GTA San Andreas' 3h 52m Speed Run Record Broken... By Over 3 hours

[Xprimentyl]

Game glitches and the gamers able to find and exploit them have always fascinated me, but one takes the cake. Speed running records for GTA San Andreas were over the 3-hour mark, but just recently, someone got it down to under 20 minutes! How? Glad you asked; here?s the explanation [https://youtu.be/VR6eJSmRkPI].

Anyone have any idea how people discover this stuff? Particularly this one? It sounds like they have intimate knowledge of the code behind the game, but how in two hells do they know how, which ones, why, where and when to exploit and string that shit together into a ?playthrough?!?

And for the purposes of opening up discussion to glitches in general, please feel free to discuss/share other incredible ones.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

Glitch speed runs don't impress me at all. They didn't beat the game, they simply got to the end screen and that's not the same. Using glitches and bugs the programmers did not intend to be in the code to 'win' in a speedrun is like me saying I 'watched' the entire 9 hours of the LoTR trilogy in under 2 mins by simply skipping to the end credits.

At this point why not just write a line of code into the game that once you hit Start Game it automatically takes you to the end screen? I could speed run every game in under 2 seconds!

 

[Xprimentyl]

Glitch speed runs don't impress me at all. They didn't beat the game, they simply got to the end screen and that's not the same. Using glitches and bugs the programmers did not intend to be in the code to 'win' in a speedrun is like me saying I 'watched' the entire 9 hours of the LoTR trilogy in under 2 mins by simply skipping to the end credits.

At this point why not just write a line of code into the game that once you hit Start Game it automatically takes you to the end screen? I could speed run every game in under 2 seconds!

Oh, I completely get it; I?m not calling this is a legit breaking of the record (being slightly misleading in the title for the click bait; gotcha,) just in awe of the commitment to finding and stringing together the exploits, working within the confines of the existing code (i.e.: NOT simply writing an ?I win? code as you suggest,) and being able to execute them with impeccable precision to ?beat? the game.

 

[McElroy]

Amazing. It uses stuff I'm not at all familiar with, since it is on the HD re-release of GTA:SA

Glitch speed runs don't impress me at all. They didn't beat the game, they simply got to the end screen and that's not the same.

No problem with that. It's your opinion.

Using glitches and bugs the programmers did not intend to be in the code to 'win' in a speedrun is like me saying I 'watched' the entire 9 hours of the LoTR trilogy in under 2 mins by simply skipping to the end credits.

At this point why not just write a line of code into the game that once you hit Start Game it automatically takes you to the end screen? I could speed run every game in under 2 seconds!

I know it's a so-called hot take, but this is just being dumb on purpose. The rules for speedrunning a given game are usually consistent, though sometimes up for discussion (like a certain glitch can become its own category, because people still want to run Any%). The movie comparison is way off.

 

[Red Sentinel]

Untitled Goose Game can be beaten in only a couple of minutes, simply by glitching through the fence right at the start which puts you at the game's final objective.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I never got the big deal about beating a game by forcing a glitch. If it required tons of effort, congrats, you put a lot of effort into not putting a lot of effort. And if it didn't take that much effort at all, what's the big deal?

 

[Squilookle]

Exploiting a glitch speedrun is fine- I'm still impressed by the guy that discovered how to beat Perfect Dark's first level in 6 seconds.

It's the tool-assisted speed runs that don't impress me. Those don't even use player input. What's the point of that?

EDIT: Having started watching the vid- I thought I was going crazy for a second hearing Perfect Dark music over the San Andreas footage... and yet there it is. What a bizarre coincidence

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

Glitch speed runs don't impress me at all. They didn't beat the game, they simply got to the end screen and that's not the same. Using glitches and bugs the programmers did not intend to be in the code to 'win' in a speedrun is like me saying I 'watched' the entire 9 hours of the LoTR trilogy in under 2 mins by simply skipping to the end credits.

At this point why not just write a line of code into the game that once you hit Start Game it automatically takes you to the end screen? I could speed run every game in under 2 seconds!

Oh, I completely get it; I?m not calling this is a legit breaking of the record (being slightly misleading in the title for the click bait; gotcha,) just in awe of the commitment to finding and stringing together the exploits, working within the confines of the existing code (i.e.: NOT simply writing an ?I win? code as you suggest,) and being able to execute them with impeccable precision to ?beat? the game.

