I’ve played mostly Red Faction: Guerrilla. This game is simply awesome. The fact that you can destroy pretty much anything in the environments invites some serious tactics. For example planting remote-exploded bombs under a bridge and killing passing enemies by blowing said bridge at the right moment.

Or blowing up huge smokestacks at the right moment only to watch said smokestack fall on a patrolling enemy car, following by exploding said car, throwing exploding car into the next enemy crowd. Resident Evil 5, however awesome this game is and Batman’s super-awesome free flow combat system simply can’t beat this for me!

That being said, Resident Evil 5 and Batman: Arkham Asylum are both awesome games! Batman even more so if you have a Nvidia GPU allowing you to play with PhysX enabled. Gives an even more eerie feeling when traveling in damp, dark corridors!

As for Resident Evil 5:

I recorded all 53 in-game cut-scene cinematics from Resident Evil 5. During the recording I switched the costumes (Chris: Warrior, Safari. Sheva: Clubbin’, Business) and filters (default, retro, classic horror).

Sadly only 3 gameplay videos! Maybe I’ll record a few more, when and if I play Resident Evil 5. The game is great, don’t get me wrong. But it has very little replay-value for me. Since I played the game through I can replay all chapters. If you want me to replay a specific chapter, throw me a mail, tweet, dent, or leave a comment!

Batman: Arkham Asylum – Gameplay
Batman: Arkham Asylum – Screenshots

Red Faction: Guerrilla – Gameplay
Red Faction: Guerrilla – Cinematics
Red Faction: Guerrilla – Screenshots

Resident Evil 5 – Gameplay
Resident Evil 5 – All 53 cut-scenes
Resident Evil 5 – Screenshots

Related posts:

1. ‘Dismembering for Dummies’ by X-Men Origins: Wolverine [HD gameplay clips]
2. Trine – A platform game utilizing physics
3. Fallout 3 goes into the Pit – “The Pitt” HD game play clips!

The biggest problem most of us face while recording gameplay clips with Fraps is its disk space usage. Fraps records everything uncompressed, continuously (free version is limited to 30 sec.) and sequential. Meaning from start till stop the “whole” clip is split into single 4GB files (I believe due FAT32 filesize restrictions).

The length of a single 4 GB clip depends on the resolution and the in-game scene you record it in. For example, for me a 4 GB clip has about 90 sec. worth of gameplay in 1920×1200 resolution.

Because of this uncompressed real-time recording your frame-rates drops significantly while playing. There is NO way to keep up 40+fps with Fraps running unless you have one hell of a monster system.

Imagine what happens when you want to capture a 30+ min gameplay clip. Either you buy yourself a Terabyte HDD or you use a very simple trick: recording in half-size, upscaling and sharpening. Read the whole How-To guide!

Recording in Half-screen/size

Before we start with VirtualDub transcoding, upscaling and sharpening, we first have to record our gameplay. We do not record our gameplay in full-screen/size mode, as usual, but in half-screen/size:

This means if you have a game running at 1920×1200 resolution, Fraps will record it at 960×600, or if you run it at 1280×1024, Fraps will record 640×512, etc. Which in turn translates into much more gameplay time in each 4 GB file.

Another example: While recording in 1920×1200, I only got about 90 sec. (1:30 min) per 4 GB file, recording in half the resolution (i.e. 960×600) resulted in about 360 sec. (6 min) per 4 GB file. Whole 270 sec. more!

Upscaling and Sharpening

We want HD Quality, so we’re going to upscale and sharpen our recorded clip. Start up VirtualDub, open the uncompressed file, change in “Video” -> “Full Processing Mode” and “Audio” -> “Full Processing Mode”, then set your VirtualDub according to this screenshot:

Save your settings via “File” -> “Save processing settings” or Ctrl+S, so you can simply load them in the future. Saves a lot of time!

Addendum: Regarding “Threads”; QuadCores = 6, DualCores = 3.

You’ll need VirtualDub and a codec-pack which has the H.264 codec, like the “K-Lite Mega Codec Pack“. The settings in the screenshot are the same ones like in “VirtualDub 720p HD settings for YouTube! [Good quality, small file size]“, what differs, however, is that we are also going to use the “sharpen” filter.

We call the method to resize a lower resolution (960×600) to a higher resolution (1280×720, in this case), UPSCALING (sometimes also refereed to as up-converting). For your information, 1280×720 is the Standard HD (720p) resolution. The other is Ultra-HD or Full-HD (1080p, 1920×1080).

