Curse

odly · Sep 12, 2006, 09:30 AM // 09:30

Hi I need some advice on using Fraps to capture Guildwars video's.
I have bought fraps and I'm somewhat dissapointed in the quality of my recordigns.

When I launch fraps I get FPS listings between 30 and 70 depending on the activity on the screen.
When I start the capturing it drops to 15 with a max of 25.

I'm running the game with full detail in 1280x1024 resolution.
I know thiw is above the setting of fraps for 'full resolution' so it switches to 'half resolution'.
Would it be better if I lowered my resolution ?
Would it be better if I removed anti aliassing, shadows and so on.
Which of these options are most demanding for the recording?
And which would reduce the beauty of the image the most if I removed them ?

Lots of questions as you see :-)
Here are the real ones :

Q1 :: Which graphical option do I need to disable and which settings of Fraps do I need to use to get the best quality of movies.

Q2 : I usualy play with ventrillo in the background. Fraps decided to record my conversations mixed in with the game sound. Is there a way to make fraps record only game-sound ?

Q3 : how do I find out what is the limiting factor for my fraps performance ? I wonder wether it is CPU speed /Memory availlability or HD speed or something I havent thought of. I have 1Gb ram and was thinking of installing a Ram disk for the recordings.

I know I'll need some testing and trial and error, but some guidelines would be highly appreciated.

Thanks for any help/tips received.

Bigger Redd · Sep 12, 2006, 10:15 AM // 10:15

It really depends on the version of Fraps that you have, and your computer specs.
The version I'm using (2.6.0) has a max resolution of 1024x768, then as you said, halves any larger resolutions... Fraps is incredibly hard disk intensive. So that will be your limiting factor.

About Vent-- if at all possible use a second pc to route your mic through for voice communication. I know of no other way to separate the audio recorded.

I think when I record a 20 second clip in 1024x768 max settings and it turns out to be 373MB, it has to be giving the disk a good spin or two.. There isn't much difference between settings in-game. 4x AA, advanced graphics options... Just make sure your video card can support it.