Oh no I wasn't harshing you. I fully get the story. And there is a level of...commitment to these types of play throughs to see what glitches can be found without the game crashing or some other huge glitch happening later. Like an OoT glitch that lets you skip all 3 spirit stones, but Ganon ends up being invulnerable.
I just feel like its not speed running, its glitch diving. Which is a thing in its own right for sure. I guess I don't like it when its listed as they 'beat' the game, when no they didn't, they glitched to the end credit screen.

SNIP

How is it not a valid comparison? Time it time. If devs make a game that they expect a player to take 20 hours to beat, and someone gets to the end screen in 2 mins, how is that different than a film maker making a movie that takes 3 hours to watch and someone gets to the credits by scene skipping. In both cases you're not experience the experience the way the makers intended and making a big fuss about getting to the ending when the journey was the important part.

 

[McElroy]

SNIP

How is it not a valid comparison? Time it time. If devs make a game that they expect a player to take 20 hours to beat, and someone gets to the end screen in 2 mins, how is that different than a film maker making a movie that takes 3 hours to watch and someone gets to the credits by scene skipping. In both cases you're not experience the experience the way the makers intended and making a big fuss about getting to the ending when the journey was the important part.

Skipping to a movie's end credits is exactly how the publishers intended it. That's why the option to do it exists. It's not a "speedrun mode".

I never got the big deal about beating a game by forcing a glitch. If it required tons of effort, congrats, you put a lot of effort into not putting a lot of effort. And if it didn't take that much effort at all, what's the big deal?

A leisurely 1ms timing is required to perform the glitch in this run.

Generally, I get why people might not care about speedrunning. To a casual gamer it doesn't feel *right* that there are these "strats" that a normal person won't find out by just playing it. It is its own mindset. That's why most speedrunners are so loony. They spend too much time staring at monitors.

 

[09philj]

Exploiting a glitch speedrun is fine- I'm still impressed by the guy that discovered how to beat Perfect Dark's first level in 6 seconds.

It's the tool-assisted speed runs that don't impress me. Those don't even use player input. What's the point of that?

TASing is interesting because it shows how hard a game can be broken with just a controller. It's a test less of raw game playing skill and more how the TASers understand how the game operates in order to subvert it.

 

[Xprimentyl]

Glitch speed runs don't impress me at all. They didn't beat the game, they simply got to the end screen and that's not the same. Using glitches and bugs the programmers did not intend to be in the code to 'win' in a speedrun is like me saying I 'watched' the entire 9 hours of the LoTR trilogy in under 2 mins by simply skipping to the end credits.

At this point why not just write a line of code into the game that once you hit Start Game it automatically takes you to the end screen? I could speed run every game in under 2 seconds!

Oh, I completely get it; I?m not calling this is a legit breaking of the record (being slightly misleading in the title for the click bait; gotcha,) just in awe of the commitment to finding and stringing together the exploits, working within the confines of the existing code (i.e.: NOT simply writing an ?I win? code as you suggest,) and being able to execute them with impeccable precision to ?beat? the game.

Oh no I wasn't harshing you. I fully get the story. And there is a level of...commitment to these types of play throughs to see what glitches can be found without the game crashing or some other huge glitch happening later. Like an OoT glitch that lets you skip all 3 spirit stones, but Ganon ends up being invulnerable.
I just feel like its not speed running, its glitch diving. Which is a thing in its own right for sure. I guess I don't like it when its listed as they 'beat' the game, when no they didn't, they glitched to the end credit screen.

Speed runs are players using skill and optimal pathing to complete a game as the developer intended as quickly as possible. Glitch runs are players finding cracks in the code of the game and squeezing through them to minimize the time between the beginning and end. The former is playing the game as closely to perfection as possible; the latter is weaving a continuous path through the weak spots of the game?s code without it collapsing around you. Insofar as the semantics surrounding ?beating? the game, I think it applies to both; a speed runner ?beats? the game on the game?s terms; a glitch runner ?beats? the game at its genetic level. Personally, I find both impressive as both are tests of skills few people, least of all myself, can claim to have.

Par exemple, the laser dance [https://youtu.be/mr834Cs9ncs] from Ocean?s 12. A speed run would show the Night Fox locating the laser field?s control panel and typing in the disarm code to shutting it down properly as fast as possible; a glitch run is what the video shows.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I never got the big deal about beating a game by forcing a glitch. If it required tons of effort, congrats, you put a lot of effort into not putting a lot of effort. And if it didn't take that much effort at all, what's the big deal?

