Replays - wishes and suggestions

[UrinStein]

Often I have problems with replays in MP, specifically in SM. Most of the following will be more present for SM players than TM players, that's because I don't really play Tm myself and also the SM environment is more complex, so many things from SM lack in replays, while in TM there is not much stuff that could lack to begin with.

If you know other things that you miss in replays, don't hesitate to mention it here.


Can't save all replays of one map anymore
Since quite a while now, the game saves each round individually instead of saving a whole map in one replay. So after a match, I cannot save the replay after the net map has already loaded. Is there a setting to change it back? I find these kinds of settings, if they exist, confusing enough, that haven't managed to do it myself obviously.
-> Add an option to save whole maps as replays again, including the whole last played map. or pls tell me where i can find it if that feature already exists

Autosaves don't save objects
It was a nice, when one update introduced objects, like the ball in Speedball, in replays. For some reason though, that's not the case for autosaves. That's just bad. A Speedball replay is hard to understand, especially when there is no ball.
-> Have objects saved in autosaved replays, as they already are in manually saved replays

Objects freeze sometimes in replays
This is a strange bug in replays. Sometimes the ball objects in a SB replay will freeze and instead of despawing when someone picks it up, it will just stay in place for the rest of the replay. Meanwhile there will be another ball being played with.
-> Bug: objects freeze sometimes in replays

Timespeed is not exported
In the Mediatracker you can do Slowmotion or speed up things via the "Timespeed" block. However when you export the edited replay as a video, the Timespeed will pretty much disappear and the replay will be exported without. I guess everyone wil agree when I say, that we all would like that feature.
-> Please enable exporting videos with the "Timespeed" block

Restricted Crosshair in Replay
It is only possible to use the standard crosshair in the replay editor. I guess one can just import a custom crosshair as a picture, but that's a lot of work.
Also you can change the colour of the crosshair in the replay, but not its saturation. That means I cannot have a white crosshair like I actually do play with.
Also you can only change the size of the crosshair on a slider, while ingame you can set it to a number.
-> More options for crosshairs in replays would be nice, optimanlly same amount of custumization as ingame

No HUD
There is no way of showing the ingame HUD with ammo, stamina and armor. That is sometimes very interesting information, when you eliminate someone with your last rocket, or to show off someone's good use of stamina.
-> Possibility to enable/disable HUD for players in replays

Replays have no awareness of the gamemode
I know this is a very hard thing to implement, but some gamemodes are simply not understandable without markers and some messages that pop up in the mode. In Speedball you can't know where the ball is, in Battle you don't know which team is attacking and how much time is left.
It is also basically impossible to just add that stuff yourself in editor. Being able to make the same messgaes from the scripts appear manually or assigning markers to poles and players would be a workaround for this, if mode-awareness is simply not possible for replays.
-> general gamemode-awareness of replays or
-> blocks that emulate script events and options, like markers or messages

Replay stops one second before cap
This is not the case in Elite, but every single Speedball replay stops one second before the actual round end. That's simply put: Bullshit. Sometimes in SB you have Instant caps, which do not even end up on the replay. The last moment of such a replay is a bunch of people standing around the pole. This needs fixing. A replay should go on at least two seconds after round end.[/b]
-> extend the replays to a few seconds after round end

Choosing colours in mediatracker
When choosing colours in the replays editor or map's mediatracker, you will have to deal with a slider. That's very tedious when you want the same colour for two things, or you are looking for a specific one. That applies for example when colouring Poles on your map/in your replay. The base of the pole and its gauge colour have to be set indivusually so it's hard to find the same colour in the slider.
You can work around this for two different pole bases, where you can copy its setting via Ctrl+T, but that does not work between base and gauge, as the are not the same kind of block in the editor.
It'd be nice to have an extra numerical value to the colour, so you can set it that way. That might be even easier than the Ctrl+T thing sometimes.
-> Add a numerical value to Colour Sliders

Base Index / Capturable Index
Sticking with the theme of poles, colouring them with the mediatracker forces you to find their Index Number first and then change their colour. Those indexes seem to be random so you will have to change the number, then change the colour and look at each pole to see if it changes. Base Index and Pole Index do not correspond, so figuring out all the poles Indexs won't help you with the Bases. Also all Indexes seem to change when you save and reopen, which completely puts you back.
I tried to do this a long time ago and it was disastrous. This feature definitely needs work and simplification. I can't think of a simple solution for this honestly as most solutions require features thatare not yet present in the mediatracker.
-> Simplyfiy the Base and Capturable Indexes, and do not let them change every time you open the project

[Chris92]

moved thread to appropriate subforum

[UrinStein]

moved thread to appropriate subforum

wrrrroooooooooong
Autosaves don't have objects, will be a probem for TM too, if the decide to have objects in their modes.
Same with obects freeze.
Timespeed, probem for TM players already.
Also TM veterans might add some suggestions, sine they have more knowledge about Tm than me.

