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Forums > Home› The Academy

Tool: Demo Player for STO Available for Download

SystemSystem Member, NoReporting Posts: 178,019 Arc User
edited March 2015 in The Academy
Hi folks,

got tired of fiddling with shortcuts and the command line to play back demo files. So I did this little app, that should make life easier:

Star Trek Online Demo Launcher 2.9.6

Installation: You need Microsoft .Net Framework (at least version 3.5) to run the tool. Other than that, no installation is required.

Firewall settings: As of v 1.8.0 StoDemoLauncher wants to check with the sourceforge-server for updates every six hours (the first time directly after applicaton launch). If you do not want that, you can safely block its request using your firewall. No data is submitted, except for what the http protocol requires to download the current version information on this page. If a newer version of StoDemoLauncher is found, you are asked, if you want to visit the download page on sourceforge. That is all. You can safely block StoDemoLauncher with a software firewall and won't loose no functionality other than the auto-update. Since 2.9.0 you can disable the feature entirely in the Tools->Options menu.

Help
Vanity
Disclaimer: Be prepared for bugs. And backup your demo files! The tool is not developed, endorsed, supported, or affiliated in any way with Cryptic Studios, so please don't bug them about it. Also, use this at your own risk! I tested it with Win XP 32-Bit and Win 7 64-Bit and encountered no problems. But if you do, and it blows up your computer, that will be your problem and your problem alone ;). If you want to redistribute it, feel free to do so. I'm releasing it to the public domain as a birthday gift to the STO community. If you want to look at the source code, you can do so here.

I'd be glad to hear some feedback, bug reports, and feature requests.

Regards,
Rachel

P.S.: Thanks to CaptNeo, who setup the project at sourceforge.
Post edited by Unknown User on
«1345

Comments

  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2011
    Wow thanks, I won't be able to check this out for 10 hours or so, gotta get to work now. But I'm gonna be looking forward to getting home:):)
    heh gonna be checking this trhead all day for updates.:D
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2011
    Version 1.1 changelog:
    • "Start" button is disabled, when no demo can be found or no demo is selected
    • Fixed a bug, where STO could be started from the "Tribble" tab, when no demo in that tab was selected
    • Added trademark and copyright info to the file signature

    Regards,
    Rachel
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2011
    Cool app, Rachel!

    I was wondering, would you be willing to put this info on the Starbase UGC site as well?
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2011
    davejl_99 wrote: »
    I was wondering, would you be willing to put this info on the Starbase UGC site as well?

    I sure can, but since demorecord does not work for Foundry content, it did not occur to me to post it there. I rather thought about writing a short manual/guide for stowiki. But if there is interest, I sure will cross-post on starbaseugc as well. :)

    Regards,
    Rachel
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2011
    I think I'm in love.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2011
    Hi RachelGarrett,

    If you've watched STOked you'll see we use a bunch of Demo recorded game shots in every episodes, Jeremy and I are going to give this a shot. This could be a big help for us, thanks much!

    There seem to be more and more little issues cropping up in Demo record, so it's great to see something like this come along, Demo Record is such a powerful tool, and this will make it even better! :D

    -Chris
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2011
    Chris-Fisher wrote:
    If you've watched STOked you'll see we use a bunch of Demo recorded game shots in every episodes, Jeremy and I are going to give this a shot. This could be a big help for us, thanks much!

    Hi you two, great show you do! The math segment on the sets was awesome, thanks Borticus!

    It's basically the same reason/motivation here. I use demorecord extensively to take pictures for stowiki.org. I found that I frequently forget to process recordings, since there is no easy way to load them in the player. Please report any bugs you encounter, so the tool can mature.

    Regards,
    Rachel

    P.S.: It was Jeremy's math segment that broke the ice between demorecord and me. So many thanks for that! What goes around comes around :).
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2011
    Version 1.2 is up. Changelog:
    • Added file info box at bottom of window
      • Displays the map name (an internal engine name, but you'll have some idea)
      • Displays the duration of the recording
      • Displays the name of the player character in the recording (if there are multiple player chars in the recording, it will be an arbitrary name from the recording)

    The info is extracted from the plain text of the demo file. You can look it up yourself, if you open the file in a text editor. Hence the limitations with regard to the map and character names. The map IDs will be hard to translate to the in-game map names, but maybe I can figure out, which character is the right one, if there are several to choose from (probably need to figure out where the camera is looking at...).

