Please explain your choice when voting.
Let me explain what exactly I mean by +tas_autojump (or similar). It is a function that (by any means) automatically jumps at the exact frame when the player touches the ground after being in the air. This function should NOT be able to make the player jump twice on two consecutive frames since that is not possible (one needs to release the jump button before pressing it again).
For those familiar with SPT, it’s exactly what y_spt_autojump WITH y_spt_autojump_ensure_legit does. This is exactly what bla_pogo does in Ghosting. This is (obviously) exactly what +tas_autojump does in HL TAS Mod. This is exactly what tas_cjmp does in TAS Team’s mod.
So, how does this differ from the usual _special or other jump loop? The loop presses the jump button on (in the best case) every other frame. If the player lands on the frame when the loop releases the jump button, they will get one frame of ground friction (which is not good because it means slowdown). +tas_autojump (or similar) does not have such drawback since it only jumps on the frames on which it should jump. This might also reduce the demo file size since there are no unused +jumps.
Now, +tas_ducktap (or similar) is the function that works like +tas_autojump (as described above), but presses +duck instead allowing for a perfect duckroll. This also removes the camera twitching in the air and the ducked frames (of low airacceleration) in the air.
This is what +tas_groundduck does in HL TAS Mod v1.4, this is what +tas_ducktap does in HL TAS Mod v2.0+, this is what tas_dtap does in TAS Team’s mod.
I personally think that both of these should be allowed since the point of making a speedrun non-scriptless is to get the repetitive actions (like jumping) out of the way, and what’s the point in getting them out of the way imperfectly.
I understand that one of the main points of concern here is that while scripts are built into the game, the functions that I described require a sort of external modification, whether a modified DLL, or a plugin. This is actually the main reason this poll and this topic exists, so that we can sort this question out. It’s much easier in Source where we used AHK for that kind of stuff, which is already an external tool. Unfortunately, this is not the case with GoldSource.
[spoiler=Non-scritless runs]Now, I understand that the whole “non-scriptless” definition is kind of vague. I believe that’s the reason why SDA disallows the scripted runs. For example, HL21: while for most of the run “non-scriptless” meant a bhop / duckroll loop + some helping binds perhaps, like switching the weapons and whatnot, there were parts (triggerdelay) where “non-scriptless”-ness made it almost like a TAS - the script did all the movement.
I believe that one solution to that would be to specifically define the type of “non-scriptless”-ness used, like “Jump loop, duckroll loop and movement scripting in the triggerdelay parts”. That would also get rid of the question raised in this poll.[/spoiler]
