The tech that nearly ruined Titanfall Speedruns (and how we fixed it)

fastest production cycle in the observable universe (real)
Patreon: www.patreon.com/zweek
Twitter: zweekSR
Twitch: www.twitch.tv/zweek
Music (in order of appearance)
A Matter of Skill and Ammunition [Deep Rock Galactic]
Palmtree Panic 'P' Mix [Sonic CD]
Voter Data [Everybody Votes Wii Channel]
hidden mangrove - Louie Zong
Galaxy Map [Mass Effect 3] (contained in the clip from Bry's video)
Principle of Darkness [Deep Rock Galactic]
fair-weather friend - Louie Zong
2 PM (Normal) [Animal Crossing GC]
Flea Pit [PLOK]
An Old Friend (The Green Box) - Calum Bowen [Pikuniku]
Time Trial Results [Mario Kart DS]
The Mountain Temple - Calum Bowen [Pikuniku]
London [Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box]
Sneaking and Entering [Rhythm Thief and the Emperor's Treasure]
SAND SEA - Louie Zong
Beach [PLOK]
Boss [PLOK]
Air Cottage 1 & 2 [Wii Sports Resort]
louiezong.bandcamp.com/album/tropical
louiezong.bandcamp.com/album/dodongo
calumbowen.bandcamp.com/album/pikuniku-original-soundtrack
funny chapters
0:00 intro
1:01 the funny clip
4:20 holy sh[REDACTED] it's faster
6:58 the problem
12:30 how to fix
17:06 concerns
20:05 what now?
21:43 outro
22:50 outro outro (fr this time)
follow me on github

[@DimaQxt]

Man zweek, you are a god at taking the most nerdy topic ever to exist and package it into a video with beautiful storytelling. Even though I am not really participating in the Titanfall community, nor any other speedrunning community, it's so interesting to learn about in depth theory that can be applied to any game, supported by your great skills of visualization.

[@daveed51]

Ikr, so detailed!

[@jonasz2202]

Fr

[@PortalRunner]

i always envy your seemingly effortless switching between high-quality cinematography and well-timed silly intermissions. you can't convince me that this doesn't really take "17 years" to script.

[@Tyrichyrich]

Nice to see you here

[@GameFuMaster]

just the editing alone feels like it would take a while. I should know, I've tried video editing. For some reason, it's much harder than it should be.

[@lknight1266]

The 17 years is him waiting for titanfall 3 💀

[@Mokeysniper]

I already watched this video 3 times and it's just 5 hours old. You seem to be doing something correct.

[@ALEX-db6rr]

didnt just give the shoutout to zweek, but also supported him on patreon. Truly, a gigachad.

[@shrugs3233]

Do you think that this could apply to maybe walljumps in apex? perhaps with it being a modified version of the same engine it might actually provide some kind of a small boost?

[@ALEX-db6rr]

@@shrugs3233 i believe zweek already tested it and got no results. He said it in his comment but i can't find it, maybe Im just delusional

[@DIE-FRY]

💩

[@fl4kben902]

@@shrugs3233 it would be like superglides since they use the same inputs and the same timing

[@ThaRixer]

Probably some of the most concise explainations about speedrunning tech to date. Was easy to understand and interesting, great work man.

[@snakesharkz]

love your bft pfp

[@Msushi]

just CROUCHKICKED the like button. your video style and presentation is awesome. can't wait to see more!

[@hyperox7601]

Damn, the Portal 2 Goat himself

[@randyohm3445]

Does that mean you hit the like and dislike button on the same frame?

[@hutki_shira]

Styled so hard he got P rank

[@degg7129]

I failed the input time sadly

[@caglarizci1105]

..........there aren't two buttons in youtube, you click.... maybe I should watch the video again(Am I missing something)

[@E-why]

Certain keyboards do worse because of "chord splitting". Where despite the advertised polling rate of the keyboard being technically correct, its only true for 1 key at a time. Pressing multiple simultaneously will poll at a significantly lower rate, normally at 125hz or even less, leaving 8ms or more btween each key press even if timed perfectly IRL. Worst part is that no keyboard listing even aknowedges this issue.

[@DUDA-__-]

Using QMK boards (opensource keyboard firmware) does, but thats unreasonable.

That's fascinating, and not something I'd heard of before, even as a big keyboards nerd. I wonder if it is time to develop an open source keyboard firmware that is explicitly focused on high-performance real-time gaming.

[@algotkristoffersson15]

Why is there ANY time between them in the first place, just send both at the same time.

