FRAPs

[SushiSaurus]

Hey guys. Just have a few questions for those who have experience with FRAPS.

Just to give a bit of context:
- I can run the game regularly on 90-95FPS at maximum and 60FPS smoothly all the time
- When recording, I currently record at 30FPS full resolution 1920x1080 (I don't like using the half function because it's too blurry)
- Windows Media Player can play the videos with the record framerate (30), but it has issues with sound (It jumps and skips)
- Media Player Classic can play the videos with proper sound, but has issues with framerate from time to time (It jumps and skips)
- The videos record for a maximum of 1 minute and 35 seconds before starting a new file

A few things I'd like to get some help with:
- What player should I use to get neither of these issues?
- What FPS should I be recording at?
- Is recording at half-size more beneficial because: a) It can record for longer per file b) I can possibly record at a higher framerate (Lets say 60) which I usually play with
- How should I stitch these videos together? (avi format) Is Vegas 10 a good program for it? Or is Windows Movie Maker okay? (VMM can also directly upload to YouTube from the program)
- Is there a way to reduce video sizes when uploading or recording, because 1:35 of video is already 3.9GB

Few things to mention, I want to record things such as car chases, traffic stops, the usual cop things

Thanks for any answers people can give me!

Regards,
Sushi

[Dubz]

Hmm Media Player cannot display properly an AVI video. Try using another one.
And the full-size thing is for HD recordings (Quality) and stuffs.
You better get better configs for fraps. (Mine are private sorry )
And I am a movie maker , I got experience with these programs and yes. Sony Vegas is good for making movies AAE is good aswell but it's more hard with it. Go ahead and try Sony Vegas.

[Fuzzy]

- What player should I use to get neither of these issues?
- What FPS should I be recording at?
- Is recording at half-size more beneficial because: a) It can record for longer per file b) I can possibly record at a higher framerate (Lets say 60) which I usually play with
- How should I stitch these videos together? (avi format) Is Vegas 10 a good program for it? Or is Windows Movie Maker okay? (VMM can also directly upload to YouTube from the program)
- Is there a way to reduce video sizes when uploading or recording, because 1:35 of video is already 3.9GB

1) BSPlayer/VLC Player
2) 60 is best 30 is good too
3) Not really.
4) Vegas 10, Adobe Premiere, etc whatever you prefer
5) Any movie editing program or video converter

[Bilbo]

When rendering, render to .MP4 using default or H.264 settings.
Output file is no more than 100MB for one minute for HD material. (depends)

[Max.]

Keep in mind unless using a computer that can handle it, recording with fraps will kill your frame rate, if you lower the quality it will fix it.
Fraps records files raw, so if your recording at full HD (1920x1080) the files are going to be very large, and if you want to record alot, i suggest keeping alot of space spare, i myself have recorded random stuff from a few games and have my fraps folder over a few hundred gb.

The easiest to use movie editing program used to be Windows movie maker, but as with all microsoft products, they managed to stuff it up in the later releases of it.
Now the best movie editing program that i have used would have to be Sony Vegas.

Apon Rendering the movie in whatever program you wish to use, the size of the file will diminish drastically. even if you chain together a heap of your 3gb movies and render at full HD, you will still probably end up at around 800mb.

[SushiSaurus]

I thought as much. I have about 1TB free on my spare drives. I normally play about 90FPS so when I lower it to 30FPS, it still runs okay. I normally delete things I no longer need.

Thanks for the help everyone!

[SafetyMoose]

Why is the AVI movie generated by Fraps so big? How can I reduce the size?

The filesize is big because there isnt enough time to encode the movie while the game is running. The movie frames are slightly compressed, but still require a large amount of disk space due to the high resolutions. After you have finished capturing you can convert the clips into a compressed format using a video editing program. Probably the easiest one to use is Windows Movie Maker which is included free as part of Windows Live Essentials. It allows you to easily edit your clips and add text and other effects to your film. The end result will also be compressed into the Windows Media Video (WMV) format which can be played back in most media players.

When I view the movie I saved the video skips and the sound crackles. What's wrong?

Your media player may be having trouble keeping up with the large amount of data Fraps has written to disk. Fraps is optimised for processing large amounts of data, but many players are not. If they can't read the data fast enough skips in the video and audio may be present.

Keep in mind the raw data saved to disk should be fine. If you encode the video into a compressed format you will likely end up with a video file that plays perfectly due to the greatly reduced file size.

You can also lower the movie frame rate or use a lower resolution to reduce the data saved to the hard disk.

All your problems answered here: http://www.fraps.com/faq.php

[SushiSaurus]

Seem to have an all new problem, haven't yet tried to really solve it as I'm still working the kinks out with my new hardware. I'm easy playing GTA:SA at about 100+ FPS (FRAPs won't inform me of any higher), I've set FRAPs to record at 60FPS full-size. But when I hit record BOOM, even when there is no one else around or anything happening, my FPS drops to about 10 and things get bad. Still have some things to try, will report back soon.

[Hess]

I've set FRAPs to record at 60FPS full-size.

There's you're problem. You will rarely find any videos anywhere (not even HD videos) that are more than 30 fps. 24 is the standard for video frame-rate as far as I know. There is no point having it any higher. You're basically telling fraps to take 60 screenshots per second and turn it into a video. You're also going to get ridiculously large file-sizes...

Although higher fps is better for gaming, its a different story for video/movies.

[adamb]

i use fraps the same way you do and i got fine vids on youtube.

[Max.]

try Dxtory instead of fraps, i use it, and i love it, it can also stream to a virtual webcam aswell as record videos, so if you want to do a live stream (which is what i use it for) its brilliant.

it also has minimal frame drop when streaming and recording.

[Rick.]

For stitching, I use Camtasia.

[Julio.]

There's you're problem. You will rarely find any videos anywhere (not even HD videos) that are more than 30 fps. 24 is the standard for video frame-rate as far as I know. There is no point having it any higher. You're basically telling fraps to take 60 screenshots per second and turn it into a video. You're also going to get ridiculously large file-sizes...

Although higher fps is better for gaming, its a different story for video/movies.

Whenever my FPS is limited to below 30FPS, I can see the stuttering, but with films in a cinema, even though the standard rate is 24FPS, they use a clever technique with the lighting, 3 times a frame, which essentially turns the 24FPS into 72FPS. I cannot explain it easily, but thats the basics.

But as this is digital recordings, not analogue rolls of tape, I'd guess 30FPS would suffice, but I'd personally go with a custom of about 35-40FPS.

[Max.]

Dxtory records at 60 fps no problems

[SushiSaurus]

I'm fairly certain there is a notable difference between 30 (or 24) and 60 FPS. 60 seems to be a good stable point, most of the time, but it fluctuates randomly. I'll try and get a recording up.