Posts for dw0914

Posted: 9/3/2012 3:46 PM
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dw0914
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Joined: 7/21/2012
Posts: 18
Lagarith codec works just fine (easy to use as well) - it produces a ~45mb video for 30 seconds in 640x480. I've downloaded AviSynth and read up on scripts, but I'm unfamiliar with a non-GUI approach and unfortunately have too much going on in Labor Day week to really sit down for a few hours to feel my way around it by trial, error, and AviSynth wiki search-fu. I get the impression that I should do something like this: - Notepad to make an .avs file - Type in something like: 
# use the psxjin output avi and wav
video = AVISource("myGameVideo.avi")
audio = WAVSource("myGameAudio.wav")

# mix them:
AudioDub(video, audio)

#a SelectEven statement like you recommended (does it just stand alone?)
SelectEven
- ...after that is where I get stuck. I'm not really sure where to put anything to control the bitrate, which hopefully would reduce the filesize from 90mb/min (current) to something more manageable. - Then what? Start up Windows Media Player and open my .avs file? Do I have to specify some new output destination for the final, audio-dubbed .avi? I'm not really sure how opening an .avs in WMP results in a new .avi file somewhere on my hard drive, but then again, I've never done this before. Also, after making this video with the audio/video fused and other controls implemented, am I free to use a more familiar (and newb friendly) GUI-based video editor to make frame cuts and things like that? I had Windows Movie Maker (haha) in mind. I know it's not exactly professional grade editing software, but is that alright, or will it mess things up if I use it after AviSynth? Any input would be great - feel free to make some basic assumptions about the quality (etc) that I want, if it helps you to provide a brief example. Thanks!
Posted: 8/30/2012 8:25 PM
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dw0914
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Joined: 7/21/2012
Posts: 18
creaothceann wrote:
You sent the raw 60fps 256x224 capture, which has a couple of problems...
Actually I might have used some really basic codec rather than factory default settings, because the file sizes were quite small as far as I could tell (< 100 mb for 5 minute videos), but some of the problems you mentioned probably still applied. I was still okay with how they turned out, but I realize they weren't ideal! A few follow-ups since I'm not fully understanding the audio encoder and A/V fusion: - How do I set the audio encoder in PSXjin? I don't see this when I go to Record AVI. - Would Avisynth work just fine if PSXjin already outputs a separate audio and video file? - What resolution should I use? - What filesize should I expect? TASvideos' PSX movies page look like they're around 100 MB or less for videos under 10 minutes. That seems comparable to my previously made SNES videos but way smaller than anything I've cranked out of PSXjin in my trials so far. I realize those mp4's are not intended for HD YouTube publication, but still... I'd prefer something on the smaller end since I'm going to be recording a ton of these. I don't mind sacrificing super high quality since I'm going to be showcasing gaming feats more so than the game's graphics. - For video, it sounds like CamStudio and Lagarith are easy to use, meaning there isn't much to set in them. Is that correct? Also, if I do try to use one of the ffdshow encoders, what average bitrate (or quality) should I set? I realize it depends on my goals, but given what I've said in this thread so far, feel free to give your best estimate. I should have time to give these a try this evening. Thanks again for your continued help!
