Navigation

    RetroPie forum home
    • Register
    • Login
    • Search
    • Recent
    • Tags
    • Popular
    • Home
    • Docs
    Please do not post a support request without first reading and following the advice in https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3/read-this-first

    How-to guide: Recording Live Gameplay in RetroPie’s RetroArch Emulators Natively on the Raspberry Pi (and Twitch streaming)

    Help and Support
    ffmpeg libretro recording retroarch video capture
    20
    80
    34602
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as topic
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
    • RetroResolution
      RetroResolution last edited by RetroResolution

      Hi all,

      I've finally written up my guide to recording real-time gameplay in RetroPie’s RetroArch emulators; this approach requires no external hardware, and allows 60fps capture in emulators from the VCS to PlayStation.

      Recording Live Gameplay in RetroPie’s RetroArch Emulators Natively on the Raspberry Pi

      Topics Covered

      A Little Background Information
      A Note Before Proceeding
      Installing FFmpeg and Selected Codecs
      Rebuilding RetroArch to Enable FFmpeg Recording
      Checking FFmpeg has Been Enabled in RetroArch
      Activating the RetroArch Recording Features
         An Overview of the Emulators.cfg File
         Adding Recording Options to the RetroPie Runcommand Menu
         Recording with the Custom RecordConfig Option
      Performance Enhancements
         Custom FFmpeg Recording Configuration
         Tuning the FFmpeg Recording Configuration
         Recording to an External Storage Device
      Streaming to Twitch
      Related Posts
      External Links
      
      Charco meleu PokeEngineer 4 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 18
      • Charco
        Charco @RetroResolution last edited by

        @RetroResolution This is really cool! I wonder is there any chance of this being added officially to future RetroPie releases. It would be a great feature.

        RetroResolution 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
        • RetroResolution
          RetroResolution @Charco last edited by RetroResolution

          @Charco Thanks, that's very kind of you to say!
          I'm more than happy for that to happen - happy to assist in any way to make this a reality.

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
          • meleu
            meleu @RetroResolution last edited by

            @RetroResolution
            YOU
            ARE
            AMAZING!!
            It's a pitty that I can't upvote your post twice or more. :-)

            mediamogul RetroResolution senkun 3 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 1
            • mediamogul
              mediamogul Global Moderator @meleu last edited by

              @meleu said in How-to guide: Recording Live Gameplay in RetroPie’s RetroArch Emulators Natively on the Raspberry Pi (and Twitch streaming):

              It's a pitty that I can't upvote your post twice or more. :-)

              I got your back.

              @RetroResolution

              Nicely done, sir.

              RetroResolution 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
              • meleu
                meleu @RetroResolution last edited by

                @RetroResolution you said on your article that you are using raspi3 with overclocking.
                Is it doable on a raspi2?

                RetroResolution 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • RetroResolution
                  RetroResolution @meleu last edited by

                  @meleu wow! Thank you!

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • RetroResolution
                    RetroResolution @mediamogul last edited by

                    @mediamogul cheers! That's brilliant, thanks

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • RetroResolution
                      RetroResolution @meleu last edited by

                      @meleu there's no reason it wouldn't work, but some of the more demanding emulators may struggle to run at full speed whilst recording - that said, the ffmpeg config can be tuned so it may well be possible to trade quality for more speed

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                      • meleu
                        meleu last edited by

                        Hey @RetroResolution , I was reading your guide more carefully this time. At the end of the "Recording with the Custom RecordConfig Option" section there is a box "Naming the Recording File" talking about the file overwriting issue.

                        I would like to suggest an improvement to avoid that inconvenience of rename the file before launch RetroArch again. I was thinking to name the files with an appending timestamp. Example: recording_VCS_2016-07-14-221955.mkv(year-month-day-hourminutesecond). To achieve it you just have to change the --record option to something like this:

                        --record /media/pi/SG_3TB_D/RPi_AVI/recording_VCS_$(date +%Y-%m-%d-%H%M%S).mkv

                        What do you think?

