Submission #5415: Samtastic's PSX Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus in 36:54.25

Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus is a classic 2D flip-scrolling plaform game released in November 1998 on the PS1 and PC. In 2014, a TAS was created by Dooty on PCSX-RR which is a horrible emulator to TAS with. The sound quality turns out poor skipping some sounds and the loading times are inaccurate against the PSX. In June 2015, a new core was added to the Bizhawk emulator called PSXHawk. In 2016 whilst speedrunning this game in preparation for my Abe's Oddysee run for ESA 2016, I discovered that in some areas you can skip certain animations using the Quiksave and Quikload system. On Feburary 19th 2017, I figured out on both versions that you can keep the wheel lights turned on whilst moving towards the next wheel, Quiksaving and Quikloading multiple times. This has been the biggest change of this run and I was very shocked that I can skip the Mudomo and Mudanchee vaults using this new skip! It's a shame that you can't do the major skip glitch at Necrum Mines Tunnel 2 to enter the Feeco Depot as the wheels don't work here. This would have been a more bigger skip for both PSX and PC as Abe has to go through a more complex route to reach Tunnel 5 from Tunnel 3 in the first chapter of the game. More about the skip in the improvements section. This run uses the same sync settings as my Abe's Oddysee 100% TAS which turns out the fastest for both Abe games.

Emulator Used: Started with Bizhawk 1.11.9, finished with Bizhawk 1.12.0.

BIOS used: SCPH7003.bin

ROMS used:

(used the disc bundler on Bizhawk to use both discs as an xml file.)

This glitch works by standing on the edge of the ledge and pressing the down button quickly and run towards a spot where you would like to hoist down. You will need to press either 'left/down' or 'right/down' depending on which direction Abe was facing.

By timing this glitch perfectly you can make Abe stop and turn. To set it up, Abe needs to be standing near a ledge (pressing up whilst tunring arround) you will be able to make Abe do a backwards jump. Notice that when you press the opposite direction to where Abe is standing at the incorrect frame, Abe will just jump up and stand. But if you time it perfectly, Abe will jump backwards and possibly jump to another screen. This will allow you to jump backwards to areas and skip certain areas. Sligfantry's video can show you how this glitch works: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIo1TJUBGlo

This glitch is only done in TASes and that's what makes Abe TASes unique. With just one frame, from a roll, Abe can automatically go into a walk. This is handy for positioning Abe towards a lever or towards a wheel.

On QuikSaving and loading between certain frames, wheel lights can pause themselves temporary leading to a major skip glitch.

Instead of exiting the door that leads Abe to Mudomo and Mudanchee Vaults, I take advanatage of the games QuikSave system on which by saving and loading at the correct frame, the wheels automatically turn green without the other Mudokons turning it for Abe. Now, Abe does all the work on all five wheels in order to skip Mudomo and Mudanchee Vaults. You may be wondering, why does Quiksaving make the wheels stay active? Shouldn't the wheels turn off after a while? Well, there is a glitch in some of the wheels in this game which I figured out whilst looking for new skips and that is that if you Quiksave and Quikload at the correct frame, the wheels will remain active and won't need a Mudokon to turn them. The PC counterpart also has this glitch but instead of going through a menu to Quiksave, the F5 hotkey saves and the F6 hotkey loads. This game is almost as broken as the first game now. If only the DDG from Oddysee could be done, this would have been breaking even more parts in the game! One thing that Sligfanty pointed out to me is that I only need to Quiksave annd Quikload before the timer runs out. So I managed to reduce my quiksave count from wheels 2-4 to 2 quiksaves before the timer resets. On the very last wheel, I only had to Quiksave once.

The small room with the Greeters have been improved slightly.

Abe does the Stop Turn glitch a few frames earlier like in the 100% Run. This is sightly fasteer now.

Managed to fix a lag in the stage below the well. This level is smoother now.

This game on the PSX is know to lag a lot. In some Zulags especially in the second hub, I had to change the way Abe moves in order to fight lag. Sometimes lag would disappear when I hop in those laggy spots. Although these hops seem slower, actually they are faster due to taking away the lag.

I don't neceessary need to thank any here for finding new glitches because I myself found this new glitch! But I need to thank everyone who has found theese glitches which includes Fusionbly for finding the auto-turn delay glitch, Sligfantry for discovering the Stop turn glitch and Dooty for all his efforts in TASing both Abe's Oddysee and Exoddus and everyone else who has helped us in finding glitches and skips in Abe games.

Suggested Screenshot Frame 44334

Fog: Judging.

Fog: As someone who doesn't normally pay attention to Oddworld submissions, I felt that this was a good run to watch. The new glitches and skips seem to make a major difference compared to the previous publication.

Audience reception was mostly positive, and I would have to agree with the audience as I found this run to be quite entertaining.

There was something brought up by the author about if this run would obsolete the previous publication, or be published along side with it. Seeing as the both the previous publication and this current submission aim to use heavy glitch abuse, I feel that having both published along side each other would not be a wise decision and introduce unnecessary branches.

With all of that being said, I'm accepting this as an improvement to the previous publication!

feos: Pub.