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- Mar 3, 2012
- Messages
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Table Of Contents
Introduction
What You Need
Setup and Use
Conclusion
Downloads
QuickTime:
Microsoft Windows Movie Maker:
- Introduction
- What this works on
- What You Need
- Setup and Use
- Conclusion
- Downloads
Introduction
- Since I've seen so many threads about making videos of source engine games, and each of those threads tell you to use Fraps for capturing the videos even if you use the demo system, I decided I'll make a tutorial for this. This tutorial will cover how to use the built-in, in-game, lagless video recorder, also known as Source-Recorder! It will also cover what you need to use this tool, how to use this too, and a small video comparing source-recorder to Fraps.
What this works on- Here's a list of games that this works on.
Half-Life 2 (All versions)
Counter-Strike: Source
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
Team-Fortress 2
Garry's Mod (All Versions)
Left 4 Dead (1 and 2)
Portal (1 and 2)
Any source engine mods
Pretty much any Valve game and any mod.
- Here's a list of games that this works on.
What You Need
- First of all, you will obviously need a source engine game. These games include, but are not limited to Counter-Strike: Source, Team Fortress 2, Half-Life 2 Deathmatch, Left 4 Dead, Portal, or any other Source Engine game.
You will also need to install the latest version of QuickTime, which can be found in the last section titled, "Downloads". I will not tell you how to install this because it should be self-explanatory.
Finally, you will need something to edit your rendered video in. If you do not have any downloaded software for video editing, just use Microsoft's Windows Movie Maker. If you do not have it, you can find the download in the "Downloads" section.
Setup and Use
- Now, you may be saying, "I already know how to record a demo, but how can I use that in a video?!" Simple answer, you can't directly use a demo file in a video editor. This is why I made this tutorial, so people don't use Fraps (Which gives bad quality) and do it the right way!
To begin using the built-in source-recorder, you must first record a demo.
This can be done while you are in a server with the following, simple console command:
For easier reference, I will be naming my demo "DemoA". You can name it whatever you want.
After you type that into your console and press enter, your game may freeze for a small period of time (Usually half of a second), then you will resume normal game play. While you are playing, the source-engine will automatically save all of your actions, as well as other player's actions, in a small .dem file (Also known as a demo file) which we will be using later. This is what your video will be. When you are finished with recording what you want, type the following, simple command into your console to stop recording:Code:record DemoA
Code:stop
Now, this is where it can become a bit tricky, which may be why most people fall back to using Fraps, but I still would rather use this for videos.
Disconnect from the server you are in, and when you arrive at your game's main menu, type the following into your console:
I will be naming my video VideoA for future reference.
What this command will do tell the source engine that you want to record a mode named VideoA in the H.264 format (Look that up if you don't know what it is).Code:startmovie VideoA h264
After you have done this, you will need to type the following into your console:
You can replace the framerate with whatever you want, but for the sake of ease-of-use, I'm going to leave it at 30.Code:sv_cheats 1;host_framerate 30
Once you have set the framerate, it's time to tell the source engine what to record! You will have to being playing the demo that you recorded earlier. In this case, DemoA. You can do this by typing the following command:
Code:playdemo DemoA
Now, once you have started playing the demo, you cannot do ANYTHING. And by that, I mean ANYTHING. Just... Go get a coffee or get lunch/dinner or do something. Just let your computer sit there and do what it has to do.
Once your game has finished playing through the demo (Or if you want to stop it sooner), open your console and type the following command:
This command is critical. If you do not use it, your movie file may become corrupt, or not even exist.Code:endmovie
Once it is done saving the video, you will end up in the main menu again. Once this happens, you MUST type the following command into the console:
If you do not use it, your movie file may become corrupt, or not even exist.Code:endmovie
Once you have completed all these steps, your entire demo file has been completely rendered and saved to VideoA.avi. You can find VideoA.avi in your game directory. IE: C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\crzymike103\counter-strike source\cstrike\
From here, if you have a video editor, you know what to do. I'm not going to explain how to edit videos or render them through a video editor. That's not what this tutorial is for.
Conclusion
- In conclusion, this is the BEST method for creating videos from the source engine. If you want proof, you can find a video at the end of this passage. If you have noticed any errors in this tutorial, please let me know and I will fix the error ASAP. I hope that everyone finds this tutorial useful in some way! Please note that this is not the only way to use source-recorder. There is also a demo smoother within it (Which is a lot more complicated, but lets save that for another tutorial). There is also more information on the source-recorder, which can be found here: https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Demo_Video_Creation
Proof that Source-Recorder is better than fraps
Fraps:
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zEFEjwkKN8[/ame]
Souce-Recorder:
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyKhtQL4GW8[/ame]
Make sure to watch both in HD
Downloads
QuickTime:
Microsoft Windows Movie Maker:
