Recording PrBoom Demos for really large maps

[Doom Marine]

I tried to record a PrBoom 2.3.0 demo for large maps such as DV or Vrack2, and it wouldn't work.

command lines are as follow:
prboom -file DV -warp 1 -skill 4 -record dv01 -complevel 10 -maxdemo 2024
prboom -file vrack2 -warp 1 -skill 4 -record dv01 -complevel 10 -maxdemo 2024

In both cases, the game launched, immediately shuts down, and gave me the message "G_checkdemostatus: Demo recorded". Is it the map size or did I miss something here?

[Schneelocke]

I'm getting that message *every* time I try to record a demo with prboom 2.3.0. It may be that this is a prboom bug; in any case, it's definitely not a problem related large maps.

Have you tried prboom 2.2.4 instead?

[Grazza]

Don't use version 2.3.0 to record demos. It's an experimental version, and demo recording seems to be broken. (Demo playback is fine though.)

Use version 2.2.4.

Remember to check the documentation for the right complevel (this is different in 2.2.4 from other versions).
-complevel 0 is Doom2.exe compatibility.
-complevel 3 is Boom 2.02 compatibility.

[Opulent]

for slight clarification, you probably don't want to record a 'complevel 0' demo of Vrack2(or similar) since it cannot be playedback with the real game. (unless, of course, you are just trying to emulate it to be 'authentic')

[Donce]

By the way, in Boom (this should be valid for PrBoom as well), you can add -maxdemo without any parameter, then the memory is allocated while recording. However, you may experience occasional slowdowns.

[VinceDSS]

Donce said:

By the way, in Boom (this should be valid for PrBoom as well), you can add -maxdemo without any parameter, then the memory is allocated while recording. However, you may experience occasional slowdowns.

might be the only way to record 30hr or 30av max ? :)

[Schneelocke]

VinceDSS said:

might be the only way to record 30hr or 30av max ? :)

Hmmm... got anything planned by any chance? ;)

[Grazza]

Prboom seems to accept very large values for -maxdemo. I've just tried -maxdemo 1000000 with Prboom 2.02, and it didn't complain (though I didn't attempt to record a 3-month-long demo to test it properly :) ). Unless it's a DOS issue (and it might be), you'd expect it to be OK with Boom 2.02 as well. (Can't test that on this machine, and I'm too lazy to go upstairs and test it on my notebook.)

If the slowdowns from using it with no parameter are serious, then this appears to be a good alternative.

BTW, Budko's Prboom provides a way to continue demos that were snipped off by too low a maxdemo setting. Wouldn't be valid for compet-n of course, but would be OK for most other purposes.

Schneelocke: I recall Vince mentioned an idea about a long coop demo.