I'm having trouble viewing demos.
I've downloaded the Launcher.exe but sadly it errors and never starts, something about not finding some library.dll thing.
So, I go via the manual route - I've shortcutted both the updater and standard .exe of the game and set their target parameters to display -demoplay demo.cohdemo etc, and start up. They start up just fine, both of them, but then I get shown a slowly moving night sky with a black void beneath it. Nothing else happens.
Where am I going wrong?
It isn't finding the demos. Your demo file MUST be in the client_demos directory.
For the viewer, the DLL error probably means you didn't get the NetFX thing installed. You'll need to get it from Microsoft and install it.
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It isn't finding the demos. Your demo file MUST be in the client_demos directory.
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The .cohdemo files are in the client_demos directory. Nowhere else.
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For the viewer, the DLL error probably means you didn't get the NetFX thing installed. You'll need to get it from Microsoft and install it.
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I'll give that a spin and get back if things change/stay the same.
Got them working. Didn't even need to download the .NETfx thing, though I did and now sort of wish I didn't seeing as it's more stuff cluttering my system, but eh.
My PC had converted all the demos I'd been d/l'ing into .txt files, regardless of me renaming them .cohdemo. Hence not working. Deleting all my old demo files now and replacing them with properly d/l'ed ones
*sighs* thanks for the help anyway.
Huh? .cohdemo files ARE text files.
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Huh? .cohdemo files ARE text files.
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Yup. However, if you save them as text files (the default save option in windows as it recognizes them as such), they won't play.
You must select 'all files' from the dropdown file window or they save as notepad icons and neither the Launcher nor manual updater will recognize them.
Heya, I just recorded a demo on test server and tried to view it with Zloth's demo launcher. Of course that didn't work because it was in my CoH test demo file folder not the main. So then I think well I will just move it. Duh, there are changes to test that arent on live so it won't play there. So is there a way to make the demo launcher open my CoH test or do I have to do the line command deal? I don't really understand that so could someone explain it? Thanks!
Do something like the following for running it from test:
D:\COH\CohUpdater.exe -test -demoplay "D:\COH\CohTest\client_demos\demo.cohdemo"
of course changed to your directories.
D'oh - well, you ... uhhh.... use the special test version of my demo launcher which I made for myself and never uploaded. <blush>
A little radio button to have it load from your Test directory is on my to-do list.
A bit of an update here. As of Issue #2, images will save as .JPG files by default so you don't need to mess with third party programs to view them. If you liked the non-compressed TGA format, though, you can go into options in the game and set them up. Also you can now bind a /screenshotui toggle to a key, though it doesn't give any feedback about whether you are turning it on or off.
How Do I remove the names of the places from the demo, like "Perez Park" or "Bettis Hill" etc.?
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How Do I remove the names of the places from the demo, like "Perez Park" or "Bettis Hill" etc.?
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I don't think you can. They aren't actually in the demo file, it's just something the demo playback does when it starts.
What you can do is change one of the early instructions (one of the ones after all the 0-time setup instructions) to last about 5 seconds so the action doesn't start happening until the zone title is gone.
To do this, open the demo in Notepad and scroll down a bit, past all those lines that start with a 0. Go to the second or third one without a 0 and change the 0 to 5000. Save the demo (probably to a new name unless you want to risk your original) and try it out. I'm guessing on that 5000 so you may need to adjust it up or down.
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D'oh - well, you ... uhhh.... use the special test version of my demo launcher which I made for myself and never uploaded. <blush>
A little radio button to have it load from your Test directory is on my to-do list.
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Added and uploaded. You can now switch between using the Test version of CoH and the standard version. If you don't have the Test version then you won't even see the options. If you had the Test version then removed it without removing the registry entries then it will try to force you over ot the standard version.
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A bit of an update here. As of Issue #2, images will save as .JPG files by default so you don't need to mess with third party programs to view them. If you liked the non-compressed TGA format, though, you can go into options in the game and set them up. Also you can now bind a /screenshotui toggle to a key, though it doesn't give any feedback about whether you are turning it on or off.
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Is there a way to make demodump use TGA instead of JPG format?
