This competition required entrants to create some form of “chase” scene.
The player could be the person chasing or being chased.
It could be objective based (reach a specific point) or time based (remain uncaptured for a set time).
There was no restriction of the type of environment.
There are 3 entries in this mod, taking completely different design directions.
- Title: ChaseVille
- File Name: hl2-ep2-sp-6x10mc-chaseville.7z
- Size : 22.4MB
- Author: David Newel, Tony DeBasio and Justin Carlton
- Date Released: 24 July 2012
I have just updated the file. An entry was sent but not received. The entry is not eligible for points, but has been included in the updated file. If you downloaded the original file, you must download the file again, sorry, especially bandwidth-capped users.
ChaseVille is part of the 6×10 series mapping competitions.
I have changed the number of points available for interesting ideas etc. It goes from 2 points to 1 point and will be back-dated to the first competition.
- Copy the chaseville folder into your SourceMods folder.
- Restart or start Steam.
- ChaseVille should now be listed in your Library tab.
If you require more help, please visit the Technical Help page.
The playthrough below is provided by Podcast 17 Let’s Play. See more of the playthroughs on this site: VP: Podcast 17
The playthrough below is provided by Custom Gamer as part of The Ville Retrospective event.
See more of his playthroughs on this site: VP: Custom Gamer.
Click on the thumbnails below to open a 1024 pixel wide image.
WARNING: The screenshots contain spoilers.
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Time for you to share your thoughts.
BOTH!
Yes, that’s right both. I have decided to award both entries “winner” status. Both received $10 worth of Steam games and the points for winning.
The first entry does an excellent job of putting the pressure on the player in a small and dark area. You never feel too far in front of the chaser and the sequences are excellent. It’s a thriller.
The second entry aims for the “action chase”, with shooting and the airboat. I really got the Hollywood feel from this one.
Both maps required me to play quite a few times before I escape, which is how it should be.
For a ten day (more or less) mapping competition I am really pleased with the entries.
WELL DONE GUYS!
The series of mapping competitions, has individual winners but they also accumulate points for entering, winning and other aspects. There will be a grand prize at the end.
All entrants: 5 points
Justin Carlton: +5 points for winning.
David Newel: +5 points for winning.
David Newel: +1 point for the way the Vortigaunt eats your heart!
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4,090Overall
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Using Gauge: Users
Manually: 2 Users
Time Taken:
Average: 0 Hours, 25 Mins
Shortest: 0 Hours, 20 Mins by Daken50
Longest: 0 Hours, 30 Mins by MisterAddy
Total Time Played: 0 Hours, 50 Mins
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This review contains spoilers. Don’t read it until you have played the mod!
I had an absolute blast playing this mod. I know that not everybody likes my theme ideas but I always felt this one had real potential and these entries prove that.
The first time I played this I got a real shock and died within ten seconds. I got to the door and looked to the right, in the direction of the exit, and turned back around and the damn vortigaunt was right in front of me. Really made me jump. Next thing I know is he is eating my heart.
FANTASTIC!
I then proceeded to get a little further each time. I was a little frustrated with the darkness but that added to the atmosphere. I kept wanting to look over my shoulder and spent at least some of the time running backwards to see where my pursuer was.
All in all a really clever implementation of the theme.
As I was hoping, this entry had me scratching my head, trying to work out where I needed to go and even then it was tricky.
I got cornered a few times and you really need to “read the signs” (no, not actual signs). The start of the canal section was a little bland but that’s easy to forgive.
I had a small issue with the Strider being invisible once I got the airboat, but nothing to really spoil the map.
In this entry I had that “Hollywood” feel and I almost felt like Jason Borne or James Bond.
The clever use of the containers was a nice touch too.
Overall, a great action entry.
This had huge potential but I just found too many “issues”. Took me ages to get under the first gate. In fact, the first time I carried on without the airboat.
The hassle with the bridge and Jalopy really caused me some frustration. Then the cool train thingy (don’t know what it’s called, sorry) just kept either stopping on killing me by shooting me into the air.
I also got really excited when I saw that rocket car, but I never see it again. He teased me!
Then, yes there’s more, you can’t even save Alyx, which is really annoying. Some tweaks and this could be really fun but as it stands, I didn’t really enjoy it.
