How to send, accept, and record CS:S demos + Movie GUI's

Please note in this guide I'll be assuming you have some idea of what a ''console'' is and stuff like that. Can't be bothered to explain every inch of it!

For this tutorial you will need:
- Virtual Dub (can be downloaded from www.virtualdub.org)
- DivX (NOT Xvid, can be trial-downloaded here: http://www.divx.com/en/software/divx-plus)
- A relatively fast computer
- A decent amount of diskspace, 100gb advised
- Preferably a movie GUI

Index
1. Counter Strike: Source demos
1.1 Recording a demo in CS:S
1.2 Sending or accepting demos
1.3 Recording your demo into frames
1.4 Converting your frames into an .avi
2. Movie GUI's
2.1 What is a movie GUI and where do I get one?
2.2 How to effectively apply a movie GUI


1. Counter Strike: Source demos

A Counter Strike: Source demo is basically a recording of the entire game. You can view any player, or roam the camera freely. However, CS:S demos are a lot more complicated than other games, and CS:S features an ingame recording unit which beats any screen recording program by a mile. In this tutorial I will be explaining the basics of recording. What I will be explaining is roughly 25% of what CS:S demos can do. Things such as smoothing (having very nice freeroams which go very smooth), wallhack view and other things that you may use in editing CS:S videos I can't explain, because they're very complicated and I don't know how to do those things myself. However, this guide will teach you the most basic thing you'll need to know: how to record a demo.

1.1 Recording a demo in CS:S

(If you already have the demo file you want, skip to Step 3)

Open the game, and when it's time to record, open the console by pressing the tilde (~) key. Type "record [filename]" and press 'Enter'. Replace '[filename]' with whatever you want the demo to be titled. When you're done recording, open the console again and type "stop".


1.2 Sending or accepting demos

All demos will be located in your cstrike folder, C:\Program Files\Steam\SteamApps\m4user_\counter-strike source\cstrike. You can simply send or recieve the demo files (.dem) from there. You can also rename them. This really should be self explanatory. Any demo you get or send should be placed in your cstrike folder.


1.3 Recording your demo into frames

First, play around in your options window. Set your ingame res to whatever you like (don't go crazy on it, the higher res, the more diskspace goes). Also I advise setting CS:S to windowed mode, it's easier to work with. On a default 640x480 res with 30fps you'll be working with 27MB a second, however I prefer recording in 60fps which will be even more. Then, change your audio to 2 speakers.

When you're done, open the console and type ''host_framerate #''. This will set your FPS to whatever you fill in for the #. I prefer using 60fps, however if you're going to do a slow-motion sequence, you're better off using around 200fps. Remember, the higher your fps, the more disk space needed. Remember the fps you set, you'll need it later on.

Then, go to the console and type ''startmovie [filename]''. For [filename] just fill in something you can remember. While still in the console, type ''demoui''. This will open the demo UI. In the demo UI click ''load'' and browse
to the demo you'll be recording. Open it.

When they upload a demo, most players set a ''tick'' in the filename. This tick specifies at what time the ''moment'' happens. To go to this ''tick'', simply type in the tick in the ''tick'' box and click ''goto''. You'll jump straight to it.

Basically now just let the demo play. The demo will record by itself and you'll experience 5-20 fps. This won't matter, you'll be reassembling the frames later. All of the frames that you record are saved off as .tga files in your cstrike folder... A lot of them.

When you're done, open the console and type ''endmovie'', and hit Enter.


1.4 Converting your frames into an avi

Close the game, and start Virtual Dub. Click file, then Open Video File. Navigate to the folder of the game (cstrike), and make sure ''image sequence (*.bmp, *.tga)'' is enabled as a recognized format to be browsed. Double-click the FIRST image out of the thousands that will be located in your folder. Virtual dub will import the first one and begin piecing together all the other images all by itself. Isn't technology wonderful. Then, go to video > Frame rate. Under
source rate adjustment select Change Frame Rate To (FPS)... and fill in the fps you selected earlier when you filled ''host_framerate #'' into the console. Alternatively you could try selecting ''change so audio and video durations match'' after following the next step but I haven't confirmed this myself. It might work though.

We're not done yet . Go to audio > WAV Audio... If you can't select that option, click to audio > full processing mode first, and then do it. In your cstrike folder there'll be an audio file with a similar name to your frames. Doubleclick it and VDub will attach it to the movie.

Now, it's time to clip your movie. Simply go to the place you want to start deleting, and press Home. Then go to the end of the to be deleted part and press End. Then press Delete to delete your selection. Do this with all unnecessary parts of the movie. Make sure you add the audio first to have it clipped alongside the movie.

Once you've finished editing it's time to configure the compression. For this you can either render it to an uncompressed .avi and then use any encoding application to encode it (e.g. ajaX encoder). However you can also encode straight from VDub. Simply go to 'Video > compression' and select the DivX codec, then click configure. Select 'slow' from encode performance to yield maximum quality over speed. Click ok twice to leave the VDub compression box.

