DV's Fraps tutorial as of 1/27/2010

[DarkValentine]

It is very saddening that MI is down, because I was not able to update the Fraps tutorial I have located on their forums. So, after having a minor discussion, I've decided to place the tutorial here. This will make it convenient for those who want to use something other than Hypercam, or SnagIt. As this will automatically void my SnagIt tutorial.

You'll need the following things.

1. Whichever version of mugen you plan on using

2. Fraps

3. Whatever video editing software you plan on using.

To be fair, I will address the following statement below.

Fraps records in raw, compressed AVI format. This means that the videos will get large in size, irregardless of the resolution you choose. So the 4th requirement is that you need enough HDD space, to hold the videos for their filezise. Good news for those with External HDD's or larger sized internal HDD's. Bad news for those who don't have enough space to save the videos after recording them. So.....you were warned.

With that said, it's time to go ahead and get started with this tutorial.

If you got Fraps, go ahead, and Run it. Set it to the following screens below:

Set this like you see it, before you start anything else with it.



From there, click on the "movies" tab, and set it to the following below, in this image.


As a side note, the directory you see in the image above, is to my External HDD. What you set it to, is completely up to you. With this out of the way, it's time to set up your video options in mugen. You need to set the resolution to 640x480. Also take note that the "Full-Size" & "Half-Size" options are really important. I'll explain that below. So keep reading.

Once you do this, you are now prepared to try 1 of 2 methods.

Method #1 - Fullscreen capture: If you set it to 640x480 inside mugen, and use the "Hardware" option in the cfg file, it will automatically go into Fullscreen the very next time mugen runs. If you want to record it in fullscreen with Fraps, simply press whatever key you have set as the capture hotkey, the moment the screen goes black. This is the least effective way to record a video in Fraps, with a 45% success rate. If you're not comfortable with this method, then read the next one.


Method #2 - Windowed Capture: Set the resolution in mugen to 640x480, but keep it at windowed. Then just run mugen, to test and see where the window appears. This is IMPORTANT! You want to know the location of the window, when it appears. Because the mouse pointer will be your best friend here. One thing to know, is that Fraps records whatever the mouse is hovering over, when the mouse is not moving by the time the capture hotkey is pressed.

Anyway... Start mugen, and immediately place the mouse pointer in the position where the Mugen window is most likely to appear. On a normal screen (or any for that matter), it will always appear in the upper left. So you want to leave your mouse pointer there, as soon as you execute mugen. The second the window appears, immediately press the Video Capture Hotkey. And it will start to record. If it did, most likely you can see if the file saved, by stopping, the clicking on the "View" tab in Fraps, and it should bring you to the folder where your video was placed in.

Take note, Fraps uses a filename, Time & Date system, to name the video file. So don't be confused. As long as you know it recorded. If nothing appeared in the folder where the video is supposed to be saved, then try ether method above again. Now, to explain about the Half-Size & Full-Size options in Fraps.

Setting Fraps to Full-Size means it will display the video, in whatever resolution was recorded. Meaning, if you recorded it at 640x480, it will display it at 640x480.

Setting it to Half-Size will cut the resolution in half, the moment the recording stops. Meaning you will end up with a 320x240 video, if you recorded in 640x480. You have been warned.

Again, I will stress this. Fraps records in raw, compressed AVI format, as the container. So do not be surprised if the filesize is large, for a video of normally 3 minutes tops.  If the size is indeed large (and it will be), at this time, you want to compress it to a lower size. However, and whatever you use to do this, is completely up to you. Either way, you can record with Fraps, at a flawless 60fps, and it will come out to be 60fps. That will change to about an average of 30fps (or 29.97 to be more accurate), once you go to create your video, in the video editing software of your choice.


Hope this helps everyone. The 2nd method mentioned in this thread, was discovered by accident, during the time MI went down. So I was never able to correct my mistake about Fraps not being able to record in a windowed application. The accidental discovery & method of doing it in a windowed application, made it possible for me to admit I was wrong. And, to make statements saying that I did test it.