@@algotkristoffersson15 Keyboards are a little more complicated than people might expect. The "brain" of a keyboard almost never has enough individual input pins to read each key separately, so instead, they have to use a design called a key matrix in order to identify which keys are being pressed. The matrix is basically a grid, where you scan each row & column one at a time to identify the keys that are pressed. So you already can't instantly send the first key the moment it's pressed - it has to wait for the matrix scan to reach it first. If you are pressing a key in the first row & column, and the scan is currently in the middle row & column, it'll take some time before the scanning finishes all the rows & columns and wraps back around to the start and sees the key you're pressing. Just designing a keeb to send keypresses essentially instantly is not trivial.

[@algotkristoffersson15]

@ why not? Just have each key be on a separate output line where it is the only switch, so as soon as it is down the electricity starts flowing through it right away.

[@skyze7640]

OH MY GOD ZWEEK VIDEO

[@Sofronas]

its always cool when a modder named fizzy adds quality of life improvements to a competitive game and revives a dying community

[@caglarizci1105]

True chad Fzzy

[@gooby8329]

Fizzi 🤝 Fzzy Both heroes of their communities

[@dinisb]

I dont see the point in speedrunning a game when you are just gonna use mods anyways, shouldnt even be allowed if macros arent.

[@frooploop6724]

as a relatively new runner, its super cool to see the community's history in the form of this type of video :D would love to see more like this in future, keep it up!

[@Baladucci]

Interesting that software macros weren't deemed a good solution here. In Celeste speedrunning, the macro for crouch-dashing was so popularized that devs implemented one in-game.

[@shroomer3867]

Wait, so as far as I understood, isn't the crouch kick fix essentially a built in macro which executes within a time delay if conditions are met?

[@AbruptAvalanche]

Yeah I was surprised as well. A mod that changes how the game actually works seems like a more extreme measure than just using a macro.

[@AbruptAvalanche]

@@shroomer3867 It's different from a macro because the runner still needs to press both keys (and do so within the buffer window).

[@TheUnlocked]

​@@AbruptAvalancheThat's still a macro, it's just executed through a chord with a tight window rather than a single button press.

[@AbruptAvalanche]

@@TheUnlocked I generally think of a macro as something that executes multiple button actions from a single button input, but I think you're right, their mod fix would still counts as a macro. Zweek seems to use the term only to refer to the "single button input" type. Thanks for the correction.

[@epicgamer-tc5gv]

7:50 can we all just appreciate this amazing edit

[@ExoPham]

I thought I was crazy when I wasn't able to do certain movement techs once I used a different keyboard. It's interesting to know that even keycaps or the polling rate of the keyboard can make such a drastic effect. Very educational!

[@Daravae]

I absolutely love this video. It's amazing to see that your production just keeps getting better and better and better at every video.

[@Picobits]

On the other hand I would actually quite like to see a speedrun history of this game. I love to see big discoveries made over time, totally motivates me to lab my own favourite speedgames more. Also a TAS explanation for the full game would be sick - could be a series for ILs.

[@xleep712]

I used to play a ton of Minecraft parkour, and that community has the exact same issue! Minecraft runs at 20 tps, and the single most important timing in the game is hitting sprint and jump exactly one tick apart. This is mostly consistent (top players consistently hit within a 45ms-55ms window), however there's always that same element of RNG, and missing one jump can sometimes make you lose literal months of progress. Really neat to see how the same issues affects so many other gaming communities.

[@scorchSR]

As someone who has been in the TF|2 community for awhile (but hasn't been active in awhile) it's really cool to see this kind of content for stuff I wasn't active.

[@nolram]

I love this push from various speedrunning communities into making content for the general public - such excellent stuff ! I absolutely ADORE your video editing and explanatory style.

[@scottnisbet6455]

This is the first video of yours I've watched and I have to say, it was fantastic, the editing, the clear and concise explanation and a topic I am genuinely interested in, it was all great. I just wanted to say just how much of a good time this video gave me. Thank you.

[@DoctorSpaniel]

what an amazing video! very well edited, vibey video with really well documented technical analysis. super duper impressed with how the community is so supportive. can't wait to see how much further it's gonna develop. love your content!

[@DoctorSwellman]

This was a great video! I’m glad you all found a solution to the crouch kicking problem since the tech seems really neat Easily your best work yet, can’t wait to see what you cook up next 👀

[@ytuser1924]

What a fantastic well done video. It was summer of 2020 when i first got into the game and I was hooked. Seeing the legacy of Titanfall still continue with such effort makes me feel so proud to have joined the community. It has been one of the best games I have ever played, and this has been one of the best videos I've ever watched!

