Demo Recording, AKA how to make awesome videos/screenshots

strumslinger

Hey everybody!

One of the very cool features of Neverwinter is the ability to record pretty much anything in-game, and then re-open the client and tinker with the demo that you've created. It's easy, it's streamlined, and it all works within the sparkly game client. Here are some tips for how it works!

First off, start playing the game, and hit "/demo_record abc" in the chat channel when you're ready to start filming, where "abc" is the name you'd like to give your demo record file. Then do cool stuff, and when you're done, type /demo_record_stop. Quit the game.

Re-open the launcher, and click the "Options" button in the top-right hand corner. In the "Advanced command line" field, type the following, where "abc" is the name you've given to your demo record file:

-demo_play abc.demo

Press "OK" and launch into Neverwinter on the same server on which you recorded the demo.

Now, you'll be in a sparkly demo play client, within which you can tinker with a number of commands. Here are a few:


Press F2 to detach the camera from your character, and roam around with WASDQZ. Press F2 again to return the camera to your character.
Hit ~ (tilde) to bring up the console.
Type "renderscale x" where "x" is the number you'd like to increase the resolution to. 1 is normal, and 2 is spectacular.
Type "visscale x" where "x" is the value you'd like to increase the draw distance to.
Type "fov x" where "x" is the number you'd like to change the field of view to. 55 is the default.
Type "time x" where "x" is a number between 1-24 to change the environment game time.
Type "screenshot" to take a screenshot. These will show up in your "screenshots" folder.
Hit ~ (tilde) again to close the console.


Some community tips:
-All black screenshots? Try setting your DirectX to DirectX9 if you are currently using DX11 Beta, particularly if you're trying to take screenshots at Renderscale > 1.

That's it! Now you've got some awesome videos and screens to share.

And, DISCLAIMER: demo record/play is a nifty tool that you're welcome to use to create amazing screenshots to share with your co-adventurers. Please note, however, that we cannot provide any support or troubleshooting for the demo record/play tool.

We'll be updating this post periodically, so if you have more suggestions or cool ways to use the demo record feature, please chime in!

kolatmaster

AWWWWWWWWW YEEEEAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!

valwryn

I do lots of recordings and never know when I need too to catch that funny moment so I find it best to BIND the recording commands:

/bind [ demo_record
/bind ] demo_record_stop

The vidoes will automatically get a timestamp name and placed in your /demo folder. You can rename them later.

Changing your graphics during replay also changes your games graphics when you return and vise versa. To speedup loading and viewing, set your graphics lower until you are ready to take snapshots or render your recording. If you're viewing using Demolisher, Hit F5 (maybe the launcher too) to get a list of checkboxes. Unchecking the No_FX box will remove all the games and spell effects to get those perfect pictures.

Look for @angrysprite 's signature for a link to the book "Using Demo Record". :

fastrean3

Is it possible to export the record to any video type file?

valwryn

fastrean3 said:

Is it possible to export the record to any video type file?

Not directly.

You can Render the recording which turns into thousands of pics (depending of Frames per second). I use VeeDub64 to turn those pics in an .avi. Then you can use any video editor program to turn it into any format ya want.

fastrean1

valwryn said:

fastrean3 said:

Is it possible to export the record to any video type file?

Not directly.

You can Render the recording which turns into thousands of pics (depending of Frames per second). I use VeeDub64 to turn those pics in an .avi. Then you can use any video editor program to turn it into any format ya want.

Oh, Ok, thanks

kenderkay

valwryn said:

fastrean3 said:

Is it possible to export the record to any video type file?

Not directly.

You can Render the recording which turns into thousands of pics (depending of Frames per second).

How do you render the recording to pics? I used "screenshot" command but it only takes one screenshot.

valwryn

If you use Demolisher, there's a Render TAB, otherwise you'll need to use the Command Line:

-demosaveimages nameofdemo.demo nameofimages format

ex. -demosaveimages Dungeon1.demo DungeonBattle jpg

zhodia

I have recently used demo_record to record an edemo run. To my surprise, at playback, I realised that all the shift/dodge animations of all characters are being recorded as TR tumble/rolls. Seeing a DC or a CW rolling around, even GWFs when they used their shift, was somewhat funny but that was not what I wanted from my recording. Is it a know bug or am I doing something wrong?

ps: For playback I've tried both: demo_play and demolisher. The results were the same.

valwryn

zhodia said:

I have recently used demo_record to record an edemo run. To my surprise, at playback, I realised that all the shift/dodge animations of all characters are being recorded as TR tumble/rolls. Seeing a DC or a CW rolling around, even GWFs when they used their shift, was somewhat funny but that was not what I wanted from my recording. Is it a know bug or am I doing something wrong?

ps: For playback I've tried both: demo_play and demolisher. The results were the same.

I first noticed this after mod 6. I thought it was cool for my CW and DC to roll out of danger so I didn't bother with mentioning this. On last years Anniversary video I made, you can see my Wizard rolling away.

valwryn

For Future Reference:

Those that wish to make HD videos on Youtube, if naturally using Waterfox or Firefox as your browser, Youtube and these browsers don't like to talk to each other when uploading certain video formats, like WMV. You would have to use IE if uploading such formats to get the HD version ye seeketh.