Posted: 8/29/2012 6:56 PM
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dw0914
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Joined: 7/21/2012
Posts: 18
Thank you both for the swift and helpful responses! natt, you're correct about my intentions. I've already uploaded a bunch of SNES videos from snes9x (again, just for fun, not TAS submissions), and while I can't remember what settings I used (ugh), I don't remember it being nearly as complicated as this. All I did there was use its built-in AVI recording with some simple codec - I wish I could remember what - and it came out in a nice, neat, reasonably sized AVI that I sent straight to YouTube. I do remember that it only plays with 240p resolution there... but there didn't seem to be any major compromise of SNES graphics. As such, I don't have any experience at all with any of the programs or codecs listed. Google should be a reasonable enough resource to find them (does that include CamStudio/Lagarith codecs?), but are they free to download and use? My hope also is that they're also easy to use, since I was hoping for a relatively hassle-free process*, something comparable to when I used to make SNES videos. [* I realize that's actually a lot to expect >.< but alas, my time after work is pretty occupied these days, and all my YouTube uploads are in the spirit of fun. An unfun, complicated process that requires buying/learning multiple programs would probably be a barrier to proceeding at this time.] To clarify, my bandwidth is actually alright, but 1 GB+ sounds like an unnecessarily large file (to me anyway). Is that actually par for the course for PSX / decent quality videos? I'm not at home right now, but when I get home I'll check the SNES videos I made. I remember them being around 80 MB or so for 3-5 minute videos. If my expectations are just wrong, and rather large sizes are normal (much bigger than my old SNES videos), then I might stick to some of the more default settings and just use AviSynth or mkvtoolnix (whichever's easier) to fuse the audio and video. Thanks again for the helpful replies :)
Posted: 8/28/2012 10:37 PM
Post subject: Settings for PSX YouTube recording
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dw0914
Experienced Forum User
Joined: 7/21/2012
Posts: 18
Hi all, For starters, I've read through the main site's Encoding guidelines as well as perusing a few of the forums, for several days now - I've done my due diligence in terms of lurking first. Unfortunately, the majority of these guides is spent focused on technical aspects that are required for Official TASvideos movies, with no real "quickstart" guide for those of us who are new and don't anticipate submitting tons of Official TASvideos submissions. I'm looking for settings to make reasonable quality and (hopefully) small size YouTube uploads from PSXjin v2.0.2, though from what I understand, the codec settings should be similar across all emulators. I'll break my questions down into a few easy topics that hopefully have easy answers. I greatly appreciate the help anyone can provide. The codec: I have ffdshow video codec listed as an option in PSXjin. Underneath that codec, there are many suboptions, including a variety of Encoders and graphical settings: First off, is this a legitimate codec to use? I've seen and downloaded an x264 package for Windows, but I ran the executable inside it and still do not see it listed in PSXjin. It seems like ffdshow has x264 inside it anyway, doesn't it - so is that fine? The settings: Simply put, what settings are important (see image above, though there are some other tabs too...), and what values do I use? There have been vague references to bitrate in some of the guides, but I haven't ever seen any quickstart guide for new encoders like "use X bitrate, change this setting, turn this on, and ignore the rest until you're more experienced." To clarify, I am recording a PSX game (Final Fantasy Tactics) for YouTube only; I am not concerned with meeting technical specs for Official TASvideos submissions. By the way, in the above image, I can change the mode to "One pass - average bitrate" and set a bitrate instead of Quality, if that helps. The resolution: I saw on the Encoding guide/Hi-def page that for YouTube, it's recommended to go over 320x240 for PSX games. Is 640x480 good? What about 800x600? Again, I'm looking for decent quality but still a manageable filesize. The audio: In PSXjin, the audio records separately from the video. I don't see anywhere in PSXjin that I can configure the audio encoding (or make them record together). Should I try to find the configuration (and if so, what settings to change)? Or just let it run with default settings and fuse the audio and video together after recording? The filesize: If you're able to make recommendations for the above categories... what filesize should I expect for, say, a 5 minute video? I tried experimenting with various codecs and settings already, and I watched a few seconds of video quickly eat up a couple MB (and a decent size audio file, too), which means a 5-to-10-minute battle video could approach 1 GB, which seems unreasonable as far as YouTube uploads are concerned. Or hey, maybe it's not, and I'm just not familiar with the territory. But I've seen some 60+ minute emulation videos on YouTube, and I'd be scared to think people are uploading several GB per video on those. Again, thanks in advance for any help you can provide. I don't mind being provided links as well, but if the links are to the TAS main site's Encoding guide and to this forum's stickies, the bad news is that I've already browsed those and come up empty for these questions. Cheers, dw0914
Posted: 8/23/2012 4:27 PM
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dw0914
Experienced Forum User
Joined: 7/21/2012
Posts: 18
I understand. In any case, it works just fine like this, as one giant movie and use of in-movie savestates only - so, with Bif's config file, FFT now works correctly on PSXjin v2.0.2. This game can be TASed! I look forward to seeing the results! :) My only regret is that we'll probably also see an increase in the number of players posting videos of uncannily lucky runs through FFT 1.3 now (posing as legitimate runs). This is a minor disappointment to those of us who have already beaten that much more difficult version of the game in many different ways (and indeed, have become experts at doing so, to the point where its difficulty is only moderate now), using neither mid-battle savestates nor excess luck. C'est la vie.
