Why fraps. Learning to use Fraps

Fairly easy to use, Fraps can create gaming videos files, screenshots, show you real-time FPS. It will certainly come in handy if you decide to show your friends what is happening in the game. Distinctive feature utilities in relatively low consumption RAM, which has a beneficial effect on game performance. You can easily recognize numerous Fraps users by the yellow numbers in the corner of their videos, since it is the one that shows FPS in this form. Join Fraps users around the world and evaluate the merits of this screen video capture program in this article.

How to download and install Fraps

You can download the program both on the official website and on third-party resources. The main thing is to check the file for viruses before opening it.

• Go to http://www.softportal.com and click on the “Download” button to save the installer.

• Once the download is complete, double-click on the file. The installation program is quite simple and old, so it will not cause any difficulties.
• That's it. In just five seconds, Fraps will be installed on your computer, and you will be ready to set it up and play an exciting game.

How to set up Fraps

When you launch the program, you will see only four tabs:

• “General” – general settings.
• “FPS” – setting the display of your FPS.
• “Movies” – video parameters.
• “Screenshots” – screenshots of your screen.

Start with the “General” tab.
There are only five points available to you here, of which you need to tick as desired:

• The first line is “Start Fraps minimized” to reduce the size of the program window.
• “Fraps window always on top” – places the program above all windows.
• and “Run Fraps when Windows starts” so that the program starts when the system is turned on.

• Now go to the next tab with FPS. Here you can configure the display of the number of FPS on the screen and saving tests if you need it.
• The top line indicates the save path.
• The left part is dedicated to benchmarks: their hotkey and content options. You can change the key to any other one, but it is better to indicate all three points in the content.
• On the right side, you can also select a hotkey for displaying FPS, as well as the angle of location on the screen. There is no need to change anything else.

In the video section you need to specify the following parameters:

• The folder where all video files are saved.
• Number of frames per second. It is better to specify 24-25 frames so as not to load the computer.
• Record sound or not. This is purely your decision, but videos with sound will be very voluminous.
• Some recording options: hide the cursor on the video or not, record FPS changes or not, apply RGB, which will improve the quality, but will greatly load the computer.

Screenshots also have their own settings:

• Save folder.
• Format for saving screenshots. It is better to choose BMP or JPG as they take up less space.
• Image options: whether to show FPS in pictures and set up automatic capture of screenshots every few seconds.

How to Take Photos and Videos in Fraps

You just need to remember the combinations you specified in the settings.

• Minimize Fraps and open any game. Immediately you will see the FPS in the corner you selected.
• To take a screenshot, you need to press the hotkey. And to start the video, you press your hotkey and end the video with it.
• All files are saved in the directories you specify.

We looked at ways to increase FPS (frames per second) for smoother motion in dynamic scenes in computer games. This article will be a kind of prehistory for the first one, since below we will consider a way to actually find out this very FPS indicator in the game. And to calculate the frame rate, we will resort to using a small free program for Windows - Fraps.

1. About Fraps

The main purpose of the Fraps program is to test the performance of video cards in a 3D environment - computer games and 3D programs. In particular, the program can calculate FPS. Among its other features is recording screenshots and screencasts of games. Friends, these program functions are discussed in detail in another article on the site.”

The Fraps program, in addition to the paid full-featured version, has a free version with somewhat limited functionality. Specifically for calculating FPS in the game free version the program is more than enough. In the official edition, Fraps comes only with an English-language interface. The Internet is full of unofficial Russified assemblies of the free edition of Fraps, but not all of them work with Windows systems 8.1 and 10, and it’s not safe to download software from unverified sources. To start calculating the frame rate of a game using the Fraps program, you don’t even need a basic level of knowledge English language, because everything necessary settings and we will look at the steps below. And first, of course, let’s download the program from its official website using the link

http://www.fraps.com/download.php

Fraps installation is standard. Let's launch the program.

2. Program behavior settings

Before running the test for calculating FPS, let's look at the behavior settings of the Fraps program in its first tab "General":

• The first one from the top is “ Start Fraps minimized"- this is an option to minimize the program window to the system tray immediately upon startup;
• Second from the top - "Fraps window always on top"- option to display the program window on top of windows of other Windows applications.
• Third from top - "Run Fraps when Windows starts"- program autorun along with Windows.

