GTA: San Andreas Record Book - PC

Oh! Nice route. I know I can do better, but...

Nice video, much cleaner than the one I made. I still hadn't worked out how to tune for recording when I made my Heli Hell video. I like the intro and plug, your skill are improving.

I had to wait an hour to download the video. Rapidshare isn't as cool as it used to be. Anyway, are you going to host your own video on google? And what about Morgoth? I don't have a link to any of his videos, and never recieved permission to host them.

Yeah, - there should still be some time left on that one. By adding my best split times I get close to 2:20, but putting that together on a single run is another matter.

I won't put it on Google myself (can't see why I need to run an .exe to upload, - so odds are that it's some form of spyware ), but feel free to do so yourself.

Btw. Morgoth posted a better quality version of his "Fun with N.O.E" video on GameFAQ's 👍 http://rapidshare.de/files/19190683/Morg_NOE.wmv.html

How do we go about posting up on google then?

I'm happy for anything I've put up to go on there - I'm also doing a Far Cry runthrough, which I may also put on google.

Start at the following link for more information about uploading to google. You need to sign up (I already had a gmail account) and install an .exe to upload the video. GTA_Phreak was a little nervous about the need for installing an application to upload the videos.

https://upload.video.google.com/

These is usually a short wait between when the video is uploaded and when it is validated and live. I found that including GTA San Andreas in the title of the video really increased the number of page views each day. I've also added a link to this thread which seems to help the page views here as well.

There were not any options available for compression or video format when I uploaded the other videos. The basic idea is to upload the highest quality video possible and let them do all the compression. But all I had to work with were the highly compressed videos that we were sharing on rapidshare.de. Still, they turned out reasonably well for a free service, are easy to link to, and the bandwidth is usually sufficient for the stream.

Turns out that there is a Java based uploader as well (intended for Linux, - but it works fine with windows), which is more limited in what it can do compared to an exe.
So in the future I will put my videos on Google without bothering Orion

I just wanted to say your guys' videos are AWESOME. They have gotten me into San Andreas racing.

A quick question: do you have any car or motorcycle race videos? (ie. I have the City Slicking one.)

Once again, thanks for the awesome videos!

atwyatt

A quick question: do you have any car or motorcycle race videos?

Click to expand...

Hmm... We have concentrated fairly heavily on the flying videos. I keep thinking about an NOE sequel, but maybe some more variety would be better. Morgoth had a Dirt Bike Danger video, but my link has expired. Are you looking for race videos that show our best racing lines? Or would you be more interested in something like the Fun with NOE series, where the mission is completed with style rather than speed?

I bet we can have some Fun with Fender Ketchup. The Feltzer isn't too bad of car, and the mission is approriate to a creative stunt video. I wonder if we can stop at Transfender during the mission. I can't think of any other good driving missions, maybe Lure, Test Drive, or one of the other chase missions, but the limits are fairly tight.

I got it! Dating Videos. Fix up a vehicle, groom CJ, pick up a date for dinner, and hit as many stunts as possible along the way. Katie Jumps would make a fun video. Katie Jumps are unique jumps completed with Katie on the back of the bike and a 4 star wanted level (SF is restricted). The wanted level automatically fails the date, but Katie will stay on the back of the bike for several minutes before jumping off and running away. The trick is to land the bonus for as many unique jumps as possible before she bails. Critical Save #0 is perfect for this (access SF by way of jump #35). There's even a pretty good chance that Barbara will show up for a jelousy date.

Those airplane/helicopter race videos were so awesome (especially the Heli-Hell ones,) I just couldn't imagine how the car and bike videos would look.

Also, a Fender Ketchup stunt video would be cool! Or maybe someone can try Supply Lines upside-down. (kidding about that last one.)

Really, your guys' videos have been helpful. Thanks to the Military Service video, I got 3:52 on about my 6th run through the race. (Don't worry, I'm on ps2 ) I just wanted to see what techniques I'm missing on the car and (especially) motorcycle races, since I suck so bad at those. Thanks again for the help and all the awesome videos.

3:52 will place you third in the PS2 record book.

https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/showthread.php?t=50623

Well here's a car race video for you, - even if it includes a plane and some airtime

San Fierro Hills

That should be available soon on Google too. Edit: Here

And that happens to be a new record by a fair margin

San Fierro Hills

3:57 GTA_Phreak

As for bike videos, - Morgoth22 did some of Dirtbike Danger and Dam Rider. Unfortunately the links went stale, - so I took the liberty of re-uploading them (hope he doesn't mind):

Dam Rider by Morgoth22 Dirtbike Danger by Morgoth22

Read his own comments to those on the PS2 records thread:
http://gtplanet.net/forum/showpost.php?p=2068664&postcount=1408
http://gtplanet.net/forum/showpost.php?p=2069638&postcount=1415

Wow, that is awesome! Thanks for the videos.

