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The Bladder of Steel Award achievement in Rock Band 2

The Bladder of Steel Award

Complete the Endless Setlist 2 without pausing or failing.

The Bladder of Steel Award0
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How to unlock the The Bladder of Steel Award achievement

  • SebastianSBSebastianSB
    25 Jan 2009 20 Feb 2009 28 Sep 2010
    BLADDER OF STEEL --- Expert Bass Based Guide

    You get this achievement by beating the endless setlist without pausing the game or failing a song. Make sure you can pass the songs before you start! People have done this alone but I highly recommend that you have a friend come by and be ready to take over for you when you need a break. If you're going at it alone check Matrarch's guide for information on pauses where you can take a quick bathroom break etc.

    If you're going for this on bass (which I recommend) make sure you practice all the tough bass songs first. Go ahead and play the Bass Legend setlist in Band World Tour and the Impossible Bass Challenge.

    I recommend bass because guitar is generally the most popular instrument so the most people can play is well, and if you pick bass the first 60+ songs are a cakewalk. It'll be a bit more boring if you don't like bass but you should still be nice and rested when you reach the tough songs at the end, which is where it counts.

    You don't want to already be worn out when you get to the really tough songs! If you don't care about your score/stars feel free to half-ass the easy songs to save your energy. I know there were quite a few where I would just stop strumming altogether for a few seconds for the sake of not wearing myself out.

    Big songs to look out for include:

    Visions by Abnormality
    Panic Attack by Dream Theater
    Chop Suey by System of a Down
    Shoulder to the Plow by Breaking Wheel
    Shackler's Revenge by Guns 'n' Roses
    Peace Sells by Megadeth
    Battery by Metallica

    If you can beat Visions and Panic Attack the rest shouldn't give you much trouble but they're worth trying out in advance just in case!

    This guide was written with the assumption that you'll be going for this and platinum artist at the same time. If you're going for them separately, then just get Bladder of Steel on a lower difficulty than the one you normally play on. You should have no problem getting it.

    WARNING: Visions is ridiculous on hard guitar! Possibly harder than expert! You've been warned!

    Details to keep in mind:

    - Roughly 6 hours and 15 minutes long, varying a bit depending on load times per console. Installing decreases them by a bit but you'll only save a few minutes doing that...you might be better off keeping it uninstalled so you have longer breaks between songs.

    - This Setlist is PRE-SET. It contains the 84 on-disc songs in the same order every time. This does not include DLC!

    - Hitting the guide button or unplugging your controller during the Endless Setlist 2 count as pausing and will stop you from getting this achievement!

    - You can unlock Bladder of Steel on any difficulty, but I recommend expert if possible so you don't have to make multiple runs for all the achievements.

    - You should avoid using Select to activate Overdrive unless you're using the GHWT guitar. It's way too easy to accidentally hit Start which is the last thing you want going wrong 80 songs in!

    - If you play in co-op with multiple people it only counts as failing if you fail as a band. If the song hasn't been stopped yet you can still save people who have failed out by activating overdrive and keep going!

    - Use a wired controller! You don't want your batteries running out and ruining any chance of you getting the achievement! If you must use a wireless controller then make sure you replace the batteries with new ones before you start.

    - If you're worried you'll press the guide button while playing try taping a piece of cardboard over it (this works especially well with the Xplorer because the guide button and other extra controls are in a lowered, rectangular section.

    - Slightly off topic but I'll mention it because people usually hunt this achievement at the same time: If you play on expert but your friend plays with you on Medium, you will both get the achievement for completing the ES2 on medium! It only counts the lowest ranked player!

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    TwistedFate's Advice:

    Do it first thing in the morning. After not eating all night while you sleep, once you do your morning routine you will be as empty as you will be all day. This is the time to strike.

    No soda, coffee or energy drinks. Most soda, coffee and energy drinks contain caffeine. Caffeine is a diuretic, which means it will increase your need to pee. Caffeine also dehydrates you, which makes you want to drink more. Water is best.

    No salty snacks. If you must have a snack, avoid chips and salty stuff. The salt will increase your need to drink. I recommend fruit, specifically fruits like grapes. They are small, you can grab 1-2 and pop them in your mouth between songs. They also don't dry out/turn brown/etc... if you leave them sitting around in a bowl for a couple of hours. Strawberries are good if you remove the caps first. Blueberries are fine. Cherries are good. Any berry really.

    ------------------------------------

    Below are videos of two of the tougher tracks, Visions and Panic Attack, but I'd still recommend that you check out all the songs on my list before you start the Endless Setlist 2...a few of them aren't particularly tough but in many cases have certain tricky bits that you could get caught off guard by and you might not be able to adjust quick enough to avoid failing. Better to be over prepared than under prepared! You might not agree with me now but you will if you fail 5 or 6 hours into the setlist!

    Guide not helping? View 7 more guides for this achievement.

