Recording RA2 and YR. Possible?

Parasite03

Hello everyon. I was stuck when I tried to record Red Alert 2. I was trying it for a looong time and I tried both Bandicam, Fraps, Camtasioa Sudio 7 and 8, HyperCam 2 and 3. I am using Windows 8.1. The only way I got programs to capture Red Alert 2 is by making itwindowed but that makes visual bugs and slows down the game. Can somebody, please, explain, how can I easily record RA2?

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RP · Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2014 9:43 pm Post subject:

Bandicam and Camtasia work perfectly fine.
Perhaps it's the shit-tier OS you're using (only one to blame their is the seller, or you if you put it on yourself).
Besides that, recording games isn't a 0.01% load on your CPU. If you are running an older computer, it'll lag more.

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Martin Killer · Missile Trooper **Joined**: 27 Nov 2005

Bandicam is good, better thing than Camtasia 8 for sure in terms of recording - videos are being processed/encoded much faster than with Camtasia. Anyway, with Bandicam you can't make "heavier" edits to your video while Camtasia has got such options.

^Rampastein · Rampastring **Joined**: 11 Oct 2008 **Location**: Gensokyo

What's the issue when you try to record it fullscreen?

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Parasite03 · Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2014 4:35 pm Post subject:

The issu is that no programs want to capture the program. If, for expample, Bandicam reconized Battlefield 4 or any other game as a DirectX/OpenGL application, an FPS counter appears and I can record, that doesn't have peen with Red Alert 2 for me.

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Bittah Commander · Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2014 4:55 pm Post subject:

Start Bandicam, click the Target button and then select 'Rectangle on a screen' ('DirectX/OpenGL window' is selected by default and this doesn't work for TS and RA2/YR). In the black bar that appears then you need to select 'Full screen' for the screen size.

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Parasite03 · Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2014 5:33 pm Post subject:

Whenever I select the screen with the screen select tool, it just records my desktop. And I guess it has something to do with the fact that I can't Atl+Tab the game. It just gives a black screen when reopened.

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RP · Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2014 6:04 pm Post subject:

You are one freaking genius, Parasite03...
Did you even read what Bittah said?
'Rectangle on a screen' =/= screen select tool
This has nothing to do with 'not understanding English'.

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Mental Omega 3.0 Mission creator - Creator of FinalOmega: APYR 3.0 Map Editor

/ppm/'s stupidity

Parasite03 · Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2014 6:18 pm Post subject:

The way I called that thing was clear enogh to undertand that that tool selects a rectangle on a screen. It's the damn same thing he meant. I am not that dumb.

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RP · Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2014 6:42 pm Post subject:

Alright, I'm not going to start a flame war here.
I'd be more than happy to explain you the difference one day, once your healthy again.
That concludes my help to you.

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Mental Omega 3.0 Mission creator - Creator of FinalOmega: APYR 3.0 Map Editor

/ppm/'s stupidity

Bittah Commander · Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2014 6:48 pm Post subject:

Just to make sure; did you do this?

1.png

Description:

Filesize:

15.35 KB

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6975 Time(s)

2.png

Description:

Filesize:

27.07 KB

Viewed:

6975 Time(s)

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Parasite03 · Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2014 7:06 pm Post subject:

Ye. I get that rectangle to select the full screen. When I finish the recording, I see the desktop and the sound from my mic. It just records plain desktop.

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Martin Killer · Missile Trooper **Joined**: 27 Nov 2005

Try with Camtasia then.

Parasite03 · Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2014 7:49 pm Post subject:

Camtasia does the same thing. Or it doesn't want to record the game, or I get desktop in my recording.

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OrangeNero · Commander **Joined**: 11 Jan 2012

I use HyperCam2 to record Tiberian Sun with Win7. Works well but saves only in .avi which ends up being huge in filesize if you want a good quality. I convert them to MP4 then.

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Parasite03 · Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2014 8:15 pm Post subject:

1. I do not weant o record Tiberian Sun. I want Red Alert 2.
2. I do not remember how to record RA2 with HyperCam 2 and to me it looks just as any other recording software and does the damn same thing.

EDIT

Please, stop telling things like: try to record it with this software! I told you which software I tried. I try to get help on how to record with them but not messages like Nero's or MK's.

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^Rampastein · Rampastring **Joined**: 11 Oct 2008 **Location**: Gensokyo

https://feedback.techsmith.com/techsmith/topics/games_not_recording_in_camtasia_8

According to that, disabling Aero (or more likely, the Desktop Window Manager technology behind it) could help. However, I don't know a way to disable DWM in Windows 8. 7 does it automatically when a program switches to fullscreen mode, but I'm not sure if 8 does the same thing. Probably not since recording doesn't work. Maybe you could try setting RA2's Game.exe to 16-bit color compatibility mode and see if it helps.

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Parasite03 · Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2014 10:04 pm Post subject:

16-bit color mode doesn't help. Windows 8 does not automatically switch off the DWM (I believe Windows with switcher off DWM is called an Aero Lite theme, it's present as a file in Windows 8 but needs to be separated and activated manually). Also, I'm not very sure if the thing is because of Aero or DWM but I'll try it, thanks.

