Newbie to demoing

Hey, I've been wanting to do a demo for a while now, so I decided to make one finally. It's a Tyson Style demo of E2M2. Granted, this is probably the worst thing to graze the community since impse (well there's a question, is impse bad or just funny), but hey, I've got to start somewhere. http://box43.net/~ler/tysone2m2.lmp should be where it's at (if not I will cleave off a hand). If there's anything I might gain from this is some helpful tips. PLEASE?

71% kills 5:35 Zdoom2.0.6.3x Tyson E2m2.
(please note the FAQ, that states that this infomation should be included with the posted demo and compressed (zipped normally))

Not bad... I think you could easily improve it.
You might enjoy watching some Pdang or older Cn demos on this map.... or Radek's record Tyson demo.(IIRC)
watching previous successful demos is the best way to learn tips and routes for playing.
Please post more. :)

ps. it has been noted that Tyson mode is easier with zdoom2.x than the real game. but that doesn't hurt my enjoyment while watching.

Nice, I enjoyed watching that. One thing you should definitely do, though, is include a text file with your demo, containing at least your name (so people will know who recorded it when they browse through their demo collection later) and the port you used for recording (this can be quite a pain to find out otherwise, especially with zdoom). Mentioning the map you're doing, your style of play (tyson) and so on would be an added bonus. :)

Hi, and welcome! :-)

Sorry, I haven't seen your demo (yet -- don't have that version of ZDooM installed at the moment) but if you want some tips then I can give you a few pointers.

1. Learn how to record demos for your engine of choice. Since Op could watch it, you've obviously learned this, so we can scratch that item off the list. ;-)

2. Play all sorts of maps, try different styles, see what fits you best (I'm talking speed, max, NM speed, NM 100% secrets, pacifist, Tyson, -fast, -respawn, lemming, speedfighter, reality, etc.). Start with easy maps, easy goals. Since you started with a fairly easy map and with a fairly easy category for that map (E2M2 Tyson) I'd say you're well on your way on this item also.

3. Make sure your demos are valid for the categories you record in. This can be hard for some maps and styles; chaotic slaughter maps with tons of arch viles make for messy checking for max demos for example. Another example is maps where there are no (well-known) previous demos, either at the COMPET-N or the SDA, which makes it hard to say just what is the maximum amount of kills/secrets, etc. In this case, if Op is right, you had 75% kills, which (sadly) makes it invalid as a Tyson demo, since Tyson requires that you kill everything that can be killed (in this case 100% kills). So in this case this seems to be an unusual speed category run. ;-)

4. Record, record, record. Everything you do and everytime you play. Then upload everything you feel is of interest to others, at regular intervals. And make sure you include a descriptive text file (doesn't have to be a novel a la Sedlo or AndrewB). :-)

5. Play harder maps, in harder styles (try pacifist instead of just speed, and so on). Keep uploading those demos!

6. Join the COMPET-N and dominate it a lot of years to come. :-)

Two more questions from me...

1) What are lemming and speedfighter demos?

2) Regarding max demos - is it enough for a demo to have 100% (or more) kills to qualify as max, or does everything that can possibly be killed have to be dead at the end of the demo (not counting the player)? Or (yet another variant, in case of archies) does every monster in the level have to be killed at least once?

Thanks. ^^

Every possibly reachable monster have to be dead at exit (excluding lost souls).

OK, thanks. Why are lost souls excluded anyway, though?

Lost souls don't count as a kill, probably intended to prevent 100%+ kills in levels with Pain Elementals. However, archvile resurrected monsters can increase the kill count to over 100% so it's hard to say exactly why lost souls aren't treated as kills (This doesn't apply to ZDoom, lost souls count as kills there and the kill count is dynamic i.e. the total number of monsters for the kill count increases as new ones spawn.)

Ah, OK. Thanks!

Thanks everyone for giving advice. I didn't realize this was a good map to start with, it just looked easy seeing as how there is a beserk near the start. I suppose next I could do a run of E1 just to show off my usual playing style.

Expect more soon!

Looking forward to it. :)

Pain elementals can spawn lost souls in places the player can't get to, so they are ommited from the kill count.

Lemming mode: similar mode to MMH, where the fastest demo with the most monsters alive upon exit is the best. 95% alive in 2 minutes beats a 94% alive in 1 minute.

Speedfighter: similar to respawn(but here 100% is not required), most kills you can get under par time.

Opulent said:

Lemming mode: similar mode to MMH, where the fastest demo with the most monsters alive upon exit is the best. 95% alive in 2 minutes beats a 94% alive in 1 minute.

