Dunno what to say really. This is basically the q2dq2 run but with bunny hopping. The shortcuts/routes/strategies/whatever are pretty much an exact copy of what the guys in the previous run did, that doesn't mean I didn't try and look for something new myself (failed though). The only exception to this is city2 where I made a better use of the quad damage acquired in the same level (and maybe security where I used the ssg against the big guys because I finished jail5 without enough bullets for the chaingun because I suck). I also have to note that I didn't go for perfection, a few levels could be done a second faster with incredible luck, but seeing how they already required incredible luck just to get them as fast as they are right now doesn't make me feel bad at all (at one point I had to decide if I want to get it as fast as possible and use a few more segments or "keep it real" as real as possible and stay at the quake runs usual one segment per level. I decided I'll stick to the usual, don't ask me why). There are also some levels which look like crap but can't be done any faster, I guess, because of time based factors, like this one elevator in fact2, or the one in boss1. Despite all that, just enjoy the show.

Quake 2: The Reckoning done Quick
--------------------------

1. What is this

Quake 2: The Reckoning done Quick is a complete speedrun through the first
official mission pack of Quake 2, named The Reckoning.

 

2. Who am I

My name is Jozsef Szalontai, I live in Hungary.
I recorded plenty of speedruns for Quake when Quake speedrunning was
living its 'golden' ages. You can still find many runs from me at
http://speeddemosarchive.com/quake/

 

3. Why did I do this

Quake 2: The Reckoning was always a nice souvenir for me, since Quake 2
was Id software's newest first person shooter when I entered the PC world.

I haven't been doing any speedrun for years, but a couple of months
ago I accidentally entered my Quake2 folder and realized I never recorded
this run through the mission pack, however I always planned to do.

 

4. How did I record it

I used the tool called 'q2timer' created by Nolan Pflug. It has built-in
timer, adjustable starting stats, grenade-counter and many more features
to make speedrunning more user-friendly.

Since the mission pack uses its own game library, I had to add the q2timer
code into it. I asked the source from Nolan back when I originally planned
to record the run, and compiled another game library which now contained
the q2timer code. I recorded all the demos using this mod.

I recorded each demo seperately, so the run consists of 19 segments. All runs
were recorded on hard skill, and to keep the continuity, q2timer created a
savegame to start the next level with when finishing the actual level.

Just like the in the Q2dQ2 project, I didn't bunny-hop everywhere, but only
if it was necessary to do, like if it involved some trick (e.g. boosting myself
to get through the security lasers) or it made possible to reach such place
which is unavailable without it (e.g. long jump sequence at the end of
xcompnd2i).

 

5. About the movie

I checked more custom Quake2 engines and I found KMQuake2 the most accurate
from them to record a continuous movie with. It has really nice and clean
visual effects, I wanted the movie to have the original Quake2 look and feel
but in modern, sharp and hi-resolution form.

After some searching I found hi-resolution weapon and item models on
isohunt.com.

First I captured the demos in 50fps uncompressed format, then connected them
together in Sony Vegas, added fades to the start and end of the levels and
exported the whole movie into lossless video format (still ~100 gigs).

I compressed the movie with AviDemux using the x264 codec and created two
versions with different resolutions: 720p (7 Mbps) and 1080p (15 Mbps).

For playback you can either use VLC player which has built-in x264 codec
support. http://www.videolan.org/vlc/
Or you may install ffdshow codec pack and use windows media player, media
player classic or whatever 3rd party player that you like.
http://www.free-codecs.com/download/ffdshow.htm

 

6. Statistics

---------------------------------------------
Level Map Time
---------------------------------------------

The Swamps xswamp 0:18

---------------------------------------------
Unit 1 - Swamps 0:18
---------------------------------------------

Outer Compound xcompnd1 0:46
Inner Compound xcompnd2 0:36
Core Reactor xreactor 0:04
Inner Compound xcompnd2i 0:14
The Warehouse xware 1:29
Intelligence Center xintell 0:35

---------------------------------------------
Unit 2 - Compound 3:44
---------------------------------------------

Industrial Facility industry 0:38
Refinery refinery 0:45
Industrial Facility industryi 0:37
Water Treatment Plant w_treat 0:29
Badlands badlands 0:59
Refinery refinery 1:28

---------------------------------------------
Unit 3 - Industry 4:56
---------------------------------------------

Lower Hangars xhangar1 1:12
The Hangars xhangar2 0:17
Strogg Freighter xship 1:54

---------------------------------------------
Unit 4 - Hangar 3:23
---------------------------------------------

