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.
I am having a ton of fun playing Battlefield: Hardline, when I can - but while I work on a much longer 'First Impressions and Screenshots' article for the blog, I wanted to share a short tutorial for Newer Players - something that I'm seeing asked in the game chat a lot - how to use the Sabotage gadget (the basics, how to use it, what it does, etc..).
Here then, is my first Video Tutorial for Battlefield: Hardline [hopefully the first of many!]
How To Use The Sabotage (A Mechanic Class Gadget Tutorial)
[Recording utilities used, System specs, music/backing track for the credits,
Just a Quick Tip, for those using Sony's Vegas line of products for editing. I was working in a recently-upgraded-to Movie Studio 13 Platinum, enjoying the new version and trying the FXHOME HitFilm Effects plug-ins that come with it. Then, the plug-in effects seemed to stop working today - they didn't show the effects in the Preview at all when I re-opened the Project. I could open the Settings Panel for the plug-ins and change them, but could not 'see' the HitFilm effects. I made a few recent changes to my System, one of them being upgrading my NVIDIA GPU drivers. So, I rolled them back, installing an older version (going back to 332.21 - a version I chose so that I could also use CUDA for Rendering, among other things) and boom - the Hitfilm effects were back ...to the future ...with a vengeance ok I'll stop. So, if anyone else runs into this problem with these HitFilm Effects and Vegas [it may help no matter what Edition you have installed], try rolling back the GPU drivers.
[N.B.: This issue was encountered and solved on my NVIDIA GPU, it is unknown by myself, at this time, whether this issue exists with AMD/ATi GPUs]
Have fun editing your gameplay adventures - and See You In The Games!
Just a Quick Tip for those of you recording The Sims 3 and finding that your videos are looking 'darker' than the original gameplay itself - a problem that has been around for some people for over a year now... It's not that the game isn't recordable (although for some people they got nothing but 'blank/black screens' a few years ago) it's that the recordings are coming out, what looks like, a few shades darker than what the game really is.
I was recently seeing a spike in the number of people talking about this problem again and decided to see if I could find a fix, or at least a workaround, for it; and what I found was something that everyone can do for now (at least until AMD/NVIDIA or Maxis/EA makes an update that fully fixes the issue) and that is simply: to run The Sims 3 in Windowed Mode.
Whether you are using Dxtory, Bandicam, Afterburner or most other game recording programs (even NVIDIA's Shadowplay has the same issue for some people), the fix [more of a workaround] that I found for now at least allows you to record your Sims 3 gameplay with proper colours, as you can see in these frames extracted from a couple of game recordings, below:
Comparison between the display modes and the colours when recording (Darker vs. 'Normal') for the recording issue with The Sims 3, showing that the workaround works [at least for now] in two extracted frames from two game recordings (one in Windowed Mode and one in Fullscreen Mode). [In the right half, the camera has been 'zoomed in']
Have fun recording your Sims 3 gameplay once again, if this problem has made you stop - and
See You In The Games!
Just a quick note and Moment Of Silence for justin.tv - for those of you who were streaming your gameplay, personal life and/or finger puppet theatre there - it has now shut down forever.... If you were utilizing justin.tv, there is a lot that is unfortunately not being carried over automagically, such as Followers, Facebook Accounts and more. You can still request to have your account transferred to Twitch until September 5th, 2014 though. For more information, visit the justin.tv and twitch.tv websites. If you wish to continue to share your gameplay/life experiences with the world, don't worry, there are still many websites out there that offer Live Streaming and Video Hosting, such as [Justin's Bigger Brother] Twitch, Livestream, Vaughnlive (gamers are directed to Instagib.tv), YouTubeand many more.
Just a quick primer for those that don't know; Battlefield Play4Free is a Free-To-Play title, which means it doesn't cost anything to join in, but you can purchase weapons, armor, clothing and other items for Real Money. In this game, you do so by purchasing "Play4Free Funds" that you can then use in the in-game Store. There is also a nice feature offered where you can win 'prizes' (weapons, armor, clothing, etc) from a game called The Daily Draw at the main Battlefield Play4Free website. You can play once every day, choosing a card from a random draw of eight and the card you choose will be an item 'underneath'.
