Demo Recorder Guide

Obraxis

<div class="IPBDescription">Help the Devs help YOU!</div>Hi everyone, there is very little documentation on the new Demo Recorder included in build 208. This is a guide on how to use it, in it's current state. It's VERY useful for recording hard-to-reproduce bugs, as it records all network packets you send/receive (including voice chat, just not your own yet). For now, the files are linked to the build, but this will be unlinked in the future at some point.

This may also be useful for recording matches for the competitive community, or for Frag movies.

Please use the following commands...

<!--coloro:#FFA500--><span style="color:#FFA500"><!--/coloro-->Remember to start recording <!--sizeo:2--><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:100%"><!--/sizeo--><b><!--coloro:#FFFF00--><span style="color:#FFFF00"><!--/coloro-->before <!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc--></b><!--sizec--></span><!--/sizec-->the map loads. It will not record otherwise.<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->

<!--coloro:#F4A460--><span style="color:#F4A460"><!--/coloro--><!--sizeo:3--><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:100%"><!--/sizeo--><b>To Record in console type:</b><!--sizec--></span><!--/sizec--><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->
<b><!--coloro:#9ACD32--><span style="color:#9ACD32"><!--/coloro-->record<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc--></b> <optional filename> (do it in the main menu)
<b><!--coloro:#FF0000--><span style="color:#FF0000"><!--/coloro-->stop<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc--></b> when you disconnect to stop recording

<b><!--coloro:#FF8C00--><span style="color:#FF8C00"><!--/coloro-->Space<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc--></b> Time syncing on/off toggle
<b>'<!--coloro:#FF8C00--><span style="color:#FF8C00"><!--/coloro-->p<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->'</b> to bring up Profiler
<b>'<!--coloro:#FF8C00--><span style="color:#FF8C00"><!--/coloro-->r<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->'</b> for r_stats

<!--coloro:#9ACD32--><span style="color:#9ACD32"><!--/coloro-->Basic Guide (from Kouji) is:<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->

<!--coloro:#98FB98--><span style="color:#98FB98"><!--/coloro-->- start up NS2
- pull up the console and type <b>record </b>>insert name here optionally<
- join a server
- to stop recording you can either use stop in the console or simply disconnect from the server (both work)<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->

Replays are saved in %appdata%\Natural Selection 2\<filename> (no file extention yet)

To <!--coloro:#9ACD32--><span style="color:#9ACD32"><!--/coloro--><b>play</b><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->, bring down console & type 'play filenamehere'

Recording a Demo makes a bug auto-reproducible on THAT Build. It will help the Devs GREATLY.

Unfortunately for now, replays break with each new build, but please record as much as possible.

Thanks everyone! :-)

MooJr

needs a sticky

Wilson

This is really awesome. I didn't think we'd see a demo recorder until after 1.0

It's pretty crazy how it records your mouse movements and console input as well. I wish you could start recording while connected though.

Also, I guess file sizes will be quite big for long games. I recorded for a minute and it was 6mb. (edit: they seem to RAR nicely)

I hope they continue to add options to it to help people record videos of their gameplay (rewind controls etc).

wey

Nice! This doesn't by any chance have a "startmovie <name> <fps>" equivalent yet, right?

Obraxis

<!--quoteo(post=1937209:date=May 19 2012, 03:24 AM:name=Wilson)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Wilson @ May 19 2012, 03:24 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1937209"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Also, I guess file sizes will be quite big for long games. I recorded for a minute and it was 6mb. (edit: they seem to RAR nicely)

I hope they continue to add options to it to help people record videos of their gameplay (rewind controls etc).<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->


Most of that 6MB is just loading the map and assets, Dushan is going to optimize that in the future. A 20-30 min game should be around 30-40MB.

player

This is good news. I tried to do this, but without access to the netcode-protocol I didn't get much further than coaxing some movement out of a recorded packet-stream. While a packet-recorder is vastly inferior to a gamestate-recorder in many ways (and as such I don't really feel threatened), it does do 1 or 2 things slightly better (for one, you don't need the assistance of the server to record anything).

RoTTe

Some way to play the record from specified time ?

