Could a 2nd program edit the demo file while it's being played???

[Garble]

Please forgive me if this is a stupid question, as I'm barely computer literate enough to follow simply instructions and have never been able to actually compose code.

I'm seeing a lot of really innovative ways of manipulating and creating new demorecord files to produce desired results and it got me wondering...

If a clever code-monkey made a program that edits the demorecord file while that same demorecord played (like say, changing the coordinates of the camera) would the demo player be able to accept the changes?

If so, you could run a demorecording of Atlas Park and apear to fly around by changing the camera position. You might even be able to set it so your Player is always located in front of the camera so it would actually look like you were flying around.

Is this even remotely possible?

[goodtime]

If you're just looking to fly around, hit F2 during a demo.   You'll go into spectator mode and can fly around with WASD keys & mouselook.   If you use the CameraMan app it will adjust your flying speed.   Be aware that items (clickable doors, etc), NPCs and non-team heroes are only drawn within a certain distance of the recording player (the one marked as player in the demo).    So the zones tend to be empty and a little sad.     

Hitting the P key will pause the action and FX, which gives a demo a weird Matrix-y feel to zooming around.

[eabrace]

You can edit a demofile while it's playing back, but the new code won't be loaded until you restart the demo player.

[TimtheEnchanter]

Yeah that would be a very nice feature. Having to reload the entire program is very wasteful. Technically there's no reason it shouldn't be possible to do though. The program seems to load demos in much the same way it did maps during actual gameplay.

[The Fifth Horseman]

As I recall, a while ago Codewalker confirmed that the demo file is read once and only once.

[Garble]

Ah. I kinda figured if it were that easy someone would have thought of it already.

But cool to know you can already change camera angles. Now if I could just figure out how to play demos on my Mac...

[TimtheEnchanter]

As I recall, a while ago Codewalker confirmed that the demo file is read once and only once.

I know that, I just don't see a reason why there wouldn't be a way to force it to re-read. Or better yet, a console command that instructs it to load a different demofile. Then you could use it to reload the current one, or load a different one. All without closing the program for no good reason.