How to Record HoN: Start to Finish

[[GR]kustodian]

After many requests from our viewers and many weeks of writing and testing we are proud to bring you the most comprehensive game recording guide: How to Record Heroes of Newerth: Start to Finish. This guide will show you everything you need to know from setting up a HoN, recording in-game footage, editing and encoding, live streaming or finally publishing on a video streaming service like YouTube. At the moment we only provided in-game settings for Heroes of Newerth, but we will be adding StarCraft 2 and others soon.

Big thanks to Snoopy and Kustodian for putting together this awesome guide. If you find a mistake, or if you have any suggestions or questions make sure to leave them in this guide's feedback topic.

• How to Record HoN: Start to Finish
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[[Flag]Decency]

Awesome, I'll definitely be taking a good look at this. Been meaning to get my feet wet. =D

[[DU]Verith]

I know it says to leave comments on the GR forums, but I don't have an account and am feeling far too lazy to make one, so I'll just leave my thoughts here.

Great guide, very thorough and simple to understand. I do wish that there were more detailed explanations on certain parts though, like why choosing VP6 (in FMLE) is the best option (over h.264). The part about Frame Rate could also use some expanding, as 25 fps isn't going to just work for everybody.

My other suggestion would be to include recommended/required computer specs, as most people have no idea what kind of computing power is needed.

[[GR]kustodian]

I know it says to leave comments on the GR forums, but I don't have an account and am feeling far too lazy to make one, so I'll just leave my thoughts here.

Great guide, very thorough and simple to understand. I do wish that there were more detailed explanations on certain parts though, like why choosing VP6 (in FMLE) is the best option (over h.264). The part about Frame Rate could also use some expanding, as 25 fps isn't going to just work for everybody.

My other suggestion would be to include recommended/required computer specs, as most people have no idea what kind of computing power is needed.

Don't worry about leaving comments in here as well

We didn't want to go to many details why some things are better than the rest, since this guide would be even longer than. We choose all of these settings after many months of our using it and from our experience.

I could easily add those explanation into the guide, since I know the answers. Regarding the VP6 vs h264 question, VP6 is better for "real time encoding" fast scenes (which is done when you use FME), like when you move your camera, or there is a lot of action. It gives a less pixelated picture than h264. If you are going to encode an already recorded video file, I would always recommend h264, since it can give much higher quality with the same bitrate, but when you encode like that, it doesn't have to be real time, so it can take it's time to encode it the right way.

Regarding the 25 fps questions, I don't understand what you are saying: "25 fps isn't going to just work for everybody". What do you mean? If you thing that 25 isn't enough for video viewing, you are wrong. 25 is more than enough, and even the PAL standard is using that frame rate, and almost all XviD movies are encoded in 23 fps, and the videos still looks awesome.

We will try to find out minimum system specs for every capturing program.

P.S. It would be really nice if one of the mods could Pin this topic, since this guide is more comprehensive than any of the pinned guides in this forum.

[tecknique]

Although the guide is useful, it isn't really a guide at all. It's simply some links with information in it.

To name a guide "Start to Finish", but not give any steps as to where to begin, what to do, and how the final product is made, is not exactly what I had in mind when clicking the link.

Although most people who have made videos don't need it, this guide caters to those who haven't made videos. And had I known nothing about trying to make a HoN video, this guide would have told me some useful information, but without further outside research, I doubt a finished product would be .....well, finished.

Just giving my 2 cents. Do not take this post as being an insult, it's simply an observation.

[[GR]kustodian]

Although the guide is useful, it isn't really a guide at all. It's simply some links with information in it.

To name a guide "Start to Finish", but not give any steps as to where to begin, what to do, and how the final product is made, is not exactly what I had in mind when clicking the link.

Although most people who have made videos don't need it, this guide caters to those who haven't made videos. And had I known nothing about trying to make a HoN video, this guide would have told me some useful information, but without further outside research, I doubt a finished product would be .....well, finished.

Just giving my 2 cents. Do not take this post as being an insult, it's simply an observation.

Only links? Your kidding? Right? We wrote step-by-step explanation how and what needs to be done in every stage of getting the video from the game to the viewer. We didn't put everything in one single page since we wanted you to be able to choose the best option how to record/edit/encode. You just have to read the guide from start to finish, you don't even have to read the whole guide to do it, just one part of every section. For example, if you would like to upload a video to YouTube, you would need to read:

• Heroes of Newerth from Game Configuration, then
• FRAPS from Video Capturing,
• Windows Live Movie Maker from Video Editing/Encoding

You would have everything you need to publish a video to YouTube, or wherever you like. It is your choice what programs you would like to use.

But if you would like to stream videos, you would need to read:

• Heroes of Newerth from Game Configuration, then
• Flash Media Encoder from Video Capturing,
• And any either Justin.tv, or Ustream.tv from the Streaming section. And so on.

If it isn't obvious for some readers we will make adjustments in the guide to make it more user friendly, so you know what you need to read.

[[DU]Verith]

Don't worry about leaving comments in here as well

We didn't want to go to many details why some things are better than the rest, since this guide would be even longer than. We choose all of these settings after many months of our using it and from our experience.

I could easily add those explanation into the guide, since I know the answers. Regarding the VP6 vs h264 question, VP6 is better for "real time encoding" fast scenes (which is done when you use FME), like when you move your camera, or there is a lot of action. It gives a less pixelated picture than h264. If you are going to encode an already recorded video file, I would always recommend h264, since it can give much higher quality with the same bitrate, but when you encode like that, it doesn't have to be real time, so it can take it's time to encode it the right way.

