How can I make a game walkthrough

[shashgo]

I want to be able make game walkthroughs and then post them on youtube. For example super mario brothers for the Wii. I have no idea how to do this. Can anyone offer any suggestions?

[Baldrick]

Have you read any capture game consols threads? Like https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/331072-Good-HDMI-or-Component-Capture-Card-for-Game...?highlight=wii

[yoda313]

Assuming these will all be console capturing and not computer games you'll have to get a capture device of some type.

You can go from really inexpensive standard definition to high end high definition.

Check here for suggestions:

https://www.videohelp.com/capturecards

If you want standard definition and have a pci slot available and have installed a pci card in a computer before try going online to buy a used hauppuage pvr 250 or 350 capture card. You would hook up the outputs from the wii (or other console) to the inputs of the computer. You then start the capture software and set the quality and format settings you want and then record your gameplay.

Doing a voiceover (which you probably want to do) gets a little more complicated. The easiest is to do it in post production after you capture the gameplay. That way you could use any video editor that is halfway decent and use a microphone and record a commentary track during playback. This is after you recorded the gameplay.

Then from there you would either compress to a web friendly format or have the hosting site do it - youtube can convert for you. However I have never uploaded a video to youtube and I don't know how long it takes if its not compliant. Also note that obviously the larger your file is the longer it will take to upload. It would be slow on a dsl but doable. It would be nearly impossible on dialup if it were more than 10's of mbs long - 100mb would be a time consuming proposition on dial up. Cable or fios would be best to upload a long video that was large in file size.

If you want to record live commentary during gameplay it gets more complex. Depending on your capture hardware and software it might allow for simultaneous mic recording or you could rig something up with a wav editor program and record it simultaneously in a separate app from the video capture software. (if it was recorded in a separate program it would be a separate file as either wav or mp3 or something - this would need to be "muxed" or combined into the video afterwards - a relatively simple process with multiple programs being able to do so).

One major note - this can introduce lag time so when you press the button on the game controller there would be a delay from the action on the screen. How much depends on the capture device used.

Also you'll need to note if you intend to capture in high definition (please note that the wii can't do high def - its best setting is 480p widescreen but you will need the component cables and a capture device that can record from component cables).

There is a ton of information on this website and others for details on what you want to do. There are devices with passthrough abilities so you can record and watch on a tv with no lag - the hauppauge hd pvr is one such unit.

Please detail your needs and desires and a budget and it can be worked out in more detail. These should be a good starting point for you.

Fyi check out youtube to see if they have a tutorial they recommend for best game capturing. However if you do not have any hardware to do this yet that might not be too benificial.


Edit - also you did not note what computer system you are using - is it mac? linux? windows? For the most flexible choices of software windows (xp and newer) is highly recommended. There are certainly good programs for mac and linux but there are not as many choices for those platforms and may not be as user friendly as the windows versions - thinking about linux programs there).

Edit 2 - a quick and dirty way to do this also would be to use a settop dvd recorder. You could record in realtime and get a disc you could rip (ie copy) to your computer and upload to youtube. However depending on your connection scheme you may still have lag options and I am not sure how you would do a voice over in realtime in this setup. You could still do it in post production after you copy the recorded gameplay on the dvd (and finalized the dvd of course).

One other note - I am imagining that by the term "walkthrough" you mean to record actual gameplay footage and not just cutscenes (the video sequences set between chapters of the video game). If you are just going for the cutscenes its a lot easier and lag will not be an issue as long as you press record with some lead time before the scene starts to give the recording device enough time to start recording - some can have nearly instantaneous recording abilities but usually there is some wait time from pressing record to actually recording the video - it would vary from unit to unit, you would have to test your particular setup to get a feel for how long this delay actually is - shouldn't be very long at all but you might miss something you want to capture if your timing is off.

Of course you can always cut the video later but some formats are trickier to edit then others. If you record directly to h264 for example you will have a hard time cutting directly to the second you want because of the key frames that it uses (where you can actually place a cut in a video file).

