NickRPGreen - Speedrun Tools UK

NickRPGreen

Speedrun Tools UK (STUK) is a package I have been developing to assist with speedrun marathons and collaborative events. It's still in development and includes a full NodeCG package including layouts, a set of dummy Twitch streams, schedule workbook and participation form, submission voting forms, and event guides. A document site that acts as a complete guide to the package is currently in progress, available at stuk.nickrpgreen.com.

If event organisers are looking for help and a solution for putting on streamed events, please reach out. A lot of this system integrates with Oengus, so if you're planning a marathon and would like to use this package, I would strongly recommend setting it up there!

STUK had its marathon debut with Speed4 TLC. For a breakdown of that event, check out the blog post. It's most prolific event to date was Prevent-A-Thon 5 which utilised a package far closer to what will become the public release. A full breakdown is in this blog post.

My biggest ambition is to create a live UK speedrunning event that could be the UK's answer to GDQ/ESA - if this is something that interests you, definitely get in touch!

Game Submission Voting

Layouts

Above: the default 16X9_1P layoutBelow: the 16X9_1P layout used for Speed4TLC

Above: the 16X9_1P layout designed for FFTKBelow: the 16X9_1P layout used for Prevent-A-Thon 5

Adapted from Nicnacnic's Speedcontrol-Layouts, STUK's layout collection aims to utilise the full amount of screen real estate to its advantage, allowing for information to be clearly readable whilst giving the most important elements - the game and runner - the maximum amount of space possible. Additional features include:

the Host and Commentator areas adapt depending on the number present
the runner's name is pulled either from the Name or Twitch entry in speedcontrol, displaying the Twitch logo if pulled from the latter
each runner's webcam area can be collapsed if the runner doesn't wish to display anything there; in the case of multiplayer runs, the area is replaced with one of your marathon logos
displayed logos switch between square size and banner size depending on the space available to them
individual player warning messages can be customised and displayed quickly and easily
Intermission, Opening and Closing scenes can all utilise Rainwave.cc to automatically play music and display song information from OverClocked Remix
the Omnibar pulls run information from speedcontrol, and can display the donation total and incentives from either Tiltify or a GDQ-Donation-Tracker

Information panels and their designs are fully coded in CSS, allowing for colours, fonts, outlines and other design elements to be easily transformed all at once. Small tweaks to specific positioning are encouraged, but the overall positioning of elements should remain the same for ease of use.

The single player 4:3 layout with Speed4 TLC's stream design. Only the background and borders around the game and camera feeds were pre-generated. The omnibar at the bottom is a separate element.

The 2p 16:9 layout. Elements for co-op/races are easily editable and runners swapped in one click. Races up to four players are supported as well as relays, and each racer has their own finish time displayed over their game upon completion.

The single player 4:3 layout but this time with FFTK's stream design. You can see that the position of items remains the same, but the colours and styles can be altered. The level of alteration is dependent on how much CSS you're willing to change.

The 3DS layout. Note here the number of commentators has changed and the layout has adapted accordingly - an odd number of hosts/commentators will always cause the host to take up extra space. There is room for a single host and up to three commentators.

The Intermission layout using Prevent-A-Thon's design. The only element shown here that's built in OBS rather than NodeCG is the music wave visualiser. The music information and the music itself are managed automatically through NodeCG via the use of Rainwave.cc.

The Live Interview scene being used by Prevent-A-Thon. The scene supports up to six webcams, dynamically shifting the size and position. All of this is done using NodeCG and VDO.Ninja - there's no need to grab video or audio from Discord or OBS, it's all done for you.

Layout Viewer

NodeCG

NodeCG is a browser-based broadcast graphics and controls utility built in Node.js. NodeCG has been customised by users for years and is used by most speedrun marathons. STUK's goal has been to create a NodeCG package that utilises some of the best tools and solutions from across the community with automation being the central pillar of its design. As with all NodeCG speedrun marathon packages, it starts with a customised version of nodecg-speedcontrol and includes customised elements originally developed by TheLightningStrikes.

The main workspace includes the run player, Twitch Control, Timer, Warning Message Toggle, Schedule Reveal, Video Player, Interview Cams Setup, and a Preview/Program viewer, linked to OBS.

The unique element is the Live Switch Automation. Much like a Streamdeck, it allows multiple functions to be assigned to a single button press, automating routines and cutting out task lists.

For example, pressing the Intermission button will:

Stop local recording
Mute runner audio
Transition to the Intermission scene
Queue up the next run in the Run Player, automatically updating stream feeds and the layout queue

So no more sitting at the Intermission screen advertising the run that's just finished because someone forgot to advance the run player! Plus, these buttons are customisable to fit your marathon's needs.

The OBS workspace gives your Tech volunteers full control of audio, with a solution to allow for adjusting audio levels during intermission.

The other key tool is the Runner Stream Source, which automatically directs OBS' player feed to the dummy Twitch channel designated to that runner. This can be customised should your marathon have its own custom RTMP servers.

There are also manual overrides for the runner stream source, scene selection and stream and recording status, should an emergency require a quick change.

The run editor has been updated to include custom data that is retrieved directly from the Schedule Workbook via Oengus. This includes the Host and up to three Commentators, with pronouns on display if desired.

The Layout Code field tells NodeCG which scene it needs to switch to when the run starts, allowing for a single Live Switch button for all runs. The Stream field for each runner tells the Runner Stream Source which stream to point each Runner Feed to in OBS.

