Demo-recorded Group-Shot tutorial - Image Heavy

[corvus1970]

Okay, since there was a demand for it, last night I promised a little tutorial on how to make a group-shot using simple demo-editing. Time to deliver!

For the sake of the tutorial I created an even simpler group-shot of 4 characters in Atlas Park. Illyria, General Supernova, Dr. Shock Therapy, and Avatar of RA.



Okay, before we get started, here are the programs and services you need to have at hand. This tutorial also assumes that you probably used the Sentinel Plus extractor to get data for your characters. Anyway, here's the list:

DEMOlition!
http://demolition.mcuznz.ca/
* A cool website that takes your saved Sentinel Plus data and creates a little demo-file of a single character standing in Miss Liberty's spot in Atlas park.

Zloth's CoH Demo Launcher
http://home.roadrunner.com/~dasloth/CoH/Demos/DemoLaunch.htm
* This is the program I use to launch demo-files I have created. Its simple to use, and you can tweak the graphics settings to suit the speed and power of your particular PC as well.

Codewalker's Camerman
http://repo.cohtitan.com/cameraman/cameraman.exe
* A neat little program that allows you to see the XYZ coordinates of the camera in your demo-file as it plays. It also keeps track of Pitch, Yaw and Roll.

Paragon Wiki's helpful entries for Demo-Editing.

Demo-Editing Help Sections:
http://wiki.cohtitan.com/wiki/Demo_Editing

How to play back a Demo file:
http://wiki.cohtitan.com/wiki/Demo_Recording#Playing_Back_A_Demo

List of MOV commands (subsection for valid moves for your character):
http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Demo_Editing/List_of_MOVs#Valid_MOVs_for_the_player_skeleton

Coordinates in CoH:
http://wiki.cohtitan.com/wiki/Coordinates

Okay, now that you have all that stuff ready, lets get started! Here's what I did:

Step 1: I went to the DEMOlition! website, and imported a Sentinel file for Avatar of RA. Once the import was complete, I went to the selection screen, typed in his name, chose Hover as his pose, selected his first costume, and sunset as the time of day. I left the placement as still, and right now Atlas Park is the only available locale, so I left that alone too. I then clicked "create .demorecord", and it then took me to the next screen where I was presented with my text file.

Step 2: I opened up Notepad (I have Windows 7 by the way), and copied-and-pasted the generated text into the notepad window. Then I elected to save the file ("save file as", in fact), erasing the "*.txt" and naming it "AvatarOfRA01.cohdemo", and then I selected "all files" on the "save as type" drop-down (That part is very important). For the locale, the file should be saved under the "C:\Program Files\NCSoft\City of Heroes\client_demos" folder. If you don't have that folder, be sure to create it. That done, I clicked "save", and was ready for the next step.

Step 3: I opened up Zloth's CoH Demo Launcher, clicked on the "..." to the right of the "File to" field, and selected the file I just saved. I then un-checked the "Full" selection, and chose 1024x768 for the size of the demo window. That done, I clicked "Launch Demo!" at the bottom of the Launcher window (I also adjusted my other graphics settings, but that can be done at any time and isn't important for the purpose of this demo. Feel free to play with those settings as you please later on). I allowed the demo to load, and here's the result:



Step 4: I then went to my file in notepad (which I never closed) and again, selected "save file as", clicked "all files", and renamed it to "AvatarOfRAgrouptest.cohdemo" so I'd have a duplicate to mess around with. Then the real work began.

Step 5: Now, in my test demo file, I started by altering the position of the camera. I wanted to move it back a bit, so I could take in a larger area when I added the 3 other characters. The camera location is found here:



The first line, "CAM POS" represents the position of the camera in XYZ coordinates, from left to right. X = east/west (increases as one goes west/left), y = up/down (increases as one goes up and gains altitude), and Z = north/south (increases as one goes south/down). The second line, CAM PYR, represents the Pitch, Yaw, and Roll of the camera. These numbers can be positive or negative too by the way. Now, I changed the POS from what you see above to 128.267838 22.627016 -184.770660, and the PYR to 0.110000 0.000000 0.000000.

