Recording all sounds (you + squad + game effects)

**Exploding_Silver** · 07-21-2008, 05:34 PM

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The superior method
Fraps is the superior game recorder, it costs money but it makes everything really easy
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<< Click here for Fraps website >>

There is a trial version of fraps that can record up to 30 sec clips, so you can try before you buy !

Fraps makes game recording easy, very easy

I recommend you set it up as in the picture below,

Sound Capture Settings - records the game sounds & ingame voip voices & teamspeak voices, basically everything you hear while gaming
Record External Input - records your voip through your headset mic, I recommend an open mic as the only capture while pressing option can cause sound clipping on your own voice

With these settings fraps will record your voice along with the game sounds and squad voips etc, its that easy, test it for yourself !

General good advice on recording with fraps

Fraps reduces the FPS while gaming to the recording settings, so record at 45 or 50 FPS, this will probably mean half screen recording
Record footage on a separate hard drive from the one with windows and the game on, the bottleneck for recording footage is the hard drive and not the graphics card
Test recording with the only capture while pushing option, on my system I was getting clipping on the recording of my voice, it may be different for you, its worth a test
If recording with an open mic then be aware that (1) everything you say is recorded, that means everything off squad mic too (2) breathing is recorded, so move your mic lower down below your lips level
What fraps records for sound may not be what you hear while gaming. For example fraps tends to record game sound as much louder than voices. So do a few tests of different sound levels on different factors and find out what settings work for you. The rule of thumb is that the fraps footage should have all voices (yours & teamspeak & ingame voip) at the same volume and voices should be louder than the gunfire (and other game sounds) so that the voices can always be heard.
The sound factors that you can experiment with are;
- Windows audio options - mic boost
- Windows audio options - mic volume
- General desktop sound volume
- Teamspeak - settings / options / playback - voice volume adjustment
- In-game options - Game effects
- In-game options - Game music
- In-game options - Game voice over
- In-game options - voip transmit & receive
- In-game options - boost mic gain

Important Note
Playclaw is a serious contender to fraps for recording all voices, see here

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**Exploding_Silver** · 07-21-2008, 05:38 PM

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The lesser method
For the free recorders like xfire and wegame
Requires manually unmuting your mic and hearing the feedback hiss & your own voice while gaming
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My original thread on this is here

The problem: Free recorders allow you to record your mic or 'what you hear', so people find they can record gameplay with everything but their own voice !

The solution: You unmute your mic to feedback your own voice through your speakers/headphones and then the recorder will record your voice as well

Use this procedure to adjust your settings till you find the right levels

This procedure is best done if you can have a friend give you verbal feedback on your voip volume & quality throughout

