Speedun FAQ

#What game should I speedrun?

You should speedrun a game that you love to play. If you're serious about speedrunning a game, that could mean practicing for possibly upwards of hundreds of hours to beat your time. You might be playing the same segment of a game over and over again before you're finally happy with your performance in that section, and you could be playing for many hours before that happens. For this reason, you want to pick a game that you won't get bored of quickly. A game that you're happy playing for possibly hundreds of hours so you can get a time that you're happy with before you get bored of it.

#How do I start speedrunning?

Once you pick a game, there are different ways you can start speedrunning. Here's the method I like to use after picking a game.

1. **Figure out if other people have run the game.** If they have, figure out what categories exist. Some games have multiple categories that you might like or not like. For example, if you would prefer a short run, you probably don't want to do a 100% category.

2. **Pick a category.** In the rare case that nobody has run the game you want to run before, you get to pick your own category. This can be something like "any% - beat the game as fast as possible" or maybe you want your run to focus on collectibles or completion. If other people have run the game you want to run, then you might want to pick a pre-defined category so you're not completely in the dark.

3. **Look into runs that people have submitted in various places.** You can check [Speedrun.com](http://www.speedrun.com/) or YouTube, or just Google your game and the category to see runs of it. Watch the world record run, then look for a runs with worse times that might use a different route. The world record run often uses strategies that are risky and hard to do, so you might not want to jump into a game using that route.

4. **Find guides.** When you think you've seen enough routes, you want to either start looking for tutorials (this is usually only an option for the popular games to run), or if you picked a game that isn't a popular speedrun game, you might need to just use any submission videos as your "tutorial".

5. **Play the game.** Run the the game slowly using the strategies outlined in any tutorial you found, or by copying what you saw in a video. If possible, try doing any tricks or strategies that are new to you multiple times before moving on. Stay on this step until you feel fairly comfortable with your game. If needed replay the game slowly a few times and use the speedrun tricks.

6. **Do a run.** Make it official. Find a timer, for this run any timer should do fine, and time your run from start to finish. Don't worry about your final time. A lot of people have terrible times in their first run, but that's totally okay, it just means it'll be easier for you to beat it later on.

7. **Practice.** When you finish your timed run, you should have a pretty good idea on what you need practice with. Some things you thought you were confident on might be more difficult in an actual run. Practice anything you had trouble with in your first run.

8. **Repeat.** From here on, you pretty much just repeat steps 6 and 7.

#I'm getting bored of my game! What do I do?

Don't worry, that's not abnormal. Since speedrunning requires so much dedication towards a single game to get a good time, it's common for people to get burnt out or bored before they're happy with their personal best. If you're getting burnt out, I recommend simply taking a break. There's no harm in leaving your game alone for a month or longer and playing other games. Maybe even learn a new game for fun if you still have the speedrunning itch you want to scratch. If you continue to play a game that you're starting to get bored of, you risk getting bored of it on a much longer term, and possibly resenting the game or even outright start to hate it. Who knows, maybe when you come back to the game feeling refreshed, it might be even easier to get a new personal best.

#How do I record my gameplay? What capture device should I use, and how do I set it up?

**If you're playing a game on a console** ask yourself this question: Do you want a cheaper standard definition capture device, or would you rather have a more expensive high definition device?

If you want a cheaper device, many people recommend the [GV-USB2](http://www.amazon.com/DATA-connection-video-capture-GV-USB2/dp/B00428BF1Y). It's considered the best SD capture device on the market, so if you're recording the older consoles that don't need HD video, then this should work perfectly.

If you want a higher definition device, I recommend the [Elgato GameCapture HD](https://www.elgato.com/en/gaming/gamecapture-hd). It's very easy to use and the output is excellent. Keep in mind that, at the moment, if you use the GameCapture HD, you might have to use XSplit instead of OBS to stream. OBS currently has an issue with the GameCapture HD that causes it to desync, and in my experience XSplit doesn't have this issue. However, this could change at any time. Some people are able to use OBS with their GameCapture HD without any problems, but I was getting a lot of delay and couldn't find any fix for it within OBS.

