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Messages - Zurggriff

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1
Leaderboard Disputes / Re: ATTN: Sonicspeedruner, Nicur, and R3FR4G
« on: August 18, 2022, 02:08:59 am »
The video in question for Sonicspeedrunner looks like the game was displayed on a TV. The camera noticably adjusts to the brightness of the display as seen by the area outside of the display changing brightness. When the display is showing gameplay, the luminosity is high so the camera reduces the amount of light it receives to prevent the display from showing as overexposed and the wall appears dark as a consequence of this. When the display is blank, luminosity is low so the camera increases the amount of light it receives which makes the wall appear brighter. There are stretches of video where screen tearing is visible and the tear is sloped. The display has color bands that appear to bend along a curved display. There is a reflection of a light on the display, which would need to be overlayed if the gameplay was cropped. These effects show up in their other videos with various camera angles and room lighting. Using cropped gameplay would require an unreasonable amount of editing to make all of this work.

I do not have the 2004 PC release and cannot find how higher resolutions affect the HUD, but the blinking health bar in R3FR4G's requires a modification to the game which is not allowed under the Competition Rules 'The original game and all its contents must be preserved and unmodified.' I did not find any exceptions.

Niczur's run appears to be fine.

2
Sonic Colors: Ultimate will be added as a separate game. I have access to add new charts, but if I make any errors or lose track of the steps taken, which I have done before, the user interface would not show what changes were made and I do not have access to correct any errors. So I would setup the charts with GerbilSoft, however, I have not heard back from them on any site related requests in a while.

3
Competition Central / Re: Sonic 1 2013 - an RA Query
« on: March 31, 2022, 03:21:57 am »
The rules for Sonic 1 (2013) and Sonic 2 (2013) have been updated to specify that earning credit twice for a single ring is prohibited, whether or not Sonic and Tails are flying together. This meets the intent of the original rule which was aimed at preventing rings from being counted twice when collected. Flying together is still prohibited as there was not enough support to change this rule which would affect the number of rings that could be collected on some levels. Manipulating Tails to fly without Sonic is still allowed.

4
Information Kiosk / Re: Sonic 1 and 2 Decompilation
« on: February 26, 2022, 03:00:19 am »
I think the topic of allowing the decompilation has not been brought up since it was released. If we want to allow it, we may want to establish rules for use. The decompilation is allowed on speedrun.com and may increase participation here. I do not know of a reason not to allow it.

5
News and Updates / Submission Comments
« on: January 03, 2021, 10:28:17 pm »
I am glad to hear this. As I talked to you about earlier this year, can you prioritize one addition to this site, which is submitting proof/comments for existing submissions without changing the submission value itself? This will remove the need to create false record history entries to get that task actioned.

I would also like to see this added to the site, when you can get around to it, if it is even possible. I have record stats without a video link dated prior to 2017 and adding those links to the comments without cluttering the submission histories could help with visibilty of competition on the site. There are likely other players in the same situation.

6
The comparison to Sonic 2 and Sonic 3 is pretty good. One thing that sort of sets it apart from those games is that the Challenge Rooms play out just like the rest of the level, rather than a completely new style of game play. The fact that rings respawn after entering is problematic and no support has been shown to include them so prohibiting the Challenge Rooms is a sensible rule to start off with.

7
Leaderboard Disputes / Re: hi, i broke one of the main rules.
« on: August 08, 2019, 05:46:05 pm »
Thanks for acknowledging that you broke the site rules. The incidents that took place in association with creating multiple accounts is now 7 years in the past. You do not currently have known alternate accounts active and actions that lead to the banning of the previous accounts has not come up again. It seems that you have learned from those mistakes. A ban at this point would not serve much of a purpose so one is not going to be issued for this case.

8
Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice Rings charts could use some clarification for competition rules. The main levels have a Challenge Room that is only accessible as long as the item within has not been collected. Exiting the Challenge Room by collecting the item or via the menu will reset the rings available in the level, whether or not they have been previously collected. A site rule prohibits collecting the same rings more than once which prevents players from reaching 999 rings on these levels. However, allowing one entry into the Challenge Room creates the problem that players have to either avoid rings that were previously collected or keep track of recollected rings and subtract that value from the total. As far as I could tell, three of the levels have rings that are unavoidable, forcing the player to recollect some rings, and most other levels require going out of the way to avoid these rings.

With that said, these are some recommendations for rules for Rings charts, in order of my preference:

* Prohibit access to the Challenge Room (Keeps competition simple, but cuts out the rings in the Challenge Rooms.)

* Allow the Challenge Room, limited to one entry, and allow collecting the rings that respawn (May be somewhat arbitrary, but avoids any problems with tracking rings that are collected twice and keeps the Challenge Room rings open for competition. Backtracking might add to the difficulty in competition.)

