WAHEY!

Let me introduce myself first. I'm NeZ, also known as NeZCheese both here and on Twitch. My main speedrun game is Vermintide 2, but I currently want to branch out a bit.

After I recently played Split/Second casually again, I checked sr.com for it... only to find that the community here is dying due to no moderation whatsoever. There's no official Discord either, and I got told that it's normal to wait a month for verification on a run. Guess what: This is not normal.

So I contacted @ViceroyOfMonteCristo on Twitter about it but got no response. @Liv, one of the speedrun.com main admins, also tried that and got no response either. But @Liv was so kind to add me as super mod, so here we are.

First thing I should mention is that I am super mod for Vermintide 2 and Everspace already, so I am quite experienced with how the interface and settings on sr.com work.

So, here's what I did so far:

1. I decided to add @Lucky77 as moderator. He's the only one of the runners here that is still active on speedrun.com, so it made sense to me to add him. @Lucky77, please contact me either here or anywhere else so we get something going here again (aka a Discord!). The game deserves it.

About the other runners... @Rusty_ hasn't been active for over a month, @Behemoth87 hasn't been online for 2 months and @EvilConCarne hasn't logged in since May 2017. So, if anyone of you feels overlooked, please contact me and we'll sort things out!

The same goes for you, @ViceroyOfMonteCristo. I checked your YT and Twitch and you haven't been active on both of them for almost a year before I tried to contact you, way before I eventually reached out to @Liv. She kept you as regular moderator, so please contact me if you plan to be more active again. I appreciate the work you've done here, but if you're not active anymore, what's the point of being moderator?

2. I verified all pending runs, 15 in total. Tbh, the level leaderboards look kinda weird right now. Having separate categories for all modes on all platforms instead of subcategories is suboptimal, but it makes comparing times between platforms easier on the main level leaderboard.

3. I added all remaining Split/Second cars as selectable variables. For some reason, Viceroy only had like 10 in the list. I added the other 40 cars, even the console-only DLC ones. As I only own the game on PC (where no DLCs are available on Steam), it could very well be the case that I forgot some cars. Please contact me about them so I can add them.

4. I added a rule to Canyon: "The out of bounds route through the dam is allowed". This is a racing game, this is speedrun.com. Any shortcut / trick that's faster than the regular route is allowed by definition.

So, any questions? Anything you disagree / agree with, any things still left unspoken?

Thank you for reading - let's hope we can revive this community again!

NeZ

Heyo! Glad to see that some progress was made! First of all, thanks for the mod role, I feel like I’ll be able to help out a lot round here. Second of all, I feel like a discord server would be awesome to get set up. Currently I’m away from my computer, but I can try as much as I can from my phone. Also, I agree with the decision for Canyon. It’s like one of very few practical glitches in the game so I feel it’s ok.

Glad to be a part of everything. ~Lucky77

Yo, welcome on board! Glad to hear that you're down for the job. I first suggest looking into the mod side of things, i.e. check the settings under "Edit Game" and make yourself comfortable with all the stuff.

Second, we should get more runs onto the leaderboards, and that means new runners.

How can we reach out to people? I already posted a thread onto the Steam forums: https://steamcommunity.com/app/297860/discussions/0/1741103267316753450/

Afaik there's not really another forum for this game anywhere. I couldn't even find a subreddit for Split/Second.

Honestly, I can’t think of any other place where we can spread the word around. I can try and convince a few people I know to buy the game but that’s really about it.

Also, do you think we should keep the runs separated by platform? I don’t know if we should or shouldn’t, so I want to see what you think first.

Yes, I'd say we definitely want to keep runs separated by platform. I don't know how the game runs on console, but the PC version barely runs with 29-30 FPS and is poorly optimized. Even with my i7 8700K 3.7 ghz and GTX 1060 I often managed to bring the game further down to 23-25 FPS. That should not show up in the final track times, but I wouldn't be surprised if it does. Another thing is that at least on the Steam PC version the maps end with Canyon. I simply can't play Quarry and The Docks because these maps do not exist on the version I own. I have no idea if I can even patch / DLC these maps into my Steam version. I also can't play Deadline either as this mode does not exist on my version.

EDIT: I just checked - not a single Split/Second DLC was ever ported to PC. This means I simply have no access to like 20+ cars and 2+ tracks. This means console / PC should stay separated: https://www.giantbomb.com/splitsecond/3030-25523/dlc/

Have you played both X360 and PS3? Are the versions that similar? Or is it necessary to split up the boards even further?