In addition to the capture device, you will need TWO [double sided composite video cables](http://i.imgur.com/1RNWay5.jpg), and you will need THREE [splitters](http://www.amazon.com/3-Pack-Y-Splitters-Connector-Adapter-ShopBox%C2%AE/dp/B00H4L6UO8/).

Here's a [picture of how to set up your capture device using the GameCapture HD and a Nintendo 64 as an example](https://i.imgur.com/EEeCPY6.jpg). The setup would be the exact same using the GV-USB2 and any other console that uses composite cables. If using the GameCapture HD and HDMI cables, the GameCapture HD has an HDMI in and HDMI out port, so you would just use two HDMI cables, one going from your console to HDMI in, and another going from HDMI out to the TV.

Note that recording handheld games can be pretty difficult and sometimes expensive. For recording GameBoy games, you can use any capture device and the GameBoy Player for the GameCube. If you're recording on one of the newer systems like Vita or 3DS there are ways to add a capture card to the systems, but that can be risky, expensive, or both. I believe Vita players can opt into PlayStation Now to record Vita games as well.

Once you have the capture device setup, you can continue to the PC section below. Since the point of the capture device is to put the output on your computer for easy recording, most any livestreaming program or recording program should be able to grab your console output and record it for you. Some capture devices might come with their own programs to record with as well, and you're free to use that.

**If you're playing a game on PC** then recording is much cheaper and simpler, mostly because all you need is just one program. For local recording you can use something like FRAPS or you could use OBS, and if you want to livestream then the popular choices are OBS and XSplit. I don't recommend XSplit if you want to focus on local recordings only because it saves files as .flv and I find those more difficult to work with than what FRAPS or OBS can output. I won't go into depth with the setup for those as there are many tutorials elsewhere for that kind of thing.

#Who currently holds the world record for <game>? How can I find more information about <game>?

There are multiple ways to figure this out.

1. **Google it.** Just Google "<game> speedrun world record" and see if anything pops up. Look for the fastest time and there's a decent chance that's the world record.

2. **Check [Speedrun.com](http://www.speedrun.com/).** A lot of smaller communities and even some larger ones use Speedrun.com because it's easier than making a whole new page. Check this site for the game you're curious about and see if you find anything.

3. **Look for Wikis.** This subreddit has a [wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/speedrun/wiki/index) that lists a lot of different sites that might host leaderboards. Check to see if the game you're looking for has a wiki on that list, and if not, try Google again to see if there are any wikis not listed in there.

4. **Ask around.** Go to Twitch and look to see if anyone is streaming the game you're curious about. You might find someone speedrunning the game right now, and then you could ask them or see if their Twitch bio has any information about it. If that doesn't work, you could check out the weekly noob question thread and ask about the game. Someone else might know where you can find the information you're looking for. You could also send a message to someone that runs the game on Twitch if you know anyone that does, even if they're offline. Speedrunners are generally happy to spread information about their game and would be happy to answer any of your questions.

#Can I use an emulator?

This varies a lot from game to game. Different communities deal with emulators in their own ways. The usual answer to this question is yes, but it's considered a different category. The reason for this is because emulators are often not perfect in their emulation, so there might be differences in framerate, which affects your time, or sometimes even entire tricks are possible only on emulator.

Some games don't accept emulation at all, but that only means that any runs that you do on emulator won't be able to go on the leaderboard. You still might want to use an emulator for exclusively practice because emulators let you use save states that make it easier to repeat the same part over and over again. Just keep in mind that while using an emulator you might be practicing at a different framerate than on console, or you might be dealing with slight input lag.

The FAQ on SpeedRunsLive has a [list of emulators that are commonly used and banned](http://www.speedrunslive.com/faq/#caniemulate).

In the end, the answer to whether or not you can use an emulator is specific to whatever game you're playing. These are only general guidelines and may vary on your game.

#What's that timer program I see on peoples' streams, and how can I get it?

There are multiple timer programs that are listed on the [Tools sections of SpeedRunsLive](http://www.speedrunslive.com/tools/). The most popular timer program at the moment is [LiveSplit](http://livesplit.org/downloads/), but in the end it's personal preference.