Posted: Tue Aug 19, 2008 11:19 am Post subject: TF2 Console Commands
Im assuming that the way to record an in game demo is to use some sort of console command, id like to try it out, so can anyone tell me the commands to start and stop recording demos. Also are there different types, i.e. a general one that records the whole level and everything that is happening, or one that focuses on what one player (i.e. me) can see?
Also are there any other interesting/helpful console commands that can be useful when playing the game?
Oh yea, and if i use the play sound command to, for example, play the sniper sound "Blimey", can only i hear it, or can other ppl hear it to in-game?
I was just wondering about this stuff, hasn't really got anything to do with anything.
This should tell you how to record a demo, play it back, and convert it into a single .avi file - but be warned, it'll likely take up an awful lot of time. It is written for CS:S, but TF2 runs on the same Source engine, and so the console commands are identical.
As far as I know, you can only record a demo to show what you see (Or other people, if you happen to be spectating).
I have some tips for recording and converting demofiles to movies, been meaning to write a sticky/guide for it but time escapes me at the moment
Here's a quick run-down, though all of this and almost everything you need to know can be found here on TF2wiki.net.
record DEMONAME - records the current game as DEMONAME.DEM in your team fortress program folder (something like "\Steam\steamapps\username\team fortress 2\tf"). Demofiles record your viewpoint only plus anything you spectate while waiting to respawn. Recording ends when you disconnect from the server or type stop into the console.
Some servers have SourceTV set up - find these on your "spectate" tab in "Find Servers". Recording a demofile from a SourceTV feed can usually record ALL players on the server, and VOIP chat from both teams. Only when you have a recording of a SourceTV feed can you flick between different players and move the camera about the map freely when playing back a demofile - demofiles recorded during regular play only save your perspective of the game and do not (technically) allow you to zoom around the map to see other action.
Playing back a demofile is easiest with the Demo Playback UI - type "demoui" into the console or press Shift-F2 to bring this up. From here you can load demofiles, play them back, fastforward or play in slow motion, and skip to different time indexes in the demo. There is no way to "rewind" a demo, you must note down and jump to a time index (ticks) if you want to go back to an earlier point in the demo playback.
There is another Demo Playback UI which is smaller and less obtrusive, type "demoui2" in console to enable/disable it.
Demofile time indexes are measured in "ticks", and the length of a tick depends on the server "tick rate". This is the rate at which the server tracks events in the game world and tries to synchronise with each connected player. The THG servers are "tick rate 66", meaning there are 66 "ticks" per second of gameplay. Useful to know this when jumping around different time indexes when playing back demofiles - for example, jumping back by 4000 ticks is like rewinding for about ten minutes.
Here are some handy things to know when recording your demofile to AVI...
You can record demofiles directly to DivX/avi files, skipping building the avi from the thousands of TGA files with VirtualDub. First set TF2 to run in windowed mode from the graphics settings menu, in the resolution you want your final movie to be. Some good resolutions are:
1280x720 (Widescreen HD video)
720x576 (Widescreen DVD format)
640x480 (VGA non-widescreen, fairly suitable for YouTube quality)
You can remove the player names, HUD and chat text by typing cl_drawhud 0. You can also remove the your player's character model and weapon with r_drawviewmodel 0 though losing the model is really only worthwhile when using with the "Drive" command, which is way beyond the scope of this post
Before starting to record the AVI file in TF2, I recommend binding a few shortcut commands. Type bind F11 demo_resume and bind F12 endmovie in the console. Once you've done this you can skip to where you want the AVI recording to start, pause playback, clear the UI off sceen, begin AVI recording and hit F11 to resume playback. You can then press F12 to stop recording the AVI when done (the PC will grind a lot when recording so this shortcut is very handy).
Play about with the DemoUI playback controls and some demofiles to get used to them. Once you've got to the bit of the demo you want to record to avi, pause playback and close the DemoUI. Remove the HUD if you like.
Before recording, consider using the max_fps 30 command in console. This prevents TF2 from trying to render too many frames for your AVI movie and (allegedly) prevents some audio-sync problems in the final movie.
Open the console and type startmovie mymovie avi. This will prepare to save the movie as an AVI file called mymovie.AVI, but first you'll need to pick a video codec to record the AVI with. The doom9.org FAQ pages are an excellent resource for information on codecs, but I've had the most success with DivX 5 for video and AC3 audio so far at 720x576 and 1280x720 sizes.
The codec selection box will pop up on your desktop (which is why we run TF2 in windowed mode) and you can choose a codec from the list and configure it there. DO NOT choose "Full Frames (Uncompressed)" unless you have about a gig of disk space free for every minute you want record! A hard disk that fills up completely while recording movies will crash TF2, and Windows is never happy with low disk space available - keep at least a gigabyte of free space at all times.
DivX was a good choice for me; allow a video bitrate of between 2000 and 3000 and either alter the Performance>Quality slider to your taste or dig into the advanced options. Also choose a DivX profile to match the screen resoultion you chose earlier (720x576 @30fps, 1280x720 @30fps or whatever you chose). Expect to use about 10-20mb of disk space per minute of video with DivX.
Once codecs are chosen and you click OK, a message will appear in the TF2 console: "Started recording movie, frames will record after console is cleared". At this point closing the console will begin recording the AVI, during which time your PC will probably grind to a slow chug and the game audio will stutter a lot. Don't worry, the final movie is usually fine - your PC is just struggling to display TF2 and encode video at the same time. I get about 5fps when recording video
When you've recorded what you want, that F12 shortcut key to the endmovie command will be handy - just bash it a lot until your PC returns to normal speed. I found opening the console took ages while recording, and the console is then recorded into the AVI file at the end of your film - the shortcut key avoids all of that.
Check the console - if you see "Stopped recording movie" then everything probably went to plan - exit TF2 and check your "\Steam\steamapps\username\team fortress 2\TF" folder for mymovie.AVI, which should play back in Media Player or VLC.
You may still find some audio sync problems, my recorded AVI files tend to play the audio exactly 2.8 seconds early - you'll have to scour the doom9.org FAQs and tutorials for a fix, but there are plenty of tools available to adjust the audio back into sync.
Don't forget that TF2 game updates will break your old recorded demofiles - I'm expecting tonight's Heavy Update to ruin all mine later this evening. If you value them, get them to AVI as soon as you can.
So, just a short post I have some links to tutorials saved somewhere, but they're still on my old PC and I'll have to go dig them out later. Give a yell if anything's still puzzling...
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TF2 Console Commands
I have some links to tutorials saved somewhere, but they're still on my old PC and I'll have to go dig them out later. Give a yell if anything's still puzzling...
