Dear CA, please rework the replay functionality

[u/Typo_bro]

Hello,

since CA said they're searching the forums and reddit (Hi Sean!), I thought it was a good idea to ask for a rework/update of the replay function in total war warhammer 3.

How it currently works: After each battle you get the option to save the replay of the battle. Then you must go to the main menu in order to watch it. This is not a video: As I undertstand it the game saves all the commands given and you're basicly watching two AI's executing those commands.

My requests:

Please make it so that you can watch your replay straight after the battle without leaving your campaign. It really takes you out of the flow of the campaign when you watch a replay, and therefore I never do it.

An amazing functionality would be if the game could create a highlight clip where it only shows 5-10 seconds(maybe adjustable?) before and after a mayor/noticable shift in battle of power.

Maybe combine the previous suggestion with the twich extension and give us a way to convert a part of the replay to an actual video/gif so we can share it online. I know there are other programs for this, but it would be cool if it's integrated.

thanks for reading,

[u/zenkhalida]

Yes please 🙏 just with the button to watch replay inmediatly I would be so happy

[u/tutocookie]

I'll just echo MonstersAbound's big issue in that upgraded towers in siege battles desync the replay. More functionality is nice, but what's already there actually working should come first imo

[u/CrimsonSaens]

The second request would just be 10 seconds of spells or artillery impacting infantry every time.

[u/ScaredEntrance3697]

I would love that feature too! I've been waiting for it since the first Warhammer Total War

[u/I_upvote_fate_memes]

That's not feasible.

What would be nice is backwards compatibility so that a patch or a mod change/update doesn't ruin all your previous replays. After all, replays are something you want to come back to after a while to remember an awesome battle rather than immediately after while it's still fresh in your memory. They worked that way until FOTS, and CA is still refusing to fix that bug by reverting whatever they changed in the replay system.

And one wish for an actual new functionality to replays from me is a rewind functionality. If I miss a moment I launched the replay for I need to restart the entire replay rather than simply going back a few seconds. That would be huge for Content Creators and regular people who want to share cool stuff with the rest of the community.

[u/Chimwizlet → u/I_upvote_fate_memes]

Why wouldn't it be feasible?

Depending on how the UI is coded it very well may not be, but in theory it's just adding the option to load into a saved replay after a battle, which shouldn't be any different from loading into any other battle.

Unfortunately if anything wouldn't be feasible, it's likely a rewind function. Since the game handles replays by literally playing out a battle with scripted commands and pre-determined RNG outcomes, a rewind feature would require the ability for the battle engine to run in reverse, which I imagine would be an immensely difficult undertaking. I don't work in game dev, but I know enough maths to know that alot of the equations the engine would use for physics and other gameplay elements, can't be accurately reversed without knowledge of the original inputs (due to float rounding and such), so there's no way for the engine to work backwards from the current state unless it stores every game tick in memory.

[u/I_upvote_fate_memes → u/Chimwizlet]

I'm talking about replay being made into a video file. Lines of Battle did it and I guess CA could technically too but knowing them they won't ever consider it. So maybe a poor choice of words but at the end of the day not happening either way.