How to make and post a video clip

[Poinas]

1. Download FRAPS.

There might be other (better) programs, but I'm not aware of them. Free version of FRAPS allows you to record clips upto 30 seconds. Registering costs 37$, and allows to record clips of unlimited length.

Once you have installed it, run the exe and go to movies- tab.

Choosing Half-size will store the movie at half the resolution of the game screen. Full-size will store the movie at the same resolution as the game screen up to 1152x864 on single core CPUs (2560x1600 with dual core CPUs).

You can choose the frame rate of the output movie from 25fps, 30fps, 50fps, 60fps, or a custom value between 10 and 100fps. Higher values result in smoother playback but will increase the file size. Some video editing programs will treat movies recorded at 25fps as PAL, and those captured at 29.97 or 30fps as NTSC.

Selecting "Record Sound" will save the game audio along with the video. You can disable this option if you are planning to add your own sound to the video.

When you select "Detect best sound input" Fraps will determine the best input to record the game sound on. If you choose "Use Windows input" the default Windows recording input will be used. The Windows input may not capture all of the game sounds, so you should generally let Fraps detect the input unless you want to capture sound from an external source.

2. Create a YouTube account if you don't have one already. It's free.

3. Run Fraps, start TQ. Press the assigned hotkey to start reording the clip. FRAPS' framerate counter will turn red to indicate you're recording. Press the hotkey again to stop recording.

4. YouTube allows a maximum fiesize of 100 MB, so you must most likey compress your file. I use Windows Movie Maker, though it does not produce very high quality clips. But YouTube mangles any quality that there is in the clip anyway, so who cares.

You can download it from here if it is not in your Program Files folder.

Run Windows Movie Maker, go to collections and then press control + I to import your clip. Then drag it to the first white box in the bottom of the screen.



You can merge several different clips to one, add fade ins and -outs, add images and cut the clips. WMM is really a handy tool.

Then File -> Save Movie File. Choose file name and saving location. Save as best quality.

Then just upload it to YouTube. AND REMEMBER TO POST IT HERE!

[Matseb2611]

Nicely explained, Poinas. I always use the timeline in WMM instead of storyboard. But yeah WMM is a pretty good and user-friendly program.

In terms of sound, I also get the sound from outside of the computer, i.e. my voice, etc also recorded in Fraps clips. It's so strange. Do you know why? Not that it's anything bad, just interested to know.

[Poinas]

Yeah, using timeline is really mandatory if you want to edit the clips.

Do you have a microphone connected? Headphones or something? Sound really weird.

[soup]

Well written, thank you.

I reckon this should be stickied for the sake of future visitors

[Wyvern]

I've put Fraps in my computer, but every time I try to install it it says:

"ERROR: Could not update existing Fraps codec (a video file may be open in the background). Please reboot your machine and re-run this installer."

I do it very time, but I can't get Fraps. What should I do?

[Kelteel]

Hi Poinas,

Great thread, which leads me to a question. I have done a couple of videos using FRAPS and after they are uploaded and encoded the quality is very poor. I was wondering if there is any way around the re-encoding problem which does not show my vids at full screen. That the video is not seen the same size as it was when recorded is one of the main reasons for fuzzy videos where detail is poor.

You can recreate it on your own computer by watching FRAPS videos(.avi files) using Windows Media Player. My WMP 11 is set to view videos at 200% size and that can be changed downward. Watch a FRAPS video at either one of the three choices 1) 50% 2) 100%, 3) 200% and of course full screen. The only version of course that is as clear and sharp as when it was recorded is full screen. The video quality degrades as the video becomes smaller in viewing size. Photobucket has told me that it is the process of encoding the file from a .avi file to a .flv file and that their encoders can't handle the detail of a game video.

I have been using the 'Allok Video to FLV Converter' to convert my vids to flv format and then watching them using the program 'FLVPlayer4Free' with no loss of video quality. I have even uploaded converted video files only to see the loss of quality. Here is a link to a one minute fifteen second long video. Please view it full screen.

http://s221.photobucket.com/albums/d...rent=CIRCE.flv

That is the first video I have ever uploaded. I can view it on my computer in either avi or flv format and it is as sharp as it was in game. I don't know much about video but I am hoping there is some fix or whatever to improve the video quality so we can see the detail in the action as we see it in game.
I usually check the text in the video for sharpness and use the text up by the minimap. I have also used WMM but it restricts the size of the video that it outputs.

Any thoughts, ideas or suggestions?


Kel
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[SmegInThePants]

New - free method. I just tried it last night.

The I/M chat xfire now has the ability to record vids in any game it works w/, such as TQ:IT. This feature is in beta right now and you have to enable it in options before it'll work.

I just tried it w/titan quest last night and it worked fine for me. Recorded about a minute long vid. I play in widescreen and it recorded in widescreen, very nice quality, if a bit dark. Didn't have sound in an attempt to reduce filesize, so dunno how well it does sound, but it seems to have a voice over option so you can have it add sound not from the game but rather from your mic). A minute long and it was 4 and 1/2 gigs, so make sure you have a *lot* of hdd space or be prepared for multiple recording sessions. Dunno how fraps compares on that front. You'll also need somethin' to reduce the quality to make filesizes more manageable.

Did another one, lowest settings possible (which right now isn't much less than highest settings - 25fps, and half size). Did 20 seconds or so, was 118 megs.

and post to stage6.com instead of youtube, they allow higher quality vids.

[Carlosjuero]

I know I am new here , but I wanted to add my 2 copper - I just read yesterday or this morning (can't remember which, haven't slept yet) about a newish free video capture site/program (YouTube Wannabe) that seems pretty efficient - It popped out at me when reading about Hellgate London.

Heres the site: http://www.wegame.com/download/ - it seems like it basically does everything for you; it records the video, compresses it to Flash, uploads it to your space there, and then it is viewable by others. I haven't used it yet, but from the videos on the site it looks like it can do a pretty good job.

Edit: Hmm, I was just reading up on it and it seems like it might be game specific; kinda like XFire O.o - I might give it a try anyway to see if it will pick up TQ.

[City Builder]

See if it picks up your username and password too for any of the many MMO type of games that it records from too.

Seriously I get a bit leary (Paranoid much? Who me?) about programs that have to be started first, then start th game and record, "Just start up the client, launch your game, and hit record!" So I'd be interested to know if it works in revers, i.e. start game and login, then start up the client and then record.

[linksu]

hmm.. what format is good for youtube? because i'm trying to upload one video clip there but it won't do anything. it's just saying "connecting".. huhhuh!!