At first, because of the phrasing of the error, I thought it might be Hardware, namely my GPU (Graphics Processing Unit, the Videocard); but since that was working fine with literally, all other games - playing in longer gaming sessions even [and I know for sure that I wasn't actually physically pulling out my videocard while playing ...I think] - I omitted that possibility (for now) and focused on a potential Software approach, which meant checking configuration...
Looking at the Settings for the game then, I tried reducing everything down to the Lowest Possible Settings; to reduce the load on the GPU and the load in the processing of the game itself. (With lowered settings, there would be less data being streamed from the game, less being extracted from the compressed/encrypted files of the game, less being calculated and drawn, less everything). If there was a problem with how game data was being handled, this might being it to light [note: an issue with integrity of the files would not be detected this way, this is more of a data handling troubleshooting step; integrity of the game files can usually be checked/verified with a Repair/Verify through the game client or if that doesn't help, a Reinstall of the game usually assures accurate game files (barring Drive/RAM file handling (Hardware) issues - which is another tangent/issue altogether, heh) - screenshot of where to run a Repair/Verify of the game files for BF1, below].
Example of the Location of where to Repair the game files in the Origin Game Client, showing Battlefield 1 in 2017
(Click to see Full Size)
Nope. Crash. Error [which I lost the clean Screenshot of, of course - but a version of it is in the Header for this posting - I will add a clear Screenshot of the error window to this post when I can capture it again, if it occurs]. Hmmm.... Since it was a DirectX error (and I am 93.33-repeating-percent-sure that I did not "remove the video card" while playing..), I tried one last thing. Instead of swapping out the GPU to try with something else (a GPU from a friend's PC, for example), which is approaching a Hardware type issue; I tried something else: I changed the DirectX level in the game from DirectX 12 to DirectX11 [this may not have been solely 'my idea' - although I am sure I would have eventually arrived at it as a troubleshooting step, I looked up this error and found many, many locations and sources of others stating they have this issue and encountered this error and I may have read it somewhere, for it to have come up - merely mentioning because I just don't want to take sole credit for something I may not have come up with entirely by myself...].
Example of where to 'Disable DirectX 12' and 'Enable DirectX 11' in the Video Settings, in Battlefield 1
[Hmm, this is more of a Workaround than a 'Fix' for this issue...]
(Click to see Full Size)
Success! I played a good couple of hours this way, with no crashing, closing, freezing, or errors at all - great! After trying it after re-opening the game, rebooting and playing some more, testing it the next day or two after as well, it seemed 'solidified'; changing the DirectX level/version from 12 to 11 seemed to 'solve' the issue [for me, for now].
I think this is more of a 'Workaround' than a 'Fix', since it doesn't solve the issue permanently... there is still something in the game engine or how it communicates with DirectX/Windows/theGPU, which is causing something that is not 'fixed' by this step; but, since it does work to get past the issue, I thought I would share, to help others that may be running into this seemingly-popular problem ('popular' judging from the queries I found about this issue on both the Battlelog forum and EA Support Forums, spanning a few years now..). I hope this works for you, dear reader, as it seems to have done, for me.
[Since this is not a true 'fix' (I do not know if this is permanent nor do I know the actual source/nature of the issue, therefore I cannot say this is a 'fix', imo); I will post this with the title "workaround"...]
Addendum:
Other helpful tips/steps that can possibly help, if the above step does not work (and some additional information), can be found in multiple places on the Battlefield and EA forums, such as this list by a helpful poster named STEEiL:
I've been getting back into playing some 'good'ol D2' the past week or so, ever since I noticed that there was a recent Ladder Reset while randomly logging in to my old Battle.Net characters. Most of my accounts were closed due to not logging in enough and those characters lost... but that's just a chance to Make New! Below, I show the changes that I noticed have occurred within the recent update and how things worked for me in Windows 10 - and I also show how to use Ladder-Only Runewords in your Single Player adventures - enjoy!
[Update: Note for Patch 1.14D at the end**]
[Update: Personal note also at † near end, certain Runewords are not working?] [Update 2017-01: Added short Tutorial near the bottom on how to show File Name Extensions (".txt") if needed]
Changes Seen in the 1.14 Patch
For those of you interested in playing (or never stopped playing) Diablo 2, you may have noticed there was both a Ladder Reset (on May 17th) and some new Patches (up to 1.14 now). Although I did not personally have any issues with these Updates, some people have, as can be seen if you browse the Support Forum for Diablo II (under "Classic Games" at BattleNet). Here though, I want to get into the changes that I noticed with these Patches, how the game worked in Windows 10 for me personally, and how Windows seems to handle the game files themselves now.
For example, the Save Games for Diablo2 are no longer kept within the Installation Directory (the folder where the game is installed to) - as of Patch 1.14 they are now located at:
C:\Users\< YOUR USER NAME >\Saved Games\Diablo II
The above location is now where your ".D2S" and ".MAP" files are kept (your Character's save game information) - and where we'll be going to get Ladder-Only Runewords working in Single Player mode in a bit. The above location assumes that C: is your main Windows drive/partition (where Windows is installed to, which is created and used automatically, by Default) and it should also be noted that your User Name or Login Name goes where it says "< YOUR USER NAME >" [obvious to some, I know, but not everyone knows these things at first].
While I am not a developer for Blizzard, looking at the effects this will have with Windows, I assume this was done to create a maintainable save game system for people upgrading from Windows 8.1 to Windows 10, as upgrading [or needing to reinstall the game itself] will now not affect your save games in any way and they can then still be found afterward by Diablo 2 (Single Player, etc) [by using this directory setup].
I have to give Kudos to Blizzard for coming back and Updating a 10+ year old game, to address Compatibility issues and 'streamline' how the game works with Windows (updating the installation files to do the things above - not to mention another fun ladder reset)!
Initially, I was running D2 directly from my 'old' location (from a previous Windows install) which was something like P:/ProgramFiles, etc and just clicking on the .EXE from there. I wanted to test out the Downloadable Installer from the BattleNet site [to do a Digital Installation, as opposed to a Disc Installation], to test how well it worked with Windows 10 and found that the Launcher didn't work at all for me... It showed "Play Diablo" and a button for "Uninstall", but clicking on these buttons did nothing...
At the time, these buttons did not work at all...