* Allow the Challenge Room, prohibit collecting rings more than once (Requires attention to which rings are collected. Some Challenge Rooms would be inaccessible without new discoveries.)

* Allow the Challenge Room, subtract rings that are collected more than once (Requires attention to which rings are collected and displayed ring total will frequently not match the value submitted to charts, but keeps the Challenge Room rings open for competition. Backtracking might add to the difficulty in competition.)

9
There is no limit for Ring Attacks in Encore Mode. The same applies to Score Attacks as long as later 60 minute loops do not restore the Time Bonus. Reason being there is nothing in game limiting runs to 10 minutes.

10
Rules have been updated to prohibit dying during any level transition.

It appears that the Time Bonus is 0 after the timer rolls over so it may not be necessary to limit score attacks to under 60 minutes. For timed stats, players could add 60 minutes to the time for each instance that it rolls over or limit them to under 60 minutes. Setting a limit would be the easier option to implement and it is unlikely that more time would be needed for someone to time attack any level.

Falling off a special stage keeps the rings for the Ring Bonus. It is safe to say that the strategy to max the score would involve falling off after the last possible BONUS in almost every stage, without requiring the emerald. The Encore stages have a notable lack of walls.

I suspect the reason S1GG does not have charts for special stages is that the GG and SMS releases have different special stages and the community chose not to support charts for both types. GG and SMS charts really should not have been combined in the first place. Sonic 3D Blast is the same way. It is unfortunate as charts could have promoted competition for those special stages.

11
Encore Mode apparently does not have a time limit or an option to enable it. Mania Mode previously had the time limit mandatory and the site has generally required time limits enabled when it is an option so it remains required for now.

For the Special Stages, I do not see anything in the rules that requires the emerald to be collected. This could be used to take slower routes with more spheres to improve the score. I think it does not make much sense to allow scores that do not collect the emerald as the stage is not complete at that point, requiring another entry for the chaos emerald. Not sure how well public opinion would hold up record scores without the emerald. Any thoughts?

12
News and Updates / Team Sonic Racing Competition Now Live
« on: June 03, 2019, 09:33:12 pm »
Charts for Team Sonic Racing are now on the site.

13
I would make the wild guess that hosting a download for those versions would not be legal. The consoles may require hacking to get v1.00 or v1.03 anyway, if at all possible and I think steam requires the user to have purchased the game. I still do not know that downgrading works for users that purchased the game after the v1.05 update.

If the charts were split between old versions and new versions, should the old charts have any weight toward sitewide points? The same sort of idea as the freestyle charts in various games. This still leaves a few levels where a specific version, v1.00, would dominate the chart which would need an additional split. I think they should not count if competing on those charts ends up only accessible to players that already have those versions.

This brings me to my next thought of: is it worth making a mess of the charts to host competition in versions that may not get activity with new version charts up? I just think years from now, most people that have the game would only have the current version. This is the biggest conflict I have with complicating the charts by keeping old stats up versus removing stats to have a clean set of charts that is easy to access. The turnout for feedback has been low, which makes picking a solution more difficult.

14
The Sonic Boom series has finally made its way onto the site with charts available for Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal and Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice. Now grab your scarf, put on some sports tape, and submit your stats!

15
Just in case this is causing confusion, the next and newest version of Sonic Mania on Steam is v1.05, both the base game and Sonic Mania Plus DLC. I do not know about the console versions but it should not make a difference.

To make the charts competitive for the newest version, should we remove all stats that make use of version specific game play or move them to separate charts (if this is even possible)? A lot of stats would be removed and this could be a problem to enforce for stats without proof but making all of the charts compatible with the newest version would eliminate the problem of obtaining an older version to be competitive... unless the game is overhauled again. I want to think this is rare.

I do not know how difficult it is for a new player to get v1.03 on Steam but v1.00 is nearly impossible to come across.

Also, the number of runs I posted about in my last post may be slightly lower than actual as that data is a little old but it also does not account for runs that stick to slopes when jumping, which would increase that number significantly.

16
Good to see someone else interested in changes to the Sonic Mania charts. The more competitors involved should help with picking out a good solution. This previously came up in this topic http://www.soniccenter.org/forum/index.php?topic=6394.msg64572#msg64572 and only two people had input about these changes to the game.

New charts for the new levels and characters are not affected by the presence of older versions, really the only thing holding those up, now that this discussion is back, is where those charts should go, depending on the changes we make to Sonic Mania competition.