Now, how did I come by those numbers? Well, last night when I made the team-shot of Angel Investigations, I did it via trial-and-error *lol*, but this morning I grabbed Codewalker's Cameraman, and that made it all so much simpler, because it gave me the needed coordinates and PYR numbers as I moved the camera around within the demo. You too can move camera by pressing "F2" while the demo is up and running, you can then use the mouse to rotate the camera up and down around a fixed position, and you can actually slide the camera to different areas with the keyboard commands: A = left, D = right, W = forward (away from viewer, or north on this map), S = backwards (towards viewer, or south on this map), X = down, and Space-bar = up. How it relates to your character in THIS demo is demonstrated here:



Yeah, he's not floating. I cribbed the image for a slightly different demo. Just run with it

With Cameraman running, you'll see the coordinates and PYR change as you move the camera around, and this allows you to get good ideas where to place the camera and also general ideas of where to place your characters too. In this case, I wanted Ra to remain hovering above the pedestal, and the others to be at the foot of it. To get the proper Y/Vertical position for the other three, I looked up a character in the Wiki, someone I knew was at the same vertical level of Atlas, and this was Henry Peter Wong, who's Y coordinate was 16. Now I could place the other toons in the correct vertical position, rather than possibly standing above the ground, or embedded within it (no Philadelphia Experiments here folks!)

Step 6: Now, this part is a touch tricky, but not too hard once you get the hang of it. I opened up the demo files for my other 3 characters that I had created earlier using the DEMOlition! site. Here I only need the unique character costume info and their position, not the Cam position info above, nor the sky info below. So this is the part I selected:



Also, since each character has a number assigned to them, this must be changed. In each of the DEMOlition! files its automatically assigned as "0   10" on the far left of each line for the character, and as "0 10" for their position and pose info. All I did was increase that number by one for each character I added. As such, General Supernova became 11, Illyria 12, and Dr. Shock Therapy 13. To make things easy I altered the info using the replace command in notepad before copying the selected sections to the master "AvatarOfRAgrouptest.cohdemo" file.

Step 7: Now, its time to position the other 3 characters, and I started with General Supernova, since he would be in the middle of the trio. Each character's placement info is found here:



I altered his "POS" line to read 128.500000 16.000000 -198.000000. The X coordinate remained unchanged, because his East/West orientation is the same as Ra behind him. The Y coordinate was altered to "16.000000", so he would be the same level as the "floor" where the pedestal stands. The Z coordinate was altered to -198.000000, to move him further South and thus place him closer to the viewer and in front of that last step on the pedestal.

Step 8: Then, I copied and pasted that position info to the next two characters. Then, I altered their positions slightly so they would flank General Supernova, and do so slightly behind him. Illyria would be to the left, and Dr. Shock Therapy would be to the right. So, I adjusted them as follows: Illyria (POS 131.500000 16.000000 -198.500000), and Dr. Shock Therapy (POS 125.500000 16.000000 -198.500000).

Step 9: I adjusted the poses of the trio by altering the MOV command-line. Found here:



RA's reads as "MOV FLYREADY 0" and I left his that way. I changed the one for General Supernova to "MOV A_MILITARYSALUTE_CYCLE 0", Illyria's to "MOV READY_XARMS_LOOK 0", and Dr. Shock Therapy's to "MOV READY_2HIPS_LOOK 0". The READY_XARMS_LOOK, and READY_2HIPS_LOOK options are already selections available using the DEMOlition! drop-down, but you can get a list of applicable poses by clicking the link I listed above for the MOV Commands.

Step 10: I saved my "AvatarOfRAgrouptest.cohdemo", then loaded that file up into the Demo Launcher (making sure to click "Hide Text" to keep the names of the characters from floating above their heads), and took a look at my handiwork. Huzzah!

