Video recording ?'s

OK, this probably has been talked about a million times before but here goes:

1. Is there a way to convert .dem files to .avi or .mpg or anything useful?
2. If not, then what do I need to record gameplay videos?
3. What about editing software? I hear much talk about Vegas, any others?

Thanks in advance,

db

you can play your dem file with game up of course,
but you can also make the movie with the game up using the dem file.

i use "vcm9" windowsmediaplayer codec and while the game creates the movie
its places it in the same folder but as an avi.


EDIT: you need to "play your demo" then type in console
"startmovie thename avi" when the demo stops just type stop.
it takes awhile but dont be away from it to long, stick around.

There are extensive guides on this in the film section. I cant be arsed telling what little I know I am too drunk to care.
http://www.hl2dm-university.com/forum/p ... f=13&t=917

Good questions, I also want to know a quick and easy way of making .dems into .avi for the sake of uploading to youtube etc.

There's got to be an easy way, holy moly's way seems far too extensive!

FRAPS is the easiest way.


I use this movie cfg http://rapidshare.com/files/192072572/movie.zip Best to make a back up of your existing cfg because htis movie cfg executes maximum graphics settings and can change your bindings too.

Before recording make sure you use 2 speakers for your sound output in audio settings of HL2DM

Exec movie
shift+F2 load demo.

Press F11 to record screenshots F12 to stop.

Start virtualdub open the first screenshot (Vdub will find the rest)

CTRL+P to choose codec and adjust qaulity.

Audio> audio form other file... //navigate to the .wav.

CTRL+R change framerate to 30fps //it can be locked at 10 sometimes if you do not do this.

If you want you can use HOME and END keys to select start and end points of movie otherwise just encode the whole thing.

When happy with the settigns press F7 to save as.

thats how I made all the clips on my youtube account.
http://uk.youtube.com/user/k33fy

but the quality is not even close as to the way i do it

but it takes a long time thats the down side

I was merely pointing out that Fraps is the easiest way of all but like you say the quality can suffer.
The reason why it takes so long is becasue it is encoding the video at the same time as capturing it, if you chose uncompressed or even used the screenshot method the time it takes would be far less but at the cost of disc space.

I was merely pointing out that Fraps is the easiest way of all but like you say the quality can suffer.
The reason why it takes so long is becasue it is encoding the video at the same time as capturing it, if you chose uncompressed or even used the screenshot method the time it takes would be far less but at the cost of disc space.

yeah i know i wasnt trying to come off with sarcasm honest

but i havent fooled with the compression thingy please do tell

Thanks Keefy

but the quality is not even close as to the way i do it

but it takes a long time thats the down side

A long time to setup or a long time to encode? I don't mind waiting for it, just can't be arsed faffing around for an hour to convert a 5 minute clip

Thanks Keefy

but the quality is not even close as to the way i do it

but it takes a long time thats the down side

A long time to setup or a long time to encode? I don't mind waiting for it, just can't be arsed faffing around for an hour to convert a 5 minute clip

understood

well for me it normally records around 15fps so 5 mins game time is closer to 10 mins realtime but chances are your clips wont be that long.
Encoding depends on how high you set the quality and your processor, took my pc about 10 mins to encode a 1 minute clip. There was over 2,000 screenshots addign up to 11GB of course reducing your rresolution will also reduce the GB used.

well for me it normally records around 15fps so 5 mins game time is closer to 10 mins realtime but chances are your clips wont be that long.
Encoding depends on how high you set the quality and your processor, took my pc about 10 mins to encode a 1 minute clip. There was over 2,000 screenshots addign up to 11GB of course reducing your rresolution will also reduce the GB used.

gotcha thanks man!