Fraps lag/dealing with huge video files

Squidbiz · 07-30-2007, 09:39 PM

Okay so I am running WoW on a laptop, can't remember the exact specs offhand, but something like:

Intel Duo core, think its 1.66
2G of the best RAM dell offered (1 year ago)
Nvida's lower end mobile card, 128MB I am pretty sure

I have found it to preform fairly well, normally I play WoW at 1280x1024 (I think thats right, but if not you know what I mean =P) and all full settings. This generally nets me around 25 FPS in crowded areas.

Playing around with Fraps I found I could lower my resolution I think its at 1024x800something, and turn down a whole bunch of setting and average 25 FPS with fraps running. This I find quite playable however I occasionally notice huge spikes at random times. Like it will run fine in the middle of AV and drop bellow 10FPS while dueling outside Org.

Just wondering if anyone running a similar setup could advise me as to what fraps settings they use, or if something in my system is in desperate need of an upgrade to avoid these spikes. I've since realised that my hardrive is almost at capacity, I have 15-11g's left, could this be a possible problem? One time I maxed it while running fraps and that was not pretty 0.o!

I guess that brings me to my second question, right now a short 60 second clip is creating ~1g file is this normal? I am recording at full setting and 25 fps. I am assuming my laptop just doesn't have a large enough hardrive to handle these files sizes where as this is not an issue on desktops?

Thank you very much for your help!

kiahann · 07-30-2007, 10:13 PM

It has to be a computer problem fraps is finky with specs, your probably expirencing lag outside of orgrimmar due to your computer still loading a big area.

I would suggest trying to upgrade your ram and your video card 128mb isn't big

I would suggest clicking on "My Computer" then right clicking go to "properties" and in the general it will say what your computer is.

I would repost these specs when you find them out and wait for Thiras to reply if he does he's a wiz at computers

if he doesn't get a chance you can private message him asking for advice

For your second question.

Fraps is normally a huge file size and the more fps you have fraps set to the larger the file, when your file is large you will need to compress the files. There is a "how to" guide on compressing with .divx if your useing that.

Squidbiz · 07-31-2007, 12:40 AM

Yeah I double checked thos specs I posted are correct. Would a RAM upgrade really help? That would be doable. Aside from that I will probably look at buying a desktop as opposed to upgrading my video card, I don't even think it would be doable in my laptop.

I suppose I didn't explain the spikes I experience properly. 80% of the time with lowered setting I'll run at 50-60 FPS, Fraps kicks in and drops it to a consistent ~25. Then the odd time Fraps work fine for a few seconds and then take it down to 10 or lower. I turn Fraps off and I go straight back up to 50.

The Org example was purely to illustrate that these spikes don't seem to be based on how demanding the game environment is.

I was assuming the compressing guides were for acctually rendering finished video. Are you advising that I compress everything I capture prior to editing? I guess that makes sense. Is Divx the best format for doing this? I am currently using an old version of Premiere but might switch to Vegas.

Thanks for the response!

Thiras · 07-31-2007, 10:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Squidbiz

Yeah I double checked thos specs I posted are correct. Would a RAM upgrade really help? That would be doable. Aside from that I will probably look at buying a desktop as opposed to upgrading my video card, I don't even think it would be doable in my laptop.

I suppose I didn't explain the spikes I experience properly. 80% of the time with lowered setting I'll run at 50-60 FPS, Fraps kicks in and drops it to a consistent ~25. Then the odd time Fraps work fine for a few seconds and then take it down to 10 or lower. I turn Fraps off and I go straight back up to 50.

The Org example was purely to illustrate that these spikes don't seem to be based on how demanding the game environment is.

I was assuming the compressing guides were for acctually rendering finished video. Are you advising that I compress everything I capture prior to editing? I guess that makes sense. Is Divx the best format for doing this? I am currently using an old version of Premiere but might switch to Vegas.

Thanks for the response!

Hi there and welcome to the WCM forums

First of all: if you get these spikes and they go away after a few secs even if you don't turn recording off then its probably your hard drive having trouble (full/fragmented)

If you have 50-ish fps then that should be ok, if the video card can do 30 fps then its up to the rest of the comp (cpu and hd) to store it.. more or less.

It's hard to upgrade a disk in a laptop though. Your best bet would be to clean up some old files, get an external hdd to have them on perhaps? (just dont fraps to it)

Second: No, I wouldnt compress the files prior to editing if I were you. It makes editing harder because of how divx (and similar) codecs compress the video. It's designed for a constant forward playing and doesn't do well when you're hopping around in the video.

Plus xvid/divx doesnt always import into vegas, xvid never does actually. Bug in their VFW settings I've heard.

You could try recording at half size (which, to be honest, fulfills most peoples satisfaction around here) which should help with both recording fps and size.
In theory half size should only take up 1/4th the space though I haven't tested whether thats true or not.

If you do want to try half size, play at 1280x1024 (yeah you got it right

) or it'll get quite tiny. Otherwise try 1024x768 full size.

