Fraps, OBS and VLC for recording SMAC(X)

[SenniTreborius]

I may be showing complete noobishness, but would an AAR recorded in fraps be acceptable. And I just thought how would that be done for a multiplayer. Easier to sit down to and watch after a hard day at the office (or on the wards). Awaiting to be shot down in flames
SenniTreborius
Husband of 

[sisko]

Hello, and welcome to AC2 Senni, husband of !
To answer your question, any kind of AAR is welcome in this board. Let's see what you have for us!

[SenniTreborius]

Have you any idea how to run smacx in windowed mode, or another way to run fraps for recording smacx

[sisko]

See if this thread can help you: http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=2543.0

[Green1]

The  AARs/ LPs on Youtube out there that show Alpha Centauri are done by external video capture cards.

[SenniTreborius]

The  AARs/ LPs on Youtube out there that show Alpha Centauri are done by external video capture cards.

I have been able to capture using OBS and I'm experimenting with VLC to create a more user friendly system.
What I want to do eventually is come up with a simple method of recording smacx so that each person in an MP can record their own turn, edit it and add a voice-over or SRT,  these could then be sent to central coordinator, sliced and polished, and then these would be uploaded to YouTube, as a playlist of complete turns. I am still working on this. Once I have it working I will post a new topic in MP and/or AAR section.
For this I need to use freeware that's readily available to players and find a a way to share swap video files between players and the person who will be video splicing. I have been experimenting with OBS and VLC capture, in that I can get OBS to monitor capture my game, and am trying to do the same with VLC (still working on that).
The idea is to create a system that will usable by all players, regardless of hardware. To be quite honest working with a laptop makes this more difficult because of the dual GPU problem, which I would not have found out about otherwise. And as yet do not even know of a site I could upload the raw footage to show people here.
Any input from you would be gratefully accepted.
SenniTreborius; husband of 

[SenniTreborius]

The  AARs/ LPs on Youtube out there that show Alpha Centauri are done by external video capture cards.

Actually VLC works great. I think my problem is how I my laptop sound is set up, but then again I'm no sound tech. Just found out to set my speakers for sound recording in the control panel (I was recording my mic input under OBS seemingly). Did at least find out not to use VSDC Free Screen Recorder. The quality was so poor it made smacx standard graphic look amazing. VLC records the best quality graphics so far but I think I'll need to install some audio capture device to get good sound, possibly githubs virtual-audio-capture-grabber-device. It's been a huge learning curve for me, but interesting

[Green1]

I have been working with a laptop for the last several years, too. The last desktop I had (a custom built rig made in 2005) ended up being carted off in a break up with an ex. Not that I cared. The motherboard was starting to have driver issues with newer operating systems like Win 7 and Vista. I would have had to gut everything and replace everything except the case and possibly power supply.

That said, I do like the portability of a laptop. I move around too damn much.

I have had an attempt or two at video. It is HARD. Once it s a wrap, it seems to be a wrap with game play. My feeble attempt at youtube with Age of Wonders 3, I mispronounced words, had a stutter here or there and went a horrible route talking too much about patches and set up that no one wanted to hear. While I should have just kept churning, being the anarchist I am, I lost interest and moved on to other things in life.

Now, what I would love to do is be able to draw like MS Paint over video. Think like the announcers that draw on American Football replays. I think I know a cheap way to do that. Screenshot, MSpaint, then put a panel in movie maker recording voice separately. But damn that is a lot of work for a game that can go HOURS!

I will have to try VLC. Alpha Centauri would make a decent LP. Probably too niche to make a living like Total Biscuit or Wowcrendor or Dodger, but still pretty cool.

[SenniTreborius]

In the end I've spent a few days attempting to get VLC to record, but still encounter problems with audio. So I returned to OBS and here's the first raw footage. Let me no what you think. Am I going in the right direction. By the way I've noticed all systems have a problem recording unwindowed SMAC(X). Anyway for what its worth:
http://www.4shared.com/video/zDsf8n7sba/SMACX.html
The footage is crap on playback, but the source file looks better on my computer. I'll next need to find out anout what 4shared does to files, and about video editing. Bit disappointed about this as a first result.

[SenniTreborius]

I will have to try VLC. Alpha Centauri would make a decent LP. Probably too niche to make a living like Total Biscuit or Wowcrendor or Dodger, but still pretty cool.

