And More: Color Differences When Opening or Importing Images with PaintShop Pro X8 [Fix/Workaround]

I am just finishing up a Trial for Corel's PaintShop Pro X8, an image editing program which I enjoyed testing out - and while it had very few issues or problems [for me personally], I did run into one where, upon importing (opening or pasting) an image, the colours seemed altered/changed (looking like they had been 'reduced' perhaps) as can be seen by this brief comparison I put together for uploading to a forum:

In the example comparison above, the difference can be seen mainly in the lower-left portion, the darker area - which seems 'blotchy' and the image appears to have less colour, but the palette [the amount of colours the image holds] shows RGB/16bit

I mentioned this on the Corel User Forum to see if anyone had any ideas... Perhaps it was a setting somewhere in X8 I missed [I thought to myself]. I Disabled the 'Automatically Convert Colour to 8bit' (changing it to Prompt instead of Automatically convert) but that did not seem to have an effect [it is usually only used for certain needs anyway, such as Animated GIF images, as it reduces the palette down to 256 colors, but I thought it was worth a shot in case it 'triggered' something else in the program].

I did not run into this issue/problem with PaintShop Pro X7, a great image editing application that I continue to enjoy to this day - in fact, all the images on this Blog and other places I share them - I do a Final create/compile with either PaintShop Pro or GIMP (which is a versatile Open Source Image Editing Program with an interface similar to Photoshop). 

[Note: I am not affiliated with nor do I receive any compensation in any form from Corel for talking about or using PaintShop Pro - I am merely an enthusiast user of the program for image editing purposes and wish to share my own discovered information with other like users of the program]

The Corel User To User Web Board (Corel's Support Forum, they can still be contacted directly for problems) was once again very helpful with information on what was going on here...

Apparently, there is an issue with Color Management that many people seem to be having, with PaintShopPro version 18 (X8), which does not occur in X7 (which turned out to be the exact issue I myself was running into!).

The solution/fix was to Disable the Color Management in X8, by going to

File > Color Management > Color Management

and Uncheck the checkbox in that window to Disable the management system in PaintShop Pro.

Example of what the Color Management window looks like and the simple solution
to the color issue/problem in Paintshop Pro X8 (Click to see Full Size)

Although I do not know the details of why the problem itself is occurring in X8 (and the exact details were not given at the Forum at the time), the fix/workaround did in fact work for me and I no longer experienced this issue of color reduction/loss in X8 - and I wanted come here to share it with everyone in the hopes that it works for others experiencing this problem, too!

If I had to summarize Color Management, I would state it is a way of matching up colours from different sources, such as making sure that an image taken with a camera will be reproduced correctly on a printer, etc. While the average home user does not really have a need for this, professional photographers, publishers and printing houses appreciate these options (which has a list of various devices, like printers, monitors and so on, so that 'what they see is what they get', which is something they really want).

[The original Thread where I asked about this issue at the Corel User Forum (with the helpful answer by Kathy_9, an advisor at the site), can be found at: http://forum.corel.com/EN/viewtopic.php?f=56&t=59642&p=328249  ]

Hopefully this fixes the problem for you too, dear reader, if you run into it - enjoy!

Diablo II - Getting Ladder-Only Runewords Working In Single-Player Mode, Without Any Addons [Updated for Patch 1.14d]

[This post is currently being uploaded as Text Only for now - I may add images and some screenshots to it Soon™]

[Update 2016-06: As of Patch 1.14, where the save game information is kept has changed. I have tested this process and all changes are noted within**, including relocation of Runes.txt placement. This process still works as of this Patch.]

[Update 2016-07-03: As of Patch 1.14d, the save game information has been reverted by Blizzard 'back' to the 'older' instructions. The section at the bottom, talking about creating the Subfolders and Runes.txt in the 'Windows User' location is not needed in 1.14D - the steps talking about creating Subfolders and the Runes.txt are still required overall though, but work once again for the 'Game Installation' location itself - tested this as of this Update ...date.] 