    Regards,
    Rachel
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2011
    Version 1.3 change notes:
    • When the list box has focus, you can hit enter to run a demo
    • When STO is already running, you are prompted to confirm that you want an additional instance before running another demo.

    Regards,
    Rachel
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2011
    Hmm, my security program seems to have a problem with me downloading this
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2011
    Aevn wrote:
    Hmm, my security program seems to have a problem with me downloading this

    Probably because it is an EXE. What program are you using and what is the error?
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2011
    Aevn wrote:
    Hmm, my security program seems to have a problem with me downloading this

    Wait for the download link to appear after the 30 sec timer, right-click and choose "Save target as..." (Firefox). If that does not work, please post more specific:
    • Operationg system + version
    • Browser + version
    • Name + version of the security program throwing the error

    Regards,
    Rachel
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2011
    Ok, v1.4 is out, there are some major changes:
    • Combined both lists into a single list
    • File info is displayed in each list row
    • The new list has some nifty features:
      • You can "type ahead" to select a demo. So if you know the name, you'll be able to find it much faster.
      • Columns can be rearranged by dragging them around
      • Rows can be sorted by any column by clicking the columns
    • Link to this thread, for easy access to updates and help
    • Number of the current build (for trouble shooting)
    • Durations above 59:59 min should be displayed correct (I didn't have such a huge file to test it, though)

    Have fun, and happy anniversary.

    Regards,
    Rachel
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2011
    oh man i don't want to be the paranoid here but can a DEV or GM take a look at this tool, i'v seen many tricks to steal info or log/record keys ... yeah sorry very paranoid player here !!

    i had never a game that got TRIBBLE "so far", but i know plenty of friends that got TRIBBLE, cus of keyloggers or tools installed for easy "use" of the mmo/game!
    plus not to be rude, i'm so paranoid i always think that programmers build back-doors in there own software to get easy access to there tool!! well what can i say i'm paranoid :p
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2011
    Dude, whut?

    Noxsa, RachelGarrett runs STOwiki.org ... her (his? i don't care) reputation speaks for itself.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2011
    Noxsa wrote:
    oh man i don't want to be the paranoid here but can a DEV or GM take a look at this tool, i'v seen many tricks to steal info or log/record keys ... yeah sorry very paranoid player here !!

    i had never a game that got TRIBBLE "so far", but i know plenty of friends that got TRIBBLE, cus of keyloggers or tools installed for easy "use" of the mmo/game!
    plus not to be rude, i'm so paranoid i always think that programmers build back-doors in there own software to get easy access to there tool!! well what can i say i'm paranoid :p

    I completely understand your point. That is why I am happy to provide the source code to anyone, who wants it. You can download it here. You can check for key loggers, trojans, and back doors as much as you like and report the results on the forums. When you are satisfied, that I do not want to hack your game, account or pc, you can then compile it yourself to make sure, that the exe I provide in the download link has not been tampered with.

    If you find any bugs or security risks, you are more than welcomed to report them. I'm not an expert in .net or c-sharp, so I cannot guarantee, that I didn't do something stupid or sloppy that poses a security risk to your pc.

    Regards,
    Rachel
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2011
    New version 1.5 is out. Change log:
    • If you have a "copy and paste" installation of STO, you will be prompted to provide the correct path when starting the player.
    • If the path is valid, the launcher will attempt to write the correct key to the registry (as the STO setup would have done)
    • Regardless, of whether the key could be written to the registry or not, the demo player should start correctly and display all your holodeck and tribble demos.

    I've only tested it with Win XP 32-bit so far. I could imagine, that you need to run the player once with admin privileges under Vista/7 to allow it to write the installation path to the registry. The worst thing that could happen is, that copy and paste users need to specify the installation path each time they fire up the app. This is still a big improvement over v1.4, which did not work at all for a copy-and-paste install.

