vlncJoin Date: 2010-09-07Member: 73921Members, Squad Five Blue
edited November 2011
I was not talking about any aimbot or things like that don't worry.
Just about some tweaks i can do to gain some fps and play a more decent game in future.
About crosshairs, I'm using Wilson pack since few days. I found them simple and less big than originals ones.
example : you said, you're using alien vision. For me it's something that help you to see better and hit your enemy. Maybe I am not using the good words but i hope you understand what I'm saying.
I'll try this one (alienvision) to see the difference, thank you to remember me this mod exists, I completely forgot it.
And last things, can some of you share the link about settings to change in the nvidia panel ? I don't find it on the forum anymore.
QuovatisTeam InversionJoin Date: 2010-01-26Member: 70321Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue
edited November 2011
I don't personally use the alien vision mod. I find the vanilla one better suited to my needs. The mod actually decreases the contrast of the vision and allows some particles like lerk gas to be seen. By using the mod, you lose the ability to see through lerk gas, which is why I don't use it. Since I don't play lerk or gorge much, I stick to the vanilla alien vision. I don't think using the alien vision mod will turn you into a super player. lol The best way to increase your accuracy is to practice. And practice on high-ping servers so you're used to it.
vlncJoin Date: 2010-09-07Member: 73921Members, Squad Five Blue
edited November 2011
I know that mod will not turn me into pgm don't worry (that would be to easy :D). Just wanted to know your feedback about it and you gave it to me. Anyway thanks you for the tips.
fanaticThis post has been edited.Join Date: 2003-07-23Member: 18377Members, Constellation, Squad Five Blue
edited November 2011
<!--quoteo(post=1884069:date=Nov 7 2011, 04:49 PM:name=vlnc)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (vlnc @ Nov 7 2011, 04:49 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1884069"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Well well, it was hard to have a good kill/death ratio on your server.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> The ping difference between the US and Europe is always going to be an advantage for one of the teams, depending on whose server the match is played on. If you practice a lot on high ping servers though, you get used to it and the disadvantage gets smaller (I noticed a lot of the duplex guys warming up in EU servers, which is pretty silly when you knew the game would be played on a US server).
<!--quoteo(post=1884088:date=Nov 7 2011, 06:44 PM:name=vlnc)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (vlnc @ Nov 7 2011, 06:44 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1884088"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I think Fana has a good computer too, 80 fps average vizions said he had. Even at the beginning of a round, I never had so much fps.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> FPS is very situational. I usually get around 100 in a full ready room, 80 in marine start at the start of the round, 50 in areas with a lot of structures and/or aliens, and performance gets worse the longer the game runs. Over an average length game I would guess I have 50-70 fps on average. The only mods I use right now is custom crosshairs and the "no flash menus" mod.
ZeikkoJoin Date: 2007-12-16Member: 63179Members, Squad Five Blue, NS2 Map Tester
<!--quoteo(post=1884138:date=Nov 7 2011, 09:58 PM:name=fanatic)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (fanatic @ Nov 7 2011, 09:58 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1884138"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->(I noticed a lot of the duplex guys warming up in EU servers, which is pretty silly when you knew the game would be played on a US server).<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> Duplex and pub.eu were having a scrim before your game. Sure we could have played that in an american server but i find that pretty silly too.
fanaticThis post has been edited.Join Date: 2003-07-23Member: 18377Members, Constellation, Squad Five Blue
edited November 2011
<!--quoteo(post=1884139:date=Nov 7 2011, 09:03 PM:name=Zeikko)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Zeikko @ Nov 7 2011, 09:03 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1884139"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Duplex and pub.eu were having a scrim before your game. Sure we could have played that in an american server but i find that pretty silly too.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> I don't really understand how that relates to anything I just said. You have to practice playing with high ping to play well with high ping.
Hopefully the next time we can get an EU server to play on.
<!--quoteo(post=1884142:date=Nov 7 2011, 09:14 PM:name=vlnc)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (vlnc @ Nov 7 2011, 09:14 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1884142"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->But as you know it's not fun to play public on far far away servers :)<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> I don't have any problems with it. If you really had 450ms (bear in mind both the ping in net_stats and the scoreboard are buggy) you definitely need to consider switching to a different ISP though. If you live in France, we're about the same distance from the server and we both have to go through the UK to get there -- yet I only get around 140ms.
ZeikkoJoin Date: 2007-12-16Member: 63179Members, Squad Five Blue, NS2 Map Tester
<!--quoteo(post=1884144:date=Nov 7 2011, 10:17 PM:name=fanatic)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (fanatic @ Nov 7 2011, 10:17 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1884144"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I don't really understand how that relates to anything I just said. You have to practice playing with high ping to play well with high ping.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> Sure. You're right. I just wanted to say it wasn't just any public warmup but a scrim. And that's why Duplex was playing that in EU server instead of US. But let's not poison this thread more with this matter.
vlncJoin Date: 2010-09-07Member: 73921Members, Squad Five Blue
edited November 2011
If I play on US server, yes I have a high latency (I exaggerated about the 450ms, maybe in real i'm between 250-300ms on US servers). But in Europe i'm around 20-60 ms. As you say, the better thing will be to play on UK servers.
