[Text-Mode Only: This posting is being shared as Text-Only, to speed up the ability to share it, at this time.
I may return to add helpful screenshots/diagrams/etc, at a later date.]
Update 1: Added link to driver download, for the version that worked for me (NVIDIA website) Update 2: Oddly, the GOG version was working - but as of 09.02 neither game starts up at all
For the past week or so (since the BEYOND release) I've had a problem trying to get back into No Man's Sky to check it out... The game just wouldn't start/launch. I noticed that it was popping up in the Windows Taskbar but then it would 'close itself' or 'crash' - either way, resulting in the game closing up and I wasn't able to play and try out the new stuff!
After messing with it off and on for about a week, I finally figured out something that worked - No Man's Sky actually starts now, and I can play! Here are the things I tried at first:
Restarted PC/system
Re-installed NMS
Verified Cache (Steam version**)
Disabled Anti-Virus temporarily while running game (third-party AV, Windows Defender, etc)
Ran game as Administrator
Ran the Compatibility Troubleshooter for the game executable (Windows 10, did not affect result of game closing itself upon starting it)
Dusted out system and hardware (to help with potential overheating, corruption/errors due to heat and dust issues, etc)
Re-installed NMS to C: drive (Windows/main drive/partition, then moved NMS back to other SSD [I had it originally on], as it made no difference)
Re-installed GPU drivers (videocard 'system files that Windows uses to 'talk' to the hardware' [is how I describe "computer drivers" to others])
Ran Windows Update (there was an Update package, did not affect result of game closing itself)
Considered re-installing Windows 10 (then did not do it - this time - lol)
I tried a ton of other little things as well, like re-installing Visual C++ libraries for Windows (system files that are part of Windows that many, many programs utilize) - it had apparently worked for many people, and I saw this mentioned in a few different Game Support forums (eg. Reddit, Steam, GameFaqs, etc) if you want to try this, these can be found at the Microsoft website, here:
With all of these steps (many of them mentioned by helpful users on multiple forums online - most of them I knew and tried myself), at some point, they would 'get the game working' for many people. Sadly, not for me. I had to hunt around and 'hack away at the bushes of the problem jungle' on my own for awhile... Finally, I found something that got No Man's Sky working for me - here is what I did:
'Roll back' the GPU drivers (videocard system files that Windows uses to 'talk' to the hardware) to an older version, then re-install the latest version of the GPU drivers (non-'clean' install). BOOM it worked!
Here is the steps I took that finally got No Man's Sky working:
Regress the GPU drivers [re-install older and older versions of the GPU drivers] until the game works (for me, that meant I re-installed older drivers over and over until NMS started 'fully and without issues' - for me, that was NVIDIA GPU Driver version 391.01 - this driver can be downloaded directly from NVIDIA's website, however, their own Search for Drivers does not go back that far... I found these older versions by going to Google and searching "NVIDIA driver 391", for example, then following a Link that goes to NVIDIA's Driver website [as opposed to other third-party websites, not that they are always 'bad', some are great, but I wanted the official NVIDIA drivers from them, for this]). If you want to try the exact version I found worked for me, the link to NVIDIA's release of that Driver is here: https://www.nvidia.com/download/driverResults.aspx/131443/en-us
Once game is verified as 'working without issues', re-install latest GPU Driver (version 436.xx as of the time of this posting) 'on top of' the currently installed Drivers [newer versions of NVIDIA Drivers 'uninstall' the older versions, but just do not chose the 'clean' install, where it deletes your Profiles, etc]. I found I also had to select to install the "NVIDIA HD Audio" and "NVIDIA 3D" options, as well...
That's it!
Although professionally I am a Computer Tech, I'm not a Developer/Programmer, so I'm not 100% sure why it got No Man's Sky working finally (but I can assume some things, like the game needing some older Windows System libraries that got 'corrupted' or lost, somehow, and other things that could have occurred) - but I'm just glad that the game runs once again.
Of course, this may not be your specific issue with NMS not starting for you, my dear reader; but perhaps it can help the game to run for you, too. Good Luck with it - and a many-a-Good-Journey to you, Traveller!
Addendum: As of 09.02, both versions (GOG and Steam) now do not start up (they do not run properly) - the game appears in the Taskbar for a moment, then closes itself. I shall try some Troubleshooting again, and if I find another 'fix', I will return to share it here...
**Oddly, the Good Old Games (now GOG.com) version, that I received as a gift a while ago, worked fine... Only the Steam version of NMS had issues... During the course of Troubleshooting the Steam version, the GOG version stopped working [lol] - then, after 'fixing' the Steam version, the GOG version was working once again. Possibly, the issues were related, but I am not sure. Hopefully, one of the steps mentioned herein (or my 'final solution' step [maybe I should rename that]) will work for you
Playing some No Man's Sky again recently [which by the way, is a great game now, with Base Building, Underwater Exploration, more Quests and Factions and 'things to do'], I also saw a question in the Steam Discussion/Forum for the game, where 'playing NMS as though it was a Single Player game' was being talked about. Wanting to help, I took a Screenshot of the menu options that need to be configured, to set up the game as though it is Single Player (essentially turning off all Joining and Multiplayer Options). Here is what that menu looks like, configured as such:
Example, Unedited - How to set up the game to play as a Single Player experience
(Network & Voice Menu)
To get to the above menu, in No Man's Sky, just hit ESC (Escape key) at any time after Loading into your Game/Profile, then select the "NETWORK & VOICE" menu. Once in there, you will see the options shown above. Configuring it as shown, noone will be able to join your game and noone will be able to chat/talk with you in the game.