Kouji_San

<!--quoteo(post=1937265:date=May 19 2012, 11:59 AM:name=RoTTe)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (RoTTe @ May 19 2012, 11:59 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1937265"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Some way to play the record at specified time ?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
It's on the list. currently it can only play the demo file from the start. It will get some kind of control further on down the line and of course more feature, but for now it is mostly an extra tool to help the devs debug certain things.

Arkanti

This is awesome, but are you able to view from the first person perspective in replays?

player

<!--quoteo(post=1937270:date=May 19 2012, 12:15 PM:name=Arkanti)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Arkanti @ May 19 2012, 12:15 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1937270"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->This is awesome, but are you able to view from the first person perspective in replays?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
That's all you're able to do. Remember, it's exactly like the HL1-demos.

Kouji_San

I've only dabbled with the client side recorder, and it records EVERYTHING you see from your FPS perspective, even the voice chat from the others apparently

I guess the server recorder is like HLTV, which enables anything you want? Not sure though as spectator also is lacking the FPS perspective still

player

Server-recorder? Do you mean what I'm working on? Nah, that's not anything like HLTV. HLTV was basically all the packet-streams of all the clients muxed into one, allowing you to spectate everybody's first-person view, but not more than that (as was the case with NS1 anyway). The gamestate-recorder actually records everything wholesale, allowing for proper limitless free-roam as if you were a live-spectator.

RoTTe

<!--quoteo(post=1937266:date=May 19 2012, 05:01 AM:name=Kouji_San)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Kouji_San @ May 19 2012, 05:01 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1937266"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->It's on the list. currently it can only play the demo file from the start. It will get some kind of control further on down the line and of course more feature, but for now it is mostly an extra tool to help the devs debug certain things.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Arf, I recorded 40 min of game -150 MB-

I tried editing the final file -cutting it-, but I think that the incremental counter at the beginning of each packet breaks my client.

Hackepeter

Pretty awesome! Works like a charm! Seams like the files can be compressed a lot, so it would be great if you could route the data stream through a simple compression engine before writing it to the disk. Nevertheless, great work; recording does not even affect the game performance here.

I'll try it out on the next matches for sure!

Obraxis

FYI, there will be a server recorder in the not-too-distant future. How that will work has yet to be decided (lots of things to work out), but eventually you'll be able to grab a server's demo so you can view the game from all angles etc, not just your own.

Recording a demo takes up virtually no performance hit on your computer, so it really is worth recording most of the time in case you encounter a bug, have a GREAT match or Competitive players can record from different viewpoints, to edit together an awesome Clan Match or Frag movie.

But I think we can all agree this is a great start to a very useful feature.

fanatic

<!--quoteo(post=1937311:date=May 19 2012, 04:16 PM:name=Obraxis)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Obraxis @ May 19 2012, 04:16 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1937311"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->But I think we can all agree this is a great start to a very useful feature.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Definitely. Kudos to the devs for this.

Is there any way to dump frames (ie. "startmovie" in goldsrc) ingame currently? Fraps and other similar programs aren't sufficient for making high quality recordings for movies unfortunately.

player

<!--quoteo(post=1937311:date=May 19 2012, 03:16 PM:name=Obraxis)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Obraxis @ May 19 2012, 03:16 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1937311"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->FYI, there will be a server recorder in the not-too-distant future. How that will work has yet to be decided (lots of things to work out), but eventually you'll be able to grab a server's demo so you can view the game from all angles etc, not just your own.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Oh good grief, thanks for the timely heads up. Why the ###### am I even modding this game anymore...

nadyli

<!--quoteo(post=1937342:date=May 19 2012, 07:45 PM:name=player)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (player @ May 19 2012, 07:45 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1937342"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Oh good grief, thanks for the timely heads up. Why the ###### am I even modding this game anymore...<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Yeah it's not like they had time to give you heads up... :D

player

Okay so what exactly will this server-recorder be? Something like HLTV where it's basically all the individual client's packet-streams muxed into a single file? Or will it in fact store all data (entities\sounds\effect etc) regardless of awareness of the players?

Obraxis

<!--quoteo(post=1937237:date=May 19 2012, 07:44 AM:name=wey)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (wey @ May 19 2012, 07:44 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1937237"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Nice! This doesn't by any chance have a "startmovie <name> <fps>" equivalent yet, right?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Not yet - but it's early days yet.