[Personal note at end †  certain Runewords are not working?]

I recently re-installed Diablo2, ready to once again enjoy days gone by of Monsters, Magic and Loot... I wrote an article last year, about getting the scroll-wheel to work for switching spells/skills (the 'Right Mouse' Secondary Skill functions) in D2, in Windows. That post is located here:
http://gametipsandmore.blogspot.ca/2014/06/diablo-ii-getting-scrollwheel-to-work.html

After setting up the mouse-wheel once again, I started up a Single-Player game and made a character for it [a Necromancer, as I love Summoners]. I had collected some Runes for Runewords in the past, archiving them for SinglePlayer with The Hero Editor, a small utility that can save items found in Single Player Mode, by Exporting them to files on a local system/disk (as Diablo 2 Item [.d2i] files), which can then be Imported at a later time, into a future Character in Single Player Mode [only] through the same utility [which was "written mainly by Shokaku and ZonFire99" according to the ReadMe file for it].

Using the Hero Editor, I imported past runes and gems into my new character, using the Horadric Cube to create higher Runes I needed, for creating some Runewords. After trying to create an Enigma armor, I found that it was a Runeword that was not craftable in Single Player Mode (when trying to create it, the item simply fills up with the Runes used and utilizes the bonuses from the single Runes themselves, not creating the 'Special Item' that the Runeword would normally create, in an online, BattleNet game).

Searching online for some clues as to what could be done, I found in a few forums, mention of Addons that could possibly be used to create Ladder-Only Runewords in Single Player games. For now, I went looking for ways to craft Runewords in D2 without Addons. What I found, were various instructions to create a Text file in a created Subdirectory of Diablo2, where the Single Player game would use it as a source for Runewords... great! The only issue was that there seemed to be some variance for how the Subfolders should be created/named, to make the Text file work (there were multiple versions of information on what the subfolders should be).

Experimenting on my own then, I found the path of folders that would need to be created within the Diablo2 directory, in order to get this Text file to work. Just to summarize again, what this will do is:

» Allow Diablo II to use Ladder-Only Runewords in Single Player games, by reading Runeword information from a Text file (with no outside Addons or Mods needed to do so)


To do this, here is the working folder structure to create in the Diablo II directory:

<D2 installation folder>/Data/Global/Excel/Runes.txt


The steps to create the above folder structure are:

• in the Diablo II directory, create a New Folder called Data
• in the newly-created Data folder, create a New Folder called Global
• in the newly-created Global folder, create a New Folder called Excel
• in the newly-created folder called Excel, place the Text file from my PasteBin here:
  http://pastebin.com/xGLWhmZ1(If you do not feel comfortable Downloading anything at all for this procedure, simply copy and paste the text from that website and paste it into a text file, one that you create in the Excel folder, within the Diablo II directory structure you just created via the above - be sure to name the text file Runes.txt)
• lastly, add "-direct" and "-txt" to the Shortcut Properties for the "Diablo II.exe" file that starts up the game. The quotation marks aren't added, only the commands, such that the Target line in the Shortcut should then look like this:
  "C:\Program Files (x86)\Diablo II\Diablo II.exe" -direct -txt
  (the above line assumes that it is installed into the C: drive of the system. If you installed Diablo2 into a different drive/partition, the first letter would be whatever your drive letter is of where D2 is installed - the main part to match is the end portions, the "-direct -txt" added to the end, which allows usage of the Text file used in this process)

That's it!

What should occur in theory is, Diablo2 will use the Runeword information from that text file, allowing Runewords to now function within the Single Player game mode (even ones that are "Ladder Only")!

After "cubing-up" some new Runes that I did not have [using a Hero Editor to save/import the ones I had], I created an Enigma Runeword armor. Then, to specifically test the procedure above with a "Ladder-Only Runeword", I attempted to create an Insight for my Merc - and it worked! Hopefully, this will help you utilize Runewords in Single Player, too.