DV

[KPT25]

Cool...when i used to make videos(Mugen and Video Game videos in general) i used SnagIt and got some decent results
If i start making videos again,i might try Fraps as i don't really know if i can get Snag It again
Thanks for the tutorial,that should help ppl who is trying to make mugen videos but don't know how to do it

[DarkValentine]

Yeah, Fraps is loads easier than SnagIt in this case, and far less complicated than Hypercam. I do know there is another recorder, but I want to experiment with it, before I try anything else. It's called Gamecam. Until I get results with that, this tutorial will be the more dominant one.

That, and I'm sure a number of guys here, were probably looking for a solid alternative.

[Sabaki]

Thanks again for posting your tutorial here, DV. Like I mentioned to you earlier, just as I was looking for a substitute video capture program and ran across your tutorial @ MI, before I could test it out MI went down. I remember that you got of good feedback (or at least of responses regarding the info) with your Fraps tutorial, so I'm sure that we all can benefit from it here at Infinity as well.

I have it installed on my laptop atm, and will soon do the same for my home computer. Gonna try to record something today. If any questions come up I'll be sure to let you know.

[UltimateBiosparkJ]

This is great DV! I"ve been waiting for a tutorial for making Mugen vidoes. I first tried using Windows Media Encoder and I got decent results, but the laggin' kind of prevented it from being the best it could be. Its in a post I did a few days ago about my "Unofficail Cody Travers Survival Tribute". I"m gonna give Fraps a workout and see what I can get out of it and I"ll shout out questions if needed during the process. Once again, thanks a lot for this post

[Sabaki]

Made two vids today that will be going up on my Youtube page. Recording went without any problems, for the whole interface is so simple. The results were great, for both vids were captured at 60 fps (if there were any frames lost, it's so few and unnoticeable), and the sound was kept insync as well.

You were right about the file size being tremendous, though. I used a program called Video Converter Portable to reduce the size, which worked, but the quality of the vid went down the drain. Probably gotta fiddle with the settings abit more, but what program do you use/recommend for reducing file size & retaining quality at the same time?

[DarkValentine]

This is great DV! I"ve been waiting for a tutorial for making Mugen vidoes. I first tried using Windows Media Encoder and I got decent results, but the laggin' kind of prevented it from being the best it could be. Its in a post I did a few days ago about my "Unofficail Cody Travers Survival Tribute". I"m gonna give Fraps a workout and see what I can get out of it and I"ll shout out questions if needed during the process. Once again, thanks a lot for this post

Yeah, don't get me wrong, Windows Media Encoder is decent (despite I use the built in one that comes with Camtasia Studio Version 5) but Windows Media Encoder is not made to produce optimal framerate success with it. The most you'll get, is 24fps after conversion. The default for any video, should be at least 29.97 or an even 30fps after conversion. Since that's the standard that Youtube uses. But thanks for appreciating the tutorial.

Made two vids today that will be going up on my Youtube page. Recording went without any problems, for the whole interface is so simple. The results were great, for both vids were captured at 60 fps (if there were any frames lost, it's so few and unnoticeable), and the sound was kept insync as well.

You were right about the file size being tremendous, though. I used a program called Video Converter Portable to reduce the size, which worked, but the quality of the vid went down the drain. Probably gotta fiddle with the settings abit more, but what program do you use/recommend for reducing file size & retaining quality at the same time?

I highly recommend using VirtualDub. At least with that, you can tweak the codec settings to your liking, and add custom filters, or edit existing ones, in order to drop down the size of the video. While retain the quality. I've made a number of tutorials & my own custom filters to use for it, which is located on my stages site. I'm in the process of remaking the entire Tools section of my stages site.

That, and I'm also in the process of updating all of my custom config scripts, to be compatible with VirtualDub, so you can achieve the desired quality & filesize result. Once everything is ready, I'll make the post about it, along with any other requirements that are needed to be met. I will say early, that the K-Lite Mega Codecs Pack, or K-Lite Codecs Pack will have to be installed for my custom filters to work with VirtualDub. But I'll include what options to run, during the install.