<!--quoteo(post=1937314:date=May 19 2012, 04:27 PM:name=fanatic)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (fanatic @ May 19 2012, 04:27 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1937314"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Is there any way to dump frames (ie. "startmovie" in goldsrc) ingame currently? Fraps and other similar programs aren't sufficient for making high quality recordings for movies unfortunately.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Not yet, but this can be a feature request if you'd like!


<!--quoteo(post=1937380:date=May 19 2012, 08:13 PM:name=player)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (player @ May 19 2012, 08:13 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1937380"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Okay so what exactly will this server-recorder be? Something like HLTV where it's basically all the individual client's packet-streams muxed into a single file? Or will it in fact store all data (entities\sounds\effect etc) regardless of awareness of the players?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

I don't know yet. When I have more info on future plans I will let people know :-)

RoTTe

(Correct thread ?)

Issues:

You cant stop profile if you're jumping in the record (the jump event resumes it).
The record play is associated with the FPS. In the same CPU there will be no troubles. If you try to record the game -fps drop- or change the CPU, you can have marines running like skulks or skulks like gorgies -fatty slow-.


Btw, with a little black magic, perl, IDA, olly and a little LUA trick, I can skip big blocks of the recording. I figured some parts of record file, inbounds packets, input events (02 .. 01, 03 .. 05, bla bla) but its insane the work involved.

player

<!--quoteo(post=1937386:date=May 19 2012, 07:25 PM:name=Obraxis)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Obraxis @ May 19 2012, 07:25 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1937386"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec--><!--quoteo(post=0:date=:name=player)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (player)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Okay so what exactly will this server-recorder be? Something like HLTV where it's basically all the individual client's packet-streams muxed into a single file? Or will it in fact store all data (entities\sounds\effect etc) regardless of awareness of the players?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I don't know yet. When I have more info on future plans I will let people know :-)
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Right, well I'm assuming it will be muxed packet-streams then, cause it's the most easy method, and you can re-use code from the demo-recorder you have right here. And considering a certain someone else is already taking the hard route of gamestate-recording, it would be a bit of a time-waster to redo done stuff, especially with all the work still ahead for the game.

Obraxis

If you think you can help player, please email dushan@unknownworlds.com with any help you think you can provide.

swalk

<!--quoteo(post=1937237:date=May 19 2012, 08:44 AM:name=wey)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (wey @ May 19 2012, 08:44 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1937237"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Nice! This doesn't by any chance have a "startmovie <name> <fps>" equivalent yet, right?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I would really like to see this as well. Fraps is not optimal at capturing footage.
A command similar to HL1 "startmovie" will enable everyone to get fluid footage at any FPS setting.

Ghosthree3

My recorded files have some kind of issue, when I quit the game after recording I get an error dump, and the file recorded is ALWAYS 27mb. Seems to play 1.5x speed and eventually bugs out, and the camera unsyncs/aims backwards and it all goes weird... Friend does it the same way I did and ended up with an 80mb proper working file.

HeatSurge

Is there any work being planned on this? It works well, but I really really wish it had either a "jump to time" function, that you could trigger it while already connected, or that it placed some kind of "markers" you can jump to after the end of every round.

Also, the slowdown on different CPU speeds makes it a bit useless for recording movies. When you start recording footage, the game slows down to a crawl...

If there was just any navigation, or the ability to start/stop recording at any time + the rendered game afterwards was independent of the CPU speed, I think this would be amazing.

Ghosthree3

Viewing someone elses demo (same resolution if that's an issue) the Y-axis for the crosshair is so far off sometimes, bullets come out in the right place but the camera is just so off.

Ghosthree3

Replying to this thread to say the Y axis issue was that he uses inverted mouse (lol wut). Anyone know if "Space Time syncing on/off toggle" is meant to work or not? Because it does nothing when I play back demos and it's painful to sit through RR time while stuff gets going.

BauerJankins

i understand the devs would rather not implement hidden mechanics like this or silent movement while marines crouch. when you think about it it's pretty much the same thing

Archie

BauerJankins wrote: »

i understand the devs would rather not implement hidden mechanics like this or silent movement while marines crouch. when you think about it it's pretty much the same thing

https://forums.unknownworlds.com/discussion/152604/marine-jump-broken-since-todays-patch#latest