Demo Question

Is there a way to have it so the demo doesn't record all your deaths? just the attempt where you beat the map? Because it's very annoying to keep exiting and restarting the demo

Outrageous Videos said:

Is there a way to have it so the demo doesn't record all your deaths? just the attempt where you beat the map? Because it's very annoying to keep exiting and restarting the demo

Yes, it's possible to erase the demo data to the moment when you respawned last time, but it's considered as cheating and may affect the RNG. Also, if you configure your port properly, it won't be very annoying to restart (unless if it's not prboom-plus).

ok thank you

ClumsyDoomer said:

and may affect the RNG.

That is the case indeed. The LUT position isn't restarted on respawn, so deleting from the beginning of the demo will lead to desyncs.

This leads me to ask something I thought of before:

Since respawning after death gives different RNG than recording a demo from scratch would a record-breaking demo in which the player dies before the successful attempt be considered valid?

Keyboard_Doomer said:

This leads me to ask something I thought of before:

Since respawning after death gives different RNG than recording a demo from scratch would a record-breaking demo in which the player dies before the successful attempt be considered valid?

In Quake SDA, whose rules are the icon of speedrunning in general, it's not allowed to respawn after dying (I don't know if it's possible at all though). My opinion about it is that it would be just dumb and unprofessional. Also, it's not even possible to scroll through deaths. What if I, let's say, die 4294967295 times, but in the end I break a world record, would it be a pleasure to watch?

There's probably nothing in the CN rules to forbid it, so technically yeah? I guess?
Brb adding it to the forum section guide as a bannable offence.

ClumsyDoomer said:

What if I, let's say, die 4294967295 times, but in the end I break a world record, would it be a pleasure to watch?

A pleasure to watch is not a speedrunning criterion. Just fyi, this is current fastest ff6 tas speedrun.

Outrageous Videos said:

Is there a way to have it so the demo doesn't record all your deaths? just the attempt where you beat the map? Because it's very annoying to keep exiting and restarting the demo

I use a batch file on my desktop in prboom, so if I die, I do have to exit, but all I have to do is click on the batch file to start it right back up and the recording starts all over again. If you know this method, then disregard, but if not, let me know. I think some people type it from the command line and that would drive me nuts having to do it all over, especially on a really hard map.

I'd say a change in RNG is enough reason for this not to be allowed. Wouldn't make much of a difference in most longer runs, but anyone who's ever tried very short runs, especially under 10s could say that RNG could make a major difference at the start. I think Boom starts out with a different seed every time (not sure), but in vanilla, there's maps like Plutonia 18, where the RNG makes the shotgun guy that spawns in front shoot instantly almost every time, making the archvile jump afterwards impossible to survive. With respawning, it's possible to avoid that and potentially make the run much easier (otherwise it's necessary to go through some convoluted start movement for him not to do as much damage).

4shockblast said:

With respawning, it's possible to avoid that and potentially make the run much easier (otherwise it's necessary to go through some convoluted start movement for him not to do as much damage).

I'll play the devil's advocate: you can actually make it worse and draw even less advantageous LUT start index. To get any kind of reliable results, you'd have to die in the exact same way. I'm not saying that an extreme case where it's already pre-drawn badly cannot be improved, but I'd say the entire matter is marginal at best. It's enough that such demos are frowned upon heavily simply because it's stupid to do so and it confuses anyone who might watch the demo.

Ashstrodamus said:

I use a batch file on my desktop in prboom, so if I die, I do have to exit, but all I have to do is click on the batch file to start it right back up and the recording starts all over again. If you know this method, then disregard, but if not, let me know. I think some people type it from the command line and that would drive me nuts having to do it all over, especially on a really hard map.

Yes i do use that method