+1 Zeikko, I started this discussion but not in the good thread. Sorry for poisoning your thread Egad!.
Let's talk about replays, tactics or others good things than what I started to discuss.
fanaticThis post has been edited.Join Date: 2003-07-23Member: 18377Members, Constellation, Squad Five Blue
<!--quoteo(post=1884147:date=Nov 7 2011, 09:27 PM:name=vlnc)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (vlnc @ Nov 7 2011, 09:27 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1884147"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->As you say, the better thing will be to play on UK servers.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> Umm, that's not what I said at all. Language barrier I guess, try reading the post again.
If anyone casts the same clan matches I do, or has a different perspective of a game or whatever, please feel free to post video responses on the relevant videos on the NS2HD channel. I'll be only too happy to approve.
Also, if any other casters would like to join me like Zeikko did and do some co-commentary, shoot me an email at NS2HD@live.com.au. I'd love to have you along!
vlncJoin Date: 2010-09-07Member: 73921Members, Squad Five Blue
<!--quoteo(post=1884159:date=Nov 7 2011, 10:55 PM:name=fanatic)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (fanatic @ Nov 7 2011, 10:55 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1884159"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Umm, that's not what I said at all. Language barrier I guess, try reading the post again.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
You said : Hopefully the next time we can get an EU server to play on.
So i tried to say, next time it will be better to play on a UK server for future eu vs us teams.
fanaticThis post has been edited.Join Date: 2003-07-23Member: 18377Members, Constellation, Squad Five Blue
Maybe I should've elaborated; the point wasn't to play all rounds on an EU server because "it will be better" as you say (it isn't, it just makes it unfair for the american teams instead of the european teams). The point was that the fairest solution is to play one map on each team's server.
If you have 250-300ms to US servers, that's still a problem with your ISP. You should be getting well below 200.
Definitely the best way to get used to playing on higher ping servers, is to just play on those, heh. I know myself and a few others regularily play on the HBZ servers, take a bit of time to adjust, but in the end it only benefits you especially when playing teams which are in another country.
Found some good alternative to fraps called Dxtory. Doesnt have this 4gb file size crap. Can use all threads of you cpu. (fraps only 2) Can record in any video and audio codec you want (im currently using lagarith lossless codec, good performance, ok filesize 7min ~10gb 1080p30) Can have custom scaling, and not only percentages like in fraps. Extract all audio streams from your files by a simple click (rightclicking - extract audio stream) ... <a href="http://dxtory.com/v2-home-en.html" target="_blank">http://dxtory.com/v2-home-en.html</a>
ps: my youtube uploads are converted into mp4 1080p30 with lowered quality (20-25bitrate) - uploading 1-2gb files is big enough :P Forgot to add my mic for recording...
Kouji_SanSr. Hινε UÏкεεÏεг - EUPT DeputyThe NetherlandsJoin Date: 2003-05-13Member: 16271Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue
edited November 2011
<!--quoteo(post=1885274:date=Nov 17 2011, 01:13 AM:name=Koruyo)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Koruyo @ Nov 17 2011, 01:13 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1885274"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Found some good alternative to fraps called Dxtory.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> Dual Audio Recording ey, I'm intrigued! Fraps needs W7 for this...
QuovatisTeam InversionJoin Date: 2010-01-26Member: 70321Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue
<!--quoteo(post=1885274:date=Nov 16 2011, 06:13 PM:name=Koruyo)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Koruyo @ Nov 16 2011, 06:13 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1885274"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Found some good alternative to fraps called Dxtory.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Yeah, I tried it out once. Good quality. Better for recording entire matches, but I like the buffer record ability that FRAPS has so I can only save cool sequences after it happened. Dxtory doesn't have such a feature.
ScardyBobScardyBobJoin Date: 2009-11-25Member: 69528Forum Admins, Forum Moderators, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Shadow
<!--quoteo(post=1885274:date=Nov 16 2011, 05:13 PM:name=Koruyo)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Koruyo @ Nov 16 2011, 05:13 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1885274"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Found some good alternative to fraps called Dxtory.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> Nice find! I've been wanting to compare and contrast the alternatives to Fraps to how they impact fps, file size, and video quality in NS2. Gregion is the other video capture software I've been playing around with, but I've haven't found it to be a notable improvement over Fraps.
Although, I nearly shat my pants when I went to the checkout and saw the price at 3600, before realizing that it was in yen, not dollars.