    Regards,
    Rachel

    Thanks to STOked for the feedback.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2011
    One thing I would like that was present in similar City of Heroes type utilities are noise cleaners to remove pop up information or all characters/actors from a recording. Maybe an automated costume replacer would be nice as well as I find that pretty tedious to do manually.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2011
    Changelog 1.6 with time stamp support
    • Two new columns:
      • Last Time created
      • Last Time modified

    Did it very hastily, so there might be bugs! Report them here. Thanks again to STOked for the feedback.

    Regards,
    Rachel
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2011
    Leviathan99 wrote:
    One thing I would like that was present in similar City of Heroes type utilities are noise cleaners to remove pop up information or all characters/actors from a recording. Maybe an automated costume replacer would be nice as well as I find that pretty tedious to do manually.

    I'll see, what I can do. This is very tricky stuff. But I like a challange.

    Regards,
    Rachel
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2011
    Changelog 1.6.2
    • More useful date and time format that allows for correct sorting

    Regards,
    Rachel
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2011
    My sincere apologies, versions 1.6 and 1.6.2 were not able to launch demo files! Fixed it (hopefully).

    Changelog 1.6.3:
    • Repaired damage done to launch sequence by adding the two additional columns

    I'm really sorry. I hope, no one (except for the peps in the STOked chat) had enough time to download the dysfunctional versions.

    Regards,
    Rachel

    P.S.: If you are interested: Adding the two additional columns changed the index of the "Server" column that is checked to determine which of the GameClient.exe's to run.

    Metal note: Even if it the new feature works as intended, check if old ones are still functional :rolleyes:
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2011
    Nice little app...
    RachelGarrett wrote: »
    I'll see, what I can do. This is very tricky stuff. But I like a challange.

    ... Now if it had both PLAY and RECORD buttons it would be perfect! ;)
    (By RECORD I mean, of course, export each individually rendered frame)

    Remove the ability to Double-Click a filename,
    The PLAY would, obviously, replace the current START button, it's -demo_play etc would remain the same.
    The new RECORD button is the same as PLAY but would be using the highlighted Filename within the:
    -demo_movie_save Filename Parameter.

    EDIT:
    Repaired damage done to launch sequence by adding the two additional columns

    I've fiddled with your linked Source but it seems to be the buggy version that doesnt recognise a file location... and I can't quite figure that one out.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2011
    (Post Deleted)
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2011
    JohoCrol wrote:
    ... Now if it had both PLAY and RECORD buttons it would be perfect! ;)
    (By RECORD I mean, of course, export each individually rendered frame)

    Sorry, that is simply not possible, because that would force me to reverse engineer the STO client. It's both illegal and beyond my hacking skills.
    JohoCrol wrote:
    Remove the ability to Double-Click a filename,

    I really like that it is there. Also the ability to type to find and hit enter to start a demo. But I'd like to hear more opinions on these interactions. If other people feel the same as you do, I'd remove it.
    JohoCrol wrote:
    I've fiddled with your linked Source but it seems to be the buggy version that doesnt recognise a file location... and I can't quite figure that one out.

    Guilty as charged. Look into RunDemo() and change all occurences of
    this.listViewDemos.SelectedItems[0].SubItems[4].Text

    to
    this.listViewDemos.SelectedItems[0].SubItems[6].Text

    The project is moving to sourceforge, so in the future there will always be the current source available. Need only a little bit more time.

    Regards,
    Rachel
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2011
    RachelGarrett wrote: »
    Sorry, that is simply not possible, because that would force me to reverse engineer the STO client. It's both illegal and beyond my hacking skills.

    ? You misunderstood my post maybe ?

    I'm talking about adding another button to your app.
    Nothing to do with the GameClient whatsoever.

    Instead of having one button Labelled "Start" you would have;

    1/ Button Labelled "Play". This would simply be "Start" but re-labelled and perform the same function.