                        RetroResolution 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 2
                        • RetroResolution
                          RetroResolution @meleu last edited by RetroResolution

                          @meleu excellent idea - I'd actually wondered about doing something like that, but bash scripting isn't really my forte - thanks, I'll update the guide (and give credit where it's due, of course!) when I have time

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                          • RetroResolution
                            RetroResolution @meleu last edited by RetroResolution

                            @meleu No time like the present; I've updated the 'Naming the Recording File' boxout with the following:

                            UPDATE: RetroPie forum member meleu suggested an improvement to avoid the inconvenience of renaming the file before each emulator launch, by automatically appending the filename with a timestamp (year-month-day-hourminutesecond), for example:
                            recording_VCS_2016-07-14-221955.mkv
                            This is achieved by updating the --record parameter as follows:
                            --record /media/pi/EXT_HDD/RPi_AVI/recording_VCS_$(date +%Y-%m-%d-%H%M%S).mkv

                            Thanks again for this excellent suggestion

                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                            • LSolrac2
                              LSolrac2 last edited by

                              Anyone else having issues getting this done?
                              I've recompiled FFMpeg along with the extra codecs, even downloaded and ran the script in the same site.
                              RetroArch compiles fine, even though FFMPeg is present, and the --disable-ffmpeg part is removed,
                              I still don't have the Recording option (Done this 3-4 times now)

                              RetroResolution 4 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • RetroResolution
                                RetroResolution @LSolrac2 last edited by RetroResolution

                                @LSolrac2 hi,
                                Which version of RetroPie do you have installed? - I'm wondering if something has changed in the 4.x betas, as I used 3.6, 3.7 and 3.8 when creating and testing this process.

                                [Edit] just to clarify, when you say 'there is no recording option', is this referring to the entry in the Retroarch GUI menu, rather than the RetroPie runcommand menu?

                                LSolrac2 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • RetroResolution
                                  RetroResolution @LSolrac2 last edited by

                                  @LSolrac2 have you tested ffmpeg by transcoding some video files from the command line, to ensure it has correctly built and installed?
                                  Has ffmpeg been installed to the default location so that it can be found by other applications (can you type ffmpeg from anywhere / directory at the terminal)?

                                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • RetroResolution
                                    RetroResolution @LSolrac2 last edited by RetroResolution

                                    @LSolrac2 it's worth asking, although I'm sure you'll have followed the process in order, but has Retroarch been recompiled after ffmpeg has been built and installed?
                                    [Edit] re-reading your post, it seems that you did install ffmpeg before recompiling retroarch, so this question is moot.

                                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • senkun
                                      senkun @meleu last edited by

                                      @meleu said in How-to guide: Recording Live Gameplay in RetroPie’s RetroArch Emulators Natively on the Raspberry Pi (and Twitch streaming):

                                      @RetroResolution
                                      YOU
                                      ARE
                                      AMAZING!!
                                      It's a pitty that I can't upvote your post twice or more. :-)

                                      Upvoted one more on your behalf. :P

                                      RetroResolution 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                      • RetroResolution
                                        RetroResolution @senkun last edited by

                                        @senkun cheers!

                                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • RetroResolution
                                          RetroResolution @LSolrac2 last edited by

                                          @LSolrac2 hi, some further questions (there are so many parts involved in a RetroPie system...)

                                          Is your installation from Raspbian image, with RetroPie installed on top, or from a RetroPie image?

                                          If you used a RetroPie image, do you have the lxde / Raspbian desktop?

                                          In either case, which version of Raspbian Linux is installed (Wheezy or Jessie)?

                                          Which version of Retroarch is installed on your system? This is shown at the bottom of the window when the Retroarch GUI menu is being accessed? My version is 1.3.4 on RetroPie 3.8. I notice in retropie's github that the retroarch framework was updated on 17th June, just after I last ran through the installation process . at a glance i can't tell from the source if anything has changed that could be causing the issue.

                                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                          • RetroResolution
                                            RetroResolution last edited by RetroResolution

                                            I'm currently undertaking a complete from-scratch install on my Pi 3 using all the latest versions of everything:

                                            • Raspbian Jessie 27/5/2016 image
                                            • Manually installed RetroPie 4 rc 1
                                            • Manually compiled FFmpeg, using the 'all-in-one' script from my FFmpeg compilation guide
                                            • No overclocking applied

                                            Part way through the ffmpeg compilation at the moment, having installed RetroPie.

                                            I have noticed that RetroArch is now version 1.3.6, released June 17th 2016 (my 3.8 RetroPie installation has 1.3.4, which was the released in May 2016), although there's nothing in the release notes to suggest a problem with ffmpeg recording.

                                            I've checked RetroPie's RetroArch setup script, and this seems to be as it was previously, including the original --disable-ffmpeg parameter.

                                            I'l post an update later...

                                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                            • First post
                                              Last post

                                            Contributions to the project are always appreciated, so if you would like to support us with a donation you can do so here.

                                            Hosting provided by Mythic-Beasts. See the Hosting Information page for more information.