Kouji_SanSr. Hινε UÏкεεÏεг - EUPT DeputyThe NetherlandsJoin Date: 2003-05-13Member: 16271Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue
edited November 2011
I did a few test laps on ns2_summit localhost and these are the results at 720p (C2D 2.4Ghz, 2Gb Ram and a HD4850 512Mb)
<ul><li>No recording ~23-40FPS</li><li>Fraps ~15-20FPS (window mode 1280x720)</li><li>Dxtory ~19-23FPS (doesn't detect NS2 window mode, full screen 1680x1050, resizing to 1280x720) <b>This one has by far the sharpest picture quality</b></li><li>PlayClaw ~14-16FPS (doesn't detect NS2 window mode, full screen 1680x1050)</li><li>PlayClaw ~14-19FPS (full screen 1680x1050 @ half size -> 840x525)</li></ul>
Dxtory has a lot more options, it can even record from up to 8 audio sources in WinXp, where the others require Vista or Win7. It also records each of these audio channels into a separate audio stream into the AVI to evaluate/edit afterward. While the others mix them all into one stream (PlayClaw has a tickbox to disable this, but I can't test it on WinXp). You can use your own codecs as well if you so desire...
It also has loads more recording options. Instead of having the usual "half size", "quarter size" options, you can actually resize to anything you want. The one I like most is that you're able to use multiple HDD's to record and lower the strain on your machine, using a proprietary raw format. Which can be converted into something readable from virtualdubb
ZeikkoJoin Date: 2007-12-16Member: 63179Members, Squad Five Blue, NS2 Map Tester
I have also been looking for a video capture software that doesn't restrict my gaming FPS and allows capture with many resolutions and codecs.
I have i5-2500k running at 4.3GHz, Radeon HD 6870, 8GB RAM and a basic 512GB Samsung 7200RPM HDD.
Without recording the FPS is usually around 50-70 with 1920 x 1080 resolution. With Fraps it is naturally at 30 because it limits the max FPS of the whole system. Dxtory however doesn't limit the max FPS so i'm able to have almost the same 50-70 FPS while recording. My next problem was finding good audio and video codecs to do the recording. Fraps codec makes huge videos, divx is too slow to be used while running playing resulting 10 fps videos. Then I tried the lagarith codec Koruyo mentioned. This codec still makes big videos but the performance hit is almost nonexistant. After finding a good codec my next problem was that my HDD is not fast enough to store all the data. I could fix this by buying a second HDD or SSD. I'm not sure if i will go for that. But a quick fix was to limit the video resolution to 1280 x 720. This is something I couldn't do with Fraps. 10 minutes 32 second testing video ended up being 13GB which i then compressed to 910MB and uploaded to Youtube to see how it turns out. You can see the test video <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTqhmosRMTY" target="_blank">here</a>.
I'm quite satisfied at the result and i'm now thinking about buying the software.
ScardyBobScardyBobJoin Date: 2009-11-25Member: 69528Forum Admins, Forum Moderators, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Shadow
<!--quoteo(post=1885460:date=Nov 18 2011, 06:12 AM:name=Kouji_San)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Kouji_San @ Nov 18 2011, 06:12 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1885460"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I did a few test laps on ns2_summit localhost and these are the results at 720p (C2D 2.4Ghz, 2Gb Ram and a HD4850 512Mb)
<ul><li>No recording ~23-40FPS</li><li>Fraps ~15-20FPS (window mode 1280x720)</li><li>Dxtory ~19-23FPS (doesn't detect NS2 window mode, full screen 1680x1050, resizing to 1280x720) <b>This one has by far the sharpest picture quality</b></li><li>PlayClaw ~14-16FPS (doesn't detect NS2 window mode, full screen 1680x1050)</li><li>PlayClaw ~14-19FPS (full screen 1680x1050 @ half size -> 840x525)</li></ul>
Dxtory has a lot more options, it can even record from up to 8 audio sources in WinXp, where the others require Vista or Win7. It also records each of these audio channels into a separate audio stream into the AVI to evaluate/edit afterward. While the others mix them all into one stream (PlayClaw has a tickbox to disable this, but I can't test it on WinXp). You can use your own codecs as well if you so desire...
It also has loads more recording options. Instead of having the usual "half size", "quarter size" options, you can actually resize to anything you want. The one I like most is that you're able to use multiple HDD's to record and lower the strain on your machine, using a proprietary raw format. Which can be converted into something readable from virtualdubb<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> Nice, I might just switch over to Dxtory then :) I especially like being able to record audio channels separately, as I'm frequently having to worry about random Steam/Window sounds popping up while recording (i.e. I went on a Steam/Window sound disabling spree to prevent this). However, could you post examples of videos recorded from all three programs to compare the quality? Specifically, I'd like to see something like 10s of recording of the scoreboard from each program to contrast the readability of the text.
<!--quoteo(post=1885494:date=Nov 18 2011, 10:02 AM:name=Zeikko)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Zeikko @ Nov 18 2011, 10:02 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1885494"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I have also been looking for a video capture software that doesn't restrict my gaming FPS and allows capture with many resolutions and codecs.
I have i5-2500k running at 4.3GHz, Radeon HD 6870, 8GB RAM and a basic 512GB Samsung 7200RPM HDD.
