Workaround for video capture with AMD gpu

[Vorpal]

Even as far back as beta, people with AMD hardware have been running into trouble when trying to record doom4 footage. Symptoms are usually:

no video/audio
single frame of video with audio
2-3 seconds of good capture but then reverts to a frozen frame

Since id don't seem to be fixing this one any time soon, it looks like we'll be stuck with this hamfisted solution:

1. Grab OBS Studio, an amazing bit of FOSS https://obsproject.com
   
2. Configure it to your needs, since I just want to record to files that I upload later, I just do Settings -> Output -> Recording Tab
   *Recording Format: mp4
   *Encoder: AMD Video Coding Engine (x264 should be fine too, but configures a little differently)
   *Rate Control: Constant Bitrate
   *Bitrate: 8000 (this is a minimum for 1080p 30fps youtube recording, and will probably look bad. Experiment with higher values to find what looks good for you after youtube postprocessing. If you intend to go for 1080p 60fps, the bitrate will need to be very much higher than this)
   
3. While you're at it, make a keybind for recording in Settings -> Hotkeys
   *Setting the same key combo to start recording and stop recording, and it will be treated as a toggle on/off switch.
   
4. In OBS Sources UI, click + to add, choose "Display Capture" and accept default settings for it
   *Trying to point OBS to the game executable via "Window Capture" or "Game Capture" will result in the borked recordings, as of this writing.
   
5. In Doom4 video settings, change to Window mode
   *Using Borderless Window or Fullscreen result in borked recordings, as of this writing.
   
6. Hit your record keybind and fill up your harddrive!
   

Since this workaround records your desktop you'll be recording your taskbar and window borders etc., so you're on your own for dealing with that. I just go into OBS and stretch the preview a bit until the game window fills the canvas (click and grab the red indicators). Yeah it's dirty and therefore not truly 1080p or whatever your desktop resolution is, but that's why I said this is a hamfisted workaround.

[Edward850]

Vorpal said:

Since id don't seem to be fixing this one any time soon

As it's a problem with AMDs encoding pipeline, I fail to do with what id is supposed to be doing here. Unless you think programming is magic or something.

[snapshot]

For those using Bandicam, Set Window Mode in game to "Borderless" and Bandicam recording mode to "Screen Recording mode", That helped me .

[MrGlide]

another option that's been working well for some people is to use a capture card, I know that costs money but I'm just tossing that option out there.

[Vorpal]

Edward850 said:

As it's a problem with AMDs encoding pipeline, I fail to do with what id is supposed to be doing here. Unless you think programming is magic or something.

All I know is that Doom4 is the only application of any sort in my travels, which exhibits this behavior with video capture.

[Edward850]

It's related to the OpenGL version Doom4 uses. It seems that something with OpenGL just doesn't fit right with hardware encoders at the moment (while you can indirectly record it in desktop mode, Shadowplay will not hook into an OpenGL surface at all).

[Vorpal]

Hmm I could have sworn that pointing OBS to the x264 software encoder still resulted in problems with doom4. Trying to record Vulkan definitely also has the problem with my configuration, and consequently also benefits from the same workaround.

I do have a video capture card I could try out... if I can squeeze it into that pci slot that the enormous GPU butts up against ;-)

[Vorpal]

Waiting on a $3 dvi to hdmi adapter to arrive, so I can pass my gpu output into the capture card (it only takes hdmi input, and my monitor occupies the hdmi output of my graphics card and I want it to stay that way).

I suspect it will work fine at capturing T3h D00mZ, but I'm curious about what sort of quality it will produce.

Oh and whatever you do folks, don't micro atx:

[MrGlide]

What ever happends be sure to update us if you don't mind.

[Vorpal]

Confirming that the libx264 software encoder also exhibits the same problems as the AMD H.264 encoder (done on hardware? fuck if I know).

Also confirming that a discrete capture device is problem-free with an AMD GPU. There are some negative aspects to the way I've set mine up, which I've explained in a little more detail in the video description: