Recording Demos: does this make DivX files somehow?

[legacy-Are-Oh!]

Okay, I'm confused.

I know how to issue the "demorec" commands in UT2004's console and such, but after seeing...

Demo Recording
- Demo->AVI menu uses proper resolution settings
- Fixed auto demo recording
- fixed DIVx demo movies being recorded at too high a frame rate

...in the latest patch details, am I to assume those .demo4 files are divx files? Or, is there some option to choose the encoding for normal demo files or DivX files?

Hope I'm being clear. Is there some other fancy demo menu that I'm missing that can let one choose the output file-type?

Gosh!

[-=Reclaimer=-]

if you want to make a demo into a avi file simply go to the demo menu, and at the bottom it will say "Convert AVI" click that and the demo you selected will be converted to avi

[legacy-Abilio_KID]

Are-Oh!, demo files are a sequence of positions, movements, clicks, etc that you recorded while playing a match. Basically the game records everything that happens every 25 frames per second. You can change it to more fps to make it smoother but it will also take more space in your drive (we can talk about that later).
UT2004 now has a Community button where you can check for news and see what demos you have recorded in your game, plus a few things more. There's then another button that allows you to convert those demos to AVI format. It will then be a real movie and not just a sequence like I told you. Here you can change the resolution and quality of the final video.

[legacy-[SWF]Talos]

Originally posted by AoA Reclaimer
if you want to make a demo into a avi file simply go to the demo menu, and at the bottom it will say "Convert AVI" click that and the demo you selected will be converted to avi

PLease explain what you mean I would like to know where this menu is. I know how to start a demo also but i forgot how to stop it with closeing out 2k4.

[legacy-richmanrush]

Sorry to bring up an old post, but I've having trouble with the built in converter.

It defaults to high quality at 320x240 or whatever. I tried to up the resolution to 800x600 and it crashed and I got some error (didn't copy it, but will if I get it again).

Did I perhaps try to make too high a quality demo with that resolution and it crashed? Is there something I need to do to get that high of a resolution to work? BTW, I only have 512M ram, not sure if it was memory related or not. I'll give it a go in another day or two and post the error and/or results.

The conversion also ran very choppy, I'm assuming that's just my weak PC though, as trying to get camera positioning was rough (even trying to hit the stop button took me a while hehe)

Thanks in advance!

(edit: also, how would one go about adding sound to it? Throw up a sound recording program in the background while recording the demo then sync it up with another program?)

[legacy-chimbaktu]

first of all, there's no way you're going to get that high of a resolution with 512mb of RAM. it will probably take at least a week straight to render and convert the demo to avi. remember, whenever you do conversions/renders it is done entirely in the RAM, so having such a small amount is going to take forevor and a year.




to add sound you will need an editing program. adobe premiere and final cut pro are the programs used most often by professionals and amateurs. you're everyday consumer uses pinnacle, vegas studios, etc. (i will use premiere and final cut for my example since they are almost exactly the same). in premiere you would go to file/import and import the .avi that the demo was converted to. then you would drag that file down into the timeline. next, you would import the audio file you want, then drag that down into the timeline. now you can modify the timeline and move stuff around wherever you want and synch up the audio to the video. now you go up and Render the video and audio, and then you click file/export and export the finished product as whatever format you wish. i personally enjoy avi and mpeg 4 due to their good quality and high compression.

[legacy-richmanrush]

Thanks.. I figured it was a RAM issue, but the game just crashed before it started to even render. I was able to render at 640x480 no problem.

I've also got adobe premiere somewhere, so I'll give that a try. But what do you recommend for getting the audio? Can you record audio in premiere while running the demo? I'd guess that would take a load of RAM too. Or do you use something else to get the audio?

Thanks for the help!

[legacy-Riffage]

www.fraps.com gg wp thx

[legacy-chimbaktu]

um...do you mean the ingame sound? ie: the sound effects, or do you wish to add music? the demo4/avi file cotains the standard audio effects that you experience in game. if you wish to add music, then you should either use your own songs that you want, or you can use the unreal music found in your UT2004 music folder. i believe that files are .wav. so using premiere, you would import the song of choice and then drag it down to the timeline.

[legacy-chimbaktu]

btw, you should check out this link http://www.ataricommunity.com/forums...highlight=demo


it's about recording in a higher frame rate rather than the standard 25fps of demorec.






fraps is nice, but for UT2k4 the video seems a bit too choppy. or at least that has been my experience with it.

[legacy-richmanrush]

thanks chimbak. I appreciate your efforts to help me hehe. I'm a beginner to UT2k4, especially the demo sides of things.

Yea, I meant the in-game audio (sound effects etc). You lost me on that demo4/avi bit. Basically, once I've gotten the demo converted to avi, I want to add the sound to it. I wasn't sure if the game records the audio to a file, or if I have to record the audio on my own, and sync it up with a video editing program. Also, thanks for the link on the fps.

[legacy-chimbaktu]

okay, i see what your question is. the demo records all of the audio sound effects (like whena weapon fires) but it doesn't record the music that is playing. so in a game, try going to settins and turning music off. that is exactly how the demo will sound. so there are the sound effects, just not the in game music. you can add music later in an editing utility. so basically, after you have converted the demo to and avi file, you will have the video and sound effects all in the avi file, you can then import it into premiere. the avi file will have the video and the audio effects, so then you can add a song if you want.

[legacy-richmanrush]

hmm, does it depend what audio settings you use, cause mine didn't have any audio (not even weapon fires and sound effects) I'm using safe audio, no music, effects max'd, or could it be I have an outdated codec?

edit: The demo has the sound effects of course, but not the AVI. That's what I meant. Sorry for the confusion.

[legacy-chimbaktu]

hmm....i think it might be a problem with recording the audio in safe mode. not sure though. i'll get back to you on it.

[legacy-richmanrush]

thanks, I'll also try using a different audio mode.

(edit: just tried it with 3d audio + eax, still no audio. Tried WMP and my ATI media player. QT wouldn't run the avi, as I thought)

(edit again: tried just plain old 3d audio, and still no sfx. I also checked (something I should have done earlier) the properties of the file in WMP, and it shows no bitrate and no audio codec either.)

using WMP 9.0, was on divx 5.11, just upgraded to 5.21, still no audio

Appreciate the help. I'm clueless on the audio Is it perhaps a setting I'm missing?