Personally, I prefer to play almost all games as though they are Single Player experiences (eg. World Of Warcraft, The Elder Scrolls Online, et al.) running around on my own, doing what I want to do at any time; but I do not mind Multiplayer and PvP games - I have played many in the past, such as Overwatch, League Of Legends, Starcraft and shooters like Planetside 2, Tribes Ascend, the Battlefield Series and older ones such as Unreal Tournament (1999), Quake 3 and more... I simply prefer to explore around at my own pace in most games, stopping to enjoy the sights and take Screenshots, listen to the wind in the trees and the animals around, and so on - I feel that stopping so often may hinder the experience of others that may in the game, so I usually play by myself; that way, 'everyone' is happy (mostly, heh). This post was created mostly for others like me, or those that just want to play without worrying about other people for a while. When I myself do play Multiplayer games, perhaps I'll see you in them, sometime.
I realize I haven't posted anything here for a while [and I have always been sporadic with posts due to my ongoing illness] so I wanted to just give a quick Update on some things that I am working on, off an on lately - lots of 'irons in the fire' - but still getting over some rough cold/flu symptoms (on top of my surgery, which I am still recovering from), so I have no idea of a timeframe of completion of these posts... Still, here are some topics that I have been working on the past months, posted here both to encourage myself and to let others know some material to look for in the future:
» A QualityTest of the Plays.TV client, looking a bit at the interface but mainly the Quality of output, comparing the different settings and what results can be expected, with examples [I was in the Beta for Plays.TV and have been testing out various settings at The Blog's Plays.TV page (http://plays.tv/u/GameTipsAndMore ) collecting material for this QualityTest/Review]. The data and material is going to be a part of a future 'Versus' article, comparing a few Game Recording Clients that all have GPU-Accelerated capability…
» A Playclaw 5 FirstImpressions/Review, looking at the interface and output that can be expected from it, with a few settings and examples of the effect they have. I have been giving some Feedback to the Developer of this software, testing out recent Beta versions, after Santa felt fit to give this non-free software to The Blog for an Xmas gift and it is also going to be a part of the future 'Versus' article, comparing a few Game Recording Clients that have GPU-Accelerated capability…
» An ACTION! FirstImpressions/Review, looking at the interface and output that can be expected from it, with a few examples of the various functions. Santa also gave The Blog this one for Xmas, and it too, is going to be a part of the future 'Versus' article, comparing some Game Recording Clients that have GPU-Accelerated capability…
» 'The Battlefield Series of Games and how to take screenshots in them' (BF3 to BFH). I have been seeing a lot of people asking this over the years, in the Official Forums and many other places. It is continually asked (new players, etc) how to do this in these games, so I want to make one post covering all of them…
» A QuickTip on GTAV (Grand Theft Auto Five) and the problem with Activation. I received this game for Xmas and had some trouble Activating it. I figured it out, but I saw a lot of people online asking how to fix it or what to do (with no answer given). I want to help people with this, so I will post exactly what I did and how to get it to work...
» “How To Tell Where The Bottleneck Is”, when looking at a system and what to possibly Upgrade in it (or if there is no need to). This is a common question that gets asked a lot, anytime, on Gaming Forums, Technical Forums and Support Forums everywhere. As a Certified Computer Technician, I want to give my input on what to look for and how to test for this, to help keep your system performing the best it can, for your gaming adventures…
» And More… Off the Topic of Gaming, I have a few short posts I have jotted down, ready to 'polish-and-publish' when I can.. For one of them, I took some time to analyze it and I think I have figured out 'The Answer' to that everlasting and infinite query: “In A Movie Theatre, Which Armrest Is Yours?” (the idea came via Philosoraptor, credit will be given in the post). I believe the result could actually be a contributing factor to finally bringing about World Peace...
I guess I could say these topics are 'some things to look for in the coming year', heh. When I can finally get around to finishing them, I hope you enjoy them all.
So, I upgraded my system to Windows10 and have been using it for a couple of weeks now (and was part of the Beta before that). One of the things I was doing, was testing out the Windows built-in game recording program "Game DVR", to see if could be a replacement for third-party game recording applications (such as MSI Afterburner, Bandicam, OBS and others). I am currently working on a longer Quality Test article, going into detail about Game DVR and the recording output it produces and comparing it to other game recording programs and codecs - however for now, I quickly wanted to share a fix I found for a problem with Game DVR in Windows 10 (which I saw that many online were running into as well), that capturing with the Game DVR app results in no sound/audio in the output file - even if the Audio Setting is "On" in the Settings for Game DVR (shown just below):
The Audio Settings for Game DVR in Windows 10, showing the Audio as being Enabled
At first, nothing I did locally on the system seemed to alleviate the issue. Game DVR was recording only video, no audio, in any and all games and applications [there was literally no Audio Track within the recorded/created file]. Sound was working on the system, I could hear everything - it just did not get created within the output file, produced by Game DVR when I hit "record". I quickly wrote a Quick Tip about how I found a temporary Workaround, posted here at the blog, where I used a Secondary Audio Device to get it to record audio. However, most users I believe, will not have a second audio device available, desiring to use the built-in (onboard) audio adapter on their motherboard - and so this was not a "true 'fix'", at the time...
To make a longer story short for this post [I realize I tend to ramble on, whether it is to help explain something or get off track, thank you ADHD!], after working on this problem off and on, I finally found more of a real answer, via a Microsoft Support Engineer's Tip on the Official Microsoft Forums to try the How-To page on Fixing Sound Problems for Windows 10, located here:
These are the steps it eventually took to get Game DVR to record audio in Windows 10:
Open the Device Manager for Windows by clicking on the Start Menu (in the lower-left corner) and in the Search "the web and Windows" area, start to type "Device Manager" (without quotation marks) - a prediction menu should show up, displaying "Device Manager" at the top. Click on it to launch the Device Manager interface.
In the Device Manager window, expand the category "Sound, video and game controllers" (which lists (among other things) audio devices installed in the system and useable by Windows), by clicking on the ">" arrow next to the title of the category.
