Capturing video of your TGB game
by Conor O Kane · in Torque Game Builder · 05/09/2007 (5:34 am) · 16 replies
I've seen some people have posted video captures of their TGB games on youtube.
I've tried capturing my game using FRAPS, which has worked fine for every other game I've used it with, but when I try it with torque the game's framerate plummets from 190fps to 8fps, making the video unusable. Does anybody know what might be causing this unusual framerate drop, or have any other recommendations for capturing videos of TGB games?
I've tried capturing my game using FRAPS, which has worked fine for every other game I've used it with, but when I try it with torque the game's framerate plummets from 190fps to 8fps, making the video unusable. Does anybody know what might be causing this unusual framerate drop, or have any other recommendations for capturing videos of TGB games?
#2
How many particle effects or sprites do you have filling the screen in your game, and are you using active desktop for your background on your computer?
05/10/2007 (5:20 am)
I hate to give you a non-answer but I have used Fraps to capture video and have not had any issue as of yet, and same for windowed mode.How many particle effects or sprites do you have filling the screen in your game, and are you using active desktop for your background on your computer?
#3
I'm running Fraps 2.7.3 and TGB 1.1.3. I've got an ATI Radeon 9800 XT video card. No active desktop background.
Fraps only works when TGB is in openGL mode, if I run it in DirectX mode the fraps counter doesn't show up at all. And it's not my game specifically that's causing the problem, it's any torque game, even the fish demo drops from 190fps to 16fps when I start recording.
05/10/2007 (7:08 am)
Thanks for the reply Jon - can you give me some specifics about your setup so I know what works.I'm running Fraps 2.7.3 and TGB 1.1.3. I've got an ATI Radeon 9800 XT video card. No active desktop background.
Fraps only works when TGB is in openGL mode, if I run it in DirectX mode the fraps counter doesn't show up at all. And it's not my game specifically that's causing the problem, it's any torque game, even the fish demo drops from 190fps to 16fps when I start recording.
#4
FRAPS didn't capture audio on either computer so I guess I'll just have to look for another solution anyway.
05/13/2007 (12:27 am)
Well I did some experimenting. On my laptop, which has a different video card, the jerkyness in windowed mode is not there, and it captures FRAPS at around 25fps, which is good enough. So I guess the problem lies with my main computer's video driver, or perhaps because I'm running 2 monitors.FRAPS didn't capture audio on either computer so I guess I'll just have to look for another solution anyway.
#5
Is your laptop a better performing computer than your desktop? I am also curious about the dual monitor idea, I do not have dual displays so I do not know, but it might be worth a try to unhook one and then boot your computer and run fraps and see what happens. And the problem with it not working with D3D sounds really strange, are you running the latest release of fraps? If you are, you might want to try re-installing it maybe.
05/14/2007 (9:58 am)
My machine setup is an Athlon 3200 64 x2 with 2 gb or ram and a GeForce 7800.Is your laptop a better performing computer than your desktop? I am also curious about the dual monitor idea, I do not have dual displays so I do not know, but it might be worth a try to unhook one and then boot your computer and run fraps and see what happens. And the problem with it not working with D3D sounds really strange, are you running the latest release of fraps? If you are, you might want to try re-installing it maybe.
#6
I'm running the latest Fraps v2.8.2.
05/15/2007 (7:44 am)
Have you managed to capture audio from TGB with Fraps? Someone in this thread (http://www.garagegames.com/mg/forums/result.thread.php?qt=10554) said that Fraps does not capture audio, but I'm not sure if they were talking generally or about Fraps with Torque.I'm running the latest Fraps v2.8.2.
#7
My desktop computer has an ATI Radeon 9800 XT 256Mb VRAM, 1Gb RAM, 3Ghz processor. When I run 2 monitors TGB is jerky in windowed mode, but when I run 1 monitor TGB is smooth when windowed. In both cases trying to capture video with Fraps causes TGB to drop from 160fps down to 8 fps.
My laptop is an ATI Mobility Radeon X1400 256Mb VRAM, 2Gb Ram, 2.2Ghz processor. The game runs smoothly on this machine, although at a much lower frame rate (60fps when not captureing) and it drops to a reasonable 20 to 30 fps when capturing. Again audio is not capturing.
On both computers Fraps does not work at all (not even an FPS counter) when TGB is running in D3D mode. It only works in OpenGL mode. On both computers Fraps captures no audio.
I've captured fullscreen video with audio at 25fps using fraps on both these computers while playing other games, so Fraps is not the problem and the video cards/drivers are probably not the problem. Maybe it's a compatibility issue with TGB and ATI videocards?
