I don't know if anyone's ever really gotten it, or tried to explain it, but here's the secret to get Boris to run into the MF room on B1 00 roughly 75% of the time (in my practice). This strat uses the Agent route from the starting gate. It's about 2/3's of a second faster to the control room. Plus you double your chances at a grenade.
I got a pretty good idea on how the mechanics work for Boris Running from the three TASes I did of this level, and tried to put together a strategy for actual speedrunning with a high success rate over the last couple weeks. And here it is.
I made diagrams because I'm crap at explaining things.
Here's a diagram of the Bunker.Wait through both cinemas (so patrolling black hatted guards are in the right spots. Whichever cinema you get doesn't matter.). Start in right strafe, and open the door. Fire three shots at the guard who normally would trigger the alarm as you pass by. If you don't kill him restart (it may be best to just practice this part until you get him everytime. Doesn't take long).
Round out into the hallway and empty the last four shots from your clip into the black hatted guard, killing him. Grab the keycard, and if you're lucky a grenade. Strafe into the control room from here, and hope the second guard pulls a grenade. Continue on to where Boris is, kill the guard next to him ASAP for faster hands getting put up. Try not to walk to close into the far corner, this alerts additional guards behind you that can, and will, screw everything up (Consult
Figure A).
Now if the second black hatted guard threw his grenade, great. Any guards who followed you will die in the explosion as well as Klobbie (dual Klobb guard by control room entrance). Continue as normal.
If he doesn't, immediately turn around after getting Boris' hands up and lob the grenade you got earlier right at Klobbie, this will produce the same effect. Goes without saying if you didn't get either 'nade, you may as well restart.
Next, while Boris has his hands up before he starts moving, take out the guard by the glass doors, and if you have time, the far cam. As soon as Boris starts moving, head around the front side of the grey steel crates and stop in between them. Turn, face the stairs towards the MF room and pause for the camera (Consult
Figure B).
If you stood in the right spot, Boris will start running at his spot shown in Figure B. And he'll go in direction of the MF room instead of into that back room (where the brown uniformed corporal guy is). Essentially, this is the first of three "sweet spots" for a good Boris Running.
Next, take the picture after unpausing and wait until Boris runs past the corner I've dubbed "The Dip" (Consult
Figure C). As soon as he's past this area, and not a moment before, sprint to the dip yourself and stand right next to the wall, still facing the MF stairs. Wait until Boris is out of sight, and about 1/3 of a second afterward so he is completely up the stairs. This is the second "sweet spot" and will prevent him from turning left at the top of the stairs. For me on a good run, Boris co-operating this far is about 90%.
After the wait at the dip, chase after Boris. Note the diagonal in
Figure D. This is the third "sweet spot", though it really is more of a line. Start as close to the corner where you can turn left as possible, and be running into the right side wall slightly before the MF room door. This one isn't quite as reliable as the other two tricks, but will still get Boris to run right into the MF room a good 3 out of 4 clean runs (in my experience).
(If Boris runs past the MF room door, you can try getting him to stop before he gets too far away by shooting past him. This wont save as much time as a full Boris running, but will still net you a nice time.)
You should be right behind Boris when he opens the MF room doors. As soon as he opens the second one, shoot past him to get him to put up his hands, and take out the three guards as quick as you can. Then, pause for the Key Analyser. Once unpaused,
analyse and throw the goldeneye key, while waiting until Boris is halfway between the door and the MF before doing the cams. Otherwise, he may just run off somewhere (Consult
Figure E).
Now, the rest of the level should be completed as normal. Take out remaining cams and return to use the Datathief (Consult
Figure F). Then, exit the level (Consult
Figure G). Of course, things may not go as well as I've laid them out here. Some guards may not die from the explosion and boost you out of the right spots/you could get killed (rather easily too)/Boris could get killed on a bad throw. And, it goes without saying to try and get one or two boosts on the way to Boris, and some more again when you exit the level... warp the door... etc.
My best time on the level with this strat (and a new PR!) is 1:09, gotten earlier this night, plus a dozen or so low 1:1x's. No vid, but I'm gonna start making some soon for the few levels I do like to speed through on this game, and I'll have a vid of me doing this strat as well, maybe even a second faster if I stop being crap at the cam shots (I'm so bad that I have to use the crosshair, and the black guards are usually at the bottom of the stairs to the control room when I exit the MF room after datatheif-ing). When I start making vids, where should I be sending them to get captured and whatnot?
Hope this strat helps anyone who plays B1.
EDIT: Oh, do note that the success rate is based on runs where you've gotten Boris to start moving and everything has gone smoothly. There's still gonna be lots of quit outs in the first ten/twelve seconds of the level when everything goes to Hell.