In our case, we use only the option in the lower left corner of the Fraps window - "Minimize to system tray only", which will hide the program in the system tray.

3. Testing to see how many FPS are in the game

Everything related to testing the video card, in particular, calculating FPS in the game, is configured in the second tab of the Fraps program "99 FPS".

How to run a test to find out how much FPS is in the game? In the column "Benchmark Settings" put a tick on the position "FPS". Above and to the right, in the column "Overlay Hotkey" We will see the preset hotkey F12 to switch the angle of display of the testing indicator on the monitor screen. If necessary, this key can be changed to another and used during testing if the FPS counter obscures, for example, game statistics. The same key is also used to turn off the FPS counter when the final movement angle is reached.

That's it - we can start testing. We do not close the Fraps program and launch the game. In full-screen game mode, you will see an FPS counter in the upper right corner.

4. Testing the FPS indicator and saving the results

In the “99 FPS” program tab we will find another default hotkey - F11 - in the “Benchmarking Hotkey” column. If necessary, it can also be changed to an alternative key. This is the key for saving test results. If you press it during the game, after exiting the game client, the minimum and maximum FPS will be written to the log file.

This log file, along with a csv file, which will contain a more expanded list of FPS indicators during testing, can be found in the folder along the path specified in the column "Folder to save benchmarks in". The path for saving test results changes to another when you click the blue “Change” button.

We can not exit the game client, but simply minimize it with the Win key to view the results of the express test for calculating FPS. To do this, activate the “Stop benchmark after” option and set the number of seconds for which testing will be carried out and the results will be saved to a log file.

Next, as in the previous paragraph of the article, without closing the Fraps program, launch the game. After exiting the game or upon completion of the specified seconds for express testing, we can go for its results along the specified save path. By the way, the program implements quick access to the folder for saving test results - this is the button "View" in the “99 FPS” tab.

5. Other testing settings

In the “99 FPS” program tab there are some other settings that were not used in our case. One of the options that is located in the lower right corner of the program window is "Only update overlay once a second"- this activates the FPS counter update every second, and not every 25 frames, as is configured in the Fraps program by default.

The other two options in the “Benchmark Settings” column are options for testing microlatencies (“Frametimes”) and maximum, minimum, average FPS (“MinMaxAvg”).

These parameters can be seen in the csv file in the folder along the path where the test results are saved.

6. What should be the optimal FPS?

There is no specific set FPS benchmark figure, as different games may have different image quality at the same frame rate per second. There is an opinion that the indicator 30 FPS enough for the average in terms of system requirements computer game. But for new games, designed to work with productive hardware, stuffed with effects and gameplay dynamics, this figure may not be enough. Gamers with impressive experience love to chase a high score - so that there is at least 50 FPS.

In any case, when choosing a video card for a PC build kit or looking for a powerful laptop with a discrete video card, it would be a good idea to look at tests of these video cards in computer games on the Internet. The higher the FPS value above 30 such video cards produce, the better.

Many novice players are wondering: how to take not only a high-quality, but also a complete screenshot in the game - such that all interface elements, pop-up windows, etc. are displayed? As a rule, the response is a small list of programs, which is almost always headed by a program called Fraps. Despite the fact that almost everyone has heard about Fraps, not much has been written about it. And perhaps it remains a mystery for you - where can I get this program and how to use it? Now I will tell you about all this.

But why Fraps? – you may ask. – After all, there are a great many such programs! Yes, there are more than enough programs with similar functionality, but it is not for nothing that Fraps enjoys national recognition, because it has a number of advantages - simple installation, light weight, easy-to-learn interface and a very high-quality output result. And the most important advantage, especially for users " The Sims 3"- screenshots taken in full-screen mode are obtained with the original brightness, and are not darkened, as is the case with most other similar programs.
Download trial version Fraps is available from the program website. The free version is sufficient for creating screenshots. Double-click the downloaded file and the Installation Wizard will launch.

General tab – basic settings

1. Start Fraps minimized – The program will be launched minimized (on the taskbar).
2. Fraps window always on top – The program window will always be in the foreground.
3. Run Fraps when Windows starts – The program will start along with the operating system.
4. Monitor Aero desktop (DWM) – Only for Vista and Windows 7 operating systems. When you activate the function, if you have an Aero desktop enabled, you will be able to record what happens on it.
5. Minimize to system tray only – When launched, the program will immediately minimize to the system tray without showing the main window. To call the main window, you will need to double-click on the program icon next to the clock. Works only when step 1 is enabled.