I looked around the BattleNet forii, but nothing was being said - at least about problems with the Installer doing this - so I did some Troubleshooting of my own and found that Diablo2 wasn't listed in the Programs and Features section ("Uninstall or Change a Program") of the Windows Control Panel. This was understandable, since I was running it from an old installation folder - one that Windows 10 didn't automatically 'know about', since installing 10 as a Dual-Boot with Windows 8.1 [on this system] - I hadn't gone through the Diablo2 Installation Process with Windows 10, at this point.
I assumed that the Installer was a little confused about things, as it was also using [it had created] the 'new Saved Games location' talked about above, but it didn't know where D2 was actually installed to. So, I went to the Battle.Net site and downloaded the latest version of the Installer for Diablo II - which can be obtained by logging in at the site and going to "Manage My Games (Account Management)" and then D2 can be found under "Classic Games", at the bottom of the game list.
Blizzard has it set up as a small file that you download a "launcher" which will then run and actually retrieve the rest of the game (the "installer"). After downloading the Launcher file and running it, it will do a longer download of the installation files (you tell it where to save them). Then, it will automatically run the Installer of the game itself [it did for me].
Now, after the game installer finishes, once you run the game proper, it will retrieve the latest Patch to install; but while attempting the upgrade, it may run into an issue where it will say:
Patching cannot be completed because the patch archive is corrupt.
and may state in detail later ERROR: unable to open archive 'D2DV_IX86_1xx_114d.mpq'
At least, this was the error message for me - where it would not continue the installation of the game (this was in Windows 10). I downloaded the installer a second time (just in case there was some corruption of the files during the download) and the message came up yet again. A quick trip to the Battle.Net Support Forum and a Search yielded no results ("your search has no matches"), so I did more Troubleshooting...
During this time, another issue that I ran into was a pop-up message (in Windows 10) saying:
WINDOWS PROTECTED YOUR PC Windows SmartScreen prevented an unrecognized app from starting. Running this app might put your PC at risk.
Now, although a very helpful and protective feature in Windows 10, I had just downloaded this installer directly from the BattleNet website, so I knew [well, was 99% sure] that the installer was 'ok', so I just clicked "Run Anyway"....
For those wondering, this error message, which stated "Unknown Publisher", is a protective layer in Windows, where Microsoft personally tests installers and programs, making sure they can run and are safe to use within Windows. When they can verify this, they will "Certify" that program or app. When they cannot do it (or haven't gotten around to it yet), this message will alert you, essentially saying "Hey, we haven't tested this ourselves yet, we don't know what this thing does to your system, but it looks like it alters stuff". Again, while this is actually a helpful measure, I know that I 'just' got the installer directly from BattleNet, so I chose to Run it Anyway. Depending on how you obtained your software/program/app, you may want to double-check things and/or download it in a more direct manner [just a Suggestion!].
The reason why I mention these Messages, is because these types of errors can usually be solved by doing one thing: running the application (in this case, the Downloader/Installer) in Administrator Mode (by Right-Clicking the .EXE that starts the program and choosing "Run as administrator").
This is because the first error message above suggests a "file access" problem (it couldn't alter the file it needed to change, which is usually a Permissions issue) and the second message was a protective, warning measure (which may appear anyway, regardless of running it in Administrator Mode).
The Diablo II Downloader 'doing it's thing' ...downloading
This means that for most, when the Downloader (which has a mostly Blue menu interface, shown just above) is finished retrieving the Installation files, it will then try to run the Installer itself (which has a mostly Red menu interface, shown just below) - and if neither of these are running in Administrator Mode (to allow full access permission to files it needs to work with), it may not be able to alter/change the files it needs to - and these messages may come up and you may not be able to continue installing the game.
The Diablo II Installer interface
One way around this issue (for example, with the "unable to open archive" message), is to interrupt this automated process, after the Downloader retrieves the installation files it needs. This means, that when the Downloader is finished (the 'mostly blue menu' will turn into a 'mostly red menu'), Exit the installer for now. Then, go to where you saved the installation files and find the file "Installer.exe", Right-Click it and choose "Run as administrator" to allow it Full Permissions to the files it needs to acess [the file may be just called "Installer" if you have the Default "Hide extensions for known file types" checkbox 'checked' in the View tab of the Folder Options of Windows, something which I personally prefer off, but it's fine to leave on].
Doing the above, both the Downloading and the actual Installation processes should now complete and D2 is now installed in your system again, ready to play - woot!
A few last points I would like to note:
There is no longer a need to run "D2VidTest.exe" anymore, as noted by Blizzard here.
In fact, looking into the installation folder for Diablo2 now (in Windows 10), it is not even present to run...
[Although I have heard of people having issues with specific hardware and needing to run it (threads of this can be seen in the Official Support Forum), I personally did not have to run it and did not have issues with installing and running the game in Windows 10 - therefore, my first Suggestion to those having problems, would be to re-download the newest version of the Installer from BattleNet - because it was with a very recent re-download of that (which has included recent Updates, etc) and running of the installer (with Administrator Permissions) that I had no issues arise... Hopefully this will be the same for you too]
World Drops seem to have been increased
I have made a few Ladder Characters already, and while playing through the world, I feel that the "world drops" [as opposed to "Boss Drops"] are improved... I have been seeing more Uniques, Gems, Runes and especially Set Pieces than I remember in earlier game versions. After playing through the game a few times (with newly-created characters through "Normal" mode), I already have Full Pieces of a few Low-Level Sets.
I may be wrong, but I think I remember Blizzard saying something to the effect that they were going to do this a while back, to decrease the need to "run bosses" - to increase the enjoyment of 'intended' gameplay - but also to discourage botting...
There are still bots (although less of them, it seems) and Spammers (advertising their websites) cluttering up screen after screen in public games.
One great command to run in the game, given by a helpful fellow player online [I wish I could remember your name, I did not get a Screenshot of it but I thank you wholeheartedly!] is the command:
/filtermsg TEXT
Using this command in the Chat of D2, when a bot comes in and spams your public game with their ads, simply pick a word and put it in the place of the TEXT in the above line. For example, in one instance, I chose the word "sale", so I typed the following command:
/filtermsg sale
Which had the result that, if ANYONE after that point said the word "sale" in their line of text, the game would simply not display that line of words to me. I chose this word at one point because I felt it was safe to assume that most 'normal/human' players running alongside me online would not say something with the word "sale" in it very often.
Repeating this process a few times, with various chosen words from the spam/ads, I now very rarely see any at all - with no need to "Squelch" anyone manually - and playing again recently has become a lot more enjoyable without all the text hiding up to half the screen!