Now, I have made this group demo file available to anyone who wants it right here:

http://corvusonline.net/COX_demo_tutorial/AvatarOfRAgrouptest.cohdemo

If you download it and open it up in notepad, you'll see what I did. This should help you see how I added in each character in. I spaced each one out by one additional line for the ease of editing, but you don't have to do so. By all means feel free to edit that file and swap in your own characters if you like. You can add more too if you like, or subtract some. Its all up to you!

If you have ANY questions about any of this, ask away. I'll do my best to help. I know there are also others about who have far better knowledge than I when it comes to demo-editing. For example, I don't know how to show the characters with their weapons drawn, and that's something I need to learn to do.

Have fun!

[Arachnion]

Showing weapons has to do with MOVs, I would think.

Someone should glean MOVs from a demofile with combat segments, so we may examine and compare them.

I would, but I'm taking a break from file extraction, archival, etc.

Great tutorial btw. Might use it sometime.

 

[corvus1970]

Heh, I do NOT blame ya

I have to tell you though, playing around with these demos has been a catharsis for me. My characters get to come alive again and have little get-togethers! Its awesome

[Perfidus]

Awesome! Thanks a lot for this. Can't wait to give it a go soon.

[corvus1970]

Quite welcome! Hope I didn't overlook something

[Tahquitz]

Thanks for this... was wondering how to edit Demorecord files, but with Final Exams this week and RL demands, had no time to figure it out myself.

After December 15th, heh heh heh... all bets are off!

[Sparky]

This is how you make weapons appear in a demo. Or at least the method I use. Below is a very simple demo of one of my characters.

1   0   Version 2
0   0   Map
0   0   Time 12.000000
0   CAM POS 0 -9996.5 10.5
0   CAM PYR 0 0 0
0   126 Player
0   126 NEW Glorious1
0   126 COSTUME 1 0089a0ea 4.295000 -0.657600 0.000000 -0.478701 -0.232299 -0.223502 -0.828800 0.000068 0.000000 0.000014 0.000014 0.000014 0.000014 0.000014 0.000014 0.000014 0.000014 0.000014 0.000014 0.000014 0.000014 0.000014 0.000014 0.000014 -1.000000 -1.000000 0.000014 0.000014 0.000014 0.000014
0   126 PARTSNAME Tight !X_Defender_Hips_01 none 00ffffff 00ffffff
0   126 PARTSNAME Tight !X_Chest_Skin_Tank_FEMALE_Cyberpunk_02 none 00ffffff 00e3e3e3
0   126 PARTSNAME V_fem_Head.GEO/GEO_Head_V_Asym_Standard !Face_Skin_V_Fem_Head_25 none 001f1f1f 00e3e3e3
0   126 PARTSNAME V_FEM_GLOVE.GEO/GEO_Larm*_Sport_01 !Boot_V_Sport_01 !Boot_V_Sport_01_Mask 00ffffff ffffff
0   126 PARTSNAME V_FEM_BOOT.GEO/GEO_LlegR_Sport_01 !Boot_V_Sport_01 !Boot_V_Sport_01_Mask 00ffffff 00ffffff
0   126 PARTSNAME V_FEM_BELT.GEO/GEO_Belt_Alpha_01 !Glove_V_Alpha_02 !Glove_V_Alpha_02_Mask ffffff 00ffffff
0   126 PARTSNAME V_Fem_HAIR.GEO/GEO_Hair_Beverly_Thrills_01 !SF_Hair_Beverly_Thrills_01 !SF_Hair_Beverly_Thrills_01_Mask ffffff ffffff
0   126 PARTSNAME none none none 001f1f1f 00e3e3e3
0   126 PARTSNAME none none none 001f1f1f 00e3e3e3
0   126 PARTSNAME N_Fem_Barbarian_Emblem.geo/GEO_Emblem_Barbarian_Leather_01 !X_Top_Fem_Barbarian_01 !Barbarian_Fem_Emblem_01_Mask ffffff ffffff
0   126 PARTSNAME none none none 00ffffff 00ffffff
0   126 PARTSNAME none none none 001f1f1f 00e3e3e3
0   126 PARTSNAME none none none 00ffffff 00ffffff 00ad00ff 00a063c0 WEAPONS/Custom_DualBlades/Fem_Flaming_Sword_Right.fx
0   126 PARTSNAME CoL_Mask_01_player.GEO/GEO_Neck_CoL_Mask_01 !X_Eye_CoL_FaceMask_01 none ffffff 00a9ff
0   126 PARTSNAME none none none 001f1f1f 00e3e3e3
0   126 PARTSNAME none none none 001f1f1f 00e3e3e3
0   126 PARTSNAME none none none 001f1f1f 00e3e3e3
0   126 PARTSNAME none none none 001f1f1f 00e3e3e3
0   126 PARTSNAME none none none 00ffffff 00000000 00000000 00000000 Auras/Female/Plasma/Plasma_Fists_Combat.fx
0   126 PARTSNAME none none none 001f1f1f 00e3e3e3
0   126 PARTSNAME none none none 001f1f1f 00e3e3e3
0   126 PARTSNAME none none none 001f1f1f 00e3e3e3
0   126 PARTSNAME none none none 001f1f1f 00e3e3e3
0   126 PARTSNAME none none none 001f1f1f 00e3e3e3
0   126 PARTSNAME none none none 00ffffff 00ffffff 00ad00ff 00a063c0 WEAPONS/Custom_DualBlades/Fem_Flaming_Sword_Left.fx
0   126 PARTSNAME none none none 001f1f1f 00e3e3e3
0   126 PARTSNAME none none none 001f1f1f 00e3e3e3
0   126 PARTSNAME none none none 001f1f1f 00e3e3e3
0   126 POS 0 -10000 0
0   126 PYR 0 -0.25 0
0   126 MOV DUALWIELD_DRAW 8
10000 126 MOV READY 8