The items possible to win range from temporary one-day-use-only weapons and clothing, to seven-day-use ones, to permanent items your character (Soldier) can use in the game forever (for example, a scope that can be attached to a gun for that soldier for all time). This is great for those who can't afford to purchase many in-game items, as it not only offers the possibility of getting some great gear 'forever', it also gives a nice preview of a weapon, mod or clothing, so that you can see what it will look like/feel like, if you decide to splurge and purchase it for yourself (supporting the game and developers as well) sometime in the future. The Daily Draw also gives a chance to win 'Boosts', where you can earn extra Credits [for instance], as seen in the screenshot below:
The AEK-971 Assault Rifle
I recently won the AEK-971 in The Daily Draw on my Assault class soldier and thought I'd try it out and see how it felt and quickly write a post about it [I call these 'PlayTests']. Now, I am not a gun expert or know a lot about the statistics of the guns, so I will mainly be discussing briefly here how the gun 'feels' and 'plays', especially compared to the default G3A4 Assault Rifle.
The AEK-971 unlocks nice and early at Soldier Level 3, but the main reason for this seems to be that it isn't supposed to be very different from the Default Assault Class Rifle. As you can see from the comparison above, which is the main Store/Inventory screen information for the weapons, the only real difference is the amount of damage it can do. It has the same accuracy rating as the G3A4, the same range, and the same amount of ammo in the mags. After winning it in The Daily Draw, I played a few rounds with AEK-971 and originally recorded a couple of full matches. Here is one full match, shared unedited for you [a 'Raw Gameplay' video], testing out the AEK-971:
I was also testing out the Trial of CyberLink's PowerDirector 12 for editing.
A Review article about that application - with Tips - Coming Soon™!
Despite not being listed as any more accurate than the G3, I felt more 'capable' with the AEK (as though I could 'put up a fight' a lot better), probably due to the increased damage. It feels a little more accurate too, even though it isn't really supposed to be, according to the Store/Inventory info for the gun. So, I figured this is a great time to do some testing![Yay, tests! lol]
AEK-971 Accuracy Analysis
I did some basic analysis on the recoil pattern of this rifle and it is indeed similar to the default assault rifle, but the AEK is ever-so-slightly more accurate, in my opinion. Here is an example of a test I did, a screenshot of the spread patterns, collecting the bullet markings, below:
Coloured spray paint marking the AEK-971's Bullet Spread, on average
(Click to see Full Size)
The left side is the spread while 'shooting from the hip', not using the sights, just standing there holding down the trigger [the spray painted arrow is red-coloured as in, 'try not to do this at all if you can, unless in very close quarters combat']
The right side is the spread while 'zoomed in', that is, using the sights on the gun (it would use a scope if there was one), still just standing there holding down the trigger [the spray painted arrow is yellow-coloured as in, 'try to avoid this']
In the middle is the spread while zoomed in/using the sights, crouching down, still holding down the trigger though - but also now compensating for the recoil of the gun (attempting to contain the spread into a small area) - in this case, slowly pulling DOWN the mouse while firing since the recoil of this gun pulls the barrel UP [the spray painted box is green-coloured as in, it is recommended to do this (even better if you can tap the trigger instead of holding it down)]
As you can see, even though the rated accuracy for this gun is "Low", you can get a pretty decent containment of the spread, by kneeling down, using the sights, and compensating for the recoil by moving the mouse accordingly [this little tip helps with all guns].
In most games, you can try to compensate for the recoil of a gun by slowly moving the mouse in the opposing direction to where the barrel travels. For instance, if the recoil pulls the barrel of the gun left, when shooting, moving the mouse to the right then, will cancel out some of the recoil and make for a smaller spread of bullets and easier/faster repositioning for the next shot. Try to remember that each gun will be different in it's recoil and which direction you should compensate, when using each weapon though. [Note that due to game programmers making bullets 'miss' (no matter what), in an attempt to imitate reality (which has imperfections in the gun and bullets, air changes, etc), it will never be possible to fully compensate/correct for the 'spread' of bullets in a gun (this goes for most games)].