[shashgo]

Yoda,

Wow, thanks for your input, its really detailed. Cool.

I ws especially interested in the point you made about using a DVD recorder to record the gameplay by connecting the Wii to the DVD recorder. But then how do I get video output on a monitor?

[yoda313]

Wow, thanks for your input, its really detailed. Cool.

You're welcome.

But then how do I get video output on a monitor?

Just hook the video out from the dvd recorder to a tv. Just like you normally would to watch (just like if you were dubbing vhs tapes "back in the day".

And I believe I mentioned this but you would record to dvd then finalize it in the dvd recorder and take that to your computer. You would use any dvd ripper (even dvd shrink even though its old an not updated since this is a home made disc) to copy it to your computer. You would use something like mpg2cut2 to edit out what you want and then upload that to youtube. If you wanted to do more with it use a video editor to manipulate it. If you are windows you can use windows movie maker (I think they have a new version called live maker or something like that). For mac you'd use imovie (which as I understand is preloaded with macs for the last several years - don't know which version it started to be included with as I am a pc guy).

Oh and another thing about doing the dvd recorder route is you are more likely to get letterboxed video that way. In otherwords when you play the video back on a widescreen tv it would have black bars on all 4 sides not just the top and bottom. You can reencode it to be what is called "anamorphic" widescreen but it is more work and not as sharp as if it had been originally captured in widescreen in the first place.

There may be a list of which dvd recorders can record widescreen. Try this list for starters - https://www.videohelp.com/dvdrecorders

As an fyi in the US the dvd recorder market is pretty much over with. There are some models but it didn't catch on what with the dvr craze and all (read tivo and friends - though most use the recorders the cable/sat companies make). You might have to order one online or buy used online like with ebay and the like.

And as I mentioned if you wanted to do live gameplay audio commentary with a dvd recorder I am not sure how you would achieve that. I'm sure there is someway to split the left/right audio inputs with some kind of microphone. However you'd have to have one with some kind of volume control or an external audio mixer unit to make sure the mic doesn't overpower the game audio.

Plus as noted earlier you might still experience some lag with a dvd recorder. If you go analog you could get video amplifiers that would let you split the cables and send one set to the dvd recorder and another to the tv. That should in theory let you essentially "clone" the signal to both the tv and the dvd recorder. Of course down side is you would have to somehow switch over manaully or use some selector switch to see the on screen graphics of the dvd recorder - but if all you are doing is pressing record and stop all the time I guess you wouldn't really have to see it. But you could bring another tv into the equation to see the output from the dvd recorder separately.

As you can see there are lots of pros and cons to whatever way you go.

You might still be able to go into a walmart or bestbuy and buy a dvd recorder but your selections will be limited and I'm 99% sure you wouldn't find one with a harddrive as those seemed to have been phased out all together in the US market.

You should definitely plan out your budget and what equipment you already have. Ebay is a great place to try. Also check out garage sales, swap meets, and your friends and family for excess computer/video equipment they no longer need or could loan out on an extended basis (or barter for of course ).

Good luck and let us know what route you want to take.

And don't forget if you go the dvd recorder route and don't want the hassle of figuring out live commentary you can use a video editor to record the commentary after you have copied the video to the computer.

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One other note if you use a dvd recorder some record in funky formats (the dvd_vr type). Sometimes rippers (copy programs) can have difficulty with some versions. Fortunately they have been around long enough that a quick google search for your model should hopefully yield a suggestable dvd ripper to use on that brand.

And another note use quality blank dvds like verbatim (not the life plus series - I think I got that right - others here can step in) or taiyo yuden discs. These can be bought online at various media stores.

Feel free to post more specific questions and myself and other forum members here can get you going.

But please take some time and do a forum search on the vast prior discussions on gameplay capturing. You'll have to narrow it down to console capturing instead of computer game capturing (which involves screen capture software that doesn't apply to console gaming).