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Smudging the game disc to make speedrunning 'SpongeBob' faster

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

#21

Post by wk_end »

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.

There's a belief in certain corners of the gaming community (and maybe other communities that deal with optical discs) that if the disc drive's laser has to "try hard" to read a disc it will eventually "burn out". Not sure if this is backed up by any actual data or facts - it sounds plausible to me that a laser might dynamically adjust its power level as needed, and that over time that might be bad for it; but it also sounds a bit like people might be anthropomorphizing the laser or something.

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

#22

Post by sumtechguy »

thatguy0900 wrote: post #17
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.

The disc's spin pretty fast, I could see someone smudging the disc too heavily with a substance that might fling off

On some systems/drives if it detects an error that is big enough it will reset the carriage. You can here it reading and rescrubbing over and over. That can cause the carriage motor to overwork and burn out. Not sure of this system does that or not. But that would be my guess.

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

#24

Post by sumtechguy »

wildzzz wrote: post #14
rtkwe wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not clear on what that would even look like as a mechanic related to hacking?

Intentionally sloppy code, like leaving exploits in the game. Like if perform some action in a very specific way, you trigger an overflow that unlocks an item that's otherwise very difficult or impossible to obtain. So rather than these exploits breaking you out of the intended flow of the game, it's a real game mechanic. Like having that unobtainable item unlocks a story path that changes the ending. I guess it's mo…

There is one game called 'hack n slash' on steam. You manipulate the 'global vars' to win the game. There is even one point where the game has you open up its data files and change things. Interesting mechanic.

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

#25

Post by uKVZe85V »

The diagram showing where to smudge the disc looks so incredible, a kind of flower shape, no rotational origin. Seeing the video it makes more sense. All this is highly artisanal, the diagram is just a hint.

This give me an idea. Here's my smudge pattern that works better: (shows a diagram with blotches in the shape of Rick Astley singing).

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

#26

Post by nosioptar »

brayhite wrote: post #11
Dwedit wrote: post #7

If you put tape on cartridge pin #14 of NES Platoon (or other bad connection), the game will boot to a glitched version of the ending, thus making it a zero-second speedrun. Pin #14 is the CPU R/W pin, and if it's not properly connected, the game will be unable to write to the MMC1 mapper to perform bank switching. Platoon happens to be programmed in a way that address 0x8000 of every bank is an entry point that will…

I love little facts like these. Thanks for sharing (and sounding convincing enough for me to trust it lol).

If you haven't read about the Pilot Wings coprocessor differences, it's really interesting:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19883714

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

#27

Post by kodt »

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.

Seems to me that hardware modification would be a banned technique.

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

#28

Post by cryzinger »

kodt wrote: post #27
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.

Seems to me that hardware modification would be a banned technique.

There are usually separate categories based on various factors, like which console a game is played on (if it was released on multiple), what the win condition is (do you need to 100% the game, or just see the credits roll?), and whether certain glitches are allowed. Those are nearly always software glitches, but hardware glitches aren't unheard of :)

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

#29

Post by phire »

kodt wrote: post #27
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.

Seems to me that hardware modification would be a banned technique.

Speedrunning communities generally hate it when having more money leads to an advantage.

If you ban deliberately smudging/scratching the disc, then some runner with a lot of money will just buy a lot of copies of the disc, find the one that glitches the most consistently (because of pre-existing scratches, or even manufacturing defects that aren’t visible)

Allowing some kind of mod is the most equitable compromise.

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

#30

Post by HerbManic »

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!"
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