In my tests, the Assault Default G3A4 seemed to pull up and away to the left slightly, when shooting it. Holding down the trigger longer, the gun climbs way up into the sky easily (hence the "Low" Accuracy rating, I assume). For the AEK-971, it does still pull up, but it does not pull to the left in the same way as the G3A4, especially when using the sights. It sort of does a light 'stepping' to the left and then to the right, somewhat randomly [whatever the algorithm is in the programming]. This, to me, makes it ever-so-slightly more accurate in the 'feel' of the gun, because while it still 'goes all over the place' when shooting, it sort of compensates for itself just a bit, and the end result is more of a direct climb up in the recoil, something that felt, to me, easier to compensate for than with the Assault default G3. (I assume this very slight change in the spread/recoil is not enough to win this gun a "Medium" rating in Accuracy, but it is enough to make you have to Level to 3 in order to be able to purchase it..).
Close-To-Medium Range Kill with the AEK-971 in Myanmar. Even with the 'side-stepping' that the gun does (and the enemy strafed around as he ran out towards me from behind the rock in the center of the screen) I still got the kill, mostly due to the Very High Damage Rating of the weapon
(Click to see Full Size)
In Conclusion
Overall, the AEK-971 was similar to the default Assault class rifle, the G3A4, when playing. To me, it did feel slightly more accurate, but not by much. If you are having a really hard time hitting people with the G3A4, your accuracy won't increase very much at all if you purchased this rifle. However, if you are getting used to the default Assault gun, this one packs a lot more punch, and you'll be getting more kills overall if you upgrade to it. Because I recently won this gun Permanently [during the course of compiling this article, yes it does happen in The Daily Draw! woot] I can't see the current price for this rifle anymore, to purchase it from the in-game Store; but last time checking, it was only 300 Credits to try it out for one full day. It was also listed as [what I call] 'Earnable' because, if you can rack up 45,000 Credits, you won't have to pay for upgrading to this rifle with any Real Money at all (you can just use the Credits). If you did buy some Play4Free Funds and have 1,250 to spare, you can purchase it at anytime (not having to wait until Soldier Level 3), permanently. So in closing, PlayTesting the AEK-971, I found it slightly better than the Default Assault Class Rifle, even if it only 'felt' that way due to the higher damage it does.
Long Range Kill with the AEK-971 in Myanmar. The thin iron sights of the gun (default sights) help a lot with targeting farther away. With the Very High Damage Rating - even though the gun has a Low Accuracy Rating - single-shot/tap shooting can still make it lethal at range, when needed
(Click to see Full Size)
Have fun trying it out for yourself sometime and See You In The Games!
Gameplay Disclaimer: Any gameplay videos or animations uploaded are only one example of one possible path of game play and is not representative of the gameplay experience of the entirety of the game material as it is non-repeatable in exactness (movements, actions, viewpoints, etc) to a high degree of accuracy (especially in regards to online multiplayer play and interactions) and therefore is not a representation of a large portion of the game content (this includes complete Walkthroughs/Playthroughs, Raw Gameplay Footage and Tutorials). All material and content uploaded attempts to respect copyright and is presented for Educational and Entertainment purposes only, utilized under Fair Use and can be construed as Free Advertising. No copyright infringement is intended and cannot be inferred. Any possible representation approaching any infringement, to those seeking infringement action, requires double notification and will be honoured by permanent removal of the infringing material. This information exists for entertainment and educational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical attention.
If there were an award for Most Frustrating Event of 'winter-timey' events of this season, the Winter Wonderland snowflake-jumping puzzle in Guild Wars 2 could arguably win the snowflake-shaped trophy. I'm all for getting presents to the eager kiddies, but I can only fall to my death so many times before I am reaching for the Scotch and caring less and less whether I get their gift-wrapped socks to them or not anymore. In fact, I'm doing this for ME now, for the Achievement... oh sorry, Tips and such, yes, here we go...
In Lion's Arch, near the display of presents and candy canes, speak with the Festive Youth (the map will have a red/white mint on it that says Winter Wonderland) and choose to brave the freezing peaks.
[The auto-kicker is set very low in this region - take care not to spend much more than a miunute standing still/away from keyboard or you will be 'disconnected due to inactivity']
Inside, there are three paths to choose to jump to your death get the kiddies their presents by: a path marked by two Quaggan, a path with two Snowmen and a path with Gingerbread Men. They are all similar and all three will eventually converge into a center point marked my giant mints as platforms and Toymaker Trixx warming himself by a fire. Warming yourself is what you'll need to do - and fast - as the more time you spend jumping around on the snowflake platforms, the more damage you will take from the exceedingly-cold environment. Once you get past the questions of why they just didn't build a causeway lined with intermittent fireplaces or just teleported you past this area, you can start to jump your way up the snowflakes into the white beyond, hurdling candy cane rungs on the way.
