Hello guys ! Alot of things have changed since I first wrote this small introduction to video recording. I learned important and crucial information about codec, container, recording software, required hardware, upload to youtube and also many other things that I will be sharing in this completely reworked guide to game play recording. So here is what I am planning to do: 1 guide for beginner using MSI after burner, that is fit for players that want to upload to youtube without any video editing required and a much more complex one using Dxtory. That last method is fit for players that want to be able to fully edit their video and audio track before uploading to youtube.
General information required to understand before you attempt any of the 2 proposed methods:
- You understand that both suggested guides are intended for 1080p recording, every thing suggested here is done so with that in mind. If your not looking for 1080p, you can simply choose a lower resolution in your recording setting for both software’s.
- This guide contain both, paid and free software’s
- You want to have at least 2 hard drives (7200 rpm recommended) , one where your operating system/Star Conflict is installed/being played from and the other one as your recording target drive. Lets be serious here, you will be recording 30 frames per second, this is alot of write operations for an hard drive so you need a separated one for recording or you risk ending up with a choppy video or dropped frames.
- Recording more than 30 frames per second is arguably useless as youtube lock video at 30 fps , unless you want to add slow motion special effect both methods record at 30 fps.
- You want a quad core CPU running at 3.0Ghz for video rendering and best recording capability without hurting your game performance.
- Finally, you want to have a minimum of knowledge regarding codec and container as your choice can have a noticeable impact on your system performance and image/frames quality being captured. I will explain both codec choice for each guide but for now you really need to watch this 8 minutes video. It has so much relevant information in such a small amount of time, you will be surprised.
Beginner guide, easiest and fastest way to get you started. (orginal post unmodified yet, still working on it)
When I first decided to look into recording my game play and share it in this section of the forum, I could not find any tutorial to help me get started. Snib suggested me a free software called MSI Afterburner and after 30 min. I was already recording my first video ! Unfortunately, it was much more complicated than I first anticipated… It can be very complicated for casual gamer, so I decided to put up a small guide that will help you get on your way or at least, give you some hint where to look for wt”)
1080p recording tutorial:
- First, you will need MSI Afterburner which you can find here http://event.msi.com/vga/afterburner/download.htm . Make sure to download the latest BETA version 3.0.0 beta 19 (which support ATI card but I havent tested it) Note that MSI Afterburner require RivaTuner Statistics Server in order to function properly, it come bundled with MSI Afterburner but not the latest version. Get the latest version (v5.4.1) here http://www.guru3d.com/files_details/rtss_rivatuner_statistics_server_download.html . Install both software separately to avoid issue with RivaTuner 4.5 that could keep opening if you installed it from the bundled software.
- Second, you will need the H.264 codec to enable 1080p recording while taking a reasonable amount of space and upload time to youtube (note that youtube wont take video with more than 30 frames second so recording any higher would be useless). You can find a compatible codec for Afterburner here http://sourceforge.net/projects/x264vfw/ . Ensure it is properly installed before going further.
- Your almost done ! Finally, listen carefully to this 6:39 video, introducing the basic setting of H.264 codec to ensure the easiest and fastest experience possible.
- Enjoy ! :Dwop
Disclaimer:
*not every computer can record 1080p flawlessly
**I do not own any software and video posted here, this is simply to help other players share their game play with the community
***I am not responsible for any harm/damage done to your computer using these software
Advanced guide with independent audio track for each program being captured. (Warning, this method is intended to be edited/rendered before uploaded to youtube, being familiar with PC is required)
Introduction
This guide is intended for 1080p and having the best video quality possible as a result in the end. Every one one is talking about H264, why you ask ? Simple answer, it provide the best compression for 1080p recording. However, it has 2 major flaws, the first one is obvious and is the quality of the frame being recorded, it suck. The second flaw is the impact and resources required to compress those frames, yes it take more processing power because before your hard drive can write the frame, your CPU has to compress all of the frames before it is written on your hard drive. The impact ? It will vary from system to system depending on your spec but in the end you will end up loosing FPS/game will stutter while gaming and you certainly dont want that. There is a simple thing you can remember, the better the compressing ratio is (no matter the codec being used), the harder the impact on your CPU will be.
So, if you can spare the hard disk space, you should always choose a codec with less compression and better image quality. If you watched the video about codec up there, you already know there is ton’s of codec, some are free and some are licensed, in this guide we will use a free one called Lagarith. It is what we call a “lossless” codec, which mean it take the whole frame as it is and doesnt alter the image while it compress it (in reality it is much more complex but for a tutorial this simple explanation will do).
With all that in mind, I tested alot of recording program and I finally made my choice on a program called Dxtory. This program is simple, support H264 and Lagarith and has almost 0 impact on your FPS while your playing (depending on your codec choice of course) and recording. It also support up to 8 independent audio tracks for audio editing before you render your video which can come in handy if you want to remove some unwanted comment on Skype or TeamSpeak for example but require Virtual audio cable to function properly. Are you ready ? Following this small introduction is my recommended hardware and the list of software you will need to achieve this recording setup.
Recommended hardware
- 2TB Single or Raid 0 separated hard drive running at 7200RPM capable of atleast 130mb/s write speed operation.
- 8GB of RAM.
- Quad Core CPU running at 3Ghz minimum.
- Nvidia 660 video card or higher (or ATI equivalent)
List of required softwares
- Lagarith lossless codec (free codec)
- Dxtory recording software (free and paid version available, I am using the paid one)
- Virtual audio cable (paid software, demo available but beware of limitation)
Virtual audio cable
Virtual cable is a really nice software but unfortunately really hard to master. However, this software play an important role in this setup because it give you the total control over your computer sound system. I will not explain the whole program in details because of the complexity of it, instead, I will explain the purpose and some of the basic setting to get you started. You have to understand that you will have to figure out some specific setting for your own sound system as there can be so many different setting depending on your computer setup.
Alright, basically what vac does is it intercept all audio source coming from your hardware before sending it to any audio output. One of the common problem you face when recording your game play, is the sound you are listening to and the output volume of each application (may it be a set of speaker or a headset). If you are like me, you probably want to have your game sound lower than TeamSpeak sound for example but you are wondering if you will be able to adjust the volume once the record is done. Well, this program will let you do that because Dxtory will be setup to pickup audio source directly from the virtual audio console created by vac that has an independent master volume from the one you are actually listening to.
I will show you how to create 2 virtual audio repeater for recording the sound of any program you decide, in a separated audio track. Lets take a look at the setup:
- This is the virtual audio console, there you need to create 2 set of cables, you can copy my setting for this part.
- This is the audio repeater that loop the sound back from the vac to your speaker or headset, there you can copy my setting but not the one in the channel configuration and wave, you need to adjust this part for your own configuration. Also, an important thing to remember once your done with this, the audio repeater need to be started manually each time you reboot your computer. Its the only thing that suck about this software.
- Same as 2
- There you can see which sound application goes to which audio output, once Dxtory is setup, it will pick the audio volume directly from this source meaning you can adjust your game volume and application volume without any impact on the volume being recorded.
- In the sound manager, you need to find your audio line 1 and set it as your default audio playback device. Once your done with that, hit the start button on both of your audio repeater and the sound will continue like nothing happened.
You should install these software’s before proceeding to the next step.
***Too tired to complete it yet, will be completed by tomorrow***
very usefull for recording games