Tomb Raider 2 Speedrun FAQ

World record for TR2 is 1:24:30 by Michi (Any%, single-segment, PC):
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Gfq3mFjvew

My goal is sub 1:35:00 by the end of this year.  I'll be using a route that's more "marathon-safe" than the WR.  This generally means safer setups for some of the tricks, more medkit/ammo pickups, and the use of quick-save in places where there is great risk of death (this game has NO CHECKPOINTS, so one death is game over).  I'm running this game at AGDQ 2014 in January.

I'm playing on the PC version, since it has essentially zero load times and you can use numeric keys to select weapons and use medkits without visiting the inventory.  PC version also has more skips than PSX version, not to mention higher resolution and texture smoothing.  Neither version has ANY analog support (this game takes binary inputs only).  I play with the keyboard.

F A Q

Q:  Why do you save/load?
A:  There are no checkpoints in the game, so if you die once the game is over.  Loading a save is the only way to recover from a death.  If you see me load even though I'm not dead it probably means I missed a jump you can't recover from.

Q:  What program do you use to visualize the keyboard input on stream?
A:  NohBoard.  http://sourceforge.net/projects/nohboard

Q:  What key mappings do you use?
  Home keys:
   LEFT HAND:   Caps Q W D Space   (flare, look, turn left, turn right, action)
   RIGHT HAND:  RAlt ; [ ] Enter   (back, forward, jump, roll, walk)
  Keys I have to reach for (slightly):
   RCtrl (draw/holster), Tab (menu), F (step left), L (step right), numbers 1-9 (weapons/medkit)

Q:  Why do you draw your weapon for no reason?
A:  Lara turns faster when her weapon is drawn.  This is because the designers wanted to make Lara more agile during combat.  The downsides to keeping your weapon drawn are (1) you can't climb, grab ledges, collect items, or flip switches, and (2) the camera behaves really erratically since the auto-aiming is engaged (unlike normal camera movement, which may still be bad, but at least is consistent since it isn't affected by enemy movement).

Q:  Why do you use flares when it isn't dark?
A:  Flare cancelling.  When you land from a jump or fall that is a little too high Lara will do a stumble before she can move again.  However if you're holding a flare and you throw it just before you land, the stumble animation will be skipped.

Q:  Why jump so much?
A:  Jumping is faster than running.

Q:  What's the hardest part of the run?
A:  The glitches.  Some of them are really tricky.  The Opera House has a door-crack clip near the beginning that involves doing part of the trick blind (for now I avoid this by getting the key).  There are also 2 item-wall clips that involve killing an enemy right against a wall so that you can clip into the wall when you pick up the item he drops.  I usually attempt these clips, but I'm undecided whether I want to go for them in a marathon run.  I do pretty much all the rest of the glitches that are suitable for single-segment, aside from those with negligible time savings.

Q:  Why do you sometimes have to jump at a ledge many times before you grab it?
A:  The slope jump bug is a 1-frame trick.  Normally Lara can't stand on sloped surfaces, but if you land on a slope at the exact same time as you collide with a wall below a grabbable ledge, and you press the Action button on the frame you land, Lara will grab the ledge that she's isn't supposed to.