OBS

The STUK package includes two portable OBS instances - one for runners and one for streaming the marathon. Both are set up with minimal adjustments required for either party.

Runner OBS

Runner setup is super simple; for experienced runners they won't even need the guide! Runners use the setup scenes to point the existing sources to their game, webcam or vtube model, microphone, and Discord (Host and Commentator audio comes through the Runner's stream to guarantee synced audio). Then they stream the layout that fits their game, with all of the elements already correctly transformed.

As the package is set to stream to a set of dummy Twitch accounts, OBS uses Twitch Enhanced Broadcasting to avoid having to deal with bitrates and resolutions. All the runner needs to do is select their closest Twitch server and paste in the stream key before they go live.

Stream OBS

Thanks to it's connection to NodeCG, and the power of Advanced Scene Switcher, the Stream OBS will barely need touching throughout your marathon. The runner feeds, scene transitions, and audio balancing are all managed by NodeCG. The runners stream their game and voice audio down different stereo channels, giving you control over both on this end.

Set up is fairly simple. The layouts need to be pointing to the right browser sources, and you need to make sure the streaming settings are correct. Click Start Virtual Camera to send the preview to NodeCG. That's about it!

As well as the layouts shown above, the Stream OBS includes an Intermission scene, the option to play charity/sponsored videos with automated transition upon completion, opening/closing scenes. The Intermission includes a Discord source to allow Hosts to chat with viewers during breaks - it's recommended to have a dedicated Discord channel for Hosts to hop into for this.

Scheduling Documents

As a communications professional, I have a passion for well organised documentation and scheduling, and that extends to this package as well. As well as the previously linked guide documents for runners, commentators and volunteers, STUK provides two essential scheduling tools that whilst may appear straightforward, the link between them provides a powerful scheduling utility that cuts out huge amounts of manual data entry, easily accessible by all volunteers from Google Drive.

Participant Form

Whilst a form asking for runner details may seem like something you'd just whip up yourself, the STUK Participation Form has been constructed alongside the Schedule Workbook so that the two link effectively.

For the Form itself, every important piece of information is requested, so you won't get three weeks in and suddenly realise you might now want your runners' YouTube channels to tag them in shorts. Whilst Oengus does include profile data such as social links and pronouns, experience has shown that encouraging runners to keep those details up to date is far less effective than straight up requesting it in a form.

Another major advantage of the form is that it's not just used by runners - the form is sectioned off to also be completed by commentators and volunteers, and if someone has multiple roles in your marathon, they'll only need to complete it once.

Schedule Workbook

One thing your volunteers are going to need is a schedule where every bit of information about a run is visible. What you don't want as an organiser is to have to manually type or copy-and-paste every bit of information into it. This is where the powerful combination of the Participation Form and Schedule Workbook comes into play.

The Form Responses are fed straight into the Schedule Workbook. As they arrive, you simply add the game code into the Runner and Comms Code boxes. So in the second line for example, amyrlinn is running Borderlands 2 (#007) and commentating TMNT (#008), so adding 1#007 in the runner code makes him runner 1 for that run, and adding 1#008 in the comms code makes him commentator 1 for that run. On the third line is Shockwve who is the co-op partner for Borderlands 2, so we give him the code 2#007.

The main sheet contains all the details for each run, including runners, commentators, hosts and other volunteers. This information is then fed into various volunteer sheets to help your volunteers complete their tasks effectively.

Each run generates a set of Custom Data that is copied into the Custom Data section for each run on Oengus. When the Oengus schedule is imported into NodeCG, all of this custom data is imported too, so you have mininmal data entry to complete in NodeCG's run player. Commentator and host details, and the layout of the run are all preset for you. You'll have a little bit of data to then manually enter into NodeCG, but that's not as taxing when every other data point is already covered.

Volunteers have a space to see the most important bits of information they'll need for each run at a quick glance. They're informed what kind of commentary the runner has requested, and there's space on the right can act as a sign-up area for volunteers to declare which runs they'd like to help with. When they sign up for a run, their details are fed back into the main schedule sheet. A similar automated sheet is available for your social media team as well:

If you have more needs from this schedule workbook, such as a data import into Photoshop for generating social images, or a separate volunteer role sheet, discuss these needs beforehand and we can work together to get them set up!

Game Submission Voting

Adapted from what I believe were sheets first designed by Benelux Speedrunner Gathering (BSG), the game submission voting sheets are designed to give your games committee an easy way of voting on and then collating results when choosing the games for your marathon. Once again, with the power of automation to make it nice and easy!

Each member of your games committee gets their own sheet, simply copy and paste the submissions into the sheet, then duplicate it for each member of the team. They'll then give each run a score from 1-4 with space to leave a comment.

It includes a full guide so they'll know exactly what to do, with some advice on what to look for when considering their scores.

Once the voting has concluded, you'll transfer everyone's scores and comments into the master sheet. You'll be able to see the average score and the number of scores each run got. From there, it's super simple to pick out the ones with the best averages to immediately accept, and then deliberate over the rest whilst checking out the comments.

As you accept, maybe, and deny the runs, they'll appear in their own separate lists with your total time of accepted runs easily accessible to know how much of your marathon you've filled.

The examples here only show four voters, but it can easily be adapted to suit any number of team members.

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