    Showing most recent comments. View all comments.
    mario0010101@SpiritedSojoum This should work on most instruments. I typically see people do this on Guitar/Bass but have seen a few rare instances of one doing it with Drums (even 5 staring all songs on expert through the whole thing), and even more rare as vocalist, though it's the least popular one to do with the endless setlist due to the strain it causes is was worse than on Guitar, or Drums, especially if you're tryin to 5 star all songs on expert or hard.
    Posted by mario0010101 On 03 Sep 21 at 02:07
    Octobot SuperI'm currently making awful midi files for each song that are either single notes or just alternating between two or three notes. On Medium, it's good enough to pass. I have yet to see if the loading screens are consistent enough in length where I can splice the audio files together and just set the mic next to the speaker, though I doubt that will work. I'll probably need to manually queue up each song in the end, but it sure beats doing this objectively unhealthy achievement legitimately.
    Posted by Octobot Super On 03 Sep 21 at 09:21
    Octobot SuperWell the midi files thing was a bust. The 6+ hours is too long for everything to stay in sync. I'm sure it could be done with some sort of script to run the midis at the correct time.

    I ended up just doing it "legit" on Medium vocals (thanks to a white noise machine getting me through the four talky songs, allowing me time to pee/stretch/snack etc.).
    Posted by Octobot Super On 29 Apr at 16:25
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  • MatrarchMatrarch
    08 Oct 2008 15 Oct 2008 16 Dec 2008
    If you're doing ESL2 on vocals, keep in mind those songs which have long tapping passages. Rush's "The Trees" or Silversun Pickups "Lazy Eye" both have fairly long sections toward the end of the songs where you can run to the bathroom while that section plays and the next song loads up. Keep in mind that "Lazy Eye" doesn't finish on a tapping section, but the section is long, so you should have time enough if needed.

    Bassists- There's a long lead in during Master Exploder, so you can get a tiny break from the end of the previous song till you start in Master Exploder.

    I know Nine in the Afternoon has a fairly lengthy non drums section in it, but it's early on in ESL2, so that may not be much help!

    Guitar- As per EnkiduV3 (thanks!), be aware that Let There Be Rock has two good sized breaks built in, so feel free to catch a quick break then.
    Showing most recent comments. View all comments.
    QwanimalI'd like to add, for anyone attempting this and Platinum artist at the same time on vocals, make sure you know the beginning of Shackler's Revenge. Axl Rose is singing so low (and badly) its almost impossible to pick up the correct pitch and I'd failed the song before I had a chance to work it out. I hadn't played the game for a while and I didn't know this song very well. Was the only time I failed in the whole 84 song setlist. I got Platinum Artist but will have to go back and do the whole thing again another time for Bladder of Steel - pretty gutting.
    Posted by Qwanimal On 24 Aug 10 at 01:30
    RazmonOn guitar you have a pretty long break in Spoonman with Soundgarden aswell.
    Right after the guitar solo, there is a drum solo and then a bass solo, which gave me enough time to take a leak and get a quick drink.
    As long as you're prepared and pretty fast it shouldn't be a problem.
    Although Spoonman is pretty late in the setlist, no. 71, so you might not need it.
    But on the other hand it can be a very important break if it helps you focus on the last hard songs! ;)
    Posted by Razmon On 10 Feb 11 at 18:07
    AverageZombie90For drum the best break I used was Pinball wizard. It was just past the midway point and for the first part of the song there is a big enough break to run to the bathroom and back.
    Posted by AverageZombie90 On 17 Jul 13 at 15:26
  • SashamorningSashamorning
    24 Mar 2010 05 Mar 2010 06 Mar 2010
    I know that a lot of people *want* to get both the Bladder of Steel and the Platinum Artist at the same time... and that's admirable. The ESL2 takes so friggin' long to do... why would you want to do it TWICE?

    Well the answer is simple... when you hit the brick wall that is Visions (explained well above), you may end up losing both achievements at one shot, 5 hours into your session. And that would suck. (Believe me, I should know... a few days after getting the ESL2 on vocals, I tried the Bladder, and got interrupted near the end because of RL, on two separate occasions! I'm looking to try it again soon.)

    If you think Visions isn't so terrible, then this warning doesn't apply to you. However, if you're like me, you'll take the more conservative approach and do the two separately. Platinum Artist is quite a bit easier on vocals than any other instrument. The problem with vocals is that by singing for over 6 hours straight for the Bladder, you literally will hurt your voice, and could fail toward the end just because your throat gives out. That would also suck.

    Instead, my suggestion would be to do them in two sessions, as painful as that may be to hear. Assuming you're not a Rock God (in which case you probably aren't reading this guide anyway :-), you can get Platinum on vocals (or bass, with caution that you may fail Visions a few times along the way). That way you can take breaks. (For my ESL2, I think I actually did it over 3 days, stopping whenever my throat was getting sore.) Then in a different session, you can get the Bladder playing a different instrument on medium, like bass.

    Don't strain yourself, though. The two achievements are separate. The Bladder is cruel enough as it is. If they had a Platinum Bladder, now that would be quite the challenge. In the meantime, take the two separately.

    (Those of you leaving comments about how you did them both at the same time, seriously, my hat's off to you. Congratulations!!)
    Showing most recent comments. View all comments.
    SashamorningNice job!
    Posted by Sashamorning On 24 Feb 11 at 15:32
    PurdsDoing this on expert guitar right now, visions is easy peasy. Sorry I had to brag.laugh
    Posted by Purds On 05 Apr 14 at 05:40
    PurdsI beat it without failing but it ended up getting paused on shacklers revengeangry. so I only got the difficulty achievements this time around .
    Posted by Purds On 05 Apr 14 at 19:19
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