A leisurely 1ms timing is required to perform the glitch in this run.

Generally, I get why people might not care about speedrunning. To a casual gamer it doesn't feel *right* that there are these "strats" that a normal person won't find out by just playing it. It is its own mindset. That's why most speedrunners are so loony. They spend too much time staring at monitors.

I don't care about speedrunning but I 'get' the merit of it as proof of skill. I don't consider glitching the game a speedrun though.

 

[Marik2]

At this point why not just write a line of code into the game that once you hit Start Game it automatically takes you to the end screen? I could speed run every game in under 2 seconds!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9BpdFTtcsA

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

Glitch speed runs don't impress me at all. They didn't beat the game, they simply got to the end screen and that's not the same. Using glitches and bugs the programmers did not intend to be in the code to 'win' in a speedrun is like me saying I 'watched' the entire 9 hours of the LoTR trilogy in under 2 mins by simply skipping to the end credits.

At this point why not just write a line of code into the game that once you hit Start Game it automatically takes you to the end screen? I could speed run every game in under 2 seconds!

Oh, I completely get it; I?m not calling this is a legit breaking of the record (being slightly misleading in the title for the click bait; gotcha,) just in awe of the commitment to finding and stringing together the exploits, working within the confines of the existing code (i.e.: NOT simply writing an ?I win? code as you suggest,) and being able to execute them with impeccable precision to ?beat? the game.

Oh no I wasn't harshing you. I fully get the story. And there is a level of...commitment to these types of play throughs to see what glitches can be found without the game crashing or some other huge glitch happening later. Like an OoT glitch that lets you skip all 3 spirit stones, but Ganon ends up being invulnerable.
I just feel like its not speed running, its glitch diving. Which is a thing in its own right for sure. I guess I don't like it when its listed as they 'beat' the game, when no they didn't, they glitched to the end credit screen.

Speed runs are players using skill and optimal pathing to complete a game as the developer intended as quickly as possible. Glitch runs are players finding cracks in the code of the game and squeezing through them to minimize the time between the beginning and end. The former is playing the game as closely to perfection as possible; the latter is weaving a continuous path through the weak spots of the game?s code without it collapsing around you. Insofar as the semantics surrounding ?beating? the game, I think it applies to both; a speed runner ?beats? the game on the game?s terms; a glitch runner ?beats? the game at its genetic level. Personally, I find both impressive as both are tests of skills few people, least of all myself, can claim to have.

Par exemple, the laser dance [https://youtu.be/mr834Cs9ncs] from Ocean?s 12. A speed run would show the Night Fox locating the laser field?s control panel and typing in the disarm code to shutting it down properly as fast as possible; a glitch run is what the video shows.

See I disagree. The Night Fox doesn't glitch the laser system, he simply dodges around it. That's a skill run. A speed run would just cut the power. A Glitch run would realize he can jump up 37 times on a park bench around the corner and on the 38th jump the Matrix breaks and he's teleported past the lasers. That's a glitch 'cause its going against the intended experience, ie reality.

 

[Smithnikov_v1legacy]

Man, speed runners depress me as it is and shows me for the talentless scrub I really am as a gamer. This just opens up the salt shaker and freebases it into my veins.

 

[McElroy]

I don't consider glitching the game a speedrun though.

That's why there are categories for each game.

 

[Xprimentyl]

Glitch speed runs don't impress me at all. They didn't beat the game, they simply got to the end screen and that's not the same. Using glitches and bugs the programmers did not intend to be in the code to 'win' in a speedrun is like me saying I 'watched' the entire 9 hours of the LoTR trilogy in under 2 mins by simply skipping to the end credits.

At this point why not just write a line of code into the game that once you hit Start Game it automatically takes you to the end screen? I could speed run every game in under 2 seconds!

Oh, I completely get it; I?m not calling this is a legit breaking of the record (being slightly misleading in the title for the click bait; gotcha,) just in awe of the commitment to finding and stringing together the exploits, working within the confines of the existing code (i.e.: NOT simply writing an ?I win? code as you suggest,) and being able to execute them with impeccable precision to ?beat? the game.