The Winter Wonderland area of Wintersday in Guild Wars 2 as it appears in Winter 2013,
feel free to use it as a winter wallpaper!
(Click to see Full Size)
Since each path is similar and eventually end up in the same spot (the fire with Trixx to talk to), choose whichever one you feel is the easiest (or get used to the quickest). After a few hundred falls, I settled on the far right one, the one with two Quaggan. There are a few large jump gaps and two sets of candy cane rungs to navigate, but I found once I got the hang of jumping the flakes and canes, I could get to the gifts [the second half] almost every time. Here are some jumping tips, but first, one that is most important in my opinion: disable your dodge/evade in the Options.
Opening the Options Menu, in the Winter Wonderland area of Guild Wars 2
[Quote from 'Forceome': "agh this is so hard can't get past the first part"]
(Click to see Full Size)
To disable the Double-Tap-To-Evade, hit Escape or click on the Gear icon in the upper left, then in the Game Menu that pops up, click on the Gear icon again for the Options. In the first window that opens, there should be checkboxes at the bottom. Simply uncheck (if there is one) the Double-Tap to Evade option to disable it, for now.
In the Options Menu, adjusting the Double-Tap to Evade setting in the Winter Wonderland area of Guild Wars 2
(Click to see Full Size)
This is important for this jumping puzzle because, as you correct your character's position on the platforms, or hit a key twice in excitement as you move around, disabling this will stop you from hurtling yourself off of snowflakes and mints or into oncoming snowboulders later (that's right not snowballs, snowBOULDERS).
After disabling that option, the rest of the game is mostly getting used to the jumping:
I suggest zooming out a little, to see the flakes ahead of you a bit easier. Also, I suggest having a viewing angle of about 45degrees or sharper down towards your character. It is easier to gauge distance this way, instead of seeing 2+ snowflakes ahead of you in a flatter, more restrictive view that doesn't show you just how far you have to jump or where the next snowflake is, as clearly
Get your hands in a comfortable position and have lots of room to move your mouse (if you do not have your sensitivity up high). As there is a time-limit involved, you will be spinning your mouse around quickly to navigate the turning angles and giving your mouse more room to move around may help in not bumping into anything and stopping it from being able to turn your character
Jump as late as possible for the larger gaps. Start to move towards the edge of the snowflake in the direction you want to go and press AND HOLD the spacebar to leap as far as you can
Find out which way of stopping your forward travel while in the air is easiest for you. You may find that letting go of the spacebar is easier (when you need to just drop down or drop quicker so you don't overshoot a platform). For me, I found that while holding forward and jump to leap through the air, letting go of the W (forward) was easier for me, so that's how I'll explain it in the following tips
For smaller platforms (snowflakes, mints, gifts, etc), I hold my spacebar down as I leap towards it, and as I come over top of the platform, I let go of W when centered over it, so that I basically drop down onto it perfectly, without overshooting or getting too close to the edge. This also leaves a little bit of a run-way to build up a jump to the next platform, whatever it may be
Although it might feel good to get a long chain of jumps together in a row, I suggest not getting into this habit too much, as the twisting paths and changes in gap spaces make it harder the longer you try to keep your hands in the same position and not 'resetting' your hands on the keyboard/mouse. I found it was easier to get past the snowflake portion [the entire first half of the game] if I let my hands reset often, even if I did not feel rushed or could keep going in one long jumping chain. It gives you a second to breathe and reset your hands and refocus
Speaking of focus, when you find your eyes starting to wonder a bit (there is a lot of nice stuff to look at and your health going down is unnerving and distracting of course), try not to look at your health. This takes your eyes away from the platforms and stutters your concentration. Yes, your health is going down slowly and it will, as long as you are not by a fire, so just let it do so - and if it is getting close to the end (it will as you get close to the Mints middle part) try not to look at it, as it will take precious seconds away from your forward movement and focus. You will eventually die from the cold, if you do, just let yourself die and you'll get a chance to start over, don't look at anything on your HUD if you can
I found navigating the candy cane rungs easiest by doing this technique: I would hold the space bar down and I jumped straight up and then I would tap the forward key (W by default), holding them both for one second, then letting both of them go. This would launch me up, then forward a bit, then drop down, right on the next rung/cane. [Hopefully, this old-school 'hold-a-then-b' style of jumping will help you past those treacherous treats]
In the middle, once you pass the ungodly snowflakes, there is the toymaker Trixx, awaiting your decision as to whether you want to try for extra prizes or take a consolation prize at this point. There is also the choice to give up a chance for bonus prizes by starting at this spot again if you fall when jumping from here to the end. Note that this does not allow you to ALWAYS start from here, it only gives you TWO chances to fall and start from this mid-point. Once those are used up, you will get forcefully placed back at the start of this Wonderful Wonderland of Woe.
