Does anyone know of any good recording programs for games? I'm thinking of doing an LP, so I'd like to know some the options available. Thanks.

Xfire, and Fraps are my favorites. Xfire is completely free, and Fraps has a free watermarked version.

Be warned that these programs may cause a bit of lag.

If you're planning on recording an emulator (of course, with legal ROMs you've extracted yourself and have not distributed) I suggest Camtasia. The trial works for thirty days and I've had very few problems with it, even with my pathetic 2 GB of RAM.

If you are planning to record a more modern game, then yes, Fraps is the answer. Just make sure you have enough space to keep the videos and have enough memory to record at an acceptable framerate.

The free version of Fraps is limited to 30 secs of video capture. HyperCam2 is nice and free, has a watermark and Win7 isnt supported though.

Fusion wrote:If you're planning on recording an emulator (of course, with legal ROMs you've extracted yourself and have not distributed) I suggest Camtasia. The trial works for thirty days and I've had very few problems with it, even with my pathetic 2 GB of RAM.

If you are planning to record a more modern game, then yes, Fraps is the answer. Just make sure you have enough space to keep the videos and have enough memory to record at an acceptable framerate.

Does Steam count as an emulator? My computer is fairly high end, so I doubt there will be too many tech issues. And does the free version of Fraps really do nothing but capture 30 sec of video time?

Ping wrote:Does Steam count as an emulator?

Isn't Steam just a game downloading service? Nah, it's not an emulator. Emulators are usually those programs that allow you to play console games on consoles they weren't originally designed for.

I would suggest paying the $35 for the full version of Fraps; it is a great deal, I purchased my license three and a quarter years ago and I am still satisfied; however, prepare to have some lag while recording, although the videos do not contain lag.

If you're doing a game that is supported by either Steam ingame or Xfire ingame, I suggest using those programs' built-in recording software. It's relatively simple, gets the job done, and is pretty great quality. With Xfire, I think you can even record both the ingame sound AND your microphone at the same time. And, if you do a bit of digging in your file folders, you can find the video files for use in your favorite video editor such as Windows Movie Maker or what-have-you.

If it is NOT a game supported by an ingame program (IE Minecraft, game emulators, or older computer games), I would go with a program I found called "Debut Video Capture System"
http://www.nchsoftware.com/capture/index.html

The free version is NOT a trial version, so its free for however long you want to use it. It has NO watermark, and you can chosse your audio output between ingame sound and your voice. If you want to record your voice and the ingame sound at the same time, what I do is run Window's built in voice recorder and set Debut to record the ingame audio, then just sync up the two. It's pretty high quality, IMO.

Twilight_Warrior wrote:If you're doing a game that is supported by either Steam ingame or Xfire ingame, I suggest using those programs' built-in recording software. It's relatively simple, gets the job done, and is pretty great quality. With Xfire, I think you can even record both the ingame sound AND your microphone at the same time. And, if you do a bit of digging in your file folders, you can find the video files for use in your favorite video editor such as Windows Movie Maker or what-have-you.

If it is NOT a game supported by an ingame program (IE Minecraft, game emulators, or older computer games), I would go with a program I found called "Debut Video Capture System"
http://www.nchsoftware.com/capture/index.html

The free version is NOT a trial version, so its free for however long you want to use it. It has NO watermark, and you can chosse your audio output between ingame sound and your voice. If you want to record your voice and the ingame sound at the same time, what I do is run Window's built in voice recorder and set Debut to record the ingame audio, then just sync up the two. It's pretty high quality, IMO.

Thanks, just what I was looking for. I realize that this is a stupid question, but is a microphone required?

If you just want to record ingame sound, no, just look for the right audio chip for it to record. If you want to record your voice, though, yeah, you're gonna need a mic. Most laptops have a built in one with the webcam, but you'll pick up a lot of white noise from the machine itself such as cooling fans and keyboard strikes. You can pick up a decent USB headset for about $15, though.

Yeah, go with a headset mic, I had better experiences with them(less noise, closer to your mouth -> lower activation level -> doesnt record too much noise/other people/whatever) and you have a headset, too!

Problem with the headset is I don't think I'll use for much else, but I don't see the harm in getting one. Thanks for the info, guys. It was much appreciated.