Oh no I wasn't harshing you. I fully get the story. And there is a level of...commitment to these types of play throughs to see what glitches can be found without the game crashing or some other huge glitch happening later. Like an OoT glitch that lets you skip all 3 spirit stones, but Ganon ends up being invulnerable.
I just feel like its not speed running, its glitch diving. Which is a thing in its own right for sure. I guess I don't like it when its listed as they 'beat' the game, when no they didn't, they glitched to the end credit screen.

Speed runs are players using skill and optimal pathing to complete a game as the developer intended as quickly as possible. Glitch runs are players finding cracks in the code of the game and squeezing through them to minimize the time between the beginning and end. The former is playing the game as closely to perfection as possible; the latter is weaving a continuous path through the weak spots of the game?s code without it collapsing around you. Insofar as the semantics surrounding ?beating? the game, I think it applies to both; a speed runner ?beats? the game on the game?s terms; a glitch runner ?beats? the game at its genetic level. Personally, I find both impressive as both are tests of skills few people, least of all myself, can claim to have.

Par exemple, the laser dance [https://youtu.be/mr834Cs9ncs] from Ocean?s 12. A speed run would show the Night Fox locating the laser field?s control panel and typing in the disarm code to shutting it down properly as fast as possible; a glitch run is what the video shows.

See I disagree. The Night Fox doesn't glitch the laser system, he simply dodges around it. That's a skill run. A speed run would just cut the power. A Glitch run would realize he can jump up 37 times on a park bench around the corner and on the 38th jump the Matrix breaks and he's teleported past the lasers. That's a glitch 'cause its going against the intended experience, ie reality.

The intention of the laser field is to allow passage to only those who properly disarm it (i.e.: play the game correctly,) and it sets off alarms (i.e.: crashes, bugs out) when someone transgresses otherwise. The Night Fox uses his intimate knowledge of the laser field?s operation to work AROUND it, subverting it entirely and achieving objectively the same end result as disarming it properly.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I don't consider glitching the game a speedrun though.

That's why there are categories for each game.

I think as a speedrun category 'glitching' is one or two steps above not playing the game.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Glitch speed runs don't impress me at all. They didn't beat the game, they simply got to the end screen and that's not the same. Using glitches and bugs the programmers did not intend to be in the code to 'win' in a speedrun is like me saying I 'watched' the entire 9 hours of the LoTR trilogy in under 2 mins by simply skipping to the end credits.

At this point why not just write a line of code into the game that once you hit Start Game it automatically takes you to the end screen? I could speed run every game in under 2 seconds!

Oh, I completely get it; I?m not calling this is a legit breaking of the record (being slightly misleading in the title for the click bait; gotcha,) just in awe of the commitment to finding and stringing together the exploits, working within the confines of the existing code (i.e.: NOT simply writing an ?I win? code as you suggest,) and being able to execute them with impeccable precision to ?beat? the game.

Oh no I wasn't harshing you. I fully get the story. And there is a level of...commitment to these types of play throughs to see what glitches can be found without the game crashing or some other huge glitch happening later. Like an OoT glitch that lets you skip all 3 spirit stones, but Ganon ends up being invulnerable.
I just feel like its not speed running, its glitch diving. Which is a thing in its own right for sure. I guess I don't like it when its listed as they 'beat' the game, when no they didn't, they glitched to the end credit screen.

Speed runs are players using skill and optimal pathing to complete a game as the developer intended as quickly as possible. Glitch runs are players finding cracks in the code of the game and squeezing through them to minimize the time between the beginning and end. The former is playing the game as closely to perfection as possible; the latter is weaving a continuous path through the weak spots of the game?s code without it collapsing around you. Insofar as the semantics surrounding ?beating? the game, I think it applies to both; a speed runner ?beats? the game on the game?s terms; a glitch runner ?beats? the game at its genetic level. Personally, I find both impressive as both are tests of skills few people, least of all myself, can claim to have.

Par exemple, the laser dance [https://youtu.be/mr834Cs9ncs] from Ocean?s 12. A speed run would show the Night Fox locating the laser field?s control panel and typing in the disarm code to shutting it down properly as fast as possible; a glitch run is what the video shows.

See I disagree. The Night Fox doesn't glitch the laser system, he simply dodges around it. That's a skill run. A speed run would just cut the power. A Glitch run would realize he can jump up 37 times on a park bench around the corner and on the 38th jump the Matrix breaks and he's teleported past the lasers. That's a glitch 'cause its going against the intended experience, ie reality.