Note: Although I talked about a utility called Hero Editor within this post, it is not a required aspect of the steps above [ie. I use it for Item saving, not Runeword creation]. Also, although an "Excel" folder is created, neither Microsoft Office nor Excel or any other Spreadsheet-type of application need be present on the system - only a simple Text file and a few New Folders created are all that is needed.




** Update for Patch 1.14:

The file structure has changed, for where the game saves your character files, as of this Patch.

While I am not a developer for Blizzard, looking at the effects this Patch will have with Windows, I assume this was done to create a maintainable save game system for people upgrading from Windows 7/8/8.1 to Windows 10, as upgrading Windows [or reinstalling the game itself, if needed] will then not affect your save games in any way and they can then still be found by Diablo 2 (Single Player, etc) [by using this new directory setup implemented in 1.14].

As of Patch 1.14, your save game information is now located at:

C:/Users/<YOUR USER NAME>/Saved Games/Diablo II/

Your saved games, maps and characters are all now within that folder above [assuming C: as your Windows Installation Drive/Location, or where Windows and Saved Games can be found].

To continue using Runewords in Single Player with Patch 1.14, simply create new folders within (the Data folder may already be present), so that your file structure looks like this:

C:/Users/<YOUR USER NAME>/Saved Games/Diablo II/Data/Global/Excel/Runes.txt

Placing the Runes.txt folder within the Excel folder, as shown above, will then allow you to continue using Runewords in Single Player with the new file structure utilized in Patch 1.14 [personally tested as of 2016-06-06].


Tip: Don't forget to add "-direct" and "-txt" to the Shortcut Properties for the "Diablo II.exe", if needed, so that the end of the Shortcut Target line looks like this:
... \Diablo II\Diablo II.exe" -direct -txt


Enjoy - and See You In The Game sometime on BattleNet!



[Personal Log, Regarding Addons, Mods and Utilities: Just a quick mention of my remark regarding 'without any addons' above - I have used Addons, Mods and Utilities in the past, with games, and will likely do so in the future - however, mostly for security reasons, I normally do not and usually advise others against them at first. I realize that most of them are safe, hence my own usage of addons, mods and utilities at times; but because of the chance to encounter security risks, I usually advise against them initially, if people ask me for input. In the end though, most Addons, Mods and Utilities for most games are Safe and offer great functionality, the result of many hours of hard work that their creators have poured into them (if you use Addons or Mods or Utilities for games and you liked them, let their creators know, if you can)]


[Because this post is over a year old now, I have made a newer one (here at the blog, in June/July 2016) talking about this process again, with a bit more detailed instructions (a few screenshots showing the process) - along with my experiences of installing/playing D2 in Windows 10 - if it's not on 'the front page' anymore, that article can be located by going direct to the blog posting here.]

† [It seems that certain Runewords were not working for some people, according to various forum posts, using Add-Ons and other methods. For example, the Runeword EDGE, did not work for some. I have personally created INSIGHT and other Runewords, so this was puzzling. I investigated this potential limitation and found that it may be due to either limitations in the Add-On/Program being used, or the Runes.txt file itself containing Commas, which can occur if the file is opened in a Spreadsheet application (which may turn the file into a Comma-delimited format (using Commas to separate sections)) - be sure to utilize my methods above and the text direct from my Pastebin source (copying it into a Text file or downloading it as a Text file), or use the text I re-pasted into a 'Code' area at my newer article on this, here, copying it in to a Text file and placing it into the Data/Global/Excel subfolder. As of 2016-07-06 I personally tested the Runeword EDGE and it worked using these methods. I hope it works for you as well!] 