FYI:
[spoiler]By the screenshots it appears you didn’t go the optimal way. The strider standing above a burning street was supposed to dissuade you from going towards it. You missed the building on the left, which has a neat scene in it. I knew that people may try to hop the fence, but I was left without time to do anything to block it (I certainly didn’t want to put any invisible walls and I needed to be sure the strider could walk over it). So if you feel like it, you might replay that part.[/spoiler]
On a side note, striders are an extremely difficult npc to work with. You tell a strider to crouch down, it completely ignores all inputs and starts running in the other direction. Incredibly frustrating. May be the cause of the invisible strider that only showed up (bad pun) after my final compile.
I did go into the room boarded up on my first playthrough but couldn’t get out. Don’t worry though, I always expected to miss lots of things because that’s the nature of this type of gameplay.
Hi, I realize that this is an old post, but you actually CAN save Alyx, there’s a small button on the train, if you press it, the forcefields turn off.
The archive doesn’t contain your usual readme :O
Will play it later today.
It is within the mod folder as it has more information.
I held off on reading phillip’s reviews until after I played the maps, as I usually do. But I thought it was funny how my first encounter with the vortigaunt was identical to phillip’s. It scared the piss out of me.
Both entries were really good and absolutely nailed the theme, but I felt that Schism was better crafted.
Definitely recommend these maps to everyone.
Both are very good entries but I think Schism was the more polished of the two;
The vortigaunt sequences were really well done in From Darkness but I think it could have used a bit more light, especially in the last area.
I found Schism more fun to play, the only problems I had were the invisible strider thing when in the airboat and finding the airboat in the first place, I acually went left the first time totally missing the alcove where the airboat was because there was nothing to take me there (Lighting, sound etc)
Either way it’s a good comp, both fun maps and worthy winners.
Well there was the Lambda Symbol right above the underwater tunnel. It is always a good indicator of the correct path. It was enough for me to dive down right away!
These where a great pair of maps as mentioned above the theme is spot on
with both occasions which ends up making some great push gameplay.
I “died” a bit to often for my like ing in the first part of Schism
even though its my favourite out of the two as it stays more within the half life2 universe.
From Darkness had a couple of lightning issue’s but other then that a great horror ish map enjoyed both to a great extent.
Play it now for sure
first of all thanks to phillip for bringing us another “ville” and allthough theres only two entries on this occasion they are both class and extremly well made.. so well done to justin and david
I have to agree with phillip that both maps were worthy winners… and both took different approaches to the chase genre….
from darkness is crackin me up and I casually moved to the door were I was greeted by the Vortigaunt who eat my heart… I thought these guys were friendly lol ……. anyway this map also involves a certain amount of “stealth” trying to avoid the Vortigaunt and succeed !
Schism on the other hand is a gem…. infact I would go as far to say one of the best maps ive played this year….. its amazing how much work justin has done in such as small time period… wow this quality of map would take me a lifetime,however being 46 I never got the chance of any computer related studies in school were as many youngsters today are offered game creation as part of the curriculum… infact my neighbour is applying for a trial with a local game developer ( liverpool )
back to schism and I loved the way it used many different methods of transport during the chase such as foot and airboat… infact the start reminded me of another mod ( precursor ) which you had to jump out of a window ..
in summary a great competition,just a shame there was no more entries… but as the old saying goes its not quantity but quality !
Im having a problem.
I DL’d it and it was in a zip folder (I hate winzip, need to dump it). Anyway, I coped the contents to an empty folder which I called “Chaseville”. I put the folder in my steamapps. I went offline and back online, and there is Chaseville on my Steam menu. So I clck play, and it goes to a funky Ep2 screen where the words are all scrambled. I click “start new game” and nothing happens.
Is this because I called the folder Chaseville? Or is it because I have win 7 64 bit?
I don’t understand why you created a folder. Within the 7zip archive is already a folder called “chaseville”. Just copy that to your SourceMod folder. I have Win7 64bit too, so it’s not that. Please try the updated file, which I just uploaded.
Because I stupidly paid for winzip which is my defalt, so it is in winzip. Thats why I had to create another folder, winzip is so stupidly complex…anyway, I renamed the folder it’s original name but I still get the same problem.