In windows audio options there are 4 factors to manipulate, change a few factors and procede to step two
- Mic boost, probably best with it on ! eg on my machine it looks like this
- Mic volume, try at 80% ! eg on my machine it looks like this
- Mic mute, you must unmute this, this is critical for success ! eg on my machine it looks like this
- General sound volume, this is the least likely factor to change, in general just leave it at your day to day setting eg on my machine it looks like this
Goto the recorder you are using and change settings there, like sound capture settings, eg on my machine fraps looks like this
If you want teamspeak voices recorded as well, then goto settings / options / playback and change settings there
Perform a 'tap test', this is where you tap the end of your microphone to check that it is unmuted
Boot up the game and get to the main menu
Perform a 'tap test' to check that the game has not muted your mic, if so alt-tab and unmute it
Go into the game sound options and manipulate what's available there, eg these options may be
- Game effects, lower down, so that the human voices are louder
- Game music, lower right down so as not to get in the way of the game sounds or human voices
- Game voice over, lower right down as you want the human voices to be considerably loader than the pre-recorded game voices
- Enable voip = YES !!!!
- Transmit and receive volumes, usually set to 100%
- Boost mic gain, set as on, this usually links directly to the windows audio options
- Example of BF2142 sound options to manipulate here
Perform a 'tap test' to check that the game has not muted your mic, if so alt-tab and unmute it
Load a game map and get in a squad with a friend who is helping you test
Perform a 'tap test' to check that the game has not muted your mic, if so alt-tab and unmute it
Perform a mic check for ingame voip eg say "mic check" and friend responds on ingame voip "loud & clear"
Perform a mic check for teamspeak eg say "mic check" and friend responds "loud & clear"
Say to your friend "starting recording" and start recording the game with a program like fraps
As you are firing your machine gun perform a mic check for ingame voip eg say "mic check" and friend responds on ingame voip "loud & clear". You have just recorded your voice and your friends voice on ingame voip while the loudest and most common game sound is happening, eg your machine gun. If your friend says your voip is quieter or less clear then ask if it is still workable.
As you are firing your machine gun perform a mic check for teamspeak eg say "mic check" and friend responds on teamspeak "loud & clear". You have just recorded your voice and your friends voice on teamspeak while the loudest and most common game sound is happening, eg your machine gun. If your friend says your voip is quieter or less clear then ask if it is still workable.
Stop recording and say to your friend "ended recording, checking footage now"
Alt tab and go check the footage by playing it in windows media player
This is the crunch test, what does the footage sound like. Quite often people find that the various volumes of voices and game sounds are different on the footage than experienced ingame. For example I often found my game sounds like gunfire was much louder on the footage than I experienced ingame. On the footage different sounds should be of different volumes
- Loudest should be human voices, whether your voice or squad mates ingame voip or teamspeak, all voices should be equal volume as eachother and the loudest sounds on the footage, so that human voices can always be heard over gamesounds.
- Medium level, should be the game sounds like gunfire and grenades and explosions, these should all be quieter than the human voices
- And quietest of all should be game music and/or other application sounds like steam or xfire etc
Are the results good enough ? if not then go back to step 1, adjust things and test again. When setting up recording for a new game it often takes me several runs through this procedure over an hour, to tweek things just right and I know what I am doing !

When you have your settings just right, take screenprints of all the windows audio settings and game settings, so that you can easily & quickly reproduce it all in the future.
If you want to record a new game then run through the procedure above for that game too, they probably be close to other game settings, but don't assume that, you do need to test.

General advice

Some games will mute your microphone automatically so you may have to alt-tab to unmute it again, eg BF2142 mutes mic during map load. The tap test is the general method for knowing if the mic is unmuted.
The tap test sometimes is not reliable, although this is rare. I did have a few occasions where when recording BF2142 with wegame, the tap test failed, yet the footage captured had all voices.
Once I find good recording settings, then I just play at those settings all the time whether recording or not. My ears adjust to the different game effect volumes and then whenever i want to record I can alt-tab and unmute the mic, alt-tab back into the game, tap test and then I am off recording.
If your best settings give some static then in some games you can cover it up, eg in Bad Company 2 you can turn on 'War Tapes' in audio options.
When recording your own voice, your mic is constantly open, so anything you may normally say off mic (eg swearing!) are recorded on the footage, so discipline what you say when you are not pushing to talk. Also if your breathing is being recorded then physically move your mic away from your mouth, eg up by your nostels or down under your chin, your voice will still be picked up but your breathing will not.

**Exploding_Silver** · 09-06-2008, 03:03 PM

***************
EDIT
This post shows info about unmuting your mic, this worked and was useful to people 2008-2010
This info is not old and just buying fraps is the better choice now, see 1st post in this thread
***************

collected here are the best previous quotes for recording all sounds
that's you talking + squad talking + game sounds + teamspeak (if connected to TS)
the key is to unmute your mic so that your own voice is fed back through the speakers & recorded with everything else
this first post are for procedures that have worked on XP
these quotes refer to battlefield games, but the procedure would would with other games too

Originally Posted by Rock

ref BF2

With thanks to Exploding_silver on the write up

On the movies tab, set to 'Detect best sound input'

Click start/control panel/sounds and audio devices/advanced, to get the menu pictured below (assuming you have sound blaster card)
Under microphone untick 'mute'
If you can now hear your own voice when you talk then this procedure will work for you.
Your voice is now feading back through your speakers/headset and can be recorded by Fraps.
Normally Fraps records ingame sounds & other players talking but not your voice, however by hearing your voice as well, this enables Fraps to record it as well.
The volume of feedback is a key factor to tinker with latter to make sure your voice is load enough in-game and on video playback.