Posted: 8/22/2012 12:00 AM
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dw0914
Experienced Forum User
Joined: 7/21/2012
Posts: 18
My mistake for making my intentions unclear - I'm not aiming to submit a TAS to this site, so when I have recorded playthroughs of other games in the past, I have usually split it up into pieces linked by savestates (that's just what I'm used to). I've never made one giant movie that spans an entire game before. Thanks for the tips, and I'll check out that link. It sounds like that is the only way to make FFT record properly anyway! And I'm guessing it'll work :)
Posted: 8/21/2012 11:10 PM
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dw0914
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Joined: 7/21/2012
Posts: 18
Well, in that particular movie he uses Power On. I didn't know if he used other options in different movies. Anyhow, why wouldn't you want to start from current state / memory card? What are you supposed to do, start recording a movie from Power On and never stop recording for the many hours it takes to complete a game? Can you make one giant movie that spans the entire game, stopping recording and restarting it later on? I was planning to make one movie for each battle. It's possible that I am missing something obvious here, so feel free to point it out :) but a playthrough of FFT with re-records would take many, many hours to record... and if you only use Power On, then don't you have to make one giant movie for the entire game without ever stopping the record? It would particularly suck to spend a few weeks making an optimal movie only to finish and find out that it doesn't play back properly...
Posted: 8/21/2012 8:41 PM
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dw0914
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Joined: 7/21/2012
Posts: 18
Sorry Bif, I meant to ask: what do you use when you are Recording a new movie? I think the picture you posted is for playing back a movie. Mostly I am interested to know how you use Memory Cards or Current State since neither one works properly when I use Record Movie. Thanks :)
Posted: 8/19/2012 4:26 PM
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dw0914
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Joined: 7/21/2012
Posts: 18
Bif - when starting a new movie (Ctrl+N), what settings do you use? If I try "Power On + current memory cards", then the game can never find my saved data. I have tried making a couple different saves on both memory cards, and it has never been able to find my memory card data after a reset. The game runs properly, but it cannot load my memory cards. If I try the "Current state" options, then when the recording starts, my game loses all sound and the graphics get really messed up. Here is an example from the very beginning of Mandalia Plains: ...obviously I can't really play the game like this. So basically, I can't start recording a movie, but everything else works fine. I am using your settings file except that I changed resolution to 800x600 and changed the Controller.
Posted: 8/18/2012 2:05 PM
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dw0914
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Joined: 7/21/2012
Posts: 18
Good news!! The first time I tried with your config, it worked! I have no idea why. However I tried to Savestate 0 after the starting battle and it crashed PSXjin, and then it would not Loadstate 0 either... so I will have to try it again later when I have more time. Hopefully I can get savestates to work too, and hopefully it will continue to run properly. Update: save/load states DO work - I used the shortcut keys this time, and for whatever reason, that worked. As far as I can tell, the game works perfectly in terms of AI and savestates. The only thing I haven't tried yet is Movie recording/watching. Since using Bif's settings, I have not had any errors with the AI freezing!
Posted: 8/17/2012 2:47 PM
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dw0914
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Joined: 7/21/2012
Posts: 18
I don't know much about PSXjin's inner workings, so I am not the best person to debug issues like this, but there has to be some reason it works for you. What operating system are you using? And your friend? I'm using 64-bit Win7, but I can also try it on WinXP. I will try your config when I get home. Thanks!
Posted: 8/15/2012 11:19 PM
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dw0914
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Joined: 7/21/2012
Posts: 18
I have tried both emulators many times, and the only time I have gotten Gafgarion to move correctly is when using the Internal HLE BIOS for PCSX-rr v0.1.3. Bif, can you post your psxjin.ini (config file) that you use when it works? It is the same ROM, same software, so if we use the same config then it seems like it should work. Thanks! (if anyone else has any results from testing, please post!)
Posted: 8/15/2012 12:13 PM
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dw0914
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Joined: 7/21/2012
Posts: 18
Hmm... okay, I guess I will keep trying. I don't like the idea that it only works sometimes, though. If your friend gets one that works, and he makes a savestate, does the savestate always work? Then you only have to get it to work once...
