----------------------------------- Silent Avenger Sat Dec 02, 2006 9:16 pm Capturing video from computer? ----------------------------------- I know all of you have seen those videos of people playing video games on their computer such as WOW. I want to know how someone would go about doing that and any suggested software for doing so. My friend is developing a video game for our compsci class and he wants to know how he could capture some scenes of his game on video. Any help would be great. ----------------------------------- Mazer Sat Dec 02, 2006 10:09 pm ----------------------------------- The WoW lamers tend to use a program called Fraps, IIRC. I'm pretty sure there's also another one, the name of which escapes me. Anyways, I'm told that the program works by watching all the DirectX calls being made and reproducing them to render a video. Thus, the videos don't include the sounds of the game, which is why the videos on google and youtube have (often crappy) music added. ----------------------------------- neufelni Sat Dec 02, 2006 10:10 pm ----------------------------------- You can use Windows Media Encoder. I'm not sure but I think it only comes with Windows XP Professional. You can used it to capture video of your screen along with sound. You can download it [url=http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/forpros/encoder/default.mspx]here ----------------------------------- Mazer Sat Dec 02, 2006 10:15 pm ----------------------------------- Hmm... or that. Just curious, how would that affect the performance of the game? ----------------------------------- Silent Avenger Sat Dec 02, 2006 10:31 pm ----------------------------------- Thanks for the help and tips guys. Anymore tips would be great because my friend isn't really into the whole media thing on his computer yet. You can use Windows Media Encoder. I'm not sure but I think it only comes with Windows XP Professional. You can used it to capture video of your screen along with sound. You can download it Do you know if it's also on Windows Media Centre? My friend and I have Windows Media Centre (although I don't know why my friend has it on his computer since it's not a media centre ready PC) anyways I've done a system check on my computer before for all the computer stats and it says I have Win XP Pro when I actually have media centre. ----------------------------------- RGB255 Sat Dec 02, 2006 10:43 pm ----------------------------------- wait how can your friend have media center if he doesn't have a media center pc? ----------------------------------- [Gandalf] Sat Dec 02, 2006 10:47 pm ----------------------------------- I'm pretty sure Media Center is just a different version of Windows, you don't need to have a certain computer to use it. Anyways, I'm told that the program works by watching all the DirectX calls being made and reproducing them to render a video. Thus, the videos don't include the sounds of the game, which is why the videos on google and youtube have (often crappy) music added. That doesn't sound right... Fraps, IIRC, does include sound with your video. Also, aside from reproducing DirectX calls sounding like too much work, this program works with OpenGL games too. This topic has been discussed many times already, for example [url=http://www.compsci.ca/v2/viewtopic.php?t=13836]here. ----------------------------------- Silent Avenger Sat Dec 02, 2006 10:54 pm ----------------------------------- wait how can your friend have media center if he doesn't have a media center pc? His computer has Windows Media Centre but the computer doesn't have all the proper hardware to use media centre properly. Anyways as [Gandalf] said it is pretty much just like a different version of windows. Oh and [Gandalf] you link only takes me back to the off topic forum. ----------------------------------- rdrake Sun Dec 03, 2006 12:01 am ----------------------------------- Silly children, this thread has been done already. Fraps costs money but works well. [url=http://www.planetgamecam.com/]GameCam also works well but is free. ----------------------------------- [Gandalf] Sun Dec 03, 2006 12:06 am ----------------------------------- Yes rdrake, that would be in the link I posted. ;) As for the wrong link, fixed. ----------------------------------- Silent Avenger Sun Dec 03, 2006 12:19 am ----------------------------------- Okay, thanks rdrake and [Gandalf]. ----------------------------------- TokenHerbz Sun Dec 03, 2006 5:23 am ----------------------------------- Iv'e used both fraps and gamecam... I do not recomend Fraps, As the films it makes are bulky in size, and run on a 30 second timer unless purchased. game cam, Is much, much better. It has hotkey's, conterts files into small avi files, and dosn't cause game lag. Mazer: Wow isn't lame :( HackerDan plays! ----------------------------------- Tony Sun Dec 03, 2006 2:25 pm ----------------------------------- Mazer: Wow isn't lame :( HackerDan plays! Dan hacks.. he's been banned on multiple occasions for doing things you're not supposed to. ----------------------------------- Dan Mon Dec 04, 2006 1:16 am ----------------------------------- I also quite seeing that i was srounded by lamers...... Aucatly i think the word lame is being very very very nice to the game. I ended up hacking it just becues there was nothing better to do, they only banned me for a day or so then i canceled my acount the next month affter whondering why i was paying for this level of idioitcy. ----------------------------------- TokenHerbz Mon Dec 04, 2006 1:51 am ----------------------------------- hehe yeah i canceld my account.... for now. Im going to start playing when i get the Expantion. For now, im going to get a Wii on the 9th and play that for a while! ----------------------------------- ZeroPaladn Mon Dec 04, 2006 9:06 am ----------------------------------- Hmmm... ive been lookign for a program that does this. i wanted to make my own movies (yes, WoW movies, leave me alone). thanks guys. GameCam looks promising. ----------------------------------- Dan Mon Dec 04, 2006 9:44 am ----------------------------------- For now, im going to get a Wii on the 9th and play that for a while! Sorry for going offtopic, by why the 9th? I have not been able to find one at all and i have been looking every day since it was