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Recording gameplay, saving cherished shots

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Tue, Dec 12 2023 1:15 AM (16 replies)
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  • MioKontic
    4,654 Posts
    Sat, Dec 2 2023 10:03 AM

    Yesterday (Friday) I found out in another thread that Windows 10 had its own built-in recording software; so long as you have it correctly set up in your PC's Settings (it isn't difficult to do, I can explain if needed) you can record a shot you just played.  In fact, you can record up to the last 10 minutes.  Although not as good as WGT's own replay function from the Flash days because you don't have all the different cameras, it is definitely a good substitute as at the moment we have nothing else.  As well as saving videos of shots you've just played, you can also record as you play, so you can record a game that might potentially be a good one.

    As well as the built-in recording software, Windows 10 also comes with video editing software.  When I opened it up yesterday I got a message that it was now obsolete and that I should download the free substitute software called Microsoft Clipchamp, so I did.

    As well as WGT, I play a few other online games too.  One game that I played many years ago was PoolCompsOnline, an incredibly realistic online pool game.  Unfortunately that website closed down, but then I found FunkyPool, which had a similar feel, but (in my opinion) wasn't as good as PCO because you could still put backspin on the cue ball even if you were tight on a cushion or in front of another ball.  Soon after that I also found its sister site, FunkySnooker.  You can play both against other players, but there are so few playing these days that I mostly just end up bashing a few balls around while adverts are playing when I'm doing Tapjoy offers.

    So after playing around with the recording and video editing software with WGT, I decided to see if it would work with FunkySnooker also.  It did.  Although it's nothing to do with WGT, I just had to share it somewhere!  When playing FunkySnooker these days I mostly just break the red balls with the break-off shot, then see how big a break I can get without using any type of spin, i.e. just hit the cue ball in the middle.  It's not as easy as it sounds because balls get in the way, and so you have to reply on power and good positioning.

    Well, on only my second attempt I actually managed to clear the table (on the 'Arcade' size table with 10 reds at the start) for only the second time ever, getting a 100 break.  I was recording at the time, then finished the recording and used the video editing software to remove some of the unwanted early footage.  Then I went onto my favourite 'Original' size table, where the balls are tiny in comparison to the size of the table.  After a few atempts of only low size breaks, I finally hit a purple patch and managed a 68 break, again using no spin.  After ending this recording, I edited that video too, then put the two together, then uploaded it to my YouTube page.  The result is below.

    Like I said, this was done to try out the recording and video editing features of Windows 10, so feel free to ask anything if you need help in setting it up.

  • ScottHope
    10,422 Posts
    Mon, Dec 4 2023 1:35 AM

    Nice one Mio. I used to be able to use Microsoft's Xbox Game Bar but it stopped working for me a while ago, but I have other options so it's not a big issue.

    There was one thing about the Game Bar which I thought might cause a problem, and that was the active window. If you activate a 'record what happened' when the game window is not the active window, you might end up with a recording of your notepad or calculator or whatever window you clicked on before you activated the recording. Maybe you could test that.


    Have you tried Poolians for pool / snooker? I play via Steam. There's 3 & 2D pool but I can only find snooker in 3D. 3D is hard, for me anyway.  : )

  • MioKontic
    4,654 Posts
    Mon, Dec 4 2023 3:59 AM

    ScottHope:
    I used to be able to use Microsoft's Xbox Game Bar but it stopped working for me a while ago

    Why has the Game Bar stopped working for you?  That's exactly what I used having seen a post of yours in another thread.

    I think I know what you mean about the active window, I'll test it out.

    I remember at one time years ago playing a 3D pool game and was doing ok with it.  Unfortunately I can't remember what it was called.  When I tried to find it some time (years?) later I found a 3D pool game, but I don't know if it was the same one, and I really struggled with getting the view right.  I gave up on it after while.  I'll give Poolians a try.

    If you're interested in strategy games, there's a very good curling game at www.playcurling.com, which then takes you to the FlyOrDie gaming site (which is where I first found it).  It was actually on the FlyOrDie site while playing curling that I saw the advert for WGT all those years ago, and being an avid golfer I had to try it out.  And so here I am... and still here 13 years later.  I can see there are 3D pool and snooker games on FlyOrDie also; I think I tried those but couldn't get on with them.  (Tried them again just now and definitely could not get on with them!)

  • ScottHope
    10,422 Posts
    Mon, Dec 4 2023 9:07 AM

    I honestly don't know why the game bar has stopped working. If I had nothing else that did the same job I might be more keen to try and fix it, but OBS does a pretty good job at recording once it's set up, so that's what I use, or Camtasia, or my AMD software, and for editing I use Camtasia, although my version is quite old now.

