New Jersey, USAHey everyone,
We've made the decision to start requiring demos for all submissions instead of the current top X standard starting on January 1st, 2022 (0:00 NYC timezone). We are also going to be re-banning changelevel on L4D1 v1.0 on this date as well (more on that below).
The main reason for doing this is so that we can start releasing various features in the speedrun plugin (SST) such as autojump (for use in the bhop script category extensions) that has actual clientside prediction (so jumps aren't laggy in singleplayer or co-op). In addition, SST will also add the ability to toggle sv_cheats in singleplayer/co-op lobbies for practice. The move to demos being required in addition to video for all runs was going to happen at some point, so we figured we might as well do it sooner rather than later.
To be clear: this does not mean that using the plugin is required yet, however it's highly recommended because it makes recording demos for full-game runs much easier (in the event you need to use the main menu or map command to switch campaigns). Currently, with the plugin you still need to manually start recording demos, but after that it only stops if you run the command "stop" or if you restart your game. Without the plugin, demo recording stops any time you create a new server (i.e. going to the main menu or using "map" command mid-run).
For L4D1 v1.0, I strongly advise that you use the plugin so that you don't have to manually restart demo recording under a new name for each campaign switch (due to "map" command usage) now that changelevel will be banned again. Changelevel was temporarily unbanned when the demo rule first came into effect so that people would not lose time from having to restart demo recording on each campaign change (this was before the plugin was released). Now that this is no longer an issue, we are banning it again as there could be unintended side effects of using changelevel that makes the speedrun illegitimate (as seen in later versions of L4D1, and all versions of L4D2).
Once again, installation instructions are given on the plugin download page ( https://mikes.software/sst ). Make sure to use the -insecure launch option or you risk getting VAC banned when loading the plugin and connecting to a VAC secured server. If your old version installs are current, they will have game-params.txt in the base folder - simply just write -insecure in that file and always launch the game with run.bat. If not, ping me in the speedrunning Discord server and I'll send you the two files needed for this. You can verify that this worked by loading up singleplayer or a map server, and writing "status" in the console - it should state that the server is running in insecure mode.
If anything is unclear or you need help using the plugin, feel free to ping me (or mike :tf:) in #new-player-questions. I'll try to make a video at some point this week that covers this stuff in a little more detail but most people shouldn't have any troubles just following the instructions on the download page.
First, the rule change/clarification: Null canceling movement scripts are now explicitly banned, and we will reject any runs using them going forward. Scripting in general has always been banned, but quite a few people still use the null movement alias setup, so I figured it should be clarified that this will no longer be allowed under any circumstances. Now, for the much bigger change:
Beginning on Monday, October 18, 2021 4:00 PM GMT, the proof requirements for top level submissions will be increased to require demos in addition to video. A tutorial on recording demos is given below.
What counts as a "top level submission"?
- For every category (fullgame or IL), top 5 times must have demos and video. HOWEVER:
- For every 20 runs a category (fullgame or IL) has, this threshold increases by another 5 places on the leaderboard.
- The threshold can vary between Solo/Co-op and Any Difficulty/Expert Realism for a given IL/fullgame category.
Which leaderboards does this affect?
- This affects L4D1, L4D2, and the category extensions for both games. For co-op runs that meet the criteria described above, all players in the run must record demos and include them in the submission description. Video is still only required for the host (or whoever loads first if manipulating loads via rate command).
To give some examples:
- For Dark Carnival Solo/Any Difficulty, there are currently 46 runs. This means that any time that reaches top 15 will require demos.
- For Dark Carnival Solo/Expert Realism, there are currently 3 runs. This means that only top 5 submissions will require demos.
- For Dark Carnival Coop/Any Diff, there are currently 23 runs. This means that any time that reaches top 10 will require demos FROM ALL PLAYERS IN THE RUN.
- For Main Campaigns Solo/Any Diff, there are 69 runs, so a top 20 submission requires demos.
- For both All Campaigns Solo categories, there are less than 20 runs each, so only top 5 submissions will require demos.