The important part is in red. You may have noticed that a number appears behind the MOV for player characters. Typically this is 0 but when the character is using a weapon another number appears, 8 in this example. These numbers correspond to the weapon type the character is using. I don't have a full list unfortunately but if you have a demo of your character using their weapon it should already be there. The MOV itself is unimportant.

With the above demo I get the following:


And here's a screenshot of some of my characters leaving Paragon City. Or they would have if a bus ever showed up.

[corvus1970]

Hah! And I just started a help entry on weapons-draw *lol*

[AlienOne]

This is freakin' awesome... Thanks so much for this!!!

[corvus1970]

You are quite welcome! 

Oh and Sparky, thank YOU too!

[ladycat924]

This is bloody well AWESOME!! Thanks so much for posting so much info. I used your demo file and edited my characters into it, having a few difficulties though. At first, the front right girl in the trenchcoat kept turning out with black skin (no idea why). I replaced the MOV line as I did not like her arms crossed and voila! pink skin (which is what she is SUPPOSED to have...LOL).

I "wanted" the names to show and they do, on two of the three, but not on the third.

See photo here: http://s184.beta.photobucket.com/user/ladycat924/media/CoH/GroupShot50s.jpg.html?sort=3&o=0

Posting the demo file below. What did I mess up? Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

This is such a comfort, being able to work with my characters and move the camera around them and such. I have NEVER tried demo editing until now and your instuctions and example made it so painless! Thanks again, ever so much.