The intention of the laser field is to allow passage to only those who properly disarm it (i.e.: play the game correctly,) and it sets off alarms (i.e.: crashes, bugs out) when someone transgresses otherwise. The Night Fox uses his intimate knowledge of the laser field?s operation to work AROUND it, subverting it entirely and achieving objectively the same end result as disarming it properly.

I don't agree at all.
The lasers are the obvious, immediate obstacle. To bypass them successfully is to meet a challenge like you do in a videogame.
If glitching a game is 'thinking outside the box' and damning the game's rules, then the equivalent would be to just defuse the grid.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

Glitch speed runs don't impress me at all. They didn't beat the game, they simply got to the end screen and that's not the same. Using glitches and bugs the programmers did not intend to be in the code to 'win' in a speedrun is like me saying I 'watched' the entire 9 hours of the LoTR trilogy in under 2 mins by simply skipping to the end credits.

At this point why not just write a line of code into the game that once you hit Start Game it automatically takes you to the end screen? I could speed run every game in under 2 seconds!

Oh, I completely get it; I?m not calling this is a legit breaking of the record (being slightly misleading in the title for the click bait; gotcha,) just in awe of the commitment to finding and stringing together the exploits, working within the confines of the existing code (i.e.: NOT simply writing an ?I win? code as you suggest,) and being able to execute them with impeccable precision to ?beat? the game.

Oh no I wasn't harshing you. I fully get the story. And there is a level of...commitment to these types of play throughs to see what glitches can be found without the game crashing or some other huge glitch happening later. Like an OoT glitch that lets you skip all 3 spirit stones, but Ganon ends up being invulnerable.
I just feel like its not speed running, its glitch diving. Which is a thing in its own right for sure. I guess I don't like it when its listed as they 'beat' the game, when no they didn't, they glitched to the end credit screen.

Speed runs are players using skill and optimal pathing to complete a game as the developer intended as quickly as possible. Glitch runs are players finding cracks in the code of the game and squeezing through them to minimize the time between the beginning and end. The former is playing the game as closely to perfection as possible; the latter is weaving a continuous path through the weak spots of the game?s code without it collapsing around you. Insofar as the semantics surrounding ?beating? the game, I think it applies to both; a speed runner ?beats? the game on the game?s terms; a glitch runner ?beats? the game at its genetic level. Personally, I find both impressive as both are tests of skills few people, least of all myself, can claim to have.

Par exemple, the laser dance [https://youtu.be/mr834Cs9ncs] from Ocean?s 12. A speed run would show the Night Fox locating the laser field?s control panel and typing in the disarm code to shutting it down properly as fast as possible; a glitch run is what the video shows.

See I disagree. The Night Fox doesn't glitch the laser system, he simply dodges around it. That's a skill run. A speed run would just cut the power. A Glitch run would realize he can jump up 37 times on a park bench around the corner and on the 38th jump the Matrix breaks and he's teleported past the lasers. That's a glitch 'cause its going against the intended experience, ie reality.

The intention of the laser field is to allow passage to only those who properly disarm it (i.e.: play the game correctly,) and it sets off alarms (i.e.: crashes, bugs out) when someone transgresses otherwise. The Night Fox uses his intimate knowledge of the laser field?s operation to work AROUND it, subverting it entirely and achieving objectively the same end result as disarming it properly.

I don't agree at all.
The lasers are the obvious, immediate obstacle. To bypass them successfully is to meet a challenge like you do in a videogame.
If glitching a game is 'thinking outside the box' and damning the game's rules, then the equivalent would be to just defuse the grid.

I disagree with this. To glitch something is to go against not just something intended purpose, but to do something not meant to be physically possible. when a game glitches and you fall through the floor, well the floor was meant to be fall-through-proof.

To go back to our laser grid, to bypass them is the skill used to beat a video game, but disarming them is still within the confines of what the system allows. The laser grid is meant to be turn off-able and turn on-able. You haven't done something physically impossible. I'll say it again: A Glitch run would realize he can jump up 37 times on a park bench around the corner and on the 38th jump the Matrix breaks and he's teleported past the lasers. That's a glitch 'cause its going against the intended experience, ie reality. Something happened that wasn't physically supposed to be possible.

So when we see a Goldeneye speed run where looking at the ground and shooting a gun backwards increases your speed beyond what was supposed to be physically possible, that's a glitch. That's using an oversight in the code to move faster than what the code was programmed to allow.