The Elite Forum

The Big Three Plus One => Perfect Dark => Topic started by: SamSim on September 03, 2002, 07:23:00 pm

Title: Okay, I lied when I said 1:15 Villa A was my last PR.
Post by: SamSim on September 03, 2002, 07:23:00 pm: About 6 months ago I thought that the five-minute club was too dull. I decided that it would be better to try for something marginally more interesting. I called it the 3-4-5 challenge. You had to get all your times under 3:00 on Agent, 4:00 on SA and 5:00 on PA. (It is, of course, a PAL-only challenge.)

Basically I only had to do two things: lower Escape SA below 4:00 (which I succeeded in) and lower 3:06 Deep Sea A under 3:00, which I could not.

I couldn't work out why I was so stuck, but every time I tried to play the level I COULD NOT do the PAL trick. I searched high and low with my Farsight, following all the instructions I could find. I found many mini skedar and pillars, I blew them all up. I even traced the corridors from where they began at the teleportal as far as I could, but I found myself reaching zoom limits. I knew where the pillars were but I couldn't reach them. My dumb time remained. I gave the problem little thought. I attributed it to my own stupidity, and retired a few months later, unhappy that my inability to pull it off was not only preventing me from completing the 3-4-5, but also keeping me from breaking 28:00 total Agent time.

A few weeks ago, some chance encounter led me to find that the trick still worked... ON MY FRIEND'S FILE. I don't know why I didn't follow it up immediately. Just today, I finally dug out my cart after a two-month abstinence and tried out the trick, first on my file, then my friend's, then on our duplicates saved onto memory pak. It finally worked on my friend's duplicate. After cursing Elvis into the ground, I got a good run, and nailed a  2:53 Deep Sea Agent. My Agent total now stands at 27:50, and my quest is completed. My last ghost is laid to rest, and PD is now officially completed for me.

But aside from my personal endeavours, does anybody have the faintest idea why a) the PAL trick should cease to work suddenly on my game file, and b) why it now works on some game files and not on others?

Perhaps some NTSC players could create a new file or two on their memory paks, in a spirit of scientific enquiry. I expect it will come to nothing, but it's an annoying enigma, no?

Edit: YOU CAN'T PROVE ANYTHING. <img src=http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/images/emoticons/pimp.gif ALT=":hat">
Title: Okay, I lied when I said 1:15 Villa A was my last PR.
Post by: ExpertGamer64 on September 03, 2002, 07:38:00 pm: The odds that all NTSC players had the problem with the file that was chosen is slim to none. I don't think I'll try it out, but if others do, please post your failures here.

But, on your note SamSim, I have absolutely no idea why it didn't work. Maybe it was human error rather than the game itself. Maybe you really didn't stand in that spot in the first place. Also, didn't you have 3:06 on your file in the first place? So its not that it just doesn't work on the file, it just decides when to work and when not? That doesn't sound right.
Title: Okay, I lied when I said 1:15 Villa A was my last PR.
Post by: Neo on September 04, 2002, 02:52:00 am: As soon as I saw this topic, I knew it would be something like this
I'm pretty sure it would be a human error, like you were facing the wrong way or standing in the wrong spot. I can nail the thing every try, so just keep working on it.
Title: Okay, I lied when I said 1:15 Villa A was my last PR.
Post by: SamSim on September 04, 2002, 08:00:00 am: No, I'm telling you I was standing in the exact same place in every game and on every run. Forget the fact that I couldn't find the pillars; the times when I couldn't find them, I actually ran up against zoom limitations. I couldn't zoom any further. In other games, I could. This is categorically not human error. It works on some games and not on others. Have I ever hoaxed you guys?

I got 3:06 about a year ago. I hadn't played DS in months when I came back to it and found it wouldn't work. And, incidentally, I couldn't pull off the SA trick either.
Title: Okay, I lied when I said 1:15 Villa A was my last PR.
Post by: Mallow on September 04, 2002, 08:42:00 am: did you use primary or secondary?
Title: Okay, I lied when I said 1:15 Villa A was my last PR.
Post by: Wabs on September 04, 2002, 08:44:00 am: I think it is a GAME error
I already got this :

First the PAL trick worked then it failed every time even if I was at the right spot ...
Then I started a new game file and it worked .
Here is what I found but I'm not sure it'll work for you :
For me , it was a problem of Screen size : on my old game , I played in Full Size then changed in Wide Size and suddendly it didn't work anymore . I created a new file which was in Full Size and it worked . Then I changed Wide to Full size on my old file and it still worked .

I know it looks weird , maybe it was just random , I don't know but you should try it on your game .
Title: Okay, I lied when I said 1:15 Villa A was my last PR.
Post by: Phil-Hughes on September 04, 2002, 09:54:00 am: I know why it doesn't work. By altering the settings on your audio/video, you may have triggered the Deep Sea glitch to @#%$ up. How do I know this? Remember ages ago when the Deep Sea glitch didn't work for me and I said that it was @#%$? Well, as a lot of people know, I play in cinema and the Farsight fails to lock onto the cannisters while in this screen size. There should be a video somewhere of a Deep Sea time done by me, and I have to pause and switch screen sizes when I need to farsight. It pissed me off a bit as it lost me some time and stuff, but not to worry. There's your answer SamSim!

Phil
Title: Okay, I lied when I said 1:15 Villa A was my last PR.
Post by: SamSim on September 04, 2002, 05:13:00 pm: Of course! Thanks, Wabs and Phil, that explains a lot. See, my game file (which I used to spend a lot of time working on on our widescreen telly) was set permanently on widescreen settings. Whereas my friend's files, which he hardly ever plays, are set on normal screen size. Well, that's that problem solved. <img src=http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/images/emoticons/smile.gif ALT=":)">
Title: Okay, I lied when I said 1:15 Villa A was my last PR.
Post by: Not-so-Perfect-Dark on September 04, 2002, 10:32:00 pm: well way to go samsim!
btw...im gonna go for that 3-4-5 thing too...but i dont have pal so i cant get deep sea =/ thats gonna suck because most of my levels are already past there mark (or will be very soon...)
Title: Okay, I lied when I said 1:15 Villa A was my last PR.
Post by: Neo on September 05, 2002, 02:30:00 am: Oops
Sorry Sam
Title: Okay, I lied when I said 1:15 Villa A was my last PR.
Post by: Wabs on September 05, 2002, 10:04:00 am: Quote
Quote:
Thanks, SZ and Phil, ...

SZ ???
Title: Okay, I lied when I said 1:15 Villa A was my last PR.
Post by: SamSim on September 05, 2002, 04:35:00 pm: I never said SZ. You can't prove anything.
Title: Okay, I lied when I said 1:15 Villa A was my last PR.
Post by: Wabs on September 05, 2002, 04:43:00 pm: nice edit
Title: Okay, I lied when I said 1:15 Villa A was my last PR.
Post by: SamSim on September 06, 2002, 06:39:00 am
Title: Okay, I lied when I said 1:15 Villa A was my last PR.
Post by: Wouter Jansen on December 24, 2002, 05:53:00 pm: I hate editing, it should only be used for correcting facts, not for changing them