To recap, the big problems are:
  • Older versions are hard to access. v1.03 requires downgrading through Steam Console and v.1.00 requires a console already with the game and not updated.
  • A few levels had routes blocked or glitches removed. There are approximately 6 Times stats that use v1.00 exclusive routes and 11 exclusive to v1.03 with video. I did not get data for Rings and Scores.
  • Sticking to slopes when jumping from a roll as Sonic and Knuckles was removed. A lot of stats with video make use of this. Many stats without video may have also used this.
  • Score Bonuses have been removed from Time Attack. For the most part, this affects top scores in Press Garden 1, Stardust Speedway 2, and Titanic Monarch 2, but could affect other stats, with or without video.

17
Charts for the Nintendo 3DS release of Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed are now on the site.

18
Competition Central / Re: Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal Boards?
« on: March 12, 2019, 06:26:31 pm »
Over 4 years after the release and the game does not have charts and only two forum posts from long ago. Just in case there is interest in this game and users that may provide feedback, here are a couple thoughts for putting up charts.

1) Should items be prohibited or put on separate charts from no items?
The Ring Attractor and Shield Award make ring collection a little easier and the Mega Sprint enables the player to sprint through enemies. The Mega Grapple allows the player to instantly destroy an enemy after grappling off its shield. Most of the items can be used at some point through a playthrough and they would make for faster times. I do not think they have a big impact on how the game is run either. Charts will allow items unless there is a demand otherwise.

2) How should charts be categorized?
There are a number of existing categories that track time (Times, Extra, Races, Bosses) as well as the ability to create new categories. The game has one boss battle, not really worth its own category. I did not see another game that used Races with those like in this game. All of the levels could be put under Times with different Divisions distinguishing the various types of levels.

Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice is a similar style game also lacking charts. The first point is not applicable but the second point is with a wider variety of timed levels (tunnels, submarines, boats, races, and 4 bosses), most of which have rings to collect as well.

19
News and Updates / Re: Sonic Forces Competition Now Live
« on: March 09, 2019, 08:16:50 pm »
The rules have been updated, prohibiting the use of slot machines for ring and score stats on Stage 13 Casino Forest. Players with stats that do not adhere to this rule may change their stat to one that does. Otherwise, they will be removed shortly.

20
Leaderboard Disputes / Re: ATTN: Supersonic456
« on: March 08, 2019, 04:57:33 pm »
I was really hoping you would be cooperative here. Some people would have left this as a ban and forget about it. That is a much easier choice to make than what work I have put in to justify removing the ban.

"I can provide picture proof if you wish." is the comment for a lot of your recent submissions so I am surprised to see that this is a problem. I appreciated the video of the World Map that you supplied. It did not match the most of the old stats and a reason why they would not have been saved was given, but it also did not match a few of the new stats or were missing stats. The request for picture proof was intended to fill in these gaps and resolve some discrepancies. Also keep in mind the proof is not just for me, it is for the community which lost trust in your stats. If I am correct with my expectations, there really should be nothing left after the pictures.

21
Leaderboard Disputes / Re: ATTN: Supersonic456
« on: March 07, 2019, 11:38:59 pm »
Sorry for the wait but these things take time. No decision had been made, otherwise I would have stated that here. The time elapsed between my post and yours was two days, which is a bit short for something like this, but that is just my opinion. With that out of the way, I just need to clear up one more thing and this case should be wrapped up and we can move on with our lives.

I do not want to set a precedence where picture proof is acceptable in cases like this but this request should serve a special purpose. Please provide picture proof for the following Sonic Unleashed 360-PS3 stats:
Times
Cool Edge 1 Day
Dragon Road 1 Day
Rooftop Run 2 Day
Rooftop Run 3 Day
Skyscraper Scamper 1 Night
Jungle Joyride 2 Night
Eggmanland

Scores
Arid Sands 2 Day
Jungle Joyride 2 Day
Tornado Defense 2 Day
Eggmanland

Bosses
Egg Devil Ray
Dark Guardian
Egg Lancer
Egg Dragoon
Dark Gaia

I realize that the comment for Times Cool Edge 1 Day did not specify picture proof available so this is optional (recommended) if you have it. The rest should be unnecessary.

22
News and Updates / Re: Sonic Forces Competition Now Live
« on: March 07, 2019, 06:55:42 pm »
In my opinion, no charts is the worst option, especially for the score charts where records would not bottleneck at a tie like ring stats. Both, charts without slots or with slots make competition in some form or another possible. There are plenty of other levels where players do not have much difficulty in tying the record. This is not a compelling reason to omit these charts.

Casino Forest is a special exception because I was not around when other slot machine levels were not permitted and could not voice my opinion to include those levels. I plan to set this precedent moving forward. I have also seen requests pop up, buried in the history of the forums, to add casino level ring and score charts for various games.

P.S. I know this is nitpicking but Sonic 2 2013 has casino level charts for rings and scores.

