FRAPS question

[ImADot]

I haven't used Fraps to record anything for a while.  One of my 500Gb HDD bricked and I haven't replaced it yet.  When I was recording in-game, I had it set to lock framrate at 30fps fullsize.  I run AH2 at 1920x1200.  When I start recording, my framerate would go from solid 60fps (v-synched) to a solid 30fps.  No real stutter or other wierdness.  I use the registered version of Fraps, but I don't think that would make any difference other than being able to record as long as I want or have HDD room for.  One thing that might make a big difference in performace is having a single drive dedicated as a scratch disk for raw recording.  I know it helped me.

Here are a couple of videos I recorded in-game using Fraps...
WWI Arena
Santa Hitech
New Strat/City
Corsair CV During New Graphics Beta

[TinmanX]

Cap, just for interests sake, are you getting your numbers from the <ctrl>I info or from the FRAPS counter?

I know on my box, I cap FRAPS at 30fps fullscreen and when I hit record in game FRAPS FPS display drops from 60 down to 30 but the in game FPS counter remains high 80's.

[CAP1]

whoops Laverne... I thought you had that worked out so I bailed on it.. can it wait till tomorrow?

yea, no problem.......thanks!

[CAP1]

Cap, just for interests sake, are you getting your numbers from the <ctrl>I info or from the FRAPS counter?

I know on my box, I cap FRAPS at 30fps fullscreen and when I hit record in game FRAPS FPS display drops from 60 down to 30 but the in game FPS counter remains high 80's.

when i hit the record key, they both drop together.....i didn't check off the "lock framerate" box in fraps though.......

[mechanic]

There is no solution that I know of. The only way to maintain a high FPS while recording in-game with fraps is to get a really good computer. You need high-end video card, lots of RAM and a good HDD.

[Dr_Death8]

As ImaDot pointed out, If you lock the framerate in Fraps and run at half the size, you do lose quality, but you do remove some of the stuttering. I bought Fraps years ago and play around with it from time to time. It works best with minimum planes in the immediate vicinity. As others have stated, it is a resource hog. The more objects you have for your computer to draw, the bigger the hit. Try some 1 v 1 in a corner of the DA or TA, or even flying around in the AvA. Unless you are worried about getting pretty ground objects and water in the videos, turn down as much of the game as you can, while maintaining the planes details. Less work for the computer to do.

I was disappointed about the frame rate hits to AH2 from Fraps, as I have used Fraps in a few first person shooters (Ghost Recon, Battlefield 2, COD) without any frame hits. Not sure what really is causing the major hits in AH2.

[ImADot]

I was disappointed about the frame rate hits to AH2 from Fraps, as I have used Fraps in a few first person shooters (Ghost Recon, Battlefield 2, COD) without any frame hits. Not sure what really is causing the major hits in AH2.

As I understand it, the major hit to AH2 versus those other games is the high CPU and GPU load of AH2.  It takes a lot of power to calculate and draw the realtime data for your plane and everyone else's in your area.  I don't think there's all that much data being crunched in most FPS games like you mentioned - although I'm no game programmer and don't play any other online game.

Cap's system was built by TilDeath and sounds like plenty of machine to do this Fraps thing.

[Dr_Death8]

That's understandable as the draw rate in AH2 is alot farther therefore much more needing to be drawn then the others. I would imagine there would be an improvement in Frame rate while running Fraps if you went from full vis distance to short range vis (SHT+F1 va SHT+F4) as well. Have to give it a try tonight. 

[dhyran]

done with fraps

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0Z5XF2p-kQ

[TinmanX]

I did some testing last night with FRAPS. Filmed some in game stuff at full graphics (I mean, everything maxed out) with the High-Res pack, CheechIR running along with Ventrilo and the in-game film recorder. I had the game v-synced but FRAPS un-tethered in full screen capture and managed an average of 80fps with highs of 120 and lows of 56 for over an hour.

Interestingly, I then went to the AHfilm and FRAPSed from that and hit some major FPS dips with lows of 28 and highs of 57, an average of around 42. This is with CheechIR and Ventrilo shut down!

[CAP1]

I did some testing last night with FRAPS. Filmed some in game stuff at full graphics (I mean, everything maxed out) with the High-Res pack, CheechIR running along with Ventrilo and the in-game film recorder. I had the game v-synced but FRAPS un-tethered in full screen capture and managed an average of 80fps with highs of 120 and lows of 56 for over an hour.

Interestingly, I then went to the AHfilm and FRAPSed from that and hit some major FPS dips with lows of 28 and highs of 57, an average of around 42. This is with CheechIR and Ventrilo shut down!

so you took no frame rate hits using fraps? what does "fraps untethered" mean? also, what is cheechir, and ventrilo? and finally, did you set it up any differently than i may be?
 i run full graphics, hires pack too......and as dot mentioned, i have one of tildeaths systems, and should handle it......this is why i think i'm missing something simple.

[TinmanX]

CheechIR is my homemade TrackIR. Ventrilo is a VOIP program we us for squad comms. By FRAPS untethered, I mean without locked frame rates at 30, 60, whatever.

Don't know the specs of your system but I have an overclocked, liquid cooled i7 930, 12gb RAM and a 1.5gb Nvidea GTX 470 with Windows 7 64bit.

[CAP1]

CheechIR is my homemade TrackIR. Ventrilo is a VOIP program we us for squad comms. By FRAPS untethered, I mean without locked frame rates at 30, 60, whatever.

Don't know the specs of your system but I have an overclocked, liquid cooled i7 930, 12gb RAM and a 1.5gb Nvidea GTX 470 with Windows 7 64bit.

that answers that question.......

i'm 3ghz clocked to 3.8(?)ghz, 4 gig of ram(ocz i think) all air cooled......i can get more exact specs when i get home......

[CAP1]

i think dot's suggestion may have helped for now.

 flying in weather last night in the ava, i was able to maintain 59-60 fps by having it record to a usb external hd. even near the ground it seemed ok, and in offline mode, it did the same when i flew near the b-24 with two fires comin from it.(this usually brought me to about 2 fps before with it running).

 i'm gonna pm td also, and see about upgrading my ram too.
thanks doods!!

[guncrasher]

I recorded a couple of flights today, removed some of the eye candy, like building/airplane shadows and something about water, lowered the detail a bit, plust range slider.  fps didnt go below 50 fps.  was also using the in game recorder and fraps with 60 fps forced at 1/2 size.  also moved the recording file to my second drive.

semp