[@zweekSR]

hello here is an addendum of stuff i would like to add: I seek forgiveness from all people who actually know math (i am not very smart) Q: can u do in apex? A: From what I've tested, it doesn't seem to be the case even though Apex has the same 70 units of wallrun_fallAwaySpeed. Wallbounces always gave me the same ~260 units of speed whether or not i was crouching and jumping off on the same frame. Given how simple of an input it is and how much speed a crouched Wallbounce would give you (330 units) I don't think it's unreasonable to assume that the devs just straight up patched it as they were working on wall interactions Q: what about something like `bind x "+jump; +duck"`? A: This effectively acts the same as a software macro, just without having to use external programs. To my knowledge, double bindings of gameplay actions like these that you have to either set up through the developer console or a custom .cfg file are also not allowed in other source games out of principle of it basically being a macro

[@DeadlyPear]

In the source game you showed in the video (half life), you have to use the console/config to bind a key to lower the fps. Also the same for having scroll wheel being bound to jump for easier bunny hopping in runs. Generally for source games literally anything that's not sv_cheats is okay.

[@zweekSR]

@@DeadlyPear It's not so much about binding stuff through a config, but specifically the double binding of one key that's not allowed afaik (this also doesn't apply to everything but I remember being told that it was gameplay actions couldn't be double bound, so stuff like fps binds would be okay to double bind since those aren't considered gameplay actions like moving and jumping)

[@lil_nong]

Is there basically no non-abusive/cheater-y way to apply what the CKF does to vanilla/Northstar multiplayer on PC? I’m not in the running community, but I’m obsessed with learning how to move faster in multiplayer, and I’ve been noticing how incredibly difficult it is to consistently nail crouch kicks even when slapping both V and spacebar at what appears to be the same time (I also swap out my V keycap with a taller keycap when I play to match the slope of the spacebar). Good to know the reasoning behind why this tech is so hard to pull off consistently… beyond me just not being very good at it! Thank you for another incredible video, @zweek. I squealed this morning when I saw that you’d put up a new video. I’ve been working hard at crouch kicks for the last few months and your new content about it has scratched a deep itch and my brain is now feeling warm and fuzzy. Praise be! 🙌

[@lil_nong]

I just commented but tried out the bind v “+jump;+duck” thing in the developer console in a private match on Northstar. I know next to nothing about the console and how it works, but the command did have an effect: It does indeed make me jump and crouch at the same time, but my crouch is stuck in the, uh, on position, and won’t turn “off” until I mess with the in-menu binding settings again. Anybody know what’s going on there and how I could phrase the command to ensure that crouch is not toggled on (permanently) when I press the V key?

[@subnetz]

@@lil_nong use alias commands.

[@nswepp]

amazing video. Love the way cut between footage, real takes, and animated.

[@celestialwaffle1491]

Holy cow man, how is this the first time I have seen you? This video is so good! The editing is constantly entertaining and informative without being distracting, the animations are very neat and the comedy is on point. I have hardly heard of Titanfall ever and I was 100% invested the whole time. I hope you can branch out to other games/topics because you deserve an even bigger audience than you have. Keep it up, you're doing everything right!

[@JM-kj3dh]

I'm coming back to this vid cause I went through my subs and was reminded of your insanely high quality vids. Take your time and do whatever you're doing, but if that's a vid I'm very excited.

[@Mr_Spaghetti]

Incredibly cool video with insane production, all your graphics and stuff were so neat, subbed.

[@CyberBorg]

Well that was one of the best videos ive seen on KZbin. That level of animation to explain the frame rules etc. is stuff that I wish I had in school/college to visualise all sorts of concepts without pondering for hours. Also the editing and script were beyond engaging, I had not checked the time once until it ended and saw 23 minutes had went. I haven't even played the game. Keep it up lad 🙏

[@MultiWolfLink]

great music! wonderful editing! the (i dont know what to call it) animations? the little frame bit following your hand for ex awesome work!! it feels likes you've been on yt since 2012! i hope your channel pops off! *dope KH sweater too

[@formerlyknownasmousecopp4367]

I love clicking on seemingly random video topics and being pleasantly surprised with the overall technical quality and presentation. Well done!

[@aidannorth]

Very well made video! I particularly liked the part explaining the maths/probability of the crouch kicks success and how that caused a problem

[@healthcaredotgov3097]

Stand back, he's beginning to zweek!! Absolutely love anything related to TF|2 speedruns, and your vids have got me wanting to get back into playing more than ever. Cheers!

[@undercoverdudes]

Fantastic video, really like the animations

[@purplehaze2358]

"Someone in the comments told me I should go outside, so." As someone who's never watched a single one of your videos before, I really like to think this video in particular was boosted by the algorithm based solely on the fact that you went outside.

