Instructions

This page is present in the Wiki. Check it out for more in-depth articles.

Installation and use

Check the Download page for a direct link to Java install and Lawena archive.
Extract the .zip to a clean folder
Run lawena.exe, the updater should run and it will automatically launch the tool
Your TF2 directory should be auto-detected (you can always change it from the “File” menu in the UI)
Choose your moviefile directory, where the tool will store everything you record
Configure it as you like, also you can save settings to a file and edit them later
Start TF2, Lawena will make a backup of your cfg and custom folder while TF2 is running
Load a demo and press P to start recording. Please note that you might hear buggy or repeating sounds. This is expected and it won’t be corrupted in the resulting audio file so don’t worry.
When you close TF2, your files should be restored (there should be no lwrt folders inside your tf folder)
To compile your captured frames to a video file, head over to this Wiki page.
The resulting file can be passed through an encoding tool or a video editing program.

This version will detect all VPKs and folders inside your tf/custom folder, so just by having your files there you’ll have the option to load them when Lawena launches TF2s
You can also use the custom folder of Lawena , where some default VPK were included to show you how it works
If you select your custom HUD in the custom resources list, you’ll have to select “Custom” as your selected HUD option or there could be conflicts
If you want to add extra skyboxes, put the .vtf files (not the .vmt) inside the skybox folder of Lawena and it will load along the included

If Lawena is not closed properly, running it once should restore all folders. Your files are inside the lwrtcfg and lwrtcustom folders. In general, Lawena tries to restore your files: (a) when it’s starting, (b) when it’s closing, (c) before it starts TF2 and, (d) when TF2 finishes running.
If files can’t be replaced (you get a failure message) it’s in almost every case caused by a process preventing key folders from being moved/deleted, so to avoid deleting or mixing your files, Lawena aborts the operation. Please try the following in order until it’s fixed:

Close any opened folder in Windows that’s related to TF2 folder (tf/cfg, tf/custom, and subfolders)
Close any program that could be interfering with TF2 folder
Log off and re-log to Windows (alternatively: Try killing and restarting explorer.exe from the Task Manager)
Restart your PC
Tell me about it in GitHub issues/Steam

Check the FAQ for more info!
Please report any issue you might find. Also you can use that same page to suggest new features.