Filming a Tribes 2 game with T2TV

Installation

First install the filming client by running T2TVFilmerSetup10xx.exe. You now need to copy the t2tvFilmer.cs into the Tribes 2 scripts autoexec directory, e.g.

E:\Dynamix\Tribes2\GameData\base\scripts\autoexec\

Now start your Tribes 2, click on Launch then Settings and finally Controls. Scroll through the list of keyboard settings until you see one called T2TV Demo Cycle (probably at the bottom of the list). Setup a key for this, this will be the key that you will use to start the T2TV recording. It is also recommend that you reduce your connection setting in Tribes 2 temporarily to 56k modem, as this reduces the size of demo file.

Setting up the Audio Recording

T2TV records an audio stream along with the game you are watching so you can give commentary on a game. Addiotionally T2TV can mix in mp3 audio along with your voice cast.

First set your windows mixer to microphone

Creating the stream

Theres two ways you can cast multiple maps in T2TV, one is to cast all the maps in one stream, the other is to stop a stream after each map and create a new stream in T2TV.

In the T2TV Filming client select the Film the game radio button and enter the T2TV server ip below the radio button. Click next, you will see a number of options that allow you to create a stream on the T2TV server.

Enter the password that is required to film a game onto this T2TV server, get this from the person running the T2TV server. Next enter a name to give this stream something like TEAM1 VS TEAM2 would be a good idea. Make sure the directory in which your demos are created in is correct. Pick the recording method to use (Directsound or ACM/WAVE recording), some sound cards do not like recording and playing audio at the same time, so pick the method that works for you. Next pick the audio quality you wish to record at, it will default to 11khz mono (LOW CPU USAGE). The other audio qualitys will result in better audio, however they will cause your Tribes 2 to stutter slightly. Next select the upload rate, you want this to be as much as you can spare without causing you to lag to much in Tribes 2. The value selected won't affect the rate at which people can view the game, as you are uploading more information than what the viewer will finally download. Finally select the number of starting points to upload. As the film script will generate 30 second demos uploading a start point every 4th demo will mean viewers can re-join a cast at two minute intervals. Be aware the greater number of start points you have the more data you will need to upload, as each start point is infact the begining of a demo file (typically around 80k of a demo). Its best just leaving it at every 4th demo.

Click next and the stream will be created on the server, you should see the following window

T2TV is now recording audio, you can click on the Music Mixer button to bring up window that allows you to play MP3 music along with your cast.

From here you can add MP3 music to your playlist or play them directly. To add a file to your playlist just double on the MP3 file, to play the file, select it and then right click and select Play MP3.

The Playlist tab takes you to the page that shows the MP3 files in your playlist.

Once you have some files in your playlist, just double click on the filename to start playing the file. As each file finishes, it plays the next one in your playlist.

Filming a game

When you wish to start filming a game start up Tribes2, and join the Tribes 2 server that the game you want to film is on. When you press the Demo Cycle key (that you setup earlier) it will begin the cast. You can start the cast before the game has started and just explain a bit about the players, etc or just start when the match countdown has started. T2TV should work ok over a map change, however this hasnt been tested a lot.

When you start the demo cycle, you will see a Demo Recording message below the Audio Recording message on the T2TV client. You will also see a message saying a T2TV section has started within Tribes 2. This message will repeat every 30 seconds along with some demo starting, demo stopped messages. T2TV will only start uploading data once the first 30 second section has been recorded.

Once the game has finished press the demo stop key, this is normally the F4 key. T2 doesn't give a message sometimes that the demo has stopped, but it has. T2TV will then revert back to recording audio only, you can press the T2TV cycle key again and start recording another demo cycle, or click the Stop Recording button to complete your cast. After pressing the Stop Recording button a few seconds will elaspe as T2TV uploads the remaining data, finally you will see the following message

You can now click back and begin the stream creation process again for the next map.

Known Issues

If the viewers get a lot of 'buffering' occuring its most likely because there is to much data for you to upload at any one time. Try either increasing the upload rate, or setting the number of start sections to be every 6 sections.

If your casting a none standard map (e.g. x pack map) make sure your viewers know, if they dont have the map T2 will UE straight after loading the streamed demo.