by LostThePirate
This guide will help you get set up for your first race. If you are joining a community race it is best to set everything up nice and early. Community race rooms are opened 2 hours ahead of time so you have plenty of time to get everything set up before they start. You'll certainly run into issues and it is easier to help you long before the race starts rather than struggling to hurry to fix everything just 5 minutes before everyone has to ready up. If you are just playing a pickup race in the #race-planing channel the people you are racing with should be patient and be able to help you anywhere you get stuck as there is no set starting time then.
You must use an IRC client. SpeedRunsLive profiles are not created by filling out text bars on a website like you might on Facebook, Twitter, Twitch, etc. This guide is for the SpeedRunsLive Web Chat, HexChat and mIRC. If you have another IRC program with which you are already acquainted, feel free to use that one.
Before You Ready Up
Ensure everything is working before you ready up in the race channel. Get your Emulator or Everdrive behaving; get your controller/key bindings set; get your Tracker of choice downloaded/installed and learn how to use it. Get everything ready so that you can play all by yourself without outside help.
Note: RetroArch and Bizhawk are the recommended emulators for Ocarina of Time Randomizer. In regards to race participation, Project64 2.x is banned from all SRL races. If you use Project64 2.x, you cannot join an official race. Use of all cheats is also prohibited. If you need to use a cheat code to address pause lag in Project64 v1.7, you cannot join an official race as long as that cheat is active. Use of Texture Packs to modify the game's appearance are also prohibited by the OoTR community for official races.
Get acquainted with your streaming software; get your broadcast settings ready; get your scene layout(s) the way you want; get your Twitch channel how you'd like it. You can add Randomizer, Competitive, and/or Speedrun to your Twitch tags on your dashboard to let viewers know what kind of OoT you'll be playing.
SpeedRunsLive Web Chat
Head to the Channel section of SpeedRunsLive. For nickname type the name you want to use for racing. Leave password alone for the moment since you don't have a password yet. Now you have to Register your nickname on SRL.
HexChat
Download HexChat from their website. Choose the Windows 7+ 32bit Installer option. Run the .exe you downloaded and install HexChat.
Adding the SpeedRunsLive Server
When you run HexChat it will display a few nickname boxes and a list of networks. SpeedRunsLive is not in this list by default so we will add it. Click the Add button and type SpeedRunsLive into the new item that appears in the list. If you mistype don't worry, this is only so you know which server it is.
With the new list item selected, click the Edit... button. A new window will appear with a lot of options. Click on the Edit button next to the list at the top. If you are in the North America type irc.speedrunslive.com/6667. If you are elsewhere there is no problem using that server, but you might have less latency using irc2.speedrunslive.com/6667. You can now click Close.
Input the nickname you will want to use when you are racing into the Nick name box. Go ahead and type the same thing into the Second and Third choice but with underscores afterwards like the example shows. For User Name just put your first nickname again. Now ensure that the SpeedRunsLive network is selected and click the Connect button.
Two windows will appear. In the foreground one choose "Join this channel" and type #speedrunslive into the box. Click the OK button and you will be put into the #speedrunslive channel and a list of currently active races will be displayed. Congratulations, you've just connected to SpeedRunsLive! Head down to Register your nickname on SRL.
mIRC
The installer can be downloaded from https://www.mirc.com/get.html. Click the big, green button. Run the installer.
(Steps 2 – 4 are paraphrased/simplified from the explanation found at http://www.speedrunslive.com/faq/)
Open up mIRC
mIRC will ask you to please Register; if you do not wish to register, click Continue, wait briefly, and then Continue will become a selectable option to click a second time. (You need to click Continue twice, with a bit of a delay in between – mIRC would really like you to register, please and thank you, and will make you wait a bit if you don't want to register.)
Set Nickname
Upon startup, mIRC will display its Options menu. On the Connect tab, select what Nickname you would like to show up as – I recommend using your Twitch or Discord nickname to keep things simple. (This step is not the same as registering your nickname – we'll get to that shortly. But this is the nickname that will be registered when you get to that step, so choose wisely.)
Adding the SpeedRunsLive Server
BEFORE clicking the big OK button, first select the Servers subcategory, and Add the SRL server. Note: If you live in North America, use irc.speedrunslive.com; if you live in Europe, use irc2.speedrunslive.com.
Click Add, then click OK.
Connect to SRL Server
Click on SpeedRunsLive in your leftside tray if it is not already selected, and click the lightning bolt-looking icon to Connect to it. (Don't be surprised if mIRC beeps at you several times in quick succession.) mIRC will pop up a Favorites menu. Type in #speedrunslive and click join.
Register your nickname on SpeedRunsLive
Make sure that the nickname you selected is the one you really want to have as your SRL nickname, to use for all future races. If the following message appears in the Server or the SpeedRunsLive tab of your client it means you will need to choose a different one as someone else already uses this one.
