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Smudging the game disc to make speedrunning 'SpongeBob' faster

inverse.com

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Re: Smudging the game disc to make speedrunning 'SpongeBob' faster

#41

Post by NamTaf »

psygn89 wrote: post #15

My copy of Call of Duty: Black Ops that I bought from a rental store was corrupted in that sniper scopes didn't have the black scope silhouette when zoomed in, so essentially the whole screen just zooms in.

My first "gaming" PC was a secondhand thing with a RIVA TNT2 M64. It had cooked memory from presumably prior abuse, in such a way that if I ran Counter-Strike with 3d accel on, some of the wall textures were transparent.

But it also relatively frequently crashed so I rarely tried using it for the better graphics, and at that young age never appreciated the cheating aspect of it.

Re: Smudging the game disc to make speedrunning 'SpongeBob' faster

#42

Post by Lammy »

autoexec wrote: post #40
Lammy wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is why I keep my optical drives' moving parts clean and well-lubricated and freshen them up every few years

What do you use to lubricate them? I've got a few PS2s that are starting to give occasional disc read errors and a little laser maintenance might be overdue

White lithium grease for the rails (but don't get it on anything plastic), silicone grease for the plastic gears, and sewing machine oil for the motors :)

Re: Smudging the game disc to make speedrunning 'SpongeBob' faster

#43

Post by [deleted] »

lesam wrote: post #8
PaulStatezny wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> this game has some of the most insane tech I’ve seen in any game and is definitely worth checking out Given the context of this forum, I'd be interested to hear more about what's so interesting about the technology!

'tech' in speed running is a reference to "technique" rather than "technology". https://glossary.infil.net/?t=Tech

[deleted]

Re: Smudging the game disc to make speedrunning 'SpongeBob' faster

#44

Post by kelnos »

wildzzz wrote: post #12
autoexec wrote: post #6

> While SHiFT insists that the method of smudging your disc will give you enough time in a lag to beat the SpongeBob game, he adds a clear caveat that it's not worth the risk of permanently damaging your game or original Xbox console How would reading a scratched/dirty disc permanently damage a console? That seems like a very bad issue for a device expected to read frequently swapped discs.

This article is hard to read, it seems to repeat itself constantly and expands on nothing. The main point is that smudging the disc can help with performing certain glitches while the console is trying to run error correction but you could potentially scratch your disc to an unusable state if you are too liberal with the smudging. I'm pretty sure I've seen this same topic on HN before so this article isn't exactly re…

The article seems to suggest that you can damage the console itself, though, not just the disc.

Re: Smudging the game disc to make speedrunning 'SpongeBob' faster

#45

Post by jasonjayr »

HerbManic wrote: post #30
psygn89 wrote: post #15

My copy of Call of Duty: Black Ops that I bought from a rental store was corrupted in that sniper scopes didn't have the black scope silhouette when zoomed in, so essentially the whole screen just zooms in.

I find it so funny that somethings coded can crumble if a single bit is out of place, and others are like "No file there, no problem!"

That's kinda what happens with DNA -- a random mutation will make the resulting organism 'incompatible with life' -- or it will create a change that gives a huge advantage for survival.

Re: Smudging the game disc to make speedrunning 'SpongeBob' faster

#46

Post by tantalor »

jjmarr wrote: post #36
tantalor wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really stretches the definition of speed run. If I record the game to VHS, and fast forward to the end, does that count?

This was the technique used by American Dad speedrunners. Unfortunately, speedrun.com banned it after years of controversy, since fast-forwarding videos doesn't count as a speedrun. Summoning Salt Documentary: https://youtu.be/yPvKhFXc7ck

This is brilliant

Re: Smudging the game disc to make speedrunning 'SpongeBob' faster

#49

Post by taejavu »

loganc2342 wrote: post #4

I’ve been following this game’s speedrun for years; I never expected to see it on the front page of HN! This post could use a (2021), because this trick was discovered years ago. For anyone interested in speedrunning, this game has some of the most insane tech I’ve seen in any game and is definitely worth checking out.

Is there a good video you could link to that covers this? Or is it apparent just from watching a run, from GDQ or something?

Re: Smudging the game disc to make speedrunning 'SpongeBob' faster

#50

Post by JacobKfromIRC »

lesam wrote: post #8
PaulStatezny wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> this game has some of the most insane tech I’ve seen in any game and is definitely worth checking out Given the context of this forum, I'd be interested to hear more about what's so interesting about the technology!

'tech' in speed running is a reference to "technique" rather than "technology". https://glossary.infil.net/?t=Tech

Woah, I just realized (because of this comment) that I've been grouping "technique" and "technology" as a single thing in my understanding and calling it "technology"/"tech".

For example, I would describe a method to do something in a video game as "tech" but in my mind I would expand it to "technology" if I thought about it. I didn't realize that the word "technique" would be a better fit in those contexts. Looking at Wikipedia [1], it looks like the words are pretty closely related so I haven't been using the word completely wrong.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technology

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