    2/ A new button Labelled "Record". Almost identical in function to "Play" but the parameters sent to the STO Client would be -demo_movie_save filename
    instead of -demo_play filename

    -
    -demo_play filename
    (used in your app)

    and,
    -demo_movie_save filename

    are legitamate parameters for the STO Game Client! The latter being how anyone, including Cryptic, exports high quality frames from the DemoRecord utility!
    :confused:

    EDIT: Thanks for the code correction :)
    I'm not trying to be awkward but this is a lovely app and has much potential to help STO Movie-Makers :D
    --

    My Lame attempt #1: DemoRecord-720P
    A Work of Art: Star Trek Online: One Year Anniversary Tribute
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2011
    JohoCrol wrote:
    ? You misunderstood my post maybe ?

    I'm talking about adding another button to your app.
    Nothing to do with the GameClient whatsoever.

    Instead of having one button Labelled "Start" you would have;

    1/ Button Labelled "Play". This would simply be "Start" but re-labelled and perform the same function.

    2/ A new button Labelled "Record". Almost identical in function to "Play" but the parameters sent to the STO Client would be -demo_movie_save filename
    instead of -demo_play filename

    -
    -demo_play filename
    (used in your app)

    and,
    -demo_movie_save filename

    are legitamate parameters for the STO Game Client! The latter being how anyone, including Cryptic, exports high quality frames from the DemoRecord utility!
    :confused:

    EDIT: Thanks for the code correction :)
    I'm not trying to be awkward but this is a lovely app and has much potential to help STO Movie-Makers :D
    --

    My Lame attempt #1: DemoRecord-720P
    A Work of Art: Star Trek Online: One Year Anniversary Tribute

    Ohhh.... Are you telling me, that there is a command-line switch, that would do the trick? My bad! Didn't know about that one. Have been using Fraps (very painful to guarantee a stable framerate).

    Of course, that is a great idea, and I'll make the change ASAP.

    Regards,
    Rachel
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2011
    The demo_movie_save filename (where filename is the name of what you have previously opened in the player and added your camera paths to etc) parameter will open the demo player, and save each individual frame as a .jpeg into your screenshots folder.

    This could be thousands of frames, (empty your screenshots folder first), but is fairly quick and painless and achieves the highest quality for your video.

    Ensure your game clients video resolution is set correctly whilst ingame before-hand.
    (And that its format is 16:9 16:9 not 16:10)

    Import the frames into, VirtualDub for example, to create an .avi
    This .avi will be choppy but is best quality.
    Editing and un-choppying then depends on the software you use.

    Gimme a shout if you need any other tips.
    RachelGarrett wrote: »
    Ohhh.... Are you telling me, that there is a command-line switch, that would do the trick? My bad! Didn't know about that one. Have been using Fraps (very painful to guarantee a stable framerate).

    Of course, that is a great idea, and I'll make the change ASAP.

    Regards,
    Rachel
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2011
    Changelog 1.7.0
    • StoDemoLauncher is finally a proper open source project at sourceforge. Thanks to CaptNeo for setting it up for me!
    • Thanks to JohoCrol's deep knowledge about the command line options for STO, we have a new "Render Movie" button. Converts the demo file into a huge pile of jpgs in your screenshots folder.

    More on the way. If all goes well, there will be version 1.8.0 before the end of the weekend.

    Regards,
    Rachel
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2011
    1.8.0 is looking realy good on SourceForge! :)

    Perhaps if you wish to continue improving your app the following might be useful thoughts:

    Scenario1:

    The first time a .demo file is selected to be edited, the app makes a back-up of the file named filename-original.demo or filename-backup.demo thus always having a copy of the original un-edited .demo file.

    Each time a .demo file is selected to be edited the app checks for the presence of this back-up file. If it exists it opens the file for editing, if not it creates the back-up file first.

    Scenario2:

    As your app reads the .demo file that might be a good time to remove any on-screen messages that have been saved. eg "Manoeuvring Thrusters only" at ESD can spoil a video!

    Within the .demo file is a section which contains "Messages". Most of these do not affect the demo; they call for sound effects and send messages to the chat window. If you have a .demo file that contains an annoying onscreen message open that file in a text editor and search for "Messages" to identify the correct syntax for onscreen messages.

    -

    Obviously both the above can be done manually, but an all-in-one app that does all these things automatically would be a tremendous time-saver for the video-makers out there.

    Keep up the good work!!!
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