I like the Whitesnake too.

Well done, GTA_Phreak. And thanks again for the plug to our Record Book. We just moved into 7th in overall page views for PC Gaming and should soon bump up to 6th. Your record has been updated. Thanks for picking on Morgoth this time; I'm still annoyed being in second for the Hunter race. Video links have also been updated. While I was at it I added Morgoth to the video group (post #86-#88) available at the following link.

https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/showthread.php?p=2170591#post2170591

I'm really getting annoyed with rapidshare, it becomes more difficult to use each time I try. If I had a better and more stable host I'd like to include links to your originals; the quality is so much better.

www.filefront.com works pretty well. That's what most of the RE4 players use, including myself. In general, there's no wait to download a file, the files don't expire, the speeds are pretty high, and there's no download or upload limit for a file or for a user.

I've had over a thousand downloads from my files, and I have 4 or 5 on there. So it's a great place to get exposure.

Hey guys. As I'm sure is obvious, I'm totally new here. I was searching around for a place to compare GTA:SA race times, and this is what I found. So without further ado, I've got a challenge to add.

LV Ringroad

1:52 Viricide

Uh-Oh. New blood! Records have been updated for Viricide.

Impressive score - but where's your car... Ah! I get it; 1st person view. So, did you find an inside route for this race?

I guess we never really officially declared the Record Book rules. No Cheats, Glitches, or Modifications to vehicles or handling are obvious. But we had been working on the records for quite a while when GTA_Phreak presented pretty credible evidence that Framerate, and by extension - system performance and settings, have a stronger influence on race times than originally thought. Rather than start over with new records, or marking some records as set with the frame limiter locked at 25 fps, we just let the issue drop and moved on to making videos.

Recently, most of the new records have been set by GTA_Phreak while recording video. The standard setting is to record with frame limiter on and recording at a matching 25 fps. To be fair, I would be unwilling to replace a record time set while recording with an unregulated screenshot. You don't need to beat a video with another video, just lock the framerate for these races. All other performace tweaks are fair game.

GTA_Phreak withdrew several records and replaced them with 25 fps screenshots, but Morgoth and I never made the transition. Consider this when choosing the settings for your next race.

Hey GTA_Phreak and Morgoth22 - what do you think? Is there anything we can do to keep things fair and still make the record book fun for anyone else who wants to play?

Welcome Viricide

The FPS issue is a bit more complicated than that:
It is definitely the case that race timers run slower at higher FPS, - however vehicles also get slower. With planes this doesn't quite add up, - on Military Service the difference can be 3 secs. or more, Barnstorming 1-2 s. and World War Ace <1s.
The reason I withdrew those was because I deliberately tweaked the gfx to get exceptional high fps.

As for other vehicles I'm not so sure. I'm fairly confident that helicopters aren't affected (based on the Whirly Bird race)
Bike races is rather short so the effect is likely to be small (I have been able to reproduce my Backroad time on framelimiter lately), there could be issues with Dirttrack though!?

Cars: There's definitely an effect on the Burn and Lap test, - but if this is the case with streetraces as well is hard to tell (too many other variables on the SF hills race to tell for sure).

So apart from the plane races, - I wouldn't worry too much about it.

Orion_SR

Uh-Oh. New blood! Records have been updated for Viricide.

Impressive score - but where's your car... Ah! I get it; 1st person view. So, did you find an inside route for this race?

I guess we never really officially declared the Record Book rules. No Cheats, Glitches, or Modifications to vehicles or handling are obvious. But we had been working on the records for quite a while when GTA_Phreak presented pretty credible evidence that Framerate, and by extension - system performance and settings, have a stronger influence on race times than originally thought. Rather than start over with new records, or marking some records as set with the frame limiter locked at 25 fps, we just let the issue drop and moved on to making videos.

Recently, most of the new records have been set by GTA_Phreak while recording video. The standard setting is to record with frame limiter on and recording at a matching 25 fps. To be fair, I would be unwilling to replace a record time set while recording with an unregulated screenshot. You don't need to beat a video with another video, just lock the framerate for these races. All other performace tweaks are fair game.

GTA_Phreak withdrew several records and replaced them with 25 fps screenshots, but Morgoth and I never made the transition. Consider this when choosing the settings for your next race.

Hey GTA_Phreak and Morgoth22 - what do you think? Is there anything we can do to keep things fair and still make the record book fun for anyone else who wants to play?

Click to expand...

Thanks for all the comments. I'll try locking the frame rate and rerunning the race tonight. What software are you guys using to make videos? Also, I'll go ahead and say that I won't be able to upload a video for a while. I'm on vacation right now and the only Internet connection I have is dial-up.