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^Rampastein · Rampastring **Joined**: 11 Oct 2008 **Location**: Gensokyo

Alright, found a perfectly reliable source for it: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/hh848042%28v=vs.85%29.aspx

Quote:

In Windows 8, DWM desktop composition is a core operating system component and cannot be disabled.

Quote:

Unlike Windows 7, Windows 8 does not support color depth other than 32 bits per pixel. The user can no longer change the color depth of the system by using the control panel.

In addition, app developers cannot use APIs to change the color depth of the system. Windows 8 will detect apps that try to change the color depth of the system to less than 32 bits per pixel, and inform the user that an app compatibility shim must be applied to run the apps. After confirmation from the user, the app compatibility shim is applied and the shim virtualizes the low color mode to the app while keeping the system running at 32 bits per pixel.

So, it sounds like there's no way to disable DWM in Windows 8. If you want to record, you'll have to seek other solutions.

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Parasite03 · Posted: Sat Mar 15, 2014 10:43 am Post subject:

1. You can disable the DWM, it just make the "start" menu black. http://superuser.com/questions/581673/disable-desktop-composition-in-windows-8-force-it
2. Didn't look at that though 16-bit color compatibility mode should do a similar effect for the game.

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Martin Killer · Missile Trooper **Joined**: 27 Nov 2005

How the heck do you record a desktop beneath the game window when Camtasia records all the area selected by user?

Parasite03 · Posted: Sat Mar 15, 2014 5:41 pm Post subject:

I don't know how, but any program records the desktop in the selected area (in my case it's the whole screen) but not the game. Appareantly, they don't like the game.

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^Rampastein · Rampastring **Joined**: 11 Oct 2008 **Location**: Gensokyo

Martin Killer wrote:

How the heck do you record a desktop beneath the game window when Camtasia records all the area selected by user?

Maybe you should try actually reading the topic.. I already linked to this earlier:

https://feedback.techsmith.com/techsmith/topics/games_not_recording_in_camtasia_8

Quote:

When games go fullscreen, they take exclusive control over the video device. Usually in that situation, the method we use to record the screen doesn't work. The only workaround I know of at the moment is to put the game into windowed mode, and then record that window.

You could also try disabling the Aero color scheme. Aero does graphics redirection that can also cause the issue you are seeing.

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Martin Killer · Missile Trooper **Joined**: 27 Nov 2005

Full screen is also recorded by Camtasia when you select to record a full monitor area instead of program.

Parasite03 · Posted: Sat Mar 15, 2014 9:48 pm Post subject:

1. The problem is not just with Camtasia. And recording program does that.
2. I will try disabling Aero tomorrow (23:50 here) because that involves turning off the DWM and that makes do stuff I don't want to do atm.

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^Rampastein · Rampastring **Joined**: 11 Oct 2008 **Location**: Gensokyo

Martin Killer wrote:

Full screen is also recorded by Camtasia when you select to record a full monitor area instead of program.

Quote:

When games go fullscreen, they take exclusive control over the video device. Usually in that situation, the method we use to record the screen doesn't work....

..Aero does graphics redirection that can also cause the issue you are seeing.

Coming directly from a Camtasia developer. Shouldn't be too hard to understand.

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Martin Killer · Missile Trooper **Joined**: 27 Nov 2005

Strange, never had problems with Camtasia recording full screen with Aero, both with RA2 and MO 3.0. Start recording windowed game then or disable aero.

RP · Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2014 1:11 pm Post subject:

That's because you are on W7, W8 has no Aero but Metro.
I believe no-one (with a bit of skill) is unable to record on Windows 7.
Recording Yuri's Revenge on Windows 8 is very much possible, as I've tried earlier with success.

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Mental Omega 3.0 Mission creator - Creator of FinalOmega: APYR 3.0 Map Editor

/ppm/'s stupidity

Parasite03 · Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2014 2:11 pm Post subject:

1. As for the windowd game - I can't. When I make it windowed, the game slows down and starts looking incorrectly.
2. I am on Windows 8. RP ,windows 8 has Aero. Aero is not just the fancy windows borders. It has a bunch of other features that are present in W8. As I said before, I willtry disabling Aero.

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^Rampastein · Rampastring **Joined**: 11 Oct 2008 **Location**: Gensokyo

To be more precise:

1) Windows 7 has the optional Aero theme. For Aero to work, it requires DWM (Desktop Window Manager), which enables hardware acceleration of the desktop along with a lot of other improvements. When you run a fullscreen game on 7, DWM along with Aero is temporarily disabled and turned back on if you alt-tab or exit from the game. If you change to the Windows Classic theme, both DWM and Aero effects are turned off.

2) Windows 8 has no Aero theme, but the DWM component remains, this time it's just more integrated to the OS, for example the Start screen won't function at all with it disabled. In other words, disabling DWM makes the system more or less unusable.

3) As far as I can tell, it's not Aero but DWM performing the graphics redirection (which the Camtasia developer told about) that occasionally causes recording issues also on Windows 7. People have just got used to calling both Aero and DWM just "Aero", because in Windows 7 the Aero theme was strongly linked to the technology making the glassy theme possible.

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Parasite03 · Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2014 7:04 pm Post subject:

1. I did find a way to disable DWM so I'll try it later.
2. Windows 8 has no Aero theme but for some reason there is a hidden "Aero Lite" theme which looks very weird.

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