Cargo Bay xmoon1 0:19
Command Center xmoon2 1:09
Cargo Bay xmoon1 0:11

---------------------------------------------
Unit 5 - Moon Base 1:39
---------------------------------------------
Quake 2: The Reckoning done Quick 14:00
---------------------------------------------

 

7. Routes

xswamp - The Swamps

This map has the biggest shortcut of the whole game right after start.
Using the advantage of the 10fps laser-bug in Quake2 (more info about this
at http://speeddemosarchive.com/quake/qdq/articles/q2dq2_FAQ.html),
I could rather easily jump through the security lasers and cut the rest of
the whole unit.

xcompnd1 - Outer Compound

I think I had the most routes for this maps and also I redone this map more
than any other. The best solution would've been to grenade jump up to the
Guards right at the start, but that would've meant to skip the Data CD, which
I cannot exclude in the Intelligence Center.

After picking up the Data CD and entering back to the compound the player
is trapped into a room with 2 Enforcers and a Gunner and a few hyperblaster
Guards just to make things really hairy. I found a small trick here, namely to
jump from an enemy's (Enforcer) head towards the roof and touch a small
trigger in a narrow slot that opens the door to escape from the room. That
saved some time as I didn't have to kill all the monters inside which was
the intended way to open the trap door.

A little save was done by double-jumping from the Guard onto the upper
platform instead of using the ladder.

Another security laser trick was performed to reach the final room which
leads to the exit, but just before that I had to do a douple-jump and get to
the platform where I shot the secret area indicating light and collected the
Power Shield. This item turned to be crucial when I realized I cannot get
through without it at the beginning of the next level. Without collecting
it, of course the demo could've been a few seconds faster.

At the very end of this level, just before exiting, I picked up some more
armor.

xcompnd2 - Inner Compound

Right at the beginning the player enters a room which is full of deadly
monsters, namely beta class Brains (having power armor) and some Parasites.
Originally, I only intended to pick up the Grenade Launcher, run to the
brain closest to the upper exit door and do a grenadejump off him, but
later I realized I could save a lot of time on the Water Treatment Plant
if I carry a Quad Damage there. So I've collected the Quad Damage from this
room by double jumping from a button to the quad's secret and then grenade
jumped off the brain as fast as I could.

To regain my power I lost by the monsters, I picked up an Adrenaline from
another secret area. This item is a great way to refill the health level to
its maximum.

xreactor - Core Reactor

The only reason why I visited this level was the body armor. Without it,
the Warehouse is not humanly possible because of the huge amount of monsters
there. The power shield is not an option on these early levels as there
aren't any cells to refill it.

On the other hand, it was _a_lot_more_ easier to do xcompnd2 seperated into
two runs as the level contained some really hard tricks both at the start and
at the end.

I did a grenade jump off the head of an Enforcer to grab the Body Armor from
the upper platform.

xcompnd2i - Inner Compound (revisited)

Originally the player have to bring power cubes from the Core Reactor and
put the system back online to extend the bridge over the lava on this level
and therefore let the player to walk into the finish. I solved this dilemma
by simply jumping over the problematic parts ;) This is one of my favorite
tricks in the run.

xware - The Warehouse

Long and painful map, I hated it. There aren't many shortcuts and moreover
lot of monsters are eating down your health and armor levels. Thankfully
the Super Shotgun and Rocket Launcher are available to collect.

I rocketjumped to the upper level in the large room. It would've been faster
to do the jump from the crates, but an invisible barrier is placed there
that blocks the way, so I had to go on the far side. The guys at xatrix
have done common use of these barriers on later levels also and made just
some more headaches for me, especially on the Water Treatment Plant.

I had to swim down to get the Green Key and bring it back to the beginning
of the level. I needed to wait some seconds in the pool in order to enter
the rolling wheel's sequence at the right time and be able to jump out of
the water from the wheel. The small place and those freakin' Technicians
just made this part even more annoying.

I've done a long bunnyhop to mind the gap to the computer which receives
the key and lower the water which is sufficient to exit from this level.
I could've done the same bunnyhop back, but at this stage of the level it
seemed just way too risky as there were Gladiators on both sides and I
usually got railed when mid-air in my previous attempts.

This demo could be improved by many seconds as this was the first time I
could complete the map without any serious mistake.

xintell - Intelligence Center

I turned my energy armor back on at the start of this level, since my body
armor totally got weared out in the previous map. Luckily from this map the
hyperblaster and ripper Guards kindly dropped cells ammos when killing them,
therefore keeping my energy armor in charged state all the time.

For some reason the guards outside did not spot me at all when coming up
on the ladder, so this was a great help to do a grenade jump off them.
After putting the Data CD into the computer I just had to find the exit and
leave this level.