Posted: 8/14/2012 11:13 PM
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dw0914
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Joined: 7/21/2012
Posts: 18
So, I tried a few things, in this order: PSXjin v2.0.2 - Configuration -> Graphics -> Activate special game fixes (checked) -> go into those options and turn on 0x0008 Disable coord check, using BIOS SCPH-1001. Did NOT work. PCSX-rr v0.1.3 - Configuration -> Graphics -> Activate special game fixes (checked) -> go into those options and turn on 0x0008 Disable coord check, using BIOS SCPH-1001. Did NOT work PCSX-rr v0.1.3 - Configuration -> Graphics -> Activate special game fixes (checked) -> go into those options and turn on 0x0008 Disable coord check, using BIOS Internal HLE. It WORKED, Gafgarion moved as expected. Back to PSXjin v2.0.2 - Configuration -> Graphics -> Activate special game fixes (checked) -> go into those options and turn on 0x0008 Disable coord check, using BIOS SCPH-1001. It still did NOT work! Basically, it only worked when I used PCSX-rr v0.1.3's Internal HLE BIOS. I could not get it to work on PSXjin v2.0.2. Has anyone else tried this? Hopefully this can provide some clues to the PSXjin developers as to what the problem is...
Posted: 8/14/2012 1:15 PM
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dw0914
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Joined: 7/21/2012
Posts: 18
Wow, this is crazy good news if it works! I'm unable to test this until later today, but has anyone else followed the same steps and gotten it to work? I don't think I've ever seen the "Activate special game fixes" option before, so could someone produce a quick list of steps to get this to work if they get to it before I do? If not, I'll do it later today. The reason I ask is that some players such as myself have incredible bad luck with using a slightly wrong emulator or ROM version or the wrong settings when it comes to stuff like this :P ...but if I get it working ~10 hours from now, I'll post the steps to reproduce. In any case, thank you Bif!
Posted: 8/12/2012 11:59 PM
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dw0914
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Joined: 7/21/2012
Posts: 18
Torn338 wrote:
What? HOW? Everytime we have tried to TAS this game, it just stops at Gafs first turn since he's a guest and the guest ai script halts, and doesn't load.. Movie or not. How exactly did you get this working? If you're using the NTSC version that's probably the same version we're trying out? Did you modify settings or anything like that??
I second this. What emulator and game version are you using? Please post as much information as you're able. Here I was, ready to fork over some cash money to get things rolling, and it appears someone's already gotten things to work? :P To be clear... you're able to save state / RE-record with the emulator you're using, right?
Posted: 7/22/2012 7:44 PM
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dw0914
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Joined: 7/21/2012
Posts: 18
Alright, thank you for the quick reply. If this issue is being worked on and there's any way I can support the people working on it... please let me know. I realize a little money doesn't magically make things work, but it's definitely a cause worth supporting with a little incentive :)
Posted: 7/21/2012 2:43 PM
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dw0914
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Joined: 7/21/2012
Posts: 18
Hmm... so I was recently thinking of recording some gameplay in FFT via an emulator, and I stumbled upon these bugs myself and tried every way I can think of to get around them (re-downloading various components, even patching to 1.3). Then of course I stumbled upon this thread, which for some reason wasn't showing up in my Google search-fu. As a long time TASvideos spectator, I was pleasantly surprised to see that this was the site with the greatest wealth of information about the issue :) It seems like the current release of PSXjin has been out for several months with this issue listed on their bug report page as a new, but unaddressed issue (meaning they're not even actively working to fix it, as far as I could tell). My understanding is that there is no PSX emulator with standard "Record Movie" capabilities (i.e. actual movie files, not just running Fraps while you're playing) that can actually run FFT glitch-free. Considering that I'd love to sit through hours of various TAS runs (calc run, JP glitch run, "regular" run, hell even a 100% run)... and that I'd love to make some of my own videos... this is a sad state of affairs :( Is there anything I can do to help? I know projects like PSXjin depend on the free time and goodwill of those who developed the platform, but... donations and the like can often be a decent motivator for the otherwise unpaid but wonderful people who produce such things for the general public. I'd be more than happy to provide a little incentive for this issue to be bumped to the top of the to-do list. I realize a better place to post that suggestion would be the PSXjin mini-site itself, but it seems closely linked to TASvideos and I wanted to first triple-check that my understanding (that no recording emulators can run FFT) was correct. Thanks!