Here are a few tips on how to optimize recording in Asheron's Call. If you have not read the recording howto please do so first. I will assume that you are familiar with the basic game controls and the recording tools.

Optimizing the Screen

This is how the view looks when playing Asheron's Call in 1024x768, hardly ideal since Fraps can only record 640x480. As you can see most of what is interesting in the picture is outside of the recorded area.

There are two ways to get around this problem and they work best if used together.

• Make a consious effort to keep the action in the recorded zone.
• Change screen resolution and optimize your view.

The first part, keeping the action in the recorded zone, involves constantly correcting your view. Look at your stamina and mana bar, use them as a visual reference. Hold down the right mouse button and move the view around until you have a good composition. Zoom in or zoom out if needed, do not be afraid to get close up and personal with your cast. It adds to the character of the movie.

The second part is easier, it involves changing your screen options. Some people might find it uncomfortable playing in a lower resolution, but it is well worth the trouble when recording.

Start by opening up your sound/graphics menu.

As you can see the resolution has been reduced to 800x600. Detail has been set to max, and the auto-degrade option has been turned off. If you leave the auto-degrade option on then trees, flowers and other decoration will dissappear when you start recording as the graphics engine adjusts to the increased workload. This is useful when normally playing, but we do not want that to happen while recording.

Note that the camera stiffness has been changed from its default value, this is to make your camera movements smoother.

This helps the situation, but there are a few more things to do. The radar now covers part of our viewport, and we get small arrows around the person or monster we select which does not look too good.

Next thing to do is to change two of your character settings. Open up the menu and make sure that vivid target indicator is turned off and that you do not have stretched UI checked.

Your view should now look like the image below. The entire viewport fits within the recorded zone and your character is in the centre.

Ofcourse bigger is better, and we want as high resolution as possible. If you are prepared not to have the character in the centre then you can simply lower the fellowship panel and you will be able to record 640x370 while in combat mode.

Compare this to the first picture.

Another alternative is to reduce the resolution futher and play in 640x480. You are then able to record the entire screen, but the combat panel and radar take up a considerable amount of the view.

A bonus of using 640x480 is that you are able to record the chat also.

Increasing FPS

The higher fps (frames per second) the smoother the movement. Depending on what system you use this may or may not be an issue. For me it is something I must take into consideration while filming. Complex scenes will drop my frame rate below ten updates per second. What is there to do about this?

First you need to realise where the bottle neck is. Since all movies are recorded in raw format, alot of disk space is used. Your harddisk needs to write about 300Mb per minute, but most modern 7200 rpm disks can handle that.

If it is the harddrive that is the problem then I suggest getting a faster one, or looking into the hardware recording.

Lets assume it was not the harddisk, then your limiting factor is probably your memory, cpu or graphics card. You can upgrade, but if it is your first test movie then you might not want to invest in new hardware for this purpose alone. There are still a few options left open to you.

Lower your graphics settings, the quality of the image will be worse, but it will give you higher fps and smoother movements. Alot of texture quality is lost in the compression anyway, so this might not be as bad as it first sounds.

Record indoors - there are alot less polygons to handle for the computer, you also do not have to worry about light conditions changing, and can take your time finding the right composition and redo takes you are not happy with. Outdoors you have a time constraint and are sometimes forced to put the clips in cronological order.

Have fun!

Nakamuro Zataki