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Video captures

If you want to show how to resolve a difficult part in a game or your ability to make a high score in a hard game, then this feature is for you as it allows to create first an enhanced version of a save state with saving of all your inputs in the game, then eventually in a second step to create an AVI file with choice between different codecs.

The general procedure is as following :

- start the video capture
- stop the video capture (it will create the .cap file in the subdirectory Video Capture)
- load a cap file OR play last capture
- select "render video file"
- give a name to the .avi file
- select a correct compressor (it's different following the PC, some compressors will work, others will not work - easy option is to select "Microsoft Video 1")
- wait for the end of the operation (you can follow the progression in %)
- click on the AVI file

Attention ! blueMSX saves the complete CPU state, including the emulated machine with all his specifications and the path to the rom, dsk or cas file of your game.

So don't try later to load a video capture in another machine and don't change the place of your games on the harddisk ! It's also recommended to put your games in a directory with a simple path (for example : C:\MSX\Roms) before your first video capture if you have the intention to share them with other fans.

If you use cheats, the parameters of the cheats are not saved. So it means that if you load later a video capture, you need to re-apply exactly the same cheats on the game after loading of the video capture. The AVI files will always be created without the cheats, so the result can be very different !

You can use the options of the File / Video Capture menu or access to them directly by the default shortcuts as indicated below.



Load...
Allows to load and play a video capture of your choice

Play Last Capture
Allows to play the last recorded video capture.

Record
Allows to record a new video capture or to append a sequel to a loaded and played video capture ; in this last case, the menu item becomes "Record (append)".

A unique file name is always created, by using this system : the name of the game or demo, followed by "_" , a number of 2 digits (the first combination is "00") and the extension .cap. This file will be stored in the Video Capture directory.

Stop.
Alllows to stop the recording of a video capture.

Note : use F9 to stop the playing of a video capture

Render Video File
Allows to convert the video capture into an AVI file.
After indication of the name of the AVI file, you need to select a codec for the compression.



The choice of a codec depends from the requested quality, but also from the using you'll make with the video capture. Some codecs are configurable, what's also important.

If you want to share your AVI files with other fans, than it's better to create AVI files that can be read by the Windows Media Player; in this case, use the Microsoft Video 1 codec.

By default, the video rendering will use 60 frames per second and a 640x480 resolution. You can eventually change the corresponding parameters in the blueMSX.ini file :

video.captureFps=60
video.captureSize=1

The first one can be set to anything, but the two values coherent with the VDP frequency of the emulated machine are 50 and 60.
60 is better to use whenever possible because it's what the frame mixing routines are optimized for.

The second can be set to 0 and 1. 0 means 320x240 resolution; 1 means 640x480 resolution.

Questions and answers

How to use a video capture as a save state ?
Simply rename the .cap file with the extension .sta ! Then check this page of the manual !

How to know the exact content of a video capture ?
If you are very curious about the exact content of a blueMSX video capture, simply rename the .cap file with the extension .zip and unzip the file !

Apart from an additionnal file (capture_00), the content is exactly the same as for a save state ! So check this page of the manual !

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