Steam Game Recording is Nearly PERFECT

Steam just introduced Game Recording into beta and I'm OVER the MOON about it! But, there are some silly UX oversights and a BUNCH of bugs. It is in beta, after all! Here's my experience thus far and what you can expect.
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[@MarcRitzMD]

I hope this creates a mindset shift in gamers. Recording game footage doesn't take up much space, especially if you use it on a replay buffer basis, and it doesn't tax the computer in any noticeable way. Imagine the infinite number of times you've had something really fun happen in-game but nothing to show for? I've personally begun streaming all my game sessions to youtube as a sort of private archive that nobody but me and my friends care about

[@EVPointMaster]

How is this different from what Shadowplay has been doing for a decade?

[@-YELDAH]

it takes up no space if you just use a replay buffer, also meaning no potential extra wear on a disk drive, i think everyone should use a replay buffer, especially because you don't have to spend any time enabling it or deleting empty recordings

[@EVPointMaster]

@@-YELDAH But Steam Recording does constantly write chunks to your drive if you use Replay Buffer. And Shadowplay has a Replay Buffer too that enables automatically when you launch a game.

[@-YELDAH]

@@EVPointMaster I only have experience with OBS, and it only uses ram until saving from the buffer (last time i checked this is also the case for windows 10's built in capturing tool)

[@mysteryboyee]

@@EVPointMaster shadowplay is a buggy glitchy mess that logs you out and stops working 99% of the time

[@AdamSaeed]

They did this for Steam Deck because it's one of the most crucial features in this day and age, and you can tell it's made for Steam Deck because of the resolution and bitrates they provide. But it's nice of them to release it for Windows users as well. Also, it seems that using chunks would be easier for steam to read and write and essentially manage the feed more easily and faster I really love their idea, admittedly I was scared at first, but now I can't live without it. I need it. Whenever I want to remember what a certain character said or what was the objective, I can go back in time. I once used it to show a friend something I never planned to capture, but it came up during our discussion

[@Sevacia]

holy shit i remember this channel used to help me set up obs for the first time. Good to see you still going

[@destructodisk9074]

It’s Valve software. The beta is in alpha state and the full release will be in a beta state.

[@ToniCorvera]

As long as you don't have to wait for v3 it should be fine though

[@ragingsilver]

Whilst I use my GPU video recording feature, the fact that the Steam version can clip AND export to a file is a win! That is literally what I do. Snap, clip and save. If I can skip a few steps and get the same result, that's awesome.

[@corriedotdev]

As a dev I've added this functionality to my game. Low key want to recommend players to disable all Nvidia replay to maximize frames. My gut is telling me there is no way we can run Nvidia replay and steam with

[@nemof]

see this as a move by valve to further tie people into steam as a platform and create more engagement, so i think in the long run if it gets popular it will be extremely useful for them. i'm already extremely impressed with it, though it's definitely still very beta. think it'll supplant nvidia shadowplay for me. notably after you finish a game if you've got it set to always record, the last X hours of of video will be available on the games post-game summary box, there to create clips from. it'd be nice if when you created a clip it had an option to loop the clip so you could adjust the beginning/end without the the playhead just keeping going past the clip end. i hope devs take advantage of the API, there was a good howto video from some valve guys using L4D2 to implement some API calls to automatically add markers and other cool stuff. there's a lot of ways that gaming recording could be improved, but this is a fantastic start. deffo stuff like codecs and bitrate need to be improved and more options given. had several crashes but that's not unexpected with new beta software. more controls so you can clip last x minutes would be nice.

[@MajoraZero]

Extra codecs is fun for advanced users, but not necessary for a feature that let's everyone "just record" their gameplay

[@simplyjustkd]

Could definitely see it being used *eventually* for super simple stuff, but OBS' source record is still king in my eyes. Edit: I forgot to mention that source record is really only superior over this if you’re wanting a camera source recorded at full resolution along with your game source. Or you can do the weird hack job where you make your canvas 3840x1080 to fit the two 16:9 sources. If you don’t have/include webcam/camera footage, this seems way easier, more lightweight and less of a hassle to setup than OBS’ source record.

