Just found out that Windows 10 comes with the ability to easily record game footage. For those who've had plans to record an Oolite video, if you have Windows 10 it's really easy. It all happens through the "Game Bar".
To open the Game Bar while playing a game, press Windows Key + G. It will pop up above the game you’re playing. If you press Windows Key + G while Windows thinks you aren’t playing a game, Windows will ask if you really want to open the game bar.
You may need to be playing the PC game in windowed mode to see the game bar, so try setting your game to windowed mode if you don’t see it.
The Game bar includes icons for quickly opening the Xbox app, controlling background recording, taking a screenshot, recording a gameplay video, and accessing settings.
Record a Gameplay Video
To record a video, open the Game Bar with Windows Key + G and then click the red record button. A timer will appear at the top-right corner of your game window while it’s recording.
To stop recording the window, bring up the Game Bar again and click the red stop button.
You can also start and stop recordings with Windows Key + Alt + R. If you’d like to hide or show the timer, press Windows Key + Alt + T. These are the default keyboard shortcuts — you can change them in the Xbox app.
Take a Game Screenshot
(I know Oolite already has a screenshot function, but just for completeness...)
Use the Game Bar to quickly take a screenshot by clicking the screenshot icon at the center of the game bar. Or, press Windows Key + Alt + Print Screen to take a screenshot of the current game.
Find Your Videos and Screenshots
Windows saves all videos you record and screenshots you capture to your user account’s Videos\Captures folder. Videos are saved as .mp4 files and screenshots are saved as .png files, each tagged with the game’s name and the date and time you captured them.
You can also access these in the Xbox app. Open the Xbox app from your Start menu and click the “Game DVR” icon at the left side of the app to access the Game DVR section. You’ll see a sorted list of all your captures screenshots and videos under “On this PC.” You can view and watch them from within the Xbox app.
Looking forward to seeing some new Oolite videos on Youtube!
For recording, Open Broadcaster Software is also a nice program (Haven't tried ezvid so I can't really compare). Lots of options, but I don't really know what they all do .
When I use it though, it seems like it impacts game performance quite a bit. Don't know if it's because I don't understand the the settings and haven't maximized its efficiency, or if the game I'm playing and recording it is pushing my computer too hard. It's also designed to be able to stream to whatever, so maybe that's affecting it too? (I doubt it though. I don't stream, so I'm not sure why that would affect my performance when I'm just recording locally.) OBS is still really neat and packed with features, which is surprising considering it's free. It's also available for Mac and Linux too, but it's missing some features compared to the Windows version.
Actually, forget my last post. I just tried it with Oolite and my frames dropped like a rock. I've had a positive experience with OBS but it crapped out here, probably 'cause I'm on a laptop and not a desktop, and that might not've happened otherwise. I don't have Oolite on my desktop so I can't test.
I think also made OBS's performance hit sound worse than it actually is. I usually loose about 5 frames, but my rig isn't really the best to start with, so it usually hits about 25-30 fps. When I record, I really notice those 5 frames as they're about a 20% decrease from my usual.
I just did a test capture on my Win10 machine using the built in software and it was surprisingly lightweight in terms of performance drag. I barely noticed the capture was happening.
My capture was in windowed mode actually, but the way the inbuilt capture works it only captures the window you select, so it looks like full screen when I play it back. I'll try a full screen session later this week.
OK, just did a test - you have to be in windowed mode for the Win10 video capture to work. I tried starting in windowed mode, starting the record, then switching to full screen, but the recording automatically stopped as soon as I changed. Having said that, you can make your window as big as you like and it still runs smooth.
OK, I thought it would work also in full screen, given that in Oolite for Windows full screen is just a different name for a fancy window. Is your selected full screen resolution the same as your native desktop resolution or different?
If you want to, can you try starting Oolite in full screen, then press WinKey + Alt + R (or T) to start recording? This way you should be able to avoid having to switch to full screen when the recording has already started.
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