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sp3ctum: 2007-10-14 08:15:40 pm
Notice: The stuff in this post (and on the ten first pages) is old and (likely) outdated.


Me and my brother Muona have finished running XIII on the PC. The run now has to be edited and verified, which will take a bit of time, but not too long, hopefully Smiley
Here's a list of our level times: (originally taken from http://db.gamefaqs.com/console/gamecube/file/xiii_c.txt , then edited out the mistakes it had, and so on )
The list shows every level in the game, and the time we got for that level.

  01 )  Brighton Beach  [3:11?]
  02 )  Winslow Bank  [4:25]
  03 )  FBI  [2:46]
  04 )  Major Jones  [5:17]
  05 )  Emerald Base Bridge  [1:27]
  06 )  Emerald Base Roof  [2:22]
  07 )  Carrington's Cell  [4:50]
  08 )  Cable-Car Station  [2:07]
  09 )  Cable-Car  [2:58]
  10 )  Kellownee Lake  [2:09]
  11 )  Kellownee Hideout  [5:12]
  12 )  Plain Rock  [5:52]
  13 )  Doc Johansson [3:55]
  14 )  Canyon 1 [1:21]
  15 )  Canyon 2 [1:42]
  16 )  Sewage  [1:53]
  17 )  SPADS Camp  [4:49]
  18 )  Mac Call  [2:08]
  20 )  Submarine  [1:03]
  21 )  Submarine #2 [1:58]
  22 )  Sabotage [1:46]
  23 )  Quay 33 [3:14]
  24 )  Bristol Suites Hotel [3:58]
  25 )  Sanctuary Garden [1:58]
  26 )  Sanctuary Hall [1:52]
  27 )  Sanctuary Crypt [2:15]
  28 )  Sanctuary Cliff [1:55]
  29 )  SSH1 Base Admission  [4:47]
  30 )  SSH1 Trap [2:43]
  31 )  Total Red  [2:35]
  32 )  SSH1 Final [3:18]
  33 )  Lady Bee [2:22]

The total time so far (at this point of redoing) is 1:36:36.
It may vary as much as 5 seconds at the most, I believe. Nothing radical, though. The coming official final time will be counted in one way (there are many ways which all seem good), so it's difficult to estimate what the final time will be.
The rough version of the route we use can be seen on page three in this thread.

*** original post:
I searched the forum and noticed that there was an older thread about this game. Someone had started the project and apparently actually ran some of the first stages, but there's no further information.
Is that run still in progress?

I'm doing a run of this game with my brother Muona. We started recording yesterday, and aim to complete the recording of every level this month.

Are there still people here who would like to see this run? Smiley
If anyone has any tips, they would be more than greatly appreciated! We've found some bugs we think people who have played this game will like, and overall our "route" seems pretty fast to us.

One question: I tried recording with Fraps, and it worked fine. The only problem is the in-game sound playing too fast. It gets really annoying after a minute or so as the audio is about ten seconds ahead of the picture  Shocked
Has anyone got an idea how to fix this? I'll try recording at a lower framerate today, but I don't know if that will help at all.

Thanks in advance!   :)[glb][/glb][glb][/glb][glb][/glb]
Thread title:  
I took a quick look at the tech support subforum, and noticed someone had the same problem as I do. I'll try recording 29.97-ish fps today and hopefully that sorts out the audio problem as well.
If not, I'll have to stretch the audio somehow. That doesn't sound so nice.
I love this game so I'll watch it!
Great!  Smiley
I think this game is very original. It's great fun to play, and it has a good plot.
I'm actually surprised that it isn't that well-known..

Oh and by the way, if there are any XIII pros around here, feel free to share your knowledge of bugs, tactics and alternate routs to any level. It would help a lot!  Smiley
I've been wondering if there is any way to skip those annoying flashbacks/conversations somehow. Does anybody know?
I'm no pro, but the sneaking levels (the infiltration to the army camp, for example) are way faster to just blast away with silenced weapons, killing every one, than to try to hide a few bodies. Also, one-time weapons such as a brick are more useful than you'd think.

A DVD-recorder would solve the sound problem, but it's rather expensive (but has some other up-sides, so if you have thought about having one, it's a good choice), and requires a video out possibility in either on your graphics card or some other card with video out possibility (capture cards?).

Anyway, good luck.
I'll have to try using a dvd-recorder. I think I also have a video-out.
Thanks Smiley

The NPCs are kind of deaf, we've also noticed that. You can blast away all you want and they can't hear you at all.
They might "hear" you if you pass them running right behind them, but that can be sorted out with 2 walking steps or a jump Smiley
A lot of the time they call the alarm, exposing their back for a quick and silent knockout.
These offer lots of possibilities for making it through levels fast, which is excellent!  ^^
I thought I'd update this post to keep the people that are interested in this project updated, and also to bump. It's better to get an update that's not so useful than not getting an update at all, right?

The Fraps thing doesn't work at all. It's just horrible. The audio and video aren't in sync, and it gets really frustrating to watch after a while. You kind of hear what's going to happen after 10 seconds.  Sad

Then I set up a dvd recorder and a tv next to my computer. I tested connecting the computer and the tv earlier today, and it worked fine. The picture was black&white for some reason. I think it's the tv's fault - it's a few years old.
Tomorrow I'll see if everything works or not. Hopefully it will.
If it does work well, we'll work very hard on this project to finish recording asap.
Check if it's really just the TV... I had one attempt botched because the recording turned out to be B&W. With my recording, the culprit was likely the S-video cable, which I replaced with a composite cable.
Just look in fraps to see if you have no sync enable, if yes then disenable, that should solve the problem, if you got a constant desynch, you maybe able to fix it in virtual dub.
Edit history:
sp3ctum: 2006-12-15 08:02:44 am
Thanks very much for the replies, everyone! Things are looking very, very promising right now. I'm writing this message and watching it on the TV. Smiley

Quote:
Just look in fraps to see if you have no sync enable, if yes then disenable, that should solve the problem, if you got a constant desynch, you maybe able to fix it in virtual dub.


I checked, but it wasn't on. It may have something to do with my computer not being the newest out there.
With Fraps, I would get a constant drop in framerate when I recorded. That doesn't look nice on the video, and when you add the non-sync sound to the mix, the result is too unprofessional to be put anywhere in the net. Cheesy

I've connected my video and sound cards to the front of my dvd recorder, and my dvd recorder is connected to the tv. I now have two equal monitors, one being the actual monitor, and the other being the dvd recorder. The latter has a bit of a lag with the picture, but for some reason so has the audio, so me and my brother are well set off playing when watching the monitor, and letting the tv & dvd recorder worry about the recording.

I tested it yesterday evening by recording two segments of the run, and it works incredibly well! I get no lag in either the video or audio (woo:)), the colors actually get a lot better than in the image I see on my monitor, and the quality of the videos is insanely good!
We couldn't be more blessed!

I was wondering if it is possible to edit the messages here afterwards.
Does that have a time limit?
I could edit the first message in this thread to show our progress, so I wouldn't have to write confusing new messages here. Every segment would be in a clear fashion showing the name of the level(s), our record without recording it, the date when that segment was finished, and something else.
Is that a good idea, or should I make multiple new posts instead?
Edit history:
sp3ctum: 2006-12-15 08:05:29 am
Now we have recorded 8 segments of an estimated 35(not sure how many there were ;)). Today we'll probably record 8 more, so if everything goes as planned, we're half-way there after this day.
Of course there are still things that have to be done after the recording, like compressing, editing, and trying to convince the owners of this site that it's a good run. Smiley
We're trying to get a sub-2 hour total time, btw. I'm not sure whether that's possible, easy or impossible. We just thought to set some kind of a goal. Roll Eyes
Keep giving us the status. I also thought about an XIII run in the past, and now i would like to see yours. I hope you will finish it. My download is sure  Wink
Quote:
Keep giving us the status. I also thought about an XIII run in the past, and now i would like to see yours. I hope you will finish it. My download is sure  Wink


Cool, thanks!
Might you have anything for help? Any useful bugs or strategies?  Smiley

Now we only have 5 more levels to record, so only five more segments. In total there are 33 levels, which we do in 33 segments since the game fits very nicely to the whole idea of segmenting a run.
So 28/33 is on dvd, which is 85% according to my calculator. We'll probably record the rest today, tomorrow evening or the beginning of next week.
Then I'll have to learn how to get it out from there for editing, which might be a bit hard. It might take a while...  :-/
I can't wait to see the "stealth" level, I remember myself having trouble with this part, so I thought, "hey, I'll try to run as fast as I can, maybe this way, thoses fuckin' guards won't see me", but unfortunatly for me it didn't happen, maybe it was because I was playing at hard.

Anyway, keep up man, I can't wait, but I think that you are running the game way too fast, normally a speedrun take lots of time to achieve.
Quote:
Anyway, keep up man, I can't wait, but I think that you are running the game way too fast, normally a speedrun take lots of time to achieve.



More than half of the game in only one day is frankly astonishing achievement, but that unfortunately means the run looks rubbish or it's on too easy difficulty. However, I can't judge it, cuz I've never played this game and it's possible you've practised this a long time, but most runners prefer doing their runs slowly to get the best time. Don't do just one succesful run even if it looks perfect to you, because there's always sth you've probably missed or can be improved. Long short story, the more time you put into your run, the better run it will be.
Nice point Ewil Wink
But I can't wait to see it to analyze it.
Many thanks, guys. That is valuable information.
I think we'll still rethink every level to see if we can shave off some seconds.

Don't worry about the run being rubbish. This project has been going on for some time. Me and my brother spent about two weeks practicing and re-practicing every level before I posted anything here. That's why it's easy to just record what you know.  Smiley
But you were right, I kind of gave the impression of us doing this way too quickly... Sorry about that.

