Better track replay system

[SharpeXB]

2 minutes ago, Ironhand said:

Works just fine for my purposes most times. So I hope no one removes it.

How is that? Because any action you record will replay differently than your actual gameplay. I think only simple thing like solo flights will come out right. Sure I’m being a little sarcastic suggesting that it be removed but it currently just doesn’t work. 

Edited September 21, 2021 by SharpeXB

[Tippis]

20 minutes ago, SharpeXB said:

How is that? Because any action you record will replay differently than your actual gameplay.

That depends entirely on how and where it is recorded.

 

It is not true that “any action” will replay differently — some may under some circumstances, and the biggest problem isn't actually with recording your actions, but the actions of various AI actors. But even there, it can be circumvented by not using SP tracks.

[WytchCrypt]

This has been a major nit of mine for many years.  Back in the Flanker 1.x DOS days the replay system was perfect.  As the sim evolved in complexity it got more and more unpredictable.  I recall it still being solid in LOMAC but starting to get flaky in Flaming Cliffs and beyond into DCS.  I fly very simple single player missions I create in the mission editor and I have noticed one thing that affects the accuracy of the track.  Let's say I'm practicing carrier ops...if I start the mission in air to practice Case I or III landings the track replay system works fine.  I don't believe I've ever had one of those missions turn into fiction on replay.  OTOH if I take off from the carrier, absolutely zero success playing back the track.  Also taking off from a land base on landing on the carrier never works for me.

 

As far as tracks not surviving DCS version updates...absolutely true for me.  Because of losing so many cool tracks after DCS updates I decided to take a different approach.  After a mission that I want to make a movie of, I go into track replay and give it a try hoping it works.  If the replay is accurate I use the NVidia video capture function software to record the playback of the track then edit it in Shotcut video editor.  Works great and I have an *.mp4 of my mission that never goes bad...of course it's all dependent on the DCS track editor succeeding in the first place!

 

I really wish DCS would throw a resource at fixing this problem once and for all...making movies of my flights is one of the main reasons I love DCS so much!

Edited September 22, 2021 by WytchCrypt

[NeuralBlankes]

At the bare minimum it would be nice if the track-data file named "times" could be modified to force the track to start at a specific point (don't do this, it crashes the game).

Or have the ability to reverse the track replay.  So perhaps instead of using Alt-Z to slow time down,  you use something like RAlt-Z to reverse time with the same functionality that Ctrl-Z has.

[Limaro]

I also would wish to have a better track replay/recording system. The main "requirement" for me would be to freely move through the whole replay, like in a video.

[gmangnall]

The replay system is a disgrace.  I make videos....but I have to resort to ai control or short clips. As for it being unfixable....why do all other games manage  it perfectly well

[Worrazen]

I think there should be some kind of a tool and reporting mechanism that at any sight of replay and multiplayer issues, desyncs, weirdness, you could analyze the game state , on both ends in mp, and send detailed info to ED similarly like the crash reporter works, without the process or the game actually being a debug build and not revealing any internal confidential information, if possible.

This would give more insight into all the mass cases of client-server networking issues and replays that reported by public beta testing. Closed testers may have some level of debug builds I think but there's probably only less than 100 of them, AFAIK? If this reporting system exists at all in any of the build then even closed beta testers aren't reporting all cases, maybe just some of them, I'm not exactly sure whether a report usually has any info attached to it or just a verbal report of "desync happened in that mission at this time when I was doing this", we could do better than this and for complicated client-server networking and mixing replay system with that we need to provide more, if possible, I'm not sure tho, perhaps full debug builds would be needed for what I'm proposing in that case it probably won't happen for public beta or even closed beta.

 

On 10/16/2021 at 2:27 PM, Limaro said:

I also would wish to have a better track replay/recording system. The main "requirement" for me would be to freely move through the whole replay, like in a video.

I think it's not that easy and back in Starcraft 2 days it was mentioned by Blizzard that the dev team had to work hard to make the replay system as good as it was, apparently highly complicated area, but then they made it so you could rewind back while in the replay which to my knowledge was not possible in any other game at the time and is still a rare thing, correct me if I'm wrong, at that time they also made another dev post saying how it took some special programming magic of the deepest levels to create rewindable replays.

So what you guys are asking, to make replays perfect, rewindable, is apparently a major undertaking, if that is applicable to DCS I'm not sure, I remember it vaguely that it works by CPU instructions or something, makes the replays very small in filesize, so when you go backward it kinda has to internally start from a checkpoint and seek to that point you're trying to continue because the CPU has to play the instructions to get to that state/time that you requested as the state isn't saved literally, that's very rought how I remember it, probably a lot more details to it, perhaps that's one of the versions and has since changed a bit.

Edited December 22, 2021 by Worrazen

[Worrazen]

Haha, unrelated but sort of interesting timing, Age of Empires II Definitive Edition seems to have something very similar to I've just suggested, Enhanced Logging Build. Noticed this today while reading October's changelog.

https://www.ageofempires.com/news/aoeii-de-update-54480/

 

Quote

 

Investigation

As always, we are continuing to track issues reported by the community for future updates. Here is a brief update from our Production team regarding some of what is still in the works:

Problems with Multiplayer Services: We’re very aware that in recent weeks a number of problems crept up that made it difficult for some players to join, create, or find Multiplayer games. This specific instance has been resolved, but it’s an issue that we’re constantly monitoring and ready to troubleshoot. When these kind of problems occur, the most useful information for us is network logging provided by you. If you experience these issues at any point, please follow the steps below to notify our Support Team and provide this information:

1. You can find these Logs by looking in this folder: C:\Users\ [[YOUR WINDOWS USERNAME]] \Games\Age of Empires 2 DE\logs
2. Network Logs look like this, and contain the date and time of the session you most recently started (example): 2021.08.20-12.03.37.txt
3. Our Support Team may ask you to try again using our Enhanced Logging build, which provides additional logging information

*NOTE: The Enhanced Logging build generates very large log files – once you’ve submitted a relevant Support Request, you’ll want to switch back to the regular build, and once you’ve sent any relevant log files you can delete them to save HDD space

To use the Enhanced Logging build:

1. In some circumstances, we need additional logging information to better understand your problem, and that’s when we ask that you use the Enhanced Logging build.
2. To do that, locate Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition in your Steam Games Library
3. Right-click the game title and select Properties at the bottom of the menu
4. In the window that appears, select the BETAS tab on the left
5. In the available field, enter this beta access code: 4YH2SkfG7CK5yanvrXE9qj8b
6. You’ll then see that you’ve been given access to enhanced_logging and a button will appear asking you if you’d like to opt in
7. Opt in or select the enhanced_logging beta, and Steam will automatically update your build

 

[Walshtimothy]

any changes to this in the pipeline ?