Quick Tip: Bandicam Releases CFR-capable Recording Update (for Importing into Vegas, Premiere, Lightworks, etc) [Notice of Update]

Just a Quick Tip for people having problems editing their recordings in Sony's Vegas, Adobe's Premiere, or Editshare's Lightworks, Canopus' Edius and other similar Non-Linear Editors:
Bandicam has released an Update to their software today, that allows the choice of either VFR (Variable Frame Rate) recording [Shadowplay's Default, for example] or CFR (Constant Frame Rate) recording - which is much more compatible for importing into these video editing applications, when recording with NVENC, AMDAPP or QuickSync codecs.


For a number of years now, people have been having issues with importing videos into Vegas or Premiere (to use these as an example, as two of the more common consumer editors) - mainly because many recording applications/settings use, by Default, VFR recording (Nvidia's Shadowplay, for example). As many people have already found, this can cause a multitude of problems, when trying to import these recordings into some of the video editing programs mentioned above. Problems such as:

• Audio and Video being Out Of Sync
• Recordings not showing up as Full-Length
• Audio not importing properly
• Video not being recognized
• Audio importing as only 'a small piece' of data

and other issues...

An example of one issue that can arise with VFR and some Video Editors is, 'trails' or corruption of some type; where the differences between the frames is displayed erroneously, as seen in the still-frame/screenshot just below:

While these issues are a combination of the strictness of the video editing applications and the settings that the codec is using in a recording application, these may now all be alleviated, with the latest update to the game recording program Bandicam, if they are occurring:

The Bandicam interface after the recent update, showing the Steps ("I. II. III.") for enabling CFR, which increases import compatibility with video editing applications such as Vegas, Premiere, Lightworks and more (MP4 container, GPU-accelerated H.264/AVC via the AMDAPP codec, 60fps format/settings shown as example). Click to see Full Size

Today, after updating to the latest version of Bandicam, there can be seen the option to choose either VFR (the Default for Shadowplay and many other recording applications, including Bandicam - which is more efficient for compression, but can result in problems when importing into Vegas/Premiere/etc) or CFR (which is less efficient for compression, but can alleviate the problems with importing into Vegas/Premiere/etc).

For those wanting to use NVENC, AMDAPP or QuickSync to record, for example (GPU-accelerated recording capabilities), this will allow increased importing into these editors, without the need to 're-compress' the videos into a more compatible video format (for example, adding the extra step of using Handbrake to convert the videos into CFR, making the videos importable into Vegas/Premiere/Lightworks/etc, as I wrote about here, when talking about Shadowplay). 

(As another example, if you used Plays.TV's client to record with (which can also use buffered and GPU-accelerated recording), you may have noticed audio/video desynchronization occurring, when attempting to import your recordings into video editing programs - as Plays.Tv's Support Area talks about here, it is due to the usage of VFR)



As a quick Test, I captured my Desktop in a short recording (using Bandicam with the new CFR setting), then tried to import that into Vegas, to see if the video and audio were indeed importable without problems, as a trial of this new compatibility setting.....

A short test of the CFR setting in Bandicam (Desktop portion, short recording, imported into Sony Vegas Movie Studio Platinum 13, playing back within Vegas, output converted into GIF with Honeycam).
Click to see Larger Size

It worked great! The recording was not only imported into Vegas without complaint, it was faster (more responsive) in editing/shuttling/scrolling through the video, due to the CFR setting.

[This was with the AMDAPP (AMD GPU-accelerated) codec, in the MP4 container, using the CFR setting. This codec setup within Bandicam utilizes AAC audio as well and I would use it mainly when editing with Sony's Vegas line of video editing products, as it seems to import without issue. If I were to switch to other codecs or the AVI container, they may then not be as easily imported into NLEs such as Vegas, so I would then use something else, such as CyberLink's PowerDirector (for example), which is far less 'fussy' when it comes to codecs and formats, for importing]

VFR (Variable Frame Rate) helps increase possible compression by reducing the number of frames in a group ('groups of frames utilized per second' in the file) - literally reducing the number of frames used in a file - when less is changing/occurring onscreen. CFR (Constant Frame Rate) will increase file size moderately, due to the fact there is no longer the reduction of the number of frames in a group useable as a factor in compressing the video further - when 60fps is set as a FrameRate, it will literally write sixty frames every second into the video file, regardless of how much has changed onscreen. BitRate is still the major factor in how large the video will be, however. Also note, that this setting is independent of the "fps" (Frames Per Second) displayed output.

