Hi, I'm very new to making any sort of video. I'm doing a playthrough of Mega Man X. I did a recording with no editing to see how it works. It seems that after 4 mins it makes a new video file. The 4 minute file was almost 2 gigs in size. I'm using Snes9x right now. Could anyone please tell me how i could splice the videos together?
I did a recording with no editing to see how it works. It seems that after 4 mins it makes a new video file. The 4 minute file was almost 2 gigs in size.
.avi file format has 2GB limit. Bad things happen if it gets exceeded, so (good) emulators split the dump so each individual segment stays below 2GB.
Also, the method used with TASes is to first save as file containing keypresses (4 minutes of that on SNES would be something like 30-150kB, depending on number of controllers), play it back and dump (capture to .avi) it.
This also trivially discards the segments of gameplay that should not be there (because they got undone by savestate/loadstate mechanism).
Rucion wrote:
Could anyone please tell me how i could splice the videos together?
There are multiple ways:
* You could apply lossy compression (x264/oggenc or something like that) to each individual segment and then concatenate using mkvmerge.
* mencoder can concatenate video (and audio) segments
* Avisynth can also be used to concatenate video (and audio) segments.
Joined: 8/14/2009
Posts: 4089
Location: The Netherlands
Rucion wrote:
Would that mean its only viewable to people who have the emulator? I was looking to post it on youtube. I have no experience in this process.
The input file would only be viewable by the emulator, but you can use the emulator to dump the contents of the input file to .avi, and upload that to YouTube for everyone to see.
http://www.youtube.com/Noxxa
<dwangoAC> This is a TAS (...). Not suitable for all audiences. May cause undesirable side-effects. May contain emulator abuse. Emulator may be abusive. This product contains glitches known to the state of California to cause egg defects.
<Masterjun> I'm just a guy arranging bits in a sequence which could potentially amuse other people looking at these bits
<adelikat> In Oregon Trail, I sacrificed my own family to save time. In Star trek, I killed helpless comrades in escape pods to save time. Here, I kill my allies to save time. I think I need help.
The input file would only be viewable by the emulator, but you can use the emulator to dump the contents of the input file to .avi, and upload that to YouTube for everyone to see.
so to do that would it be. File>movie>Record new movie?
Hi, I'm very new to making any sort of video. I'm doing a playthrough of Mega Man X. I did a recording with no editing to see how it works. It seems that after 4 mins it makes a new video file. The 4 minute file was almost 2 gigs in size. I'm using Snes9x right now. Could anyone please tell me how i could splice the videos together?
It was that big because you probably recorded it as uncompressed AVI.
I use ffdshow (configured to h.264 lossless) for my videos.
To improve quality for Youtube uploads, I halve the FPS (to 30) and then upscale the video using avisynth's pointresize.
Hi, I'm very new to making any sort of video. I'm doing a playthrough of Mega Man X. I did a recording with no editing to see how it works. It seems that after 4 mins it makes a new video file. The 4 minute file was almost 2 gigs in size. I'm using Snes9x right now. Could anyone please tell me how i could splice the videos together?
It was that big because you probably recorded it as uncompressed AVI.
I use ffdshow (configured to h.264 lossless) for my videos.
To improve quality for Youtube uploads, I halve the FPS (to 30) and then upscale the video using avisynth's pointresize.
Ok, i need baby steps here. I'm glad I'm getting good advice, but I don't have any idea what half your statement meant.
Hi, I'm very new to making any sort of video. I'm doing a playthrough of Mega Man X. I did a recording with no editing to see how it works. It seems that after 4 mins it makes a new video file. The 4 minute file was almost 2 gigs in size. I'm using Snes9x right now. Could anyone please tell me how i could splice the videos together?
It was that big because you probably recorded it as uncompressed AVI.
I use ffdshow (configured to h.264 lossless) for my videos.
To improve quality for Youtube uploads, I halve the FPS (to 30) and then upscale the video using avisynth's pointresize.
Ok, i need baby steps here. I'm glad I'm getting good advice, but I don't have any idea what half your statement meant.
Let me try to put this in the simplest way possible:
When you record a new "movie", you are creating a file containing all of the key presses executed in order. This can be played back on an emulator at any time.
While playing back "movie", you can dump a "video" in AVI format through the emulator you are using. Usually, both recording options are in the File tab. If, when dumping, you select a loseless codec like Camstudio or Lagarith (Both of which would need to be installed), the dumped files will be significantly smaller without losing any quality, increasing the chances that your movie will fit on one file.
After you dump the AVI, you can either upload all of the resulting parts as is, or you can encode it. See the Encoding Guide for more details on that. Encoding will always produce a single video file (If you want it to), and can make it so your YouTube video is in HD.
Right now, just focus on recording the "movie". If you come up with something good, you'll probably find an encoder like myself who can help you get it on YouTube.
It was that big because you probably recorded it as uncompressed AVI.
I use ffdshow (configured to h.264 lossless) for my videos.
To improve quality for Youtube uploads, I halve the FPS (to 30) and then upscale the video using avisynth's pointresize.
Dumping to h.264 lossless and then upscaling is very bad idea (unless you can somehow force h.264 into no chroma subsample mode). If you do that, you get pretty horrible artifacts.
Rucion wrote:
Ok, i need baby steps here. I'm glad I'm getting good advice, but I don't have any idea what half your statement meant.
