Hey everybody. So I've wanted to make a gameplay montage of me playing for awhile now, but I wasn't sure how to go about doing that. Well after spending some time researching and reading, I've finally put together a work flow that works for me. I haven't seen a thread on here that walks one through the process of recording a video and converting it out to a video file (but to be fair I didn't look very hard), so I'd like to share my knowledge with the rest of those interested in doing the same.
I know a lot of people use fraps to make videos, but you can actually do it all within console, which is pretty sweet (plus fraps kinda sucks lol).
First you need to record a demo.
Open up TF2, and go to the console (by hitting the ~ key on your keyboard).
(If the console doesn't come up when you hit that key, you need to enable it. To do that, go to options>keyboard>advanced... and check "Enable developer console". Then hit ok twice)
Once you have the console open type: record (demo file name)
This will begin recording a demo.
Go play and be awesome, and when you want to stop recording the demo, open the console back up and type: stop
This will save a file to your computer (demo file name.dem) in your game folder (...\Steam\SteamApps\[username]\team fortress 2\tf\)
These files don't take up much room (I have a 2 hour long one thats about 70 megs) so you shouldn't have to worry too much about space when recording these.
Some basic information about recording demos:
A demo recorded for Team Fortress 2 captures the following:
* Gameplay from the perspective of the player recording the demo
* All HUD elements including chat / console text messages
* Audio received by the player through the voice chat system
There are limitations to note when recording a demo:
So after you have finished recording your demo, its time to convert it to a video file! As of right now, the demo file can only be played within TF2. You don't need to be in a server to do the converting, you can just do it in the console from the main menu.
When it converts the demo to a video file, the video file resolution is the same as your in-game resolution. So before you convert the demo file, change your in-game resolution to however big you want your video's resolution to be (keeping in mind that the higher the resolution, the more space the file will take up). I set it to the lowest settings (848x480/16:9 aspect ratio (640x480 with normal aspect ration)) because its still pretty good quality without being a giant file.
Go into the console, and type:
host_framerate 30
startmovie (moviename) avi
A box will pop up, pick the compressor you want to use (I find that setting it to mpeg-4 works well for me). Then type:
playdemo (demo file name)
Now sit back, grab the popcorn, and wait for your demo to replay. (if you only want to stop the demo at anytime, type "stopdemo" in the console). When the demo is over type:
endmovie
The video file has now been saved to your games folder (...\Steam\SteamApps\[username]\team fortress 2\)
With the resolution set to 848x480 and the mpeg-4 compressor, my movie file size is about 30 megs per minute
Then use your favorite video editing software (premiere is my personal software of choice), cut together your awesome new greatest hits video, and post it for the rest of us to see!
I hope this was helpful and thorough enough, if you have any questions about anything, please let me know. Thanks for reading!
I know a lot of people use fraps to make videos, but you can actually do it all within console, which is pretty sweet (plus fraps kinda sucks lol).
First you need to record a demo.
Open up TF2, and go to the console (by hitting the ~ key on your keyboard).
(If the console doesn't come up when you hit that key, you need to enable it. To do that, go to options>keyboard>advanced... and check "Enable developer console". Then hit ok twice)
Once you have the console open type: record (demo file name)
This will begin recording a demo.
Go play and be awesome, and when you want to stop recording the demo, open the console back up and type: stop
This will save a file to your computer (demo file name.dem) in your game folder (...\Steam\SteamApps\[username]\team fortress 2\tf\)
These files don't take up much room (I have a 2 hour long one thats about 70 megs) so you shouldn't have to worry too much about space when recording these.
Some basic information about recording demos:
A demo recorded for Team Fortress 2 captures the following:
* Gameplay from the perspective of the player recording the demo
* All HUD elements including chat / console text messages
* Audio received by the player through the voice chat system
There are limitations to note when recording a demo:
* The demo relies upon the user having a copy of the map file related to the demo. The demo does not save a copy of the map that was played.
* The demo only records what was necessary to render audio and video for the player.
* If a server changes maps during a recording, the game will create a new demo file with the same name and an appended sequential number to avoid filename conflicts.
* A demo file cannot be started from within the operating system (e.g. double-clicking on it in Windows Explorer). A demo must be loaded from within the game by console command or demoui interface.
* The demo only records what was necessary to render audio and video for the player.
o The demo does not record the scoreboard at any time even if the player views it during recording.
o The player cannot externally view his own character during play unless he taunts, he dies, though turning on sv_cheats during demo playback and using the thirdperson console command does work.
o Objects such as other players, buildings and weapons fire will not be visible beyond a certain distance from the player's current position if he uses the Drive function in the Demo Playback window. The entire map is loaded but distant activity not in the player's line of sight may not be rendered at all times. Sprays are rendered at all times if the local cached spray still exists.
* The recorder does not capture the recording player's voice communication. However, he will see any text messages he entered in the game chat. (To record the player's voice, voice_loopback 1 must be set in the console. This forces the player's voice to be played back in the audio output.)o The player cannot externally view his own character during play unless he taunts, he dies, though turning on sv_cheats during demo playback and using the thirdperson console command does work.
o Objects such as other players, buildings and weapons fire will not be visible beyond a certain distance from the player's current position if he uses the Drive function in the Demo Playback window. The entire map is loaded but distant activity not in the player's line of sight may not be rendered at all times. Sprays are rendered at all times if the local cached spray still exists.
* If a server changes maps during a recording, the game will create a new demo file with the same name and an appended sequential number to avoid filename conflicts.
* A demo file cannot be started from within the operating system (e.g. double-clicking on it in Windows Explorer). A demo must be loaded from within the game by console command or demoui interface.
So after you have finished recording your demo, its time to convert it to a video file! As of right now, the demo file can only be played within TF2. You don't need to be in a server to do the converting, you can just do it in the console from the main menu.
When it converts the demo to a video file, the video file resolution is the same as your in-game resolution. So before you convert the demo file, change your in-game resolution to however big you want your video's resolution to be (keeping in mind that the higher the resolution, the more space the file will take up). I set it to the lowest settings (848x480/16:9 aspect ratio (640x480 with normal aspect ration)) because its still pretty good quality without being a giant file.
Go into the console, and type:
host_framerate 30
startmovie (moviename) avi
A box will pop up, pick the compressor you want to use (I find that setting it to mpeg-4 works well for me). Then type:
playdemo (demo file name)
Now sit back, grab the popcorn, and wait for your demo to replay. (if you only want to stop the demo at anytime, type "stopdemo" in the console). When the demo is over type:
endmovie
The video file has now been saved to your games folder (...\Steam\SteamApps\[username]\team fortress 2\)
With the resolution set to 848x480 and the mpeg-4 compressor, my movie file size is about 30 megs per minute
Then use your favorite video editing software (premiere is my personal software of choice), cut together your awesome new greatest hits video, and post it for the rest of us to see!
I hope this was helpful and thorough enough, if you have any questions about anything, please let me know. Thanks for reading!
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