[TLDR: CFR will create larger files than VFR because it cannot compress the video as much, but not excessively large, as BitRate is still the main factor in video compression/sizes - and both of these do not affect "frames per second" output onscreen]

Hopefully, this new capability will alleviate the problems with importing your game recording experiences into your favourite video editing application. Try it out, have fun with it - and See You In The Game!

 N.B.: 

I discovered when editing recordings with NLEs (Non-Linear Editors) such as Vegas, Lightworks, Premiere, et al. you may need to utilize a GOP (Group Of Pictures) of "1" for editing compatibility... 

Usually, with MPEG-based video data, there are set intervals of "Keyframes". 
Keyframes are 'stand-alone' images, where all the picture data is kept within one frame (it is not dependent on surrounding frames in the file). Video editing applications use these Keyframes to begin/cut edits from. If there is a large GOP (with many frames in-between these Keyframes), the video editing program must 'key off' of these frames, rebuilding the GOP within the program, causing slowdown in edit processing and possibly causing visible corruption ('trails' or 'glitchy' output). 
Setting a Keyframe Interval of "1" makes every frame in the video a Keyframe, eliminating the possibility of this issue. 

I have written a couple of articles on this, here at the blog,
http://gametipsandmore.blogspot.ca/2013/06/and-more-how-to-record-with.html
http://gametipsandmore.blogspot.ca/2013/05/game-recording-with-mpeg-4-using.html
and submitted this occurrence to Bandisoft, the development house of Bandicam. I am proud to state that this led to the inclusion of a Keyframe Interval option within Bandicam. 

This setting may still be required for full compatibility with Non-Linear Editors. 

Although a GOP of 1 takes away most of the 'headroom' to work with video compression (the video file sizes will increase as it does not have the inter-frame dependency), if you are having issues with importing your videos into these types of video editing applications, even with this new CFR setting, try configuring the Keyframe Interval to "1" [you can also use PCM ("Uncompressed") audio to increase audio compatibility] and this should assist with issues with importing your recordings into these editors. 

Good luck with it!

Bandicam - Their 2.1.0 Release and Testing Compatibility of the MP4 Container Recordings with Nine Different Video Editing Programs [Link To Forum Post]

Just letting those who use Bandicam to record their gameplay know, I tested the newest version (2.1.0.708, released two days ago) and Bandicam's new ability to record into an MP4 container [natively], an addition that would hopefully increase compatibility with video editing programs. All I did was some quick tests by importing recordings created by Bandicam into different video editing applications; but I wanted to share the results with you all. Here are the programs I tested:

- Adobe Premiere Pro 6 (Trial)
- Avid Media Composer 8.1 (Trial)
- Sony's Vegas Movie Studio 11 Platinum
- CyberLink's PowerDirector 12
- Lightworks 12
- Nero Video 11
and some free video editing applications...

For the results of my testing the new MP4 container recording option with those video editors, visit my short post at the Official Bandicam Forum here:

http://www.bandisoft.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=2956&p=10235

I hope you find it useful and See You In The Games!

And More: Editing NVIDIA's Shadowplay Recordings and 'The VFR/CFR Problem' (Text-Only Version)

[Updates at bottom of article]

Just a quick post on the problem many people seem to be having with editing NVIDIA's Shadowplay recordings and how to work around it, for now...