Liberty
Ultimate Arcane La Alma, Keeper of Secrets - Magic Mind/Kin Controller 31
Protector
Egypticus - Tech FF/Psy Def 19
Virtue
Sir Coranus - Magic Broad/Regen Scrap 16
Found it!
use -demodumptga instead of -demodump
Liberty
Ultimate Arcane La Alma, Keeper of Secrets - Magic Mind/Kin Controller 31
Protector
Egypticus - Tech FF/Psy Def 19
Virtue
Sir Coranus - Magic Broad/Regen Scrap 16
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The /ScreenshotUI command is used to toggle whether or not your saved (TGA) screenshots include your user interface. This command doesn't itself make a screenshot, it's just a setting for your future screenshots. /screenshotui 1 to include the UI, /screenshotui 0 to make shots without the user interface.
The /screenshot command does the actual screenshot.
These are covered in the in-game help on the last tab under Slash Commands.
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Not quite sure EXACTLY what it does, but `/e3screenshot 1` yields some pretty screenshots.
Liberty
Ultimate Arcane La Alma, Keeper of Secrets - Magic Mind/Kin Controller 31
Protector
Egypticus - Tech FF/Psy Def 19
Virtue
Sir Coranus - Magic Broad/Regen Scrap 16
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Found it!
use -demodumptga instead of -demodump
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ROFL, i asked support this same question and they told me it was impossible.
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Found it!
use -demodumptga instead of -demodump
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Well, it doesn't tell me this is a bad command line parameter but it doesn't work for me, either. It just runs through the demo without saving any screenshots. Has anyone actually gotten TGA's out of this?
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Found it!
use -demodumptga instead of -demodump
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Well, it doesn't tell me this is a bad command line parameter but it doesn't work for me, either. It just runs through the demo without saving any screenshots. Has anyone actually gotten TGA's out of this?
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I did some more experimenting, and it seems to fail if the directory isn't allready created. Can you try running it as just -demodump, then hitting ESC to quit (thus setting up the directory) then using -demodumptga
Liberty
Ultimate Arcane La Alma, Keeper of Secrets - Magic Mind/Kin Controller 31
Protector
Egypticus - Tech FF/Psy Def 19
Virtue
Sir Coranus - Magic Broad/Regen Scrap 16
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Found it!
use -demodumptga instead of -demodump
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ROFL, i asked support this same question and they told me it was impossible.
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There's 2 reasons for that.
1) Tech support only knows what's in their manuals (unless you're lucky)
2) This feature is undocumented and took some uncouth digging to retrieve, like the "e3screenshot 1" option
Liberty
Ultimate Arcane La Alma, Keeper of Secrets - Magic Mind/Kin Controller 31
Protector
Egypticus - Tech FF/Psy Def 19
Virtue
Sir Coranus - Magic Broad/Regen Scrap 16
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The /ScreenshotUI command is used to toggle whether or not your saved (TGA) screenshots include your user interface. This command doesn't itself make a screenshot, it's just a setting for your future screenshots. /screenshotui 1 to include the UI, /screenshotui 0 to make shots without the user interface.
The /screenshot command does the actual screenshot.
These are covered in the in-game help on the last tab under Slash Commands.
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Not quite sure EXACTLY what it does, but `/e3screenshot 1` yields some pretty screenshots.
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Example? What's the difference?
Demos are NOT a supported feature. If they work, great. If not, oh well. You won't find any advertising on the web site or anywhere else trying to get you to buy the game because of this feature. It's just something the code can do and we have fun with so some of the devs (possibly even just one of them?) have been keeping it alive. Given that the feature is unsupported, Support isn't likely to know a lot about it.
Thanks to you and everyone else on the thread for great info!
Zloth2:
Have you ever considered making the demo player and demo editor open source?
Liberty
Ultimate Arcane La Alma, Keeper of Secrets - Magic Mind/Kin Controller 31
Protector
Egypticus - Tech FF/Psy Def 19
Virtue
Sir Coranus - Magic Broad/Regen Scrap 16
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Whether Fullscreen or Windowed, ALT+F4 will close it immediately and properly. CTRL+ALT+DEL causes windows to end the thread which can have adverse effects on the file.
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Nah, it's just reading the file so it won't mangle it. (I guess the Results folder isn't done any more so no worries there.) However, I found out later that you can end these demos in full screen by just hitting the ESC key. I think it's back in this thread somewhere. That and Alt-F4 are definitely better to use than killing the thread.