Here are some quick'n'dirty steps (definitely not fit to be used for official encodes, but should do for WIPs and unofficial encodes):
Programs needed: mplayer, x264, sox and mkvmerge
Also, dump using FFV1 or Camstudio (preferably set compression to gzip with camstudio) if you do this (not Lagarith, this does not work with lagarith!).
I assume dump has three parts (adjusting these instructions for other number of parts isn't difficult).
(> represents command prompt):
> mplayer -ao pcm:fast:file=audio1.wav -vo null dump1.avi
> mplayer -ao pcm:fast:file=audio2.wav -vo null dump2.avi
> mplayer -ao pcm:fast:file=audio3.wav -vo null dump3.avi
Extract audio tracks from dumped videos. The reason you want separate audio track is that x264 doesn't handle audio very well.
If emulator dumps audio as .wav instead of as .avi soundtrack, this step should be obviously skipped.
Ignore the complaint of your system being too slow. It doesn't affect the dumped audio.
> x264 --crf 10 -o video1.mkv dump1.avi --vf resize:640,480,1:1
> x264 --crf 10 -o video2.mkv dump2.avi --vf resize:640,480,1:1
> x264 --crf 10 -o video3.mkv dump3.avi --vf resize:640,480,1:1
Do lossy video compression on dumped videos (resizing to 640x480). The resulting mkv files will be almost the quality of the originals but a lot smaller.
The reason to resize to 640x480 is twofold: Firstly to correct the aspect ratio and secondly to improve the quality on youtube a bit.
> sox audio1.wav audio2.wav audio3.wav audio.ogg
Concatenate audio1.wav, audio2.wav and audio3.wav into audio.ogg.
Note: This program does not give feedback on progress!
> mkvmerge video1.mkv + video2.mkv + video3.mkv -o video.mkv
Concatenate video segments.
> mkvmerge --aspect-ratio -1:4/3 -o final.mkv video.mkv audio.ogg
Merge the audio (audio.ogg) and video (video.mkv) tracks together into final video final.mkv (forcing aspect ratio to 4/3).
Dumping to h.264 lossless and then upscaling is very bad idea (unless you can somehow force h.264 into no chroma subsample mode). If you do that, you get pretty horrible artifacts.
Eh... From what I've seen, the results look very good to me and I haven't seen any artifacts. I've been using this method since forever.
I think you are right about the artifacts, but that's a very negligible loss of information to me. Quality always turned out to be good enough for my purposes.
Would there also be artifacts if I used lagarith?
Joined: 8/14/2009
Posts: 4089
Location: The Netherlands
I think you're overcomplicating the encoding process somewhat. For a simple newbie TASer (no offense intended), it's enough to just dump from the emulator using XViD or something as a codec. It easily provides a watchable AVI at a decent filesize.
http://www.youtube.com/Noxxa
<dwangoAC> This is a TAS (...). Not suitable for all audiences. May cause undesirable side-effects. May contain emulator abuse. Emulator may be abusive. This product contains glitches known to the state of California to cause egg defects.
<Masterjun> I'm just a guy arranging bits in a sequence which could potentially amuse other people looking at these bits
<adelikat> In Oregon Trail, I sacrificed my own family to save time. In Star trek, I killed helpless comrades in escape pods to save time. Here, I kill my allies to save time. I think I need help.
I'm sorry if my last statement came off as rude. Thank you for all the for all the advice and steps on how to make the videos properly.
No problem. And well, encoding isn't exactly trivial to do (especially when one needs to get maximum quality, add a logo and burn in some subtitles).
And well, the way I gave isn't the proper way to do things, just a simple way to get not-total-garbage quality.
And in case of submission (don't submit works in progress!), it is nice if the submitter can produce the official encodes, but if not (and in most cases not), that's what encoders are for. Encoder Guide talks about how to produce site-spec encodes.
Ok so I should make the movie as a .smv file that Brandon mentioned first. Then replay it and record it using one of the programs listed. I grabbed Camstudio. I tried to grab x264 but I think i need something else for it to work.
Ok so I should make the movie as a .smf file that Brandon mentioned first. Then replay it and record it using one of the programs listed. I grabbed Camstudio. I tried to grab x264 but I think i need something else for it to work.
.smf? Do you mean .smv? Also, make sure you're grabbing the CamStudio codec, not the recording utility. Don't worry about x264 for now...seriously, most people who TAS don't encode their own work, and if you manage to break a record on this site or establish a new one of a worthwhile game, you will have no trouble finding someone willing to encode it for you.
Do I have to do anything special in the options when i begin the dump to avi?
After clicking where to save the file, it should prompt you with a list of codecs to use. Pick Camstudio. Other than that, you're good. Again, you really should focus on optimizing your run first, unless you've managed to already obsolete the current MMX run, which would be amazing. Also, please avoid double posting.
Do I have to do anything special in the options when i begin the dump to avi?
Also, check that the sound sampling rate is 48000Hz. Actual sampling rate of the SNES is ~32000Hz, but SNES9x contains bug that causes video to come out bad if 32000Hz rate is used.
if you manage to break a record on this site or establish a new one of a worthwhile game, you will have no trouble finding someone willing to encode it for you.
Again, you really should focus on optimizing your run first, unless you've managed to already obsolete the current MMX run, which would be amazing.
Does Rucion even want to TAS? It looks to me that he's just planning on making playthrough videos (Let's Plays)...
