General

1. In SR2, 3 & 4 what time is excluded in the In Game Time that is displayed upon saving? There is about a 4min per an hour deferential between the Real Time and In Game Time and it would be helpful to know so we can determine the best way to time the games for the leader boards.

2. When does the IGT start recording time as soon as you hit new game, after opening cut scenes or somewhere else?

3. With games being censored for one reason or another is there anywhere we can find out which versions of the games have had what content removed in comparison to the complete game? We need to know what to note when runs from versions with advantageously less content are submitted. E.g the Australian version of SR4 has 1 less loyalty mission meaning a 7-8min advantage.

4. Is there a Frame Rate difference between the regional console releases?

SR1

1. In SR1 at first the pushbacks seemed random but after I finished routing the game I got them so they are called in at certain points every time. This makes me suspect they are on a timer of some sort once certain conditions are met. If this is the case what are the conditions that need to be met and are they avoidable, delay-able or set in stone to happen?

SR2

1. In SR2 what is the spawn rate of the tornado on the police station heli pad and what affects that spawn?

2. Is there any reason the spawn rate should drop in a mission with a countdown attached to it?

3. Is there any reason the spawn rate should increase after listening to the wiretaps?

4. We have noticed that using the tornado in “Enemy of my Enemy” can lead to the boats not spawning. Though we have found a way to circumnavigate this issue what is the reasoning for this?

5. Why are the 2 “crowd control” activities not included into in the game time displayed upon saving?

6. We have had a couple of instances where we have managed to punch people through the cage in fight club. Do you know why this would happen?

SR3

1. In SR3 I have found a trick that allows us to skip the autoscroller during Ho Boat. On the Xbox 360 it is also possible to use the same trick to skip the second half of Kenzi’s Guardian Angel but it doesn’t work on the PC version of the game is there any reason for this? Was there a patch to address this? ( 1:56:00 is an example of the trick)

2. Killbane has a tendency to fall through the ring in Murderbrawl do you know of any reasons why this would happen and how to prevent it?

3. There seems to be some sort of memory retention where even after reloading another save file some artefacts from the previous game remain. E.g If you play Remote start until the part when you are meant to run down the mascots then you load a new save it will continue to mass spawn mascots in the new game file until a checkpoint or a new auto save is made. The biggest possible exploit of this I have found, which would be viable for a segmented run, is playing Belgium project up to entering the garage results in the new game despawning all traffic on the road.

SR4

1. In SR4 there is conflicting information on what are the requirements for 100% a definitive answer would be helpful before we spend the time routing out the fastest way to do go about it.

2. Using a method of getting stuck in the falling animation we found you can fall through the world holes in the floor of the open waters. Once under them you can call in the void and fly under the map. We have found the hidden room under let’s pretend, the fact that all gateways are above a large box encasing a trigger (that I assume sends you to the ship? or possible the external simulations?) and the ship itself. Is there more to find and if so is it intractable opening wrong warp possibilities.

Expanding on questions for SR2:

If the countdown timer for the Tornado spawn rate isn't an issue, could it possibly be Brotherhood notoriety from Appointed Defender that affects it?

Sorry it took me so long to hunt down the answers to these questions, but it takes a while to remember some 10+ years of knowledge and make sure its accurate:

1.   SR generally does not include time spent in menus, cutscenes or loading. This will largely account for the couple of minutes per hour the community is seeing.
   

2.   Because we do not count time in cutscenes most should start after the opening cutscene. The time will generally start when the player is given control. This was never tested but holds to the logic.
   

3.  The Australian release of Saints Row IV is censored with Shaundi’s loyalty mission disabled, so that would be a time advantage . The Saints Row 2 German release had some minor gameplay changes with not being able to execute the prison doctor at the start of the first mission, and higher notoriety gained for killing police. All other SKUs have only had art and dialogue changed to fit into country guidelines. 
   

4.   There is no appreciable difference in framerate between regions. Most different regions are straight text changes.
   

From SR1

1.   Pushbacks have a cooldown and occur against a Saints area bordered by a rival gang. Based on what is owned and the position of the player these can be softly manipulated. This is why routing the game would give fairly consistent results. Generally they cannot be avoided.
   

From SR2

1.   We discuss some of the vehicle spawn system in the email.
   

2.   Missions will have spawn rates for vehicles that are pertinent to the mission. They will however reset the NPC vehicles that may have blocked the Tornado from spawning the first time.
   

3.   The wiretaps are inside an interior which causes some outside areas to unload. This in turn would cause some NPC controlled vehicles to despawn. This leads us back to the same principles that the vehicle may now spawn in a spot that was freed.
   

4.   This is likely due to flying. The Tornado was not a widely used vehicle during testing. The cargo boat is a special mission. 
   

5.  This is not by design
   

6. Also, not by design. Sounds like a glitch.

From SR3

1.   There was no patch to address this. This is likely due to the amount of memory a PC has. 
   

2.   Can’t find a quick video of this. Not entirely sure what is happening when it occurs. With a video of the entire fight before the problem we may be able to give more info.
   

3.   Sounds like a flag is not cleared when saving/loading. As you have already said it’s not particularly useful in a full run.
   

From SR4 4. During testing 100% was defined as all missions, collectibles and challenges being completed. This takes quite a bit of time to complete. 5. As I recall SR4 always warps the player back to the same spot in the city. Each area outside the world should also be encased entirely in collision making it nearly worthless to know where they are as crossing through those would not be possible. The ship should also be down there but again it’s not possible to enter from the outside as far as I know.

Thank you very much for the reply it is both helpful and greatly appreciated. We are more than willing to wait for good solid info.

SR2-2: Ok that makes sense we were getting the Tornado in a place in the mission where it loaded a cluster of cars so it was that that was inhibiting the Tornado’s spawning.

SR3-2: An example of the Killbane glitch is in this video, . I always put it down to us pre-empting the button commands de-syncing the choreographed parts of the mission.

SR4-1: The run being long won’t scare us off doing it. Just out of interest what kind of time would you predict? SR3 100% is doable in 6h:40m

SR4-2: There is a way to get into the ship by using a DLC vehicle (Salem) to partially clip though the floor then get off resulting in you being put inside it.

And also not a technical question.

Why was Ben King’s simulation that you rescue him from based off a mission that he wasn’t in or even in the Vice King story Arc of that game? I get that you wanted to use the church as it is iconic to Saints Row story but it did leave me to wonder why it was done this way over using the abandon police station stronghold or what would have been the best fit in my opinion the final mission in the Vice King Arc.