ZSR Speedrun rules (used for leaderboards)

Most of you know that I'm working on leaderboards. I was writing up rules for them (in general, not game-specific). This is what I have so far:

Time for most runs starts when a new file is started, unless otherwise specified for that game or category. Saving, resetting, and continuing are all allowed, but time will still be counted against you during this. This is commonly known as Real Time Attack (RTA), or Single Segment with savewarps.

Time stops in different places based on the game and category, and will be specified on a case-by-case basis.

Emulator runs may be allowed for some (but not all) games and categories, but emulator-specific features (such as slowdown, savestates, autofire, and rerecording) are not allowed.

Video proof is optional. However, suspect times are subject to deletion (and repeat offenders may be banned). If you compete at a very high level and would like to submit times that are near or better than the listed world record, you should have video proof.

In almost all cases, glitches are allowed (and in most cases, strongly encouraged in order to get a good time). If specific glitches are banned from a category, they will be mentioned in the rules for that category.

Techniques that involve physical manipulation of a console (such as "crooked cart" in Ocarina of Time or "CD streaming" in Twilight Princess) are banned unless otherwise specified.

You can choose to play any supported region or version of the game, regardless of where you live. For example, European players are permitted to play the Japanese or American versions of a game if they desire. In many cases, some versions will be faster than others (due to different framerates, exclusive glitches, amount of text in a certain language, etc.). Modifying a console in order to play a game from a different region is allowed.

Discuss these rules. What should be added/changed/removed?

Are there gonna be different console sections for categories? Like...
MST, N64, U version?
or
100%, VC, J version?
etc.

I'd really like to see this, because some of us prefer playing on N64 or NTSC - U, but suffer because of hardware/text limitations.

Pheenoh wrote

Are there gonna be different console sections for categories? Like...
MST, N64, U version?
or
100%, VC, J version?
etc.

I'd really like to see this, because some of us prefer playing on N64 or NTSC - U, but suffer because of hardware/text limitations.

This is how it currently works:

The runs are sorted by game and category. So like /leaderboards/oot/mst would show all MST runs (any console, any region). However, you can choose to filter by either console or region (or both), and see a new board with only those times. So you could look at /leaderboards/oot/mst?region=usa&ver=n64 or /leaderboards/mm/any?ver=n64 or whatever you want.

I think that approach works out well for everyone. The main table with the WR or whatever allows everything, but it can be broken into subtables, so you could have the #1 english time for OoT or the #1 N64 time for MM or something.

I think these are really great rules overall.

I think now we should consider the actual categories/rules and nail down standards as ZSR official.

the following is what #zelda came up with so far...



OoT (N64, GCN, VC):

General Rules:
- Timing starts on file select
- 1.0/1.1 VC inject is banned

Child Dungeons
You must complete the following objectives:
- Beat the Deku Tree, Dodongo’s Cavern, and Jabu-Jabu’s Belly in any order.
- Obtain the Ocarina of Time.

Other notes:
- Timing ends upon Link holding the Ocarina of Time above his head.



Any%
- Reach the “The End” screen, no additional restrictions.
- Timing ends at last meaningful input (This means either the final slash on Ganon or selecting to warp with Farore’s Wind)


No RBA
- Trigger the ending sequence.
- RBA/BA is banned
- Timing ends at the start of the Ganon death cutscene.




Medallions, Stones, Trials
You must complete the following objectives:
- Obtain all Spiritual Stones (Eg. Zora’s Sapphire)
- Obtain all Medallions (Eg. Fire Medallion)
- Dispel the <url=explanation??>>barrier in Ganon’s Castle
- Complete the game (reach the “The End” screen)

Other notes:
- RBA/BA is banned
- Timing ends at the start of the Ganon death cutscene.