[@EposVox]

I mean most normal people aren’t going to set up an obs plugin to record lol

[@deano1699]

@@EposVox in the race between Steam Record and OBS getting "normal user level"... Who wins? I can't believe how many non-technical folk have been getting into OBS usage for a variety of reasons of late.

[@Brutes_]

I mean this is mostly for clip sharing to friends. nothing else allows you to easily just send a link of a clip in a game you just had like this. ive already used this multiple times to send clips to my friends

[@deano1699]

@@Brutes_ clip sharing to friends... is a thing? ha. Whatever works, I suppose.

[@MajoraZero]

I have obs installed and configured because sometimes I stream things. I'd rather just use steam for this instead, don't need to remember opening obs and start recording there, plus ensuring the game is being captured

[@LiveGoodMemories]

Thanks for letting us know! This is actually super useful, the Instant Replay tool is amazing. It definitely needs to improve tho, better Quality and Advanced options. And hopefully it's not performance heavy. I tried Medal (good), OBS (perf heavy) and Shadow Play (good/NVIDIA only) 3:14 Now THIS is Revolutionary! specially the "Game Only" and the Markers 4:40 Share the clips on Steam? Bruh that's impressive, it's becoming more and more a Robust Social Media for Videogamers. 5:09 (Fyi) The game is Splitgate

[@VideoklipBG]

It's great that this is implemented natively because I think user friendly recording for the Steam Deck that simply works is something Valve definitely wants to have. Here are a few of my thoughts though: Are clips always remuxed without re-encoding? Seems logical but if the metadata at 2:21 is correct, I-frame interval of 30 seconds, if my calculations are not wrong, seems a bit extreme. Even if it's 1-5 seconds, you still need to encode the beginning of the clip if it starts on a non-I-frame and stitch the rest starting on the next I-frame. Bitrate selection as the only quality setting is something I'm not very fond of. Having the option for CRF or some constant quality target would be more suitable for background recording that constantly writes to disk, especially with low-motion content. Might not be ideal because of the varying storage requirement but the same opinion applies to ShadowPlay as well. The ability to choose frame rate will also be great. Some people, especially those with low-end systems or demanding settings might be playing consistently below 60 FPS and want to just record at 30 for archival purposes. I personally will probably never use this over OBS but I hope it works out. As others have said, a lot of people who think of recording as a heavy task only for powerful high-end hardware are missing out when they shouldn't be.

[@_longgaming]

Cool. Seems like another good option for people who want a simple plug n play approach to recording without having to dig too deep to understand the software.

[@8ddca4b80]

I hope they add more keyboard shortcuts, so we can do something like that: F1 to save the last 1 minute of gameplay F2 to save the last 2 minutes of gameplay F3 to save the last 3 minutes of gameplay . . . This is my current setup on MedalTV, but I'm always looking for alternatives. 😅

[@thickofit-v2l]

hey there, it's full release right now and by default, you can use ctrl+ f11 to record. (can be changed in settings > game recording)

[@dvxc]

I get the impression that "hardware encoding" simply means it's using the video encoding engine built into GPUs. I don't think it has anything to do with the type of encoder the files are saved as. Also bear in mind that there is a difference between the video stream that it is recording in the background, and the final video file that it exports. It could well be recording in some format and then the final files are exported as x264.

[@EposVox]

Well when you export a clip there is no additional encoding time, so it’s not re-encoding the video. It’s just splitting it out. You would have to wait if it were re-encoding it. Based on samples and feedback I’ve gathered from others, I’m fairly confident the GPU encoding option purely does not work yet.

[@dvxc]

@@EposVox There's no additional encoding time when you export a clip in the Steam Overlay because it obfusicates it. If you export outside of the overlay within the Steam app itself you'll see there is an extra encoding step that happens. If you just save the clip within Steam without exporting it does what you mentioned there, but obviously doesn't leave you with a usable video file, it just splits out the recording using whichever method Steam is using to record the gameplay initially. EDIT: I've just verified this myself - You can see that hardware encoding works by checking Task Manager's Performance tab when a game is running. The encoding engine is used when hardware enc. is on, and isn't touched when it's turned off. The setting does not apply to exports.