Right-click the audio adapter you wish to use as your main audio recording device for Game DVR. In this case, I wanted to use the built-in (onboard) audio adapter called "Realtek High Definition Audio". A submenu will pop-up, showing "Update Driver Software", "Disable" and "Uninstall", among other choices.
Select the choice "Update Driver Software" by left-clicking it.
In the "Update Driver Software" Wizard that pops up, choose "Browse my computer for driver software". This is because, if your audio is working properly already (you can hear audio - but can't record it in Game DVR), there are already Drivers installed for the audio device ['Drivers' are System Files that Windows uses to "talk to" and use the device] and we want to Update/append them.
In the next window, choose the option to "Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer". This will list installed/found Drivers that your hardware/device can utilize. It should list your audio device and Drivers for it, as shown below.
Choose a more recent version/dated Driver for your audio device, if there is more than one listed and click on it. If there are only two items (eg. "High Definition Audio Device" and something else that is your audio device), choose the one that is more specific to your hardware (containing the name of the device, etc).
Click "Next" to advance the Driver Software wizard.
A warning may be displayed, informing you that using the chosen Driver is not recommended because Windows has not verified it will work with your hardware. Do not worry, this message is mainly stating that Microsoft has not had a 'chance to officially test' your audio hardware with Windows 10 yet, informing you of this as a precautionary measure. What we want to do is, allow Windows 10 to utilize the Drivers we have installed in the system for the audio device (as opposed to a Windows 10 'generic driver' for the device).
Click "Yes" to try using the installed Drivers for the audio adapter (and no longer use the Windows 10 generic drivers for it).
The Driver Software wizard will complete and list your audio device. Click "Close" to exit the window/wizard. It may inform you that you have to Restart your system to properly initialize the audio device and load the Drivers for it in Windows fully.
Restart your computer to re-initialize the audio device and load the Drivers for it in Windows fully.
Now, you should find that the Game DVR in Windows 10 records a proper audio track, creating it within the recorded file, giving you full game recording audio!
Below, is an example of testing the new configuration with Game DVR, immediately after restarting my system (using the PC Gamer Minecraft Demo as a test) - note that this is not a 'tutorial', it is merely an example of Game DVR properly working with audio, after taking the steps listed above:
Hopefully it will work for you, dear reader, as it did for me.
The transition from February to March this year isn't seeing a 'ton' of games on special sales, but there are a few deals on almost every gaming/dealer website (some are only on for the weekend and some last until the middle of March, see each sale you are interested in for details):
Steam, Valve's storefront has a Spotlight Sale of Sniper Elite: Nazi Zombie Army (1 & 2), which can be purchased together in bundles or 4-Packs to play with your friends and is their Weekend Deal:
Gamefly, the storefront that you can also subscribe to (that took over Direct2Drive in 2011) has a few sales going on, one featuring all 2K Games titles at 75% off:
GamersGate, the storefront formerly part of Sweden's Paradox Interactive has a bunch of sales going on as well:
(click image to see Full Size)
also on sale Call of Juarez: Gunslinger is $9.72 (46% off)
with Battlefield 4 is out, Battlefield 3 is on sale for $4.99 Sniper Elite V2 is on sale for $7.50 (75% off) or get the Sniper Elite V2 Collection (which includes: Sniper Elite V2, the Sniper Elite V2 Kill Hitler Pack, the Sniper Elite V2 The Neudorf Outpost Pack, the Sniper Elite V2 Original Game Soundtrack, and the Sniper Elite V2 The Landwehr Canal Pack DLC) all for $13.75 (75% off) The Tropico Trilogy Bundle (which includes: Tropico, Tropico Paradise Island, Tropico 2 Pirate Cove, Tropico 3, Tropico 3 Absolute Power) all for just $4.99 (75% off)
and last but certainly not least The Total War Master Collection bundle (which includes: Empire: Total War, The Medieval 2 Total War Collection (M2TW and the M2TW Kingdoms Expansion Pack), Napoleon: Total War™ Imperial Edition Rome: Total War Gold Edition, Total War Battles: Shogun, Total War SHOGUN 2, the Total War Shogun 2 E-Guide, Total War Shogun 2 Fall of the Samurai, and Viking: Battle for Asgard) all for $25.00 (80% off, regular price $124.99!)
Once again, some of these are only on for the Weekend and some last until the middle of March, so check out the sale you are interested in for details. I hope you catch something you want - and See You In The Games!