I wish there were more advertising bots on BattleNet, sometimes I can see way too much of my screen...
Ladder-Only Runewords in Single Player
With the 1.14 Patch (which still has Subversions coming out to this day) your Saved Games will no longer be located in the folder that D2 was installed to, they will be under your Username/Login area, as stated near the top of this article. Just to reiterate it, your character information and saves are now located here:
C:\Users\< YOUR USER NAME >\Saved Games\Diablo II The above location assumes that C: is your main Windows drive/partition (where Windows is installed to, which is created and used automatically, by Default) and your Username/Login goes where it states <YOUR USER NAME>.
I mention it one more time because this is where we will be going to create some SubFolders (directories within directories) to get Ladder-Only Runewords working with Single Player mode!
I wrote an article last year about how do it right here at the blog, but that was in regards to previous versions of Diablo2. In 1.14, to get Ladder-Only Runewords working in Single Player, the same folders need to be created in the same way, just in a different location.
Here is how the working sub-folder structure will look within the new (1.14) Diablo II directory location noted above:
... Diablo II/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 (by navigating to the Diablo II folder and clicking the New Folder at the top, in the Ribbon, or Right-Clicking in the blank area of the folder and going New>Folder)
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:
(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)
[†† Edit: Just in case some of you don't feel comfortable going to an 'unknown site', I will list all of the text needed to copy/paste into this new Runes text file that we will create, at the bottom of this article - so it will all be available right in one spot!]
lastly, add "-direct" and "-txt" to the Shortcut Properties for the 'Diablo II.exe' file shortcut that starts up the game (the icon on the desktop background). 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, by the game)
That's it!
What should occur is, Diablo2 will use the Runeword information from that text file directly when it runs, allowing Runewords to now function within the Single Player game mode (even ones that are "Ladder Only")!
After "cubing-up" [upgrading via the Horadric Cube] to some new Runes that I did not have, so I can specifically test the procedure above with a "Ladder-Only Runeword", I attempted to create an Insight for my Merc - and it worked - woot!
This 'Ladder-Only Runeword' "Insight" was created Offline in Single Player mode,
via the instructions and the file locations above, in June of 2016
So, with all of the above information, hopefully you too can get D2 installed and up and running in Windows 10...
Once again, Kudos go to Blizzard [from me] for updating Diablo II to version 1.14 (with Subversions still coming in) and implementing compatibility with Windows 10 upgrading (from Windows 8.1, etc).
Although I personally found it completely trouble-free, some people have had technical issues with these processes (installing D2 then LOD in Windows 10 or keeping the game files while Upgrading to Windows 10). My first Suggestion in these cases, would be to re-download the newest version of the Installer from BattleNet - because it was with a recent re-download of that (which has more recent updates pre-set ["slipstreamed"] into it and the running of it (with Administrator Permissions) that I had no issues arise (other than the messages noted above).
Hopefully you can get it going without problems dear reader - and if you play online sometime - See You In The Game!
[†† Edit: For those who do not want to download anything or go to any unknown/other site to create a Runes.txt file for allowing use of Ladder-Only Runewords in Single Player - here is the full text that simply needs to be copy-pasted into an empty Runes.txt file, which you can create with Notepad by opening Notepad and pasting this text into it, saving it as a file named Runes.txt - don't forget to put it into the location described above!:
Be sure to use this re-done/updated version of the text above (it has been changed from utilizing commas) - thanks to Mr.Anonymous in the comments for mentioning it did not work, which is mostly my fault [and partially Blizzard's because they made 'some change' in the latest Patch where it no longer works] - I had opened the Text file as a spreadsheet early on and it turned it into a Comma-Delimited version (it inserted Commas to separate sections), sorry about that; but also there is another change in 1.14D - you no longer need to go through all those extra steps to re-locate the Subfolders and Runes.txt files! That's right, Blizzard essentially un-did the 'use the Username folder in your Windows installation' and put it back to 'use the Game Installation directory'.
So, simply follow the "Ladder-Only Runewords in Single Player" section above (creating the Data, Global and Excel folders) and put in the Runes.txt file (creating it if you need to) - all in the Game Installation Directory (wherever that may be, it does not have to be "the C: drive") - and that's it!
[There are now .BIN files that will be created in there, in 1.14d; don't worry, it will still work]
I have since re-tested the above 'code' and re-downloaded my own Pastebin source (to check that) and tested the steps for the Game Installation location - and it now works once again for Patch 1.14D [tested July 3rd, 2016] - thanks again Commenter below, for bringing this up to re-check it - and just to mention it in summary once more, there is no need to use the Windows Installation Username location, the Subfolders and Runes.txt file only need to be created within the Game Installation folder (wherever that may be). Enjoy!
Short Tutorial: How To Show File Name Extensions (if needed)
A helpful Anonymous person mentioned an issue they had with showing the File Name Extensions (the ".txt" talked about throughout this post) - and I did not even think of this when I was writing, to mention it! So, here is a Short Tutorial on how to show the File Name Extensions (shown in Windows 10) if it is needed:
To show the File Name Extensions (the three letters at the end of a file name), open Windows Explorer (now called File Explorer in Windows 10) by pressing WIN+E (Windows Key and E at the same time) or click on the small File Folder icon in the Taskbar (bottom bar on the Desktop screen).
If the Ribbon isn't showing (a bunch of options and settings for File Explorer), click on the downward-facing triangle mark (chevron) at the right edge of the File Explorer window. This will expand the Ribbon and show many options for Windows Explorer (shown below).
Next, click on the word VIEW to go to the View Tab of the Ribbon and put a checkmark in the checkbox labelled "File name extensions" (shown below).
Final steps in showing File Name Extensions (shown in Windows 10 File Explorer)
Click to see Full Size
That's it!
Now you should see some letters at the end of most common files, like .TXT for text files, .JPG or .PNG for some image/graphic files, and so on. A helpful Anonymous commentor on this post mentioned that if the Runes.txt file is not working for you properly, you may need to do this (turn on the File Name Extensions and see if the file is "Runes.txt" or "Runes.txt.txt", in which case, simply remove/delete/erase the last ".txt" and then Windows should be able to use the file as described herein). Thanks, Anonymous helper!
† [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, listed as "Runeword 31" in the list above, found about halfway down, 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 recently re-pasted (without commas) into the Code area above, 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 the methods in this article. I hope it works for you as well!]