Without recording the FPS is usually around 50-70 with 1920 x 1080 resolution. With Fraps it is naturally at 30 because it limits the max FPS of the whole system. Dxtory however doesn't limit the max FPS so i'm able to have almost the same 50-70 FPS while recording. My next problem was finding good audio and video codecs to do the recording. Fraps codec makes huge videos, divx is too slow to be used while running playing resulting 10 fps videos. Then I tried the lagarith codec Koruyo mentioned. This codec still makes big videos but the performance hit is almost nonexistant. After finding a good codec my next problem was that my HDD is not fast enough to store all the data. I could fix this by buying a second HDD or SSD. I'm not sure if i will go for that. But a quick fix was to limit the video resolution to 1280 x 720. This is something I couldn't do with Fraps. 10 minutes 32 second testing video ended up being 13GB which i then compressed to 910MB and uploaded to Youtube to see how it turns out. You can see the test video <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTqhmosRMTY" target="_blank">here</a>.
I'm quite satisfied at the result and i'm now thinking about buying the software.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> I have a pretty similar setup to yours (i52500k 4.3, AMD 6950, 4GB RAM), but with about 2TB in internal storage and another 2TB in external HDDs, so fps hit and file size are important, but I'm primarily concerned about maintaining high 1080p video quality.
Also, I'm pretty sure you can run Fraps without an fps limit (though I don't see why'd you want anything more than 60fps since beyond that your usually limited by your monitor) and Fraps records at the resolution of your game iirc. If you want to record in 720p instead of 1080p with Fraps, all you have to do is reduce your in-game resolution.
Thanks for the test video, though I'm a little concerned about the 1080p HD quality (see <a href="http://youtu.be/WTqhmosRMTY?hd=1&t=8s" target="_blank">here</a>) as the scoreboard text doesn't seem to be as crisp as what I can get with Fraps + Youtube. What codec/compression software did you use to make it?
ZeikkoJoin Date: 2007-12-16Member: 63179Members, Squad Five Blue, NS2 Map Tester
<!--quoteo(post=1885550:date=Nov 18 2011, 10:47 PM:name=ScardyBob)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (ScardyBob @ Nov 18 2011, 10:47 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1885550"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Nice, I might just switch over to Dxtory then :) I especially like being able to record audio channels separately, as I'm frequently having to worry about random Steam/Window sounds popping up while recording (i.e. I went on a Steam/Window sound disabling spree to prevent this). However, could you post examples of videos recorded from all three programs to compare the quality? Specifically, I'd like to see something like 10s of recording of the scoreboard from each program to contrast the readability of the text.
I have a pretty similar setup to yours (i52500k 4.3, AMD 6950, 4GB RAM), but with about 2TB in internal storage and another 2TB in external HDDs, so fps hit and file size are important, but I'm primarily concerned about maintaining high 1080p video quality.
Also, I'm pretty sure you can run Fraps without an fps limit (though I don't see why'd you want anything more than 60fps since beyond that your usually limited by your monitor) and Fraps records at the resolution of your game iirc. If you want to record in 720p instead of 1080p with Fraps, all you have to do is reduce your in-game resolution.
Thanks for the test video, though I'm a little concerned about the 1080p HD quality (see <a href="http://youtu.be/WTqhmosRMTY?hd=1&t=8s" target="_blank">here</a>) as the scoreboard text doesn't seem to be as crisp as what I can get with Fraps + Youtube. What codec/compression software did you use to make it?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> Atleast the version of Fraps i'm using limits my fps to the recorded one. And there's no way i can record 60 fps because even 30 is choking my HDD. I guess playing with 720p would work fine, but i'm used to using 1080p.
I think the compression I did had an impact to the image quality. I used virtual dub and Xvid codec with Xvid HD 1080 profile (forgot to change it to 720). I did only single pass encoding with target bitrate of 11752kbps.
Today when I played i suffered from crashes when jumping to the command station while cpaturing video. I'll try it again later.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->This codec still makes big videos but the performance hit is almost nonexistant.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> - i wrote crap here, see players comment below. -
I record to my 2nd harddisk, a samsung spinpoint f3 1gb, the dxtory benchmark says it got 148mb/s
My dxtory settings: <a href="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/12784365/dxtory.jpg" target="_blank">http://dl.dropbox.com/u/12784365/dxtory.jpg</a>
Multithreading, YV12 Mode(good enough colours if you ask me, no need for full rgb*), All Threads you have (haven't tested 29,97fps yet, but since i change it into mpeg4 29,97 anyway - i might as well record it instead of 30fps)
The only thing i miss from fraps atm is the push to talk feature for my voice recording, since i got a ###### mic and it would just make crappy sounds most of the time...
*couldnt record 1080p 30fps with full rgb on my harddisk - only ssd.