For those who don't know, Shadowplay is a free game recording capability that is included in NVIDIA's GeForce Experience utility and is accessible by anyone with an NVIDIA GPU that is a GTX 650 or higher [they state "600 Series or higher"]. Simply install the GFx utility [my abbrev.] and turn it on and Shadowplay will record a buffered period of time, overwriting that space/file again and again, until you decide to save something cool that happened in the game.

Whether FRAPS sold NVIDIA the code to do buffered/looped recording (as FRAPS has had it for many years), or NVIDIA developed it on their own, the end result is the same. The problem is, a ton of people [if technical and game forums everywhere are an indication] are unable to edit the end output correctly, when using Shadowplay.

The main reason why this seems to happen, could be due to Shadowplay utilizing VFR to record it's video data into a file. VFR stands for Variable Frame Rate, and essentially it allows the frame rate to change from slow to fast, above and below the 'set' frame rate, many times if needed, within a single video file. This helps to save space by making low-motion (or static) scenes use less frames within the video file and make complex scenes (with high-action/movements) look smoother by inserting more frames into the video file. Sounds good and test videos look fine, but the problem is when going to then edit the 'Shadowplays'.

Many video editing applications (especially NLE's [Non-Linear Editors]) may not like Shadowplay and will choke on the video, hold back sound in spurts and spit up bits of food on your screen if you try to edit the recordings. This could be due to the usage of VFR.

Note: I don't want to 'put the blame' on NVIDIA or VFR here, NVIDIA is a fantastic company with great innovations and products, and VFR is a great method for organizing frames within video data that creates a lot of 'headroom for compression' (lower file sizes by reducing the number of frames used) while trying to maintain Quality as well (by increasing the frames utilized per second within the GOP data of the file, as the codec decides it is beneficial). It merely is not as compatible, when it comes to video editing programs. As another example, Plays.Tv uses Accelerated VFR in its' Client to buffer/record with, which it notes here in their Support section, is simply less compatible and can create audio/video synchronization problems - the issue is VFR and editing compatibility -  not these companies/utilities themselves...

Fortunately, the 'fix' [which in my opinion of more of a work-around] is relatively easy, if slightly time-consuming:

Simply re-render the Shadowplay recordings into CFR (constant frame rate) video (where 60fps really is 60 frames being recorded or played back in sequence, in the video, every second, throughout the entire clip). There are many apps that can do this, but the most popular [most-popularly-used in the video-editing circles that are experiencing this problem] is probably Handbrake (it is completely free to use). Simply import your video and choose Constant Framerate in the Video Tab. That's it.

Another program you can use, is built right in (if you use Windows): Windows Movie Maker [Note: Windows Movie Maker does not seem to be bundled with Windows 10, it may however be available as a separate download]. Simply import the video and without adjusting anything, export (render) it out to MPEG-4 (MP4) format. It will produce a CFR (Constant Frame Rate) video that you can then import into programs that were having trouble with VFR - like Adobe's Premiere and other video editing applications.

[Choose a high quality setting or high bitrate, to maintain as much of your original recording detail as possible (so it won't compress it even more and lose detail). If you need to set a BitRate for the export, make sure to set it higher than the original video clip(s) BitRate ((Personal Suggestion: 2x more if you can))]

Once this is done, you'll be able to import your Shadowplay 're-renders' without problem, whether you use Premiere, Vegas, Lightworks or some other video editing application that has been having trouble importing your VFR video (for instance, some people have had problems with Shadowplay recordings using CyberLink's PowerDirector and others have not had a problem with PowerDirector at all, importing it fine - I have not used Shadowplay Recordings in PowerDirector yet [I do not have a GPU capable of using Shadowplay at this time] but I have personally imported VFR material into PowerDirector 12 without problem).

[I might come back and add screenshots to this article in the future, or create a new one talking more specifically about VFR and importing it into Premiere, but for now I wanted to bang it out and get it up here to help people who have been having this problem (many since last year, when Shadowplay first came out, with even more people having the problem earlier than that with Premiere and VFR recordings from their cameras)]

I hope that helps some people out for now, anyway. Have fun recording - and See You In The Games!