out. ----------------------------------- Tony Mon Dec 04, 2006 10:32 am ----------------------------------- as far as I understand, BestBuy gets a new shipment of Wii's every Friday. ----------------------------------- War_Caymore Mon Dec 04, 2006 1:06 pm ----------------------------------- the [url=www.hyperionics.com/]HyperCam works surprsingly well, but it always sports a little notification at the top left hand corner of the screen saying "unregistered hypercam". you can buy it too but that costs money, and no one wants to pay money for it. They even have a free calcualtor for XP :D ----------------------------------- Silent Avenger Mon Dec 04, 2006 7:34 pm ----------------------------------- Well having a small caption at the top of the movie, I think is a fair trade off for using the software for free. ----------------------------------- TokenHerbz Mon Dec 04, 2006 8:33 pm ----------------------------------- For now, im going to get a Wii on the 9th and play that for a while! Sorry for going offtopic, by why the 9th? I have not been able to find one at all and i have been looking every day since it was out. Well HackerDan, i should rephrase myself: Im going to "try" to get it on the 9th, because thats when im heading out to the city, Iv'e been told by my friend out there that he hasn't seen any aswell, i hope i can find one as its my only chance to pick one up, Seeing as how i live in small town. Hazah! can't wait till tomorrow, i get WoW patch and go pwn so many ppl woot woot! ill make a vid of my pure pwnage and post it for Zero. ----------------------------------- War_Caymore Tue Dec 05, 2006 2:02 pm ----------------------------------- I've tried out gameCam, Fraps and Hypercam and this is the results i got: GameCam: runs surprisingly well. also supports a registry with all the games that you wish to record at any time. hotkeys are simple to use and a small caption at the bottom right corner is not much of a distraction or can be edited out. Only problem is no audio unless you plan to pony up some cash. HyperCam: runs ok on med-end computers but free version has a very low fps (10 fps) and lags alot on high end games. Easy hotkeys and actualy supports audio, even if it's not all that great. Fraps: can't get it running for some stupid reason... i would suggest gamecam due to it's reliability, clear video running near 30fps, and easy to setup registry for your games. only problem is that you have to pay for it to get higher resolution and audio. even then, the resolution is perfect for youtube.com or video.google.com . Offtopic: Hazah! can't wait till tomorrow, i get WoW patch and go pwn so many ppl woot woot! ill make a vid of my pure pwnage and post it for Zero. I've already downloaded the patch but the servers weren't working at 6:00am EST. They should be running now. anyone wanna WoW it up with me, character name is Hetheran, server Zuluhed. ----------------------------------- Clayton Tue Dec 05, 2006 4:14 pm ----------------------------------- HyperCam: runs ok on med-end computers but free version has a very low fps (10 fps) and lags alot on high end games. Easy hotkeys and actualy supports audio, even if it's not all that great. You can alter the fps rate in the options menu, its not set in stone... ----------------------------------- War_Caymore Tue Dec 05, 2006 5:07 pm ----------------------------------- You can alter the fps rate in the options menu, its not set in stone... When i tried to, it said that the fps was too high for the system, i even tried 11fps, but the same error pops up again and again. and my system isn't old or anything, but it's still pretty good. i don't see why it can't go higher... mabey you need to register for higher fps. ----------------------------------- TokenHerbz Tue Dec 05, 2006 6:25 pm ----------------------------------- yeah stupid blizz and there stupid screw ups caused my to play counterstrike, i got banned off 2 servers for retarded reasons so ima just wait it out.. BTW: make an account on Gorfiend Horde side, FTW! reasons got banned: 1) used an awp and killed 6 people, was told not to use it, and i did again, killed 8. 2) next server: I was camping and the admin told me not to, i typed: I am not camping noob. (i shouldn't of typed noob) Results: Permah banned from server 2, and 7 day ban from server 1. i loved both very much :(... o yeah, and fraps is easy to use, but zomg the files it makes are retardedly ginormus! Stick with GameCam! Oh, and does anyone know if its possible to take out ingame recording (that little box bottom right) so i dont see that???? thx. ----------------------------------- Clayton Tue Dec 05, 2006 9:41 pm ----------------------------------- You can alter the fps rate in the options menu, its not set in stone... When i tried to, it said that the fps was too high for the system, i even tried 11fps, but the same error pops up again and again. and my system isn't old or anything, but it's still pretty good. i don't see why it can't go higher... mabey you need to register for higher fps. How interesting, i could get it up around 30 fps (and it didnt look too bad), perhaps your computer settings are too good to run a fps that high? read the little manual thing you get the option to read from the "more information" button. ----------------------------------- War_Caymore Wed Dec 06, 2006 9:02 am ----------------------------------- You can alter the fps rate in the options menu, its not set in stone... When i tried to, it said that the fps was too high for the system, i even tried 11fps, but the same error pops up again and again. and my system isn't old or anything, but it's still pretty good. i don't see why it can't go higher... mabey you need to register for higher fps. How interesting, i could get it up around 30 fps (and it didnt look too bad), perhaps your computer settings are too good to run a fps that high? read the little manual thing you get the option to read from the "more information" button. I suddenly feel stupid.... OffTopic:BTW: make an account on Gorfiend Horde side, FTW! is that a PVP server? If so, i don't mind restarting my tauren shaman. also i need to get zero into this, but he needs a new game card. ----------------------------------- TokenHerbz Thu Dec 07, 2006 2:38 am ----------------------------------- Yeah its a PvP server... Damn fun too