Tracker and Battle Recorder
In PR:BF2 there are two kinds of replays:
- 2D, a top down overview of the whole battlefield (called Tracker, with .prdemo extension).
- 3D, a controllable in-game camera (Battle Recorder (BR), with .bf2demo extension). You need to download them from a server's website. You can ask for a link on the server's Discord (links are available in the #server-hosts channel on the official Project Reality Discord Server).
Some servers provide Tracker and BR files together in an easily accessible way providing map name, layer, gamemode and time. For those that don't, getting replays is a little bit more tricky.
Tracker
You can easily find the desired recording as these files have the time, map, gamemode and layer included into their name.
After you download a .prdemo file, open this website, click Choose file and find the file you downloaded.
Example of how playing tracker looks like:
Battle Recorder
If BR is not provided together with Tracker, it gets a little bit more difficult as the file name of this recording only contains the date. The easiest way to find the desired file is to find a corresponding tracker file first. Battle Recorder files are much larger than tracker files and as a result the time included within their name is usually the one in the tracker file name +5 minutes (more or less).
After you download a .bf2demo file, you need to place it in:
%UserProfile%\Documents\ProjectReality\Profiles\Default\demos
Note that you may have to create the 'demos' directory manually. After the BR file is in the correct directory, you can launch the game. If the game is already running, you have to restart it — otherwise the BR file will not appear on the list. The demo can be found at REPLAYS in the main menu. Choose the desired file in the Battlerecorder Library section and then Play File.
Example of how playing Battle Recorder looks like:
Creating BR files
You can also make your own recordings, but only while being in a local server. To do so open the console with ` (the key above Tab and left of 1) and type:
demo.recorddemo file
where file will be the name of your recording.
To stop recording type:
demo.stoprecording
In this case you will find file.bf2demo in:
Your PR:BF2 Installation Folder\mods\pr\Demos
Controls
When in a recording you can switch between Player Camera and Free Roam with Right Click or hold T and press the button Player Cam / Free Cam. Press Space to cylce between players.
Number keys (1-9) change speed, alternatively you can hold Q and choose the speed you want.
To raise the camera hold Z, to move forward fast double tap W. To slow down movement hold Shift while moving. While in Player Cam you can use your scroll wheel to zoom in and out.
To go back to the beginning of the recording you can press the Restart button when in the Q menu.