Meediatracker and Replay Ediotor is a tool for all games and envis. I just happen to describe them from an SM player's point of view.

Move back please.

[Chris92]

Well it doesn't really fit into Offtopic at all since this thread concerns two Maniaplanet titles.
You can crosspost in the TM Media subforum and just link this thread there.

Also, concerning your last point about the game mode none-awareness of the replay. This is very true, but you also have to keep in mind that this system has been in place since pretty much the original TrackMania game has been released back in 2003.
Back then they had hardcoded modes like Timeattack, Rounds, Team and maybe Laps - that was about it.
Extending on this will be a difficult task probably, but it should be doable. Might also be good to put that onto the Maniaplanet #4 Wishlist thread =)

[UrinStein]

you also have to keep in mind that this system has been in place since pretty much the original TrackMania game has been released back in 2003.

You have to keep in mind, that after 12 years we can expect them to put some actual effort into the tools and not just give us new car phsics with the completely same features.


And no I'm not gonna crosspost. This is a thread meant for discussion and constructive criticism on this tool that is being used A LOT by everyone using >>Maniaplanet<<. If they change one thing in it, it will most likely concern every MP user, therefore I want this thread to be in the MP forum, where people actually lok at it. This subforum is for people posting videos and stuff, and most people don't look here.
If you keep pushing constructive threads into the wrong subforums which are hidden deep inside several other forums, we will have to wait 12 more years for any changes to be made to the replay editor.

Edit: Seriously, where does this subforum look like a place for discussions?
It'd be nice if admins took a look at the forum first before deciding where threads belong.
I spend my time making a list of things that could enhance the replay experience and then the post gets banned into a subforum that most people don't take a look at. I know I don't. This is rediculous.

[TMarc]

Only because a topic is not visible on the first page of a subforum this does not mean it is not read.
It is great that you propose some things, but please stop doing like it was the most important stuff you ever posted.
In a forum you need to accept that you simply need to be patient, as there is no obligation to read, and no obligation to answer. Regardless where (in which subforum) the topic actually resides.

You could also have posted it as addition to the wishlist btw. even if discussion is not allowed there, but threads for discussion can be created additionally.

Please clearly write what you're proposing a improvement, or where you're only complaining about a bug, or about feature that is not working as expected.

E.g. what do you mean exactly with your not so clear point with the HUD?
Do you want just a "No HUD" option at the video export dialog, or an additional effect track where the HUD can be enabled and disabled at will (at different places) during the whole replay?

[UrinStein]

Only because a topic is not visible on the first page of a subforum this does not mean it is not read.

No TM player is gonna look here. Not even Dreammy has seen it apparently, he usually bombards the forum with replies, and I mean that in a good way.
But no, no Dreammy for me.

You could also have posted it as addition to the wishlist btw. even if discussion is not allowed there, but threads for discussion can be created additionally.

Yes, first of all I want to wait for other people to add to the little i know about the editor. Because of my problems mentioned in the first post, I usually don't use it to begin with. Other people though to that and can help expand the list, especially in the TM department, which I don't have any specific knowledge about.

Please clearly write what you're proposing a improvement, or where you're only complaining about a bug, or about feature that is not working as expected.

You are right I'm sorry, I'll update the first post with more explanation.

E.g. what do you mean exactly with your not so clear point with the HUD?
Do you want just a "No HUD" option at the video export dialog, or an additional effect track where the HUD can be enabled and disabled at will (at different places) during the whole replay?

With "No HUD" I meant that replays have no HUD, and I'd like to have them displayed. I don't really know what you mean with ""No HUD" option at the video export dialog", so if there's something I'm missing, that might explain why I didn't think there is any need for further explanation.
Anyway I'll go ahead and do that.


I alo added two more points.

[TMarc]

Thanks for the updates

You could create a post in the main ManiaPlanet subforum and link to this here

[novationx]

ahahaha
I hadnt seen it , no! Ninja forums are hidden deeply in this forum jungle.

Anyways, I dont understand why mods always do something and then post about it. It makes everything off-topic.
Just move or not-move and keep everything on-topic. So much useless discussions all the time.

Last time I checked "Replays" are also in TM and all "Maniaplanet" games. Hmmm I'd put it in the "Maniaplanet" section and because Tmarc is such a nice guy he could do it for you(us).

@Urinesteinerino : Good post with some valid suggestions, but not on the top of my wishlist.

Also : pew pew