Regarding the 25 fps questions, I don't understand what you are saying: "25 fps isn't going to just work for everybody". What do you mean? If you thing that 25 isn't enough for video viewing, you are wrong. 25 is more than enough, and even the PAL standard is using that frame rate, and almost all XviD movies are encoded in 23 fps, and the videos still looks awesome.

We will try to find out minimum system specs for every capturing program.

P.S. It would be really nice if one of the mods could Pin this topic, since this guide is more comprehensive than any of the pinned guides in this forum.

Thanks for the answer regarding VP6 vs H.264, I've always been curious what their differences are. The reason I ask is that for me personally H.264 actually works a lot better for me, with VP6 giving me laggy/skippy playback (the stream will freeze for a few seconds at a time every so often), but it does tend to look a little bit better. No idea why I get those freezes on the stream with VP6, but H.264 looks decent enough so oh well.

And when I say that 25 FPS doesn't work for everybody, I don't mean it's too low but that it might be too high. If your computer isn't good enough then turning down the FPS/Bitrate might be a good idea, at least that's what I've experienced when tinkering with streams the past few weeks. I don't really know much about this though, so I could be wrong, which is why I was just thinking a bit more information on some parts could be helpful.

Thanks a lot for the guide though, it's much more detailed and helpful than any of the others I've seen. Hopefully this can get stickied, as it really is better than the others up there.

[[GR]kustodian]

Thanks for the answer regarding VP6 vs H.264, I've always been curious what their differences are. The reason I ask is that for me personally H.264 actually works a lot better for me, with VP6 giving me laggy/skippy playback (the stream will freeze for a few seconds at a time every so often), but it does tend to look a little bit better. No idea why I get those freezes on the stream with VP6, but H.264 looks decent enough so oh well.

For streaming (bitrates around 1.1Mbps) you should always use VP6, and for bitrates used for recording (4Mbps), I will need to test, but I didn't notice any problems with VP6, but I think that at that bitrate H264 should look great as well. I will test it out.

And when I say that 25 FPS doesn't work for everybody, I don't mean it's too low but that it might be too high. If your computer isn't good enough then turning down the FPS/Bitrate might be a good idea, at least that's what I've experienced when tinkering with streams the past few weeks. I don't really know much about this though, so I could be wrong, which is why I was just thinking a bit more information on some parts could be helpful.

Tbh, if your PC cannot handle 25fps, then you shouldn't even try recording, since the video won't look that nice and it will feel like it is lagging.

Thanks a lot for the guide though, it's much more detailed and helpful than any of the others I've seen. Hopefully this can get stickied, as it really is better than the others up there.

I hope it get's stickied as well, since it covers almost all pinned guides in this forum, and I will try to add that additional information into the guide in the next few days. Atm I'm working on using some free apps for recording/encoding, so I can add them to the guide as well.

[Snoopy]

Hope some people find this guide to be useful, we are actively looking to update it

[Brishen]

nice guide

[Qe]

Hope some people find this guide to be useful, we are actively looking to update it

Ok so what I'm wondering is, when I record with fraps the quality is HORRENDOUS, it's like I'm playing in 640x480. And it gets much darker, like someone lowered the brightness/gamma by a lot :S Help?

Fraps isn't supposed to lose quality, I know I used it for WoW videos back in the olden days and it was fine then.

Edit: Rendering in H.264 made it great.

[[DTA2]Typhy]

Only one problem with this, and that is how some computers do NOT have Stereo Mix by default, even when showing disabled devices. Google also is not very helpful when trying to find a way to solve this.

It'd be great to have a small guide on getting this part to work, since I want to stream with friends being heard as well.

[GraZiaZ]

People should try Xsplit. It is very easy. But it is in beta stage though. But a very good program. Discount for first 2 years if you like it.

[[GR]kustodian]

Only one problem with this, and that is how some computers do NOT have Stereo Mix by default, even when showing disabled devices. Google also is not very helpful when trying to find a way to solve this.

It'd be great to have a small guide on getting this part to work, since I want to stream with friends being heard as well.

If your sound card doesn't support stereo mix, you cannot enable it. I know there are programs called Virtual Audio Cable which should allow you to have stereo mix even if your soundcard doesn't support it. We will test it out and see how it works and probably update that in the guide.

People should try Xsplit. It is very easy. But it is in beta stage though. But a very good program. Discount for first 2 years if you like it.

I agree, XSplit is very good and very easy to setup. We will need to add a configuration for XSplit in the guide.

[[E]MrAwesome]

I use Virtual Audio Cable and this is by setup (with FMLE):

I have two virtual lines.
- Line 1
- Line 2
And I have speakers and a mic.
- Speakers
- Microphone

First I default all sounds to Line 1 via Windows. This will direct sounds from HoN, TeamSpeak, Ventrilo, Mumble, WinAMP, etc to Line 1 instead of speakers.
I run 3 instances of VAC.
Instance 1
- Repeat Line 1 to Speakers
Instance 2
- Repeat Line 1 to Line 2
Instance 3
- Repeat Microphone to Line 2

FMLE records line 2.

In this setup I can have sounds directed directly to speakers and it will not be recorded. Any sounds directed to line 2 will be recorded but not played back to speakers. Anything directed to line 1 will be played back by speakers and be recorded. The microphone will be directed to line 2 to be recorded and can be used with other programs also and will not be played back to speakers.

You can have one line but you will need to have two instances of the repeater. For this one you need:

Default all sounds to Line 1 via Windows.
Instance 1
- Repeat Line 1 to Speakers
Instance 2
- Repeat Microphone to Line 1

This setup is fine but the only disadvantage is that you can hear yourself through the speakers.