[@JamieCracker]

I love how animated and lively you are when you talk! (the hand movement and the swaying makes my brain happy for some reason)

[@LunaticJ]

You went all out on this one. Fantastic job!

[@mikehunt774]

Yooo super sick to see a melee shoutout on a titanfall video! Dope movement in both games.

[@Jozeevis]

That was a super interesting video! Very clear explanations of a lot of quite technical details as well, great job!

[@MetaSpeedruns]

This was SOOOO GOOD. Fantastic job Zweek, looking forward to M3M trailer👀

[@VaraNiN]

Great storytelling, instant sub! Looking forward for more!

[@bestfinlandball7942]

The quality of this video is insanely good. Everything from the on screen graphical elements to the crisp audio. Huge W.

[@senatordodo4240]

incredible video, wow, im not a titanfall viewer at all but i love documentary type videos and this is one of my favourites so far, amazing. Id love a world record progression video from you

[@sgmetal]

Man, great production on this video. First time seeing your content and subbed. See you in the stated 17 years

[@ItsLumina]

Welcome back! Missed your content, keep it up :)

[@SirValiantIII]

You did an awesome job at presenting this topic! Script and your narration style were on point

[@leverposteifantomet]

I believe the Bioshock infinite speedrun did something kind of similar. There was an item you pretty much needed for the late part of the run, but there was only a small chance a merchant would carry the item. Since you get to the merchant so late in the run, it would be very frustrating to not get the item time after time. In the end they ended up allowing a mod that made sure the merchant always had the item to keep people from abandoning the game

[@TheBookerDeWitt]

Ayo this is some well put together content, from the info and script to the video and visuals

[@wattyswrld]

Super awesome editing in this zweek

[@ChristianRodriguez-oe7pu]

First video I’ve watched on your channel, good stuff buddy!

[@Aftershok128]

PHENOMENAL video - such charming and entertaining graphics that conveys the ideas so well. Greatly looking forward to your next video in 17 years!!

[@shaxzeyy]

bro the amount of joy i get whenever u upload just because i know how much attention to detail and love you put in your videos and especially into your editing is not measurable

[@TheDefaultClass]

What a great video! First time seeing you, incredible job

[@pazifix2282]

I just discovered you and I already love your vids. Your videos and commentary kind of remind me of FUNKe and I absolutely love your guys style of editing and the humor. Keep up the good work, I appreciate it! 👍

[@WaifuRuns]

another zweek banger, not surprised

[@Adama-pk8hi]

Your editing is amazing!

[@TheVortexBlazter]

God, the editing and pacing is absolutely excellent, its something completely unmatched. Keep it up!

[@cynkcaj]

don’t think i’ve ever commented on one of these, but these videos are seriously top notch. i don’t run titanfall (i prefer ultrakill!) but i followed the ckf stuff back when it happened and this is a superb retelling. great stuff, seriously. i’ll consider supporting that patreon at some point!

[@1e1001]

great editing and visualizations!

[@togitoast]

Amazing production quality and amazing video keep up the great work👍👍👍

[@DaveChurchill]

Really excellent video, the production quality is top notch. I think something you fail to mention here is that ALL games see a lull in activity after a 'god run' has been achieved, due to there being such a low probability of beating it. Then once a new trick is found, everyone piles back on to knock it off the throne.

[@NanoAffect]

Great video! I don't normally like videos but this one got me to. I love titanfall2 but was never good enough to speedrun. The best I could do was speedrun the tutorial area for all the achievements. Again great video and hope you have a good day!

[@EliasH-video]

I’ve literally never played Titanfall but this is still one of the most interesting channels on the site

[@SimonTysland]

I love these videos! I'm not super invested in the titanfall speedrunning community, but you somehow make it super captivating. Watched them all

[@uuupah]

this editing is so delightful, the simple move of the elmo hiding his clipboard made me lose my shit

[@picantejaguar5994]

The editing on this video blew away my expectations. Havent played titanfall in awhile but it's one of my favorite games ever. Great vid man

[@h3ctic504]

as always, spectacular video zweek and just in time for your first of these to hit 1 mil :D

[@ianhalberstadt4457]

I hope to see you branch your incredible editing and analysis skills to other regions of video games, i think you make things simple and easy yet intriguing and fun to understand, you do great work zweek please keep it up and aim for greater!

