Save replay button

**average650** · February 13, 2010, 09:17 AM

Where is it supposed to be? I've saved replays before but after my most recent ranked multiplayer battle I can't find it. What would cause it to dissapear?

**dmcheatw** · February 13, 2010, 10:45 AM

remember when the game dropped, and there was no way to delete replays, you had to navigate to the folder in explorer and delete them manually... that SCREAMED at me that the game was unfinished.

not that replays are any good for TW since you can't FF them easily without lag and slowdown when you move the camera. Another design flaw, the replays aren't a film - they're a set of coordinates to be replayed by the computer when you watch the flim, and the computer can only go so fast. if it was a genuine recording, you'd be able to FF it without hassle.

to you question, i have no idea.

**Keiichi** · February 13, 2010, 03:08 PM

Originally Posted by dmcheatw

remember when the game dropped, and there was no way to delete replays, you had to navigate to the folder in explorer and delete them manually... that SCREAMED at me that the game was unfinished.

not that replays are any good for TW since you can't FF them easily without lag and slowdown when you move the camera. Another design flaw, the replays aren't a film - they're a set of coordinates to be replayed by the computer when you watch the flim, and the computer can only go so fast. if it was a genuine recording, you'd be able to FF it without hassle.

to you question, i have no idea.

Every other game that has a built-in replay function operates in the exact same way; it simply records who did what and replays those commands through the game engine. This keeps file sizes low and also ensures that the replay will display at high quality (limited only by your own computer, of course). If replays were saved as actual 'films' the file size could easily be over 100MB per replay for a medium quality video (a high quality .mkv video file at 720p can reach nearly 200MB for 15 minutes of video). Considering how many replays I have saved, I much prefer the 0.5MB replays we have now. Furthermore, if the game had to constantly write a temporary video file to your hard drive while you played in case you wanted to save it for a replay, the game would suffer a serious performance hit. Anyone who has tried to record a gameplay video using FRAPs can certainly attest to that.

Nice rant though, I liked how you added the little sentence regarding the OP's question at the end there so you can claim to be on topic.

**dmcheatw** · February 13, 2010, 03:49 PM

Originally Posted by Keiichi

Every other game that has a built-in replay function operates in the exact same way; it simply records who did what and replays those commands through the game engine. This keeps file sizes low and also ensures that the replay will display at high quality (limited only by your own computer, of course). If replays were saved as actual 'films' the file size could easily be over 100MB per replay for a medium quality video (a high quality .mkv video file at 720p can reach nearly 200MB for 15 minutes of video). Considering how many replays I have saved, I much prefer the 0.5MB replays we have now. Furthermore, if the game had to constantly write a temporary video file to your hard drive while you played in case you wanted to save it for a replay, the game would suffer a serious performance hit. Anyone who has tried to record a gameplay video using FRAPs can certainly attest to that.

Nice rant though, I liked how you added the little sentence regarding the OP's question at the end there so you can claim to be on topic.

it prevents me from getting a 3 point infraction for being off topic.

anyway if that is the case, and i believe that it is, then how come you can't fast forward TW recordings like you can for recordings of other games? many games allow you to do things like 16x speed and fractions of real time w/o slowdown in the recording playback (I'm thinking of the myth series here specifically). also, how come in certain replays of TW films, the battle outcome is different from the actual outcome? this is a well documented phenomenon that seems unique to TW, i assumed it was due to the way in which CA saved recordings, but now i know that's standard practice in the industry thanks to you.

**Keiichi** · February 13, 2010, 04:07 PM

Originally Posted by dmcheatw

it prevents me from getting a 3 point infraction for being off topic.

anyway if that is the case, and i believe that it is, then how come you can't fast forward TW recordings like you can for recordings of other games? many games allow you to do things like 16x speed and fractions of real time w/o slowdown in the recording playback (I'm thinking of the myth series here specifically). also, how come in certain replays of TW films, the battle outcome is different from the actual outcome? this is a well documented phenomenon that seems unique to TW, i assumed it was due to the way in which CA saved recordings, but now i know that's standard practice in the industry thanks to you.

