Gunbird Replay

Kiken · Post by **Kiken** » Thu Feb 03, 2005 4:46 am

I can't even remember if I ever made this public or not... Hell, I don't even remember uploading the video to my webspace (now that I think about it). :/

Anyhow, for anyone out there who's interested:

Gunbird 751,400 points Yuan Nang Stage 2-1 (152 MB)

This is actually from the PS2 Gunbird Collection (played in Tate mode).

Not the greatest technique in stage 1-7... but I was pretty shocked at what I pulled off in 1-6.

Neon · Post by **Neon** » Thu Feb 03, 2005 5:35 am

Nice job Kiken.

Why didn't you use mame for the recording if I may ask? .inp files are mere kb when compressed.

snap monkey · Post by **snap monkey** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 2:22 am

Cool video, you make the game look really easy.

Also, I had no idea there was a charge shot in Gunbird, it just takes a day and a half to ready for most of the characters, as I found out.

Neon wrote: Why didn't you use mame for the recording if I may ask?

On a random, semi-related note: how does one convert a mame recording to an avi? Is it just a simple console option in MAME or something more creative?

OptimusPrimeX · Post by **OptimusPrimeX** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 2:50 am

Nice stuff Kiken !!! made me whip out Gunbird today and play some ^_^..

snap monkey wrote:
On a random, semi-related note: how does one convert a mame recording to an avi? Is it just a simple console option in MAME or something more creative?

I'm curious to this as well, and also how you Record anything period!??>.

landshark · Post by **landshark** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 3:03 am

OptimusPrimeX wrote:Nice stuff Kiken !!! made me whip out Gunbird today and play some ^_^..

snap monkey wrote:
On a random, semi-related note: how does one convert a mame recording to an avi? Is it just a simple console option in MAME or something more creative?
I'm curious to this as well, and also how you Record anything period!??>.

I recently did it by recording the game as an INP (replay file). Then replaying it and using Fraps to capture it. Then using another program to recompress it with whatever codec you want.

Kiken · Post by **Kiken** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 3:14 am

Codecs are far easier to come by on folks' PC's than ROMs and Emulators.

I innitially record gameplay to videotape. I have a second VCR hooked up to my PC through my video capture card (the ATI TV Wonder Capture). I capture in uncompressed video (in VirtualDub), then edit the video in Adobe Premier, and finally compress the video back in VirtualDub.

dave4shmups · Post by **dave4shmups** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 6:43 pm

Awesome Kiken! You should seriously think about putting up some more shmup vids on your website; like add a Chaos Field section or something.

Post by **Ghegs** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 7:00 pm

Kiken wrote:I innitially record gameplay to videotape.

Ah, I've been meaning to ask this from you but I've forgotten. I tried taping my plays (not a superplay or anything, just so I could study it later) but nothing shows up on the tape. Whatever has previously been there gets overwritten with a blank screen, no sound or anything. Any advice? How do you have your TV, VCR and game system connected?

Kiken · Post by **Kiken** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 9:20 pm

Ghegs wrote:
Kiken wrote:I innitially record gameplay to videotape.
Ah, I've been meaning to ask this from you but I've forgotten. I tried taping my plays (not a superplay or anything, just so I could study it later) but nothing shows up on the tape. Whatever has previously been there gets overwritten with a blank screen, no sound or anything. Any advice? How do you have your TV, VCR and game system connected?

Ghegs, you must have the game console plugged in through the VCR itself (and make sure the VCR is set to the appropriate channel, ie: L1/2 or AUX), then have the VCR leading into the TV.

My set up is like this:
4 main consoles (the ones I'm actively playing at the moment) are plugged into a system switcher. The system switcher is plugged into the VCR (Channel AUX on that specific VCR). The VCR is then plugged into the TV.

Post by **Icarus** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 10:00 pm

Ghegs wrote:Ah, I've been meaning to ask this from you but I've forgotten. I tried taping my plays (not a superplay or anything, just so I could study it later) but nothing shows up on the tape. Whatever has previously been there gets overwritten with a blank screen, no sound or anything. Any advice? How do you have your TV, VCR and game system connected?

That depends on what kind of videosignal your console outputs. I have had stacks of trouble capturing from a PS1 for example due to the nasty video output is has (non-interlaced I believe). This type of videosignal is also unrecordable by VHS I believe, since I've tried that method to capture PS1 footage with no luck. I now capture direct from a SCART splitter with the composite output ports linked to one of my PC's capture cards - one pure MJPEG card and an RGB card using an MJPEG codec - and I've had little to no problems since.

Virtualdub is the king, but only in Win98SE. It hates any capture card using Video for Windows drivers, which is what my favourite MJPEG card works best with :/

snap monkey wrote:On a random, semi-related note: how does one convert a mame recording to an avi? Is it just a simple console option in MAME or something more creative?