[@CraftingRabbit]

Great video zweek super informative and digestible. Hope ur good

[@ColemakDH]

My two favorite games in one video, not to mention this video being amazing is a dream, thank you

[@Teflora]

This was super interesting and we'll explained! I also think this could become a standard implementation in fast video games, similar to how most platformers have coyote time nowadays. Having your input independent of frame rate and poling rate is just incredibly useful in general

[@thechugg4372]

What is coyote time lmao

[@Teflora]

@@thechugg4372 it's a little buffer time, when the player walked off a ledge they can still input a jump, even tho they're technically in the air already. It's a little trick that makes a platformer feel much better to play

[@marzipancutter8144]

@@thechugg4372 The name derives from the cartoon trope most famously used for Wile E. Coyote where he can run off a cliff and still act as if he had ground under his feet for just a bit. It's a great thing for quality of life because it stops a lot of "I totally pressed jump, the game swallowed my input" moments.

[@lexisanterre]

Holy crap, this video is fantastic. Ive never played titanfall but this video was a great watch. Great pacing, good explainations, fantastic editing. You got yourself a new sub

[@Duckys_Pet]

This is my first video love the content and also love how you included Niko from my favorite game Oneshot

[@ap3xual924]

Listening to you explain the frames was very entertaining

[@darkwiiyou7924]

As someone who hasn't played Titanfall 2 in a long time, your explanation of things and the game community was awesome. The storytelling vibe is incredible, and your voice is to die for. Great video, great commentary, great talking points, amazing job at keeping my interest. Thank you for each second, you've earned my sub :)

[@Bareezio]

I love your video style, you absolutely deserve more attention. Great videos!

[@Aelinbunn]

"Or maybe I'm just coping, idk." Love that energy xD Also the going outside was super nice but you looked a lil uncomfortable. Bring a chair or blankie next time! Like one of those chairs that kinda sink under u ^.^

[@ventdra]

holy shit, was NOT expecting a melee comparison. very well done.

[@avatarkogi]

This was a very well made video. I say that because I don’t even play titanfall, and I was interested the whole way through watching.

[@zoochable]

Zweek videos are so goated fr

[@BACKWARDI]

I wanted to say that I’m so happy to see Titanfall still being played and videos being made about it. So thank you❤

[@ItsEthereal]

zweek hjoly moly dude this is fantastic stuff, the community is in awe!

[@Popotato7777]

Gotta love the PLOK ost, great vid.

[@ne0tic]

The scripting and editing is just outright amazing! Well done mate.

[@Mrmoocows99]

You know you are making quality content when I just spent twenty minutes watching this, when I don't care about speed running, nor have I played Titanfall 2.

[@Mrzmbie1]

I love the videos, it makes me exited for a game I don't even play, let alone speedrun.

[@oneboss7648]

Wow, this video was really well edited! I lovveed the momentum carried from one idea to the next. As someone who knows nothing about Titanfall 2 speedrunning, this vid had the same feel as like Michael Reeves of Summoning Salt. Basically, it doesn't matter if you have any previous knowledge because the vid is interesting on it's own

[@thelegalsystem]

Crouch Jumping and the Source engine, name a more iconic duo

[@Floatingdrake08]

I absolutely envy how well this video was done. Kudos to you, sir.

[@2_Elliot]

Fantastic video, the quality is off the charts. Keep it up!

[@iamastrangeloop96]

Appreciate the melee stuff being so well researched and accurate great video :)

[@evecarter594]

first video I've seen and you're stellar with wit on comments and explaining things to someone who knows next to nothing about this game or the scene you're discussing (almost nothing on either) I'mma check out your other stuff now. Keep having fun either way though.

[@superdot9513]

wasnt expecting to see melee in this video, very cool suprise and awesome video

[@superdot9513]

also your visualisation of polling and frame rates and their relation to inputs are really good!! and thanks for putting your song credits in the description too. always appreciate when people do that with their videos

[@ianevans9137]

Amazingly well made and stylish video!!😊

[@LAMTUMdejeeje]

Amazing video, well produced and smooth edit

[@zans64]

Easily one of the best speedrun videos i've seen, I've never seen any speedrun content of this game before but now i'm even considering picking it up. Fantastic job.

[@zans64]

Also love the use of Plok and Pikuniku soundtracks

[@drink__more__water]

Your animations are great. Good way to show the timings.

[@tysonfontanez]

This is so cool. I love TItanfall and also Melee. Great vid

[@bobboberson8297]

always glad to see a melee shout out

[@TheAntiGravityMaster]

I'm geeking out over the library of babel joke at the beginning

[@x3Karma]

Can't imagine how long this took you to edit, and also having more videos about Titanfall 2 is just a plus in general.

[@siliconcassettes3369]

The production quality in every video is so top-notch!