- The same logic applies to the rest of the ILs/categories.
HOW TO RECORD DEMOS
- To record a demo, write "record DEMO_NAME" in console where DEMO_NAME is the desired output filename.
- One demo will be recorded for each map, and the game will automatically continue to record demos through level transitions and votes to restart/change campaigns.
- HOWEVER, if you disconnect from the server (going to the menu, or using map command) and need to create a new server, then you will need to manually record another demo, and after that, demos will continue to automatically record upon map transitions as long as you don't leave the game again. YOU MUST NAME THE NEW DEMO SOMETHING ELSE OR ELSE THE ORIGINAL DEMOS WILL BE OVERWRITTEN.
- If you run the record command while demos are already recording, it will be ignored and the console will print "already recording".
- To stop recording demos, simply type stop in the console.
- Demos can be viewed by using the playdemo command in the console.
Where do demos record to, and how do I include them in a submission?
- By default, demos will record to the Left 4 Dead 2\left4dead2 directory. You can specify a directory but the folder must already be created for it to work. When you finish a run, put the demos into a zip file and upload them to a permanent file host (such as Google Drive), make sure the link is openable by anyone, and put it in the description of your run on speedrun.com when you submit.
FOR L4D1 v1.0 OR THE META ALL CAMPAIGNS LEGACY ROUTE
- If you need to start a new server mid-run (as described above), record a new demo as soon as possible.
- For L4D1 1.0 ONLY we are going to unban the changelevel command to switch campaigns instead of the map command, as it does not cause the game to break like it does in newer versions of L4D1 or any version of L4D2.
- This means you will not need to start a separate demo recording every time you switch campaigns; simply load into a map (and trigger cutscene skip), start recording a demo, and then changelevel to the first map of No Mercy (assuming you are starting with No Mercy).
- Modify your cycler to use "changelevel" instead of "disconnect;map", and demos will continue to automatically record throughout the entirety of the run.
Conclusion
- In the long term a plugin will be released to automate most of this process, so that demos will continue to automatically record even if you need to use the main menu in the middle of the run. If you have any questions or if anything is unclear, please do ask in the Discord server. The goal of this is not to make running the game harder/more confusing, even though it will probably cause annoyances in the meantime until the plugin is released. We are just doing this to reduce any possible doubt from anyone going forward that the top runs on the leaderboard are in fact legitimate, and also to prevent future cheaters from being able to conceal certain cheats easily. Thanks everyone!
First, the rule change/clarification: Null canceling movement scripts are now explicitly banned, and we will reject any runs using them going forward. Scripting in general has always been banned, but quite a few people still use the null movement alias setup, so I figured it should be clarified that this will no longer be allowed under any circumstances. Now, for the much bigger change:
Beginning on Monday, October 18, 2021 4:00 PM GMT, the proof requirements for top level submissions will be increased to require demos in addition to video. A tutorial on recording demos is given below.
What counts as a "top level submission"?
- For every category (fullgame or IL), top 5 times must have demos and video. HOWEVER:
- For every 20 runs a category (fullgame or IL) has, this threshold increases by another 5 places on the leaderboard.
- The threshold can vary between Solo/Co-op and Any Difficulty/Expert Realism for a given IL/fullgame category.
Which leaderboards does this affect?
- This affects L4D1, L4D2, and the category extensions for both games. For co-op runs that meet the criteria described above, all players in the run must record demos and include them in the submission description. Video is still only required for the host (or whoever loads first if manipulating loads via rate command).
To give some examples:
- For Dark Carnival Solo/Any Difficulty, there are currently 46 runs. This means that any time that reaches top 15 will require demos.
- For Dark Carnival Solo/Expert Realism, there are currently 3 runs. This means that only top 5 submissions will require demos.
- For Dark Carnival Coop/Any Diff, there are currently 23 runs. This means that any time that reaches top 10 will require demos FROM ALL PLAYERS IN THE RUN.
- For Main Campaigns Solo/Any Diff, there are 69 runs, so a top 20 submission requires demos.