Yes, I had to put absolutely everything in the title. As many of you already know, the yellow 'bouncy' text that shows up on the Main Menu screen of Minecraft ("Splash Text") can be edited to display whatever you want it to say. The problem is, when editing that text, one weird 'error' that can occur is, just before your personalized text, a little box with ZWN BSF (it's actually ZWNBSP) can show up. I've seen this problem talked about on many different forums for a while now and as I was editing the file myself, I figured out this way of fixing it and thought I'd share it with everyone:
In this GTAM Minute Tutorial, I'm editing the Splashes.txt file inside the Minecraft.jar source file [in Windows] to simply say, "Game Mode: Hardcore!", when working on recording some future Hardcore Mode Playthroughs. I show the problem as it pops up while editing [it's a one-take video] and then immediately show the fix for it. I don't think this is the only way around it, but it solves the problem and worked for me multiple times and since people are still talking about it; I thought I'd throw this out there to help others. To locate the Minecraft.jar source file the game uses (for almost everything including Mods/addons), there are a bunch of ways, here are some [N.B. - (3) works on all operating systems]: 1) If you are playing Minecraft in Windows, you could do a couple of things**:
- Open Windows Explorer and in the top Address Bar area, where it says your location on your computer, type in
%appdata% and it will show the location of the ".minecraft" folder, where game files are normally kept. There is a "bin" folder inside, it should be in there
- Click on the Start Button/Orb and where it says "Search Programs And Files" type in
%appdata% and it will show the location of the ".minecraft" folder, where game files are normally kept. There is a "bin" folder inside, it should be in there
- Open a Windows Explorer window and navigate to C:\Users\<your user name>\AppData\Roaming and this is the location of the ".minecraft" folder, where game files are normally kept. There is a "bin" folder inside, it should be in there
**You may have to 'show Hidden Files And Folders' in Windows by opening a Windows Explorer window and pulling down the Tools Menu and choosing Folder Options. In here, click on the View Tab and under the Hidden Files And Folders category, select the 'Show Hidden Files, Folders And Drives' Radio Button and click OK. You may also have to UNCHECK the 'Hide Extensions For Known File Types' checkbox in the View Tab if you want to see the '.jar' file extension/ending
2) If you are playing Minecraft on a Mac:
- Open Finder and in the Go To Folder section, type in ~/Library/Application Support/Minecraft/bin and it should be in there
3) If you are on most other OS's (such as Linux):
- Run the Minecraft game and go to Options, then Texture Packs and choose Open Texture Pack Folder - Go up one level to the ".minecraft" directory and there should be a "bin" directory inside, it should be in there
Have fun editing the Minecraft Splash Text for your video projects and See You In The Game!
I recently got around to trying the 'Play For Free' version of the Battlefield series and created an account through their website to try this game out.
[I remembered much later that I actually had an account that I used during the Beta phase, but I completely forgot about that - and also what the game was like back then anyway - too much Battlefield 3 cleared all of that from my brain, I suppose!]
It is free to create an Account and play forever if you so desire, but there are also many options for purchasing weapons, armor, clothing, and other items with "Real Money".
The 4 classes available to play in BFP4F, with information on each. Click to see Full Size.
After creating a free account (which is assigned to an e-mail address), I started out playing the Medic class and it seemed to get more fun as it went along. You don't start out with paddles/defibrillators, but you do start out with a healing box that you throw down (as in Battlefield Bad Company 2), a Machine Gun (MG3), pistol (M9), Tracer Darts (a'la BFBC2) and a knife - but no grenades (yet). Running around dropping healing boxes and backing up my team was great and when I unlocked the Defibs, I felt like I was playing BFBC2. After getting used to the Controls (adjusting the sensitivity, changing some of the default hotkeys, etc) in no time it felt like good'ol Battlefield.
A hotel in Battlefield 2 (bottom) and the same hotel in Battlefield Play4Free (top)
Click to see Full Size
The visuals are akin to Battlefield 2, with extra shaders and effects mixed with some BFBC2 elements. For instance, you can 'spot' the enemy and the BFBC2-type 'triangle' appears above their head for a while and they appear on the map. The environment looks more like Battlefield 2 than Battlefield Bad Company 2, with many models (shapes) looking like they were pulled straight from BF2 and just converted. This is not a bad thing particularly, I enjoyed BF2 a lot, and with some shading, fog and other graphical boosts that were done, the game doesn't look too bad - especially when you consider it's a free-to-play title and won't cost you one cent if you don't want to spend it.
Graphics comparison between Low, Medium and High 'Video Quality' settings.
Click to see Full Size
I would have liked more complexity to many things, but it makes sense that they tried to keep the polygon/videocard usage down, supporting more types of machines/older ones, so that more people could play it (and they could also potentially make more money). It does look very playable, especially if you can turn things up a bit, and the gameplay is still The Battlefield Formula, which meant soon I wasn't paying attention to the graphics at all - I was too busy capturing points, driving teammates around, an' killin' an' healin'.. If you like the Battlefield style of gameplay, especially Battlefield2, you should enjoy playing this game.
Unlabeled comparison of that apartment complex that is forever under construction.
Click to see Full Size
The starting guns for the Medic were low accuracy and low damage and you will get killed a lot in direct firefights, but with some practice with short bursts and aiming down the sights, you can still kill others, even at a distance, and slowly start to make points. The starting rifle for the Sniper packs more of a punch of course, but seems to take forever to reload and has bullets that must be made out of solid granite, because they seem so heavy and drop so much. The starting guns for the Engineer was an RPG and [what I found to be,] a decent sub-machine gun (I have always been a fan of the PP-2000 though, I remember fondly running around in Bad Company 2 with Magnum Rounds in one /evillaugh). Recoil is high on these beginning guns, but I assume it gets better later on as more becomes unlocked at higher soldier levels. Grenades don't seem to go straight all the time, in random throws, which makes for some tense-but-funny bounces.
Although the PLAY NOW buttons will get you into the thick of battle very quickly, you cannot choose what game mode to play (Rush, etc). If you want to choose what game type to play or what server to play on, there is a server browser [indicated in the picture above with green arrows] button in the upper-right corner of the Launcher.
I found at the website, after logging in that there was a 'Starter Pack' for each class, a sort of 'preview' of a couple weapons that you can buy, which included a high-damage shotgun in it for my Medic. That was a lot of fun, if you don't mind having to run-and-gun into the frays, but it only lasted one day, then the gun disappears and is no longer usable anymore. Still, it was a nice little preview and I got some fast close-quarter kills with it while it lasted (see Video).
As with most online games that can possibly make money from you, the levels come fast at the beginning to get you hooked, then slow down quite a bit (I found it started to 'feel slow' around Level 6 or 7). You can purchase eXPerience boosters and as you level you can purchase more weapons as they become 'unlocked'. You gain free tokens called Credits as you play the game, but gain them slowly (automatically over time it seems, based on Time Played) and these Credits purchase weapons that [mostly] last one day (or items that have limited numbers of uses, such as healing bandages). You can purchase tokens called Funds ("Play4Free Funds", which used to be called "Battlefunds" during the Beta) with Real Money that you can use in the Store to purchase weapons as well, including versions that last forever. If you are willing to purchase Play4Free Funds, you can also unlock weapons and items 'early' with them, that is, be able to purchase/unlock and equip items before the level you would normally have to be to unlock and use them.