<!--quoteo(post=1885598:date=Nov 19 2011, 02:06 AM:name=Koruyo)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Koruyo @ Nov 19 2011, 02:06 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1885598"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Its because lagarith is a lossless codec => no compression => less stress on the cpu.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> Actually, lossless means no original data is lost in the compression-process. You could in fact argue such codecs are heavier on the CPU than lossy codecs are (the ones that DO lose precision\quality or whatever kind of data we're talking about).
Ah thanks for the clarification - okay, im a noob... :( (but i guess the more you compress, the higher the stress again - so it needs a good balance between compression and loss)
At least this codec had the least performance impact of everything i ve tried yet. And if i look at the unchanged pre-youtube footage, its looks almost as if im really ingame :P
ScardyBobScardyBobJoin Date: 2009-11-25Member: 69528Forum Admins, Forum Moderators, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Shadow
<!--quoteo(post=1885602:date=Nov 18 2011, 05:21 PM:name=Koruyo)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Koruyo @ Nov 18 2011, 05:21 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1885602"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Ah thanks for the clarification - okay, im a noob... :( (but i guess the more you compress, the higher the stress again - so it needs a good balance between compression and loss)
At least this codec had the least performance impact of everything i ve tried yet. And if i look at the unchanged pre-youtube footage, its looks almost as if im really ingame :P<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> Yeah, my setup means I can basically ignore game performance impact and file size (within reason) to max video quality. Sometimes, I've uploaded the uncompressed Fraps output directly to YouTube, although YouTube probably doesn't like it when I do that. It helps minimize video quality loss because the only processing that's occurring is on YouTube's end.
swalkSay hello to my little friend.Join Date: 2011-01-20Member: 78384Members, Squad Five Blue
edited November 2011
<!--quoteo(post=1885613:date=Nov 19 2011, 02:49 AM:name=ScardyBob)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (ScardyBob @ Nov 19 2011, 02:49 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1885613"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Yeah, my setup means I can basically ignore game performance impact and file size (within reason) to max video quality. Sometimes, I've uploaded the uncompressed Fraps output directly to YouTube, although YouTube probably doesn't like it when I do that. It helps minimize video quality loss because the only processing that's occurring is on YouTube's end.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> Actually that's not totally right, because Fraps(and programs alike) compress the video. So it's getting processed twice before it hits streaming on Youtube. Other than that, I thought I would post a link to our Media page, where we put all the recorded casts and POVs from our matches. And we will keep it updated. <a href="http://www.duplexgaming.co.uk/media/" target="_blank">http://www.duplexgaming.co.uk/media/</a> Thanks to Arga for his efforts of making it. Edit: Arga changed the link
ZeikkoJoin Date: 2007-12-16Member: 63179Members, Squad Five Blue, NS2 Map Tester
<!--quoteo(post=1885737:date=Nov 19 2011, 09:21 PM:name=swalk)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (swalk @ Nov 19 2011, 09:21 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1885737"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Actually that's not totally right, because Fraps(and programs alike) compress the video. So it's getting processed twice before it hits streaming on Youtube.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> But isn't Fraps codec lossless just like the lagarith we talked earlier? Sure it's not uncomperessed as ScardyBob said but lossless atleast.
The fraps codec is lossless and although the videofiles have one of the best compressions for such lossless videos the performance is still very good. I'm able to record my videos at 60fps without negative impacts on the game.
Uploading the pure fraps-video (or any lossless videos) to Youtube is not a good idea. Encode your video in h264 with a nice bitrate and you won't notice any differences later on while watching it on Youtube. I'm using x264 for encoding my videos. <a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/megui/" target="_blank">MeGUI</a> is a nice tool for all encoding jobs...
ScardyBobScardyBobJoin Date: 2009-11-25Member: 69528Forum Admins, Forum Moderators, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Shadow
<!--quoteo(post=1885737:date=Nov 19 2011, 10:21 AM:name=swalk)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (swalk @ Nov 19 2011, 10:21 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1885737"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Actually that's not totally right, because Fraps(and programs alike) compress the video. So it's getting processed twice before it hits streaming on Youtube.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> Ah, you're right, but the Fraps codec is pretty damn close to being uncompressed. Little to no loss of quality in my experience.
<!--quoteo(post=1885776:date=Nov 19 2011, 05:25 PM:name=basti1337)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (basti1337 @ Nov 19 2011, 05:25 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1885776"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Uploading the pure fraps-video (or any lossless videos) to Youtube is not a good idea. Encode your video in h264 with a nice bitrate and you won't notice any differences later on while watching it on Youtube. I'm using x264 for encoding my videos. <a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/megui/" target="_blank">MeGUI</a> is a nice tool for all encoding jobs...<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> I only do it when I want to make fast posts and don't really care about quality (think documenting bugs like Kouji_san does). In all other cases, its usually something simple like Virtualdub. However, thanks for the link to MeGUI, I always like to check out new video capturing/encoding/editting software :)
Comments
Just about some tweaks i can do to gain some fps and play a more decent game in future.
About crosshairs, I'm using Wilson pack since few days. I found them simple and less big than originals ones.
example : you said, you're using alien vision. For me it's something that help you to see better and hit your enemy. Maybe I am not using the good words but i hope you understand what I'm saying.
