Game Replay Tool

[Mator]

I think it would be really friggin' awesome if someone could make a tool for Halo PC/CE that could "listen" to a server and record the information associated with player positions, vehicle positions, and commands to a file to allow for replay later. This would make filming for montages and other video projects MUCH easier, and would breathe life back into the Halo community.

According to Omega/Goemitar it should be possible in theory. Can someone with some time on their hands pursue it? I'd love you forever if you did. :3


--Mator

[Omega]

In theory yes, in practice not really. It would require way too much work and time.

[Mator]

People should at least try it... :/

I mean how hard can it be? The data is there, being sent on a certain port via packets of information. All you have to do is capture that information and trick halo into simulating it again...


-Mator

[Kornman00]

This was how I was going to do most of the stats collection in Synapse (a server tool, with stats tracker support). Not only could we do retroactive stats (by re-processing the server's game), but we could evaluate cases of cheating as well (by automatically analyzing the events, or by getting film play back working and watching the game ourselves).

However, I didn't, and still don't, have the time to implement this into OpenSauce. If I had the source to the engine, maybe, but it just wasn't worth the time to work on with that black box that HaloCE is today.

To answer your second post: "tricking" halo into simulating it again isn't as trivial as you're making it seem. Especially with no source to the engine, it would be no small feat to accomplish.

[sanni]

Someone should infiltrate 343i under the cover of a game developer xD

[t3h m00kz]

And lose their chance to work in games ever again

[Kornman00]

m00kz, you just volunteered.

[Choking Victim]

This was how I was going to do most of the stats collection in Synapse (a server tool, with stats tracker support). Not only could we do retroactive stats (by re-processing the server's game), but we could evaluate cases of cheating as well (by automatically analyzing the events, or by getting film play back working and watching the game ourselves).

However, I didn't, and still don't, have the time to implement this into OpenSauce. If I had the source to the engine, maybe, but it just wasn't worth the time to work on with that black box that HaloCE is today.

To answer your second post: "tricking" halo into simulating it again isn't as trivial as you're making it seem. Especially with no source to the engine, it would be no small feat to accomplish.
Technically couldn't recorded animations be used for something similar to saved films? Like just record the unit control data of every player in a game and dump it to a file similar to the recorded animations format, then pass that data to the playback function. I would attempt it, but i still need to figure out a few things related to recorded animations.

[PaulusT]

All the effort required in hacking a closed-source game makes me wonder:

Isn't there another game, or a mod for another game, that plays (or could play) similar to Halo 1? I guess that type of project requires effort too, but of a different sort. Would people get in trouble they created Halo's levels in another game (and the game became popular)?

[Pooky]

All the effort required in hacking a closed-source game makes me wonder:

Isn't there another game, or a mod for another game, that plays (or could play) similar to Halo 1? I guess that type of project requires effort too, but of a different sort. Would people get in trouble they created Halo's levels in another game (and the game became popular)?

It's been tried before more than once. Halo is Halo, anything else is not.

[Mator]

Found something which can do almost everything I need for certain applications:

http://hce.halomaps.org/index.cfm?fid=5939


This + support for certain commands like secondary weapon fire, vehicle entry+exit, and we're basically there.

Then you just need to turn the player positions/starting locations into unit-spawn commands at locations & orientations and you've got a game replay.


Edit: Maybe one of you guys could do a quick fix for the secondary weapon fire and vehicle entry+exit commands? If you could I'd be really grateful! :)

[Ryx]

This isn't what you wanted. This looks like it'll just record what you do.

[vnlagrla]

does it only record you or does it record everything for the whole game? if so this would be cool.

[Mator]

This isn't what you wanted. This looks like it'll just record what you do.

I know what I want. This particular program records what I do, which is a step in the right direction. It gives me a certain degree of functionality which is sufficient for certain applications, though an actual "game replay tool", which replays the actions of all players instead of a single one, was what I was originally expecting.

Furthermore, who's to say that what this program does, viz, record a single player, isn't a step in the right direction to what you'd want from a game replay tool: recording multiple players? I'd say, if anything, this program presents an approach which could be used in part to achieve my original idea. Combine it with a few other methods and increase its scope and you have a game replay tool (like a position and an aim checkfix once a second for all objects).


does it only record you or does it record everything for the whole game? if so this would be cool.

This program only records a single player, as far as I can see. It also doesn't record the use of your action button (default is e), or secondary weapon fire (default is right click).