I'm a hassle free person. Might as well make my tutorials as equally hassle free

[Sabaki]

Thanks for the tip. Taking the time out to test which program is the best for your needs have to be time consuming. Anyways, gonna play with Fraps a little bit more

[UltimateBiosparkJ]

I"m having trouble getting Fraps to start recording. I"m pressing my Hotkey and it doesn't seem to start. I followed the directions to the letter, so is there anything I"m doing wrong?

[DarkValentine]

I"m having trouble getting Fraps to start recording. I"m pressing my Hotkey and it doesn't seem to start. I followed the directions to the letter, so is there anything I"m doing wrong?

If in windowed mode, Fraps gives you the indication that the recording has started, if the icon in the taskbar turns red. If it turns red, and stays red, then that is an indication that it is recording. Another telltale sign is the frame counter appearing in the recording window. If you have that on, while in fullscreen, and it stays on by the time you record, then it will let you see that it recorded. However, it will capture the frame counter too.

There is no blinking box, or anything around the window, or screen, that will tell you it's recording. Other than what I stated above. If you plan on doing just fullscreen, you'll have to trust that you pressed record, same applies for windowed videos. And check the folder where the video is saving. So you can see if it worked right or not.

[ATiC3]

I gotta get L4D1 on PC and start recording like this guy: http://www.youtube.com/user/kilplixism

[UltimateBiosparkJ]

Ok, but the counter isn't turning red at all. It stays yellow the whole time.

This is strange indeed. I've even tried changing the hotkey as well.

[DarkValentine]

If it stays yellow, that means it's idle, waiting for your input. If it turns red, then back to yellow, it means that it detected, but did not capture what you wanted it to capture. Since it looks like you're doing this by window, it's gonna depend where that mouse pointer is, when you do press the hotkey. You may even have to click on the window, to make sure that's what it will be focused on, before pressing your set hotkey.


Fraps is pretty finicky about recording mugen, but it has been proven to work. It just takes a bit of timing to get it going. It may not be as easy as other recorders, but it's the only one that lets you capture all of the frames, without dropping any.

[UltimateBiosparkJ]

Ah, I see. Ok, I figured two things out now. First off, the version of Fraps I has doesn't work. Secondly, I have to find another version that'll actually do the job. I found one, but it only records up to 30 seconds and that's a technical foul in my book. 

Does anyone know where I can find a version that can go beyond 30sec or can someone e-mail me a copy?

[♦ßlôödÑinjå♦]

Thanks for the tut it's very helpful.

[DarkValentine]

Ah, I see. Ok, I figured two things out now. First off, the version of Fraps I has doesn't work. Secondly, I have to find another version that'll actually do the job. I found one, but it only records up to 30 seconds and that's a technical foul in my book. 

Does anyone know where I can find a version that can go beyond 30sec or can someone e-mail me a copy?

Got you covered.

Thanks for the tut it's very helpful.

No problem, anytime

[UltimateBiosparkJ]

Got you covered.

Thanks DV! You the greatest! I also went and download VirtualDub but I"m not exactly sure how it works. I was going to use YouTube Downloader to convert the files, but it really messes up the quality, so I choose VirtualDub instead.

Care to share how to use this program?

[DarkValentine]

Thanks DV! You the greatest! I also went and download VirtualDub but I"m not exactly sure how it works. I was going to use YouTube Downloader to convert the files, but it really messes up the quality, so I choose VirtualDub instead.

Care to share how to use this program?

I've spent the past 4 days, on creating a work around, that completely avoids using virtualdub altogether. The only thing that this requires, is the installation of Windows Media Encoder. And any video editing software, that can create .wmv files & select .wmv profiles for quality settings. Most preferably Windows Movie Maker

I've ran a test, by recording a 32 minute video at 320x240 size window resolution, with the output filesize coming to be 1.26GB, and the frame rate for recording and playback set to 29.97fps. After tweaking the created wmv settings I made, for output of higher quality vids in 640x480, without a reduction of frame rate in wmv format, I got the video down to a mere 350+mb. It's mostly footage of my online action with a fellow YT buddy, in SF3: 3rd Strike. The video output frame rate was still running at the exact same frame rate as the core recording. While at 640x480. The only thing reducing, was the file size.

