FRAPS v2.9.1 - A blessing for multithreaded applications

[RPGW1ZaRD]

So a new version of FRAPS has been released quite recently and you all probably all know what FRAPS is but in case it's new to someone:

Homepage: FRAPS show fps, record video game movies, screen capture software

Fraps is a universal Windows application that can be used with games using DirectX or OpenGL graphic technology. In its current form Fraps performs many tasks and can best be described as:

Benchmarking Software - Show how many Frames Per Second (FPS) you are getting in a corner of your screen. Perform custom benchmarks and measure the frame rate between any two points. Save the statistics out to disk and use them for your own reviews and applications.

Screen Capture Software - Take a screenshot with the press of a key! There's no need to paste into a paint program every time you want a new shot. Your screen captures are automatically named and timestamped.

Realtime Video Capture Software - Have you ever wanted to record video while playing your favourite game? Come join the Machinima revolution! Throw away the VCR, forget about using a DV cam, game recording has never been this easy! Fraps can capture audio and video up to 2560x1600 on dual-core CPUs (1152x864 single-core) at up to 100 frames per second!

12th July 2007 - Fraps 2.9.1 Released

The latest Fraps 2.9 release adds support for Vista and DirectX 10 games. With games starting to appear using DirectX 10 graphics we are happy to report that benchmarking, video capture, and screenshots are now all fully supported for these titles.

Vista also includes a rewritten audio subsystem. Fraps can take advantage of this and directly record a sound stream from the machine without requiring any support from the soundcard driver. This allows you to capture ingame audio even if you are using a USB headset or other audio device which does not normally support a "Stereo Mix" or "What U Hear" recording input.

Since the Vista Desktop Window Manager (DWM) runs through DirectX we have also added a new option to monitor the desktop under Vista. You can now take screenshots and record video from the desktop just like any other game or 3D application.

Changelog

2.9.1 - 12th Jul 2007
- Fixed blank video capture occurring with some configurations

2.9.0 - 10th Jul 2007
- Added support for DirectX 10
- Added option to monitor Desktop Window Manager under Vista
- Added Direct Stream sound recording for Vista
- Fixed screen tearing in video captured from DX9 games
- Fixed G15 LCD output running fast on Vista machines
- Improved resource sharing with multithreaded games
- Added numerous crash and compatibility fixes

What I'd like to point out with this release is what I marked in bold text in the changelog above. It really makes a huge difference in for example PCSX2. With FRAPS v2.8.0, 2.8.1 and 2.8.2 it was really impossible to record videos with FRAPS as frame rate dropped to like 10 - 20 FPS while recording and this was obviously due to "- Added dual core optimizations to Fraps FPS1 codec" changes made in v2.8.0 as in previous version 2.7.4 it still ran fine which I was forced to use up until now. Unfortunately, v2.9.1 is even FASTER than v2.7.4 which all you recording fans out there should appriciate I think.

Since examples can speak pretty well here I post an example. This is the Kingdom Hearts opening video running when PCSX2 resolution was set at 1024x768 but within FRAPS "Half-Size" was ticked tho which results in 512x384 resolution (higher resolution results in bigger FPS drop when recording) which is still higher than what youtube videos gets converted to 320x240 which means you could even record at 640x480 resolution set in PCSX2 and "half size" ticked in FRAPS and see get no quality loss and to get optimal FPS rates when recording in PCSX2. This ran at constant 100 FPS which is the highest FPS rate FRAPS can record at. Considering it runs like 105-120 FPS when not recording, I thought it was rather impressive not seeing a single jump below 99/100 FPS.



Also here's another video I already posted here. This video is recorded from the brand new PC game Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2, this time with 1280x960 resolution and maxed detail settings, AF8x etc and still it ran at decent FPS rates while recording altho slowdown was very high at this resolution (~55%).



Here's also following test that compares FPS between screenshots from same position. They are in following order: 640x480 normal, 640x480 recording, 1024x768 normal and 1024x768 recording. First up is Grandia III. AA4x was used only because it didn't slow down at all.



Here where the FPS stays at constant 59 FPS (FRAPS value) when not recording, it resulted in a minimal FPS drop to only 57-58 FPS while recording in both resolution 1024x768 and 640x480, highly impressive! So if you record when FPS is 60 FPS or lower then you will probably not see almost any difference but of course it always depends a bit on what CPU you have. Next up is Final Fantasy X and a spot that runs a bit higher to see how it differs at high FPS rates as I know at higher FPS rates recording becomes much more stressful for our video recorder.



Now the difference was a bit higher as expected. While it ran at 113~114 FPS while not recording in both resolutions, in resolution 640x480 while recording FPS dropped to 95~97 and in resolution 1024x768 92~95 FPS, which is still quite nice I must say.

I don't have any v2.8.2 screenshots for comparision right now but I can assure you that FPS wouldn't be nice at all and in v2.7.4 and earlier versions which I already meantioned recorded a lot faster in multithreaded programs than v2.8.0, 2.8.1 and 2.8.2 still gets spanked by the new v2.9.1. So FRAPS v2.9.1 was really a welcomed update for me. Although this isn't a freeware application I can still recommend it if you want an efficient screen capture software for easily recording movies or take screenshots etc. from games!

[cyclonmaster]

Nice update. Too bad I only had single core processor. Nothing worth for me these day. Next year I'll start thinking about to change my machine.

[Silenus]

Thanks for the info, this will be helpfull with a review I'm planning to do.