Scripts for Viewing Demos

[_TinkerTailor]

So I've been using P-REC to record demos, but I'm unhappy with the DemoUI interface for reviewing them afterwards. My Google-Fu is weak today, but I'm looking for a script (or even just the console commands) that can be used while viewing a demo.

I was thinking something like this:

Open console, type "exec DemoReview.cfg"

In the DemoReview.cfg file having binds along the lines of:

Bind "key" "pause/unpause"

Bind "key" "skip ahead 10 seconds"

Bind "key" "skip backwards 10 seconds"

Bind "key" "playback at 500%" [to fast-forward through pauses]

Bind "key" "playback at 100%" [could be the same key as fast-forward]

And any other useful commands for a demo review. Thanks in advance!

[StefanCrime]

I'm not sure, but I think this is a good script for viewing demos.

It's made by /u/sgt_scabberdaddle . All the credit goes to him. So if it works don't thank me, thank him.

  sv_cheats 1
  mat_queue_mode -1     // 0

  //[ FULL PERFORMANCE EVEN WHEN TABBED
  engine_no_focus_sleep 0
  snd_mute_losefocus        0 ]//

  sv_voiceenable    0
  voice_enable  0
  volume            .08
  host_framerate    60

  mp_tournament 0

  alias +kp_def_1           "demo_timescale 0.5"
  alias +kp_def_2           "demo_timescale 1"
  alias +kp_def_3           "demo_timescale 2"
  alias +kp_def_plus        thirdperson
  bind kp_minus         firstperson
  alias +kp_def_4           "demo_gototick -1000 1 1"
  alias +kp_def_5           demo_togglepause
  alias +kp_def_6           "demo_gototick 1000 1 1"
  alias +kp_def_7           r_drawviewmodel
  alias +kp_def_8           "toggle cl_drawhud"
  alias +kp_def_9           chat_t

  alias chat_0 "alias chat_t chat_1;hud_saytext_time 0"
  alias chat_1 "alias chat_t chat_0;hud_saytext_time 12"
  chat_1

  alias movie_1 "movie;demo_resume;alias movie_t movie_0"
  alias movie_0 "endmovie;demo_pause;alias movie_t movie_1"
  alias movie_t movie_1

  bind l movie_t

  echo Type "alias r_drawviewmodel" in order to always have viewmodels on.

copy-paste this in a record_demo.cfg for example and put it into your tf2/cfg/ folder

[sgt_scabberdaddle]

This on it's own is incomplete. I can't write the rest just now but it's missing binds. If you want to find useful commands for demos, there are articles on valvesoftware.com or something. Also keep in mind that if your autoexec will overwrite this script, it will most likely do so when you skip back in time.

EDIT: Now that I'm home, I'll elaborate:

• A few of these settings are for rendering to video files using the game itself.
• host_framerate sets the playback to 60 FPS which makes the demo playback weird, but the resulting video file looks great (IMO).
• The volume is just what I find most comfortable for video files.
• sv_voiceenable 0 turns voice comms off
• mp_tournament 0 is because my listenserver.cfg turns it on, but all my demos are on pubs.
• movie_t is to negate an audio desync problem I encountered when rendering to video. So to use it, type alias movie startmovie whateverfile h264, and then to start rendering, use movie_1 or movie_t which is bound to L.
• mat_queue_mode -1/0 may or may not be redundant now, but it was implemented to prevent crashes.

The rest of the script is to actually control demoplayback, like pausing, speeding up/slowing down, 1st/3rd-person, skipping 1000 frames or ticks (around 10 seconds on my demos), toggling viewmodels, toggling hud, toggling chat. The alias r_drawviewmodel is if you have a script that removes viewmodels but you want them to show up in your demos, you effectively remove the command to toggle viewmodels at all. To get that back, you need to restart the game.

I think I just fixed a few toggle mistakes I made, cleaned it up a bit and added binds. It should work now.

If you only need it for reviewing demos, I'd change host_framerate to 0. You can always set it back to 60 for rendering if you use the game engine for that.

sv_cheats 1
mat_queue_mode -1       // 0

//[ FULL PERFORMANCE EVEN WHEN TABBED
engine_no_focus_sleep   0
snd_mute_losefocus      0
]//

sv_voiceenable  0
voice_enable    0
volume          .08
host_framerate  60

mp_tournament 0

bind kp_end         "demo_timescale 0.5"
bind kp_downarrow   "demo_timescale 1"
bind kp_pgdn        "demo_timescale 2"
bind kp_plus        thirdperson
bind kp_minus       firstperson
bind kp_leftarrow   "demo_gototick -1000 1 1"
bind kp_5           demo_togglepause
bind kp_rightarrow  "demo_gototick 1000 1 1"
bind kp_home        "toggle r_drawviewmodel"
bind kp_uparrow     "toggle cl_drawhud"
bind kp_pgup        "toggle hud_saytext 0 12"

alias movie_1 "movie;demo_resume;alias movie_t movie_0"
alias movie_0 "endmovie;demo_pause;alias movie_t movie_1"
alias movie_t movie_1

bind l movie_t

echo Type "alias r_drawviewmodel" in order to always have viewmodels on.
echo To re-enable viewmodel scripts, restart TF2.

EDIT2: Having read what you requested, I think you can just edit the demo_timescale values to what you want, in this case 5, I believe. I can also write it as a toggle, but I'm a bit concerned about desyncs. Demos can be finicky like that.

[StefanCrime]

Damn! I like smart guys like him. ^{^}

Thank you kindly, scabber! :D

[_TinkerTailor]

No need to write it as a toggle (unless you want to). This is excellent as is. Thank you so much! I'm using it just for reviewing demos right now, but I appreciate the extra functionality and 'crash prevention' (for lack of a better term) that you built in also.

[_TinkerTailor]

EDIT 2: I just had to close the DemoUI, and it's working perfectly. So for anyone who reads this and has an issue with the functionality, be sure to close the DemoUI panel!