Unknown module listparents
Table of contents

Capture lossless AVI

First of all, you need to dump the lossless video from emulator. Use a lossless codec for that, whick works with VideoForWindows. CamStudio and Lagarith are the best choices. The size of the lossless dump does not affect the resulting video encode size, so aim for dumping speed, choosing your codec and settings. Still use some compression to avoid 2GB+ files, which are hard to preview (some emulators allows splitting at that mark).
See Encoding Guide / Video Dumping page for how to set up emulators to capture AVI.
CamStudio
  • Check GZIP rediobutton
  • Select the desired compression Level (start from Level 5, that leaves room for speeding up the emulator)
Lagarith
  • Check Enable Null Frames
  • Check Use Multithreading
  • Select Mode: RGB (Default)

Encode the video

Set up the package

TASVideos comunity has developed an all-in-one script package, that does:
  • audio encoding
  • video encoding
  • audio and video muxing
  • YouTube stream uploading
Every publication needs four encodes. The first 3 are uploaded on Archive.org, the fourth is for YouTube.
  • Primary downloadable
  • 10bit444 downloadable
  • 512kb stream
  • HD stream
Extract the encoding package to any folder, put the AVI you dumped in the root package folder, name it movie.avi
  • If after splitting you got several files, name them movie1.avi, movie2.avi, etc.
You can use 2 logos (for HD and SD separately), or only one. When using only one, it's desired to have it in a good resolution, to avoid artifacts when upscaling. The recommended resolution is 960x720.
This is triggered automatically once the HD encode is done (see below), but you need to edit *\programs\credentials.txt first. Use your forum name as a username, and the password can be obtained here: https://encoders.tasvideos.org/transform.html
As uploading starts, the batch will open this link in your browser, so that you can control the process and get the YT link after sideoading finishes.
First it is uploaded to TASVideos server, using your identity, then every 45th minute the sideloading is triggered, which means the file gets uploaded to YouTube.

Adjust the AviSynt script

Open encode.avs with Notepad++, it's a text file, so you can edit it. Make sure to keep the AVS script, the BAT script, logo and movie files in the same folder. All other dependencies lie in speciffic folders of the package.
Preview is done to pick the framenumbers from the encode and to adjust the subtitles position (and also to check if all is working as you wish). Each time you edit the script, save it and drag to VirtualDub again, or press F2 there to reload the updated source file.
Drag and drop your movie dump into the VirtualDub window. Navigate to the movie ending. The idea is to present all contents the game has in the encode, but keep it as small as possible.
  • If the game restarts, select the frame right before restart
  • If it does not restart:
    • If the music stops playing at some point, where nothing new is shown visually, pick the frame when it stops playing.
    • If the music loops, fing the frame when the first full loop is over (considering the picture does not change)
Copy the framenumber and paste it instead of -0 in the Trim() command options (it stands for the last source frame to handle). If you luckily stopped dumping under the above conditions, leave -0 untouched.
  • If you have several parts of the movie, paste this line in a text file, save it as .AVS in the root package folder and drag it into VirtuaDub to determine the encode end as explained above. Add AviSource() commands for more files.
AviSource("movie1.avi") + AviSource("movie2.avi")
This and the following steps imply you drag'n'drop not the source movie file into VirtualDub, but the very AVS file.
Movie info
Go to the submission page and copy/paste into the corresponding script strings:
  • The game name
  • The branch name (paste inside 'such quotes', so that the result looks like that "'branch'")
  • The Author's name
  • The completion time
  • The rerecord count
Timing and placement
  • subFF is the first frame for subtitles. Use the first frame of the first level for that.
  • subYpos is the pixel to shift the subtitles down from. Use 2 to have them on top, other positions must be figured out at previews.
  • subAlign gives the alignment relative to xpos (which is automated depending on align you use). 8 aligns to the center, 7 - to the left, 9 - to the right.
TASVideos comunity developed custom functions to handle alternating frame flickering when making YouTube encodes.
  • blend - set to false if there's no alternate frame flickering in the video
  • hdframerate is used when blend = false. Drops frames so that the framerate matches the value. YouTube framerate is 30 maximum, so it's default value.
  • ngdb - use ng_deblink, the most powerful deblink function. It calculates which objects blink, creates a mask and blends within it (does not work for background shaking). Set to true to enable. If false, TASBlend is used instead.
  • TASBlend function is used when ngdb = false. Use it when the whole video needs to be blended.
ng_deblink parameters
  • Default: ng_deblink(0.5).SelectOdd - (30 fps, NTSC encodes)
  • Change 0.5 to 1.0 to get half framerate flickering.
  • Leave empty () for default; some transparency, some flickering - TASBlend style.
  • Exclude .SelectOdd to prevent framerate reduction.
  • Replace .SelectOdd with .SelectEvery(5,0,2,4) for 25 fps, PAL encodes

Run the batch script

Run global.bat
After all is over, get your files in the output folder.

