How to record game movies with Taksi, a free FRAPS alternative!

Unfortunately, Fraps and Game Cam are not free. In addition, many people can't use Fraps because it needs a quite fast CPU and hard disk (the game you're recording may become very slow or even unplayable)

I found a great open source alternative called TAKSI which can record videos including sound from DirectX and OpenGL games and, most important, it allows to choose a custom codec. The DivX codec I chose is a little outdated but still a good compromise between compression speed and quality.

Step by step:

1. Download and install DivX or any other codec you like

I recommend to use an older version of DivX (6.8.0 is best), because newer versions from the official site are full of bloatware.

You can get the old version of DivX codec (6.8.0) here:

http://www.file-upload.net/download-3052848/divx680vfw.exe.html (uploaded by me, virus free)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=ZSXUM4I2 (uploaded by me, virus free)
http://cuartoinformatica.tecnojulio.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/divx680vfw...

If these links don't work, you can:

- Do a google search for divx680vfw.exe (be sure to scan for viruses after downloading)

- Or you can use the almost identical XviD codec which is available at: http://www.xvid.org/Downloads.15.0.html

NOTE: In my video, I used the DivX codec instead of XviD, so if you choose to use XviD, the configuration steps may differ!

You can use any other codec you like, just remember that some codecs eat up a lot of CPU and thus aren't suitable for real-time game recording.

2. Download and install the Taksi screen recording software from http://sourceforge.net/projects/taksi (taksi-0.7.7.2-dev.msi)

3. Start Taksi to configure it. Choose an appropriate frame rate (any value above 25-30 is unnecessary, it won't get smoother this way, it will only stress your CPU and make gameplay choppy). Then continue to configure the DivX codec. I advise to use 'fast' encryption method and a high bit rate (8000 upwards) for better output video quality. It's important for any postprocessing to have the best possible quality. The video files will still be a lot smaller than the ones generated by Fraps (8000 kbit/s equals 1 megabyte per second).

4. Close Taksi and start your game. When the game is loaded, press ALT+TAB or CTRL+ALT+DEL to return to desktop. Then fire up Taksi and immediately return back to your game. If you did it right, a green rectangle will show up in the upper left corner of the game screen. Although you should be able to run Taksi first and then your game, it didn't work for me and the rectangle remained blue (indicating you can't record at that time).

5. In your game, switch to an appropiate screen resolution as it has a huge impact on recording performance. The higher the resolution, the more stress on your CPU. Recording in high resolutions like 1920 x 1080 requires a very fast, and I mean VERY fast, CPU. Begin with 640 x 480 for a start and if everything runs smooth, try the next higher resolution.

6. Press F6 to record and F8 to stop recording. The rectangle will turn to red while recording. A new file will be created for every recording cycle.

7. See the results in C:\Tmp. One last notice, when I press ALT+TAB a second time while the game and taksi running, all further recorded videos become corrupt. Maybe it will work for you, though.

Music: "Soul City" by Bowery Electric :)

Category:

Gaming

Tags:

• game
• movie
• movies
• video
• videos
• record
• fraps
• tutorial
• cam
• taksi
• free

[Vabaduce]

doesnt inject for me -.- i did as you told in the descitipn

[summ22]

@Vabaduce

i've heard it doesn't hook into games built with newer directX versions, not sure if true... also, did you start taksi after starting your game? what game is it?

[TheMegaOverlord14]

@summ22 Can this record Minecraft? It is a Java game. but I want to make sure.

[summ22]

@TheMegaOverlord14

no, it can definitely not record java games, sorry. unless the java game makes use of directX and openGL... i don't know if java can do that? :) if not, you'd have to use a normal screen recorder for this

[TheMegaOverlord14]

@summ22 It does use OpenGL. It has setting just for that. :) Would it record Minecraft that way?

[summ22]

@TheMegaOverlord14

theoretically, yes... why not give it a try?

[Batman12091990]

Thanks Dude very nice work :D

[BygPhattyPlus]

Umm, when I record, my audio sounds muffled. How did that happen and how can I fix that?

[Sadorath]

@TheMegaOverlord14 Tired it and it crashed minecraft :(

[M0L0V]

@TheMegaOverlord14 You can desktop record if you so wish

[TheDrNate]

it didnt work for me : nether did the free version [the legal free version of fraps]

[moshiman619]

umm i recoreded something but idunno how to save it or view it

[TheMegaOverlord14]

@MCJustme No... It didnt. It is alright tho. I got enough money just for it. I just need to purchase it, that is all. XD

[MCJustme]

@TheMegaOverlord14 Did it work?

[TheMightyDMan]

@LOLtekknoLogic WELL THANKS FKN SKANK I FIGURED THAT OUT LIKE 30 DAYS AGO...

[LOLtekknoLogic]

@TheMightyDMan u stupid faggot... that's the reason why one would use taksi. to record longer in FRAPS, u have to buy it. taksi is free.