ScardyBobScardyBobJoin Date: 2009-11-25Member: 69528Forum Admins, Forum Moderators, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Shadow
I've come across a few new programs/methods (OBS, xsplit, EpicRewind, capture cards, etc) that I'd like to test out, but haven't had the time to do so. EpicRewind has the best feature imo (e.g. ability to record the last x+ seconds after it happens), but its still buggy and hard to use. OBS gives you really good control over the video quality in the advanced options and lets you add in different scenes (minimizes some post-processing work).
I used OBS and the performance hit isn't big as long as you don't go recording in 120fps @ 1080p (or 60fps @ 1080p) which you can do, but ns2 couldn't handle that
Also the file sizes after recording are really small, which is a big plus
The quality is noticeably lower though, but you can always increase the video bandwidth to compensate for that. With something like 20000k you can record 720p60 or even 720p120 with very good quality. Keep in mind you might have to adjust a few things to make the recorded videos compatible with video editing software.
I could highly recommend FFSplit if Windowed mode didin't cause minor mouse lags on my end in NS2. It wouldn't be a problem for recording at spectator or casting but I wouldn't use it as a field marine/alien.
It has downsides, for starters you need a strong cpu (preferably overclocked) since this program encodes on the go (I'll get to this later). Also it's still beta (but constantly improving) and you have to use windowed (or borderless) mode as I mentioned before.
On the upside though, since FFSplit encodes while recording, the output file is very small. Half an hour game only takes 700mb-1gb at 60fps @ 1080p (while Fraps gives you a 25-30gb file at that settings. besides if you don't have a really fast hdd, frame drops occur). Once you re-encode the output on handbrake or something, filesize shrinks to 200-300mb. You can also stream to twitch (or any other supported service). I haven't got a chance to try it yet since I have 1mbit upload. You can see the settings here. As you can see you can tweak the settings to suit your system. Oh almost forgot.. it's also free.
If your cpu is meaty, you should try it. I did have some input lag issues with it but this might be caused by NS2's windowed option, I'm not sure. I didin't have issues with other games (like tf2, borderlands 2 etc). Give it a go. Maybe you won't have any problems. If you're using an older cpu (like I did recently -Q9400 @ 3.2-) go for Dxtory + Lagarith Lossless as ScardyBob mentioned. You need a big drive (and a fast one if you want to record at 1080p @ 60fps) but on lower settings (i.e 720p @ 30fps) , it has minor impact on cpu as far as I can tell (besides it's frame counter looks better than fraps'). As for Fraps.. I used to use it because of it's G15 support but compared to dxtory or ffsplit, it doesn't let you configure much. I don't like that aspect so I stopped using it.
I could highly recommend FFSplit if Windowed mode didin't cause minor mouse lags on my end in NS2. It wouldn't be a problem for recording at spectator or casting but I wouldn't use it as a field marine/alien.
It has downsides, for starters you need a strong cpu (preferably overclocked) since this program encodes on the go (I'll get to this later). Also it's still beta (but constantly improving) and you have to use windowed (or borderless) mode as I mentioned before.
On the upside though, since FFSplit encodes while recording, the output file is very small. Half an hour game only takes 700mb-1gb at 60fps @ 1080p (while Fraps gives you a 25-30gb file at that settings. besides if you don't have a really fast hdd, frame drops occur). Once you re-encode the output on handbrake or something, filesize shrinks to 200-300mb. You can also stream to twitch (or any other supported service). I haven't got a chance to try it yet since I have 1mbit upload. You can see the settings here. As you can see you can tweak the settings to suit your system. Oh almost forgot.. it's also free.
If your cpu is meaty, you should try it. I did have some input lag issues with it but this might be caused by NS2's windowed option, I'm not sure. I didin't have issues with other games (like tf2, borderlands 2 etc). Give it a go. Maybe you won't have any problems. If you're using an older cpu (like I did recently -Q9400 @ 3.2-) go for Dxtory + Lagarith Lossless as ScardyBob mentioned. You need a big drive (and a fast one if you want to record at 1080p @ 60fps) but on lower settings (i.e 720p @ 30fps) , it has minor impact on cpu as far as I can tell (besides it's frame counter looks better than fraps'). As for Fraps.. I used to use it because of it's G15 support but compared to dxtory or ffsplit, it doesn't let you configure much. I don't like that aspect so I stopped using it.
Comments
Also the file sizes after recording are really small, which is a big plus
I haven't tested the performance hit, but it may be significant depending on how high of quality you want.
It has downsides, for starters you need a strong cpu (preferably overclocked) since this program encodes on the go (I'll get to this later). Also it's still beta (but constantly improving) and you have to use windowed (or borderless) mode as I mentioned before.
On the upside though, since FFSplit encodes while recording, the output file is very small. Half an hour game only takes 700mb-1gb at 60fps @ 1080p (while Fraps gives you a 25-30gb file at that settings. besides if you don't have a really fast hdd, frame drops occur). Once you re-encode the output on handbrake or something, filesize shrinks to 200-300mb. You can also stream to twitch (or any other supported service). I haven't got a chance to try it yet since I have 1mbit upload. You can see the settings here. As you can see you can tweak the settings to suit your system. Oh almost forgot.. it's also free.
If your cpu is meaty, you should try it. I did have some input lag issues with it but this might be caused by NS2's windowed option, I'm not sure. I didin't have issues with other games (like tf2, borderlands 2 etc). Give it a go. Maybe you won't have any problems. If you're using an older cpu (like I did recently -Q9400 @ 3.2-) go for Dxtory + Lagarith Lossless as ScardyBob mentioned. You need a big drive (and a fast one if you want to record at 1080p @ 60fps) but on lower settings (i.e 720p @ 30fps) , it has minor impact on cpu as far as I can tell (besides it's frame counter looks better than fraps'). As for Fraps.. I used to use it because of it's G15 support but compared to dxtory or ffsplit, it doesn't let you configure much. I don't like that aspect so I stopped using it.
It has downsides, for starters you need a strong cpu (preferably overclocked) since this program encodes on the go (I'll get to this later). Also it's still beta (but constantly improving) and you have to use windowed (or borderless) mode as I mentioned before.
On the upside though, since FFSplit encodes while recording, the output file is very small. Half an hour game only takes 700mb-1gb at 60fps @ 1080p (while Fraps gives you a 25-30gb file at that settings. besides if you don't have a really fast hdd, frame drops occur). Once you re-encode the output on handbrake or something, filesize shrinks to 200-300mb. You can also stream to twitch (or any other supported service). I haven't got a chance to try it yet since I have 1mbit upload. You can see the settings here. As you can see you can tweak the settings to suit your system. Oh almost forgot.. it's also free.
If your cpu is meaty, you should try it. I did have some input lag issues with it but this might be caused by NS2's windowed option, I'm not sure. I didin't have issues with other games (like tf2, borderlands 2 etc). Give it a go. Maybe you won't have any problems. If you're using an older cpu (like I did recently -Q9400 @ 3.2-) go for Dxtory + Lagarith Lossless as ScardyBob mentioned. You need a big drive (and a fast one if you want to record at 1080p @ 60fps) but on lower settings (i.e 720p @ 30fps) , it has minor impact on cpu as far as I can tell (besides it's frame counter looks better than fraps'). As for Fraps.. I used to use it because of it's G15 support but compared to dxtory or ffsplit, it doesn't let you configure much. I don't like that aspect so I stopped using it.