I'll try this one (alienvision) to see the difference, thank you to remember me this mod exists, I completely forgot it.
And last things, can some of you share the link about settings to change in the nvidia panel ? I don't find it on the forum anymore.
The ping difference between the US and Europe is always going to be an advantage for one of the teams, depending on whose server the match is played on. If you practice a lot on high ping servers though, you get used to it and the disadvantage gets smaller (I noticed a lot of the duplex guys warming up in EU servers, which is pretty silly when you knew the game would be played on a US server).
<!--quoteo(post=1884088:date=Nov 7 2011, 06:44 PM:name=vlnc)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (vlnc @ Nov 7 2011, 06:44 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1884088"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I think Fana has a good computer too, 80 fps average vizions said he had. Even at the beginning of a round, I never had so much fps.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
FPS is very situational. I usually get around 100 in a full ready room, 80 in marine start at the start of the round, 50 in areas with a lot of structures and/or aliens, and performance gets worse the longer the game runs. Over an average length game I would guess I have 50-70 fps on average. The only mods I use right now is custom crosshairs and the "no flash menus" mod.
Duplex and pub.eu were having a scrim before your game. Sure we could have played that in an american server but i find that pretty silly too.
I will force my self to do it more time.
I don't really understand how that relates to anything I just said. You have to practice playing with high ping to play well with high ping.
Hopefully the next time we can get an EU server to play on.
<!--quoteo(post=1884142:date=Nov 7 2011, 09:14 PM:name=vlnc)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (vlnc @ Nov 7 2011, 09:14 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1884142"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->But as you know it's not fun to play public on far far away servers :)<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I don't have any problems with it. If you really had 450ms (bear in mind both the ping in net_stats and the scoreboard are buggy) you definitely need to consider switching to a different ISP though. If you live in France, we're about the same distance from the server and we both have to go through the UK to get there -- yet I only get around 140ms.
Sure. You're right. I just wanted to say it wasn't just any public warmup but a scrim. And that's why Duplex was playing that in EU server instead of US. But let's not poison this thread more with this matter.
+1 Zeikko, I started this discussion but not in the good thread. Sorry for poisoning your thread Egad!.
Let's talk about replays, tactics or others good things than what I started to discuss.
Umm, that's not what I said at all. Language barrier I guess, try reading the post again.
Also, if any other casters would like to join me like Zeikko did and do some co-commentary, shoot me an email at NS2HD@live.com.au. I'd love to have you along!
You said : Hopefully the next time we can get an EU server to play on.
So i tried to say, next time it will be better to play on a UK server for future eu vs us teams.
If you have 250-300ms to US servers, that's still a problem with your ISP. You should be getting well below 200.
Found some good alternative to fraps called Dxtory.
Doesnt have this 4gb file size crap.
Can use all threads of you cpu. (fraps only 2)
Can record in any video and audio codec you want (im currently using lagarith lossless codec, good performance, ok filesize 7min ~10gb 1080p30)
Can have custom scaling, and not only percentages like in fraps.
Extract all audio streams from your files by a simple click (rightclicking - extract audio stream)
...
<a href="http://dxtory.com/v2-home-en.html" target="_blank">http://dxtory.com/v2-home-en.html</a>
ps: my youtube uploads are converted into mp4 1080p30 with lowered quality (20-25bitrate) - uploading 1-2gb files is big enough :P
Forgot to add my mic for recording...
Dual Audio Recording ey, I'm intrigued! Fraps needs W7 for this...
Yeah, I tried it out once. Good quality. Better for recording entire matches, but I like the buffer record ability that FRAPS has so I can only save cool sequences after it happened. Dxtory doesn't have such a feature.
Nice find! I've been wanting to compare and contrast the alternatives to Fraps to how they impact fps, file size, and video quality in NS2. Gregion is the other video capture software I've been playing around with, but I've haven't found it to be a notable improvement over Fraps.
Although, I nearly shat my pants when I went to the checkout and saw the price at 3600, before realizing that it was in yen, not dollars.
<ul><li>No recording ~23-40FPS</li><li>Fraps ~15-20FPS (window mode 1280x720)</li><li>Dxtory ~19-23FPS (doesn't detect NS2 window mode, full screen 1680x1050, resizing to 1280x720) <b>This one has by far the sharpest picture quality</b></li><li>PlayClaw ~14-16FPS (doesn't detect NS2 window mode, full screen 1680x1050)</li><li>PlayClaw ~14-19FPS (full screen 1680x1050 @ half size -> 840x525)</li></ul>
Dxtory has a lot more options, it can even record from up to 8 audio sources in WinXp, where the others require Vista or Win7. It also records each of these audio channels into a separate audio stream into the AVI to evaluate/edit afterward. While the others mix them all into one stream (PlayClaw has a tickbox to disable this, but I can't test it on WinXp). You can use your own codecs as well if you so desire...