In the second half of the puzzle, there are a scattering of gift boxes to jump on, then some mountain paths with snowBOULDERS rolling towards you. If that isn't enough pressure, there are also gusts of wind from large "friendly" snowmen and icicle missiles that drop down on you, all while you try to climb up the mountain pathway. Some tips for this section are:
Although noone really knows how the gift-boxes work and what triggers them (some have said they are a fixed pattern, but they do not seem so and some have said it's if others touch them first, but I have seen boxes pop and disappear without anyone touching them), it does appear that if one person goes, you can go next over the ones that did not explode; but if a group of people go, the gifts go explode-crazy and I suggest waiting until they reset
Don't just frantically tap spacebar and think it will work all the time on getting past these gifts. There are gaps between some of them and some will explode in front of you - so you must then adjust and hold the spacebar to get over the new gap. [I could have sworn wildly tapping the spacebar worked far better closer to the start of this event, but it seems it does not do so anymore]
Once past the gifts, watch out for a gust of wind as you cross a large mint and hop down onto a candy cane bridge. Then, move onto the large mints on the side of the mountain paths, as snowBOULDERS will be coming down at you Indiana-Jones-style
As you avoid the boulders and get onto the side mints, watch out also for glowing rings of fire on the ground, signalling an Area-Of-Effect incoming and stay out of the rings [It seems as though it is a giant icicle that drops down on the spot, but I have not paid enough attention to it to see exactly what it is yet]
Finally, at the end (watch out for one last snowBOULDER), are a pile of spilled gifts to the right that you must jump across to leap into the exit (a huge glowing gift box portal). The way that I prefer to do this last portion is shown in this animated GIF:
Once you jump into the huge glow and come out the other side, enjoy the rewards that await you and settle gently into the idea that you only have to do all of this 19 more times to get the Achievement!
Don't worry, it can be done... Along with some of the tips covered above, here is a full Playthrough [with embedded tip reminders] of The Winter Wonderland Jumping Puzzle of Wintersday:
Good Luck with it - hopefully these techniques will help you out a bit - and See You In The Game!
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"
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!
[The title sounds like a spell of some sort.. BEWARE THE TRAILS OF CORRUPTION]
As part of the 'And More' of this blog, I would like to present a Tip that will help anyone that may be experiencing the 'trails' or 'corruption' effect that appears when importing an Xvid-recorded video into the Sony Vegas line of products.
This effect can occur no matter what game recording software you are using (Dxtory, Bandicam [as an External Codec], MSI Afterburner, etc.**), if it is configured to record with the Xvid codec downloaded from the Xvid.org website. An example of the corruption (and the associated setting that can fix it) can be seen in this short video:
The first portion is an Xvid Codec recording with the Motion Search Precision setting ON (which is the default setting if you are using the "Real-time" Quality Preset to record with, for instance).
The second portion is the same Xvid Codec recording, but with the Motion Search Precision setting OFF (Set to "None" (0)).
That is all that need be changed to fix this problem with importing Xvid recordings into Vegas, all other settings can remain how you prefer. One more example of what can be fixed/corrected (a still frame from a 'corrupted' video) is shown here:
To change the required setting in the Xvid Codec interface:
After selecting Xvid MPEG-4 Codec as your recording codec [in whatever game recording software you prefer], click on the Configure button to open the Xvid Configuration window. Then, under the More section, Quality Preset, click the "more..." button past the pull-down menubar and it will Question you with the choice to Copy the values that cannot be changed to a "User Defined" setting. Clicking "Yes" will copy the Real-time Preset settings to the pull-down selection called "User Defined" and then you can change the preset settings within.
Click to see Full Size
In the Motion Precision category on the first tab (Motion), next to Motion Search Precision, click on the pull-down menubar and click on "0 - None", to turn off Motion Searching when recording using the Xvid Codec.