100%
You must complete the following objectives:
- Obtain 20 Hearts*
- Learn all songs
- Collect all 100 Golden Skulltulas**
- Obtain Double Defense and Double Magic
- Obtain the Gerudo Card and Stone of Agony
- Obtain the Giant’s Wallet
- Obtain all items on the Item Select subscreen (Eg. Din’s Fire, Boomerang)***.
- Obtain all equipment on the Equipment subscreen (Eg. Goron Tunic, Hover Boots, Golden Scale)***
- Obtain all Spiritual Stones and Medallions (Eg. Zora’s Sapphire, Shadow Medallion)
- Complete the game (reach the credits)

Other notes:
- RBA/BA is banned
- Timing ends on last hit on Ganon
- Maps, Compasses, and Boss Keys are not required
- Ganon’s Castle trials are not required
- Obtaining the cow in Link’s house is not required
- Buying or planting all Magic Beans is not required
- Duping a bottle over an item is allowed, but your final inventory screen must be as shown in THIS PICTURE (excluding item amounts)

*: You may not collect any heart piece more than once. You may not obtain the extra heart piece in Gerudo Fortress as child.
**: You may not collect any Golden Skulltula token more than once.
*** Only highest upgrades are required for the following items. (Eg. Golden Scale, Golden Gauntlets, Longshot)

Here's my attempt at condensing the low% ruleset. The only thing that it's lacking is a definition for obtaining items, which would probably be something like getting an item on the B, C buttons, inventory screen, or setting the appropriate internal flag.

All items given automatically at the start of the game do not count to the overall total.
- Kokiri Boots and Tunic
- The starting three hearts
- The basic wallet

Other than the following exceptions, obtaining items 0-114 listed on the Item Chart at any time during a run is counted as a single item only once, even if that item is overwritten through normal means or glitches, or is duplicated.
-Heart containers, Heart Pieces, and Gold Skulltula tokens are totalled by “how many obtained” rather than “has been obtained”. As such, collecting duplicates of these items do add to your total.
- To simplify the rules, “bottle items” (items 20 - 32) are treated as if they are one item, known as a “bottle”. A “Bottle” is counted only if it is placed in a bottle slot. Each "Bottle" added to the bottle slots increases the item count by one. If a "bottle" is deleted from a bottle slot, replacing it will increase the item count by one.
- Fire/Ice/Light Arrow + Bow items are considered to be equivalent to their respective Fire/Ice/Light Arrow
- The fishing pole does not count toward the item count

The following also count as one item toward the total count

- Each Great Fairy Gift.
-- Magic
-- Double Magic
-- Double Defense
- The Scarecrow's Song
- Epona
- The unlockable Cow

Does anyone know if using the Hori Mini Pad 64 as a N64/Emulator controller for speedrunning is acceptable? I checked the rules at http://zeldaspeedruns.com/leaderboards/rules and think that it would be fine as long as the second Z button is never used? As you may possibly be able to press the Z button more times than others that only have one Z button if you use both fingers?

Yeah that controller is fine. I don't even think you'd have to limit yourself to only one of the Z-buttons, since GameCube controllers have 3/4 C-buttons mapped to 2 different inputs when playing OoT or MM (for example).

Jbop wrote

Yeah that controller is fine. I don't even think you'd have to limit yourself to only one of the Z-buttons, since GameCube controllers have 3/4 C-buttons mapped to 2 different inputs when playing OoT or MM (for example).

Also, I don't really think having two Z buttons is an advantage at all.

I see that VBA(-M) is the emulator used for the Oracle series, whereas bgb and gambatte are used for Link's Awakening DX. Is there a reason for this? I'm learning OoA any%, and I'd prefer to use bgb, since it works better for me.

The Oracle series community simply hasn't banned vba(-m). However the suggestion that VBA is the *only* emulator allowed for the Oracle games (a suggestion built into the leaderboards at the moment) is wrong and should be changed. You should feel free to use bgb or Gambatte for the Oracle series games.

P.S. vba(-m) prob should be banned  ::)