I can fast forward/slowdown without problems, so I can't really say, but I suppose you can chalk up any jumpiness to the simple complexity of moving so many units at once in such a short time span. I know in replays of other games (such as World in Conflict, Company of Heroes etc.) things can get choppy once the action gets hectic. In regards to replay accuracy, most games with similar replay systems only allow you to save replays of multiplayer battles, which is a fairly simple affair to record accurately since you have documented commands for each side. ETW also has no problem with multiplayer replays (aside from changes due to patches, of course).

Different outcomes crop up as a result of being able to save singleplayer replays and I believe the issue here is that the game is only documenting the commands of the player while the AI is simply responding to the moves as if it were actually fighting the battle. This is just a guess at the cause, mind you, and I believe that this issue has since been rectified or improved in recent patches. I remember when the game first launched I had several instances of singleplayer replays not being accurate, but ever since patch 1.3 or so I haven't come across the same problem.

**daniu** · February 14, 2010, 07:35 AM

Originally Posted by dmcheatw

this is a well documented phenomenon that seems unique to TW, i assumed it was due to the way in which CA saved recordings, but now i know that's standard practice in the industry thanks to you.

I think the problem is that in TW, the effect that commands have is much more complex to calculate because the computation includes bullet physics and not just statistical hit-miss probabilities (as in, say, Starcraft).

What I noticed is that the game lags when you start the ff, and then recovers and runs smoothly.
I guess this is because it takes some time to load some moves in advance, much as buffering when watching a video on the web.

Originally Posted by Keiichi

This is just a guess at the cause, mind you, and I believe that this issue has since been rectified or improved in recent patches. I remember when the game first launched I had several instances of singleplayer replays not being accurate, but ever since patch 1.3 or so I haven't come across the same problem.

Although with the latest patch, I did notice a different outcome for a battle replay, probably because the range of light dragoons has been decreased. Why CA doesn't just save the patch level a replay was taken in and then just reestablishes that when loading, I don't know.

**hajimemasite** · February 13, 2010, 10:45 AM

its in the right hand corner of popup which shows the battle result (the ones which says "Close victory". NOT the one showing all the kills you made)
there's a camera icon so it shouldn't be that hard to find it

EDIT
I misread the post. I want to kill myself quite badly

The replay should be in C:\Users\"USERNAME"\AppData\Roaming\The Creative Assembly\Empire\replays
it used to cause CTD if you have replays from other patches. CA might have fixed it and instead hide the replay but not too sure. Have to check it out

**average650** · February 13, 2010, 10:55 AM

Originally Posted by hajimemasite

its in the right hand corner of popup which shows the battle result (the ones which says "Close victory". NOT the one showing all the kills you made)
there's a camera icon so it shouldn't be that hard to find it

EDIT
I misread the post. I want to kill myself quite badly

The replay should be in C:\Users\"USERNAME"\AppData\Roaming\The Creative Assembly\Empire\replays
it used to cause CTD if you have replays from other patches. CA might have fixed it and instead hide the replay but not too sure. Have to check it out

Actually, the first part answered what I was asking haha. Thanks. I was looking all over the one that shows the kills and loses

**daniu** · February 13, 2010, 01:03 PM

Originally Posted by average650

I was looking all over the one that shows the kills and loses

You looked at the right place, it's where it should be.
CA put it in the wrong place, it's way too easy to miss.

**Keiichi** · February 14, 2010, 02:21 PM

I did note that patches always mess up replays, and you're right it's always because some behavior is changed and it translates to big effects on the saved battles. Totally agree with you that this is annoying as heck and is my only real gripe with the replay system. In the game World in Conflict, replays always play perfectly despite each patch having major balancing changes. For example, one unit was given less health, but if you play a replay of an older match, the unit will still have its old, higher health value.

Replays are much larger in World in Conflict, however, about 5MB each, and all the WiC replays I have take up almost 3GB of space on my hard drive

. With around the same amount of Empire replays it only takes up 30MB of space, so it's certainly a balancing act between how much you want the replay to save and how large you want the file to be.