diff --git a/code/game/g_main.c b/code/game/g_main.c
index b6a93e5..a837e2c 100644
--- a/code/game/g_main.c
+++ b/code/game/g_main.c
@@ -766,6 +766,10 @@ void CalculateRanks( void ) {
 	int		rank;
 	int		score;
 	int		newScore;
+
+	// (demo playback note: this runs normally so the spectator
+	// appears in sortedClients. Recorded players won't show here
+	// since they're not connected in the game module.)
 	gclient_t	*cl;
 
 	level.follow1 = -1;
@@ -1731,14 +1735,35 @@ int start, end;
 	// get any cvar changes
 	G_UpdateCvars();
 
-	// demo playback: only process spectator client, skip all entity logic
+	// demo playback: sync recorded player states and process spectator
 	if ( g_svDemoPlaying.integer ) {
+		// mark recorded players as connected based on their playerState.
+		// the server injected playerStates via SV_GameClientNum before
+		// calling G_RunFrame, so g_clients[i].ps is already populated.
 		for ( i = 0; i < level.maxclients; i++ ) {
-			ent = &g_entities[i];
-			if ( ent->inuse && ent->client &&
-				 ent->client->sess.sessionTeam == TEAM_SPECTATOR &&
-				 ent->client->pers.connected == CON_CONNECTED ) {
-				ClientThink_real( ent );
+			gclient_t *cl = &level.clients[i];
+			gentity_t *e = &g_entities[i];
+
+			// skip the spectator slot — it's managed normally
+			if ( e->client && cl->pers.connected == CON_CONNECTED
+				 && cl->sess.sessionTeam == TEAM_SPECTATOR ) {
+				ClientThink_real( e );
+				continue;
+			}
+
+			// check if server injected a valid playerState for this slot
+			if ( cl->ps.commandTime > 0 ) {
+				cl->pers.connected = CON_CONNECTED;
+				cl->sess.sessionTeam = cl->ps.persistant[PERS_TEAM];
+				e->inuse = qtrue;
+				e->client = cl;
+				e->s.clientNum = i;
+				e->s.number = i;
+			} else if ( cl->pers.connected == CON_CONNECTED
+						&& cl->sess.sessionTeam != TEAM_SPECTATOR ) {
+				// player left — mark disconnected
+				cl->pers.connected = CON_DISCONNECTED;
+				e->inuse = qfalse;
 			}
 		}
 		return;
diff --git a/code/server/sv_netdemo.c b/code/server/sv_netdemo.c
index 10b0532..20ae3dc 100644
--- a/code/server/sv_netdemo.c
+++ b/code/server/sv_netdemo.c
@@ -68,12 +68,19 @@ typedef struct {
 	qboolean		active;			// was this entity present last frame?
 } svdEntityState_t;
 
+// per-player state for delta compression
+typedef struct {
+	playerState_t	ps;
+	qboolean		active;
+} svdPlayerState_t;
+
 typedef struct {
 	// recording
 	fileHandle_t	recordFile;
 	qboolean		recording;
 	char			*lastConfigstrings[MAX_CONFIGSTRINGS];  // for delta detection
 	svdEntityState_t	prevEntities[MAX_GENTITIES];  // previous frame for delta
+	svdPlayerState_t	prevPlayers[MAX_CLIENTS];     // previous frame player states
 
 	// playback
 	fileHandle_t	playFile;
@@ -87,6 +94,7 @@ typedef struct {
 	qboolean		endOfDemo;
 	qboolean		needConfigstrings;	// apply saved configstrings on first frame
 	svdEntityState_t	playPrevEntities[MAX_GENTITIES];  // previous frame for delta read
+	svdPlayerState_t	playPrevPlayers[MAX_CLIENTS];     // previous frame player states
 } svDemo_t;
 
 static svDemo_t	demo;
@@ -237,11 +245,48 @@ static void SVD_WriteFrame( fileHandle_t f ) {
 	// end of entities marker
 	MSG_WriteBits( &msg, (MAX_GENTITIES - 1), GENTITYNUM_BITS );
 
