FRAPS Question

[sarcasticsteve]

Hey guys, picked up a copy of Beepa Fraps recently so I could maybe take some screenshots in game, take a few videos etc.  Does anyone know how to compress the video when recording?  I left it on default settings and tried some in game recording for a few seconds, just to check the quality.  The quality was great but for like ten seconds of video it was nearly 200MB!

-Steve

[WTF Joel]

Dear Steve, No. There is not. It sucks, but that is how it has to be. You need Hard Drive space of you want to record game footage. I suggest having your resolution half size and limiting the fps on fraps. Mess with the settings a bit, but other than that you have to stick with non-compressed footage.

[copulatingduck]

I would recommend recording in-game demos first. In your console you type the following during a game you want to record:

Code:

record DEMONAMEHERE

That uses the in game engine to record your vidya's, so the filesize is supposed to be super small, and you don't lose your precious frames. Then, when you're done recording type:

Code:

stop

Later (while TF2 is open, but you're at the main menu and not in a game), type:

Code:

playdemo DEMONAMEHERE

That'll playback the demo you recorded. If you type:

Code:

demoui

You'll get a fancy ui that lets you rewind, fastforward, etc. using the demoui. I'd suggest using this demoui to skip to the spots you want to record, then use FRAPS to record the snippets you want while you're playing back the demo. This way, you avoid monstrous file sizes (assuming you just want small bits from your playthroughs).

The idea here is, you record a demo initially with no FPS loss while you're playing. Then you later playback the demo, and record just the snippets you want, saving space on your hard drive. If you actually want video of an entire match, unfortunately you're out of luck. If you want some more help with figuring this out, you could also pm or steam message me sometime, I'm always willing to help. Also, what kind of video card are you using, and what settings are you running, that you can run FRAPS with TF2 recording high resolution?

[sarcasticsteve]

Is there a way to export that demo footage? If so...that kin of solves the problem altogether

[copulatingduck]

Um, there is vaguely. From what I've seen, the tools available can export a series of screenshots (they'll be *.tga's) that can be compiled into a video using some free software. Here's the post I always refer people to, it is an excellent fucking guide. However, before you bother with this, try recording a demo and then playing it back. If you're demo acts all fucked up, that's because some of the latest updates to the Source Engine royally fucked demo footage.

If your demo DOES play back nice and smooth, head hear, as I said they have an excellent fucking guide.

http://www.halflife2.net/forums/showthread.php?t=87850

Keep in mind, you change the settings of your game before you start exporting footage. Furthermore, you set the framerate, the resolution, the whole shebang. The "Exporting Footage" will be of great interest to you 

I think that this process will be pretty intense on the hard drive as well though. I am not sure to be honest, I have never tried this particular method. If you give it a go, please let me know how it turns out.

If you just want to share your footage with a few people, you could always put the demo online, and let them download it. That way they can watch it for themselves. Or people with bigger hard drives can render stuff for you (if you find anyone bored with nothing better to do that is). 

edit: So this method works. But, like all video editing, it is a Hard Drive Hog. It takes space. I'll make another post with my results.

[sarcasticsteve]

Wow...I tried reading it but it began losing me...may just stick to taking screens and passing on making videos...

[copulatingduck]

Wow...I tried reading it but it began losing me...may just stick to taking screens and passing on making videos...

Hmm, it's not so hard, but I agree. Wall of text is indecipherable. I may try to make an easier to understand post at some point. It really is pretty simple once you figure it out. It's maybe about 10 commands to go from gameplay to movie.

[sarcasticsteve]

Yeah if you can kind of simply things that would be ideal.

[Fail Medic]

Dunno if this will help, but the TF2 Wiki has a writeup on how to generate movies.  Scroll past the demo console commands at the top to see it.  It may be less or more understandable than the forum post 'Duck linked.  I contributed, so if it's no help, it's probably my fault.

http://tf2wiki.net/wiki/Help:Recording_demos

[copulatingduck]

Dunno if this will help, but the TF2 Wiki has a writeup on how to generate movies.  Scroll past the demo console commands at the top to see it.  It may be less or more understandable than the forum post 'Duck linked.  I contributed, so if it's no help, it's probably my fault.

http://tf2wiki.net/wiki/Help:Recording_demos

Nice. The only part I don't like though is the "discussion of codecs is beyond the scope of this article." 

The thing is, take the high-definition 720p version of the Meet The Scout Video. That's maybe 2 minutes long. It looks gorgeous, and it's only 30MB. HOW COME MY MOVIES CAN'T LOOK THAT GOOD AND BE THAT SMALL? I WANT A MAGIC CODEC TOO!

[sarcasticsteve]

That my friend is the magic of Valve lol

[Vandamguy]

This is a pretty decent guide on how to render the dem file to avi. Granted it's for CS, but you'll figure it out. 

this guide is better , more simpls.

its the one i used and i figured it out

you'll need at least 100 gigs of slush space in your HDD to do videos

[WTF Joel]

This is where I learned.

http://forums.facepunchstudios.com/showt...p?t=148196

Garrysmod community ftw

[sarcasticsteve]

Tried a favorite screen capture software of mine but the highest it could record at was 20 frames per second, and it didn't grab the sound at all...

[Surf314]

I have no HD space, so if I record and get some epic videos can I just give it to someone else to use?  Plus you know, never edited a video and wouldn't know where to start.

I say this cuz I've been party to some epic events and I figured it be useful stock footage for all the great filmmakers here.

[Fail Medic]

I have no HD space, so if I record and get some epic videos can I just give it to someone else to use?  Plus you know, never edited a video and wouldn't know where to start.

I say this cuz I've been party to some epic events and I figured it be useful stock footage for all the great filmmakers here.

.dem demo files can be cheerfully shared and processed by others as long as they have the proper version of the map upon which the demo was recorded.