It also has loads more recording options. Instead of having the usual "half size", "quarter size" options, you can actually resize to anything you want. The one I like most is that you're able to use multiple HDD's to record and lower the strain on your machine, using a proprietary raw format. Which can be converted into something readable from virtualdubb
I have i5-2500k running at 4.3GHz, Radeon HD 6870, 8GB RAM and a basic 512GB Samsung 7200RPM HDD.
Without recording the FPS is usually around 50-70 with 1920 x 1080 resolution.
With Fraps it is naturally at 30 because it limits the max FPS of the whole system.
Dxtory however doesn't limit the max FPS so i'm able to have almost the same 50-70 FPS while recording.
My next problem was finding good audio and video codecs to do the recording. Fraps codec makes huge videos, divx is too slow to be used while running playing resulting 10 fps videos. Then I tried the lagarith codec Koruyo mentioned. This codec still makes big videos but the performance hit is almost nonexistant.
After finding a good codec my next problem was that my HDD is not fast enough to store all the data. I could fix this by buying a second HDD or SSD. I'm not sure if i will go for that. But a quick fix was to limit the video resolution to 1280 x 720. This is something I couldn't do with Fraps.
10 minutes 32 second testing video ended up being 13GB which i then compressed to 910MB and uploaded to Youtube to see how it turns out.
You can see the test video <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTqhmosRMTY" target="_blank">here</a>.
I'm quite satisfied at the result and i'm now thinking about buying the software.
<ul><li>No recording ~23-40FPS</li><li>Fraps ~15-20FPS (window mode 1280x720)</li><li>Dxtory ~19-23FPS (doesn't detect NS2 window mode, full screen 1680x1050, resizing to 1280x720) <b>This one has by far the sharpest picture quality</b></li><li>PlayClaw ~14-16FPS (doesn't detect NS2 window mode, full screen 1680x1050)</li><li>PlayClaw ~14-19FPS (full screen 1680x1050 @ half size -> 840x525)</li></ul>
Dxtory has a lot more options, it can even record from up to 8 audio sources in WinXp, where the others require Vista or Win7. It also records each of these audio channels into a separate audio stream into the AVI to evaluate/edit afterward. While the others mix them all into one stream (PlayClaw has a tickbox to disable this, but I can't test it on WinXp). You can use your own codecs as well if you so desire...
It also has loads more recording options. Instead of having the usual "half size", "quarter size" options, you can actually resize to anything you want. The one I like most is that you're able to use multiple HDD's to record and lower the strain on your machine, using a proprietary raw format. Which can be converted into something readable from virtualdubb<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Nice, I might just switch over to Dxtory then :) I especially like being able to record audio channels separately, as I'm frequently having to worry about random Steam/Window sounds popping up while recording (i.e. I went on a Steam/Window sound disabling spree to prevent this). However, could you post examples of videos recorded from all three programs to compare the quality? Specifically, I'd like to see something like 10s of recording of the scoreboard from each program to contrast the readability of the text.
<!--quoteo(post=1885494:date=Nov 18 2011, 10:02 AM:name=Zeikko)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Zeikko @ Nov 18 2011, 10:02 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1885494"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I have also been looking for a video capture software that doesn't restrict my gaming FPS and allows capture with many resolutions and codecs.
I have i5-2500k running at 4.3GHz, Radeon HD 6870, 8GB RAM and a basic 512GB Samsung 7200RPM HDD.
Without recording the FPS is usually around 50-70 with 1920 x 1080 resolution.
With Fraps it is naturally at 30 because it limits the max FPS of the whole system.
Dxtory however doesn't limit the max FPS so i'm able to have almost the same 50-70 FPS while recording.
My next problem was finding good audio and video codecs to do the recording. Fraps codec makes huge videos, divx is too slow to be used while running playing resulting 10 fps videos. Then I tried the lagarith codec Koruyo mentioned. This codec still makes big videos but the performance hit is almost nonexistant.
After finding a good codec my next problem was that my HDD is not fast enough to store all the data. I could fix this by buying a second HDD or SSD. I'm not sure if i will go for that. But a quick fix was to limit the video resolution to 1280 x 720. This is something I couldn't do with Fraps.
10 minutes 32 second testing video ended up being 13GB which i then compressed to 910MB and uploaded to Youtube to see how it turns out.
You can see the test video <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTqhmosRMTY" target="_blank">here</a>.
I'm quite satisfied at the result and i'm now thinking about buying the software.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I have a pretty similar setup to yours (i52500k 4.3, AMD 6950, 4GB RAM), but with about 2TB in internal storage and another 2TB in external HDDs, so fps hit and file size are important, but I'm primarily concerned about maintaining high 1080p video quality.
Also, I'm pretty sure you can run Fraps without an fps limit (though I don't see why'd you want anything more than 60fps since beyond that your usually limited by your monitor) and Fraps records at the resolution of your game iirc. If you want to record in 720p instead of 1080p with Fraps, all you have to do is reduce your in-game resolution.
