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 Post subject: Game record method rev 2
PostPosted: 16 Dec 2008, 12:49 
Demon

Joined: 13 Aug 2007, 15:03
Posts: 375
Since I've started playing this horribly old game again, I tried to find a decent recording method. The previous one using guncam sort of did it, except in random occasions it caused the entire vid to flicker and was unable to be viewed, which is a real downside.

But I just found a better way, which is 100% (probably) possible to record with 0 lag (on my computer at least, which isn't anything uber but somewhat modern) and is quite easy for anyone.

Technical requirements are,
- fraps (Yes, we know this and basically this is the only app that never flickered. It's $30.)
- Windows Media Encoder (This is released from M$ but for free. Quite great for a free app.)
- 100gb+ of free disk space (Since fraps makes gigantic files, something like 30gb+ a game, you need some space, especially if you record more than a few games a day.)
- Somewhat good CPU to encode within a sane amount of time. (Mine is Pentium Dual Core E5200 at something like 2.6Ghz, which can be obtained at around just $80 these days.)

The output will be a 'wmv' file of about 450mb for 30min game with quite nice quality taking about an hour to encode, which can be viewed and streamed with Windows Media Player without any extra codec, so this is probably the best and easiest for authors and users. Second place was 'h.264' encoding using VirtualDub to encode, whose quality is pretty much comparable to that of wmv (imo, and note that i'm a noob at vid encoding, but h.264 is quite a popular format) but I don't know how to make it streamable in 'avi' container and users need extra codecs too.

Instructrions to follow.


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 Post subject: Re: Game record method rev 2
PostPosted: 05 Jan 2009, 18:46 
Demon
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Joined: 30 Aug 2007, 11:54
Posts: 24
Hidekiiiii :D

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 Post subject: Re: Game record method rev 2
PostPosted: 06 Jan 2009, 03:59 
Demon

Joined: 13 Aug 2007, 15:03
Posts: 375
Holy shit dood. How's life? Homeworld2 has been active around the end/start of the year lol. TFL/Genesis/SF/me and other skilled.


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 Post subject: Re: Game record method rev 2
PostPosted: 06 Jan 2009, 09:28 
Demon
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Joined: 30 Aug 2007, 11:54
Posts: 24
Atm I'm into Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance. it's also sci-fi based strategy, but more land based, not so much 3d. However it's complexity and pure fun of playing it - it's great. Still long way for me to get to the top there :)

Game is not new now, u should be able to get it at discount prices too to try it out?

Anyhow, what did u do at new years eve Hid? :P

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 Post subject: Re: Game record method rev 2
PostPosted: 06 Jan 2009, 19:37 
Demon
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Joined: 30 Aug 2007, 11:54
Posts: 24
Anyhow, Hid are you on facebook? PM me your details if you are - lets hook up :D

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 Post subject: Re: Game record method rev 2
PostPosted: 31 Jan 2009, 11:41 
Demon

Joined: 13 Aug 2007, 15:03
Posts: 375
About time I add the instruction... sry folko, but I don't do facebook stuff.

(Writing this from top of my head, so little details may look wrong)

First, install fraps (u need $30 license) and check out the record hotkey in its config and set the record fps to 50fps. 60 is too much and 30 is too low. Set the record storage folder and launch hw2, hit the record key, move mouse or dig the interface a bit, hit again and quit hw2 and see that some big avi file is created in the rec folder and make sure it looks and hears fine in wmp.

Install Windows Media Encoder 9 series (google and download from MS) and run it.
- Cancel the initial session chooser.
- Hit 'Properties' button at the top.
- In the 'Sources' tab, choose the source as 'File' instead of 'Devices' and pick the test rec avi file hitting 'Browse'.
- Go to 'Output' tab and check on 'Archive to file' (or 'Encode to file') and uncheck other options. Pick a folder and a file name. At this moment, pick a generic name for now like 'hw2-record.wmv'.
- Go to 'Compression' tab and choose 'Web server' for 'Destination', 'Full screen video' for 'Video' and hit 'Edit' button.
- Click on '3064.03' in the 'Target bit rates' and hit 'Edit' button next to it.
- Where it says '2991K' change it to '1800K'. That's the compression ratio and probably best balance between size and quality.
- Hit 'Apply' button below. At this moment, you should save the config to a file to be used again later. Hit 'Ctrl-S' and save the config. From next time, you can start from here by double clicking on the config file.

- If you record a whole game, you will have many of 4gb files split from fraps, so using Explorer, drag all of the sources to the 'Source' area. (Do NOT drag all files at once or the order gets screwed, drag 1 by 1.)
- After choosing 'Source 1' (which is the test rec avi), hit 'Remove' to get rid of it from start of the movie.
- Make sure that every vid but the last one has 'Roll over to next source' at 'At end' option and do make sure the vids are placed in the order and that they are all rolling to the next source and the last vid is set to 'Stop' or you will end up wasting good amount of CPU after finding one of it was set to 'Stop' in the middle or something...
- After all looks good, hit 'Start Encoding' and if all goes good, the 'wmv' file will be built for anyone to watch at about 500MB/30min vid.

By default WME uses all CPU core with default priority level, u may want to go to Task Manager and give it (wmenc.exe) a pretty low priority (right click on the process name and set it to 'Low' priority), so u can still use the PC at decent performance. If you are on multi core CPU, you can also assign less cores to the process to keep urself more power left.


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