FPS tab – testing settings and FPS counter indicator (frames per second)

1. Overlay Hotkey – Click on the Enable button and press any key (or key combination) – now, when you press this key in the game, the FPS counter will move cyclically across the four corners of the screen and disappear on the fifth press. Please note: It is undesirable for Fraps hotkeys to coincide with hotkeys for a game, other programs, or operating system.
2. Overlay Corner – choose in which corner to show the frames per second counter. If the counter is not needed, select Hide overlay.
3. Only update overlay once a second – counter data will be updated once per second, rather than in real time (slightly reduces CPU load)

Movies tab – video capture settings

1. Folder to save movies in Change – select the folder in which our video will be saved. Button View
2. Video Capture Hotkey – place the cursor in the input field and press the key (or combination) that we want to assign to start the video recording process in the game. Clicking a button Disable – cancels the assignment. When you press this hotkey in the game, the video capture process will start and the FPS counter (if activated) will change its color from yellow to red. Pressing the key again will stop video recording.
3. Video Capture Setting – select how many frames per second the video will be recorded – fixed 60-50-30, or enter your value in a separate field. Full-size – the video size will be equal to the size of the game window. Half-size – the video size will be reduced by half.
4. Loop buffer length - Allows you to enable "pre-recording" on XX second (that is, if you press the hotkey assigned in step 2 in the game, the final video will be recorded not from the moment of pressing, but XX seconds earlier). Convenient if you are afraid of missing an interesting moment, but it requires quite a lot of resources - leave it unchanged.
5. Split movie every 4 Gigabytes – the video will be cut into pieces of 4 gigabytes (convenient, for example, for recording on a DVD)
   Sound Capture Settings - audio capture settings (example for Windows 7):
6. Record Win7 sound – all sounds played on the computer will be recorded. Stereo – the sound will be mixed into two channels (left + right), Multichannel – the number of recorded audio channels will correspond to the settings of the operating system audio playback devices.
7. Record external input – additionally record sound from the computer’s external audio input, designated as the “default” input in the system (microphone or line input).
8. Only capture while pushing – “external” sound will be recorded only if the key assigned in the input field is pressed (to assign a key, click on the field and press the desired button).
9. Hide mouse cursor in video – the mouse cursor will not be visible on the recorded video.
10. Lock framerate while recording – FPS in the game will not rise above the assigned FPS for video.
11. Force lossless RGB capture (may be slower) – record video in uncompressed form, in the RGB (Red-Green-Blue) color system. Produces video of the highest possible quality. Requires large processor resources and very capacious and high-speed HDD. Not recommended.

Screenshots tab

1. Folder to save screenshots in – Click on the input field or button Change – select the folder in which our screenshots will be saved. Button View – will open the save folder.
2. Screen Capture Hotkey – place the cursor in the input field and press the key (or combination) that we want to assign to take a screenshot in the game. Clicking a button Disable – cancels the assignment. When you press a key in the game, the FPS counter (if activated) will blink at us with a white background.
3. Image Format – format of captured images. Available in the free version only BMP – the image will be of the largest size (in order to upload it to image hosting, it will need to be converted to another format in any graphic editor), but at the same time of maximum quality.
   Screen Capture Settings:
4. Include frame rate overlay on screenshots – will show the FPS counter on your captured pictures.
5. Repeat screen capture every XX seconds – when you press the capture key, a photo will be created automatically every XX seconds. To stop the process, press the key again.

Finally, let's look at the menu that can be called up by clicking right click mouse over the program icon in the tray.

Fraps (Fra mes p er s econd) is a universal free utility for Windows, which is used for counting frames per second, taking screenshots, testing graphics adapter performance, and capturing recorded screen videos and video games. The application has earned its impressive reputation for its ease of use, ability work on any Windows versions extremely small occupied hard disk space (2 MB). The developer of the utility is Beepa Pty Ltd.