Short: I think your hard disk is the culprit. Clean it up and defragment

RAM etc should be alright.

Feel free to ask if you have any further questions, though I'm leaving on a train in five hours and I won't be back until the 7th. There are plenty of other nice people here who know stuff so I'm sure they'll answer any questions you might have

//Thiras.

DlouBent · 08-01-2007, 07:48 AM

Or you could record in half size

Squidbiz · 08-01-2007, 03:08 PM

Thank you for all you very helpful responses.

I think I will revisit the idea of recording at half size however the first time I looked at the video it produced I was not at all impressed.

Now I need to figure out what the hell is using all my hard drive space ><! Its too bad you can't record onto an external hard drive, that would be awsome. Oh well I suppose I can just move clips that I like over to it.

I should also add that I have no idea whether these spikes are temporary, as I always disengage Fraps so I can continue kicking ass.

DlouBent · 08-02-2007, 12:03 PM

As you said just drag to the other harddrive you got. Should work

07-30-2007, 09:39 PM	#1
Squidbiz Initiate Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 4	Fraps lag/dealing with huge video files Okay so I am running WoW on a laptop, can't remember the exact specs offhand, but something like: Intel Duo core, think its 1.66 2G of the best RAM dell offered (1 year ago) Nvida's lower end mobile card, 128MB I am pretty sure I have found it to preform fairly well, normally I play WoW at 1280x1024 (I think thats right, but if not you know what I mean =P) and all full settings. This generally nets me around 25 FPS in crowded areas. Playing around with Fraps I found I could lower my resolution I think its at 1024x800something, and turn down a whole bunch of setting and average 25 FPS with fraps running. This I find quite playable however I occasionally notice huge spikes at random times. Like it will run fine in the middle of AV and drop bellow 10FPS while dueling outside Org. Just wondering if anyone running a similar setup could advise me as to what fraps settings they use, or if something in my system is in desperate need of an upgrade to avoid these spikes. I've since realised that my hardrive is almost at capacity, I have 15-11g's left, could this be a possible problem? One time I maxed it while running fraps and that was not pretty 0.o! I guess that brings me to my second question, right now a short 60 second clip is creating ~1g file is this normal? I am recording at full setting and 25 fps. I am assuming my laptop just doesn't have a large enough hardrive to handle these files sizes where as this is not an issue on desktops? Thank you very much for your help!

07-30-2007, 10:13 PM	#2
kiahann Senior Member Join Date: May 2005 Location: USA Posts: 900	It has to be a computer problem fraps is finky with specs, your probably expirencing lag outside of orgrimmar due to your computer still loading a big area. I would suggest trying to upgrade your ram and your video card 128mb isn't big I would suggest clicking on "My Computer" then right clicking go to "properties" and in the general it will say what your computer is. I would repost these specs when you find them out and wait for Thiras to reply if he does he's a wiz at computers if he doesn't get a chance you can private message him asking for advice For your second question. Fraps is normally a huge file size and the more fps you have fraps set to the larger the file, when your file is large you will need to compress the files. There is a "how to" guide on compressing with .divx if your useing that. __________________ ModSquad Warcraftmovies.com Last edited by kiahann : 07-30-2007 at 10:22 PM.

08-01-2007, 07:48 AM	#5
DlouBent Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Denmark Posts: 241	Or you could record in half size __________________ http://www.warcraftmovies.com/movieview.php?id=45449

08-02-2007, 12:03 PM	#7
DlouBent Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Denmark Posts: 241	As you said just drag to the other harddrive you got. Should work __________________ http://www.warcraftmovies.com/movieview.php?id=45449

07-31-2007, 12:40 AM	#3
Squidbiz Initiate Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 4	Yeah I double checked thos specs I posted are correct. Would a RAM upgrade really help? That would be doable. Aside from that I will probably look at buying a desktop as opposed to upgrading my video card, I don't even think it would be doable in my laptop. I suppose I didn't explain the spikes I experience properly. 80% of the time with lowered setting I'll run at 50-60 FPS, Fraps kicks in and drops it to a consistent ~25. Then the odd time Fraps work fine for a few seconds and then take it down to 10 or lower. I turn Fraps off and I go straight back up to 50. The Org example was purely to illustrate that these spikes don't seem to be based on how demanding the game environment is. I was assuming the compressing guides were for acctually rendering finished video. Are you advising that I compress everything I capture prior to editing? I guess that makes sense. Is Divx the best format for doing this? I am currently using an old version of Premiere but might switch to Vegas. Thanks for the response!

08-01-2007, 03:08 PM	#6
Squidbiz Initiate Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 4	Thank you for all you very helpful responses. I think I will revisit the idea of recording at half size however the first time I looked at the video it produced I was not at all impressed. Now I need to figure out what the hell is using all my hard drive space ><! Its too bad you can't record onto an external hard drive, that would be awsome. Oh well I suppose I can just move clips that I like over to it. I should also add that I have no idea whether these spikes are temporary, as I always disengage Fraps so I can continue kicking ass.