[Update: Since the time of this posting, GameDVR has been Updated by Micrsoft and now offers 60fps Variable Framerate and other new options, such as recording resolutions higher than 720p. I will try to do another TestRun of GameDVR and these new-and-improved settings, Soon™]
Just after the Windows 10 Release, I upgraded the main OS[Operating System]on my PC to Win10 (from 8.1). Yes, I took the plunge... I was actually in the Beta for Windows 10 and have been double-booting with it, testing it off and on for months now, testing out mainly game compatibility for a future article here [Coming Soon™], and for the last few days, I have been trying out Windows' built-in game recording program to see if it could possibly replace third-party game recording applications such as MSI Afterburner, Bandicam, Dxtory and more. Today, presented with a more loosely-formatted 'TestRun', here is what I found...
Game DVR in The Xbox App
In Windows 10, many programs and applications have been created with a Tablet 'feel' to them, with a simplified interface and large 'buttons' to click on, commonly referred to as "Apps" [this concept was introduced and is carried over from Windows 8, but all of the 'regular' Windows programs, such as the Windows-Vista-era Control Panel are still there for Veteran Users]. The built-in "Game DVR" in Windows 10, that lets you record gameplay, is within the Xbox App. The Xbox App is very easy to find and open, as it is in the Default/First panel, when clicking on the Start button/area', shown below:
Game DVR is found in The Xbox App, shown here in the Start Menu of Windows 10.
Click to see Full Size.
The Xbox App can connect to your Xbox Live Account, keep tracks of Achievements, launch installed Games, Connect directly to your Xbox and more... but as this is a blog that talks [mainly] about games and gameplay recording, I'll focus on the Game DVR portion of the app [from the point of view of a PC user], for this article.
Game DVR Settings
Taking a look at the settings, you can enable and disable Game DVR entirely if needed (or for compatibility with other programs running or performance reasons) and within it you can set your own Keyboard Shortcuts - which may be needed for some games that won't recognize the Windows Key (with the Windows Logo on it, on Windows Keyboards, usually next to the ALT keys). The original Default Windows Shortcut Keys for the Game DVR cannot be changed or modified, but the ability to let you assign your own set of Shortcut Keys makes up for this. Here is what my assigned keybindings look like, below:
An example of the Keybindings found in Game DVR in Windows 10.
The "Your Shortcut" section allows for personalization of keybindings to your own preference.
Click to see Full Size.
Buffered Recording is a great inclusion in the Windows 10 Game DVR, where it is called "Record That" [recently changed to "Background Recording"††].
For those who aren't familiar with it, Buffered Recording is where the game recording application constantly records in the background ["working similar to a treadmill" as I like to tell others] where the same space (on the hard drive) is recorded over and over, over-writing itself (losing the previous data) constantly - until the user (you) stop the program, essentially telling the program "keep that last bit you just recorded on the treadmill" - where it will then save that last portion 'permanently' to a video file, keeping the last thing you saw on your screen (the last 30 Seconds, for instance, if it is configured to buffer record that amount of time). Then, Buffered Recording begins the process again, recording another 30 seconds and re-recording over that new portion, again and again, until it is 'saved' by the user. Seen in the past in the game recording program FRAPS (and today in many programs, such as Shadowplay, MSI's Afterburner, Open Broadcaster Software and more), it is a very useful feature to capture that 'bit of action that just happened' in your gaming adventures.
In the Screenshot of a section of the Game DVR app below, I have configured a setting of 30 Seconds of buffered recording. Since this buffered recording is running constantly once the app detects a 3D/accelerated program running, it can be configured to not run if you are using it on a Laptop and running on the Battery, by simply removing the Checkmarks in the Checkboxes present below. [It can also detect and record any 3D-accelerated interfaces, such as a web browser window or player within a webpage, but it does not seem to record the Windows Desktop in general, at the time of testing]
In this Updated Screenshot, it can be seen that the Buffered Recording capability of Game DVR is now called "Background Recording", changed from "Record That", found in previous builds of Windows 10. Background Recording can be Disabled or Restricted if needed. A buffering time of 30 Seconds is shown. Click to see Full Size.
Game DVR Quality Settings
As for the recording Quality settings, there are simply two options: Standard and High.
Game DVR recording quality settings have two options, Standard and High.
Both settings are configured as High in the above screenshot of the quality settings.
In my testing, it appears to have an effect mainly on the Bitrate used to record with, where the settings create an output, on average, with these recording bitrates:
Standard: ~10Mbps max. (VBR) [Variable Bit Rate, changes as needed] High: ~20Mbps max. (VBR) [Variable Bit Rate, changes as needed]
Indeed, according to the Microsoft site page for the Game DVR app, looking it up after some testing, these are the exact limitations of the two quality settings.
However, the Xbox site page also lists Resolutions to be limited by the setting - which it doesn't appear to be limited to [at least on the PC, in my testing] - for instance, I was able to record in 1080p even though I had selected the "Standard" recording Quality Setting (although the Bitrate was still limited within the file to about 10Mbps), whereas the Xbox website page for Game DVR lists "Standard" as recording in 720p. [It is possible, that the recording engine is 'upscaling' the footage for the recorded file, that is, recording at 720p 'internally', then resizing it to 1080p before it saves it into the recorded file output... but after looking at the recordings themselves, it does not appear to be the case (the level of detail maintained by the codec is the same in both Settings). Perhaps Microsoft may change these settings in the future.]
Game DVR Format and Frame Rate
The files created, upon superficial examination, appear to be MPEG-4 Part 10 (H.264/AVC) codec files, using VFR (Variable Frame Rate).
Note: this usage of VFR can potentially cause issues with importing these files into NLE video editing programs (Non-Linear Editing applications) as I wrote about in an earlier article, stating it is a reason that many are having problems editing and importing Shadowplay recordings, here at the blog.
Bandicam, another popular gameplay recording program, addressed this issue in a recent update to their application, by including an option to record in CFR (Constant Frame Rate), to alleviate this issue - I wrote a short post about that, here at the blog, as well.
[Note that not all video editing applications will have this issue - some programs, such as Cyberlink's PowerDirector and Corel's VideoStudio for example, do not seem to care what frame format type is imported into it as they both accept and edit VFR-created recordings without problem, in my testing. As well, I have tested importing Game DVR recordings with Sony's Vegas Movie Studio 13 and Editshare's Lightworks 12 (without Transcoding) and had no problems importing and editing the Game DVR clips, despite the clips having the VFR frame type format]
Using VFR, the recording output process changes the Framerate for the output file as needed, reducing the frames written into the file when less is changing on the screen/between frames, and increasing the amount of frames inserted into the output file when more is happening onscreen.
