Screenshot

[Themisive]

Hi all

 

I've set the Oblivion .ini file to allow for screenshots, however, at the moment they are produced in a bmp format, which is huge (around 1Mb per screenshot)). Whilst I have plenty of space, available, if I have been asked by a friend to send him screenshots of a mod I may be beta testing for him, it means I have to open a separate graphics programme to convert them to jpg format for transmission over the web!

 

I have been wondering two things, these are:

1. Is there any way to specify a jpg format file; and
   
2. Can I place screenshots in a folder of their own?
   

As usual, I have had a really good look through the ini file BEFORE I asked this question, so please don't think that I'm just hoping that someone knows an answer I was too lazy to look for! I have got irritated by that intro sequence and have stopped it, and also set the file to allow screenshots (I DID make a backup file first though, so if all else fails I can go back to it)

 

Anyway, I'll be very appreciative of any help I can get.

[UK47]

fraps

[Illiad86]

just get Fraps. Oblivion takes .bmp screenshots default and it cannot be changed. I do suggest taking screenshots in .png format, from what I've seen, they are a bit crisper than .jpg.

[LHammonds]

What the two above me said, FRAPS + PNG format. PNG format allows you to edit, save, re-save, re-save, N number of times without losing quality with each save. JPG however will re-compress the image each time and will result in worse and worse image quality with each save. Keep your images in PNG format and when export to a temporary JPG file when uploading to the Nexus or other sites. A one-time compression is not bad and can save on bandwidth and storage. Just make sure to keep your originals in PNG format...or you can store them in JPG format if you never plan to edit them again.

 

Same advice goes for creating textures for mods. DDS format is just like JPG because they compress the image and lose quality each time. Always export from your source image (PNG, PSD, XCF, PSPImage or whatever your editor uses for a non-lossy format)

 

LHammonds

[dezdimona]

just get Fraps. Oblivion takes .bmp screenshots default and it cannot be changed. I do suggest taking screenshots in .png format, from what I've seen, they are a bit crisper than .jpg.

actually they can be changed in gimp or photoshop.I used to do it before getting fraps. Fraps made life so much easier. :thumbsup:

[Illiad86]

ya I knew that, I meant that Oblivion saves them as .bmp and that's it. I've always had Fraps hehe...

[dezdimona]

ya I knew that, I meant that Oblivion saves them as .bmp and that's it. I've always had Fraps hehe...

I love it :biggrin:

[Themisive]

Thanks everyone - I has a sneaking suspicion that that was the case. However, I DID download the FRAPS programme to try, but then I found out that I would have to pay $37 at least to have it activated so that I could use use it to make png files!

 

That is NOT an option, as I already have 3 graphics programmes installed, at least 2 of which are able to save to a png format! I'ts all very well to offer these ideas - and don't get me wrong, I'm not shooting them down just for the fun of it, far from it.

 

My original question was answered in the first post. However I have Serif PhotoPluse and Ifanview both of which I know can transform bmp images to a jpg image. What I really wanted was a programme, indeed to be able to alter the Oblivion.ini file to give a jpg (or other format) rather than a bmp file

[LHammonds]

What I really wanted was a programme, indeed to be able to alter the Oblivion.ini file to give a jpg (or other format) rather than a bmp file

Not gonna happen. The very next best thing would be a batch file you can run that will mass convert all BMP files in your Oblivion folder to JPG or PNG in a single click and then delete the BMP once converted.

 

EDIT: Interested in a one-click batch conversion?

 

Here is how to do it.

 

1. Download ImageMagick (The Q16 Windows-DLL flavor)

2. Install it and be sure to let it add it to the environment path

3. Create the following batch file(s) (text file with a .bat file extension) on your desktop or where convenient for you:

 

ConvertBMP2PNG.bat

@ECHO OFF
REM ** Convert all BMP images to PNG **
MOGRIFY -format png "C:\Games\Oblivion\*.bmp"

REM ** Delete all BMP images **
DEL "C:\Games\Oblivion\*.bmp"

REM ** Move all PNG Images to Pictures Folder **
MOVE "C:\Games\Oblivion\*.PNG" "C:\MyData\Screenshots\"

 

ConvertBMP2JPG.bat

@ECHO OFF
REM ** Convert all BMP images to JPG **
MOGRIFY -format jpg "C:\Games\Oblivion\*.bmp"

REM ** Delete all BMP images **
DEL "C:\Games\Oblivion\*.bmp"

REM ** Move all JPG Images to Pictures Folder **
MOVE "C:\Games\Oblivion\*.JPG" "C:\MyData\Screenshots\"

 

You would need to modify the directory paths to match your system. You also do not "have to" auto-delete the BMP files but you could put it in another batch file to clean up your screenshots once you have verified that the images you want were converted and moved. You don't even have to move the pictures but thought I'd put that in there in case you wanted to know how. The crux to the whole thing is the one line that has the Mogrify command.

 

LHammonds

[Themisive]

To LHammonds

 

Thanks, that is probably the best way to go about it, and thanks for giving me those tips. As you knnow I only ever post a question AFTER having tried to find an answer for myself first.