33 replies to this topic

[CmdrPoopyPants]

Ok, so I finally decided to download and installed fraps.. but the movie was only 30 seconds? Is there a limit to the video you can make on the free versions? If I can only make 30 second videos, there's no point in having it.. lol

[Watchit]

Yep the limit to movie lengths with free fraps is 30 seconds. Also, just a note for future reference, stop the recording before a match ends or it'll crash your client.

[CmdrPoopyPants]

I uninstalled it.. no point in 30 second movies.. so..

[Chrithu]

CmdrPoopyPants, on 02 March 2013 - 01:17 AM, said:

I uninstalled it.. no point in 30 second movies.. so..

Xfire has a pretty good recording function too afaik for free. But on another note: I've shelled out the $10 for the full version of Fraps nearly 10 years ago and have never regretted that since. It was steadily improved does it's job pretty well and I have enabled in all games for taking screen shots and recording movies. The only drawback is that the data it is writting to the HD is very HUGe and very much per second. On modern High resolution games this results in a heavy performance impact on the games. I need to get a SSD for recording sometime.

Edited by Jason Parker, 02 March 2013 - 01:36 AM.

[Dredhawk]

Well Fraps is a good program but yall have to pay for it to get the full use out of it.. Or go find a bootleg copy there out there not saying ware but there out there..

Once you buy fraps it pretty much free upgrade to new version when ever it come out if you get a bootleg you stuck with that version unless you go out looking for a newer version...

[Aros]

I have fraps, it's a great program, the only issue I have with it is that no matter what I do, it always records my FPS numbers and such in the upper left corner.

Anyone know how to fix that?

[Dredhawk]

I have that problem ever so often don't know why..There a Hide Overlay deal in FPS tab don't know if that would fix anything.....

[Phaesphoros]

I've also heard someone mentioning MSI Afterburner. It's a free tool and can record as well; with about 720p performance doesn't even drop too much.

@Jason Parker: IMHO only if the tool is crap, disk performance should impact game performance due to recording. Disk activity should increase load times but not, say, fps. All these recording tools should do is to copy the buffer's content from graphics card to RAM, process it (like compression) and store it to disk. As the MSI tool states, the copying process from graphics card to RAM can impact performance since there's a limited bandwidth (depends on some factors, but this is also a problem for GPU computing).

[FromHell2k]

Phaesphoros, on 02 March 2013 - 04:14 AM, said:

I've also heard someone mentioning MSI Afterburner. It's a free tool and can record as well; with about 720p performance doesn't even drop too much.

@Jason Parker: IMHO only if the tool is crap, disk performance should impact game performance due to recording. Disk activity should increase load times but not, say, fps. All these recording tools should do is to copy the buffer's content from graphics card to RAM, process it (like compression) and store it to disk. As the MSI tool states, the copying process from graphics card to RAM can impact performance since there's a limited bandwidth (depends on some factors, but this is also a problem for GPU computing).

MSI Afterburner=Epic Videos (Subliminal messaging!) > http://www.youtube.c...c.1.Y-9B1QBp4ZM

No FPS drops, easy to configurate and free

Link for MSI Afterburner > http://event.msi.com...er/overview.htm

Direct download > http://download1.msi...nerSetup231.zip

[Chrithu]

Phaesphoros, on 02 March 2013 - 04:14 AM, said:

I've also heard someone mentioning MSI Afterburner. It's a free tool and can record as well; with about 720p performance doesn't even drop too much.

@Jason Parker: IMHO only if the tool is crap, disk performance should impact game performance due to recording. Disk activity should increase load times but not, say, fps. All these recording tools should do is to copy the buffer's content from graphics card to RAM, process it (like compression) and store it to disk. As the MSI tool states, the copying process from graphics card to RAM can impact performance since there's a limited bandwidth (depends on some factors, but this is also a problem for GPU computing).

Maybe there lies the problem.- Fraps is writing the raw input uncompressed directly from the buffer to the disc. So the bandwidth needed increases with resolution from what I understand. I shall try MSI afterburner. Question: Will it work with non-MSI cards aswell?

Regarding the problem with frapsed videos still showing the FPS counter: This is off by default. The framecounter can only be included in screenshots and for that you need to check a checkbox in the Screenshot tab. Be aware that Fraps also "benchmarks" video display. So when you view your videos with WMP or VLC make sure fraps is disabled or you disable the overlay. And yes that also means fraps can record anything played via WMP in fullscreen.

Edit: Just out of curiousity I checked fraps.com. The price has tripled since I've bought it. And I have to say that for what it has to offer I wouldn't buy it either for 30€.

