[h][b]TF2 Demo Salvage — open beta: play the demos TF2 can't open anymore[/b][/h]

TF2 Demo Salvage is a standalone demo viewer and parser for Team Fortress 2. It reads [b].dem[/b] files from any point in TF2's history, [b]2007 to today[/b], including the ones the current client refuses to load.

It works because every demo carries a description of its own entity data, and Salvage decodes each demo against that, rather than against whatever today's game expects.

[h]Where it's at[/h]
[list]
[*][b]Decoding is solid.[/b] Tested on [b]441 real demos[/b] — ETF2L, ESEA, CEVO, LAN SourceTV, POVs and pugs, from TF2's launch build to this year. Every one decodes, including demos cut off mid-write, old Speex and Steam Voice audio, and the 2007 SourceTV demos whose schema was truncated at record time.
[*][b]The viewer plays them back in 3D:[/b]
[list]
[*]Uses your own TF2 install for maps and models.
[*]Reads your config, so your binds work.
[*]Scrub, free camera, or POV — where the recorder's movement is predicted the way the game does it.
[/list]
[*][b]Export to text and back:[/b] [i]File > Export assembly[/i] turns a demo into readable text; [i]Compile assembly[/i] turns that text back into a byte-identical demo.
[/list]

[b]It's a beta.[/b] The viewer still looks different from the game in places — the release notes list where. I'm pushing fixes constantly; there have already been several releases since launch. If you want something polished, wait. If you want to help shape it, try it now.

[h]Download[/h]
[url=https://github.com/PinKushin/Tf2DemoSalvage/releases/latest]Latest release on GitHub[/url]
[list]
[*]Windows x64. Unzip and run [code]viewer\tf2demoview.exe[/code] — nothing else to install.
[*]Needs TF2 installed (for maps and models).
[*]8 GB RAM minimum, 16 GB recommended.
[/list]

[h]What helps most[/h]
[list]
[*][b]Old demos.[/b] Early CEVO, CAL, ETF2L and ESEA demos, LAN POVs, frag-movie source demos — especially anything from [b]2008–2012[/b]. Rare eras are where the edge cases hide.
[*][b]Bug reports with the log.[/b] Logs are in [code]%LOCALAPPDATA%\Tf2DemoSalvage[/code] — tell me the demo and the tick.
[/list]

[h]Repo[/h]
[url=https://github.com/PinKushin/Tf2DemoSalvage]github.com/PinKushin/Tf2DemoSalvage[/url]

If you want to contribute, test, or just watch the chaos, go for it.