I'd appreciate if anybody who's had any success at capturing video and audio with Fraps on an ATI video card could let me know how it's done!
05/15/2007 (8:16 am)
I did a little more experimenting...My desktop computer has an ATI Radeon 9800 XT 256Mb VRAM, 1Gb RAM, 3Ghz processor. When I run 2 monitors TGB is jerky in windowed mode, but when I run 1 monitor TGB is smooth when windowed. In both cases trying to capture video with Fraps causes TGB to drop from 160fps down to 8 fps.
My laptop is an ATI Mobility Radeon X1400 256Mb VRAM, 2Gb Ram, 2.2Ghz processor. The game runs smoothly on this machine, although at a much lower frame rate (60fps when not captureing) and it drops to a reasonable 20 to 30 fps when capturing. Again audio is not capturing.
On both computers Fraps does not work at all (not even an FPS counter) when TGB is running in D3D mode. It only works in OpenGL mode. On both computers Fraps captures no audio.
I've captured fullscreen video with audio at 25fps using fraps on both these computers while playing other games, so Fraps is not the problem and the video cards/drivers are probably not the problem. Maybe it's a compatibility issue with TGB and ATI videocards?
I'd appreciate if anybody who's had any success at capturing video and audio with Fraps on an ATI video card could let me know how it's done!
#8
05/24/2007 (10:36 am)
I used GameCam instead of Fraps, but also had issues capuring audio. I played around with my sound card device driver settings and got it to work. I had to mute the mic input and enable "Stereo Mix".
#9
05/26/2007 (10:44 pm)
Thanks Kevin, I'll look into that.
#10
06/26/2007 (5:12 am)
Well I guess it's just an issue with Torque and Fraps and ATI cards. I tried capturing on an Nvidia computer and it worked fine, audio and all.
#11
06/27/2007 (7:03 am)
Hmm, makes me wonder what could be so different that an ATI card would cause you so much lag. 
#12
06/27/2007 (8:40 am)
I know this sounds like an obvious question, but have you updated your drivers for your video card?
#13
Oh, I forgot to mention, I figured out what was causing the jerky playback in windowed mode - it's CodeWeaver. Having CodeWeaver maximized in the background while TGB is playing, makes TGB perform badly. Minimizing CodeWeaver, or running TGB fullscreen solves the problem. This was unrelated to the whole FRAPS issue.
I'd love to know if anybody with an ATI video card has managed to use FRAPS successfully with TGB.
06/27/2007 (5:42 pm)
Matthew - yes, I downloaded the latest Catalyst driver pack for my desktop computer (Radeon 9800 XT) although I hadn't updated my laptop's drivers, but it was brand new.Oh, I forgot to mention, I figured out what was causing the jerky playback in windowed mode - it's CodeWeaver. Having CodeWeaver maximized in the background while TGB is playing, makes TGB perform badly. Minimizing CodeWeaver, or running TGB fullscreen solves the problem. This was unrelated to the whole FRAPS issue.
I'd love to know if anybody with an ATI video card has managed to use FRAPS successfully with TGB.
#14
Sounds like it's an ATI issue specific to TGB. Or, it could be specific to OpenGL since TorqueX uses D3D.
And, TGB in D3D doesn't work for me either, which could have something to do with the fact that D3D in TGB just wraps GL calls.
06/27/2007 (6:06 pm)
I have an ATI X1800 at work. Framerate drops from 160 to ~15 with FRAPS recording in TGB. In TorqueX, framerate drops from 200 to >30 (30 being the capture rate).Sounds like it's an ATI issue specific to TGB. Or, it could be specific to OpenGL since TorqueX uses D3D.
And, TGB in D3D doesn't work for me either, which could have something to do with the fact that D3D in TGB just wraps GL calls.
#15
06/27/2007 (11:11 pm)
I used fraps. I think the framerate dropped for me too, but the video turned out OK.
#16
Adam - Thanks for testing it out. I hadn't tried TorqueX, I'll give that a shot later. Is this likely to remain an issue with TGB 1.5 or have there been any changes to the way D3D is handled in the new TGB?
06/27/2007 (11:17 pm)
Chris - FRAPS always drops the framerate of the game down to the rate it's capturing at, so if you record at 30fps your game will drop from over 100fps to 30. This is ok, I can live with 30fps, but on my ATI video cards it drops to literally 8fps, which causes the objects to all move through each other and all the physics breaks down. Adam - Thanks for testing it out. I hadn't tried TorqueX, I'll give that a shot later. Is this likely to remain an issue with TGB 1.5 or have there been any changes to the way D3D is handled in the new TGB?
Torque Owner Conor O Kane