Shotgun trial (not that kind) and the hotel from BF2.
Click to see Full Size
For the shotgun that I mentioned earlier, using these Play4Free Funds purchased with Real Money, it would cost about $.06 to use for a day and about $1.00 to use forever. If you didn't want to spend any money for it, it seems that you can gain enough free tokens (Credits) to buy it for a day of play in about 5 or 6 rounds if your team is winning matches (about an hour of solid playtime) and just over twice that amount if your team is constantly losing matches. There was a sub-machine gun (a UMP-45) that was in the Engineer Starter Pack as a preview, and as another example, for that gun to use for one day, you would have to play about 5-6 rounds (each round lasting about 10-15 minutes) if you won most of them, and play about twice that long if your team kept losing. You can even purchase this gun (the UMP-45) to use forever with free tokens, but you would have to play about 4 hours a day for over 3 weeks and not spend much of the earned Credits on anything else. Quite a run, but if you are having fun playing the game anyway (and for free) the fact they give the option to purchase it that way is nice.
There is a Training section [the button is indicated in the picture above with green arrows] with trees and abilities to unlock for your soldier in order to drive vehicles, etc. For example: Medics do not start out with Defibrillators and must train for the equipment to revive fallen teammates.
You gain Soldier eXPerience by killing, capturing points, healing, etc and the XP gains you Levels, which unlock future items and weapons and each level gives you a Point that you can spend in MMORPG-style 'Talent Trees', where you can improve aspects of that Soldier or unlock different abilities, such as the ability for people to Spawn off of you or sense what direction damage is coming from (it doesn't do that at first), the ability to lay Claymores (and the ability to not trip them when you run by), fly vehicles and more. Thus, the more you contribute to your team by killing, capturing and healing, the more abilities to do these things you unlock. With the free Credits you gain over time as you play, the more you play, the more weapons and items you can unlock. The whole system encourages involvement and seems to work well, as there has only been a couple of games where I saw "AFK'ers" (people who have the game running but are Away From their Keyboard or not playing/helping). There were also a couple games where people said in Chat for others to "come stat-pad with them" (I left those games); but as I said, these were only a couple of games out of the 50+ I have played so far. Overall, everyone seems to be runnin'-n'-gunnin' and helping out their team just fine.
Soldiers supporting each other in a corner battle behind buildings.
Click to see Full Size
The sound in the game has differing cracks and booms for the various weapons with echo effects (Reverb) when you are inside buildings,etc and the vehicles each have their own engine sound [although there is some 'vehicle engine sounds' in the backing/environmental track that play in the background of each map (such as the rain and birds in jungle maps) that is somewhat confusing at times if your ears catch it in the background, you think a vehicle is nearby and it isn't]. I still laugh once in a while playing because every soldier uses The Wilhelm Scream. Nice. Most of the Voice Overs in the game sound like they came from BFBC2 but are tweaked a little. [The phrase when gaining control of a point still cracks me up, as it sounds like an old Clean & Clear commercial ("clear and under control.."), just like it did in BFBC2]. With the Communication Rose (Hotkey 'Q' and you choose an option, like Need Ammo) you can hear yourself and other Soldiers, but it's rare to hear someone spamming it.
If you are having trouble hitting the numbers for the different weapons and slots, or just want to change them, you can assign other keys for them in the Game Launcher under Settings (the gears button at the top). I liked to assign the numbers for items only, so my weapons are actually Spin Mouse Wheel Up for one and Spin Mouse Wheel Down for the other.
The music, which doesn't play during regular gameplay, is a nice hard-rock/heavy-metal take on the BF theme by Corroded. A looping 2-minute track called Age Of Rage plays while you are in the Game Launcher menu that sounds a lot like the music from The Terminator movies (not a bad thing). Short phrases from their version of the theme play when you Win, Lose or Level Up and a longer version plays while Loading. The hard-rock sound fits the game well.
Always take time to enjoy the scenery in life. Here are some trees and shadows.
Click to see Full Size
Overall, Battlefield Play4Free is like most free-to-play online games that use Microtransactions: it is in fact free to download, install and play and there is also the ability to purchase items and 'boosters' to level up/unlock items faster as well - but you don't need to spend any money on it at all if you really don't want to or cannot do so (and of course have the time to play to get what you want the slower/free way). Although it feels a little clunky to play at first if you're coming from the Retail versions of the Battlefield series, once you get used to the DirectX 9 graphics and mechanics, it eventually 'feels' like a Battlefield title (A Good Thing) and once you get used to it overall - it is a lot of fun to play (The Main Thing).
I almost forgot.. the gameplay video! This clip was a test of a few things at once; Bandicam's 'External Codec' setting using x264 (H.264/AVC) available in version 1.8.2/2012-09 [new version at the time writing this post began] and higher, Bandicam's automatic Logo overlay with transparency (our logo, lower right corner), BFP4F's one-day-only 'Starter Pack' 870 Combat Shotgun, and the uploading of a clip directly from the recorded file/output to YouTube.
Enjoy!
Video Specs and Tech Talk:
Recorded game: Battlefield Play4Free, Online FPS
Recorded with: Bandicam Registered Version @1080p
Recording codec: x264 (H.264/AVC) using the 'External Codec' implementation in Bandicam
Recording settings/variables: 'VeryFast' Preset, CRF23, 'Zero-Latency' Option selected, Logo option with transparency (our logo, lower right)
The first of many recordings testing out Bandicam's usage of other codecs installed in a system (called 'External Codecs' in the program), this clip was recorded using the x264 Advanced Video Coding codec. Not an editing-friendly codec (it is slower to seek/move between sections within an editing application and can have artifacting issues), it still manages to work well with little effect on framerate, with the proper settings. The Constant Rate Factor quality setting of 23, recording at 1920x1080, gave an output bitrate of about 20000kbps, resulting in a file size that uses about 150MB per minute of recording (a half hour of recording at this resolution and bitrate [with MPEG-4/AVC] would take up about 4.5GB).