Looking at the recorded files that Game DVR produces, they seems to have an average output of 30fps [something many online are already speaking negatively about] - but that number increases up to 60fps at times, as needed/decided by the codec. For instance, the media information in one output file, a short Game DVR test recording of Battlefield: Hardline, shows the framerate data following:
Frame rate mode: Variable
Original frame rate: 29.970 fps
Minimum frame rate: 14.978 fps
Maximum frame rate: 60.241 fps
So, the VFR settings for Game DVR appear to be a Target Framerate of 29.97 frames per second (the NTSC standard, as I am currently in North America); but it increases it at times, up to about 60fps. 60 frames-per-second seems to be the upper limit, as the game itself was able to run at over 90fps when playing it (when it was recording this very file) - this can be seen in the screenshot below, in which I left the FPS (Frames Per Second) Overlay/indicator for Bandicam running in the game [Bandicam was not recording, it was merely running for the Overlay]:
An example of Game DVR Recording Quality and Performance, this frame was extracted from a recording that was utilizing the High settings of Game DVR. A lightly compressed JPEG image, it also shows the Quality maintained by Game DVR at this setting. While the recording was saved with a Variable Framerate within, it also shows the high Performance maintained by Game DVR, as the game itself is still running at over 90fps while recording, with Game DVR. Click to see Full Size.
To mention the Audio formatting used for a moment, the Audio within the Game DVR recorded file output appears to be a typical MPEG-4 Part 10 AAC format, at a 48kHz sampling rate and a 192kbps bitrate [which is in my opinion, a "good enough" BitRate for general audio recording use, especially when utilized as part of the Advanced Audio Coding format of MPEG-4 Part 10, which is capable of higher apparent quality than matching MPEG-1 Layer 3 ("MP3") BitRates]. The BitRate can be adjusted though, down to 96kbps, to reduce recording file sizes, if needed.
Game DVR Audio Recording Settings, showing the choices available at this time,
from 192kbps down to 96kbps to reduce recording file size, if needed.
Unfortunately, the Audio track appears to be limited to Stereo as of the time of this posting - in fact, if you are having problems with 'No Audio' in your Game DVR recordings, changing your Audio Device output to Stereo may alleviate the issue for you.
Steps to open your Audio Devices in Windows (and also change the Drivers installed for them, if needed as well) can be found in my previous post about Game DVR, here: http://gametipsandmore.blogspot.com/2015/08/quick-tip-part-2-of-2-no-audio-recorded.html
Game DVR and Game Compatibility
When testing Game DVR, it was not always possible to record every game, especially when the game was not running in 'Windowed Mode' - this recording app seems to more easily detect a game in Windowed Mode, at this time.
In Fullscreen Modes, many games were not detected at all. Even if a game was detected and it was possible to record with Game DVR, there were not always indicators or panels of information that showed up, to assist in the recording process or to notify that it was occurring.
This appears to be by design, after looking at the Xbox website for Game DVR - it states a warning, that: "...If a PC game is in full-screen mode, the Game bar will be blocked from opening. To use the Game bar or the shortcut keys, you’ll first need to adjust the game settings to open in Windowed mode. Once in this mode, press the Windows key + G to open the Game bar, and then select the checkbox 'Yes, this is a game'. You can now either play in Windowed mode or switch the settings back to full-screen mode, but once in full-screen mode you’ll have to rely on the Windows shortcut keys, as the Game bar will be blocked. In this mode, use the Windows key + Alt + G and Windows key + Alt + R sequences to create your recordings. The other keyboard shortcut combinations will not work in full-screen mode..."
(quoted from the Microsoft Game DVR website).
So, if you want to use Game DVR to record most games[not all, as it does not work with all games], you may have to run the game(s) in Windowed Mode, to increase compatibility. You can try running the game(s) in Fullscreen Mode, but I found during testing there may be no indication that the recording process is occurring or not. For some games (eg.Tomb Raider 2013), a red panel/indicator would be shown in the upper-right corner, for other games (eg. Battlefield 4), the game screen will slightly 'dim' in brightness, indicating that Game DVR has 'saved the last recording'.
I want to note here, that most games do not seem to even be detected by Game DVR if they are run in Fullscreen Mode. [In my opinion, this is a large negative against Game DVR, as most gamers are probably running their games in Fullscreen Mode, if the game is capable of it. Hopefully, this limitation of Game DVR will change in the future, via a patch or Hotfix from Microsoft - after all, other game recording programs can handle Fullscreen Modes (for example, Bandicam, Dxtory, MSI Afterburner (which is also completely free, like Game DVR) and many more)]
Since we are talking about 'negatives against Game DVR', I should continue by saying that there are a few options that are not configurable by the end User at all, leaving a 'restricted' feeling to the app [these options may change in their configurability in the future]. I will list two of them here:
The folder to save the Captures to cannot be changed.
If you don't like where the game is saving the recordings, too bad, it can't be changed. In a way, I see the point of this [from working in IT in the past], as the folder it is utilizing should experience no troubles, for the User of Game DVR, to create files in. It is in a location that should not conflict with other Security or Permission settings on a system. However, as an end User and Gamer, the inability to choose to save the recordings to another location (perhaps a larger drive, or a faster one) is frustrating, and I have no doubt this limitation may turn many away from Game DVR, for the time being.
The alerts (pop-ups) for the app cannot be changed.
When completing a recording with Game DVR, a pop-up may slide in from the bottom-right corner, telling you that it has saved the file. It may also do this for Screenshots taken by the app [I say "may" here, because in Fullscreen Modes, these indicators may not show up at all]. The problem is, this alert/popup cannot be disabled, or the location of where it shows up, changed. Perhaps I am 'spoiled' by other game recording programs; but almost all other utilities of this nature allow configuration of the Overlays or Notifications, even if it is just the colour of them, or what corner of the screen they are shown in. Again, I feel that this inability to change the location of the alert/popup [changing the opacity or colour of the popups would be nice, devs] will turn many away from Game DVR, at this time.
One last possible point against Game DVR I have found during testing is: at times it will give an error (when trying to capture some buffered recording, with the Record That†† feature) that states "Record That will not work" and to "Start it and try again" - even though the Record That function is Enabled (already started) and was just working previously. There is no other error or information, merely that it 'will not work'. There seems to be a lot of compatibility and detection issues with Game DVR, at this point in time... [Rushed to be released with the Windows 10 Release, perhaps?]