Ill try redownloading it after I delete winzip from my computer.
let me recommend 7zip. It’s free and very good. http://www.7-zip.org/
Delete the chaseville folder and contents you already have and start again. I’m online ATM if you need me via Steam, but probably not for much longer.
Downloaded 7zip and the same problem…wont open the file. It asks me if I want to “find an appropriate program on the web” blah blah. I even tried 32 bit, and that was worse. Win Zip was a pain as well, I got rid of it too.
After pulling my hair out, I remembered what I had on my old computer.
Let me highley recommend WinRar. It will open all the zip files, and what’s better it is a simple drag and drop system. I just installed it, and Im easily grabbing files from here, plus Duke maps from Duke4Net. I’m smiling again 🙂
Yes, I was going to recommend that you try WinRAR, it’s worked perfectly for me forever and is free (as long as you don’t mind dismissing the nag-box each time) and is very reliable, even with Win7 64b! Check for updates every so often – also on a good install it will associate itself with all the common archive extensions, which is handy.
I guess you’ve already solved this, but for future reference, WinZip has a checkbox in preferences for “keep original file structure.” (Or something similar – it’s been years since I used it, I use 7zip exclusively now.)
Make sure that’s checked. Otherwise, all your files will be dumped into the same folder. Happened to me more than once (and is one of the MANY reasons I switched to 7zip).
Yeah, 7zip is by far the best compression application I have tried.
I think there must have been an issue with his installation, because I use 7zip to create the files, so they should easily open with it.
Anyway, he has got it working now, so that’s good.
winrar( http://www.rarlab.com/download.htm ) is by far the easiest tool… ive used this for the last 6 years,with winzip prior to that,however winzip like you said will create a folder with the uncompressed file in it… however when using winrar the main gui will allow you to select program files (x86)>steam>sourcemods.. then once you have highlighted sourcemods click ok…..
both windows vista and windows 7 also have a basic compression utility… any supported winzip/winrar type files will appear as a yellow”zip” icon and at the top of the window there will be a option to “extract archive” ,when you select this you get a browse option which again you use to select “sourcemods ” ,,,, as allways you need to restart steam for the mod to appear
hope this helps
I have updated the main post and my original review to include a new map. The main post, also has some screenshots for it.
Even though my favorite style of playing is run and gun, I couldn’t do neither in any of the 3 entries and I had a bit of hope to do that since it’s a rush against the clock.. All 3 left me bitter and I wish I hadn’t played them so I wouldn’t have to leave this awful review here.
First entry being a horror one is not to my liking, specially when the vort should’ve been my ally…! It’s also pitch black which I also hate. It’s also without HEV which I also hate. It’s also trial and error like all 3 are, which I also hate. It’s like the author gathered all the things I hate in a map, put it in a blender and force fed it to me. He wrote a walkthrough to wash his sins away, though. I mean if you really need to write a walkthrough for something you created, clearly it’s hard and not many will like. At least one betatester should’ve been used. Because playing a map using FIFTEEN (and not so short!) instructions and dying by failing either one of them.. is NOT my idea of fun. How that can be anyone’s idea of fun just baffles me. I quit at the basement area after a mind numbing run-around-in-circles or get-your-heart-ripped-out-and-eaten-by-a-vort.
Onto part 2. Yet another apartment building.. Looks promising.. Steals Valve’s idea for a beginning of a mod. Again, multiple paths and options, which I normally love, but in here only lead to frustration. Finally I press Use on a half open window and then it closes in on me.. Seriously? Take N. I get out the window, ignore the dark corner which seemed like a dead end anyway and continue by foot. An invisible strider is shooting at me and I avoid some APC rockets which seemed like overkill. I finally get a crowbar but oh wait, I can’t kill anyone with it, cus I’m not Gordon Freeman, as the Readme hints. I’m not even a rebel cus they can kill too. I’m nobody if I can’t kill ONE bloody metrocop! Take N+1. I find the airboat, pass the strider which now drops his invisibility cloak when I touch him and after a few tries and remembering I can fit my airboat through containers, I manage to have juuust a bit of fun when all of a sudden, map ends dry.
