issues you describe, I feel you should start by adding a bold exclamation about the categories information pertaining to SDA first and foremost. Others are allowed to adopt or ignore the SDA definitions. Perhaps a separate category guide could be linked to non-SDA runs seeing as there seems to be a lot to say about this, but again with a clear phrasing that stops anyone from confusing the two?

No great amount of thought went into the practical aspect of the SS 100% category – it's an "academic" category if you will, whose existance is more to fill in the table. So is the problem that it's so difficult to avoid getting seen by those that you're trying to pickpocket that you end up skulking around a lot? Of course segmented, that wouldn't be a problem. Sounds exactly like that kind of thing segmented runs are good for. Anyway just because no-one's willing to do it SS in the way described doesn't mean we'd be interested in some kind of compromise in-between category on this site. Which means it's not really "SDA's problem" in the most direct sense at least.

Also I wouldn't be so hasty to say no-one would find such a run of interest. I recall the Oblivion 100% that someone did as a bounty run, though segmented. Still very repetitive as you might expect. I'm also reminded of that annual Desert Bus marathon...

I'm not sure what glitchless should mean either and have a feeling that's not going to make it onto SDA.

Low% – my assumption was that there's enough loot in every mission so any one of them can be finished with exactly the lowest amount? Hmm... After some thought, I realize why I thought of loot as being more fundamental to the low% definition than the rest of them, and it's pretty simple: it's the only one that has any set minimum given by the game itself. We can't ever be quite sure (let's assume) what the true lowest possible number of all the rest of it is after all. That's why in my mind loot and the other goals are not interrelated. Feel free to clarify this. So to answer your question: a 500/500 run WOULD obsolete a 505/500 run regardless of anything else actually.

"awful execution": This is, again, an SDA thing. It's just SDA's standard quality requirements. Feel free to clarify on the rules page, but honestly, I think the solution of having a completely different page somewhere for categories specifically, with a big fat note up top on the guide front page is the best one.

Again, we really don't care what categories anyone else runs. Only if someone was to find a more logical definition than those already given, in which case we'd certainly be interested in hearing it. Thief 2 isn't the only game people don't submit their runs to us in, so that's hardly any argument. Personally, I'm getting closer and closer to finishing my current project, after which I do intend to plan out and submit some runs here, though I think I might choose the most basic categories first before getting onto low% or whatever.

Is there something I missed? BTW: There's still room to discuss these definitions past what's the most obviously logical. I'd be lying if I told you there isn't some amount of arbitrariness to other games' analogous definitions (even on SDA). I think historically it's been more about whether some consensus could be reached, which obviously is helped a lot the more standardized your approach to defining them is. Like for example if you feel 100% SS should be defined in a different way, go ahead and explain your views. I won't expend more thought on it for now though.