-	// write compressed message to file
+	// write compressed entity message to file
 	msgLen = msg.cursize;
 	SVD_WriteInt( f, msgLen );
 	FS_Write( msg.data, msgLen, f );
 
+	// write player states (delta compressed)
+	{
+		msg_t psmsg;
+		byte psBuf[MAX_CLIENTS * 256];
+		int psCount = 0;
+
+		MSG_Init( &psmsg, psBuf, sizeof(psBuf) );
+
+		for ( i = 0; i < sv_maxclients->integer; i++ ) {
+			playerState_t *ps = SV_GameClientNum( i );
+			client_t *cl = &svs.clients[i];
+			qboolean active = ( cl->state >= CS_ACTIVE );
+
+			if ( active ) {
+				playerState_t *from = demo.prevPlayers[i].active ? &demo.prevPlayers[i].ps : NULL;
+				MSG_WriteBits( &psmsg, i, 6 );  // client number (0-63)
+				MSG_WriteBits( &psmsg, 1, 1 );   // active flag
+				MSG_WriteDeltaPlayerstate( &psmsg, from, ps );
+				demo.prevPlayers[i].ps = *ps;
+				demo.prevPlayers[i].active = qtrue;
+				psCount++;
+			} else if ( demo.prevPlayers[i].active ) {
+				MSG_WriteBits( &psmsg, i, 6 );
+				MSG_WriteBits( &psmsg, 0, 1 );   // inactive flag (player left)
+				demo.prevPlayers[i].active = qfalse;
+				psCount++;
+			}
+		}
+		// terminator
+		MSG_WriteBits( &psmsg, MAX_CLIENTS - 1, 6 );
+		MSG_WriteBits( &psmsg, 0, 1 );
+
+		msgLen = psmsg.cursize;
+		SVD_WriteInt( f, msgLen );
+		FS_Write( psmsg.data, msgLen, f );
+	}
+
 	// configstring changes
 	numChanges = 0;
 	for ( i = 0; i < MAX_CONFIGSTRINGS; i++ ) {
@@ -540,6 +585,57 @@ static qboolean SVD_ReadFrame( fileHandle_t f ) {
 		sv.num_entities = demo.spectatorClientNum + 1;
 	}
 
+	// read player states (delta compressed)
+	{
+		msg_t psmsg;
+		byte psBuf[MAX_CLIENTS * 256];
+		int psMsgLen;
+
+		psMsgLen = SVD_ReadInt( f );
+		if ( psMsgLen > 0 && psMsgLen <= (int)sizeof(psBuf) ) {
+			FS_Read( psBuf, psMsgLen, f );
+			MSG_Init( &psmsg, psBuf, sizeof(psBuf) );
+			psmsg.cursize = psMsgLen;
+
+			while ( 1 ) {
+				int clientNum = MSG_ReadBits( &psmsg, 6 );
+				int active = MSG_ReadBits( &psmsg, 1 );
+
+				if ( clientNum == MAX_CLIENTS - 1 && !active ) {
+					break;  // terminator
+				}
+				if ( psmsg.readcount > psmsg.cursize ) {
+					break;
+				}
+
+				if ( active ) {
+					playerState_t newPs;
+					playerState_t *from;
+					playerState_t baseline;
+
+					if ( demo.playPrevPlayers[clientNum].active ) {
+						from = &demo.playPrevPlayers[clientNum].ps;
+					} else {
+						Com_Memset( &baseline, 0, sizeof(baseline) );
+						from = &baseline;
+					}
+
+					MSG_ReadDeltaPlayerstate( &psmsg, from, &newPs );
+					demo.playPrevPlayers[clientNum].ps = newPs;
+					demo.playPrevPlayers[clientNum].active = qtrue;
+
+					// inject into game module's client state
+					if ( clientNum != demo.spectatorClientNum ) {
+						playerState_t *gamePs = SV_GameClientNum( clientNum );
+						*gamePs = newPs;
+					}
+				} else {
+					demo.playPrevPlayers[clientNum].active = qfalse;
+				}
+			}
+		}
+	}
+
 	// read configstring changes
 	numChanges = SVD_ReadShort( f );
 	for ( i = 0; i < numChanges; i++ ) {