Virginia, USAHey there. I'm the leaderboard mod for JM2CE and I just stumbled across this thread since I was looking at stuff about JM1. The accuracy of the IGT is something I was a bit concerned about and wanted to look into since I've started running vanilla JM2 on the PS5 release and was wondering whether or not that version running much smoother with way less lag could affect the IGT somehow (I know that's something that happens with the Time Trial timer in Crash Bandicoot 3, for example; older PS1's have the advantage in TT's because they lag more and cause the timer to slow down). I haven't looked into it yet, but one of my viewers did mention the possibility of PAL being faster because of the slower IGT, and it looks like this thread confirms that.
Thankfully, 2CE only has a North American release (to my knowledge) so that's not a worry, but I think the NTSC/PAL split was a good idea here (and might be a good idea for the other games in the series that aren't 2CE).
Regarding IGT vs. RTA, I've always preferred the latter, but IGT has always been the norm for this series and I didn't feel the need to change it when I became the mod of the 2CE board. If the IGT appears to be more or less consistent across all of the NTSC runs then I guess there's no need to change it; my concern would be inaccuracy and unfairness, but switching to RTA opens up the can of worms that is Fast Disc Speed giving PS2's an advantage on loads, and there's no gameplay outside of races besides menuing, so I think IGT is fine as long as it's accurate and unaffected by lag (which it appears to be). I'll probably take a look at vanilla JM2's IGT on PS1 vs. PS5 but I'd assume it's probably the same on each.
Also, quick note on the difference between JM2 and JM2CE. They both cap at 30 FPS, iirc, it's just that JM2 never consistently hits it because the PS1 can't handle that many things on screen at once. The PS5 release of JM2 notably runs way smoother and at a consistent 30 since the PS5 can handle it.
JM2CE consistently runs at 30 FPS because they dropped the racer count from 10 to 4, but the reason it's so much faster than JM2 is because they cranked the shit out of the top speed for every racer lol. You can see it in my PB where the odometer shows my speed constantly above 100, which isn't the case in vanilla JM2.
Just wanted to clear that up, since I saw mention that JM2 runs at 30 and JM2CE at 60, which isn't true.
Did you set the comparison to Game Time?
The Memory-Based Load Remover developed by FluffyCobra is now mandatory for PC submissions. It's been several weeks since it was rolled out and we have concluded that it is working well enough for everyone to go forward with it being the required timing method for PC runs.
Moving forward, anyone who submits a PC time using the Image Based Load Remover that's used for console runs will have their run rejected; this load remover is not as accurate as the memory based one, and the goal of the PC Load Remover is to be more accurate than what is possible on console. The difference in accuracy means that the two won't be completely comparable, hence why PC and Console leaderboards are split.
Any PC run that has already been accepted and used the console load remover will be grandfathered in, but from this point on we will not accept any more that do not use the PC Load Remover.
The download link to both load removers is located in the Resources Section of Crash 4's SRcom page. I have also posted a tutorial in the Guides section on how to setup and use both the PC Load Remover and the Autosplitter that is built into it.
Enjoy!
Just wanted to push out a little reminder for everyone submitting PC runs that having a visible FPS counter displayed is one of the rules of submission.
We've been very lenient on it because we only have a minimum FPS limit and not a maximum limit, and it's much easier to notice when someone is playing at higher FPS than when they're playing at a low FPS. It also has much less of an impact on this game compared to N. Sane Trilogy, where the FPS counter was basically necessary to make verification seamless. So we haven't felt the need to enforce this rule as strictly as we do with NST.
That being said, I do not want people to get complacent because I don't want to keep making exceptions. If we see people continuously not have a visible FPS counter for PC runs, we will start rejecting them.
If you've been having trouble finding an FPS counter that is easy to set up, I would personally recommend MSI Afterburner. FRAPS is also an easy to set up one, though it does require you stay tabbed into the game the entire time.
We've added a Time Trial Leaderboard for each individual level.
I personally want to apologize for how long it took for this to be added. When the game first released we planned on having a separate website developed that could better realize the capabilities we wanted out of a TT board. Five months in, and there has been no major progress made on this site, so for the time being it makes sense to just host the Time Trial Boards here instead.