Under microphone click advanced. Make sure '+20Db boost' is ticked.
This is the same setting as 'Boost mic gain' in BF2 Options/audio menu

Inside BF2 options/audio menu, lower game volume effects to 20-40%.
This is a key factor to play with latter because in-game sounds are loader in the video then when ou hear them live in game.
If the setting was 100%, the video in-game sounds would be loader and drown out the voices recording

Originally Posted by Exploding_Silver

ref BF2

I was just re-writing this advice as a coincidence and here it is......Click here for sample movie of it working 1Mb

How to record all sounds with FRAPS

Download fraps at www.fraps.com
Test out this procedure on the free version of Fraps before buying.
The free version allows you to record 6 secs of video.
On the movies tab, there are two settings.
'What you hear' will record in game sounds, the voices of other people on your squad & voices on teamspeak BUT will not record anything you say
'Microphone' will record your voice BUT nothing else.
I wondered if there was a way to record all sounds so that I could record all voices when I was SLing.
I emailed fraps and they vaguely mentioned soundcard settings.
With the help of my friend Rock we worked out how to do it, with Sound Blaster cards (thats what we both have)

Click start/control panel/sounds and audio devices/advanced, to get the menu pictured below (assuming you have sound blaster card)
Under microphone untick 'mute'
If you can now hear your own voice when you talk then this procedure will work for you.
Your voice is now feading back through your speakers/headset and can be recorded by Fraps.
Normally Fraps records ingame sounds & other players talking but not your voice, however by hearing your voice as well, this enables Fraps to record it as well.
The volume of feedback is a key factor to tinker with latter to make sure your voice is load enough in-game and on video playback.

Under microphone click advanced. Make sure '+20Db boost' is ticked.
This is the same setting as 'Boost mic gain' in BF2 Options/audio menu

Inside BF2 options/audio menu, lower game volume effects to 20-40%.
This is a key factor to play with latter because in-game sounds are loader in the video then when ou hear them live in game.
If the setting was 100%, the video in-game sounds would be loader and drown out the voices recording.

What you hear in-game while playing is not quite what FRAPS records

You will nead to experiment with your settings so that in-game audio experience and
recorded movie audio experience are both OK. I suggest playing with these factors;

The microphone volume, inside the sound card menu (I suggest set at 50%)
Game volume effects, inside BF2 audio menu (I suggest 30%)
Game volume voice over, inside BF2 audio menu (I suggest 100%)
Output volume, in Teamspeak input/output settings (I suggest 40%)

Sample movie

This is the sample movie that Rock recorded to demonstrate all sounds being recorded, he then edited down and compressed with Windows movie maker.
Click here for sample movie 1Mb
Windows Movie Maker is a good editor and comes with Windows XP as standard, you can do all basic editing methods and it compresses as well !

Before you buy FRAPS consider these things

The price of a unlocked Fraps, its not cheap, unlocked fraps removes the 6 sec recording limit
That the above procedure works for you and you can record all sounds ie
1. In-game special effects
2. Squad mates talking
3. Your own voice talking
Recording fraps with the above settings halves your frame rate, Rock has a powerful computer and his frames go down from 100fps to 45, even 35 ! so you need a powerful enough computer that can cope with recording without destroying gameplay. The best test is to be assualt and when there are ten guys in close proximity deloy smoke and test recording FPS.
That the size of fraps movies in the raw recored format is massive, 20 mins of footage could be Gigabytes (tip defrag your hard drive first)

What can we do with this

Make a movie of in game squad chatter and post it to the wider BF2 community as a marketing tool for TG

Originally Posted by Exploding_Silver

ref 2142

I've got it all working now.

