cross-posted from: https://programming.dev/post/13741856

From the video’s description:

Finally!

In the next few days, I’ll upload a commentary video that explains how this is possible. Some key points for those who are curious:

• AutoHotKey (AHK) is a piece of software that allows the user to create custom keyboard macros and hotkeys. Using AHK, I set up my Numpad to control the mouse. For example, Numpad 4 moves the mouse 100 pixels left, and Numpad 6 moves the mouse 100 pixels right.

• Most objects in the game require you to look directly at them in order to interact with them. For smaller objects, like elevator buttons and keys, we must memorize a series of precise movements and angle changes in order to line up our camera with the intended object. This can be quite tedious.

• At 4:30 is the first big trick of the run. Throwing a gas grenade in a particular spot will cause the guard inside the building to panic. He runs to the front door to let us in, allowing us to skip the entire first mission.

• At 6:50 you’ll see some weird blue text on screen. If you hold down the quicksave button while a conversation is ending, sometimes this will cause what’s known as a “glitchy save”. Loading a glitchy save can produce a variety of interesting effects, which we’ll abuse later in the run.

• At 10:25 is perhaps the weirdest trick of the run. The goal is to shoot an explosive crate to clear out a bunch of enemies without taking damage from the explosion. At first glance it seems impossible to line up this shot while blindfolded, since there are no audio cues whatsoever. The rather strange solution I came up with was to move backwards while singing the chorus of the song “Benny and the Jets”, which just happens to be the right tempo to put us in the correct position for the shot.

• At 13:50 is the first use of the glitchy save. When you load a glitchy save file, maps adjacent to your current map will reset, which will respawn items. We abuse this to duplicate augmentation upgrade canisters, biocells, and flamethrower ammo, all of which are tools that we’ll rely on heavily through the run.

• At 18:35, you can survive a fall from any height by quicksaving+quickloading just before you land. This is a trick that can be abused anywhere in the game, although it eventually becomes obsolete once you get fully upgraded jumpy legs.

• At 38:50, we clone items in our inventory. This can be achieved by binding the “use object” button to the mouse scroll wheel, then rapidly scrolling while looking at the object we want to clone. Note that this only works if you start with at least 2 copies of the item.

• At 50:55 is the first example of a “superjump”. If you activate jumpy legs, then open the options menu, this reapplies the jumpy leg buff. This can be done multiple times to jump to very large heights. We rely on this pretty heavily throughout the run.

• At 54:55, the LAW is a powerful rocket launcher that is intended to be a single-use consumable item. However, if you pass through a loading zone immediately after firing LAW, it stays in your inventory. This can be used repeatedly to get a ton of mileage out of a single LAW.

• At 1:12:00 is where the craziness begins. We fire a LAW to kill ourselves, sending us directly to the MJ12 prison level. Normally when the MJ12 prison level starts, it runs a script that restores our health, and removes all items from out inventory. By loading a glitchy save as soon as the level starts, we skip that script, allowing us to keep our inventory and remain at negative health. The reason we want negative health is an absolutely wild exploit called “Dead Man Walking”. If you consume a small healing item (such as a candy bar) while at negative health, most enemies will think you are dead, and ignore you. This allows us to run straight past hordes of enemies that would normally be a deadly threat. It is the single most important exploit in the entire run, and we rely on it pretty heavily for the rest of the game. Without it, I highly doubt that a blindfolded run would be possible.