Joined: Nov 2008
From: Soviet State of Sarawak Status: Exiled
How To Take Videos of Your Computer Games
1. Brief I have written this guide in the simplest manner, to get straight to the point. We will be working with a software called Fraps, which is free. In this guide, spoilers can be expanded to reveal more information about a specific topic.
Note: There is a full unrestricted version of Fraps, which this guide is based on. However, this guide is also applicable on the basic version of Fraps. Please note that the basic version of Fraps have a 'Fraps' watermark on top of each video, and limits you to only 30 seconds of video recording.
This guide is written and based on Fraps Version 2.9.8 build 7777.
Please note that Fraps is only compatible with Windows XP, Vista and 7.
2. The Guide 1) Go to Fraps to download the latest version available.
2) Once download finishes, run the setup.exe and install the file.
3) Run Fraps.
4) You will see four tabs on the program menu. They are General, FPS, Movies, and Screenshots.
5) General (click on spoiler to expand)
» Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «
This is where your software information is displayed, and also where basic settings can be changed.
The information part displays your Registration Details, Software Version, and Build.
Now for the basic settings:
'Start Fraps Minimized' Means that Fraps will run quietly on your taskbar instead of popping up in the middle of your screen.
'Fraps window always on top' Means that if ticked your Fraps window will ALWAYS stay within your sight in the middle of your screen unless you manually minimize it yourself.
'Run Fraps when Windows starts' Means that the next time you turn on your Windows, Fraps will start too.
'Display status on LCD' This is for people who have keyboards with LCD displays, such as Logitech G-15. Fraps will have it's own display on the screen which displays frame rates and such.
6) FPS (click on spoiler to expand)
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This is where your FPS (Frames Per Second) rate settings can be changed.
Overlay Corner You can choose on which corner of your screen do you want your FPS rate shows up on your game screen. You can also disable it if you don't wish to see your FPS on screen.
Overlay Display Hotkey Set at F12 as default, pressing the hotkey lets you assign a button that will toggle the frame rate counter between the four corners and off. Click Disable to prevent this from having any effect.
Benchmarking Hotkey Set as F11 as default, pressing the hotkey will allow you to calculate the average frame rate between two points in a game.
Only update overlay once a second Enabling this will allow the FPS counter to change every one second.
Stop benchmark automatically after ____ seconds Set at a value of '60' as default, you can choose for how long you'd like a FPS benchmarking session to last after it is started.
Save detailed benchmark statistics If you are benchmarking, you can have your benchmarking information saved on your hard disk in .csv file format. There are three options to choose:
(I) FPS - Contains FPS value of each second of the benchmark. (II) Frametimes - Contains value in milliseconds of every frame in the benchmark. (III) MinMaxAvg - Contains total frame count, benchmark duration, minimum, maximum, and average FPS values.
Extra Info: Fraps can display for up to 9999 frame rates. More detailed FPS of benchmarkings can be obtained from frapslog.txt
7) Movies (click on spoiler to expand)
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This is where you can view and change settings for your video capturing.
Folder to save movies in Here you can specify a file where your Fraps videos will be saved at.
Video Capture Hotkey Here you can assign a hotkey which if pressed, will start/stop the video capture.
Video Size Half-size/Full-size? You can choose how big you want your videos to be. The maximum resolution for both is 2560x1600.
FPS of videos Here you can choose what's the max FPS it will be recorded at. 30 FPS is recommended, although you can choose 25, 50, 50 FPS or even a custom value as your FPS.
Audio Record Sound/Detect best sound input/Use Windows input - confused? Best to stick with the 'Detect best sound input'.
Sound Device Where the sound should be recorded from, e.g. your microphone or built-in sound a.k.a. in-game sound.
Sound Input Leave it at default!
No Cursor Your curson does not show up.
No Sync Audio/video synchronization not perfect/lagging.
8) Screenshots (click on spoiler to expand)
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Apart from taking videos, you can also capture screenshots in-game.
Folder to save screenshots in Here you choose the folder where screenshots are saved.
Screen Capture Hotkey Here you assign a hotkey which is used to take a screenshot in-game. Disabling function available.
File Format You can choose what file format you want the screenshots in. The current available formats are BMP, JPG, PNG and TGA.
Include frame rate overlay on screenshots If ticked, you can have your FPS rate marked on your screenshot.
Repeat screen capture every _____ seconds Let's say the value is 10 (for 10 seconds), and you've ticked it. So once you press the Screen Capture Hotkey, every 10 seconds a screenshot will be taken and saved directly to your hard disk until you press the hotkey again.
9) Start your desired game.. and hit the hotkey whenever you need it! Have fun!
10) Just in case you noticed your video files size is really big, you can make it smaller using VirtualDub. Also, according to 'goldfries', Youtube has a problem with Fraps .avi files. So it may be best to convert it to another file format such as .wmv.
3. Others
FULL VERSION As of July 4 2011, the price for the full version of Fraps is USD 37.00 (RM110).
The full version removes the 'www.fraps.com' watermark, includes support for JPG, TNA and PNG screenshots, and allows you to record videos for as long as you like!
1. FREE version limits you to 30 seconds recording, and has the www.fraps.com thing embedded.
refer to my videos......
2. FRAPS avi file have problem with Youtube. It just wouldn't be processed, so you'll have to convert it to something else before upload. I converted mine to WMV, and much smaller size too, before uploading.
*yes, I just uploaded like 100mb++ of video Saturday morning, to only found out it can't be processed.
QUOTE(linkinstreet)
- The reason FRAPS video cannot be converted by jewtube is because it uses it's own codec, which would only exist if you install the software.
- You can recompress it with better codec (Xvid, DivX, x264) using Virtual Dub, a free video editing software. I personally recommend recompressing the video using x264 codec.
- While recording, you must also take in equation that the software WILL use up a lot of processor and graphic power. Make sure the game runs at an FPS HIGHER than the rate you want to record it. Setting the FPS in FRAPS will usually lower the game's FPS rate to that of FRAPS when recording.
- Full Size and Half Size would only influence how much processor it will use during recording, the final file size would be the same for both option.
Jun 27 2009, 02:20 AM, updated 15y ago
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