Was hoping the third and late entry would be a walk in the park since the author took more time to finish it. Wrong! The first tries I stumble upon a weird player clip on the right side of the train which stops me from getting to what looks like a workable button. The left side is of course NOT clipped. Moving on.. Ladder to an airboat, what else. The gate part was so annoying I have no words to describe how annoying it was but I’ll try to explain why. Besides the fact that it’s timed down to a tee, which is enough of an argument already, my body had a weird animation while coming out of the boat, totally disorienting me. But I could’ve gotten over it if the boat didn’t magically go to its right every time I tried to embark and failed at fitting it through the gate. I finally position it right and it actually stays positioned, rush out only to change vehicles, another thing that would slow the player down to his desperation. And another trial and error path finding because we’re out in the open now, so after jumping a barely visible fence from a barely noticeable displacement, game ends, again, with the message “Poor Alyx”. Rage quit.
Due to the fact that I have not completed this, I won’t be adding a recommendation image and therefore won’t be affecting the overall rating.
5 words or less review:
Leg tweezing is more fun!
I’ve finished Darkness but I’m stuck in Shism, at the beginning, [spoiler]just after we jump the window and there are all these metallic doors shutting up, I keep running and looking for an issue, but I can’t find [/spoiler], any help?
One of the ways has doors that remain open long enough for you to run through.
yah, if only the guy could run… :/ I will retry…
Well, all maps are appreciated. However, I must be critical where necessary.
1. From Darkness
This map was too frustrating. I couldnt get away from the predatory vortigaunt. Even when I got into the basement and the flairs…
Look, I hate forced forward progression…meaning I have to keep running or I’m a heartless dead man. I know the compitition calls for a chase…but Im not fond of puzzels either..or dark basements and frustrating puzzels. If you are like me, you’ll skip this one.
2. Schism
Ok, now we are talking. Sure it has forced forward progression (FFP) which I am not fond of, since it kills the adventure/exploration aspect…BUT…it has the airboat! And it is a fun rush through the deadly canals of wherever this is supposed to be, reminding me very much of the fine airboat section of the mod “Drainage”. This one I recommend.
3. Alyx’s Train Holiday
This one has quite a bit of driving sections…airboats, cars, even a manual traincar thingy (like you see in the cowboy movies, where you pump the handle). The problem is two fold: one, the jalopy section is full of places it get’s stuck. The player is then in a position of get out and run. But the worser problem (I know, worser isnt a word, but it should be!) is the feature of “timed gameplay” which to me is akin to going to a dentist and having a route kanal with no novocane. It is worser than FFP or pure puzzels or even the dreaded invisible walls. In fact if the car does get stuck (which it will) and you make a run for it, it will end with “poor alyx”. So running is not an option.
Ending the game because the player isnt moving fast enough, Im not sure is a chase…except your chasing time?
Then there was no way you were going to like this mod!
Fun set of maps.
Alex’s Train was a tad frustrating. Took me three tries to get to the end. The first time I was confused by the message because the airboat gate took so long. The second and third time the car got stuck on the bridge even with turbo. Then I ran the rest of the way. I was a bit annoyed that there didn’t appear to be anything I could do to get Alyx out.
I enjoyed From Darkness despite its flaws (way too dark in the basement). Though, that was that part that managed to get a little nervous anxiety out of me.
That”s what I thought at first but those flares are a nice touch, they add a little control but not too much light.
Hi, I realize that this is an old post, but you actually CAN save Alyx, there’s a small button on the train, if you press it, the forcefields turn off.
Certainly well done, given the time to make these, but alas, just not my thing. Just a personal viewpoint of course. I couldn’t get anywhere with the vortigant one, not even cheating, that’s probably the thing, in a map I enjoy taking my time and having a good look around at the scenery. Anything with a time constraint I just find frustrating.
I understand your sentiments. Being rush is not for everybody and I prefer to wander at my own speed but I just feel that sometimes we need to try something new.
‘dear esther” is all wander
weird.. I meant this as a reply to someone
I finished all three maps, even saved Alyx which is possible, but it was not my thing either. I like slow exploring and not being under pressure all the time…
Phillip, please remove your config.cfg file from the map packs you do! It forces all of us to either use your control settings or redefine our own each time. Leave it out and HL2 will automatically use the last config.cfg on the system which is a big advantage for everyone out there and more professional as well ;)!
Wesp5, I checked the folder I used to create the archive and there is no config in there. I have made this mistake before and try to be very vigilant.