Update 1:

Bandicam has now implemented an option in their game recording software (as of July 2015), which allows choosing CFR recording or VFR recording. Since it also uses GPU-accelerated codecs such as AMDAPP, NVENC, QuickSync (and can be made to use CUDA, if you still have that), it seems to have become a viable alternative to this problem. As a Registered User of Bandicam, I shall test out this latest version of the software and perhaps write a post about it Soon™


Update 2:

I have done some quick testing with this new version of Bandicam (with the ability to choose CFR as well as use VFR if desired) and have written a short post about it at this blog, here.


Update 3 - 2018.06:

NVIDIA's Game Recording Utility seems to have changed names a few times, known as Shadowplay, then Share, then In-Game Overlay. Whatever it is called today, while this issue with editing VFR might remain, on some older video editing applications; it seems to be less of an issue on the most recent versions of video editing apps (as of 2018) - tested personally with a few programs, such as Sony's Vegas Pro 14 (now taken over by MAGIX), CyberLink's PowerDirector 16, and Corel's VideoStudio 2018 - all three video editors did not have an issue Importing and Editing VFR material (as of June 2018 when I did these short tests) [I do not own and did not test Adobe's Premiere/Elements, at this time, sorry]. So, if you are having an issue editing Shadowplay/NVENC recordings circa 2018 or later, try updating your video editing application(s), if you can.

And More: How to record with H.264/AVC/x264/x264vfw (MPEG-4 Part 10) so that your video clips will open in Sony Vegas and Adobe Premiere (Short Tutorial/Example Video)

Originally created to show an example of what to change so that your game recordings using the H.264/AVC/x264/x264vfw (MPEG-4 Part 10) codec will open up in Vegas, this also works for Premiere, Lightworks and other NLE's (Non-Linear Editors), for those who were having problems editing.

In this example*, I am recording with an x264vfw (Komisar's Unofficial, Black Logo) interface**, which sets up h.264/AVC encoding, used as an "External Codec" in Bandicam:

*Just a silly version of the video, sorry for taking up your time with this little joke

Summary of Video: Within the x264 Video For Windows interface, change the FourCC code that x264 is recording with [think of it as the 'UPC label' or 'QR tag' for the videos] to a code that these video editing apps can recognize natively. That's all.

Now, you should be able to import all your future game recordings into Vegas and Premiere without problem...

Ok, for a truly easy-to-follow video, that shows examples of how to set the code for Bandicam, Dxtory and Afterburner, look no further than here:

The true version of the video, showing how to adjust the setting required

As you can see, because the main setting to change occurs within the x264vfw interface itself, this change can be utilized no matter what game recording program you prefer to record with (Bandicam, Dxtory, MSI Afterburner, etc.)


**If you are using the 'Official' version of the x264vfw codec interface (Red Logo), the setting to change is indicated in this screenshot below:

»» Note: 
When editing the x264vfw codec with NLEs (Non-Linear Editors) such as Sony's Vegas line of products and Adobe's Premiere applications, you may experience artifacts such as 'trails' or 'corruption' unless you set the GOP setting to "1", which will make "Intra-frame only" encodes. This will encode frames that do not depend on surrounding frames, containing all necessary data within each frame itself (similar to how the MJPEG codec operates, requiring more bitrate/filesize, but MPEG-4 still uses less bitrate overall), which alleviates this problem.