Game DVR Compatibility List
Below then, is a list of a handful of games that I have personally tested Game DVR with, up to as of the time of this posting. It should be noted that for this list, I tested mainly Fullscreen Modes of games that allowed it (as I thought most gamers would also run games that way). This was also done to highlight the low Fullscreen Detection occurrence with Game DVR. [Once again, Game DVR functionality may change in the future, with Updates and Patches from Microsoft, and these future changes may help alleviate many of the problems and incompatibilities it currently has - in fact, hopefully they will]
List of Some Games Tested with Game DVR (in Alphabetical Order)
Note that when running games in Fullscreen Mode, most will not show any indicator at all, when recording with Game DVR, even though it is functioning and recording the gameplay. Many games will still perform an audio indicator (Xbox alert type sound), even if there is no visual indicator shown. As well, some games will 'dim' the screen momentarily, to let you know the recording has been saved.
OK = Works in Fullscreen Mode (records gameplay, may have only audio indicator) DNW = Does Not Work (fully or at all)
APB Reloaded = DNW†*
Batman: Arkham City = DNW
Battlefield 4 = OK
Battlefield: Hardline = OK
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive = OK
Diablo II = DNW
Diablo III = OK (Default Shortcuts did not work, Custom ones did)
Grand Theft Auto IV (GTAIV) = OK
Guild Wars 2 = OK
**Hearthstone = OK
Hitman: Absolution (Steam) = OK
Hitman: Contracts (GOG) = DNW (the GameBar opens but cannot be interacted with)
Just Cause 2 = DNW
Left 4 Dead 2 = OK
Media Portal (Live TV Viewing Application) = OK
Minecraft = OK
Planestside 2 = OK
Plants vs. Zombies (Steam) = OK
Rollercoaster Tycoon 3: Platinum (Steam) = DNW
Street Fighter IV (SFIV), Tested with Benchmark = OK
The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim (TESV) = DNW
The Secret World = OK (possible problems, clips were cut short)
Tomb Raider (2013) = OK (possible problems, it would stop intermittently)
Torchlight (GOG) = DNW†*
Trove = DNW†*
WinTV (Live TV Viewing Application) = OK
World of Warcraft (WoW) = OK
**(Hearthstone) - I experienced an odd 'flickering' when using Game DVR - but this only occurred in Hearthstone and in Standard Quality recording mode with Hearthstone. The symptom itself seems similar to what would be experienced in GOP-related artifacting (the size of the Group Of Pictures) as, the entire video would 'flicker' or 'flash', about every 3 seconds, when played back. As the codec used by Game DVR is MPEG-4/h.264/AVC, I state that it could be related to the GOP, as the Default GOP setting for h.264/AVC is 250 or 300 frames (depending on the interface used) - which, recording at about 30fps, is about 3 seconds. I may mention this occurrence to Blizzard, as it did not appear in other games or utilities (for example, the Unigine Valley Benchmark produces no such artifact/effect). [I suggest only using High Quality recording mode to record Hearthstone with Game DVR for now, as a Workaround]
†* (Various games, not all were tested for this) - I noticed during testing, that most games that will not normally record in Fullscreen Mode with Game DVR will record and buffer record (which Game DVR calls "Record That"†† [which in my opinion should perhaps be called 'Catch That' or 'Keep That' or similar]), if the game is changed to 'Fullscreen Windowed Mode' [which also assists in ease of Multitasking (ALT+TABbing, etc)]. In this mode, it is not an 'exclusive' Fullscreen mode, but it will take up the entire area of the screen/desktop/etc, so that nothing else is seen but the game. In this mode, Game DVR works far more compatibly with many more games than with Exclusive Fullscreen Mode.
If your game that you want to record, isn't buffering or recording with Game DVR, try changing the in-game options to a 'Windowed Mode' type, such as "Fullscreen Windowed Mode" - it should then work with most games!
As can be seen above, the functionality for Fullscreen Mode did not work in many games. Some games showed a red timer in the upper-right corner (eg. Tomb Raider 2013), but most did not. I am 'guessing' here, but perhaps the current functioning of the indicator(s) in Game DVR is a result of two factors:
1) An attempt to not interfere with the 3D displaying of the game material, whether for distraction (Streaming, Recording, etc) or for Performance purposes, it is simply not allowed, for most games - Indeed, it is stated at the Game DVR information page, that in Fullscreen Mode, the visual cues will not be shown. The function of the restriction however, is not disclosed fully.
2) Incompatibility with most games - As most games did not show any visual indicator (but the majority did give an audio indication of a recording being saved, for those that Game DVR worked with), perhaps there was a lack of compatibility at this time, for those games. I do not doubt that perhaps there was not enough cooperation from some game companies and publishers, with Microsoft, to provide sufficient Code to include the interface into their games (especially in the light that, to some companies/publishers, Microsoft is a direct competitor, with some game licenses/franchises).
Whatever the reasons, my testing found that in Fullscreen Mode, the functioning of Game DVR is either 'invisible' (no indicators, or just audio indicators) or non-compatible (not working at all) in many games.
Game DVR Output Quality, Comparison of Settings
The concept of apparent quality is mainly subjective; that is, what one person perceives as "good quality", another may perceive as "bad quality" [there is the property of mathematical identicalness of quality, but that is not what I am referring to here, I am referring to the human perception of apparent quality in the visual realm]. In short, the recordings that Game DVR produces as output are subjectively of "Good" quality. Now, this is out of a ranking that I would have between relativistic phrases, decreasing in apparent Quality, as:
Great Good Okay Bad
If someone were to ask me if Game DVR gave 'low quality output' I would say, "No". However, if someone else were to ask me if Game DVR gave 'really nice high quality output', I would have to say "Not exactly, but it is Good". As I will show, the utilization of the MPEG-4/AVC codec is done quite well overall in the Game DVR utility, with h.264/AVC extended options apparently enabled, such as Deblocking (to reduce compression artifacts and the 'corruption' look of them), Variable Frame Rate (to assist in apparent smoothness of motion)and a Long GOP (large Group Of Pictures, a large amount of frames in between, to compress with) utilized, all higher functions of the MPEG-4 Part 10 H.264/AVC codec.