Strange, I sure had to redefine everything…
Well, sorry anyway. Must have been something I did wrong.
No problem, I only wanted to make sure you are aware of these very common issue ;).
I am really loving this last competitions, and I hope they won’t cease soon, just with wider time it could be great, but this comps. we recently have are just delightful, also I totaly like Phillip’s ideas, and I think, like this chaseville was really good!, so this is a comp. you just have to play, no doubt’s about it.
From Darknes
Was a really cool map, and the chasing was more in a suspense line, tough when I first saw that darky house and empty rooms, it really put my nerves on a little bit. this was a grat chase because it was kind of the medium-slow-killer chasing you, I mean the maniac, in this case the vorti, doesn’t need to actually run to reach and kill you, he knows he will get you if you are just slow and dumb. I agree that eating heart thing just rocks in here. (Now if you want some really hoorror but fast chasing try the chainsaw guy in Cry of Fear).
Schim
In my Opinion, is the best of the three, because this is pretty realistic and cool, I mean, if you are an “ANTICITIZEN” in HL2 universe don’t expect to be treated with flowers and candys by Civil Protection units, they will chase and beat ur ass for good, and I felt this was exactly what happen in this entry, if u are clumsy and not hurry up enough the mentro cops are going to get u even in the appartment, so if u stop and enjoy the views u are fried, the running part is a rush, and feels ok, then the finale is great especialy with those chimneys crushing the strider and maybe crushing you if you play fool again.
Alyx’s Train Holiday
Was also entretaining, and is like a very clever chasing mechanic in here because you are the chaser, in order to save HER. I like that twist, I mean become myself the chaser for a main goal instead me being chased.
There the shortfalls were that annoying door lever hindrance, I think if the author would have omitted that with the airboat in those narrow cannals and the jalopy jumping that ditch would be enough, and we even could have had time for some combat using that SMG provided before u take the jalopy, I don’t understand why give us a SMG, if we are not going to use it at all.
Overall this was fun enough and it was cool that aspect of chase some goal, oh by the way: [spoiler]Alyx can be saved, if u press the green button in one corner of her rail-jail wagon. [/spoiler]
Okay, I replayed Schism and found the button that opens the door that leads into the crate and container section. I completely missed that first time around.
It’s easy to say now but I think a fence stopping me jumping over the rail into the canal way might have been a good idea. And also a brighter light on the button.
That said, it was my fault for missing it.
I also replayed Ayx’s Train Holiday and yes, it is possible to save her – sorry I claimed it wasn’t.
Yeah it was kind of hard to actualy realize that the tricky button was there in that jail-wagon, in fact I also missed totally until I seen it on my 3rd attempt to save Alyx, maybe that was a beta testing issue.
Wow, nice… Very, very nice.
Schism :
Incredible, I like that constant chase between Metrocops and Striders, jumping windows, crossing doors, always that feeling of being catch at any moment, and the last part in airboat was amazing.
Darkness :
This was even better, my, my.. This was so scary and unexpected, I clearly see that it was like being followed by some sort of Terminator, it was very stressful and the scripted sequences were very cool, and I laughed at the ending.
You were my favorite.
I’ve downloaded ChaseVille first version and I’m lazy now to play the last one, but overall this was great.
(And damn it, once again, an AirBoatVille competition would be so great, every time I see how modders and -Ville mappers use it in their works).
I would just say, know what kind of maps you are in for when trying these. Read the info about them. If its not the kind of thing you like, think twice.
No enjoyment at all for me in these maps. Not sure if I should even be commenting because I didn’t finish either of them (couldn’t, and wouldn’t).
Personally I believe if a seasoned player, who doesn’t have problems of the kind that repeat over and over again ad nauseum, ends up quitting through waning commitment and eventually frustration, then its an indication the map missed the mark, not the other way around. Just my opinion.