Advantages of the Fraps program

• Easy to record video
• Light weight
• The most popular video capture program for Let's Players
• Availability of Russian version
• Free to use
• The uniqueness of the program and the absence of its analogues

Main features of the program

• Recording video from the monitor screen
• Possibility of combining video recording and microphone sound recording
• Taking screenshots
• Testing video card performance in 3D applications and video games
• Counting the number of frames ( fps) per second in video games

Download Fraps program

To enjoy latest version fraps, download it follows on the official website of the developer.

The program is compatible with the following Windows versions: XP, 2003, Vista and 7.

Instructions below makes it easy to download and install.

Installing the Fraps program

If when running the file setup.exe a warning appeared Windows security 7, click " Yes»:

In the window that opens, click the button I agree" under license agreement on English:

The next window will ask you to specify the directory on the disk where the installation will be installed. Fraps.

To do this, click the " Browse…» and select the desired folder.

In this example, the address is left as default. Click " Next»:

In the next window, click the button Install" The program will install. Then click the " Close»:

Fraps can be launched.

Overview of Fraps program capabilities

To start working, launch the shortcut that will appear on the desktop. The program interface is in English, but this article is written in such a way that it will not cause any difficulties. There is also a version on Russian, but we decided do review of the original version. After launch, a window will open that consists of 4 tabs. The following is detailed description each of them.

General Tab

Contains information about the program version and build number. You can also here enjoy with the following settings:

• "Start Fraps minimized". If the function is active when starts Fraps, the window will not be displayed.
• "Fraps window always on top". Allows tune window display Fraps on top of other applications.
• "Run Fraps when Windows starts". Launches the program automatically every time you turn on the computer.
• "Monitor Aero desktop (DWM)". Allows you to measure Fraps number of frames per second ( fps) when the Aero interface of Windows 7 is enabled.
• "Minimize to system tray only". Enabling this option in software hides the main program window. Control is carried out through “Hot Keys”, and the window can be called up by clicking on the program icon in the system tray.

Note: The system bar is a collection of miniature icons for active programs that can be found along the edge of the bar. Here they fold running applications, and on the opposite side there is a button “ Start».

These options can be turned on or off by checking the boxes.

FPS tab

Designed for testing Fraps power of the computer's graphics adapter by monitoring the number of frames per second ( fps). The norm is 30 fps and above. If this indicator is less than 30, then the gameplay will not be comfortable and will lead to overheating of the video card with the ensuing consequences. To check fps frames will be useful to those who monitor the use of each gigabyte RAM.

This tab contains the following functions:

• "Folder to save benchmarks in". Here you can specify the directory on the disk in which the test results will be placed.
• "Benchmarking Hotkey". Key to start the performance test from the very beginning started.
• "Benchmark Settings". Performance test settings. This includes: " FPS"(Frame Rate), Frametimes(frame time), " MinMaxAvg» (Maximum, minimum and average number of frames per second). You can tick the necessary boxes, but to check the effectiveness of their application, you should study them in advance lessons on the Internet.
• “Stop benchmark after ... seconds”. If you check this option, the performance test will end not when you press the test button again, but after the specified number of seconds.
• "Overlay Hotkey". « Hotkey» to enable/disable display of the performance counter.
• "Hide overlay". If you select this setting, the frames per second counter will not be displayed. To the left you can specify in which corner of the screen it should be located.
• "Only update overlay once a second". By default, the counter displays the number of frames per second in real time. If you enable this option, the value will be updated once per second.

Rice. 7 "FPS" window

View the performance counter

If the Fraps performance meter display is enabled, it will be displayed not only during the video game, but also while the video is playing. That is, with the help of Fraps software you can make it so that thought performance when playing videos of different quality.

IN in this case The number of frames per second will be measured when playing video with a resolution of 1920x804. The system has a central processor Intel Core i7 860 with a maximum frequency of 8.2 GHz. Counter thought frames in the upper left corner, updating once per second is enabled:

When you turn on the video, the number of frames per second is displayed (highlighted in green in the figure):

Rice. 9 Video playback performance test.

Performance testing

Separate setting Fraps makes it possible to test performance and save the results to a file. An example is shown in the figure below:

Here the save directory is selected by default, the test launch key is selected " F11" Only indicators will be saved " FPS” (number of frames per second), and testing will end 30 seconds after launch. Launch the video or game, press the " F11" and wait 30 seconds.