1   0   Version 2
0   0   Map maps/City_Zones/City_01_01/City_01_01.txt
0   0   Time 20.00
0 CAM POS 128.267838 22.627016 -184.770660
0 CAM PYR 0.110000 0.000000 0.000000
0   10 Player
0   10 NEW "Ice Blue Mercy"
0   10  COSTUME 1 00aabbf6 -1.236641 -0.175800 0.000000 -0.673650 0.120879 0.259899 0.038474 -0.080880 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000
0   10  PARTSNAME Tight tights !Hips_V_Pattern_Vines_01 00660000 00ffffff
0   10  PARTSNAME Tight skin_tights Top_13 00660000 008f8f8f
0   10  PARTSNAME V_fem_Head.GEO/GEO_Head_V_Asym_Standard !v_sf_face_skin_head_08 !V_Face_Small_Mask_2 00990002 00ff894c
0   10  PARTSNAME Smooth skin_bare Sleeve 00660000 00ffffff
0   10  PARTSNAME Smooth tights !Boot_V_Thin_Vines_01 00660000 00ffffff
0   10  PARTSNAME none none none 001f1f1f 00e3e3e3
0   10  PARTSNAME Long_04 Long_01a Long_01b 00000000 00cc0100
0   10  PARTSNAME none none none 00000000 00000000
0   10  PARTSNAME none none none 001f1f1f 00e3e3e3
0   10  PARTSNAME Tight base Snowflake_1 00660000 00ffffff
0   10  PARTSNAME none none none 001f1f1f 00e3e3e3
0   10  PARTSNAME none none none 00000000 00000000
0   10  PARTSNAME none none none 00000000 00000000
0   10  PARTSNAME none none none 001f1f1f 00e3e3e3
0   10  PARTSNAME none none none 00000000 00000000
0   10  PARTSNAME none none none 00000000 00000000
0   10  PARTSNAME none none none 00000000 00000000
0   10  PARTSNAME none none none 00000000 00000000
0   10  PARTSNAME none none none 00000000 00000000
0   10  PARTSNAME none none none 00000000 00000000
0   10  PARTSNAME none none none 00000000 00000000
0   10  PARTSNAME none none none 00000000 00000000
0   10  PARTSNAME none none none 001f1f1f 00e3e3e3
0   10  PARTSNAME none none none 00000000 00000000
0   10  PARTSNAME none none none 00000000 00000000
0   10  PARTSNAME none none none 00000000 00000000
0   10  PARTSNAME none none none 00000000 00000000
0   10  PARTSNAME none none none 001f1f1f 00e3e3e3
0 10 MOV FLYREADY 0
0 10 HP 100.00
0 10 HPMAX 100.00
0 10 POS 128.500000 18.359375 -205.500000
0 10 PYR 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000

0   11 Player
0   11 NEW "Destiny's Shadow"
0   11  COSTUME 1 009bb2ff 5.496183 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.459581 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000
0   11  PARTSNAME Tight tights none 00220066 00000000
0   11  PARTSNAME Tight skin_tights Top_13 00220066 00000000
0   11  PARTSNAME V_fem_Head.GEO/GEO_Head_V_Asym_Standard !Face_Skin_V_Fem_Head_19 !V_Face_Small_Mask_2 00220066 00220066
0   11  PARTSNAME Smooth skin_bare Sleeve 00220066 00000000
0   11  PARTSNAME Smooth tights !Boot_Blend 00220066 00000000
0   11  PARTSNAME V_FEM_BELT.GEO/GEO_Belt_Chain_01 !X_V_Belt_Chain_Wrap none 00000000 00000000
0   11  PARTSNAME V_Fem_HAIR.GEO/GEO_Hair_Serrated_Sugar_01 !SF_Hair_Serrated_Sugar_01 !SF_Hair_Serrated_Sugar_01_Mask 00220066 001f1f1f
0   11  PARTSNAME none none none 00000000 00000000
0   11  PARTSNAME none none none 001f1f1f 00e3e3e3
0   11  PARTSNAME none none none 001f1f1f 00e3e3e3
0   11  PARTSNAME V_FEM_SPADR.GEO/GEO_SpadR_Chain_02d !X_V_Spadr_Chain none 00000000 00000000
0   11  PARTSNAME none none none 00000000 00000000
0   11  PARTSNAME none none none 00000000 00000000
0   11  PARTSNAME none none none 001f1f1f 00e3e3e3
0   11  PARTSNAME none none none 00000000 00000000
0   11  PARTSNAME none none none 00000000 00000000
0   11  PARTSNAME none none none 00000000 00000000
0   11  PARTSNAME none none none 00000000 00000000
0   11  PARTSNAME none none none 00000000 00000000
0   11  PARTSNAME none none none 00000000 00000000
0   11  PARTSNAME none none none 00000000 00000000
0   11  PARTSNAME none none none 00000000 00000000
0   11  PARTSNAME none none none 001f1f1f 00e3e3e3
0   11  PARTSNAME none none none 00000000 00000000
0   11  PARTSNAME none none none 00000000 00000000
0   11  PARTSNAME none none none 00000000 00000000
0   11  PARTSNAME none none none 00000000 00000000
0   11  PARTSNAME none none none 001f1f1f 00e3e3e3
0 11 MOV READY_2HIPS_LOOK 0
0 11 HP 100.00
0 11 HPMAX 100.00
0 11 POS 131.500000 16.000000 -198.500000
0 11 PYR 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000

0   12 Player
0   12 NEW "Star's Dark Blade"
0   12  COSTUME 1 00c9d6ff 14.840000 -0.175800 0.000000 -0.673600 -0.461500 0.325600 -0.300000 -0.080880 0.000000 0.350000 -0.390000 -0.220000 0.350000 -0.330000 -0.720000 0.370000 0.280000 0.170000 -1.000000 -1.000000 0.000000 0.720000 0.010000 -0.280000 -0.710000 -1.000000 -1.000000 -0.340000 -0.040000 -0.680000
0   12  PARTSNAME Pants_Tight V_Leather_01 none 00000000 00c06363
0   12  PARTSNAME Jackets skin_leather_01a skin_leather_01b 00000000 00000000
0   12  PARTSNAME V_fem_Head.GEO/GEO_Head_V_Asym_Standard !Face_Skin_V_Fem_Head_42 !V_Face_Small_Mask_2 00000000 00000000
0   12  PARTSNAME Smooth skin_bare none 00000000 00000000
0   12  PARTSNAME Smooth leather_02a none 001f1f1f 00000000
0   12  PARTSNAME none none none 001f1f1f 00e3e3e3
0   12  PARTSNAME Ponytail_02 Long_01a Long_01b 00000000 00000000
0   12  PARTSNAME none none none 001f1f1f 00e3e3e3
0   12  PARTSNAME none none none 001f1f1f 00e3e3e3
0   12  PARTSNAME Jackets Base Star_10 00737373 00000000
0   12  PARTSNAME none none none 001f1f1f 00e3e3e3
0   12  PARTSNAME none none none 001f1f1f 00e3e3e3
0   12  PARTSNAME none none none 001f1f1f 00e3e3e3
0   12  PARTSNAME none none none 001f1f1f 00e3e3e3
0   12  PARTSNAME none none none 001f1f1f 00e3e3e3
0   12  PARTSNAME none none none 001f1f1f 00e3e3e3
0   12  PARTSNAME none none none 001f1f1f 00e3e3e3
0   12  PARTSNAME none !Cape_Trenchcoat_Leather_01 none 00000000 003b3b3b 00c06363 00000000 capes/CapeTrenchFem_02.fx
0   12  PARTSNAME none none none 001f1f1f 00e3e3e3
0   12  PARTSNAME none none none 001f1f1f 00e3e3e3
0   12  PARTSNAME V_FEM_TOP.GEO/GEO_Top_Trenchcoat_01 V_Motorcycle_03 V_Motorcycle_02_Mask 00000000 003b3b3b
0   12  PARTSNAME V_FEM_SLEEVES.GEO/GEO_SLEEVES_Motorcycle_03 V_Motorcycle_03 none 00000000 00000000
0   12  PARTSNAME none none none 001f1f1f 00e3e3e3
0   12  PARTSNAME none none none 001f1f1f 00e3e3e3
0   12  PARTSNAME none none none 00737373 00000000 00c06363 00000000 WEAPONS/Custom_Katana/Fem_Katana_01.fx
0   12  PARTSNAME none none none 001f1f1f 00e3e3e3
0   12  PARTSNAME none none none 001f1f1f 00e3e3e3
0   12  PARTSNAME none none none 001f1f1f 00e3e3e3
0   12  PARTSNAME none none none 00000000 00000000
0   12  PARTSNAME none none none 00000000 00000000
0 12 MOV READY_2HIPS_LOOK 0
0 12 HP 100.00
0 12 HPMAX 100.00
0 12 POS 125.500000 16.000000 -198.500000
0 12 PYR 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000

5000 SKYFILE SKY 1 0 1.000000
5000 SKYFILE SKY 1 0 1.000000

[corvus1970]

Ladycat924, great job on the demo edit!