The difficulty level we use is Arcade, which is the easiest - and I think it's the one you get if you don't touch any settings. I like to think of it as an out-of-box run, even though it's far from it.
I believe it's possible to get the best overall time with Arcade difficulty. On other difficulty levels you'd have to think differently. For example, all the gunfights become a lot more strategic, not to mention the bosses.
But it's not like it's easy to get a good time with the easiest setting. We use a lot of tricks and careful planning in the run, so I think you'll find (at least most of it  ;)) good to watch. It's not perfect, though, but anyway.

Today we'll redo a few segments. I was dissappointed in my fight with Doc Johansson, so I'll have to redo that level, and the following two Grand Canyon levels.
My brother also redid his Sanctuary Garden, and will probably record the rest of the un-done levels today.
I'm currently making a list with all the levels and their times. From that we can see the current total time.
I will probably post it here today.
I'll edit the list a lot to show what we've done, or are going to do next.

About the total time, I think we may be able to get a sub-1h30min run. Not sure though, but it looks very promising!  Smiley
I finished the list now. It's in the first post, I edited it in there so it's easy to find.
It shows every level, and the time we have recorded for the levels.
Do you think it would be okay to discuss our route here? Am I allowed to share it, or is there some rule that prevents me from telling what you're planning to do until you show it done?
If not, ask questions, and we'll let you know how we got the times. Perhaps a better route can be found Smiley
Edit history:
ymh: 2006-12-18 09:03:43 pm
Well ofc fix all these things like hanging on corners, etc. But you have finished the run now anyway right ?

Oh, and I think you can post routes, plans, stuff here, thats ok.

Cant wait to see this. XIII is a very unique game.

ps : Do you guys need any more members, like for future runs ?

Edit : Just checked the time table. Sounds perfect. Under 1:30. And the single times look good so far (winslow bank). Well, we actually just can wait, check it out and find possible faults and maybe redo some segments ?
Edit history:
sp3ctum: 2006-12-19 08:28:59 am
Heh, we haven't finished the run yet. I bought 5 more dvds yesterday, but none of them work. Weird stuff. Annoying too. Today I'll go buy some more, and try to return the ones that didn't work. Then we can continue recording. You see, we've filled two dvds now, and that's all we have Smiley

I think I'll start working on a text file that shows our route, and all the bugs and strategies we use. I'm worried about making big posts here. What do you think?

Oh, and about more members, that would absolutely be good! I was thinking we'd need help for this. After we finish recording this, we could improve the run together, or do a run of a harder difficulty. How does that sound?

I'll update the time list too. I took off 5 seconds from my Winslow Bank time by accidentally finding two new things. Then I also redid my FBI level, mainly because I want to do the Major Jones level as well. Got off 4 seconds from that, too. I had missed a shortcut earlier.  Wink

About sub-1:30, I think it's hard to do. I estimated a bit off. We still have a few levels to do, so the time will probably be longer.
If we worked together, though, possibly even with more people (any interest?), we could probably get the best time possible.

edit: Redid the Major Jones level. Got a time that's ten seconds better. I was very lucky at one point, and that saved me about 2 seconds more than I thought!

edit 2: Redid the SSH1 Final level. I perfected the bug I use to battle the Mongoose, and that saved me 8 more seconds. I doubt this battle can be done (much) faster.
Quote:
I think I'll start working on a text file that shows our route, and all the bugs and strategies we use. I'm worried about making big posts here. What do you think?


IMHO it's better to make posts the size of a novel, if needs be, than to spam thread with extremely short, unnecessary comments or saying things that's been already said.

Make sure your DVD-recorder supports the disks you buy... otherwise you'll just end up with a pile of mini-sized frisbees. DVD-RW (or +RW) is a better choice compared to normal disks, as you can rewrite & delete unnecessary stuff, and don't end up with 50 used DVDs, of which there are only 5 that has something you need.

What's that bug with the Mongoose?
Edit history:
sp3ctum: 2006-12-19 03:42:11 pm
I now have 3 rw dvds, and one writable. I'll have to learn how to put the contents of a dvd to my hard drive; I've never done that before, and the guides look kinda scary...

I'll start working on writing the route down today or tomorrow.
Oh, and the bug I use in the Mongoose fight is standing behind the ladder I come down from. I kinda position myself so that the ladder is exactly between my head and his. This way he stays stationary all the time, and doesn't shoot at me at all. I can blast away with the big gun all I want.
I can even shoot him nearly anywhere I want since the gun makes the screen shake Smiley

edit: he remains stationary all the time besides the two times he's supposed to run away. I don't think you can avoid that.
If you want to put a video from DVD to your hard drive, simply drag & drop the wanted .vob-files to the desired destination (i.e the folder of your choice). You can view them via Media Player Classic. That's it - if you want to show them on youtube or something, that's when you have to bother with the encoding.
What, is it that easy? What's that long stuff in the knowledge base, then?  Huh? Huh?