However due the upscaling method we lose quality, which is where the filter “sharpen” comes in. Upscaling from lower to higher resolutions causes the image to “blur”. Sharpen removes the blur and, well, sharpens the image.

You’ll have to experiment with the slider in preview mode around a bit, until you find the result best to your liking. I found myself settling down between 23-30, depending on each clip.

When everything is set, start transcoding via “File” -> “Save as AVI”.

Two important VirtualDub settings you should not forget:

“Options” -> “Preferences” -> “Threading”: Set the “Video Compression Threads” to 1. This is important if you have a multi-core CPU to make use of the multiple cores and in turn speed up the transcoding process.

Since VirtualDub Version 1.9.4 there’s an option to use your GPU as part of the transcoding process. Make use of it to additionally speed up your transcoding process. “Options” -> “Preferences” -> “3D accel”, hack in the box.

Addendum 16.05.2010:
I’ve been getting mixed messages. Apparently using “3d accel” causes it to render slower than usual on some systems. I can confirm that. With 3d accel turned on, a 10min video takes about 1 hour 10-20 minutes, while turned off it takes about 1 hour max. You’ll have to experiment on your system!

Addendum 23.10.2009:
There’s currently a problem causing VirtualDub 1.9.4/5/6/7, crashing under Windows 7. The culprit is 3D accel! Turn it off under “Preferences” -> “3D accel” and enjoy VirtualDub once again!

Update 22.03.2010:
Updated Setting Screenshots

Related posts:

1. VirtualDub 720p HD settings for YouTube! [Good quality, small file size]
2. Real-Time Screen capturing/recording easily done with VirtualDub and VHScrCap
3. Fallout 3 goes into the Pit – “The Pitt” HD game play clips!

Perhaps it is because this game so much reminds me of my childhood where I used to play The Lost Vikings, I’m a sucker for nostalgia all right. It should be mentioned the new Monkey Island Remake “The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition” is just as awesome!

Or perhaps because this game simply is so awesome. Trine is almost just like The Lost Vikings. You get to play a mage, who conjures boxes, bridges and platforms, who moves objects with his hands, a thief who uses exploding arrows and swings with her rope, and a warrior who uses brute force to smash through the enemy hordes.

The only difference between The Lost Vikings and Trine is that Trine uses “real” physics in order for you to solve the puzzles and that you have instant access to all 3 heroes from anywhere whenever you want. That means you don’t have to move the mage first, then the warrior, then the thief. You move as “one”. Press “1″ the mages comes out, Press “2″ the thief goes, Press “3″ the warrior appears.

The story behind Trine is somewhat fuzzy. The 3 characters are captured inside a crystal, which is why you have access to all 3 of them anywhere, anytime. Evil spreads throughout the world, you have to beat the evil in order to be freed from the crystal. Quite cliche I know.

Throughout the levels you earn experience and you can loot items from chests. Earned experience results in level gain for each character. Earned points from level ups in turn can be spent to expand each characters abilities. Looted items can be distributed freely between characters in order to make them more powerful.

I can’t stress physics enough, it’s not the focus of Trine but it is a huge part of the game. You WILL have to make use of it’s physics to solve the puzzles.

The only downsize is, Trine is way, way too short. Only 20 levels and the game is done. How fast you do each level depends on the difficulty your set and your ability to solve puzzles. Still I feel 20 levels are too few.

Anyway if you seek a great, amazing platform puzzle-solving game then Trine is just that. I made a few 720p HD game play clips while I was playing it. Enjoy!

Game Play #1: Part 1/2, Part 2/2
Game Play #2: Part 1/3, Part 2/3, Part 3/3
Game Play #3: Part 1/3, Part 2/3, Part 3/3

Related posts:

1. Braid – A lovely jump ‘n’ run puzzle adventure!
2. Fallout 3 goes into the Pit – “The Pitt” HD game play clips!
3. Resident Evil 5, Red Faction: Guerrilla & Batman: Arkham Asylum – Videos and Screenshots!

As you can probably imagine I’m currently playing the 3rd new DLC, “Point Lookout”. It’s Bethesda’s 4th one and many more may come (I guess I was wrong, 5 is enough!).

Point Lookout takes you to an isolated island, it is Fallout 3′s equivalent of Point Lookout State Park. An amusement park, with a huge carousel surrounded by a damp swamp and an old lighthouse overlooking it. It gives off an eerie feeling.

And the bonus: remember the Pint-Sized Slasher? Perhaps Point Lookout, Maryland is where the Slasher originated.

The whole DLC is somewhat horror / thriller themed. The nuclear bombs did not fall on Point Lookout, but the island was simply forgotten and left to its own resources.