At the end I picked up the Invulnerability from a secret area, which was
crucial to save a lot of time on the Water Treatment Plant. I don't know
what was the original way to enter this secret area (xatrix already expected
players to trick?), but I've done it by double-jumping from the crates.

industry - Industrial Facility

Luckily the Super Tanks are the dumbest and slowest enemies I've ever seen.
I simply picked up the Security Pass next to the first Super Tank and did a
rocket jump to get to the entrance door sooner.

At the end I've done a grenade+rocket jump to reach the Refinery exit of the
map. With the help of this trick I could skip the whole Outer Base level
where the player originally would've had to collect the Red Key and use it
to enter the Refinery exit on this map.

refinery - Refinery

This map is pretty straightforward, I went to touch the trigger to get a
radio message about the lost Airstrike Marker, and go all the way back to
the industry. This was needed so that the guarding Gladiator is appeared
on Industrial Facility and I can kill him to enter the Water Treatment Plant.

I collected the Phalanx particle cannon as I found it the best available
weapon against the Gladiator to kill with.

The only trick I've done on this map was a fast rocket jump to get out of the
slimy pit and escape from the enemy hordes.

industryi - Industrial Facility (revisited)

I bunny-hopped to the top of the Super Tank and further from him to get out
of his way fast.

To eliminate the long waiting time for the large elevator, I've performed
a grenade+rocket jump.

I collected the body armor from top of the crates to survive the massive
amount of damages from the multiple rocket/grenade jumps and by the enemies.

I killed the Gladiator with Phalanx. I know the best weapon would've been
the Chaingun of course, but until this point of the game the Chaingun was
not anywhere close where I could've picked it up. Its closest appearance
was in the Warehouse where it would still took like ~4-5 extra seconds to
pick it up.

I've performed another grenade+rocket jump at the final large elevator to save
some more seconds.

w_treat - Water Treatment Plant

Originally I did this map without the Quad + Invulnerability combo, and my best
time was 57 seconds including lots damage involved due to the grenade and
rocket jumps, plus half of the demo consisted of boring swimming in the water.

So I looked around on the previous levels where I could get Quad Damage and
Invulnerability powerups and had redone xcompnd2 and xintell. With these
powerups I could do a 29 seconds demo which is 28 seconds improvement compared
to the old route. Picking up the powerups costed 7 seconds in total so the
overall improvement was 21 seconds. Worth indeed. Moreover Invulnerability
protected all my health and armor which was became more than handful for the
upcoming level Badlands.

Main hack on this level was to do a quadded rocket jump over an invisible
barrier in the outside area and push the button which opened the primary flood
gates. Other than that, it was just pure quadded rocketjump madness :)

This was also the hardest demo in the project, I spent the most time doing
this one since the quadded rocketjumps are _hard_ tricks, especially in Quake2
where you have just a minimal air control (unlike Quake1). I'd say the optimal
time would've been around 26-27 seconds, but after a few days of continuous
running on this map I got fed up with it and just satisfied with this low
decimals 29...

badlands - Badlands

I've done a grenade+rocketjump right at the start to skip using the ladders
and fucking with the laser Guards, and got out of the tube faster.

I've done another grenade+rocketjump when getting out to the swamps area.
I'm really proud of this trick as it required hard placing of the grenade
when coming up on the ladders. I boosted myself to the top platform and
picked up the Quad Damage which was sufficient to kill the final boss.

After this I just ran through the hordes of Gekks until I picked up the
Airstrike Marker with a rocketjump, then came all the way back to trigger
the earthquake which opened the route that lead to the exit. During the
earthequake's countdown time I picked up some health and cells to fill
my energy armor.

refineryi - Refinery (revisited)

I had to bring the Airstrike Marker to its place and wait for the
airstrike. I've rocketjumped up to the Airstrike Marker's hole.

When the airstrike completed, the door to the building finally opened.
I added another rocketjump to reach the Blue Key faster, then went down
to exit the building. I picked up 2 more cells to keep my Power Shield
charged.

When I came outside, a lot of heavy monsters were waiting, and this was
a very rare situation that they went out of the way and hardly did any
damage on me. After opening the door with the Blue Key, I just had to
go down with the elevator and step into the train to leave this level
and finish the industry unit.

xhangar1 - Lower Hangars

The main goal here is to deactivate the red forcefields which blocks the
way that leads to the exiting elevator that puts the player to the upper
hangars.

I did a rocketjump to get to a platform where activating a computer opens
a door which leads to another area where I did another rocketjump and
pushed another button which opened another door. Sigh.

