▶ Basic Setup
Software
In order to speedrun the game and get an easily verifiable run on the leaderboards, you're going to need 3 things:
- Titanfall 2
- A timer
- An uninterrupted screen recording of the run
Note that a timer isn't strictly necessary for verification, but still highly recommended as it lets you know what time you got and saves us (the moderators) some work so we don't have to manually retime all your runs.
Where to get the game
In the unlikely event that you don't already own Titanfall 2, it's available both on Steam and the EA App. If you have the patience, I would recommend waiting for it to go on Sale as it regularly gets between 75% and 90% off on Steam.
If you have the option of picking between getting the game on PC or Console, I highly recommend getting it on PC as the PC version has access to practice tools and fixes that the Console version cannot get.
Timers
On PC, the most commonly used speedrun timer is called LiveSplit. It also has a web-based cross-platform version called LiveSplit One. (Though I recommend going with LiveSplit since it has access to our Autosplitter that automatically removes load times for you)
Here is a guide from bryonato on how to set up LiveSplit for Titanfall:
On Console however, you're going to have to time your runs manually by pausing the timer whenever you hit a load screen. You could do this directly through your phone's native timer app, but a better option is to use either the FramePerfect Speedrun Timer or LiveSplit One since they have more of the functionality you would want for timing your runs like saving and keeping track of your splits.
If you have an extra laptop however, the best option is to use LiveSplit through that, as it lets you stream your runs with the timer on screen (We'll get into how to do that in a bit)
How to record your runs
On PC, you're going to need some form of screen recording software. Some popular options include OBS Studio and Streamlabs Desktop.
On Console, the easiest way to get your runs recorded is to directly stream them to either Twitch or YouTube and then save those VODs for submission.
Generally speaking, streaming your runs is a good idea since if you set it up correctly, it eliminates the tedious work of uploading your >1h videos since you can just save them directly. I would still recommend having a local recording running as a backup in case you lose connection, if your system can handle it.
Here is a guide from doakey that goes more in depth about how to set up everything if you're on console:
Input overlays
Once your Personal Best approaches 1:30:00 (Both in Any% and All Helmets) you're going to need an input overlay. These aren't necessary until you actually reach this milestone, but since you never know when you might break this barrier, it's best to set up an input overlay earlier rather than later. Here are a few options:
If you're a console runner, you don't need an input overlay since there simply aren't any options that can read the inputs through the console.
This should cover the basics of what you need to get your runs on the board. Technically, you don't need to go any further than this. However, there are a few extra things you can do that will make your time running the game a lot easier. In the next chapter, we'll talk about all of the tools that you can set up if you want that'll increase your Quality of Life and even get you some free timesave.