Edited by Jason Parker, 02 March 2013 - 05:25 AM.

[EvilTwinTepe]

CmdrPoopyPants, on 02 March 2013 - 12:21 AM, said:

Ok, so I finally decided to download and installed fraps.. but the movie was only 30 seconds? Is there a limit to the video you can make on the free versions? If I can only make 30 second videos, there's no point in having it.. lol

All Hail to Commander Poopy Pants! So - I suggest Bandicam - the free version has like a 20 minute limit ot something - easy to get a whole match, and barely touches your FPS: http://www.bandicam.com/

[MrPlow254]

Yes http://www.bandicam.com/ is way better for recording, I have noticed the amount of memory a video uses up for sometime period on bandicam is far less then FRAPS, and the video quality can be adjusted easily.

[Chrithu]

Ok just downloaded and tested MSI Afterburner. Hands down this is a lot better than fraps. The Performance impact is much less. Still fiddling with settings to find the least intrusive. Compression still takes up about 10 FPS which gets me below 30 on certain maps. But far better than goping down to 10 FPs when using Fraps.

[Koniving]

An issue with MSI AfterBurner is its ability to mix your microphone in with the audio is limited and distorted on a high powered machine (using motherboard sound mind you). This means on a low powered machine this is going to be worthless.

so long as your own voice does not matter, you should be fine. Otherwise you can have it record both audio channels separately, then use a separate program to convert just the second audio channel, then extract the audio, then merge the main video with the second audio channel in the same channel and you're good to go.

But that is far more effort than it is worth. However you cannot deny the smoother recording of MSI Afterburner.

[Chrithu]

Koniving, on 02 March 2013 - 06:32 AM, said:

An issue with MSI AfterBurner is its ability to mix your microphone in with the audio is limited and distorted on a high powered machine (using motherboard sound mind you). This means on a low powered machine this is going to be worthless.

so long as your own voice does not matter, you should be fine. Otherwise you can have it record both audio channels separately, then use a separate program to convert just the second audio channel, then extract the audio, then merge the main video with the second audio channel in the same channel and you're good to go.

But that is far more effort than it is worth. However you cannot deny the smoother recording of MSI Afterburner.

Yep. As I suspected the smoothness mainly stems from MSI Afterburner's ability to record in compressed formats. When I use MSI Afterburner and let it record uncompressed as Fraps does I get the same drop in Framerate.

[Demoned]

any tips on dropping Frame rate issues,
when using fraps,
not been able to record for awhile
because, when i do my frame rate goes to about 10fps .
normally running 30-40fps.

[Nasty McBadman]

"Fraps" are horrible. you a sitting there palying MWO for several hours and you think you are going to just "break some wind" when SURPRISE, you need a shower and clean underwear.

wait.... we are talking about a different fraps?.. never mind.

[Chrithu]

Demoned, on 02 March 2013 - 06:51 AM, said:

any tips on dropping Frame rate issues,
when using fraps,
not been able to record for awhile
because, when i do my frame rate goes to about 10fps .
normally running 30-40fps.

Same here. My tip: Do what I just did. Get MSI Afterburner from the link a few posts up. Works with non-MSI Cards aswell. You can record directly in a compressed format. The best results yet I had with MJPEG trying RTV next. Uncompressed formats have the same bad impact as fraps.

[WANTED]

Use Bandicam. I used it recently thanks to Moogles videos on here and I was really impressed with the quality and FPS it recorded at. Others suggested above the same thing. I would highly suggest you give it a go as well and pick which one does best for you.

[Koniving]

Demoned, on 02 March 2013 - 06:51 AM, said:

any tips on dropping Frame rate issues,
when using fraps,
not been able to record for awhile
because, when i do my frame rate goes to about 10fps .
normally running 30-40fps.

Bigger processor. It's the only thing you can do to improve the frame rate while recording quality. Having two video cards can help as well. But otherwise nothing that you can do for free will help.

Consider MSI Afterburner. Toy with the options.

Neverminding the music, this was recorded with fraps.


Neverminding the music later on, this was recorded with MSI Afterburner, with the audio of my mic on a separate channel and blended in with the lengthy process described above.


Both were converted with Windows Movie Maker.

Sometime later today I'll record very similar videos on the same map with each to have a better demonstration.
Also keep in mind my own microphone quality is unrelated to the programs. My turtle beach broke, which is why my videos are currently sporadic. I don't like how the temporary 12 dollar headset sounds.


Edit: (Fixed wordplay mistake. Said video quality, meant in-game FPS while recording.)

Edited by Koniving, 02 March 2013 - 08:00 AM.