In this article, I am going to be looking at the overall visual quality of the recordings produced by Game DVR. In a future post, a Quality Test article, I am going to be pitting Game DVR output more directly against output produced by other game recording programs, such as Bandicam, Dxtory, Gaming Evolved (Raptr) and more - look for that article here at the blog, Soon™
As mentioned higher up in this article, Game DVR has two main Quality Settings: Standard and High, with each setting apparently limiting the overall BitRate of the produced file. For instance, analysis of recordings done with the "Standard" setting, finds that the BitRate 'tops out' at ~10Mbps, whereas recordings done with the "High" setting finds that the BitRate maximum ends at ~20Mbps. To compare the apparent visual quality of the two, we'll be looking at a few games, using side-by-side gameplay of each setting.
To begin though, I want to first show the effect of Deblocking, which Game DVR seems to utilize. Deblocking is a function within the MPEG-4 Part 10 (H.264/AVC) codec that Game DVR uses and it contributes to apparent quality of video material by 'softening' or 'blurring' edges of blocks that the screen is divided into, when the codec analyzes it, working towards 'hiding' artifacts of compression. Simply put, it will attempt make video "look better to human eyes" by 'softening' negatively-affected portions of the video (portions that are negatively-affected by lossy compression). As an example of this effect, take a look at the Screenshot below:
In the above Screenshot, the left side is an extracted frame from a GameDVR-produced recording, which appears to use Deblocking. The right side is an extracted still frame from a recording where Deblocking has been Disabled (from an application that does not have it Enabled, to be exact). Overall, the effect of the Deblocking filter in the H.264/AVC codec is quite apparent, where almost all of the edges of the "blocks" that the screen is divided into by the codec when compressing it (the "Macroblocking" artifacts of compression) are 'softened' by the filter, attempting to hide the negative effects of compression from human perception.
This reminds me of an example I compiled for an earlier article, where I talk more in-depth about H.264/AVC and the various settings of it. That example is just above this paragraph, but the links to those posts here at the blog are just below - seek them out for more information regarding x264, the Windows Interface for the H.264/AVC codec, along with Suggestions for the various settings of it, when it comes to recording gameplay:
Getting back to the Game DVR Settings offered of 'High' and 'Standard', let's take a look at Street Fighter IV again, to begin with. I use the Street Fighter IV Benchmark for a few reasons: one is, there is a good combination of fast-moving areas of the screen, in contrast to lower-motion areas, like the backgrounds. This creates a nice mix of material for the codec to analyze and attempt to compress, letting us see what the output will be. Below, is a still-frame comparison of the two settings, each with a frame that was extracted from their respective Game DVR recordings:
Game DVR High Settings and Standard Settings, compared using the Street Fighter IV Benchmark.
Click to see Full Size
In the frame I have chosen for each, there was a large amount of motion happening on the screen (a high amount of changes occurring in the video material). This frame is immediately after a large blue explosion in the center area ('magic' from each opponent clashing in the middle).
Overall, the Quality maintained by Game DVR is quite acceptable for both. In fact, the differences between the two settings may not be obvious at first glance, until one begins to scrutinize, then seeing some compression artifacts, especially in the area around Sakura's leg (the opponent on the right), and the area just above Ryu's head (the opponent on the left). In those spots, the Macroblocking (compression artifacts that look like 'little squares' or 'corruption') is more visible. The codec seems to handle the onscreen occurrence well though, as the background is not overly compressed ('smoothed out') and elements such as the ideograms on the statue can still be clearly seen.
Below, is a clip from the same game, using the same scene/area/fight shown above, where it can be seen that the negative effects of compression are even less visible when watching the video/recording itself:
Let's take a look at more complex game material [in contrast to the stylized/cartoon approach of SFIV], by taking a glance at the Unigine Heaven Benchmark.
Game DVR High Settings and Standard Settings, compared using the Unigine Heaven Benchmark. Click to see Full Size
In the frames above, there is not a lot 'going on' as far as we, as humans, may think about it; but there is a lot changing on the screen at one time, at least as far as the codec is concerned. As the camera flies down the preset path in the benchmark, everything around it and in view is slowly changing, from sky to stone to wood, and so on. The codec analyzes this and decides what it thinks is more important to human perception, and either tries to maintain clarity (Quality) or compresses it further, allowing the area to lose detail (mathematically lossy compression).
Overall again, the Quality maintained by Game DVR is acceptable for both, but in contrast to the above example, there are slightly more differences and these are slightly more obvious (for example, the foreground center area, where the pathway stones are, and to a lesser extent, the areas around the windows in the house farther back). In these spots, the Macroblocking (compression artifacts that look like 'little squares' or 'corruption') is more visible. The 'High' side (left side) is quite capable of handling the level of detail, losing very little; while the 'Standard' setting (right side) is simply limited by a slightly-too-low of a Bitrate, where the codec must make 'the hard decisions' and allow a loss of detail in areas it thinks will not be missed (such as the tuft of grass to the left of the pathway in the shadows).
Below, is a clip from the same benchmark, where it can be seen that, again, the negative effects of compression are less visible when watching the full-motion video/recording itself:
Lastly, let's look at another modern source, the game Hitman: Absolution and how Game DVR handles the high amount of small details and contrasting light and dark areas, by running the Hitman: Absolution Benchmark.
Game DVR High Settings and Standard Settings, compared using the Hitman: Absolution Benchmark. Click to see Full Size
In the above screenshot comparison, I have again taken two still-frames from each recording produced by Game DVR for each setting. With the more complex material used in this game, a larger difference in Quality can be seen between the two recording settings, as the 'Standard' (right) side has far more Macroblocking occurring, despite the Deblocking capability of Game DVR's usage of the MPEG-4/AVC codec. In its analysis, the codec has decided that the brighter, complex pillar designs are 'more important to the human eye' than the darker details of the stones that line the bottom of the gazebo in the plaza. This is common for video compression codecs and how they handle video material, it is just that it has resulted in a high amount of loss in the details of the stones and surrounding darker/flatter areas. The fog and shadowed area between the piles of boxes (bottom center-left area) has also suffered from the decisions.
These trade-offs are to be expected however, and it should be remembered that the codec was in this case also purposely limited to only about 10Mbps (which is less than half the Bitrate of a BluRay movie) and forced to record in 1080p (Full HD). At the same time then, it should also be noted at how well Game DVR did handle this complex scene with its 'High' setting (left half). It seems that for gaming at around 1080p, the High setting is quite capable of holding it's own, while for lower resolutions (1366x768, 720p HD, etc) the 'Standard' setting should be acceptable and produce even more acceptable/smaller filesizes[filesizes are examined more in an upcoming post, a Quality Test of Game DVR, including direct comparisons to output quality from other game recording programs such as Bandicam, Dxtory, AMD Gaming Evolved (Raptr) and more - Coming Soon™].