Click to see Full Size
That's it. Sony Vegas Movie Studio and Sony Vegas Pro should both now be able to import your Xvid format recordings, no matter what game recording program you are using (Dxtory, Bandicam [as an External Codec], MSI Afterburner, etc**).
** Users of Bandicam will find that a built-in/optimized version of Xvid is already included within the program codec menu and provides good capture ability/quality, it just does not have the codec-native configuration interface (to change settings) and this version will not natively import into Vegas, as of this version. If you are using Bandicam as your game recording application and you wish to record with the built-in/optimized version of Xvid and import your recordings into Vegas, simply download the Xvid codec from the Xvid.org website. Then, Bandicam's version of the codec can be opened within the Sony Vegas line of products. The problem presented above in the article does not occur when using Bandicam's built-in/optimized version of Xvid†† †† It should be noted, that this issue of "corruption" or "trails" or "glitchy-ness" does not occur in all Video Editing Applications. While most NLE editors (Vegas, Premiere, Lightworks, etc) will experience this, many 'Pro-sumer' grade video editing programs, do not. I have personally tested editors such as Corel's VideoStudio Pro, CyberLink's PowerDirector and even Microsoft's Movie Maker - and none of these editors display the issue mentioned herein. If a user desires to stick with Xvid as their recording codec (indeed a speedy and potentially semi-high quality codec), then perhaps utilizing one of these other editors, should be considered.
Just a quick tip for Hitman: Absolution and finding the 'seemingly-not-as-easy-as-everything-else' Axe item in the First Mission/Tutorial, for those who don't know where it is already. It is found outside, in the Gardens area, before you actually get into the main mansion - before you even get to the Greenhouse. It is near the very beginning of entering the grounds. It can be found stuck vertically into a shortened, cut tree. My Agent47 got ticked off walking around the level backwards using Instinct off and on, looking for it until he finally found it (for 100% completion of the level):
I wanted to start a video series that was Random Gameplay Video Clips that I have collected over time. I started out calling it FLASHBACK, creating a logo for it and everything; but I wanted a way to archive/share them out a little bit faster/easier, rather than 'Featuring' them every time, so I came up with the concept of "Ludo Ludi".
It means "game" and "play" in Esperanto. The idea was to not label the gameplay clips or state what they are, in order to have other people enjoy the "surprise reminiscence" of the games. Viewers could try to guess what they are for fun or just enjoy them as part of a playlist where they didn't know what was coming next. For the most part it would be easy to guess them of course; if you played the game, you'll know what game it is and what class I played, etc.etc. But, I still thought it would be entertaining to have a bunch on a playlist of some sort, with no obvious names, having a transitory video (without logos/intros) of something loopable such as static - as though changing the channel on a television - in-between videos. With Youtube's Playlist and Randomize features, this can now be done and one can sit and reminisce on games of yesteryear with my video clips showing snippets of gaming moments recorded from a wide variety of games! Everyone with ADD/ADHD can just click the Next button on the playlist to skip to the next one if the current one isn't holding their interest! Everyone is a winner! With this in mind then, I now present one long paragraph and the first three installments of :
The Game Tips And More Blog's New Gameplay Video Series, "Ludo Ludi (Game Play)"
Although I am still working on a First Impressions for this game, I am just having waaay too much fun playing and testing out different settings on it. For those who don't know, Planetside 2 is a Free-To-Play MMOFPS (massively multiplayer online first person shooter) and is available on Steam for easy install and login.
Now, when I first tried playing the game, it sometimes got sluggish and choppy, even though my system isn't 'old' yet, with a 6-core AMD CPU and a Radeon HD 6870. So, being a computer technician, I got down to [having fun] troubleshooting..
The first thing I noticed is that larger fights lagged out the game more. Defending a little outpost with a dozen or so people running around, the game flew at 60fps; but in a large Bio-dome 3-faction battle with what must have been a hundred players tearing about, my frames per second dropped below 30 quite often.
What do you do in this case? That's right, lower the graphic settings. In an OPTIONS or SETTINGS menu (as it is in this game) you can usually find Video settings that you can lower or disable, to help the game perform better, by telling your videocard, "don't do this... or that". The funny thing is, putting it on Medium and then Low, made no difference whatsoever.