[@EposVox]

@@dvxc It doesn't obfuscate it... what? I set the in/out markers, save it to a video file and the complete video file is available immediately. That's not possible if it were re-encoding the whole thing.

[@dvxc]

@@EposVox We're having two completely different experiences then because when I export a clip outside of a game, I get "Exporting" with a loading bar pop up, and a video file in the destination folder that takes the duration of the export before it can be used :P If I export a clip inside a game, I don't get that "Exporting" loading bar, but I do get the same behaviour BTS, where the video file is being encoded in-place before it's useable. (This is what I meant by obfuscate, not sure if that was clear enough) Also like I said, hardware encoding is demonstrably working if you check your GPU Video Encode engine in task manager with the setting turned on and off

[@fall1n1_yt]

my favorite thing about youtube is people sharing clips or montages hope that this feature will increase them

[@MarioLuigi0404]

This needs some additional features and touch ups, but the way it’s being handled is almost perfect tbh. Absolutely love it. They just need to give me CQP and separated audio channels (and also make it remember that I want discord to be captured lol) and I’m completely satisfied.

[@DrakewqSouls]

6 months later can you use a capture card with this? If not, is there a program with similar "background recording" functionalities that can?

[@heavenlyeggs6455]

I just wish that there was a way that you could not hear my keyboard through my mic when recording honestly. I’ve been messing with the settings for 2 days now

[@Sizzyl]

You should try some mic-altering software like voicemeter and have thst set as ur main mic

[@8BitCerberus]

The Decky Recorder author says they're going to have a plugin to "clip the last X seconds" from the Steam recording, once Decky Loader is working again (this was a couple days ago and I haven't checked if it's still not working). At least until Valve adds that in directly (if they do, which I hope they do). My only real complaint about the automatic background recording *currently*, is that it seems to be on a per-game, possibly per-session basis and starts a new buffer file whenever you start a new game or play session. So if you're not keeping track of them they're going to fill up the free space quick. I think the better option would be to either buffer to ram, say for 5-10 minutes, or if you want longer buffer sessions, to ssd, but it's one buffer regardless of the game being played. Then have shortcuts for "save the last X seconds", "save the whole buffer" and "add timeline marker". And in manual recording mode have "save the last X seconds" and "add timeline marker" shortcuts. But other than that I've been pretty happy with the ease of use and decent quality, even if it's not the best it can be. I've been using OBS for years, but it's nice having something basic like this built in, and it helps having this to point to for my friends who want to recording their games but they look at OBS and their eyes just glaze over.

[@cannonbyrd1755]

good, thats the one thing the steam recording is missing and its a very big thing to miss

[@phantomtec]

2:42 "Not a high bit rate" BUT its "constant" at least, very decent considering BETA and for the use case of lames like myself (if ever time presents itself to play a game) although this won't be needed by myself ONCE Star Citizen or GTA 6 gets released, they will be getting released...? Ashes of Creation.... ? PEACE

[@Maxoverpower]

Constant bitrate is a bad thing, not a good thing.

[@LihimSidhe]

Looks like this feature is really earning that beta designation! Do you have any guides on setting up multistreaming to Steam? I have managed to do it before but everytime I did it it seems like it was more luck based than having a clear set of instructions. Also it seemed like I was wasting bandwidith sending my stream to Restream and to Steam as separate streams or at least that's what it felt like. Help!

[@heyjeay]

Steam just needs a quick button to upload to YT now and it's perfect

[@RedGreen-Blue]

My recordings are easily exported ..but.. the quality is messed up. I play my games in 4K and can rec. with OBS in 4k. With Steam rec. i see frames dropping and lagging. Even when I export in lower resolution=smaller file, this is still happening. All these technicalities make my head spin.

[@taiiat0]

i can hope for it to offer automatic Foldering that's as cool as Shadowplay, too. i.e. automatically sorts all of your Clips into different Folders by the game title. just one of the many things that makes it so much easier to handle Recordings.

[@SkarrKingg]

The in-game steam recording isn't working. It's giving an "unable to retrieve clip information(32)" error.