Video Settings
I've reduced my video settings to a level where I can record at 30fps & half size and still play fully without lag

Sound Settings
My 2142 sound settings are;
Effects = 15% (really quiet ingame but 3 times louder in video, just the way fraps works)
Voice Over IP
enable = YES
Transmit = 100%
Receive = 100%
Boost Mic Gain = YES
Microphone threshold test = 0%

Alt-Tabbing
Three factors add to causing alt-tab crashes
1) screen resolution of windows different from 2142
2) being in 2142 menus
3) being connected to server in 2142
This procedure eliminates two of these three factors, to minimise chance of crash

Tap test is where I tap the microphone with my finger tip and if I hear it in my mic then I know mute mic is off. tap test I have found that this is really useful at certain key stages.

Procedure that I find works well;

Set windows screen resolution to the same as 2142
Load up 2142 and goto options / audio
Alt-tab to windows desktop
Start / control panel / sounds & audio devices / volume / device volume advanced / options - properties - playback / microphone untick mute
Taptest in windows = mute is off
Alt-tab back into 2142 audio menu and taptest = mute is off
Connect to server
As map loads taptest = mute is off
Map loads click Done, select kit & join squad & spawn, tap test = mute is off
Get recording

The key here is to alt-tab and unmute mic in the audio menu and not while connected to server (credit to DirtyLude)

I have found that if I disconnect from server then connect to a server again then mic goes muted. I find it more reliable to work to just go to the start of the above procedure each time I want to connect to a server.

Editing & Publishing
I use for editing and rendering Windows Movie Maker that comes with windows XP as standard.
For uploading I use Fillzilla and my TG supporting members space. An alternative is youtube, I got some great footage last night on Gilbraltar that I intend to put on youtube.

Originally Posted by Exploding_Silver

ref 2142

The best way I find to reduce the risk is
1. load game goto options /audio
2. alttab & unmutr
3. alttab back in
4. goto advanced server search
5. filter for name tacticalgamer
6. refresh and refresh till you are sure there are 2 slots (if I join and get a server full message then my mic is muted again)
7. join

this procedure does not crash 90% time for me
alttab from inside a map crashes 30-40% time for me

but I do understand if you choose not to risk a crash

Originally Posted by Exploding_Silver

ref 2142

For setting up fraps there are two tests.

For sound;
Join talking squad, you and your squad mates talk and you fire your gun at same time. In the video all voices are equal volume and clarity and clearly audible over your gunfire.

For video;
Reduce settings by about 40% of normal. Record in a very busy environement with lots of effects, like berlin crossroads at the start of the map. If while recording your frames dont dip below 30 then youre good. I fps do die then reduce your graphic settings further and test again.

Originally Posted by sc1ence

ref 2142

after much fooling around, I finally have it working. I have on board sound from a very cheap mobo (the mobo came free with my vid card from EVGA).

using modified steps outlined by silver I am able to get it to work. screen res must be the same.
the mic will be muted when you join a server. so making sure it is on before you join does nothing. what alt tabbign out before you join does is make alt tab work when you are in game.

Here are the steps I follow

1. start game
2. alt tab out
3. alt tab back in
4. join server
5. alt tab out
6. using nvidia control panel I make the following settings:
6a. Unmute mic output and set it at 20% (one tic just above audable - 2 ticks up from bottom) - any higher and fraps only records awful noise like a speaker that is turned up WAYYY too loud.
6b. mic2 input with boost turned up to 100%
7. alt tab back in game
8. game volume at 5%
9. voip recieve at 30%
10 voip send at 100%
11. start recording

because I have cheap onboard sound, I get some static and hiss with my voice, but it is accaptable, not something I would want to play with alot, but it is fine for playing and recording.

you can test all of the above using the sharware version of fraps before plunking down the money.

Originally Posted by DirtyLude

ref 2142

You should be able to set the unmute by:

a) before you join a server, go to option -> audio
b) tab out and unmute
c) tab back in and select a your server to join.

The unmute will hold. This only works if you select a server from the server favorites list, though. If you join from the buddy list the audio will mute again.