Another thing we should discuss are the IL leaderboards. We could add separate subcategories - right now all categories are simply main categories. We could have only 3 categories (Detonator, Race, Deadline) and 4 subcategories (X360, PS3, PC, PSP) that would then show up. The problem with that is that it then becomes harder to compare times between versions, so I don't think that is a good idea. EDIT: As Deadline is not playable on PC, scrap that.

I'd say we leave everything as is for now, but I set PSP / Deadline on the IL to Misc. categories so they don't show up if you have selected a map.

1. I think leaving things as-is is good. If changes need to be made in the future, then we can cross that bridge when we get there.
2. I don’t even own a PlayStation so I have no clue on if they are any different from XBox. For now, I say leave as is.
3. Do we have any progress on a Discord page? It would help us get these kinds of conversations done easier.
4. I was just looking over the Deadline mode and I had a question: would we time that with in-game time (ie we use the largest time left) or do we use a manual timer by hand?

1. Sounds good.

2. I don't own any console (well, only Gamecube), so maybe someone else can help here.

3. I am going to open a Discord tomorrow, it's already 2 am here. I set up & moderate the Discords for other games (like Everspace), so I have some experience with Discord. I'll give you mod rights there as well. I'll link it in the sidebar here and open up a thread about it too.

4. I have no idea how Deadline works. If Deadline is similar to Survival or whatever the mode with the barrel trucks is called, we should not include it in the IL leaderboards imho. There is a way to set it up that the times are sorted from lowest to hardest, but I don't think it's worth the confusion it creates.

tbh: Nobody really runs deadline because it’s DLC. If we get a few people who will play it than good for them, but I honestly don’t know until then.

Edit: I just looked back and @EvilConCarne did an all Detonator races run a long while ago. Once I’m back at my computer (Probably tomorrow), I’ll figure out what works best and get the big run separated and put on the leaderboards. Sound good?

That's a good idea. If you want to do that work, sure.

Btw, I just looked over the full game categories - why is PS3 and X360 not separated there? The load times are a huge factor in a run with multiple tracks. So I figured I split them up and add a subcategory for the 4 different versions. "why is xbox so slow?" should not be a reason for a slower time. I'm gonna go ahead and do that real quick, let me know what you think about it.

That sounds like a good idea to me, but like I said, I have no idea if PS3 has faster or slower load times than XBox because I don’t have a PS3. Do we even have any runners on PS3 right now?

@Rusty_ is a PS3 runner. As far as I can see, the game runs really smooth on PS3.

How do you like the fullgame categories now?

I feel like they look good now. Better than before at the very least.

BTW: What’s the progress on the Discord server?

Hey guys, Rusty here.

Sorry about my inactivity, SRC isnt a primary focus of mine atm since S/S has been dead on this site. As a player of this game for 5 years, I want to make a few clarifications to what's been said here.

Firstly, Xbox and PS3 times should be different for full game runs. In my experiences, my Xbox and PS3 runs for detonator are actually almost 2 min different, with Xbox being faster by a lot (didnt record so not on the boards). This may be because my console is trash but who knows, will require further testing.

Second point: This game is not dead by any means. The SRC site is "dead", but that's because no main members of the S/S community use it. Mostly, they simply post their stuff to Youtube. There's an old facebook group that has been used since the game came out, in game chats, whatsapp, etc, so most people have stayed in their own places instead of branching out here. Many of my times that are on the site aren't even the real WRs, with players like CutandPlay, Digital Dope, and Brizzity having better times than my own. I'll do my best to get people to transfer here though.

Thirdly, we actually have a discord server! I've been trying to get one started for this game for a while now, but no one had really made it active until the past couple months. You can join it here (and I'll give you two src mod roles) https://discord.gg/GyecmQ

Also, deadline doesn't even really deserve a category here. The timer runs down, as you know, but its faster than doing a lap normally. You could get "Deadline WR" by sitting still and letting the timer run down, which is why I never bothered even doing it. I also suggest banning the reverse trick strategy in Detonator, where you stop before the line and reverse to accelerate. It's against the spirit of the game imo, and I never even attempted optimizing it beyond beating the non-RT WRs 2 years ago. The Canyon trick has started coming into vogue though, so legalizing it is fine by me.