[@DoctorFu]

Still seems like I'll use OBS Studio for recording. Great video! 🎉

[@Topcatyo.]

I set up a button on my Stream Deck to use the Xbox Game Bar’s “record the last 30 seconds” function, but it doesn’t work all the time. This Steam function is a nice feature to have

[@gruuli]

nah the hardware encoding cant be h.264 only bec. the quality looks too good on my AMD card (wich would be AVC right?) it must be HEVC i think or maybe h.264 looks good with these 24 Mbit? (24/1440p i tested) idk

[@EposVox]

Can you upload a clip to Dropbox or Google drive or something for me to inspect? I don’t have a system set up with an amd card atm

[@gruuli]

@@EposVox i can try that, no problem at all, just have to figure out how to save and find the stuff and then just post the link here in the comment (it won't be blocked?)

[@EposVox]

Email me: Adam at EposVox dot com

[@EposVox]

(For those reading at home: GPU Encoding is totally bugged so it’s just doing X264 for everyone)

[@rathanasar]

i love this! shadowplay messes up sometimes for me and medal has that watermark. I would love a simple recorder that records the past 1-2 mins or so to show stuff to friends

[@michaelslam7075]

I personally have Medal set up to 500 GB limit + full session recording enabled. That allows me to maintain a stable 1-month backlog before unused recordings are automatically deleted. While cool, I don't think I will be switching to Steam Game Recording just yet. If Steam Game Recording wants to be promising, I would consider Medal to be the benchmark for the time being.

[@JKSmith-qs2ii]

I find with steam recording it drops frames in the recording every couple of seconds. Why is that?

[@BSEUNHIR]

How does it handle HDR? I'd love an option to automatically tonemap to SDR, because it's a nightmare to do it later in basic editing tools.

[@leehrvyoswld]

EXCEPT WE CAN'T UPLOAD THE SHIT LIKE WE DO SCREENSHOTS, SO IT'S POINTLESS. I'LL KEEP USING MEDAL.

[@robertbobbybob]

this seems so useful, hope to see hevc/av1 in the near future

[@FrostPhoenix_]

What was that last game with the dual weilding purple guns? The movement looked incredibly smooth and the HUD reminded me of Call of Duty MW 2019.

[@EposVox]

Combat Master

[@Noobsaucer]

I really really hope they add advanced settings like encoder, bitrate, frame rate, etc

[@yoshinatsu]

I noticed that you're using mpv on Windows. I've been using PotPlayer for a while because it offers a crapton of advanced features, but I dislike proprietary software. Could you possibly do a setup guide someday?

[@airwolf1337]

Haha, i just remeber your old streaming setup videos, where i had to set trellis = 1.

[@SwareJonge]

x264 does/did have an option for opencl which is what i thought was going on but that would've been shown in the metadata

[@Atlas77]

it also has some issues when recording apex cause i keep getting an error has occurred when playing saved video so i have no clue

[@DumReviewGRC]

How much performance do I loose from Steam video recorder compared to OBS or ShadowPlay?

[@GeoStreber]

I don't notice any performance loss compared to not running the recorder at all. Setup Ryzen 3900x RTX 2070S

[@roembol]

Can't you select your microphone in the voice settings on steam?

[@EposVox]

Yeah. In the broadcasting settings they have a link to that option under the mic toggle, I think they need to add it here too.

[@roembol]

@@EposVox absolutely agreed

[@j.lucasdecastroaraujo761]

MY AUDIO IS CRACKED!! T.T

[@Lyazhka]

wish i could record my desktop, like with relive, then it would be perfect for me. obs is nice, but i like built-in editors

[@gerarderloper]

Yeah steam needs to restart to change a lot of settings. It's one of those things Valve has not yet updated/fixed yet because absolutely you shouldn't need to ever restart for pretty much anything these days, even UI changes can be done in realtime. Old systems of doing things be like that I guess.

[@SleeperJohns]

I hope it's not like Nvidia's Shadowplay feature where desyncing can happen. Not sure what causes that either. Even happens making hitting record, yourself.