To compress the audio, go to, you guessed it, audio > compression. Choose 'MPEG Layer-3' from the list on the left, then a bitrate (any stereo will do) from the list on the right, and click 'OK'. Choose 'File > Save as .avi'. Locate where you want it saved, specify a file name, and click 'Save'. VDub will now compress the video into a small file, and you'll have your CS:S video clip packed up 'n ready!


2. Movie GUI's

In this section I will be explaining how to obtain a movie GUI, how to apply it, why these movie GUI's are essential in editing CS:S videos, and how not to destroy your CS:S with one.


2.1 What is a movie GUI and where do I get one?

You could say a movie GUI is a skin for the interface of CS:S. What it does is modify basic things such as your main menu, your console, and other things which would either get in your way or would need change if you were making a movie. The most used movie GUI is Rechyyy aka Clayman's GUI, which can be downloaded here: http://www.mediafire.com/?venmzdata5z. Basically what this does is it sets your crosshair to normal, removes money and weapon interfaces, removes custom skins (until you remove the .cfg), and sets graphics to maximum.

2.2 How to effectively apply a Movie GUI

When you've downloaded Rechyyy's config, leave it for a moment. Go to your ''counter-strike source'' folder (C:\Program Files\Steam\SteamApps\m4user_\counter-strike source). Now, follow these steps CAREFULLY.

1. First, make TWO new folders in that folder. Name one ''Moviemaking GUI'' and the other ''NOT Moviemaking GUI''. Extract your downloaded Rechyyy config into ''Moviemaking GUI''.

2. There'll be two files: readme...not and cstrike. Cstrike is basically a replacement for your original cstrike folder. You should paste ALL your demos into that folder or make a new folder in C:\Program Files\Steam\SteamApps\[YOURSTEAMACCOUNTNAME]\counter-strike source named ''demos'' to save them there. Keep those demos sorted out!

3. Now the hard part... Whenever you want to use your movie gui, go to C:\Program Files\Steam\SteamApps\[YOURSTEAMACCOUNTNAME]\counter-strike source and CUT (DON'T copy) your ''cstrike'' folder, and paste it into ''NOT moviemaking GUI''. Then, go to ''Moviemaking GUI'' and CUT the cstrike folder, and paste it into C:\Program Files\Steam\SteamApps\[YOURSTEAMACCOUNTNAME]\counter-strike source. You'll now have Rechyyy's config activated. Bear in mind you CANNOT play the game effectively when you have this config activated!

4. To play the game again, simply CUT Rechyyy's cstrike (which will be in your counter-strike source folder if you have the Movie GUI activated) and paste it into ''Moviemaking GUI''. Then CUT your own cstrike folder from your ''NOT Moviemaking GUI'' folder to your counter-strike source folder.

Why cut? Because in that way you can always determine for sure which one is active, the one with the empty folder is active.

People have had their CS:S destroyed by these movie configs. Be careful with them.


I hope this guide was helpful. Want to be helpful too? Leave a comment with advice on future walkthroughs or how I could improve this one!

Thanx man really helped

so much to read:O

Thanks, you always do make good tuts. ^.^

Nice rank direct

Mist wrote:

Nice rank direct

Ikr oO pretty much posting to everything.. *cough*spammer*cough*

BaraN wrote:

Mist wrote:

Nice rank direct

Ikr oO pretty much posting to everything.. *cough*spammer*cough*

I'd like to know how its spamming when every post that I post is about the topic and the first post that was the main idea of that post. Therefor it cannot be consider spam as its on topic with every topic but, what your doing is flaming as it has nothing to do with the topic .

Direct wrote:

BaraN wrote:

Mist wrote:

Nice rank direct

Ikr oO pretty much posting to everything.. *cough*spammer*cough*

I'd like to know how its spamming when every post that I post is about the topic and the first post that was the main idea of that post. Therefor it cannot be consider spam as its on topic with every topic but, what your doing is flaming as it has nothing to do with the topic .

neither has Mists post anything to do with it. Also this wasnt meant to flame you, I've seen your posts and they were all on topic. Still you can even spam when its topic related.

BaraN wrote:

Direct wrote:

BaraN wrote:

Mist wrote:

Nice rank direct

Ikr oO pretty much posting to everything.. *cough*spammer*cough*

I'd like to know how its spamming when every post that I post is about the topic and the first post that was the main idea of that post. Therefor it cannot be consider spam as its on topic with every topic but, what your doing is flaming as it has nothing to do with the topic .

neither has Mists post anything to do with it. Also this wasnt meant to flame you, I've seen your posts and they were all on topic. Still you can even spam when its topic related.

spam!

BaraN wrote:

Direct wrote:

BaraN wrote:

Mist wrote:

Nice rank direct

Ikr oO pretty much posting to everything.. *cough*spammer*cough*

I'd like to know how its spamming when every post that I post is about the topic and the first post that was the main idea of that post. Therefor it cannot be consider spam as its on topic with every topic but, what your doing is flaming as it has nothing to do with the topic .

neither has Mists post anything to do with it. Also this wasnt meant to flame you, I've seen your posts and they were all on topic. Still you can even spam when its topic related.

No, The definition of spamming is: Spam is the abuse of electronic messaging systems. As I'm responding to posts on topic is not considered spam nor flame.