The 'VeryFast' Preset in x264 auto-selects a few things, such as 1 reference frame per GOP, no Trellis encoding, no Deblocking, no CABAC and no B-type frames in the original recording/output. I suggest the faster Presets, as the slower ones compress far too much on-the-fly and create lag in the game and in the recording - more on this will come in a future article**. The CRF set at 23 allowed some 'breathing room' for recording and compressing on the fly (it is a medium quality setting, a CRF of 18 being more of a 'standard high-quality' MPEG-4 setting), it also saved a little bit of disk space as this just-over-two-minute file was only about 300MB. While still watchable and acceptable in quality, the absence of deblocking (to hide macroblocks and other compression artifacts) and the high compression of flat/low-detail areas, making them smoothed out/blurred is visible, however. It is suggested to use a higher bitrate/rate control factor (if the system can handle it), even though more diskspace will be utilized. Youtube seems to have recompressed it as well, as even at the '1080p' Youtube setting, some quality has been lost from the original uploaded file. Still, it seems acceptable for a medium quality recording setting.
Greetings, in this edition of the TestRun series here at The Game Tips And More Blog, we are going to be looking at comparisons between game recording applications and their output. There are many programs out there and everyone has their favorites for differing reasons; but for this article we are going to focus on four of the more popular game recording programs (there are many more, to test in the future..).
The Experiment
For many people, Quality and Filesize are the two Rock'em Sock'em robots in the ring at all times. Whether you edit videos, archive, convert, or just record vacations or games, these are the two concepts you probably fight with constantly. What is the best quality I can get, you might ask? What is the smallest file size I can produce, while the quality is at least something I can tolerate, or share with others? These questions are going to be answered visually in this TestRun, where we are going to be looking at the most common Presets, Defaults and Specific Settings of four game recording applications: Fraps, Dxtory, Bandicam and Playclaw** - and see how each one looks compared side by side - and how big the recordings are for each.
[**Playclaw was Trial Limited in Quality at the time of this test]
The Test
For this TestRun, the game used is Minecraft. Yes, MC isn't exactly 'high-end-tessa-shadow-bump-mipped', but that's the point. Without taxing the CPU/GPU extensively, more of the power can go towards recording and getting the most 'bang-for-the-buck' from the game recording apps. Also, the sharp edges and movement of groups of pixels, along with solid colors and dark areas, are a good test of compression and will bring out any artifacts that the contending codecs might sweat out.
Options within the game are going to be maxed out (Far Distance, Advanced OpenGL, etc.) and video card settings for Antialiasing and Filtering are going to be either 'Off' or 'Let The Application Decide' (Minecraft doesn't seem to have AA within the game at this time). With these settings, I chose one spot in The Nether that shows both light and dark regions on the screen, high detail distant blocks and lots of smoke/movement within view.
The system running the test is a Desktop system with a six-core AMD CPU and AMD/ATi Radeon 6870 GPU. The system was slightly tweaked to give Minecraft more performance, as 8GB of RAM was on the system at the time and Minecraft was set to utilize 3GB of it with a 64-bit Java startup script and the game itself was running off of a 1GB RAMdrive.
The Data
Here is the resultant video comparing each program and the output that was recorded at each setting mentioned within. The same areas are compared and show the quality and compression between each recorded segment. The size of file produced for each recording is also noted within the Batch portions of the video, on the right hand side:
Recorded with: Fraps, Dxtory, Bandicam, Playclaw Resolution: Slightly higher than HD @ 1920x1096, (Maximized Window @ 1920x1200 Desktop with doubled taskbar), resized to fit into 1920x1080 (1080p HD) video rendered as final video output for upload Recording Time: 10 seconds or 300 frames, attempt made to record from same location for each segment Recording Size: Varies, sizes are included in the video for each recording segment Codecs utilized: MPEG, MJPEG, UTyuv422, FRAPS1, various quality settings for all In general, the recorded segments in the video comparison are shown in order of largest disk space usage per second to the smallest.
The absolute largest file produced when recording the ten second test was Dxtory's High Quality setting, even with Compression turned on. At a whopping 873MB for the 10-second video, data was being streamed into it at over 700Mbps. The recording however, has amazing detail with crisp edges and clear colours. The apparent negative effect on the system was just as large however, taking a 60-100fps game view, without movement, down to about 25-30fps while recording.
Dxtory's Low Quality Preset (with Compression option on) in The Nether, Minecraft. Nice and clear, the Dxtory Codec Medium Quality and High Quality settings all look just as good. Click to see Full Size.
At almost the same weigh-ins; the UT video (YUV422) codec, Dxtory's Medium Quality setting, Playclaw's No Compression setting, and Fraps' Full Size default setting all produced a hefty recorded file size hovering around 500MB. The result for all of them though was a nice, clean video - except for Playclaw, which apparently was restricted to a 1024x576 resolution, that of course resulted in a blurred recording when compared to the other full-size recordings. This is no doubt merely a restriction in the Demo version however and the full/purchased version of Playclaw should be quite capable of the bitrate (and therefore quality [and disk space usage]) of the other applications for game recording.
Fraps screenshot of Minecraft (The Nether) at Full Size. Crisp and clean. Click to see Full Size.