Then go back to Fraps and click the " View" A window with test results will open.

Movies Tab

Designed to configure the video you want to shoot.

The following settings are available here:

• "Folder to save movies in". Directory for saving videos. It can be changed by clicking the " Change».
• "Video Capture Hotkey". Key to start video recording.
• "Video Capture Settings". Here you can specify the number of frames per second (the higher the quality, the larger the video file size will be), as well as its size (you can select “ Half-size", then the video frame size will be 2 times smaller).

If you want to record video and sound, check the box "Record Win7 sound". Here you can also select the sound recording mode: stereo ( Stereo) or multichannel ( Multichannel).

If you need to record a voice comment, you should use option " Record external input", by checking the appropriate box. Can also be customized work Fraps so that audio from the microphone is recorded only when a special key is held down, which can also be specified.

• "Hide mouse cursor in video". Hides the mouse cursor on the summary record.
• "Lock framerate while recording". Fixes the frame rate for the duration of video recording.
• "Force lossless RGB capture". Forced video capture without loss of quality. It is recommended to enable this option only if it does not reduce the recording speed.

To record a video, launch the game or movie, then press the " F9"(in this case). When recording is complete, press this key again. Fraps will save to the specified directory (in this example “C:/Fraps/Movies”). To open it, click the " View" You can delay the moment of video recording using the option “ Loop buffer length" The essence of " Loop buffer length"is that the program will begin recording after the amount of time specified in the line (expressed in seconds).

As needed, select the option. This means that if the mode "Split movie every 4 Gigabytes" will be activated when the recorded video file reaches a size of more than 4 GB, it will be divided into two documents - one up to 4 GB, the second depending on the remaining timerate.

Note: The resulting video may take up quite a lot of space. Read about how you can compress and recode a video in the material “”, as well as “”. Here is a useful instructions, available lessons in text and video format.

Screenshots Tab

Allows you to take screenshots by pressing a hotkey that you can assign yourself. As in previous modes, here you can specify the address of the directory (in this case, saving images), as well as a hotkey - settings accordingly "Folder to save screenshots in" And "Screen Capture Hotkey".

IN Fraps There are 4 types of image files available (BMP, JPG, PNG, TGA), which can be set optionally in the option "Image Format". In the free version, only the "BMP" format is available. If you want the frame counter to be saved in the final image, activate the option "Include frame rate overlay on screenshots" in the group "Screen Capture Settings"(image capture settings). Here you can configure Fraps so that the image is created after the specified number of seconds. To stop creating images, press the Hotkey again.

To capture an image, launch the game and press the hotkey.

This completes the overview of the main features of Fraps. If you have any questions, please use the comment form. You can also read here

Benefits of the program:

Small program size.

Ability to work from the tray.

Record streaming video.

Create instant screenshots of various sizes and formats.

Monitoring fps online.

Disadvantages of the program:

Large sizes of recorded videos.

Video extension settings are incomplete.

How to use Fraps

The visualization of the program is simple and understandable to users. The application window contains only 4 functional tabs. With their help, all video and screen settings are made.

In the first tab "Main" The user has the ability to select the program launch mode:

Run Fraps minimized.

On top of all the windows.

Place Fraps and run it when the computer starts.

Integration into the system panel.

You must choose a mode based on your needs.

In the second tab “FPS” performance adjustable:

Frame refresh rate.

Frame time – minimum and maximum values.

Work log.

- “ ” to launch a performance test from the keyboard and change the overlay position.

Third tab "Video" represents the basic video recording settings:

Specifying the path to save the video to the user's computer.

Assigning a hotkey to start screen recording.

In the “Video Settings” item, you can set the appropriate values ​​for the frame size and recording speed.

In the “Sound Settings” item, select the sound source – from external sources or from Windows (stereo, multi-channel).

Additional settings, where you need to check the boxes for the presence of a cursor in the recording.

The user can also set a limit for the maximum video size. Check the "Split movie every 4 GB" checkbox. Video recording will not be interrupted, but the final result will be recorded sequentially in 4 GB files.

In the fourth tab “Screenshots” screenshot parameters are set:

- “Hot key” for taking a picture.

Screen capture frequency.

An image format that suits the user's needs. A significant drawback of the program is the recording time limitation when using the trial version. The user is given only 30 seconds to record.