It can be a lot of fun to share your game footage with others. This way you can share your unique experiences with family, friends and actually the whole world if you want to. There are many different ways to do this. You can record directly from your computer, but there is also the option to record console games. Each way has its own pros and cons. Learn to record your game footage here.
Various software and hardware options are discussed in this article. Tips are also given for recording your audio. This goes a bit further than making a screen video.
Record directly from your PC
Recording directly from your PC image is a relatively simple option. There are a number of programs that can help you with this. A program that has offered this option for over a decade is FRAPS.
FRAPS
FRAPS started out as a tool to take screenshots and run benchmarks. You can now also record your game footage with it. With the push of a button, you can capture game audio, microphone audio and image with this program.
Fraps has a free version and a paid version. The free version only allows you to record 30-second short video footage with a watermark. The paid version does not have these restrictions. This version costs 33 euros. When you have installed FRAPS you will see the following:
Before you can record your gameplay, you will first have to make some settings. Under the heading Movies you can adjust the settings before recording. First you choose a folder where you want to save the footage. below Folder to save movies in you choose a folder. FRAPS automatically inserts the captured image into C:\Fraps\Movies, but you can also create your own folder.
In addition, you choose the Video Capture Hotkey. Here you can set the button with which you start and stop your recording. This defaults to F9. You can also set here whether you want to record with or without sound (Sound Capture Settings) and choose at Video Capture Settings at how many frames per second you want to record. Most gameplay videos are played at 30 or 60 frames per second.
A disadvantage of FRAPS is that the recorded images take up a lot of space.
Open Broadcaster Software (OBS)
A free open-source variant for recording is available in the form of Open Broadcaster Software. In addition to recording images, this program is also suitable for live streaming to, for example, Twitch, YouTube and Facebook. You can download the program here. To record gameplay footage via OBS, follow these steps:
- 1. Select Settings Bottom left
- 2. Click Broadcast Settings
- 3. Select at File Path where you want to save your recording.
- 4. Click OK
- 5. Open the game you want to record and add it to sources
- 6. Click Start Recording
Video card software NVIDIA ShadowPlay and AMD Radeon ReLive
Besides the fact that you can record images of your games via different software, the two video card brands also offer a possibility. Both with Nvidia ShadowPlay and with the AMD Radeon variant ReLive you can record images via your video card driver. The advantage of using these programs is that they are optimized for your video card. This way you have the best possible image with the fewest performance problems. You can also live stream with both overlays and keep track of your frames per second. Both programs demand about 10% more from your computer in terms of performance.
NVIDIA Shadowplay
If you have an NVIDIA video card, you can record with ShadowPlay like this:
- - Start the NVIDIA GeForce Experience application on.
- - Click on the top right ShadowPlay
- - Click the power button on green
ShadowPlay automatically saves the last 5 minutes you have played. Of Alt+F10 save these 5 minutes. Via the manual mode you can manually determine when your recording starts and ends. The key combination for this function is Alt+F9. In addition, you can adjust some audio and video settings, such as the video quality and the recording of your microphone.
This process is the same with AMD Radeon ReLive. You also need to install and enable this. Then you record your image with a shortcut.
Record console games via Elgato or Roxio
Are you not in possession of a good gaming PC, but would you rather play on an Xbox One or Playstation 4? Then it is still quite possible to record your gaming experiences.
It is possible to record images via so-called capture devices. These are separate hardware products that you place between your console and laptop or desktop. This method also works for the PC by the way. You have both internal and external capture cards. You connect the internal one to your PC in a PCI-E slot. The external version can be used via USB and HDMI. Keep in mind: your laptop or computer must have some processing power to run the software and to record the image.
Recording via an Elgato capture card
For this article we will take capturing with an Elgato capture card on a Playstation 4 as an example.
So you first need a capture card. This is a device that you have to purchase separately. You have many different options. Elgato and Roxio are some well-known brands in this field. You first connect your Playstation 4 to your PC/laptop via HDMI-out and USB. Then connect the Elgato to your console via the HDMI-in. For example, the Elgato sends your game image via the Playstation 4 to your laptop or PC.
First of all, to record, turn off the HDCP setting on your Playstation 4. This is a protection against video and audio broadcasting. This is enabled by default on your PS4. Do the following on your Playstation 4 to disable this: Settings / System / Uncheck 'Enable HDCP'.
You need an external storage for recording images. This must be a laptop or desktop, because you must also be able to run software from the capture card. Here you can adjust settings for video quality and audio, for example, and start or stop the recording.
When you have installed the program you will see this:
Click on the red Record button at the bottom left to start recording.
Recording audio
Recording images is fun, but with your voice you can make it even more personal. There are several ways to do this.
When you record via PC, you can choose to immediately record your microphone via software such as FRAPS or ShadowPlay. This could be your headset's microphone. However, if you really want to record quality voice, we recommend that you choose a separate microphone.
In addition, there are plenty of audio programs available to record your voice. We recommend Audacity. This is a free sound editing program to edit and record sound files.
To record your voice on console, you can simply connect your microphone to your desktop or laptop that is connected to your console. This way you can record external audio via your microphone from here.
Tips:
- Make sure you have enough storage space to store the images.
- Adjust your images on the platform (Youtube, Twitch etc…)
- You may need to upgrade your computer to play and record at the same time
- Use editing software like Adobe Premier or Sony Vegas Pro to edit your images