I started to collect bullets at this time already for the final fight
with Matrox, since the final levels just doesn't have _any_ bullets
anywhere. Seems like the creators expected that the players will kill
Matrox using the heavier weapons.

xhangar2 - The Hangars

The story here is that our marine have to be hidden in a crate in which
he's gonna be transported to the Strogg Freighter. These crates are packed
sequentially and there is very small interval between two creates so I had
to be in a hurry to fit into the actual sequence and not have to wait several
seconds for the next one.

I did two long bunnyhops to arrive onto the incoming Gladiator, slid
towards the boxes and picked up the Chaingun which was located behind them.
The chaingun is the best solution to eliminate enemies the fastest way,
it is a necessary weapon for a speedrunner to kill the final Quake2 boss,
Matrox.

Then I just had to rocketjump and continuously bunnyhop towards the
security lasers on the conveyor belt and exit the level.

This way of finishing the level might require some explanation. The reason
is that the player touches the level-exit trigger, that is located at the
same position where the security lasers are. The player would originally
touch this trigger also, but hidden inside a crate.

xship - Strogg Freighter

From this map the gravity is lowered since we in space are heading to the
Moon. This makes bunnyhops much longer, but also makes jumps harder as
landing from a jump takes a lot more time.

First of all, let me say that the FUCKING earth-quake effect at the start
drove me crazy every time as it took control over me and made moving like
you are totally drunk. Sheesh.

I've performed a long rocket jump to skip the ladder at the beginning and
just fly through most of that area with kept speed.

I had to take a trip to get the Blue Key, I did some rocketjumps here and
there and tried to avoid the annoying Gunners and hyperblaster Guards. I
picked up the Railgun when coming back with the collected Blue Key.

After entering the area behind the Blue Key door, I took a step back and
picked up the Dualfire Damage powerup and also collected some bullets to
have a maximum of 250 which is sufficient (with Quad Damage) to kill Matrox.

I jumped up on the slope after the Gladiator to the upper level, this was an
advantage of the lower gravity. In the upper level I had to kill 3 Tank
Commanders and 2 Gunners to have the system give me 4 Power Cubes. I was
thinking about more solutions of what would be the fastest way to kill them,
but at the end I settled down with the Dualfire Damage + Railgun combination.
Chaingun was not an option since it was needed for Matrox. I could've use
Quad Damage too, but then I would've had to collect another one on the
Moon Base, which would took a lot more time. The Dualfire Damage however is
perfectly solved the only disadvantage of the Railgun, its long reloading
time.

After picking up the 4 Power Cubes, I put them back one-by-one and prevented
the system from the self destruction and I could finally finish this crazy
long level.

xmoon1 - Cargo Bay

I did a long bunny at the start to hop over the Tank Commander.

I did a rocketjump to get to the upper level and to the elevator.

At the end I boosted myself with two additional rocketjumps. I did not have
to worry about my health and armor levels as 50 health was awaiting for me
right at the start of the next level, and thankfully the hyperblaster and
ripper Guards gave me many cells to refill my Power Shield when killed them.

xmoon2 - Command Center

I made great use of the low gravity once again and did a long bunnyhop on
the moon surface.

I used a rocketjump to get upwards and then enter the area where I had to
switch some buttons again (sigh) to let Matrox out of his pit.

Once again some invisible barriers were blocking my way on the upper
platforms so if you wonder why I flew so high, it was required to do.

After pushing all 4 buttons, I turned on my Quad Damage and entered the
large outside area to face Matrox and feed him with some quadded bullets.
During his transformation I picked up some health, armor and some rockets
just to make sure I'm not running out of them. When I killed him, the yellow
force fields became deactivated, and I could finally shut this whole mess
down and headed back to Cargo Bay to exit the moon base.

To eliminate the long dropping time in the elevator, I boosted myself down
with a quadded rocket jump.

xmoon1 - Cargo Bay (revisited)

I planned to boost myself using multiple rocketjumps on the open areas but
I had to realize that I was unable to go through one tunnel fast enough
before a giant rock had collapsed and blocked the whole slot, so I had to do
a horizontal greande+rocketjump which luckily gave me enough speed to keep
this route.

I've done just another rocketjump to reach the exit quicker.

 

8. Utilities used

Q2timer by Nolan Pflug
Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate by Microsoft Corporation
Dm2tool by Stefan Schwoon
LMPC by Uwe Girlich
KMQuake2 by Knightmare
VirtualDub v1.9.10 by Avery Lee
Vegas Pro v9.0 by Sony Creative Software Inc.
Avidemux v2.5.3 by Mean software

 

9. Contact info

Email: joequake@gmail.com
Speed demos archive forum: http://forum.speeddemosarchive.com

Enjoy Q2RdQ!

Jozsef Szalontai
March 2012