Best (free) in-game recording and editing software?

[stocko1111]

Hi all,

I thought to make a big exploration trip more interesting I'd record parts and make a movie of interesting things, add music etc etc. Never done it before so was after some recommendations on recording and editing software for capturing in-game footage. Can anyone give me some advice or recommendations?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Carradin]

Open Broadcaster Software is a good option. As the name implies, it's designed for streaming, but it can be used for making local recordings as well. It won't do editing though, but there are other free tools that can be used for that. I like Virtualdub for video cutting/editing and usually fall back on Windows Movie Maker if I need to overlay text or add different audio - not that these are necessarily the best tools, they're merely the ones I've gotten used to.

 

[Aewarin Jameson]

NVidia - Shadowplay

Xsplit for advanced features (not free)

Open Broadcaster (as Carradin said) for free - many streamers use this which incorporates the ability, like the above 2, to record locally.

*Edit:
Could also try FFSplit - another Twitch favourite. Basically anything that the Twitch community uses (to broadcast whilst playing) can also be used to record whilst playing.

 

[LameoveR]

I used OBS and was totally dissapointed in a large file size and drastical FPS drops in recorded videos.
NVidia Shadowplay is good and simple, but has big outcoming file sizes.
I just love to use Bandicam with its flexibility, but it's not free unfortunately.

 

[furrycat]

I tried several programs.

nVidia Shadowplay doesn't work at all in Surround mode, so that was out.

Dxtory recorded a blank screen.

PlayClaw recorded ... absolutely nothing.

After some messing about setting everything up, Bandicam recorded correctly. The video quality was OK although the watermark on the trial version was obnoxiously large. Overall the software was good enough that I was considering registering it.

Then I tried Action! and liked it a lot. In trial mode the watermark was subtle and unintrusive. The software has a bunch of nice features (the rolling prerecord buffer being of most interest) and produces good quality video. So much so that when the trial expired I ponied up for the full version.

 

[nosscar]

I use Raptr for it's simplicity, it came with my amd card drivers anyway.
It starts with windows, mine is set to store up to 10gb of video at 60fps, (there are different options) and automatically records the last 3hrs + of gameplay, if i want to post a part of it on youtube, i simply go to share/edit after my game, and select the part i want. It generates a separate clip of the parts i need. so easy to use. But there is an onscreen record now facility as well.
If you want to check the quality of Raptr, take a look at my videos here.
https://www.youtube.com/user/nosscar/videos

 

[OnePercent]

if you got nvidia nvidia shadow play works well, if you can't get it to run in elite, set it to record desktop and set elite to borderless windowed mode, which looks like fullscreen but isn't

 

[stocko1111]

Thanks all for your replies and advice, much appreciated. I look forward to trying them out. All replies +repped!

 

[Obsidian Ant]

I use nvidia Shadowplay for most recordings. There is a virtually zero performance hit, so you will always get the best frame rates.

And I use Sony Vegas for editing (which isn't free). I have heard good things about Lightworks though - which is indeed free, and looks quite easy to use. https://www.lwks.com/

 

[DirkLarien]

Lightworks is free, however the free version is limited by export quality and format.
But if you don't need high quality (above 720p) vids.
Then sure its good.
(word of warning - LWKS does not do 4:3 and 5:4 aspect ratio too well)

Blast to use if you give it time to learn.

 

[Steve72]

Have to look into lightworks. Using the free version to edit video cam movies. Didnt realise can capture off screen as well. Does this have impact in elite performance?