Demos

[Vigil]

I can record a demo, online and offline, with 'demorec <name>'. How can I bind a key that will start recording a demo with a unique name (so that it doesn't overwrite any previous demo)? Eg. 'demorec $currenttime' or just 'demorec $randomstring' would do.

I was able to record a demo online. However, when I played it back, my character stood in one spot but did all the moves, ie. he was running when I was running, turned when I turned, shot when I shot, etc, but he was anchored to the spot. I also noticed that it seemed to pick a character model at random and gave my character and the other player's the same model.

When I play back a demo offline or online, it seems to only support third person and free floating. How do I get to see it in the first person?

It seems I can only play back a demo if I first start a game and then 'demoplay <name>' from the console, because there is no way from the menu to play back a demo or even get to the console. Is that true?

 

[hyrulian]

I can answer a few of those questions...

Auto demo file naming: UT2k4 can automatically name demos each time you record one so that you don't have to worry about creating a name, or accidentally overwriting one that already exists.

Open your User.ini file. This is inside the UT2004\System folder. Look for a section called [DemoRecording]. If you can't find this section, go to the end of the file and create it. Now look for a line beginning DemoMask. Once again, if you can't find that line, go ahead and create it under the [DemoRecording] section.

Any text you enter as part of the DemoMask form part of the filename, but there are variables you can use in this line so demo files always different filenames. For example, %d means to put the current date, %t means to put the current time, and %m means to put the current map name.

My DemoMask line looks like this:
DemoMask=hyrulian-%d-%t-%m

This means that my demo files are named hyrulian, followed by a dash, the current date, a dash, the current time, a dash, and finally the map name. An example of a demo filename this results in is hyrulian-10-14-2006-82833031-JB-Aswan-v2.demo4.

Binding a key to record and stop demos: To bind a key to record demos, open the console and type this:
set input keyname demorec
Replace keyname with the name of the key you want to use, for example
set input home demorec.
Now, when you press that key, Home in this example, UT2k4 will begin recording a demo, automatically creating a name based on the DemoMask you specified earlier.
To bind a key to stop recording, use something like
set input end stopdemo.

Playing back demos: One way you can play demos, as you've noticed, is to type demoplay filename. But, there's an easier way from the main menu to do this. Click Community on the main menu, and one of the tabs is Demos. Click that tab, and you'll see the list of demos currently on your computer. Select the one you want to play and it will automatically begin playing.

Depending on the demo you're watching, you may be able to switch back and forth between first and third person by pressing F4. If that doesn't work, try opening the console and typing behindview.

Btw: You can open the full console anytime--including while you're at the main menu--by pressing `. This is the key to the left of the 1 on a US keyboard.

 

[DarQraven]

Hyrulean, how much of that actually applies to UT3? Since this topic is in the UT3 forum, I'm assuming it's about that game.

I have also experienced this weird no-movement bug in watching demos. Sometimes it helps to reload the demo, it seems to be quite random.
I've also tried firing up an instant action match in the same map, disconnecting from that, then loading the demo. It doesn't always work, but I have had this fix it. Still, it could have nothing to do with it at all...

 

[Vigil]

Thanks, hyrulian, but that applies to UT2004, not UT3. I'll use it for UT2004, though.

I couldn't find anything useful relating to demos in UT3's ini files. I did try 'demorec %t' from the console, and it recorded an 8-digit .demo filename. I couldn't make out the time from it, though, but it appears my first question has been answered.

 

[hyrulian]

Thanks, hyrulian, but that applies to UT2004, not UT3. I'll use it for UT2004, though.

I couldn't find anything useful relating to demos in UT3's ini files. I did try 'demorec %t' from the console, and it recorded an 8-digit .demo filename. I couldn't make out the time from it, though, but it appears my first question has been answered.

Oh sh*t, you know what, I didn't realize what forum I was in when I read this thread! Sorry

Although, your experiment tells me the variables do work, however. %t is an integer representation of the time, by the way. Don't really know what the unit of measure is, but it's number of some sort of unit since 12:00am. Just out of curiosity, have you tried using the other variables, like %d and %m to see if they work?

As far as the "not moving" thing, I've heard that demo recording is rather buggy in UT3, but I haven't experienced it myself to see how good or bad it is.

 

[i_hax]

Just type in 'demorec' with no name, and it automatically names it - gives it a somewhat random name but I believe it has the date/time in it.

Also, it is VERY buggy. I don't even bother to do it anymore until they patch it. Everything you described happens to me too upon playback, anything but offline demorec's are useless.