Uploaded September 2012 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
This is a small visual glitch with the level selection between save files. It's harmless and easily corrected by playing a level or reloading the save file, but there is a problem it creates if you have a lot of fireflies, as the game recounts them all.
The glitch works by loading up a save that's not as far along in the game as another save file and entering a level. From there, hit escape, select "exit to main menu," and load the other game. Once it loads in, you'll see that some of the levels are missing, but still selectable.
Additionally, all of your fireflies will be tallied up again, meaning if you have all 2239, you'll have to wait four and a half minutes for all of the bonus levels to be replaced.
You can do the opposite and exit out of a save that's further along in the game to add levels to the map. They're still not selectable, of course.
This is a small visual glitch with the level selection between save files. It's harmless and easily corrected by playing a level or reloading the save file, but there is a problem it creates if you have a lot of fireflies, as the game recounts them all.
The glitch works by loading up a save that's not as far along in the game as another save file and entering a level. From there, hit escape, select "exit to main menu," and load the other game. Once it loads in, you'll see that some of the levels are missing, but still selectable.
Additionally, all of your fireflies will be tallied up again, meaning if you have all 2239, you'll have to wait four and a half minutes for all of the bonus levels to be replaced.
You can do the opposite and exit out of a save that's further along in the game to add levels to the map. They're still not selectable, of course.
![Saira - 56.3s speedrun [Commentary] (F12, worst ending)](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/6zMBN0vr9Uw/mqdefault.jpg "Saira - 56.3s speedrun [Commentary] (F12, worst ending)
This is my any%, single-segment speedrun of Saira for PC, getting the worst ending in under a minute. This exclusively uses the Developer Mode to zip around the environments, so this is not intended to be a legitimate run its just for fun.
Developer Mode: [ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqG2-zOTyok ]
You can see this run without commentary here: [ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FibbsNLn2M ]
By pressing F12, you can teleport to your mouse cursor and pass through walls, so I use this to bypass most of the games obstacles and grab only the essential items. Additionally, you dont expend your ships battery power moving between systems. For the quickest time, this means getting one of each item (targeting unit, impulse charge, amd fuse) and minimizing the travel time between the necessary planetary systems.
Lomond has the homebrew impulse charge, Haakon has a basic targeting unit, and Hoffman has a standard fuse and latter two planets are in the closest systems to Austra. Although you can slightly change the route and still pick up all three items, you spend slightly longer moving the cursor between planets. Additionally, Hoffman and Haakon only require you to move through three screens a piece to collect the item, whereas other planets can be up to five.
Since using the debug mode lets you skip traveling to related planets to get your ships battery recharged, it means you can judge planets purely on how many screens and how long it takes to travel to them. Though currently kinda untested at the moment, I believe the best route for a non-F12 speedrun would be Lomond - Hoffman - Hulton. This would let you quickly access the battery charging stations, while having relatively simple puzzles to address.
Probably the biggest error in this run is not being able to work the teleporter input very fast, slowly getting the items placed. This is because of complications with the keyboard layout, where I had to switch between holding F12, working the action keys, and maneuvering the mouse, so its a little difficult to do quickly and accurately!
I timed this from the moment the screen goes black after selecting a new game to the point where the screen begins to fade after activating the teleporter. The exact time is 56.267s.
Of note, this wasnt recorded with FRAPS because it actually slows down the map menu. Its best to use a different recorder to keep the game running at normal speed, otherwise this run would be over a minute by a fair margin.
Recorded on 01-19-2013.")
![Physics Crush [glitch] - Dark Storm VR Missions](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/7d3BqWrZqf0/mqdefault.jpg "Physics Crush [glitch] - Dark Storm VR Missions
Ever wanted to vaporize a guard by falling on him? This trick lets you instantly knock a guard nearly out of existence by getting next to him and lying down, leaving no trace of the body.
This can be done with any soldier you encounter. Simply approach the guard while in a standing or crouching pose, get extremely close, and then press Ctrl to go prone. If you did it right, the guard will disappear in a single frame with a loud crashing sound. This sometimes also works by starting in the prone position and standing up.
I believe this happens because of Ambers collision box: When standing up or crouching, her hitbox is much differently shaped than when shes prone, particularly its flatter and pushes out horizontally. Shifting from a narrow cube to a flattened rectangle poses complex physics calculations for anything caught in the transition between.
Its difficult to tell exactly what happens, but I believe it displaces the soldier upward to make room for the prone collision box at an extremely high velocity, which launches them into the stratosphere. Alternatively, it could potentially push them through the floor or into a wall based off unpredictable physics. (If you would like to see these collision boxes, press tilde [`] to open the console and type show collision.)
This probably isnt extremely valuable, but it could be quite useful in a number of circumstances.
1) Its done within the same range as the standard combat takedown (CQC),
2) its faster than the combat takedown, and
3) it typically immediately disposes of the body.
Nonetheless, it sometimes triggers guards because its noisy. Additionally, the guard isnt always vaporized, hell sometimes just be pushed into a wall and capable of spotting you because of some unfortunate vision issues. Its quite easy to perform and sometimes youll do it by accident even just standing up next to a guard.
Its worth noting that Ive gotten Amber caught in a animation loop where she switches constantly between standing and crouching position. This has similar effects to standing-to-prone method, but I havent found it possible to do consistently without the animation glitch from standing-to-crouching.
These clips were recorded in Prototype 0.6.7.
Despite the video, I actually enjoy this game a lot even in this pretty glitchy state, and Id love to see it finished. If it looks interesting to you, be sure to check out the Kickstarter or download the demo on Steam and try it yourself.
Kickstarter: [ https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1201252455/dark-storm-ascension ]
Steam: [ http://store.steampowered.com/app/395150/ ]")