With VLC the only problem I've had is audio capture (there is no sound if one does desktop capture). But if you have access to a half decent rig I would look at OBS as its direct game capture would be a breeze on a desktop. If your restricted to a laptop I'd find out about audio capture addons for VLC. I ended up with so many things installed that I messed up my onboard audio and had to roll everything back, so that was my Saturday wasted. Didn't know anything about file sharing until about an hour ago, now I have to learn about editing. At this rate how the hell am I going to learn Spanish methinks.

Edit: Any idea how I could change the name of this post cause its got b****r all to do with FRAPS now. Its really about recording capture for SMAC(X).

[Green1]

Well, fraps is pretty much such a standard now that when you say "fraps someting" they assume video recording. Nevermind fraps is a beast when you talk file sizes of raw footage.

4shared never really struck me as a place to get videos. More of a place for pirates to get books.

[Green1]

What you could do is play the game without audio. Then go back and record audio separately. Even MS's recorder program would do. Moviemaker will let you add audio.

That would have some merit if you do not mind losing game sounds. You could watch through your footage and think about what you could say instead of having to speak on the fly. Some games just move way fast.

[SenniTreborius]

Well, fraps is pretty much such a standard now that when you say "fraps someting" they assume video recording. Nevermind fraps is a beast when you talk file sizes of raw footage.

4shared never really struck me as a place to get videos. More of a place for pirates to get books.

Unfortunately I have never uploaded a video before so I just looked for one that had a large free storage, but seeing how bad the playback from there was I thinking of looking elsewhere. I rather continue with the recording problem.
By the way here's my quick guide to recording with VLC:

Download VLC from http://www.videolan.org/vlc/
Download UScreenCapture from  http://www.umediaserver.net/components/index.html
Download  https://github.com/rdp/virtual-audio-capture-grabber-device/downloads] [url]https://github.com/rdp/virtual-audio-capture-grabber-device/downloads[/url]
Open VLC
Click Media -> Convert / Save
Click Capture Device Tab
   for Capture mode change from DirectShow -> Desktop
   Set the Desired frame rate for the capture to 30fps (YouTube max).
**Note VLC does not use GPU acceleration for video capture. Which means the entire load is on your CPU. But this does avoid the intel hd 3000 internal graphics problem that I had with OBS. But the higher the frame rate selected the greater the inpact on system performance.

Click Convert/Save
*Note under source it will say screen://
Browse to set destination file. EG C:\users\whatever
Under File name enter <name>.mp4 where <name> is the name of the file you choose, just remember to put in the .mp4 extension.
Hit Save

Back at the Convert window
  Click create a new profile (the last button on that line)
Profile edition window
  enter under Profile a short name (I use SMACX)
In Encapsulation tab choose MP4/MOV
Click Video Codec tab
  Click (tick box) Video
  for Codec choose H-264 from dropdown menu
  enter bitrate at 3000 (kb/s)
  Leave Frame rate as Same as source
Click Create
Click Start and VLC will start recording
It will continue recording your screen until you stop VLC, or pause it via the pause button.

Remember to run SMACX in windowed mode or the capture scrabbles (why I don't know).

[SenniTreborius]

What you could do is play the game without audio. Then go back and record audio separately. Even MS's recorder program would do. Moviemaker will let you add audio.

That would have some merit if you do not mind losing game sounds. You could watch through your footage and think about what you could say instead of having to speak on the fly. Some games just move way fast.

Yes, I had thought of dubbing in a voice commentary afterwards. But wanted to keep the game sound affects. You should see the quality of VLCs video.
Oh, if you would like my snipping tools montage of instructions for OBS I would be glad to post them here.

[Green1]

Maybe so at some point.

I have not been really inspired towards another AAR lately or YT vid. Though I have some pretty good ideas. I really should try a forum AAR of Age of Wonders 3 some time. I believe I could do it a lot more justice in a forum format as I am a much better writer than voice talent. Some of the occasional games where I put some of these monster custom factions the nerds that dwell here come up with for AC also are pretty cool, but Dio has been taking up the reigns quite nicely and has a different style than I do.

If I do, it will be placed here. Plus, I am still tethering off a cell phone. Even though I am in a really, really nice apartment now compared to this crappy place I was living before and I have the cash, I still have not taken the plunge and gotten with cable internet though I always say I will. There is also this cool chick that drags me to ballroom dances every week distracting me on top of work and my anarchist/atheist/Unitarian Universalist agendas.