MAME does a relatively good job of AVI conversion from an input file, but only if you have an exceptionally fast computer to cope with both the emulation playback and the AVI recording.

Personally, if you don't mind filling the space in your setup with another PC, set up another PC as a pure capture system, and link both together with a scan convertor of some sort. I use a cheap system that costs £50 from Trust Inc - it sends the PC videosignal to a convertor which outputs it both back to the monitor in VGA and through composite/S-Video to the display of your choice; in my case, a capture card - and it's worked wonders. Kewing's ESP Ra.De replay which was hosted on my site for a time was a Raine replay captured in MJPEG 60FPS in this manner.

Post by **Ghegs** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 10:12 pm

Kiken wrote: Ghegs, you must have the game console plugged in through the VCR itself (and make sure the VCR is set to the appropriate channel, ie: L1/2 or AUX), then have the VCR leading into the TV.

My set up is like this:
4 main consoles (the ones I'm actively playing at the moment) are plugged into a system switcher. The system switcher is plugged into the VCR (Channel AUX on that specific VCR). The VCR is then plugged into the TV.

That's exactly the same set-up I have. Wonder why it didn't work, then.

Does it matter whether I'm trying to record PAL/50hz or NTSC/60hz? My VCR is capable of displaying both, that much I know.

Icarus: capturing directly to computer would be the best choice, of course, but that's not an option for me.

EDIT: Got it to work! Unfortunately anything other than PAL/50hz gets recorded in black and white. Even PAL games with 60hz mode enabled. Meh. Oh well, at least I can save my runs for later study, if need be.

Leeram · Post by **Leeram** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 10:17 pm

I bought a video switch (Lektropacks BT942 Pro S-video Control) with dual S-video outputs for about £40, one goes to my game playing TV, the second to my PC TV capture card. Both outputs produce a signal at the same time.

Then all I do is record straight onto the PC whilst playing the game, no need to muck about with VHS.

Cheers

Lee

dave4shmups · Post by **dave4shmups** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 11:04 pm

Hey Kiken, do you have the first Gunbird on the Saturn? How's that version?

Post by **Icarus** » Sat Feb 05, 2005 12:18 am

Ghegs wrote:Icarus: capturing directly to computer would be the best choice, of course, but that's not an option for me.

You can pick up a cheap capture card for anything around £40 here. Usually they're RGB based, and use some form of Brooktree chip, BT8x8 or so (the newest is BT878, in a WinTV Go! which I have lying around somewhere). They're sorta reliable, but don't expect miracles if you want 50/60FPS capture. For standard 25/30FPS though, they're brill, and even work with finicky signals like the PS1 native video output.

You do need some way of routing the console signal to both your TV and your PC at the same time with this method. I use a multi-SCART connector, which lets me select from 3 SCART inputs. It also has two SCART outputs and two sets of composite output points, of which I use to route the signal to my computer simultaneously. You can pick up a block of this kind from any good tech store, and for cheap too.

Ghegs wrote:Unfortunately anything other than PAL/50hz gets recorded in black and white. Even PAL games with 60hz mode enabled.

As far as I know, unless you're capturing in your native signal, then the video displayed will be black and white. I also had this problem when trying to record from a dual switched SNES and a dual-switched Saturn: the hybrid accellerated PAL signal was not properly recognised by my cards or the VCR, and displayed in B/W. Ditto goes to the proper 60FPS PAL-M/N signal (the same signal that is now being used on some games like the UK version of Psyvariar, and all the UK 60FPS-able GameCube games).

Kiken · Post by **Kiken** » Sat Feb 05, 2005 3:06 am

I prefer capturing to video first over direct-capture for many reasons. I could easily do either, but recording to video first is easier on my PC, and the loss in image quality becomes neglidgable after compression. Not to mention, videotapes are cheap and make editing far easier (at least for me).

@ dave4shmups:

I haven't played the Saturn rev of Gunbird. I own the PSOne and the PS2 rev. The PSOne rev and Saturn are pretty much the same (from what I understand), except that the Saturn actually retains the Tate screen Option.

IlMrm · Post by **IlMrm** » Sat Feb 05, 2005 5:59 am

Any version is better than the Playstation MLF 1. The horror. Half the time I don't know what's shooting at me. It is especially true at stage seven when you fight the pirates. If you stay at the bottom you don't know where the mech is, only see pieces of it fall down. Quite hilarious.

landshark · Post by **landshark** » Sat Feb 05, 2005 6:02 am

IlMrm wrote:Any version is better than the Playstation MLF 1. The horror. Half the time I don't know what's shooting at me. It is especially true at stage seven when you fight the pirates. If you stay at the bottom you don't know where the mech is, only see pieces of it fall down. Quite hilarious.

Yeah, but at least MLF is so damned easy compared to the original.

Wow... that sentence reads funny if you pronounce MLF.