Elle

Even if I use a demo in the client_demo directory, and do not change the path variable or specify the path, I get the dark sky picture, what I usually get if I get the file name wrong. So, I think it is a path issue; for some reason, at least on my machine, it doesn't automatically pick files up in or under the client_demo directory. Maybe that's why manually updating the path works for me.

Edit: And now it's working. I was using a fresh command window for each test, so it wasn't some weird setting carrying over. I don't know why it wasn't working before.

So, anyway, now all I have to do is be in the game directory, and, as long as the demo is in the client_demos directory, the -demodump command works. No PATH variable needed. However, if you want to just play back without demodump, you can still play a demo in any directory as long as you use the fully qualified path. I did this regularly for video capture; I'd organize demos in a variety or directories then play back from there. It works as long as you don't use demodump. I think the path confuses things when it tries to set up the subdirectory that stores all the bitmaps.

Anyway, thanks, and sorry for the PATH red herring. (It works, but may be unecessary.)

Duh. Duh duh duh.

No sooner had I posted that than I thought of one more thing, and it worked. It is an evironment variable, PATH to be exact, but not the path to the exe. The path to the demos. So, for a command line execution with demodump, you first have to add the client_demo directory to the path. Then you can run the command line normally. So, here's what I do to run a demo with demodump strictly from command line:



Start -> Run -> cmd, then type the following at the command prompt:

D:

CD \Games\City of Heroes

SET PATH = %PATH%;D:\Games\City of Heroes\client_demos

CityofHeroes.exe -demoplay mydemo.cohdemo -screen 1024 768 -disable2d 1 -demodump -demofps 10



(Note, drive and paths are the location of my files, and my switches are just examples. Your mileage may vary. Also, the change to the PATH variable only lasts as long as that command window is up. Also, the SET PATH line is *only* necessary if you're using the -demodump switch, but if you don't set the path, then you have to use the fully qualified path to the demo file.)

Booyah, grandma, booyah.


Edit: The SET PATH step may not be necessary, as per my discovery in later posts. I came up with it when, for some reason, my playback wasn't picking up the demo in the client_demo directory. It's supposed to pick it up automatically without having to change the path. It won't hurt anything, though.

Yeah, I discovered -disable2d in the help file in the game. I figured if the /demoplay and other demo commands listed in help also work on the command line, some of the others might too. Not only does it get rid of chat, it gets rid of player labels and that pesky zone title at the beginning.

I still can't get demodump to work on the command line. Now I'm wondering if the launcher isn't setting some environment variables (I haven't looked at the code yet). When I run from the command line, I switch to the City of Heroes directory (I have to, or it complains it can't find files), then I run a command like the following:

cityofheroes.exe -demoplay "F:\CoH\mydemo.cohdemo" -screen 1024 768 -disable2d 1

That'll play back the demo just fine, but if I add -demodump, the game crashes with the "what happened" box. Doesn't matter where it is on the command line; I tried it like your example and the same thing happened. The reason I'm asking about environment variables is that your demo name doesn't have the path, indicating that the client_demo directory is the active directory or otherwise doesn't require the path (and, if you have to include the path to the exe, then the game directory might not be the active directory). I've tried changing the path variable so that it'll find files in the game and piggs directories, but that wasn't enough. Any thoughts?

Of course, now that the launcher is improved, I won't need to use command line. Still, I'd like to understand why the launcher works and bare command line does not.

Hey Zloth, what exactly is the command line that the tool generates when -demodump is on? I cannot seem to get -demodump to work from the command line, no matter where I put it. The demo runs fine with all the options except demodump; as soon as I add demodump, the demo won't run (it crashes after loading with that "what happened" dialog). So, I figure I'm missing something that goes along with it, or it needs to be in a certain place on the command line.

Ordinarily I would just use the launcher, but I want to also use the -disable2d switch (which isn't in the launcher) to get rid of text.

Thanks!