The smallest file sizes produced were all from Bandicam. At various settings and Bandicam's suggested Presets, it produced small file sizes from 100MB down to 10MB, with data streams running at 80Mbps down to 8Mbps. The smallest file produced during these tests was the YouTube480p/Quality80 setting. Unfortunately, although 80% Quality is nothing to sneeze at, when the resolution recorded is only 854x480, 20% detail loss is quite a bit of pixel casualties and the darker areas were noticeably blurry and flat, at least for a game that has large areas of solid colours/pixels, as those areas were compressed more by the codec and they lost finer detail/edges. The 100MB file was from the 'editing-friendly' Vegas/Premiere/Pinnacle setting, which looked pretty clean despite the small file footprint.
[Recording at a higher resolution helps, as compression artifacts will 'seem smaller' as they 'take up less space' on the screen.. See below for some explanation on compression artifacts]
Bandicam's 'Vegas/Premiere/Pinnacle' (editing-friendly) Preset. Screenshot in The Nether (Minecraft). At 80% Quality, some common JPEG issues are lightly seen if looked for: slight chromatic aberration (color leaking at some edges) and some flattening/smoothing of distant, dark areas; but overall still a good quality screenshot/video, especially when it is considered that the file size of the recording was 1/4 the size of most other recordings and 1/8 the size of the largest.
Here is the 4x4 (16-Video) comparison key (it is in order of largest file size produced to the smallest):
A - Dxtory High Quality w. Compression
B - UT video codec YUV 422
C - Dxtory Medium Quality w. Compression
D - Playclaw NoCompression [Trial Version Limited Quality]
E - Fraps FullSize
F - Dxtory Low Quality w. Compression
G - Bandicam MJPEG Quality100
H - Playclaw LowCompression [Trial Version Limited Quality]
I - Fraps HalfSize
J - Bandicam MJPEG Quality80 'Vegas/Premiere/Pinnacle' setting
K - Bandicam MJPEG Quality60
L - Playclaw MJPEGcompression (6 threads) [Trial Version Quality]
M - Bandicam MJPEG Quality40
N - Bandicam MPEG-1 Quality80 'Default' setting
O - Bandicam MPEG-1 Quality80 'YouTube720p' setting
P - Bandicam MPEG-1 Quality80 'HalfSize' setting
When looking at the 16-video comparison, where one section of wall is zoomed in on, the upper tiers are the high-bitrate, large-filesize recordings. The bottom rows are the lower-bitrate (but in most cases Full Resolution) samples. Of the lower sections, segment N seems slightly more 'crisp' among the lower bitrate/compressed crowd. This is Bandicam's Default Preset. While great at saving disk space, it should be noted that if instead of simply recording-and-uploading somewhere, if you plan on doing editing of the video in most editing programs, MPEG-1 isn't the easiest editing codec to work with. This is why most programs offer the ability to choose other codecs, such as MJPEG and YUV subtypes. With these codecs, all frames are recorded independently of each other (so seeking/editing is easier/faster) and they are compressed on a frame-by-frame basis (they are literally a series of JPG pictures, in the case of MJPEG).
The way most MPEG codecs work by default (whether it is a DVD, XviD or h.264/AVC), only the differences between frames are kept, to save space. This means that when seeking within the video for editing, the program must calculate the frame desired by using data from nearby frames, increasing overall editing/seeking time. It is possible to do, only editing these codecs may be slower than using other codecs (such as MJPEG and YUV codecs, for example) which are more 'editing-friendly' by having frames that do not rely on other frames ahead/behind.
As expected, the 'lossy' codecs produced compression artifacts and showed detail loss for areas with low movement and colour. This is to be expected and is one aspect of digital compression, which allows file space usage to be saved when working with video (and the same concept applies to audio); for lossy codecs, areas that have less movement or are black/dark will be compressed more, so that more data per frame can be used in areas that are more complex, such as high-movement areas, edges and keeping fine detail (if told to do so in the codec settings). The higher bitrate codecs, taking up lots of disk space (utilzing lots of data per second/per frame) kept much of the data and video quality from the video input. It can be seen however, that modern lossy codecs (coupled with the processing power of modern computers) have made great strides in apparent detail vs. file size, as even the smaller-sized recordings such as Bandicam's output appear quite viewable in terms of detail, despite the compression involved and small file size of the recording. This is great of course, for gamers and video editors/archivers.
Here is an example of codec compression at work:
Codec Compression Example Still Frames. [Blogspot has resized it down, but details/example is still evident.]
Click to see Full size.
All three samples are 1000x640 screen areas starting in the upper-left quadrant.
Fraps, a high-bitrate codec, is on the left. Even with so many solid edges to attempt represent, and with the moving 'smoke' from the game (pixellated grey shapes in foreground), the high data-per-second allocated to the frame keeps almost all of the detail and crispness of the hard-edged rendering of this game frame. The resultant video, a 10-second recording, is 470MB.
The middle portion is the same view, but taken from a recorded video that utilized the MJPEG codec, with it's Quality setting at 40%. Obviously, a lot of data is going to be lost at this setting, and the detail is going to suffer, but this is done on purpose to show an example of how a 'lossy' codec [COmpressor-DECompressor utility] works and looks. The codec has calculated to smooth out much of the middle area that is darker, as less data is needed to represent it and the result is large, flat, brown/grey areas. In an attempt to represent the hard edges of the 'smoke' from the game, the codec's mathematical calculations has output visual compression artifacts [due to the limitation of the data throughput i.e. the bitrate or data per second] known as "Gibbs Effects" or "Ringing" or "Mosquito Noise", the lines seen around the grey edges of the smoke. All of these compression artifacts are commonly seen in both MPEG video and JPEG picture compression (the effect is exaggerated here for educational purposes). The resultant 10-second recording at this setting is 45MB.
