In-Browser Demo Playback
Demo Playback is a GOTV-style video viewer that runs the actual demo on a GPU node and streams it back to your browser. Unlike the 2D/3D replay (which redraws the round from parsed data), this is the real game render, so you get true player POVs, weapon view models, and in-game HUD, with no CS2 install required.
Start it from the Watch demo button on a map card of the match page. Playback opens in its own window. If a map has more than one demo, the button becomes a menu where you pick which one to watch. When every GPU is in use the button is disabled and says why.
When you start playback, a GPU pod boots (allocating a GPU, launching Steam and CS2, loading the demo) before the stream begins, and the window shows each stage as it happens.
What you can do
- Spectate any player: click a player in the CT/T slot grid, or press the number keys, to follow whoever you want.
- Timeline: a seek bar with a skull for every kill (colored by the victim's team, bolder for headshots) and a tick for every round start. Hover for the round and time, click or drag to seek; clicks near a round marker snap to the round start. A strip of round numbers above it, colored by the round's winner, jumps straight to a round. While CS2 catches up after a seek, the clock pulses.
- Round and kill navigation: jump round-to-round, kill-to-kill, or 15 seconds back and forward. Pick a player to step only through their kills (Kills by) or their deaths (Deaths of); otherwise kill navigation follows the spectated player.
- Speed: 0.25× to 4×.
- X-ray: see players through walls (great for review; on by default).
- HUD: pick any broadcast HUD from your library, hide it, or swap its sides. Toggle CS2 demo HUD opens or closes CS2's own demo playback bar.
- Auto director: let the spectator camera follow the action automatically, or drive it yourself.
- Scoreboard: hold to view the live scoreboard.
- Reload demo if the game gets stuck.
Streamers can also create clips directly during playback, from a preset or in the clip editor.
Keyboard shortcuts
Press ? for the full list.
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
Space | Play / pause |
← / → | Skip back / forward 15s |
[ / ] | Previous / next round |
P / N | Previous / next kill |
1 to 0 | Switch player |
X | Toggle x-ray |
H | Hide / show the HUD |
R | Reload demo |
Admin controls
- Demo playback requires at least one GPU node with demo playback enabled, plus a Steam account in the pool for the pod to log in with.
- Playback is available to match organizers and to the Streamer role and above.
- The default HUD is set on Settings → Application → Broadcast HUDs.