RWAPlugins - Released!

The easiest way to create an RWA is as a solo-commentator. Using the plugin, all you really have to do is load up the replay and start speaking, and it'll keep recording til you tell it to stop. Here's how to quickly get an RWA made:



First, make sure you have the plugins downloaded and installed to the correct folder, and make sure that you have the Recorder plugin enabled in CL.



Next, if you haven't already configuring the Recorder plugin to your liking, open up the configuration dialog for it. The Commenter name and Language settings are displayed when people load RWAs, so what you put there is completely up to you.



Here is probably the most important configuration option. Make sure that you remember whatever hotkey you put here. You will need this hotkey to stop the recording process and trigger the saving of a new replay file.



Here you can choose which device on your computer the plugin should record sound from. Most people can just leave this on the default setting.



Next, launch Starcraft through ChaosLauncher. You should see a message in the top left telling you that RWARecorder has been loaded. Proceed through the steps to load a replay. You may a load a replay in Single player or Multiplayer, Battle.net or Lan. However you load it, the recorder will recognize it and start recording.



Here we see the start of a game, and the standard message from the plugin to tell you that you're recording. From this point on, anything you say will be recorded to an ogg file to be attached to the replay. Also, any speed changes that are made while recording will be saved to the replay as well so they are reflected when people watch your RWA later on.



Once the replay is over, or at any time during the replay, you can press the 'End Recording' hotkey you set earlier. Doing so will stop the recording process and export a new replay with audio/speed data attached.



Make absolutely sure you finish the recording using the hotkey, or you risk losing all your hard work. You can take as long as you need after the replay, even exiting the replay entirely and viewing the score screen. Once you press the hotkey, the plugin will display that it has finished recording, and your new replay should be exported.



To find your new replay, first find the replay you loaded to commentate on.



Your new replay will be in the same folder, but with a 'RWA_' prepended to easily show that it has audio data attached. You can distribute just this file, and now anyone with the Player plugin can watch the replay with your commentary!

For those of you who want to do joint recordings (recordings with 2 or more peoples), or just want more control over the audio that goes into the replay, there are some added steps. You will first need an Ogg file of the audio you'd like to add to the replay. You can get this however you like, but try to keep the file as small as possible so your RWA is easy to distribute. The format used by normal RWA's is: 22,050hz, 64kbps VBR, 16bit

As an added note, I would recommend that while you are recording your joint audio, you should use RWARecorder when watching the replay together. This will allow you to save speed changes easily, and you can later replace the audio with your joint audio (using the following steps).

For attaching audio to replays without the normal recording process, we will use RWAUtils. This is a program that makes it easy to join replays and audio files, and to analyze replays and determine what extra data they have.



When you first open RWAUtils, you will be presented with the Join tab. This is what we will use to join a replay file and an ogg file. Select the appropriate files for each box. Note that you may select a replay file that already has audio as your source, and that if you do this, the audio will be replaced by the new ogg file.



Here is how I filled out the form for my new RWA. I am using a file that already has RWA data inside so that I can keep the speed changes intact. Once you have filled out the form, simply hit the Join button and you should have a brand new RWA file!



If you would like to ensure the RWA has turned out correctly, you can move over to the Analyze Replay tab. This will read the extended data portion of the replay and give a technical description of it.



The output from this looks a little daunting, but its fairly easy to see whether or not an RWA is 'proper'. Any RWA from version 0.4 and onward will have 2 or more sections, one 'tSpd' section, and one 'tRWA' section. The 'tSpd' deals with speed changes, and 'tRWA' contains the audio data. If your replay contains both of these sections, you should be set. If it does not contain a speed section, don't worry, that is not necessary for playback, its just an added feature.



And as you can see, we've generated a working RWA!