I appreciate the effort that went into building these maps (and organizing the contest), but I can’t bring myself to keep playing them. My favorite thing about HL2 maps in general is exploring them at my own pace and not being rushed to do anything. So for me these are not fun to play, but I am sure others will like them
Darkness
This map had to be one of the most truly frightening maps I’ve ever played. There I was silently sitting in my room, headphones on ready to try out what my friends had told me was a very well made map. In no way did they prepare me for what I was going to experience. I tried to explore a tiny bit, and saw a woman laying on the ground, of course I instantly thought to loot her, I mean help her… As I walked in I was faced with the scariest creature ever, as I panicked and tried to jump around the room, the monster got me…Ate my heart and it was game over… I had to try again, avoiding that room I ran, I spotted an elevator PERFECT! I banged on the button as hard as I could, I felt the terror that I wouldn’t be able to get in the elevator in time, before this heart eating soulless creature got me!
The elevator opens I dived in, my heart is racing. I consider just walking away from this game but decide to press on. I saw what I thought was a fellow ally…but alas he didn’t make it, the sounds the beast made, the way the man was thrown, the sheer terror in his eyes, trust me straight to my soul scaring me even more! Finally the elevator stopped, freedom I hoped but no the creature kept coming for me, faster and faster. I grabbed a flair off the ground, thankfully there was plenty and it lit up the room decently well. I saw a handle, picked it up and by mere luck when I turned around fit in the machine next to it. I ran again from this monster, sweating what felt like pure bullets as I dive into the elevator again. I see everything explode, thank god I think to myself a way out and the monster is dead. I breathe a sigh of relief, and start walking through the door and up the stairs. But the monster continued out of nowhere! I knew I had to just get out of this map, so did what I had to and won it… then the ending…oh the ending…it sent chills up my spine as the monster looked out on my corpse…I would recommend this game to every single one of my friends. They aren’t chase fans, but this map, this mod my god…pure suspense with some frightening moments added. I even had to turn on all the lights afterwards, and still scared to sleep without the tv on, in case the monster comes for me in reality…
Nice review, but what did you think about the other maps?
This was a pretty cool competition. I personally think that each of the three included entries deserve some credit because they are all so different.
“Darkness” was a short but sweet exercise in the horror chase. Running from the monster was pretty cool and the inclusion of various death sequences was a really nice touch!! But technical problems bother me, such as tripping over junk and not fitting though the windows. It also did not exactly look really nice.
“Schism” was closest to the original game’s atmosphere. I enjoyed the fleeing aspect and the narrow escapes. However, after playing this map three times in a row, I was unable to discover a way to thwart or escape the final Strider. The strider always ran up to where I was located long before the twin smokestacks exploded. It was well-built though, and deserves some more development.
“Alyx’s Train Holiday” was actually pretty awesome because it is something of a challenge to keep up with the train. My heart was actually beating pretty hard while trying to keep up with the train, especially at the end. This map could really be fun and interesting if it kept getting developed in the art department.
This was a good competition theme, and I really enjoyed the ideas in all of the maps.
From Darkness was very atmospheric and achieved the “fear factor” that you would expect from a chase. I did feel that there was too much trial and error, for example it took me ages to notice the elevator because of the low lighting. Overall I thought it was well detailed.
Schism I think was the best of the three. It was very long for a map made in such short time and looked good throughout. As Phillip mentioned it really has the cinematic aspect to it. My only criticism was that it took me ages to realise I had to find an airboat in the canal as at first I tried to swim.
Train Holiday I didn’t really like this map although I thought the idea of being the chaser rather than the chased was good. There were far too many issues, especially the gate right at the start. I wasn’t able to finish this one without cheats.
Overall, definitely play this mod now!
Manually
Medium
30 Minutes
I loved all of them, my favorite though was Alyx’s train holiday
it is quite intense, especially near the end, you really have a time limit here, if you’re too slow on any part you might need to go back and do it faster
Fun theme on this one.
I didn’t enjoy this one. I guess it’s supposed to be scary. There’s minimal gameplay and a few annoying ways to die.
Well, there’s not much gameplay, but they got the style down perfectly! It’s fun to play through and fun to watch things happening around you, and through almost the whole thing you feel like you’re still being chased after. I enjoyed this one a lot.
Again, minimal gameplay. You just switch from vehicle to vehicle trying to get to Alyx, which would be pretty fun but all three times I tried the jalopy got stuck and I couldn’t make it in time. Yeah.
Well, Schism is certainly fun, but I didn’t enjoy the other two. Next up, ForestVille!
Die, load save, repeat.
Manually
Easy
20 Minutes