- For both All Campaigns Solo categories, there are less than 20 runs each, so only top 5 submissions will require demos.
- The same logic applies to the rest of the ILs/categories.
HOW TO RECORD DEMOS
- To record a demo, write "record DEMO_NAME" in console where DEMO_NAME is the desired output filename.
- One demo will be recorded for each map, and the game will automatically continue to record demos through level transitions and votes to restart/change campaigns.
- HOWEVER, if you disconnect from the server (going to the menu, or using map command) and need to create a new server, then you will need to manually record another demo, and after that, demos will continue to automatically record upon map transitions as long as you don't leave the game again. YOU MUST NAME THE NEW DEMO SOMETHING ELSE OR ELSE THE ORIGINAL DEMOS WILL BE OVERWRITTEN.
- If you run the record command while demos are already recording, it will be ignored and the console will print "already recording".
- To stop recording demos, simply type stop in the console.
- Demos can be viewed by using the playdemo command in the console.
Where do demos record to, and how do I include them in a submission?
- By default, demos will record to the Left 4 Dead 2\left4dead2 directory. You can specify a directory but the folder must already be created for it to work. When you finish a run, put the demos into a zip file and upload them to a permanent file host (such as Google Drive), make sure the link is openable by anyone, and put it in the description of your run on speedrun.com when you submit.
FOR L4D1 v1.0 OR THE META ALL CAMPAIGNS LEGACY ROUTE
- If you need to start a new server mid-run (as described above), record a new demo as soon as possible.
- For L4D1 1.0 ONLY we are going to unban the changelevel command to switch campaigns instead of the map command, as it does not cause the game to break like it does in newer versions of L4D1 or any version of L4D2.
- This means you will not need to start a separate demo recording every time you switch campaigns; simply load into a map (and trigger cutscene skip), start recording a demo, and then changelevel to the first map of No Mercy (assuming you are starting with No Mercy).
- Modify your cycler to use "changelevel" instead of "disconnect;map", and demos will continue to automatically record throughout the entirety of the run.
Conclusion
- In the long term a plugin will be released to automate most of this process, so that demos will continue to automatically record even if you need to use the main menu in the middle of the run. If you have any questions or if anything is unclear, please do ask in the Discord server. The goal of this is not to make running the game harder/more confusing, even though it will probably cause annoyances in the meantime until the plugin is released. We are just doing this to reduce any possible doubt from anyone going forward that the top runs on the leaderboard are in fact legitimate, and also to prevent future cheaters from being able to conceal certain cheats easily. Thanks everyone!
join the speedrun discord linked in the sidebar, it's in there
Hey, your misunderstanding comes from what counts as a load. You paused the your timer when the stats screen appeared, which is not when loading begins (game can still be influenced via votes and other means here), loading actually begins when the red “4” appears in the top right (you can also just see any run that uses the auto splitter which automatically removes loads). This is why your calculated time is off from what it was officially timed as. Hope this helps
Hey, thanks for the detailed reply. I saw this a few days ago but just didn't want to use my brain to write a reply (lol).
When I was writing my original post I wanted to ask about the versions, but totally forgot. If you could DM me a link on Discord to the version 1.30, I'd appreciate it. Otherwise you answered/explained everything else, so yeah. Thanks
I read in this in the comments of the offline campaigns co-op run: "Main Campaigns refers to the campaigns that are considered "main" in the original L4D2".
L4D2's Main Campaigns category doesn't have The Passing because The Passing released after as DLC. I assume the intention is to make this the same as the normal L4D2 boards, no?
edit: someone else got a response in DMs, so nevermind
Ethan, it wouldn't be the same thing as a console run - following the current rules of No SLA, you'd have the ability to (easily) make quicksaves and load, you can still use showpos 1 so you can do skips that you most definitely cannot do on console such as pancake skip (at least, not without tons of trial and error - slower than actually just playing intended strats). Plus, console versions only run at 30fps and lower, so it's a big difference.
It's a meme category, it doesn't have to make total justifiable sense.