I'm running as many tests as I can, before I release the final fix to the said option, and release it for all to use.

To further clarify this, the following was posted at mugen-infantry by me, not too long ago (glad to see t back up, btw)

The best thing about this, is that the said profile settings will be completely configurable. Ether by way of notepad, or through Windows Media Encoder. It will be much easier with that, because you can double-click the profile I'm making for it, and configure it that way. This also means, that you can configure it to set the frame rate to your own taste. However, if you're the type that prefers a higher frame rate output to upload with, then expect equal difference in larger file sizes in most cases, irregardless of the format used.

I do plan on making a number of these settings, to have different resolution format sizes. To meet the needs of others, who want larger sized windows.

Every mugen based video, looks better if the format frame rate used, is 29.97fps. Depending on the site you upload your video to, you can adjust the frame rate to your liking. This is a list of sites, that have a set frame rate cap. As to my knowledge, this information is 96% accurate.

Max Frame rate for video uploads:

YouTube: 29.97fps
Veoh: 24fps
DailyMotion: 30fps
LiveVideo: possibly 60fps in some cases, depending on encoder used
viddler: 20fps in 99.95% of the videos
archive.org: Frame Rate is encoder dependent
google video: possible to upload 60fps style video, at cost of adjusted, or reduced quality settings

It is possible to upload a full on 60fps video to these sites. But don't be surprised if the video output once uploaded, is switched to  any of the above. I've leaned this the hard way, that it's a wasted effort, if the output is going to be switched. So I just keep the frame rate at 29.97fps as much as possible. To avoid headaches in the future. about all of my videos are recorded at this setting.


BTW: This is the video that I was talking about, that I ran the above test with. Don't mind the jittering that appears. Forgot to turn off scanning while it was being recorded. This is not the recorder's fault, this was my own fault.. :okay:




The above video, is the said 32 minute test, with the settings that I mentioned about being worked on for .wmv style videos. But it's nearly finished. Most would see this, and think it's a .avi formatted video. I used Camtasia Studio, in the re-encoding of the above video, in .wmv format. So I can use the settings, since I'm one of those who don't use movie maker anymore.

But again, the settings will be available as a all-in-one for any video editing software available, that output videos in .wmv format.

So hold on for a while longer, if you can. I promise you wont be disappointed.

You don't have to wait any longer
http://www.infinitymugenteam.com/Forum_345/index.php?topic=28668.0

[Theendgamelv3]

Ok I am having problems recording with Fraps. I can't get it to work in window mode, it sits idle even though I press the capture button. However in fullscreen mode, I can capture, but the framerate is awful (15 fps). I know believe my comp should be good enough to capture 640x480 60fps cause I believe I have done it before, but that was a long time ago (I believe it was 640x480 with 60 fps cause I had a video file that was a 3 min video was 1.4gigs.) I know the mouse cursor thing works cause I can record a vid from a vid that is windowed, but not mugen. Can anyone help me with this?

[O Ilusionista]

I will share the methods I use for recording videos:

Winmugen:


- I choose 50fps at Fraps, full size record
- Import into Windows Live Movie Maker

The final result is a fine movie, with a reduced size. You can compress the video using a XviD program, like Xilosoft Xvid: http://www.xilisoft.com/xvid-converter.html

Mugen 1.0

- open mugen.cfg and change

;Drawing mode
 ;Choose from Normal (fast) and PageFlip (less image "tearing")
BlitMode = PageFlip

 

;Screen rendering mode.
 ;System - default SDL rendering mode (e.g. windib in Windows)
 ;DirectX - DirectX 5 renderer
 ;OpenGLScreen - hack that allows window resizing but could be slow
RenderMode = OpenGLScreen

Fraps wont recognize the video window if use other rendermode. But be warned that this mode can be slow in some computers. I use it just for recording, since it slows down in fullscreen

the rest is the same