The far right example is again the same view, taken from a recorded video that used the MJPEG codec, but with it's Quality setting at 100%. At this setting, the codec will attempt to keep as much data as possible with no regard to the file output size. As can be seen, the frame is almost identical to the [first] high-bitrate frame, with only slight Chromatic Aberration (colour 'leaking' at the edges/fringes of areas) seen in the 'smoke', for example. The resultant 10-second recording at this setting was 396MB. [At about four times the size of MJPEG at 80% Quality, this setting was utilized merely for example purposes]
The Conclusion
As you can see, there are visible differences between the various programs and the codecs they employ. For the most part it was very simple and expected: the higher settings (higher bitrate, higher resolution) produced superior results over the lower settings/options - albeit at a cost - the space taken up by the recorded files.
This TestRun is a basic example of the weighing that must be done with video recording and editing; questions like "How much quality do I want to keep" vs. "How much space do I want to use up for the recordings". With disk space becoming increasingly larger, this decision is not so important as in the past, but it is a good idea to consider it when looking at how your game recordings are going to turn out.
In general, the formula-that-has-always-been is the same: if you want higher quality, you must use higher-bitrate recordings (more data-per-second) and you will have to work with larger output file sizes. If you want to save disk space, or have a system that cannot handle high-bitrate recording and video, then you must use lower settings and will be able to work with smaller file sizes overall. The balance between these two is the main consideration.
What's the answer? What's the Best Settings? The 'real' answer is that it is different for everyone. For those still reading, what I mean is, is that what one person likes in regards to detail, another person will say it looks bad. Like food, it comes down to personal preference, capacity of the organs involved, and the tools that will be used. Let me explain.
If you are rendering your video out to someone with a PSP or 14-inch CRT TV to watch on, the lower-bitrate/lower-resolution recordings will be fine, as the presentation tools do not have the capacity for showing very fine detail. If you are going to be inviting friends over and watching your gaming experiences on a 50-inch flat screen, capable of high definition and crisp picture, using a low-bitrate/low-quality/low-resolution recording will show up as 'blurry', with less detail, (and may even be less enjoyable to some people).
The next consideration for game recording is the system involved. Perhaps you are using a laptop. Even if it is a desktop system, can it handle recording the screen and pushing all that raw data to a video file without slowing down and becoming too 'laggy'? If not, then try to lower some settings within whatever program you are using, try to lower settings within the game itself (resolution, shadows, special effects, antialiasing, filtering, etc). These things will help a system with less power and capability (especially on newer games). There can be other issues/considerations as well, take a look at our Tips For Game Recording article here: http://gametipsandmore.blogspot.ca/2012/05/tips-for-game-recording-currently-text.html
Since all of the programs tested were quite capable of recording detail, as well as having settings to save space (or utilize various codecs to do so); the end answer is really for you, yourself, to watch the videos, record your own, do some tests with different settings and see what you think 'looks good enough' for you to watch, while keeping down the file size and processing power usage. Once you find what you are willing/like to record at, then that's one less thing to worry about, and you can start recording and enjoying playing the game - and isn't that the main thing?
Have fun testing and making your own personal decision!
Personal Short Version/Opinion: As stated in a previous article, an issue for me is hard drive space. I have Terabytes of space, but it is usually filled up with games, screenshots (literally tens of thousands), video recordings and editing projects. When it comes to game recording, I personally balance out recording time/space usage while trying to keep decent quality (I notice, but do not need 'perfect quality'). Here's how I break it down (no pun intended): If I want 'awesome' quality for a project or for someone else, I would use any one of these programs and put it on the highest setting my system can handle without getting too laggy. Myself, I would use Fraps*, or to save space and record longer, Bandicam at a 90%+ quality setting. *At the time of this post, Fraps has an issue with video and audio being out of sync for long recordings for many people If I want 'good' quality, I would personally use Bandicam with a 80%-90% Quality setting, Full Size (recording the full resolution the game is being played at), MJPEG codec (for easy editing) and uncompressed PCM audio (for easy editing). The 'editing' preset ("Vegas/Premiere/Pinnacle") is easy to just click on and I find that the video always looks fine, and from sharing gaming experiences with others, they think it looks fine too. If I want 'ok/good enough' quality, I will record at lower resolutions (as opposed to lowering the quality of the recording), such as recording at 720p, 900p or even half-size, while playing at a larger resolution like 1920x1080 (if I want the in-game experience to look better to play in). I would probably not lower the actual recording Quality much more than 60% no matter what codec I was using and would rather lower the recording resolution to save disk space while still having the recording be 'decent quality'. The reason for not lowering the % of the quality too much is that the compression artifacts/loss of detail is quite a bit when lowering the quality past say 60%, and when compressing the recorded file to another format/output to share with others or upload to video sharing sites, the artifacts and 'blotchyness' from setting too low a quality is actually kept within the final end video. Even if you use some filtering, some of those 'icky-goopy-looking parts' will be present in the end result! What then, is my suggestion for an older system? If the computer can handle it, I suggest not going below 60% quality, no matter what recording application you choose, as I feel the quality of the recording becomes far too low beyond that. I would then suggest lowering settings on the video card (like filtering and antialiasing) or settings within the game itself. Playing at a lower resolution like 1280x720 instead of 1920x1080, or turning down effects like shadows and particles will all help the game to run smoother on a less-capable system and the recording will run smoother then, too. See our article in the link at the bottom of this post for Tips on Game Recording. As with all advice I give, do your own tests to make your own decision on what balance/trade-off you want to go with, but I hope this information has helped you. Have fun with it!
» Look for an upcoming TestRun, Video Edition which will have a 'Redo' of PlayClaw (with their updated demo that allows higher quality) and include some newer Game Recording Apps, such as Mirillis' Action, OBS, SmartPixel and more!
[N.B.: I am not a developer for, nor affiliated in any way with any of these programs or companies]
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