Best way to record gameplay? Skyrim etc

[yudhi108]

I am currently researching the best ways I can record my gameplay when playing games. My Skyrim game setup is quite insane (lots of stressful mods) but my PC is pretty good. Skyrim isn't the only game I want to record so I'm looking for advice on programs or hardware to help me record my PC gameplay. I'm looking for a variety of options. It might be possible for me to start with Shadowplay for some games but probably not going to cut it for Skyrim with all my mods, or some other 4k games I play. Though I guess I don't really need to record above 1080p even if I'm playing in 4k. I'd even consider building a secondary computer in the future to act as a recording machine if it meant I could record ANYTHING I did on my PC with no Lag and without stressing my primary PC. Could buy that Lian Li case (the 600 or 8000 i think it was) that supports two builds in one case. I'm thinking a hardware solution rather than just a software solution will provide good quality, but I'm open to opinions on both.

 

Any good tips on how to record my various consoles (PS and XBOX specifically) will be appreciated, but I really need to focus on and accomplish figuring out how to get good quality footage and audio from my PC for now.

 

Thank you all. Loving the nexus forums.

 

MY PC SPECS:

 

 

i7-4790k PCU

16GB (2x8) 2133mhz Corsair Vengence pro RAM

GTX Titan Black 6gb GPU

Asus Hero 7 MOBO

Several HDD's and SSD's

Win 8.1 pro

Nothing overclocked yet until I get around to a good cooling system

 

 

[sadampl]

I could use advise here too, I've got DXTory but it crashes my Skyrim (several hi res retextures and enb there but I got those 30 fps) yet Metro: The Last Light on highest settings go smoothly at 80-90 fps and dxtory records with no problems @60fps. :(

[FMod]

AFAIK, shadowplay has the lowest performance impact out of all software recording method, so if shadowplay can't do it, everything else like fraps will likely be worse.

 

If you plan to record in 1080p, and if 4K gives trouble, why not drop to 1080p for the duration? After the video gets compressed by whatever uploading service, its optical resolution will be less than 720p, some text excepted, so these minor details 4K brings out won't be visible on youtube anyway.

[Amyr]

Shadowplay has the lowest performance impact but the image quality is not that great. If you're okay with not-so-great image quality then it will be fine but if you're looking for top-notch image quality with near zero performance loss, all you need to buy is a video capture card.

 

Like these ones;

http://gamerzone.avermedia.com/game_capture/game_capture_hd_2

http://gamerzone.avermedia.com/game_capture/extremecap_u3

 

You don't need to buy a secondary PC just for that :D

Edited December 1, 2014 by Amyr

[Vagrant0]

For recording software, I still stand by the recommendation of OBS

https://obsproject.com/download

 

You can record to local drive or stream video. It can allow for game capture as well as adding additional overlays or other elements while you're recording gameplay footage instead of needing to be added in at post production. It outputs and compresses to just about any quality or filetype you want without having to re-render everything. It can also handle input from a capture card.

[FMod]

An external capture device like Game Capture HD is hands down the highest quality and performance option, but it is of course 1080p only. Pass-through will also stay at 1080p, not 4K. The USB one (U3) is for consoles.

 

FWIW, if you play in 4K, an option could be to Shadowplay record in 4K, then downscale to 1080p for upload, should give decent quality. No one watches youtube in 4K anyway.

Edited December 2, 2014 by FMod