23
News and Updates / Re: Sonic Forces Competition Now Live
« on: March 06, 2019, 11:49:08 pm »
I would prefer banning slot machines all together rather than allowing one use per machine. Limit to one use would be a better alternative to no limit and the randomness it introduces would add to the challenge of getting the highest ring/score total. There are 3 slot machines, as far as I found, and the highest payout is 150 rings, making 549 rings the lowest amount needed from the rest of the level. I was able to exceed this value by a small amount on a run that could have collected a few more rings. I expect that collecting as many rings as possible near the end of the level would be very difficult; a task which would become unnecessary with 3 jackpots or possibly smaller payouts.

24
News and Updates / Re: Sonic Forces Competition Now Live
« on: March 06, 2019, 08:35:26 pm »
I just realized that I left out a rule that was intended to be in place for ring and score charts:

Stage 13 Casino Forest will have charts with use of the slot machines prohibited.

Currently there are 2 ring stats that may have used slots and 0 score stats that used slots. Do we not want this rule to go in place? No one objected to this rule in the Sonic Forces rankings forum topic.

25
News and Updates / Re: Sonic Forces Competition Now Live
« on: March 04, 2019, 07:52:17 pm »
It looks like the post by Zeupar that drops the video requirement still applies
 
During the first week of competition, players don't need to provide video proof for first places, because that would be really annoying. This is a policy that we will apply for any newly added games from now on. Of course, we still encourage you to share your runs with the world. Sharing is caring!

With this in mind I do want to bring up how this played out for the Sonic Mania charts. It is a nice convenience but when the Sonic Mania charts used this rule there were records from the first week of competition that stood for several months and there are still two maxed out ring records, no proof required. This conflicts with the reason video proof for records became a requirement and I do not think relaxing the requirement is a particularly good rule. I could not find a topic in the forums covering the rule (pros, cons, in favor, opposed) so it may be something to consider for future games.

26
News and Updates / Sonic Forces Competition Now Live
« on: March 03, 2019, 09:17:50 pm »
Charts for Sonic Forces are now live, so submit your stats before Sonic Forces you.

27
Leaderboard Disputes / Re: ATTN: Supersonic456
« on: March 03, 2019, 07:42:05 pm »
Can you provide a video showing the best times and the best scores from the world map?

28
Leaderboard Disputes / Re: ATTN: Supersonic456
« on: March 02, 2019, 12:59:41 am »
An alternate account was created XxSs456Xx. The competition rules clearly state that a person may have exactly one account.

Additionally, the previous account had submission privileges revoked until the issues with that account had been resolved. So this new account, which was evading a ban, also has submission privileges revoked.

The video links for the old account work again (I am guessing the videos were set to Private) and the new account links to the same youtube channel. You are showing that you want to return, providing video proof with all record stats and some of the lower ranking stats, but skipped over any discussion of returning. Where we should go with this situation from here will be determined soon. I strongly recommend not creating additional accounts.

29
Competition Central / Re: Dolphin emulator for Riders 1 competition
« on: February 27, 2019, 08:45:25 pm »
In response to your post:

1 and 4) There are likely ways that a video using tools could be made without showing the prompts that give it away regardless of what requirements we implement for emulators. This would apply to any stat, first place or not.

2 and 3) The rules have been updated to ban any emulation of GCN, PS2, XBOX, and newer consoles. (February 23)

5) Stats submitted using Dolphin while Dolphin was banned should be removed. Dolphin was banned sometime near the end of 2018. There were 5 submissions to Babylon Guardian Single Lap Races since then: OddEyesVon has a submission with video that shows Dolphin being used and will be removed. Sm4sh and xXMegaManXx have video without indication of emulator use. Submissions from Fordden and Masquerade have screenshots without indication of emulator use, are these the stats you are referring to using Dolphin?

30
Competition Central / Re: Dolphin emulator for Riders 1 competition
« on: February 22, 2019, 07:56:47 pm »
After discussing the request with Zeupar, the intention is to keep the ban on Dolphin emulator. The site has a history of instances where players would provide tool-assisted runs on emulator as proof which made it difficult for moderators to catch cheaters. As far as allowing emulators for Riders and Sonic games in general, the community in the past had been very split on whether or not to allow them for any game. Allowing them in the first place brought about many problems, which could be avoided for the newer games by banning them earlier. Looking at the charts for GCN games on Speedrun.com there is a variety of different rules regarding Dolphin and other emulators: allowing emulators, allow specific emulators (some included Dolphin), ban emulators when achieving a time better than some threshold, emulators tracked on a separate board, and banned. The reasons for those bans or separations appear to be related to accuracy of the emulators. I could not find accuracy issues with Riders on Dolphin at 60 fps reported on the TSC forums or anywhere offsite and nothing obvious in existing videos.

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