Recording Age of Empires: Rise of Rome

2013-12-08 07:49:09 am

Totally rad

Both FRAPS and DXtory are unable to capture this game for me, so I can only seem to record it using OBS' monitor capture, but then the game gets stretched to 16:9 when it should be 4:3 (which can be fixed ex post), and it's not a lossless capture (or particularly well encoded). I used a 30k bitrate 60fps, Medium x264 preset and despite the game running at 1024x768 I recorded in my monitor's full resolution, since it gets stretched in full screen.

I'm running Windows 8 Pro (64 bit), and used the CD install of AoE (i.e. the Gold edition I bought 16 years ago).

Any ideas on how to get DXtory or FRAPS to work? I'm throwing in a sample recording of what it looks like now via an OBS recording. It doesn't look bad, but I reckon it could be better. https://www.dropbox.com/s/jprv50a0wiuh9f6/AVTestAoE1.avi (Make sure to download it and not use the Dropbox video player)

Thread title:

Onin

2013-12-08 08:27:13 am

I have no problem capturing the game using Fraps, version 3.2.3.

AdamAK

2013-12-08 09:31:12 am

Totally rad

I've tried various versions of FRAPS, including 3.5.99 and I can't even get the fps counter to show up in-game. The game runs flawlessly, so I really have no idea why it would suddenly not work with FRAPS or other software.

honorableJay

Edit history:

honorableJay: 2013-12-08 09:33:32 am

2013-12-08 09:32:54 am

The Dork Knight himself.

Maybe you need to keep Aero enabled for DXtory/Fraps to recognize and record the window? If that doesn't work I do have an alternate way of recording: grab SCFH and use that to grab your game window, and set Amarec to use SCFH as the video source and Amarec Stereo Mixer as the audio. This lets you record with any codec you want at very high quality.

A few things to note with this method:
1. When you set Amarec's video to SCFH, choose the resolution you plan on running the game at.
2. The capture framerate you'll have to set manually since all SCFH options are 30fps (anything you change it to will be accepted)
3. Amarec has to be loaded and SCFH has to be chosen before the SCFH control program will recognize Amarec
4. SCFH control program has to stay open the entire time you're recording
5. Amarec's preview window may not show what you're recording properly
6. It's possible to record in fullscreen but windowed mode is recommended

Maybe you need to keep Aero enabled for DXtory/Fraps to recognize and record the window? If that doesn't work I do have an alternate way of recording: grab [url=http://koitsu.wordpress.com/2009/09/12/how-to-install-and-use-scfh-dsf/]SCFH[/url] and use that to grab your game window, and set Amarec to use SCFH as the video source and Amarec Stereo Mixer as the audio. This lets you record with any codec you want at very high quality.

A few things to note with this method:
1. When you set Amarec's video to SCFH, choose the resolution you plan on running the game at.
2. The capture framerate you'll have to set manually since all SCFH options are 30fps (anything you change it to will be accepted)
3. Amarec has to be loaded and SCFH has to be chosen before the SCFH control program will recognize Amarec
4. SCFH control program has to stay open the entire time you're recording
5. Amarec's preview window may not show what you're recording properly
6. It's possible to record in fullscreen but windowed mode is recommended

Oblivion walker

2013-12-10 08:51:11 pm

I'm the best

honestly it seems to be working fine for me on 3.5.99 and the fraps counter is showing up on mine. i dont know whats wrong with your ones

and hello AdamAK

bangerra

2013-12-11 05:19:29 am

Quote from Oblivion walker:

honestly it seems to be working fine for me on 3.5.99 and the fraps counter is showing up on mine. i dont know whats wrong with your ones

and hello AdamAK

*and chat

Well.. AoE has been released in god knows how many forms, so it wouldn't surprise me if there are differences between releases.

Onin

Edit history:

Onin: 2013-12-11 06:54:19 am

2013-12-11 06:54:02 am

My version is from the old Collector's Edition that has been in circulation for over a decade. Good Guy Ubisoft. Wouldn't know whether there's any differences in the versions.

AdamAK

2013-12-12 11:12:41 am

Totally rad

Thanks for the suggestion, Jay. I'll give that SCFH a go. What would the A/V quality be like? Regarding Windows Aero (which is "Glass" in Win8?), I haven't even found a way to enable/disable it, so I guess it's enabled by default.
Another idea I want to try is to record using VirtualDub, and I think I'll just try to pirate a copy of the game to see if it's not some kind of incompatibility with my CD version that's causing issues. As far as I know, the only possible version difference would be to have AoE:RoR 1.0 instead of 1.0a, but that would be such an incredibly tiny difference.

honorableJay

2013-12-12 12:00:54 pm

The Dork Knight himself.

A/V quality is perfect with the SCFH + Amarec combo so long as you use a lossless codec.