Enjoy!
Nothing really, but it was decided when 4 came out that we wanted to try and have a dedicated IL leaderboard elsewhere (and potentially migrate NST to that as well, I'm not sure). So we elected to not have an IL board for the moment.
With that said, I'm not sure of the progress on said other site, so if it ends up going too long, we could end up having IL boards here anyway. It will also depend on how quickly the in game ones get screwed over by hackers, because that was the deciding factor for NST's IL board being made.
What Pete said basically. It’s especially redundant because in this game, unlike some previous Crash games, there are extremely few, if any, places where death abusing for whatever reason is advantageous (I only do it once in Any%, for a cycle in Fossil Fueled, and I don’t even know if it’s necessarily faster, just much easier).
An optimal run in most cases would be deathless, so any differences at the optimal level between, say, Any% and Deathless, would either be minimal or simply not exist.
Pausing the timer manually will be very inaccurate.
One thing you could do is record the run without a timer and then see if someone you know (who does have access to LiveSplit) would be willing to run LiveSplit and the load remover and re-record the video with the timer visible.
Other than that, I’m not sure of another way to work around it. I’m sorry. :/
SRcom's capabilities for IL leaderboards are a bit too restrictive for what exactly we want to do. A separate site with an IL board is being worked on, but still is in development.
The load remover has been out for a bit now, and there have been no glaring issues we have noticed. So we have transitioned the leaderboard to now rank by Time Without Loads.
From now on, it will be required that you submit both a time without loads and a time with loads. Additionally LiveSplit with the load remover active must be visible in the video submission.
All previously submitted runs that had a loadless time visible already have been updated to have that time on the board. Any run submitted that did not have a loadless time is still there, but only with a "Time With Loads". By default, they are now ranked below all the runs with loadless times (which is due to how SRcom itself handles things).
If you would like to retime a current PB you have and add a loadless time to it, that is allowed. Just make sure you rerecord the video with a visible loadless timer. Otherwise, they will stay where they are; we may eventually retime some of the ones that we can, but we absolutely cannot guarantee being able to retime all of them.
Enjoy!
As per the Game Rules:
"This board will eventually be using loadless timing, through means of a load removal tool for LiveSplit that can be found in the Resources section. It is still being tested, however, so we will be timing by RTA until we can confirm it is accurate."
Reading is hard, I understand.
The embargo is over and the Crash 4 Leaderboard is now LIVE!
The categories that exist at the moment are Any%, All Clear Gems, and 106% as main categories, and All Timelines, 100%, and All Platinum Flashback Tapes as miscellaneous categories. These were the most commonly requested categories. We are willing to move around what is and isn't misc. depending on how things pan out, but we believe this is a good starting point.
The load remover is still in development, but a lot of progress has been made on it. We aren't quite ready to roll it out yet, so in the meantime the board will be timed RTA. After the load remover is released we will require LiveSplit with the load remover running be visible in your video submission, as is the case with both NST and CTRNF.
Until the load remover is out, we HIGHLY recommend that you do not cover or obscure your game feed with anything (such as webcam, transparent splits, etc.) Doing so runs the risk of your VoD not being able to be retimed.
With that said, please enjoy the leaderboard! If you want to stay up to date with the game and community I highly suggest joining the community Discord server, linked on the side.
The name we're going for is probably "All Normal Gems". Rolls off the tongue well enough and stops people from being smartasses by saying, "Well TECHNICALLY the N. Verted Gems are Gems too."
All Clear Gems was also an option, since I think the game actually does distinguish Clear and N. Verted as two separate types of Gems, but again, I'm sure some smartass would have been like, "Well TECHNICALLY the N. Verted Gems are clear LUL".
A category of that sort will almost definitely be made. It's been brought up as an idea a lot and basically everyone is onboard with it existing. :)
Yes, we are aware the game is out. It is also incredibly packed with a huge amount of content, and even 48 hours in most of us are still working to even fully complete it.
We need a few days to figure out how things are gonna work, what categories will exist, etc. That’s why there’s an embargo with an expected lifting on the 8th. Could be sooner, depending on how things go.
Please be patient.