For the time being, I'll try to supplement with as much information as I can. I had the game running at 800x600x32 with Low visual quality, Draw Distance set to minimum, Anti-Aliasing off and Frame Limiter off. My vacation computer is not as robust as my usual gaming PC, so these are the settings I use on vacation in order to get a decent frame rate. I honestly didn't know they affected race times.

The strategy I used is: as soon as the race starts, I pass into the opposite lane through the cut-through on the left. I stay in that lane (going against traffic) hugging the center divider throughout the entire race, cutting back to the correct lane after the last checkpoint (again hugging the center divider, but now from the opposite side) in order to pass through the finish marker. Doing it this way, the path you take is a little bit shorter, and collisions seem to be easier to avoid. It took about 6 or 7 tries of 1:54 and 1:53 times to finally get the perfect run. A lot of it really depends on luck, like not having debris fly into your lane and not getting too close to the center divider.

I hope this is enough information until I'm able to upload a video.

You don't need to redo the race with the frame limiter on, or make a video as proof, the screenshot is good enough. Most of the records were set using any setting, and we aren't going to change everything now. I'm pretty sure that neither Morgoth or myself locked the fps for that race anyway.

Don't get too serious about the records, without a consistant platform and settings we will never be able to compare directly - but it is fun to compete anyway, and compare notes on our favorite routes. I'll post the top 5 score for each event.

You don't need to submit a video, but they are fun to make and we get a pretty good response. We all used fraps to record the in-game video, but you'll need the full version to record more than 30 seconds. We were editing and compressing with Windows Movie Maker, but it looks like GTA_Phreak may be using fancier software in recent videos.

Okay, here's the truth on the frame limiter/preformance thing... I want to believe it makes a difference, otherwise I'd have to admit defeat to a keyboard racer.

Well here's a new bike record with video. This is one of the wildest rides in SA (at least when Morgoth and I go at it), so hang on tight

Backroad Wanderer

1:25 GTA_Phreak

And the video: Backroad Wanderer And on Google here

Like all my videos, - it's recorded with Fraps and edited with moviemaker.

I've tried uploading on Filefront, - but it apparently takes forever to get it approved ?!?
So until the Google or Filefront version gets online, you'll have to do with rapidshare.

99.47% Check List


If you are stuck at 99.47% (or less) and think you have covered everything required, then use this check list to confirm your missions based on the in-game stats rather than notes or memory. This check list of missions, events, and races have been arranged in the order presented on the Stats page of the Pause Menu to make it as easy as possble to verify every stat.


No Stats
-Collect Cash from the Assets
[ ] LS Courier – Roboi Food Mart ($)
[ ] SF Courier – Hippy Shopper ($)
[ ] LV Courier – Burger Shot ($)

[ ] Freight Train - Level 2

-Chiliad Challenge - 3 races
[ ] Scotch Bonnet
[ ] Birdseye Winder
[ ] Cobra Run

[ ] Los Santos Gym Moves
[ ] San Fierro Gym Moves
[ ] Las Venturas Gym Moves

-Confirm Vehicle Spawns or Bronze Medals
[ ] (Driving School)
[ ] Boat School
[ ] Bike School
[ ] (Flight School)

Money
[ ] Property Budget $1039000.00

Achievements
[ ] Tags Sprayed - 100 out of 100 (LS weapons)
[ ] Snapshots Taken - 50 out of 50 (SF weapons)
[ ] Oysters Collected – 50 out of 50
[ ] Horseshoes Collected – 50 out of 50 (LV weapons)

Missions
[ ] Vigilante - Level 12
[ ] Firefighter - Level 12
[ ] Paramedic - Level 12
[ ] Passengers Dropped Off (Taxi) – 50
[ ] Truck Missions Passed - 8 ($)
[ ] Pimping - Level 10
[ ] Vehicles Exported - 30 out of 30
[ ] Time Taken to Complete Quarry (any recorded time) ($)
[ ] 8-Track – 1st (Monster, Hotring Racer)
[ ] Dirt Track – 1st (BF Injection)
[ ] BMX - (any time)
[ ] NRG-500 - (any time)
[ ] Shooting Range Levels Passed – 12 out of 12
[ ] Most Cars Parked on Valet Parking – 25 out of 25 ($)
[ ] Total Time in Bloodring (Bloodbowl) – 1:00+ (Bloodring Banger)
[ ] Kickstart 26+ (Dune)


-Los Santos Street Races
[ ] (Lowrider)
[ ] Little Loop
[ ] Backroad Wanderer
[ ] City Circuit
[ ] Vinewood
[ ] Freeway
[ ] Into the Country
[ ] (Badlands A)
[ ] (Badlands B)