    I have played that curling game before, but I lost interest. I probably didn't think about the strategy enough, more interested in hurling stones at my opponents, lol.

  • MioKontic
    4,654 Posts
    Mon, Dec 4 2023 4:46 PM

    Scott - I did that test of playing a few shots on WGT, then making another window the active one before pressing WIN+ALT+G, and sure enough it captured the active window rather than the WGT game window.  It's not a problem, it just means you need to make sure you have the WGT window active when activating the capture.

    One thing I noticed the other day is that the capture software turns itself off, so first time (of the day?) that I press WIN+ALT+G i get a message that it's not turned on and I have to tick a checkbox to turn it on.  But I was still able to then press WIN+ALT+G again and it still completed the capture... I think!  The reason I say 'I think' is because I did it with a non-WGT window active, so I want to try it again with the WGT window active, which I can't do until it turns itself off again, which may be tomorrow.  Or it may turn itself off when I shut the laptop down - that's something I need to test and work out as well.

    With the above in mind, another interesting thought just occured to me - if I pressed WIN+ALT+G when the non-WGT window was active, realised my mistake, then made the WGT window active and pressed WIN+ALT+G again, would it then capture what I had done on WGT?

    With regards to OBS, it just so happens that yesterday I was on my YouTube channel and I watched one of my old WGT videos that I streamed at the time.  On a few occasions I had a white screen on the video, and it was only when I saw your question about the non-active window that it occured to me I was probably getting the white screen when I clicked on the OBS window to see how many were viewing the stream.  So, unless there's some setting in OBS to allow non-WGT windows to be shown when streaming, I'm guessing OBS has a similar problem to the capture software?

  • Duphpherer
    467 Posts
    Mon, Dec 4 2023 5:27 PM

    It's a very good learning tool. Whenever I hit a shot that my mind can't explain the results, I hit Win+Alt+G to record the last 30 seconds. Then after the match or game, I will play it back. Well, I'd say 7 out of 10 were my fault. I had forgot to apply BS or bad math, or just plain hit a wrong club. At my age it's happening more and more. :) 

  • ScottHope
    10,422 Posts
    Tue, Dec 5 2023 1:17 PM

    MioKontic:
    With the above in mind, another interesting thought just occured to me - if I pressed WIN+ALT+G when the non-WGT window was active, realised my mistake, then made the WGT window active and pressed WIN+ALT+G again, would it then capture what I had done on WGT?

    I don't think it would. If you change the active window, the recording starts from when the window becomes active, or the preset recording time if the window has been active longer than that.

    With OBS, if you have set it to capture your display then whatever you see on your monitor will come out on your recording or stream (output). If you want to output certain windows, then you add those to a scene. You can have different scenes and switch between those during your output if you wish. In that situation it does not matter what windows you open or close, it will not be shown on the output, unless of course you close one or more of the windows that is in a scene.

  • SamSpayed
    5,013 Posts
    Tue, Dec 5 2023 1:29 PM

    MioKontic:
    As well as the built-in recording software, Windows 10 also comes with video editing software.  When I opened it up yesterday I got a message that it was now obsolete and that I should download the free substitute software called Microsoft Clipchamp, so I did.

    I was wondering if anyone reading this thread has found any good free video editing software.  I'm only looking for basic editing functions, like trimming and saving the trimmed video clip to an easily-viewable format like .mp4.  The Photos app, which is built into Windows, used to be able to do that, but as Mio mentioned, Microsoft recently disabled its video editing capabilities in favor of Clipchamp. 

    IMHO, Clipchamp is junk.  It is slow to load, the file sizes are huge compared to the files we could save with the Photos app, and you have to sign into your Microsoft account in order to use it.

    I looked at Camtasia (mentioned by Scott), but a perpetual license for that is $300.

    Any and all suggestions welcome.

  • gonfission
    2,243 Posts
    Tue, Dec 5 2023 2:43 PM
  • HamdenPro
    2,483 Posts
    Tue, Dec 5 2023 4:16 PM

    SamSpayed:
    I was wondering if anyone reading this thread has found any good free video editing software.  I'm only looking for basic editing functions, like trimming and saving the trimmed video clip to an easily-viewable format like .mp4

    There are other programs that come with windows that may be available to you.

    Try this:

    1. Go to the video you wish to trim, right mouse click and select "Open With", and then select "Movies & TV":

    #2 Select Edit at bottom right:

    #3 Select "TRIM"

     

    If you save your video to YouTube, you can use YouTube's "Video Editor" to trim your videos as well.

    If you would like a good in game recorder and editing capabilities, with all the bell and whistles, you should check out Gecata by Movavi. It is not free, a lifetime subscription is $35.95(US).  Movavi Multimedia Software for Windows

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