As for the name issue, I ran into that problem as well. But since I didn't want the names to show at all, I didn't try to figure out why the last name doesn't show, or how to fix it. Sorry

Hopefully, one of the more knowledgeable peeps can give us a solution!

[Codewalker]

It's because of the "Player" lines. Demoplay doesn't show your own name. Since there can be only one Player, it's picking one of the three to be "you". In this case it keeps assigning one character after another as the player, the last one finally sticking.

The solution is to add another character somewhere off in the distance (or behind the camera, or under the map, etc) and have them be the Player. Take that line off of all the ones you want to show names.

[ladycat924]

It's because of the "Player" lines. Demoplay doesn't show your own name. Since there can be only one Player, it's picking one of the three to be "you". In this case it keeps assigning one character after another as the player, the last one finally sticking.

The solution is to add another character somewhere off in the distance (or behind the camera, or under the map, etc) and have them be the Player. Take that line off of all the ones you want to show names.

and that easy, fixed!! ( I added a 4th character at position 0, 0, 0. She is off-screen and my 3 mains all have names showing.
http://s184.beta.photobucket.com/user/ladycat924/media/CoH/GroupShotFixed.jpg.html?sort=3&o=0

Thank you so much. The two of you have saved my sanity. The girl on the front right is my main (although she was my 3rd 50) and in the chaos of the last day, I did not get her Sentinal extract done. All I have of her is her costume file from the tailor. Being able to put her into these pictures and videos is such a relief to me. I am sure you all can understand that.

DEMOlition! let me upload her costume file, get a *.cohdemo with her and then I was able to add her in and complete my trio of 50s by editing corvus's original example.

Thanks again for the help and instructions. Hopefully I can tear myself away to sleep tonight, I am digging into all the other helpfiles on demo editing, and I am just thinking of more and more and more that I want to try!

What a wonderful thing to do, at least I am creating and not crying,
Cat

Edit: An even more elegant solution, after further research in the demo editing resources, designate the "player" as follows:

0 10 Player
0 10 NEW "Invisible Placeholder"
0 10 NPC Puddle
0 10 POS 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000
0 10 PYR 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000
0 10 MOV READY 0

Replacing the 10 with whatever number your currently shown character(s) is not using (in my particular file the 10 was a 13).

[corvus1970]

Ah yes, the puddle. I was wondering if that would work. Now we know!

[ladycat924]

Yes, Puddle is my new friend. Replaces 27 lines with 6 in the demo file. I like concise.

[Celtic Lass]

Zloth's CoH Demo Launcher
http://home.roadrunner.com/~dasloth/CoH/Demos/DemoLaunch.htm
* This is the program I use to launch demo-files I have created. Its simple to use, and you can tweak the graphics settings to suit the speed and power of your particular PC as well.
...

(Forgive me in advance, I can be very technologically impaired)
Question:  Do you need to have NCSoft launcher in order for this program to function right?  I deleted the launcher but kept all of my City of Heroes files...

I keep getting a error message when I try to run this program:

Unhandled exception has occurred in your application.  if you click continue, the application will ignore the error and attempt to continute.  If you click Quit, the application will close immediately. 

File not found.

[Celtic Lass]

Disregard previous post of mine.  I had to revert the folder name back.  Renamed it in case NCSoft tried to uninstall my City of Heroes folder when I uninstalled their launcher.

[corvus1970]

Ah! That makes sense. Glad you figured it out!