-San Fierro Street Races
[ ] Dirtbike Danger
[ ] Bandito County
[ ] Go-Go Carting
[ ] San Fierro Fastlane
[ ] San Fierro Hills
[ ] Country Endurance

-Las Venturas Street Races
[ ] SF to LV
[ ] Dam Rider
[ ] Desert Tricks
[ ] LV Ringroad

-Las Venturas Air Races
[ ] World War Aces
[ ] Barnstorming
[ ] Military Service
[ ] Chopper Checkpoint
[ ] Whirly Bird Waypoint
[ ] Heli Hell

Thanks again for your guys' help! I just got the ps2 record for Dirtbike Danger! (1:35.) (Still not that great compared to Morgoth's but it's an improvement. ) Before your guys' videos and help/advice, all I could get was 1:52. So thanks a lot. If I can just figure out those car races...

EDIT: (7/16) 1:33. I've gotten 1:33 a few times with some 'major' mistakes in it (including a 1:35 where I spun out and stopped,) so I think it can go to sub-1:30, which would be nice. That's what I'm going for.

Nice to see that you're showing those PS2 whiners how it's done
And Orion too, for smashing the PS2 Bandito record.

Since I don't own a console, I can't comment on how it compares to the PC version.
But the PS2 record for SF Hills seems easily beatable, - and all the helicopter times appears rather weak.
I could add Backroad to the list, - but I had a fierce contest with Morgoth for that one (if he still was around, we'd probably be down to 1:23 by now) so I might have lost touch with the difficulty level on that.

I've been experimenting with BaDonGo.com as an alternate file host. So far I've only uploaded videos, but the service isn't too bad. They will stream videos under 25MB, don't verify before streaming, and don't shrink it, or convert it. The WMVs are available for download. I discovered a few glitches for Liberty City Stories on PS2 and documented them with videos. However, I recently re-cut Very Wrong Side of the Tracks with a sound track. It is available from BaDonGo.com so you can check out the service.

Very Wrong Side of the Tracks - Folsom cut
http://www.badongo.com/vid/167917


[SIZE=-1][/SIZE]
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5812522022015366112

If you're asking us to review that filehost ?, - then it isn't favourable.
I've been trying to view/download that video and get connection timeouts every time

Anyway, - I've put all the hi-res versions of my movies on filefront: http://gtaphreak.filefront.com It's fairly hazzle free, - try it out for comparison.

There's also a file named MM_Profiles.Zip there with the custom encoding formats I've used with movie maker:

640*480 VBR Quality 68 (Excellent for mission videos with varying dynamic, but poor compression on the race videos)
HQ 320*240 (High quality 320*240 for Google upload)

If you want to make your own formats you need to follow the instructions here: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/moviemaker/expert/customprofile.mspx

That looks like a nice service. I haven't tried the free account at BaDonGo, but it looks like they offer a similar service. Strange that you were having connection errors though. No one else had mentioned a problem. However, the main advantage I found with BaDonGo was the ability to stream larger format videos that are under 25MB, and they don't need verification. But if you can't connect, then that features is useless as well.

So Phreak, are you going to host the rest of your videos on Google? I still managing several of the older ones. I figured you might want to monitor the stats yourself, but I was never able to find new Google video from "GTA Phreak".

Wow! That 100% gamesave for San Andreas version 2 has had 48 downloads since I first posted the link 5 days ago. I sure hope it's a good one.

Don't worry, people downloading 100% saves aren't likely to be picky
Btw. you screwed up the link to the stats (I'd suggest attaching it to the post)

I still can't download of that Badongo site, - so if it works for you it is probably because I get redirected to a mirror which isn't working (I'm in Denmark)

As for filefront, - verification isn't required. There's an option to submit it for approval for the Grand Theft Auto section of filefront (which doesn't seem to be working, - I've had submitted videos pending for ages). But that isn't necessary for users to download.
You do need to register to upload though.

As for my videos which you put on google, - just keep them as they are (I'm not terribly interested in the stats). I no longer have the fraps original for those, so I can't improve on quality anyway.

Thanks; the link has been updated and the file is now attached. Stupid save is now up to 79 downloads. It's only three short of the mission saves package and at this rate it'll soon catch up to my critical save package. That'll be disappointing. I think the references are coming from GameFAQs, so maybe it will slow down once the topic expires.

You may not be interested in the stats for your videos, but it gets annoying to see that NOE Mercy consistently out scores NOE Stunts. Only Military Service scores better. Strangely enough, Freefall tends to get a lot of views - sometimes more than 100 each day.

Just kidding, - if Military Service gets the most hits then it's certainly because it contains common search words
So if you want to maximize your stats try putting a few buzzwords in the title / description.

Anyway, - I awarded your N.O.E stunts video 5 stars 👍