Below, is the full-motion comparison of the two settings, both recordings of the Hitman: Absolution Benchmark done by Game DVR, showing how, while the 'Standard settings' side suffered at this Resolution by it's limited Bitrate, the 'High settings' side shows that Game DVR is quite a capable game capturing utility:
One last caveat, with regards to Quality and recording with Game DVR [as of the time of this post] - I was running into an intermittent occurrence where the produced recording was 'corrupted' in some manner, even though there was no problem with the game that was running, or any other indication that something was amiss while recording the gameplay - the end result/recording merely came out with this corruption going on, a couple examples of it, I will show below:
Example of the 'corruption' that seems to occur at random, when recording with Game DVR at this time. I have highlighted some of the contrasting areas in green rectangles to make them more obvious. Click to see Full Size.
Above, is a full-motion example of the intermittent video corruption that occurs with Game DVR at this time, shown in a short excerpt from the Battlefield: Hardline Single Player Campaign.
Game DVR Final Result
As a 'Final Result' then [in this more-loosely formatted TestRun], the "free" (included in Windows 10) game recording app Game DVR would be a very viable alternative to other game recording programs (such as Bandicam, Dxtory, Raptr, OBS, MSI Afterburner and more) - but as it stands at the time of this writing, while it does work with most games, it will not work in 'Fullscreen' Mode in lots of cases (although this issue can be alleviated in some cases by going into a 'Windowed Fullscreen' Mode). As well, there is currently a seemingly-random problem with video corruption, as seen in the examples just above - and this may scare away many, many people from Game DVR, for now.
There is little configurability with the Settings (for Quality, there is only 'Standard' and 'High'), but the Default formats/settings seem acceptable for most gaming purposes, seeming quite capable to handle most game material, especially with the 'High' Quality Setting. As I always state, do a few short tests of your favourite games, to see if the Windows 10 Game DVR is right for you, providing a level of Quality for game recording that you find acceptable for the light performance 'Hit/Lag' Game DVR produces (it reduces performance very little, as it utilizes GPU-acceleration and modern codecs for high performance).
[I did not test negative game performance/effect of Game DVR at this time, but may return to this post and add that information in the near future... Overall for now, know that the performance hit for Game DVR is very little, as it uses the GPU more than the main CPU of the system. As with other programs such as Shadowplay, AMD's Gaming Evolved (Raptr), Mirillis's ACTION, Playclaw 5 and other utilities that can utilize GPU-accelerated recording, doing so in this way produces only a few frames of 'lag' in performance.]
So, whether you try it today or wait for a few Updates to see if there are improvements to compatibility (and possibly configurability and fixing the corruption issue), whichever you choose, I hope that you have found the information herein possibly contributing to your decision. For the most part, Game DVR worked pretty well. Have fun trying it out and recording with it - and look for an upcoming Quality Test article, where I compare Game DVR output quality directly against other game recording programs, such as Bandicam, Dxtory, ACTION!, Playclaw 5, Gaming Evolved (Raptr) and more... Coming Soon™!
See You In The Games!
Personal Version/Opinion Add-On/DLC: Myself, although I like the Buffered Recording functionality [something that Shadowplay, MSI Afterburner, Mirillis' ACTION!, Playclaw 5, AMD Gaming Evolved (Raptr), OBS and others offer, but something that Dxtory, Bandicam and others do not provide at this time], there are many games that simply do not work with Game DVR (many do not work at all, even in Windowed Mode) and this will no doubt keep many away from it. If they can get to patching Game DVR and increase the compatibility and number of games that it will work with, I see it as a viable competitor then, to most game recording applications, especially since it "is free" (it comes with Windows), has "good enough" Quality, and offers Buffered Recording [and in my testing for this article, I found it is importable and editable with video editing applications such as Sony's Vegas Movie Studio and Editshare's Lightworks (even without Transcoding)]. For the Audio, 192kbps AAC is a 'decent' starting point for Quality and most programs that handle AAC audio these days Default to 160kbps or 192kbps. Back when MPEG-2 was the most popular codec being used over the Intertubes (and DVDs), I always preferred 256kbps bitrate or higher for the Audio (I have somewhat sensitive hearing - but do not consider myself an Extremely-Sensitive-Hearing-Audiophile) and AAC 'sounds like' it carries more fidelity than MP2/MP3 audio at the same bitrate [part of its mathematical functioning], so I concur with - and was pleased to find - the 192kbps AAC setting used as the Default within Game DVR. It is unfortunate that a Target Framerate of ~30fps (with an apparent maximum of ~60fps) is a limitation within Game DVR, as when watching recorded clips, it is somewhat obvious that the framerate was not the same as the game [when the game itself can be run at 60fps or higher, there is an odd 'choppy-ness' to the playback of the video that was not present in the game itself - the video comes out not as 'smooth' feeling, to watch (especially when slowed down or played at half-speed for a "slow motion" effect)]. Perhaps this limitation was done in the name of performance, as it would take less system resources to save/buffer video during gameplay, using this lower framerate (there are literally less frames per second to process/save/etc). Perhaps this limitation was done in the name of compatibility (for conversion to hardware/mobile players and Consoles). Perhaps this limitation may change in the future, as well. Overall though, I was pleasantly surprised with the Performance and Quality of the Game DVR recording utility in Windows 10. Being "free", if it can gain more compatibility with a larger number of games (and get that 'random corruption problem' fixed), I see it catching on with many gamers that make the eventual switch/upgrade to Windows 10. Have fun with it - and See You In The Games!
††Note/Update 1: "Record That", the buffered recording capability of Game DVR has, since this writing began, changed its' name to "Background Recording" and may change back again in the future
Update 2: As of 2015-11, Game DVR seems to not be working [for me]... at all. There has been much negative Feedback (the App) about it and many threads already started in the Official Microsoft Forums for this, and although many are, not everyone is experiencing this trouble. I just wanted to make a quick note here that I am, so you may know, dear reader, if you are experiencing this: "It's Not Just You™"...
Update 3: As of 2016-05, I have only played with GameDVR for a very short time, but in the few short tests I did (booting into Windows 10 on a dual boot system), it seems to be working again, if still having some minor problems with Game Detection, etc.