This seems to only occur with Vegas, Premiere, Lightworks and similar products when using MPEG4, but does not occur with most other video editing applications (tested with Windows Movie Maker, CyberLink's PowerDirector, Nero Video, Avidemux, VirtualDub, etc), so you could always extract the portions of the video you want from your recordings with those, then import your portions into Vegas/Premiere/etc and finalize your video projects that way. However, to omit having to do that extra step, you can have your H.264/AVC (x264) recordings editable in Vegas/Premiere/etc by doing the following:

For the Official (Red Logo) x264vfw interface, add "--keyint 1" (without quotations) into the Extra Command area at the bottom
For The Unofficial (Black Logo) x264vfw interface, set the Maximum GO Size to "1"


***
A lengthy article, talking about recording with x264/H.264/AVC in detail (testing settings, recommendations for speed, etc.) can be found at the blog here:
http://gametipsandmore.blogspot.ca/2013/05/game-recording-with-mpeg-4-using.html

***

Have fun editing and See You In The Games!

And More: Game Recording for Compatibility with Video Editing Programs (Text-Only Version)

Just some quick tips for recording your gaming adventures, so that no matter what recording or editing program you use, you can open the recorded file and edit it without any problems:

Most game recording programs will automatically install CODECs (COmpressor/DECompressors) when you install the program itself. Codecs can be thought of as 'handlers' for the video and audio formats that the program will 'prefer' [that is, formats that they were programmed with], so that you can open them in video editing applications. Also, most video editing apps can read certain widely-accepted/standardized formats such as MJPEG, RGB, YV12, Uncompressed, and so on, "natively" (without installing any additional codecs, once you install the video editing program itself). The thing is, sometimes there is a format that is selectable or useable in a recording application and then you can find out later that your video editing application "doesn't like it" (won't open your recorded file)...

To solve this problem, you can do a few things (in order of ease-of-use):

• Change the format you are recording with.

[This also works if you don't want/can't install any additional codecs on the system]

All you have to do is switch the recording codec you are using to something that the editor can easily open. If your recording cannot easily be imported into your video editor, take a look at the 'importable formats' that are listed for your video editing application at the manufacturer's website.

You can also just do a couple of short test recordings to find out what can be recorded to and opened by your favourite editing app without problem. You may, for instance, test with a short recording and find that only the video (or only the audio) can be opened. This means you just have to check what formats you are recording with and switch out the one that is not being read properly. 

For example:

Problem: Sony Vegas opening a recorded file and the video track is fine but the audio has only a small 'sliver' of data (no sound track)
Fix: Change the audio recording format to Uncompressed PCM Audio

Now Sony Vegas can properly open both the video and audio portions of the recording (without installing any additional codecs) - all solved by merely switching to using a different codec for recording

• Install the codec you wish you use.

A recording program may offer a format that you can record with, but it may not automatically install the decoder portion for it, so you may have to download and install the codec package in order to open the recordings.

Some examples:

Some find that when using the MJPEG codec offered within MSI's Afterburner program to record, they cannot open the MJPEG format recorded files in their video editing application. Within MSI Afterburner, there is an option to enable an MJPEG decoder within it, if it is needed (it shouldn't be, since most video editing programs support MJPEG natively (it is just a sequence of JPGs))

Some find that when using the Xvid codec offered within Bandicam to record, they cannot open the Xvid format recorded files in their video editing application. To solve this, merely download the Xvid codec package from the Xvid.org website and then you should be able to open the Xvid recorded files in your video editing program

• Convert the recorded file into a format that the video editing app can open without problem.

Most editing programs have a list of 'compatible' formats that it was programmed to open natively [without installing anything else]. From the list, choose a format that is easy for you to convert your recordings into, so that you can easily import them into your video editing application.

To convert your recordings, you can use the conversion program that came with your camera or multimedia device, if it came with one. There are also many freeware programs that you can use, such as:

Avidemux
Virtualdub
FormatFactory
Xvid4PSP
Xmedia Recode
Nero Recode
WinFF
and more

Simply use the one that you find easiest to use and convert your files with. You can also purchase a video editing program/software suite that will allow you to convert/edit the recordings.

Once you try one of the above steps (listed in order of easiest/quickest first), you should find importing your recordings into your favourite editing apps going a lot smoother and having less problems/glitches when starting your editing.

Good luck with it and Have Fun editing your gaming adventures!