Thanks for the test video, though I'm a little concerned about the 1080p HD quality (see <a href="http://youtu.be/WTqhmosRMTY?hd=1&t=8s" target="_blank">here</a>) as the scoreboard text doesn't seem to be as crisp as what I can get with Fraps + Youtube. What codec/compression software did you use to make it?
I have a pretty similar setup to yours (i52500k 4.3, AMD 6950, 4GB RAM), but with about 2TB in internal storage and another 2TB in external HDDs, so fps hit and file size are important, but I'm primarily concerned about maintaining high 1080p video quality.
Also, I'm pretty sure you can run Fraps without an fps limit (though I don't see why'd you want anything more than 60fps since beyond that your usually limited by your monitor) and Fraps records at the resolution of your game iirc. If you want to record in 720p instead of 1080p with Fraps, all you have to do is reduce your in-game resolution.
Thanks for the test video, though I'm a little concerned about the 1080p HD quality (see <a href="http://youtu.be/WTqhmosRMTY?hd=1&t=8s" target="_blank">here</a>) as the scoreboard text doesn't seem to be as crisp as what I can get with Fraps + Youtube. What codec/compression software did you use to make it?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Atleast the version of Fraps i'm using limits my fps to the recorded one. And there's no way i can record 60 fps because even 30 is choking my HDD. I guess playing with 720p would work fine, but i'm used to using 1080p.
I think the compression I did had an impact to the image quality. I used virtual dub and Xvid codec with Xvid HD 1080 profile (forgot to change it to 720). I did only single pass encoding with target bitrate of 11752kbps.
Today when I played i suffered from crashes when jumping to the command station while cpaturing video. I'll try it again later.
- i wrote crap here, see players comment below. -
I record to my 2nd harddisk, a samsung spinpoint f3 1gb, the dxtory benchmark says it got 148mb/s
My dxtory settings:
<a href="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/12784365/dxtory.jpg" target="_blank">http://dl.dropbox.com/u/12784365/dxtory.jpg</a>
Multithreading, YV12 Mode(good enough colours if you ask me, no need for full rgb*), All Threads you have (haven't tested 29,97fps yet, but since i change it into mpeg4 29,97 anyway - i might as well record it instead of 30fps)
The only thing i miss from fraps atm is the push to talk feature for my voice recording, since i got a ###### mic and it would just make crappy sounds most of the time...
*couldnt record 1080p 30fps with full rgb on my harddisk - only ssd.
Actually, lossless means no original data is lost in the compression-process. You could in fact argue such codecs are heavier on the CPU than lossy codecs are (the ones that DO lose precision\quality or whatever kind of data we're talking about).
At least this codec had the least performance impact of everything i ve tried yet. And if i look at the unchanged pre-youtube footage, its looks almost as if im really ingame :P
At least this codec had the least performance impact of everything i ve tried yet. And if i look at the unchanged pre-youtube footage, its looks almost as if im really ingame :P<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Yeah, my setup means I can basically ignore game performance impact and file size (within reason) to max video quality. Sometimes, I've uploaded the uncompressed Fraps output directly to YouTube, although YouTube probably doesn't like it when I do that. It helps minimize video quality loss because the only processing that's occurring is on YouTube's end.
Actually that's not totally right, because Fraps(and programs alike) compress the video. So it's getting processed twice before it hits streaming on Youtube.
Other than that, I thought I would post a link to our Media page, where we put all the recorded casts and POVs from our matches. And we will keep it updated.
<a href="http://www.duplexgaming.co.uk/media/" target="_blank">http://www.duplexgaming.co.uk/media/</a>
Thanks to Arga for his efforts of making it.
Edit: Arga changed the link
But isn't Fraps codec lossless just like the lagarith we talked earlier?
Sure it's not uncomperessed as ScardyBob said but lossless atleast.
Uploading the pure fraps-video (or any lossless videos) to Youtube is not a good idea. Encode your video in h264 with a nice bitrate and you won't notice any differences later on while watching it on Youtube. I'm using x264 for encoding my videos. <a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/megui/" target="_blank">MeGUI</a> is a nice tool for all encoding jobs...
Ah, you're right, but the Fraps codec is pretty damn close to being uncompressed. Little to no loss of quality in my experience.
<!--quoteo(post=1885776:date=Nov 19 2011, 05:25 PM:name=basti1337)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (basti1337 @ Nov 19 2011, 05:25 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1885776"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Uploading the pure fraps-video (or any lossless videos) to Youtube is not a good idea. Encode your video in h264 with a nice bitrate and you won't notice any differences later on while watching it on Youtube. I'm using x264 for encoding my videos. <a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/megui/" target="_blank">MeGUI</a> is a nice tool for all encoding jobs...<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I only do it when I want to make fast posts and don't really care about quality (think documenting bugs like Kouji_san does). In all other cases, its usually something simple like Virtualdub. However, thanks for the link to MeGUI, I always like to check out new video capturing/encoding/editting software :)