This is the only reliable way I found of holding it unmuted. Once you have joined a server, the alt-tab is very flakey, even if you escape out to the menu.

The problem I am having and the reason I don't use it more often is that I get a good amount of high ptched hissing/whine when the mic is unmuted. I can reduce it by reducing the mic input gain, but I can't totally reduce it before losing mic volume. The hissing whine is high pitched and fairly quiet, but it gives me a headache after too long. It doesn't come over the recording, though.

EDIT: Just read your Alt-tab thread. I'll give that a try.

Originally Posted by sc1ence

ref 2142

leaving eax on during recording for my x-fi card introduces a minor (300-400 ms) sync problem with the audio. the audio lags behind teh video. not a big issue. but for movie recording, eax does not make much of a difference since the showcase is the teamwork, not the earcandy.

**Anospa** · 09-16-2008, 11:24 AM

I think that since the last patch, the voice-over also controls the volume of comm-rose communication, or is it still independent and the same volume of the in game sounds?

**Catman1975** · 10-05-2008, 02:00 AM

Alright I'm using Vista and I can't get it to record any ingame sounds.

Here is a screenshot of my sound control panel after I have joined a game in 2142 while I'm speaking. Vista doesn't appear to have muted my mic and I can still hear myself in my headphones.

I have some emails into Beepa, but so far, no luck. Am I looking in the wrong place for a muted mic?

**Anospa** · 10-05-2008, 07:17 PM

Well, on a side, note, switch yourself from headphones to 5.1. The X-Fi will simulate 5.1 on any headphones.

**Exploding_Silver** · 10-05-2008, 07:38 PM

Catman can you put up a pic of 'what you hear' options

with the settings you have tried
is the ingame experience as normal, ie you hear your squad + game sounds + you hear teamspeak, + squad can hear you and you can be heard on TS ???

in the fraps video, what is recorded sound wise, is it just your voice ?
if so then change the option in fraps to record from 'what you hear' instead of your mic, then feedback your voice into 'what your hear' by unmuting mic

make sense ?

please reply with pics and details

**Catman1975** · 10-05-2008, 09:53 PM

I'm pretty sure, I've tried all of the combinations in the video tab of FRAPs, attached is what Beepa suggested.

Here's a screenshot of their settings. I know I originally had it set to "Record what you hear" I'll shoot another screenshot of those settings a little later and post it up.

In game, I hear everything I did when I was using XP. I believe my squadmates and people in TS can actually hear me better than on my XP machine. When I'm talking I can hear myself through my headphones.

As for the sound that is recorded, I don't get anything. Here's a screenshot of my Vegas program and I've marked where the audio that I used to get with FRAPs, where it would show up in Sony Vegas.

One time I did get snipets of TS chatter in game, but I never get any in game noise.

Here is the video I got with the above settings

http://files.filefront.com/FRAPSwmv/.../fileinfo.html

**=Sarc=** · 10-05-2008, 10:53 PM

I find that it's hit and miss with video recording in Vista. The sound sometimes records properly in games but it's never perfect. Vietcong records the game sounds, even in 5.1, but the TS chatter doesn't record my own voice. In ArmA, nothing is recorded from the game but I managed to record sound from the mic.

I don't think it's perfect with Vista right now. The change in the sound architecture has really made things complicated for video recording. The video records fine but the audio isn't consistent.

**Catman1975** · 10-05-2008, 11:40 PM

OK FRAPS, Vista streaming Multichannel

corresponding video file

http://files.filefront.com/vistamult.../fileinfo.html

My only other option:

corresponding video file

http://files.filefront.com/windowsin.../fileinfo.html

After a recording these videos I have found out that when I "Push to Talk" in TS, all of my ingame sounds are coming through with my voice. I am using a headset with a build in microphone? Had this happening before with my XP computer with onboard sound, never once I installed the sound card. It also looks like FRAPs isn't recognizing my sound card because I don't have the "Record what U hear" option...hmmm. I know Rage is having the same problems that I am with Vista and he has uninstalled his onboard sound.