<NickServ>: This nickname is registered and protected. If it is your <NickServ>: nick, type /msg NickServ IDENTIFY password. Otherwise, <NickServ>: please choose a different nick. <NickServ>: If you do not change within 20 seconds, I will change your nick.
You will also know if this is a problem if you are renamed to the name TrueSkill with numbers afterward.
In the text bar, type /nickserv register password e-mail. This will register the nickname you logged in during Step 2.2 with to the SRL server, along with a corresponding email and password.
It is important that you enter your actual e-mail address, in case you need to retrieve your password in the future.
Example:
If your email address was GodGamer123@gmail.com and your password was coolestDud3, then you would type this into the text bar at the bottom of the window:
When logging onto the IRC, you can log in by signing on to your nick, and typing /nickserv identify password.
(Optional) Set up automatic login
If you will be regularly using the IRC client you will probably want to have it identify with nickserv on its own rather than having to type the command yourself. You don't need to do this if you plan to only use LiveSplit and possibly don't want to as you can only be logged onto IRC from one application at a time.
HexChat
Open the Network List by either opening HexChat, or clicking HexChat > Network List in the menubar. Select the SpeedRunsLive server and click Edit.... Near the bottom change Login method to NickServ (/MSG NickServ + password) and type your password in the Password box. Click the Close button and now whenever you connect to that server you will be logged in automatically.
mIRC
First, go to Options, then the Connect menu, then the Options menu. Click Perform, and type /nickserv identify password. This way, mIRC will automatically enter your password when you join in the future.
LiveSplit
LiveSplit is a convenient Timer program that has IRC integration – it lets you participate in official SRL races without having to deal with mIRC ever again! It can be downloaded from LiveSplit's GitHub page.
The instruction video linked there is very helpful and I recommend you check it out to learn a lot more about LiveSplit than I'm including here.
Join a Race via LiveSplit
With LiveSplit open, right-click within the Timer, select Races, and choose from the available races that are currently accepting Entrants. OoTR races are labeled under the category "The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Hacks" – there are other OoT ROMhacks besides Item Randomizer, so double check with folks if you are uncertain if it is a Rando race.
Upon selecting a race to participate in, you will be prompted with a login. Use the nickname and password you registered with SRL via their IRC channel.
Join a Race via IRC
Someone will give a string of characters out that looks like #srl-t9xbw. This is the room name for the race. You can join this room by typing /join #srl-t9xbw. Just be sure to use the actual room name and not this one. This is an old race room and won't work for new races.
Set your stream on SpeedRunsLive's IRC
Type .setstream twitch/name in the #speedrunslive channel or the race channel you've joined to link your stream to SRL. For our hypothetical GodGamer account, he would type in
to let the SRL servers know that that login broadcasts to that Twitch channel.
Nickname Already in Use
If you haven't set a password yet that means someone else uses this nickname. You will need to choose another one.
If you have set a password you can only be connected with a nickname from one client. You cannot connect with mIRC or LiveSplit at the same time for example. Make sure you are only running the one you want to use for racing. It may take a few seconds after you close a client for the server to realize you disconnected so wait patiently for a second if it still gives you the error after you close the client you aren't using.
Entering, Readying, and Finishing
To actually enter a race you'd like to participate in, first find and log into the Race's IRC as described in Step 6. Then, click Enter Race or type ".enter" to join the race.
Type .goal to receive a link to the Patch-File to be used for the race. Note: This is not set well in advance of a race's start time, to prevent cheating. During Weeklies, for example, the .goal is set (and the link to the Patch-File distributed) approximately 10 minutes before the scheduled start time of the race.
Race participation requires streaming your run. Be sure to start your broadcast at least 5 minutes before the expected start time of the race. A bot will verify if you are live, and it can take up to 5 minutes for the fact that you are livestreaming to become available to that bot. Budget the time accordingly.
Once you have EVERYTHING ready to begin your run, select Ready or type .ready. Only do this after you have downloaded the seed, set your file name (and changed your Z-Targeting preference, if the default for the seed is not to your liking), had your final bathroom break before the race, gotten your cup of water, etc. Ready means READY, and once everyone has indicated that they are ready, there is a 10 second countdown.
Once the countdown reaches 0, your LiveSplit timer will start automatically. Do Not start your game file (and load into your house in the forest) before the Timer starts! Do not attempt to Pause your timer during a race, either - LiveSplit will interpret a Pause as completion of the race.
Once you Slay The Pig, stop your timer (using whatever keybind you have set for it) or type .done to complete the race. The exact timing is the start of the cutscene, after you take your final swing at his face. GG! You can look in the Race IRC to see who has finished and with what time(s).
If something comes up, you can .quit to forfeit a race. You will lose points and standing on SRL, but sometimes it can't be avoided. Be aware of the penalties for forfeiting, and try to budget plenty of time for a race.
If you think you have to quit, submit .quit, then realize you were mistaken, you can resume the race (including all the time that has elapsed) by typing .undone – the race timer will continue and will include the time you thought you were out of the race.