Speedfighter: similar to respawn(but here 100% is not required), most kills you can get under par time.

Interesting, thanks. Do lost souls count for the "monsters alive" count in lemming demos?
Opulent edit: they do in ports that count souls.

Also... are there any lemming or speedfighter demos in the SDA? I never encountered any while browsing through it, but I'd be quite interested in seeing one.
Opulent edit 2: Yes, but not many. I recall Vrooomer doing some, Phtga (IIRC)... also, of course, EVERY demo that is not max is a lemming demo by definition; but of course, few were recorded with that intention. Grazza, Ledmeister, and Vrooomer have done Lemmings demos, IIRC...

I tend to view Lemmings in the same way I do Reality: if I'm close to achieving the main task without killing anything, I may put in a little bit of extra effort to avoid anything dying. I've never set out with the primary aim of recording a Lemmings demo though.

There is plenty of info on demo categories in the Compet-n FAQ and the DSDA info page. There was also a thread here discussing unusual categories and ideas for new ones. One that I don't think is mentioned in any of those places is "Lewis" - use only weapon 1 (fist, chainsaw or berserk fist), kill as much as you can and exit the map. IIRC, that was Xit Vono's idea.

There is a slight ambiguity in the compet-n rules for Max, but Adam Hegyi has clarified that all monsters resurrected by archies need to be rekilled. In other words: all monsters (except lost souls) that were alive at the start of the map need to be dead at the time you exit.

The Compet-n rules page gives details of on which maps there are unreachable secrets (and therefore, e.g. 90% secrets is sufficient). The logic is clear and can be extended to pwads too: if there is no way to reach a secret or to kill a monster, then you're not required to do so in a Max demo. You should make sure there really is no way to get the kills/secrets though, not just that a secret often fails to trigger (a common problem), or that some trickery is needed to reach a particular monster.

Hehe, I just noted the SDA info page has it wrong: -fast and -respawn require 100% (or maximum possible if 100% is impossible) secrets. :-P
Opulent edit: merely an oversight, I was just saying what the intention of the cat was, not the official Cn rules... but you're right, it should be accurate instead of misleading.

Gah. I would have that episode 1 demo but zdoom keeps eating it every time I finish. It might be a while, but I'll get it.

Eating it? How do you mean?

Is it cutting it off once the filesize reaches 128k? If so, you need to put something like -maxdemo 1024 in your command line. That's large enough for most things. I would have guessed Zdoom wouldn't cut demos off at 128k, but I haven't used it often enough to know.

No, the file isn't even made. I don't know why this is happening.

Do you and zdoom have permissions to write to the disk/directory?
Have you tried something very simple first? (like just 'zdoom -record newdemo' and play for 10 seconds and see if a demo is there)
Did you mispell 'record'? or make a another small mistake in the command-line?
good luck.

Wait, is the param -recorddemo or -record? I was using -recorddemo. I'm going to record it now.

Ouch, that's painful. Yes, it's "-record".

Oh, man... :-D

Anyway, you'll be glad to know you're usually a lot faster the 2nd, 3rd and 4th times you finish a run than you are the 1st. Sometimes I've even halved my exit time for some demos.

Yeah, well, after the hurdles of parameter names, I have the demo! http://box43.net/~ler/ep1fro.zip. Is there a demo txt file format, by any chance?

Well anyway, this demo doesn't account for any category in existance, so it's really more of a Free Form type thing. ENJOY!

lerner said:

Is there a demo txt file format, by any chance?

You could take someone else's text-file (e.g. mine) and edit that. Otherwise, you can find a couple of templates on Opulent's info page.

zdoom2063 full E1 almost maxdemo movie.
I'm surprised you didn't use rockets more. I don't think you let loose that beast until e1m6.
a good start for more demos. :)

Heh, well, I prefer my trusty shotgun of doom. :P

Also, I recorded another demo. This time it's Doom 2 Map 07. http://box43.net/~ler/map07fro.zip

lerner said:Also, I recorded another demo. This time it's Doom 2 Map 07. http://box43.net/~ler/map07fro.zip [/B]

1:43 is not bad... but I think you can do better.

lerner said:

Yeah, well, after the hurdles of parameter names, I have the demo! http://box43.net/~ler/ep1fro.zip. Is there a demo txt file format, by any chance?

Well anyway, this demo doesn't account for any category in existance, so it's really more of a Free Form type thing. ENJOY!

404. Can anyone send me a copy or put it up somewhere? Thanks.

Remove the dot (".") at the end of the link. :-)