EDIT: Alright, TS is a factor in some way. I have dictation software on my computer, I just found out that if I have TS open, the dictation program gives me an error message if I try to record. Close TS and it works fine. I loaded up FRAPS and recorded another quick session. Well I could hear myself breathing and talking but other than that no in game sounds

**Catman1975** · 10-05-2008, 11:41 PM

Originally Posted by Anospa

Well, on a side, note, switch yourself from headphones to 5.1. The X-Fi will simulate 5.1 on any headphones.

Maybe I've got bigger problems then, when I switch from headphones to 5.1, when I do the channel test, I do not get any sound from the center or rear channel tests. I get simulated surround when I do the headphone test.

**TOPMO3** · 10-14-2008, 03:07 PM

Hey guys,

I'm having the same issue. I have Vista Ultimate 64bit. Creative Audigy card, Plantronics headset with mic, and I'm trying to record a playthrough of STALKER: Clear Sky with my voice over as I play. I'm trying to use fraps and I have it set to "What you hear". Now the problem is this...

When I select "What you Hear" as the default device in my audio options, it turns off my mic, so when I'm recording in Fraps, it'll only record the sounds of the game. Alternately, if I turn on Mic in the audio settings, it turns off my "What you hear", and only allows my Mic sounds to be recorder during STALKER. Basicaly it's only one or the other. I remember in XP you could set it to play back the mic sounds through the speakers, then your "What you hear" device would pick it up, in Vista, I can't find this work-around.

Anyone able to help???

TOPMO3

**Exploding_Silver** · 02-22-2009, 09:29 AM

Originally Posted by Charity Case

Hey guys,

I'm interested in using wegame to record some gameplay videos in BF2 (PR actually). Thing is, I'd really like to record both the in-game sound and my microphone. I've been able to record my mic by piping it through my headset, but this setup distorts my voice and forces me to listen to the playback. Is there some way I can record both in-game sounds and my mic without this obnoxious fix? My sound card is pretty cheap, a Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Value, so I'm concerned that it may prevent me from recording properly. Also wegame seems to force me to record through the "What U Hear" channel. I'm open to using other recording programs but I would prefer to use wegame as it has good compression and is easy to use.

Thanks

*Edit*

I just saw Silver's "Recording all sounds" thread. I should have read through that before I made this post.

The thing is, I did make a wegame video once where both my mic and sounds were recorded. I remember not having to pipe my microphone through my headset. I could be misremembering but, when I go back and watch the video, my voice is not distorted in it, which is what happens when pipe my mic through my headset.

*Edit #2*

I just ran a quick test and found that if I set my speaker settings to "Desktop Stereo Speakers" instead of "Stereo Headphones" it gets rid of all the annoying distortion.

.

**Megagoth1702** · 03-10-2009, 10:33 AM

NOTHING worked for me, NOTHING!

So I mailed FRAPS again...

This is not what they told me but I figured it out kinda...
I am German so probably the names of some things are not correct, but you will figure it out.
VISTA 64x Ultimate (Any Vista would work too):

-CLOSE ALL VOIP TOOLS & FRAPS
-go to your recording devices and select "Stereo Mix" as DEFAULT input, if you don't see it, right click and "show disabled devices" or something like that
-start FRAPS and as sound recording device choose "Windows Input", this will automatically choose the Stereo Mix
-now go to the recording devices again and select your MIC as DEFAULT input device, also make sure that it is NOT muted (tap-test it then)
-start your VOIP tools and stuff
-record!

All you have to figure out is game-volume regarding your MIC volume, but this should not be so hard because you can just tab in and out between BF2 and the input settings.

I hope it helps!

**Exploding_Silver** · 03-10-2009, 11:00 AM

I would advise you to
1) get settings that record BF2 game sounds (and should include other peoples voip)
then once that is working
2) load bF2 map, alt tab and unmute mic, tap test, alt-tab back into game, tap test again, record

I have XP and this is my setup of windows menu options and fraps

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