Too Much Free Time Productions

Well, some of you may be wondering how to record console games and commentary on your computer for use in walkthroughs like me and twilightfox109. Here, I will be guiding you through the basics of what you need, and how to do it.

~Computer Specs~

First things first, you need to have a decent computer with a good processor, and a decent amount of RAM. not much, but 2 GB of RAM will be plenty. Also, you will need a really good processor if you want to get good results at high quality. A dual core Processor will provide excellent results where a single core might give you some problems, especially in the frame rate area if the game itself if very demanding. If recording games on a PC, these elements become even more critical where the hardware must be subjected to both the game itself, as well as the recording software. As for Hard Drive space, you will need ample amounts of space to give room fro extra recordings, retakes, as well as keeping the video on file in case something happens to the video on Youtube. Also for PC games, a good video card with plenty of independent video RAM is necessary to have good recording results.

~Video Recording~

You will need either a TV tuner card with Composite jacks, or a DVD recorder. I don't have a TV tuner card, but i do have a DVD recorder. I have the Pinnacle Dazzle DVD recorder Plus. this cost $100, but also came with editing software. I know there is a way to record emulators, and that is with either Camtasia Studio, or the free alternative CamStudio. Camtasia Studio comes with editing software built in, so you can record and edit, without switching programs left and right, but it cost some money. CamStudio however, is free to use. For most PC games, a good program to use is Xfire. It wasn't designed as software to record games, rather to Instant Message friends while playing games. However, it has become very popular and recent versions have included a video recorder, as well as a beta in-game web browser. Again, this is a free product. Another free and well designed program is Wegame. This product is a great free alternative to Fraps Pro. Unlimited video recording, screenshots, as well as really good HD quality settings. The default will be for standard web recording. This setting has good quality as well. The only downside i have experienced is that on rare occurrences, the audio recording gets a big blast of static. This has not been a real issue though. it doesn't support as many games as Xfire recording does, but it has much higher quality. Both Wegame and Xfire have the ability to upload directly to their websites so there is no messy process of editing, compiling, and finding the video files when they are ready to publish. Neither website has a limit to recording upload sizes/lengths so long as the video is captured using their own software respectively. Other alternatives are available, but none that have as high quality and performance.

~Audio~

If, for whatever reason, you cant record audio using the same program you are using for video, use a free, open-source program that works really well: Audacity. It has all the basic functions, record, replay, and it has really good editing. It is also very precise. It also has many kinds of effects too, like echo, pitch altering, etc. if you plan to export as an .MP3, you will have to download a codec to allow for exporting in that format. It does not come with Audacity, due to legal things, but they provide a link for the codec so you don't have to Google for it.

~Final Editing~

If you have all of your recording done, and now you want to finalize your video, there are a few things you must do first:

1. Make sure that the audio and video are in sync. this can get worse especially for longer videos, and if the video drops some frames while recording.
2. Brighten the video image if it is too dark. no one likes a video they cant even see, so brighten things up using the contrast and brightness settings if playing a darker game.
3. Re-watch the entire thing before finalizing to make sure the audio isn't too soft. Also, this makes sure any audio blips like static points or anything like that.

If you seem to be having issues with your video, you may want to download the K-lite Codec Pack. It has many codecs that are needed for some compressions of video.

~Final Settings~

When compiling the video, try to get the highest quality that is allowed, without going over 1 gigabyte. try to get this under 900 Megabytes if at all possible to be sure the video will be accepted by Youtube. if the quality is good, and you have a smaller file, by all means, upload it. the best resolution for high quality videos on Youtube is 640x480 pixels. For HD videos, the resolution would be 1280x720. For me, I believe the resolution for my videos is 720x480, but I'm not 100% on this.

~Posting~

When its all said and done, post a link here on the forums under Game Guides so we can all enjoy your work, and offer any pointers if need be.


If there is anything that i missed, or something that you don't fully understand, we will try to help you.

for recording my pc i use the krut computer recorder which you can download here: http://open-source.onestop.net/2006/03/ ... order.html
it can record in good quality and you can record sound and video at the same time.
the only problem is that it makes video's in an .mov extension so you need a converter for it.
a good free converter is any video converter which you can download here: http://www.any-video-converter.com/

good luck

yeah, im gonna be using that for the emulator games i will eventually be doing

i found out that krut didn't work as good as i wanted it to now i use camstudio

lol, well, i think it works fine for me, unless it has some serious problem that i havent encountered, ill stick with it

it can't capture when playing fullscreen and camstudio can

well, i dont run my emulator full screen. lol. so i dont have any use for it.

Thats a fantastic guide, thanks Gamefreak.

I'l be sure to use some of these pointers when i get a more powerful computer, a proper PC rather then the MAC ive been using.