New monsters are present, the Swampfolk, inbreed hillbillies with hostile attitude toward the player, such as Trackers, Creepers/Scrappers and Brawlers/Bruisers. Even a swamp variant of ghouls and mirelurks. Oh, and a new set of humans too, the Tribals.

Of course new quest-able perks are added, although nothing huge, still funny to have and weapons such as double barrel shotguns, axes and shovels.

Because so many Confederates died during the American Civil War on Point Lookout, you’ll find Confederate Hats by the thousands.

All in all, I can only recommend this DLC! The 5th DLC “Mothership Zeta” is coming in July August, and will supposedly involve the crashed alien ship and not so friendly extraterrestrials.

Screenshots and Gameplay clips after the break.

Screenshots:
http://www.the-screenshots.com/Fallout3/Fallout3_PointLookout

Gameplay clips:
The Local Flavor (Calvert’s Mansion): Part 1/2, Part 2/2
Exploding Calvert Mansion

Related posts:

1. Fallout 3 goes into the Pit – “The Pitt” HD game play clips!
2. ‘Dismembering for Dummies’ by X-Men Origins: Wolverine [HD gameplay clips]
3. Demigod – Can you smell what “The Rook” is cookin’? [HD gameplay clips]

Lately I’ve been experimenting with settings, and I think I found some good ones. Good video and sound quality with small file size were my goals. I think roughly 100 mb for a 5 min. clip and about 300mb for the full 10 min. in full 720p HD quality is awesome.

I’m still experimenting with sound compression but I think with 192 kb/s AC-3 I have a good start.

Please bear in mind that the higher your resolution is the bigger your file size will be and vice versa. Those 100 mb respectively 300 mb are based on my 1920×1200 resolution!

My settings for VirtualDub are as follows: Link

A warning about the Option “Multithreading” -> “Threads” don’t set it higher than [# of your CPU Cores * 1.5] because then your whole system will start chugging.

For example a Core 2 Duo would be 2 Cores * 1.5 = 3, a Q9550 would be 4 Cores * 1.5 = 6 and an AMD Phenom II X3 would be 3 Cores * 1.5 = 4.5.

This is by no means a guarantee that it will or will not work on your system. Each system, its components and its software are unique. You’ll probably have to experiment a bit on your own. But those mentioned numbers are a good start.

It also might be necessary for you to adjust the audio volume to your liking. I have -10 dB, because the sound I record is terribad. My onboard sound sucks, period.

On a side note: When you have uploaded your clip on YouTube and YouTube processed it the quality then will be lowered again. There’s nothing you or I can do about that, it’s up to YouTube.

The whole tutorial is also available on YouTube as a video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9XOgnaJ_Hs

A few links to my own HD clips:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIW6KsBTqVM&fmt=22
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6M737fwCxU&fmt=22
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCwECTbX_GU&fmt=22
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPCyNTY_wh4&fmt=22
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buGMBLejdQg&fmt=22

Addendum:
I’ve been getting emails asking me what kind of codecs I’m using and where to get it. Here’s the Wikipedia article for h.264 codec. I’m using a complete codec pack called “K-Lite Mega Codec Pack“. The h.264 is only contained in the mega version of it!

Addendum 16.September 2009:
Since version 1.9.4 it is possible to use the GPUs processing power (if your GPU supports it, which most modern GPUs do) as part of whole the transcoding process. This way you can speed up the whole transcoding process significantly (depending on your compression settings!).

On my computer this cut my transcoding time from an average 1h for a 10 min. clip to some 40-ish minutes.

Under “Options” -> “Preferences” enable those settings:

Addendum 16.05.2010:
I’ve been getting mixed messages. Apparently using “3d accel” causes it to render slower than usual on some systems. I can confirm that. With 3d accel turned on, a 10min video takes about 1 hour 10-20 minutes, while turned off it takes about 1 hour max. You’ll have to experiment on your system!

And if you are running on a multicore cpu, don’t forget to enable threading!

Addendum 23.10.2009:
There’s currently a problem causing VirtualDub 1.9.4/5/6/7, crashing under Windows 7. The culprit is 3D accel! Turn it off under “Preferences” -> “3D accel” and enjoy VirtualDub once again!

Update 22.03.2010:
Updated Setting Screenshots

Related posts:

1. Fraps & VirtualDub: How to save disk space and enjoy good quality, small file size HD video clips
2. Real-Time Screen capturing/recording easily done with VirtualDub and VHScrCap
3. Demigod – Can you smell what “The Rook” is cookin’? [HD gameplay clips]