Demo editing and chat

[Danfun64]

As far as I know, chat can't be recorded in demo recordings (of .lmp type. Obviously not referring to jdoom or odamex or zdaemon or zdoom or...). Of course, I've only tried crispy doom and boom recently, so if chat can be recorded in MBF then correct me.

...anyways, chat can't be recorded in demo recordings. This isn't a problem in deathmatch (for the most part), and it certainly isn't a problem in single player. For coop, however, the lack of recorded chat makes things problematic. For example, when player characters are standing around discussing strategy for 30 seconds. Is it possible to use a demo editor to add the chat into the lump, and am I wrong in assuming that MBF doesn't record chat just because vanilla and boom can't?

[Never_Again]

Danfun64 said:

Is it possible to use a demo editor to add the chat into the lump

Not with vanilla-, Boom- or MBF-format demos.

Danfun64 said:

am I wrong in assuming that MBF doesn't record chat just because vanilla and boom can't?

It doesn't record chat because recording chat would necessitate a new demo data format that would not be compatible with anything else.

[40oz]

Question, could a demo editing/recording utility record chat as a separate file, then the demo could remain intact but the other file could be played back in conjunction with the demo to display onscreen messages at the given times?

[Never_Again]

Like subtitles to a video? It might be possible in theory, but I think it would be simpler to make a fork of, say, Prboom-plus that would record in a new format with support for text strings in data.

[Danfun64]

Never_Again said:

Not with vanilla-, Boom- or MBF-format demos.

It doesn't record chat because recording chat would necessitate a new demo data format that would not be compatible with anything else.

I thought as much.

So, I'm left with:

-jdoom 1.8.6 (out of date and hard to compile on modern systems)
-odamex (network demo format isn't finalized, and desyncs are possible)
-zdaemon (closed source *BLEH*)

...and if you're wondering about (g)zdoom, it's infamous for having no demo compatibility whatsoever...

Once Odamex is more completed, it would probably be the best option, but for now...

[Danfun64]

This is probably really obvious, but am I right in saying that heretic and hexen also don't log chat in demo recordings?