Finally, I really appreciate that you guys are showing genuine interest in rebuilding the community for this game. I love this game with all my heart and it saddened me that no one cared about it here, that's why I kinda gave up a couple months ago. Nevertheless, let's try to bring this game back to its glory days together! :)

Also worth noting: No one plays the PSP version of the game, no one. Even the cars in the game drive differently, its not really the same game at all. Noting times as being on xbox and ps3 are important too, as the PS3 controller is actually preferred by many as being a superior controller for this game compared to xbox.

If you want, I formally request being a moderator for this game, but if 3 is enough, I'm fine with just being a runner. I'll be more active in the future, I promise! ;)

Yo Rusty, great to hear from you!

Now to your points.

1. I agree with X360 and PS3 on full game. I have already split up the leaderboards for that. Do you think IL times should be split up as well? Is PS3 faster than X360 on individual, ingame track times as well?

2. Please try to get all the guys into here as well. All their runs should be on this site, just to get more people interested in joining the Discord and the general community. I just joined the Discord, same name as here (NeZCheese#1209). So yes, I would say your Discord will become the official one for speedrun.com/SplitSecond. Lucky, do you agree with that?

3. I am fine with Deadline being removed as it will only cause issues in the future. I have already thought about a way to remove PC & PSP from the Deadline fullgame category, but there's this one run from @EvilConCarne in "All Deadline Races" where I kinda hesitate to remove that. But I would be fine to remove the run to streamline the categories.

4. Banning the reverse trick in Detonator is fine for me. All my runs in Detonator don't use it as, let's be honest here, I haven't bothered to try it more than a few times to see how it works. I would be fine to ban this trick. To me, the "spirit of the game" does not matter. But it matters if a trick is fun to do - and having to reverse every time you do a run is not fun for the runner. If something feels like a chore to the runner and seems like cheating to the viewer, then it's not worth allowing it. So, once again, if Lucky agrees, I will add that rule.

5. The canyon trick is what speedrun.com is about. ;)

6. About the PSP version... it's not about who currently runs this game, but who will run the game in the future. As a PSP version exists, so should that category exist. It doesn't really waste that much space / time to manage, so...

7. Again, if Lucky agrees, I'll make you mod.

on ILs, xbox and ps3 are the same in terms of what can be done. I've done WRs on both consoles, in fact. It's just that most of the more serious time trialers focus on PS3 because its easier to do faster times there. Noting that a player played on one or the other is good though. I'll try to get more people in the Discord too.

I dont know about removing Evil's run, but I dont think he would mind too much, he doesn't play anymore.

The reverse trick is frowned upon by a lot of people, mostly the old-school players. Some guys have used it, but it gets really annoying to reverse over and over just to crash into the first wall. Runners dont enjoy that lol. Canyon detonator though? Go for it!

Yeah, PSP can be there... but you won't see a run for a while lol. And yeah, Lucky is a mod so he has final say on that

The thing is... we have "all Detonator races" and "all Deadline races". I have no idea why no "all race races" exist, or "all survival races". Question: Should they exist?

Yes, as I said. If a trick is annoying to do as the runner and looks like cheating and not like a speedrun trick, it shouldn't be allowed for the sake of pulling more people in.

Survival Races is kinda pointless to do, since its basically RNG whether the barrels slow you down. Surprised all races doesnt exist, honestly. That category should exist.

Okay. I’m just going to put everything down in one shot:

1. Glad to see you again @Rusty_

2. I think that XBox and PS3 should be separated for Full game and the same for IL runs. I think that’s what the agreement was, but I’m putting my hat in the ring anyways.

3. I’m in the Discord now so that’s all good. I’m probably going to talk through there instead of this forum post from now on. Making that Discord the official one with the SPC website is fine by me.

4. Reverse truck being banned is fine by me. Like what you 2 said, it isn’t fun and doesn’t follow the spirit of the game.

5. I agree that we should leave the PSP version. It exists and someone could theoretically submit times with one, no matter how unlikely that is.

6. Removing Deadline sounds good to me. Like I said in a previous post, nobody really runs it.

7. All Races sounds like a fun and interesting idea. I probably wouldn’t do it because I don’t have hours upon hours of free time, but it would be cool to see.

8 ) I am more than happy to add @Rusty_ as a mod. He probably knows a lot more about the game than I do and will be able to help out a lot.

2. Is separating X360 and PS3 necessary? I'm fine with it either way. It's certainly more fair to split them.

3. I have added a "no reverse trick" rule now.

4. Fine, done.

5. Fine, added.

6. Done.