What does that mean? In case you didn't know, that means that it is not your videocard that is getting overworked. If running on Low settings with no special effects, the game is sluggish and turning everything up to High with all the bells and whistles, the game is just sluggy (yes I make up words), it is not your videocards' fault. Don't send it to it's room just yet.
What is happening then, is that somewhere else there is a limitation of some sort. Loading models/polygons/effects and other things as you move, the hard drive has to feed data to be displayed. My hard drive light wasn't going on much (I defragment often), so it must have been something else. My RAM tested out ok, so what's next? That's right, the CPU. Looking at the performance of my 'main-brain' processor as the game ran, showed it didn't really overuse it either though, only about 20-60% at most. It also didn't use more than about 1.5GB of RAM, so it must be running in 32-bit address space (if your head got 'swimmy' at that last couple sentences, it means the game didn't tire out my computer very much).
Now I don't want to point fingers without really knowing, but the testing suggests that there is possible CPU optimization problems, either within my system, or on the server systems (and possibly some data communication issues). After doing a little research into what I found was a large number of people having problems, I read that the developers have promised some sort of optimization patches over the next while. Great! I see already, whenever I load the game, that there are little hotfixes and patches coming down the pipe. A good sign of good treatment for the game, hopefully.
Looking around some more, I also found there was an 'Ultra' graphics setting in the Beta (I have been in many but I was not in this game's Beta phase) that was taken out. I assume this is to limit the work put onto players' systems and appeal to a wider audience of older hardware owners. However, it was still somewhat usable now, as long as you didn't mind doing some text editing of a settings file in the game's folder. Of course, I had to test it out!
What was essentially an uploaded text file with no Creditation (it just says Uploaded By: A Guest), what it contained were some settings such as turning up Draw Distance and Lighting Quality, by setting it to a higher number than the game normally does (the game's HIGH setting seems to be '3' and this text file was suggesting '5' in many places). Trying it out, some screenshots of the result are right here:
This wasn't taken with Ultra settings (I was running on High at the time), but
I liked this shot from the BioLab atrium and wanted to share it, it's my wallpaper at the moment:
The problem was, these Ultra settings didn't really help the lag/sluggish gameplay I was experiencing, although it made it look spectacular. Since the issue of the sluggishness seemed to possibly be tied to CPU optimizations, I further changed the settings on my own, lowering ones that taxed/used the CPU more - and lo' and behold, what I ended up with was a nice, smooth, excitement-adding(!) gameplay performance - from a batch of settings that I now want to share with everyone else!
The [what seems to be] original "Ultra Config" settings are found here: http://pastebin.com/XFkf8sYJ
^ That is a website where people can upload and share text files and you can simply save it as the text file it is and rename it UserOptions.ini and put it in your
<whatever drive steam is on>//ProgramFiles/Steam/steamapps/common/PlanetSide2
folder. (Make a backup copy of the original if you want)
Since those settings resulted in great-looking graphics, I wanted to keep most of it, but simply changed some of the more CPU-utilizing effects. My changes were all under the section Rendering (you can just copy and paste this 'Rendering' section over your 'Rendering' section in your UserOptions.ini if you want to):
* Update: we have put our own Pastebin text file of the entire UserOptions.ini up here (simply save it/rename it to UserOptions.ini): http://pastebin.com/6j9aHVav ** For even more performance while still looking nice overall, try inserting these settings, most of which release even more CPU demand from the game:
As you can see, most of the textures, complexity and other effects are up, but I lowered a few things like the terrain and shadows (these seemed to use the CPU quite a bit) and the draw distance, which still looks good at "2000". With these settings, I now had a much smoother, still-pretty result! Recording some gameplay as a test of both the new settings and showing the increase in performance, here is few couple minutes of playing as a Medic and Engineer with the settings above:
Recorded with Bandicam Licensed Version at 1920x1080p, 'Default' setting (MPEG-1 Quality 80 VBR) playing Planetside 2, a free-to-play MMOFPS
That was just a simple pasting of some short tests together, taken in a time of low light/at night and then during the daytime when I went and found some BioLab fighting (which is usually a site of sluggish performance for most people, I know it was for me) where there are many other soldiers around. It shows an example of the lighting, effects and clarity of the textures, both inside and outside (except for one or two that seemed to be 'stuck' at low resolution) that you can get with these Ultra settings - as well as the smoothness of gameplay that you can even have with my tweaks to them! If you want to make sure the game doesn't change them back (or you don't by accident), make the file Read-Only.
