Demo Recorder Guide

ObraxisObraxis Subnautica Animator & Generalist, NS2 Person Join Date: 2004-07-24 Member: 30071Super Administrators, Forum Admins, NS1 Playtester, Forum Moderators, NS2 Developer, Constellation, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Silver, WC 2013 - Supporter, Subnautica Developer, Pistachionauts
edited May 2012 in Technical Support
<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! :-)

Comments

  • MooJrMooJr Join Date: 2011-10-18 Member: 128100Members, NS2 Playtester, Reinforced - Supporter, Reinforced - Silver, Reinforced - Gold, Reinforced - Diamond, Reinforced - Shadow, Subnautica Playtester
  • WilsonWilson Join Date: 2010-07-26 Member: 72867Members
    edited May 2012
    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).
  • weywey Cineastè Join Date: 2003-06-01 Member: 16910Members, NS1 Playtester, Contributor, Constellation
    Nice! This doesn't by any chance have a "startmovie <name> <fps>" equivalent yet, right?
  • ObraxisObraxis Subnautica Animator & Generalist, NS2 Person Join Date: 2004-07-24 Member: 30071Super Administrators, Forum Admins, NS1 Playtester, Forum Moderators, NS2 Developer, Constellation, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Silver, WC 2013 - Supporter, Subnautica Developer, Pistachionauts
    edited May 2012
    <!--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.
  • playerplayer Join Date: 2010-09-12 Member: 73982Members
    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).
  • RoTTeRoTTe Join Date: 2012-03-14 Member: 148764Members
    edited May 2012
    Some way to play the record from specified time ?
  • Kouji_SanKouji_San Sr. Hινε Uρкεερεг - EUPT Deputy The Netherlands Join Date: 2003-05-13 Member: 16271Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue
    <!--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.
  • ArkantiArkanti pub baddie Join Date: 2011-07-22 Member: 111781Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Reinforced - Shadow
    This is awesome, but are you able to view from the first person perspective in replays?
  • playerplayer Join Date: 2010-09-12 Member: 73982Members
    <!--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_SanKouji_San Sr. Hινε Uρкεερεг - EUPT Deputy The Netherlands Join Date: 2003-05-13 Member: 16271Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue
    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
  • playerplayer Join Date: 2010-09-12 Member: 73982Members
    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.
  • RoTTeRoTTe Join Date: 2012-03-14 Member: 148764Members
    <!--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.
  • HackepeterHackepeter Join Date: 2003-06-08 Member: 17107Members, Constellation
    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!
  • ObraxisObraxis Subnautica Animator & Generalist, NS2 Person Join Date: 2004-07-24 Member: 30071Super Administrators, Forum Admins, NS1 Playtester, Forum Moderators, NS2 Developer, Constellation, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Silver, WC 2013 - Supporter, Subnautica Developer, Pistachionauts
    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.
  • fanaticfanatic This post has been edited. Join Date: 2003-07-23 Member: 18377Members, Constellation, Squad Five Blue
    <!--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.
  • playerplayer Join Date: 2010-09-12 Member: 73982Members
    <!--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...
  • nadylinadyli Join Date: 2007-11-01 Member: 62791Members, Squad Five Blue
    <!--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
  • playerplayer Join Date: 2010-09-12 Member: 73982Members
    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?
  • ObraxisObraxis Subnautica Animator & Generalist, NS2 Person Join Date: 2004-07-24 Member: 30071Super Administrators, Forum Admins, NS1 Playtester, Forum Moderators, NS2 Developer, Constellation, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Silver, WC 2013 - Supporter, Subnautica Developer, Pistachionauts
    <!--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 :-)
  • RoTTeRoTTe Join Date: 2012-03-14 Member: 148764Members
    (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.
  • playerplayer Join Date: 2010-09-12 Member: 73982Members
    <!--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.
  • ObraxisObraxis Subnautica Animator & Generalist, NS2 Person Join Date: 2004-07-24 Member: 30071Super Administrators, Forum Admins, NS1 Playtester, Forum Moderators, NS2 Developer, Constellation, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Silver, WC 2013 - Supporter, Subnautica Developer, Pistachionauts
    If you think you can help player, please email dushan@unknownworlds.com with any help you think you can provide.
  • swalkswalk Say hello to my little friend. Join Date: 2011-01-20 Member: 78384Members, Squad Five Blue
    <!--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.
  • Ghosthree3Ghosthree3 Join Date: 2010-02-13 Member: 70557Members, Reinforced - Supporter
    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.
  • HeatSurgeHeatSurge Some Guy Join Date: 2012-09-15 Member: 159438Members, Reinforced - Supporter
    edited January 2013
    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.
  • Ghosthree3Ghosthree3 Join Date: 2010-02-13 Member: 70557Members, Reinforced - Supporter
    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.
  • Ghosthree3Ghosthree3 Join Date: 2010-02-13 Member: 70557Members, Reinforced - Supporter
    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.
  • BauerJankinsBauerJankins GERMANY, WASHINGTON Join Date: 2016-04-14 Member: 215772Members
    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
  • ArchieArchie Antarctica Join Date: 2006-09-19 Member: 58028Members, Constellation, Reinforced - Supporter, WC 2013 - Supporter
    edited March 2018
    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
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