Prepare all files

gamenameregion-tasv#-branch-author_encodetype
  • The game name should be concise, use common abbreviations (smb for Super Mario Bros.) and precedent when possible (chipdale instead of chipndale). Required.
  • Add the region letter (j or e) if it is not USA (if USA version exists at all). Optional.
  • Use -tas is it's a pseedrun, otherwise use -playaround. Required.
  • If it's not the first version of that game by the same author, add v2 (or any other appropriate number). Optional.
  • Add the branch name only if it is not default. Optional.
  • For the Author's name, use a standard abbreviation of a long name if it exists (cad for CtrlAltDestroy). Separate multiple authors names with comma (,).
  • Encode type is added for 10bit444 and 512kb (use these as tokens), primary and HD encodes don't need that.
If not sure about a token, investigate similar publications, how their files are named. Example:
battletoadsj-tasv3-1player-nach_10bit444
Upload primary downloadable, 10bit444 downloadable and 512kb stream.
  • Go to http://archive.org/create/ and click the upper right Share button. Choose the first file. Once the uploads starts, you will see the New Item page.
  • Press the Share button 2 more times and select the rest 2 files.
  • To fill the Title, copy/past the submission header. Example:
Nach's NES Battletoads "1-payer" in 1:20:30.40
  • In the Description field, write Tool-assisted speedrun: and provide the submission link
  • Keywords: something like TAS Nach NES Battletoads 1-payer.
  • Select a specific collection from the pop-down list: Speed Runs.
Once all is done, press the Share my File(s) button.
Make torrents for primary downloadable and 10bit444 downloadable.
  • Put these files in a folder where you keep torrent downloads.
  • Create torrents for them with the names like below. Make sure you uncheck the private marker.
battletoadsj-tasv3-1player-nach_10bit444.mkv.torrent.
  • Pick the downloadable files links from your Archive.org item and paste them to Web-seeds field in the torrent creation dialog.
  • Our tracker is http://tracker.tasvideos.org:6969/announce
  • Run the created torrents, pointing to those 2 encodes, start seeding.
  • Drag the lossless AVI to VirtualDub
  • Find the frame that has the most intense action
  • Press Ctrl + 1 and paste in standard Paint program.
  • Save as PNG, file name can be any.
  • Drag the file onto PNGOUT.EXE

Publish the movie

If you have started working on some submission for publication, notify other publishers you're already encoding it:
  • Edit its text and set the radiobutton Set to publication underway
  • Add a comment in the text under the horizointal ruler (4 minuses) like:
[''''user:feos'''']: Processing...
After all files are ready, click the Publish link on the submission page.
  • Select the tier in the Game header tab. The tier to publish to is choosen by a judge.
  • Set flags if any of them are appropriate in the Flags tab.
  • In the Files tab, type the movie file name, taking the name of encodes, just dropping away -tas/-playaround, and putting the author in the beginning:
nach-battletoadsjv3-1player
  • Choose screenshot and torrents from your computer. Fill the encode duration.
  • Put the direct links to downloadable encodes from the Archive.org collection into the mirror URL fields.
  • Put the YouTube HD stream link to online-watching URL field.
  • For the Description and categories tab, select the movie to be obsoleted (if it was decided by the judge), fill the description (1 paragraph about the game, 1 about how it was played in that TAS). If it obsoleted some movie, calculate the frame difference and put in in a module:
This obsoleted the [''''1000M|previous run''''] in [''''module:frames|amount=300''''] seconds.
  • Add categories listed by the submission author. Still, don't copy them blindly, some physics-abusing tricks do not mean it is Heavy glitch abuse, the same is with Heavy luck manipulation.
When you are sure all is done properly, click the Proceed button.
If it is the first publication for that author, you need to assign the layer rank to him after his movie was published.
  • Go to Users / edit and search for the nickname the author gave in the submission page. Untick the User checkbox, check Player. Save
  • Go to Players-List, find the player you just assigned, click the Edit link. Select the forum profile corresponding to that player. Add the personal Website address. Save.

Links


See those pages for more detailed, but potentially outdated information.
For troubleshooting, use Encoder forums or #tasvideos IRC channel at irc.freenode.net.
EncodingGuide/PublicationManual last edited by feos on 11/27/2012 3:35 PM
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