How to Record and Play Demos in CS 1.6

CS 1.6 has a built-in demo system that records everything the client receives during a match into a small .dem file, which you can replay later from any angle. Demos are how you review your own mistakes, how leagues verify results, and — most usefully for public server players — how you gather evidence when you suspect someone is cheating. The commands are simple once you know them, and the files are tiny because they store network data, not video.

1. Start and stop a recording

While connected to a server, open the console and start recording with a name of your choice:

record mydemo

This writes to cstrike/mydemo.dem. Play normally, then stop when you are done:

stop

You can only start a recording once you are in-game on a map; running record at the main menu does nothing. If a demo with that name already exists it is overwritten, so use a fresh name each time — including the date or opponent's name makes them easy to find later.

2. Play a demo back

From the main menu console, play any demo in your cstrike folder by name (no extension):

playdemo mydemo

The game loads the map and replays exactly what your client saw. playdemo plays as if you were watching live from your own eyes. To watch with the free-look demo viewer controls instead, use:

viewdemo mydemo

viewdemo opens the demo player interface, which lets you pause, fast-forward and change camera — the mode you want for careful review.

3. Control playback

Inside a demo you are not locked to real time. Useful controls:

• Pause — the pause command or the demo viewer's pause freezes playback.
• Fast-forward / slow-motion — demo_timescale changes playback speed. demo_timescale 2 plays at double speed to skip dull stretches; demo_timescale 0.25 slows a suspicious moment to a crawl.
• Free camera — in viewdemo you can detach the camera and fly around to see a play from another angle, which is exactly what you need to judge a wallhack or aim lock.

4. Use demos to catch cheaters

This is the practical payoff. If a player looks suspicious, record the round, then review it slowly with viewdemo and the free camera. Slow the timescale down and watch their crosshair through walls (does it track opponents it should not see?) and on flicks (does it snap unnaturally to heads?). Because the demo stores what your client received, it is honest evidence you can send to a server admin. Pair it with the server's own logs if the admin runs a chat logger or has anti-cheat output. A demo plus a timestamp is far more actionable than "trust me, he was hacking".

5. Manage and share demo files

Demos live directly in cstrike/ as <name>.dem. They are small — a full match is often just a few megabytes — so they are easy to zip and send. When sharing for a ban appeal or league dispute, include the map and the approximate time so the reviewer can jump to the moment with demo_timescale rather than watching the whole thing. Delete old demos periodically; they accumulate quietly in the game folder.

Common errors

• record does nothing — you ran it at the menu or while not on a live map. You must be connected and in-game to record.
• Demo will not play — the .dem was recorded on a different game version or a heavily modded server, or the map is missing locally. Demos are version-sensitive; a protocol change can break old demos.
• "Playback is corrupt" or it ends early — the recording was cut off by a crash or the file was truncated during transfer. Re-download or re-record.
• Cannot change camera angle — you used playdemo (first-person only). Use viewdemo for the free camera.
• Demo missing from the folder — you recorded to a name that overwrote an earlier one, or the game ran from a different install path. Check the cstrike folder of the install you actually launched.

Verification

Record a short test to confirm the whole flow works. Join a server, run record test1, play for thirty seconds, then stop. Return to the main menu and play it back:

viewdemo test1

You should see your thirty seconds replayed, and you should be able to pause and slow it with demo_timescale 0.25. Confirm the file exists as cstrike/test1.dem. Once you know it works, get in the habit of recording whenever a player looks suspicious — you cannot go back and capture a round after it happened, so the recording has to already be running. For reporting, combine your demo with the player's SteamID; see how to find a player's SteamID.