I'm not the greatest player, but I enjoy playing a Medic and Engineer, helping support my team. In the video, you get to see some Healing and Repairing and the Engineer's Turret that he can construct (and then only he can use it) and my Friendly Fire Warning I got using Claymores (if anyone on your team is too close when it goes off after detecting an enemy they get hurt too). You actually get three or four Warnings, but people were standing in front of my Clays a lot when they took out enemies and then you can see my shooting in the back a little in a firefight at the door there, as we all ran in and around it...don't worry it's not easy to get Weapon Locked. If you get a few warnings, just watch out for other people (sometimes you can't help what they do) or even move to a less busy area or just Repair and Heal people for a while.
Hopefully these tweaks will help some of you out there. It's sad to have such a great game with such a large-feeling scope of battle have so many people upset and frustrated that it's too laggy or sluggish and having those people give up or leave or think the game isn't good at all. Don't forget the promise/rumors of further tweaks and optimizations coming out soon, too. Since I can honestly say it helped my bad performance problem, I can honestly say that it should help you, if you are experiencing low fps in your gameplay - and it will look great! If anyone is still having sluggish gameplay, let me know and I can try tweaking the settings a little more to squeeze more out of it and see what happens. Whether you have to turn everything down, or if you can run it full blast, or with these tweaks, I hope you can enjoy the game eventually, and that these tweaks helped some of you at least a little bit.
Quote:
"The most simple guidance here is do not use third party programs which change the Planetside 2 gameplay in any way unless it has been specifically cleared by SOE.
The above does not apply to user initiated *.INI changes, those are allowed, although setting your own options incorrectly can result in bugs."
So they are mainly talking about hacks like aimbots, memory injectors like Cheat Engine, etc.
Thankfully, merely changing how it is displayed on your own screen (as we are doing here) is O.K. Just don't set any of the settings 'too high' or you can cause problems (they call them bugs) such as corrupted display, really really laggy gameplay, and so on (don't worry, you won't hurt your hardware, the game will just crash or something similar). Thanks for letting us tweak the video options, SOE!
NOTE: When experimenting with these changes, please remember that any problems arising from them should not be added to the already heavy load of Sony Online Entertainment's Technical Support Department. Please 'reset' any modifications by deleting the UserOptions.ini file and then after further troubleshooting, bring PS2 problems to the attention of SOE and their staff. Thanks
Also.. there seems to be a problem with long play sessions, the game gets more and more sluggish for many people. It has been suggested that is is possibly a Memory Leak problem and for now, to restart (the game and/or your system) after a long battle, so that the next one will possibly have less problems. Hopefully this isn't an issue for everyone.
[Update: Testing these settings with an NVIDIA GTX 560 Ti and then with two GTX 560 Ti's in SLI mode, there was near nil increase in performance when switching to SLI. It seems that the bottleneck truly is within the CPU optimizations.
As a sidenote, I was getting about 30fps on average with the NVIDIA cards in my system (even in SLI) and was getting about 40fps on average with the AMD/ATi card in the same system. This is normal however, as some games perform slightly better with one than the other (as the coders develop the game on one or the other/company optimizations/etc. Something could be said for AMD doing some optimizations between the videocard and the CPU when an AMD GPU is coupled with an AMD CPU in the same system, but as I do not work for the company, I do not know.. it does make sense however).]
Personal Notes/Opinions:
At the time of this posting, the game seems to have a lot of aliasing (in my opinion), even at 1080p or higher resolutions. If you want to enable AA, you can do so by forcing it in your videocard's Control Panel. FXAA (NVIDIA) and MLAA (Morphological, AMD/ATi) are both versions of post-processing that should work and be visible in the game [I tested it with AMD's MLAA, the difference is visible]. Note that these post-processing AA techniques may not be able to be captured in screenshots and game recordings (Fraps, Bandicam, Dxtory, Playclaw, etc) although the effects may be visible while playing the game [in some games processing such as SweetFX can be capped, some can't]. As per SOE's Official Statement and replies, use of SweetFX is NOT suggested as it is still in the category of utilities that can result in being banned: http://forums.station.sony.com/ps2/index.php?threads/important-client-modifications.54265/ http://forums.station.sony.com/ps2/...modifications-announcement.55674/#post-692380
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