[@EposVox]

It’s the variable framerate thing - which this does have, too. Though pretty much only Premiere has issues with desync from that

[@GeoStreber]

I immediately bought a cheap SATA SSD just to use it as a scratchdisk for the game recording feature. Already we managed to capture a shitton of hilarious Helldivers 2 moments within my squad.

[@Levan4KGaming]

Hardware encoding can be x264 and x265 NVIDIA video recorder actually uses h264 so what it the problem, the difference is one is open source other is not so considering steam is on linux of course they use x264 One more thing this might not be that important for windows users but for linux it's great considering it doesn't have a good recording software.

[@EposVox]

X264/X265 are not the same as H264/H265 H264/5 are the *codecs* themselves, whereas X264/5 are specifically software CPU encoders. GPUs do not use this to encode video. They use their own encoder (h264_nvenc/hevc_nvenc in Nvidia’s case) to encode H264/5 video.

[@helios4142]

This very cool and effective, bud why does it make it so hard to export the file to an windows recognizable video file that windows can just open? Like why promote something just to use in steam?

[@hoshikuzuvenus]

Do you happen to know what steam link shortcut saves a video (background recording)

[@EdgardR.]

I thought it was using NVENC because of the hardware toggle but seems like it's always using CPU which is weid

[@EposVox]

Yeah clearly bugged

[@vlmxs]

They should fix nvenc encoding otherwise user experience will suffer

[@dankomancer]

I bet you it used software encoding to render out the clip, as I think it's still hardware encoding in the game in the background, or at the very least still uses hardware for the game.

[@nikkodawisan1251]

i don't know why but mine is not working both manual and auto recording. anybody knows how to fix it?

[@kazimelon999]

I hope Polishing this did not take the Valve Time™

[@Bloom10]

it's nearly perfect and it's only in the Beta, gotta give it to steam they did pretty well

[@m2024AM]

bro when i stream rdr2 the recording has like 2 fps and its really laggy

[@kirbyoui]

hey man could you please do a obs studio 30.1.2 tutorial for amd people? my video looks so blurry (i have 7700xt gpu and r5 7500f cpu)

[@HyperBulletX]

Nice down the road maybe with more updates but as of now it is too primitive to use…

[@tek_soup]

nah. most front ends, say it wont work, until after, you re-start.

[@SanguinetheWOlf]

CSGO doesnt block OBS from capturing it.

[@tonep3168]

I can see how hard it is for valve to update a 25 year old game, and a shopping app at the same time. Tough days for poor Valve, hope they can cope. It’s too hard for them to use 3 different companies well documented and freely available hardware encoders. How the mighty have fallen.

[@evlincodm]

bro am waiting you to Review the fifine am8

[@EposVox]

Not something I’m probably going to waste my time with

[@notjustforhackers4252]

More working features for SteamOS I bet.

[@frennylove1057]

What about some better graphics, GPU/CPU demanding games??

[@EposVox]

Steam doesn’t control that

[@frennylove1057]

​@@EposVox I meant, these games look quite low in CPU/GPU demanding. It's easy to show some recordings with that. How about some games more demanding like a Horizon (which is remarkably optimized imo though, latest one) It's not really a test, now :( can it handle those other games

I would love to use ramdisk to record

[@FluffyPuppyKasey]

I feel like the bitrate settings are fine, but if they added an extreme setting that was like 50 Mbit that'd be a nice compromise. Also if they used whatever your GPU's best codec was, like HEVC for before Nvidia 40 series/AMD RX 7000 series and after (and including) 10 series Nvidia/RX 400 series AMD, AV1 for Intel Arc/Nvidia 40 series and newer/AMD RX 7000 and newer, etc, to encode video

[@Rudi-Brudi]

Steam Shorts when?

[@EposVox]

No pls

[@Test-yl6jp]

First !!

[@EposVox]

LAST

[@poleythepolarbear9706]

No .mkv no deal. Mp4 is easy to corrupt during recording.

[@dvxc]

It doesn't record to MP4.

[@EposVox]

Yeah that doesn’t apply here. It’s recording in chunks to a bunch of m4s files and then splicing your clips to MP4 after they’ve already been captured. This is exactly what it should do