Hi all,

Been recently receiving a flickering in my Snapz movies when I use smoother, such as full screen in WarCraft III. This problem has only recently started, after I updated, and it happens in windows mode as well with smoother on. However, it does not seem to happen when I remove the smoother. I really don't think it is my computer, MacBook Pro can handle this program without lag. Any suggestions? I would much rather be playing in full screen then in windows mode.

Thanks,
Topher

Just a shot in the dark: have you tried checking on "Play All Frames" when you play back your movies in QuickTime? If that fixes the flickering, then the problem isn't that the movie is flawed, but that your computer can't keep up the playback speed.

Hi Bob,

Don't think that is it. While saving a recorded file, the little picture window to the right of the 'status bar', shows film flickering while it is being saved. This leads me to assume that it is saving a file that already has flickering problems. A video might be more helpful, I'll post a link of recent footage.

The settings I usually save recorded film to is either high or best with MPEG-4. Help me !

http://media.putfile.com/Problems-with-Snapz

Okay, what I notice in the video is that the game interface and in-game objects flicker, while the background does not. That says to me that the problem is specific to certain rendered elements, based on the way Warcraft draws things. Either Warcraft itself is having trouble drawing all the layers, perhaps only when Snapz is running, or else Snapz is having trouble with the way Warcraft draws certain things. If you didn't see any flickering while you were playing and recording, it must be the second one.

I haven't played Warcraft 3, but I'm guessing there might be certain graphics settings you could try changing. It's probably too new to still have a software renderer instead of graphics-accelerated OpenGL, but that's the kind of change I'd try if possible. Also, is Warcraft OS X native or do you play it in Classic? That could also cause a problem like this.

No problems such as lag or flickering while playing Warcraft 3 with snapz running and I run it in OS X. It might have to do with the resolution Warcraft is set on, I'll fiddle around and see what I can do.

Hello,
How does it look if you are recording in windowed mode?

Everything works great in windowed mode.

Unfortunately it sounds like a video issue then. Every application is different when it comes to deciding what else can access the screen while full screen mode. You may still find something you will be happy with after fiddling some more. Try lowering the resolution as well as the framerate. Hope this helps

I'm getting the same with a video game "The Movies" by Lionhead. Excessive flicker. There is no windowed mode for this game, and if I use the "smoothing option" I get the flicker - without it I get a black screen.

Playing and recording are fine - no Flickr - only when saving do you see the result will be flickered. Looking at the result frame by frame you can see the objects being drawn one at a time - causing the flickr - with may frames identical. I have tried many combinations of screen settings and game video options and Snapzpor capture options - but nothing seems to make a difference.

I am using a MacBook with the old graphics card - I know that this has poor hardware for 3D, and as I need to capture only a few scenes from this game I am wandering if this problem would / could be fixed with a newer graphic card on another Mac - or its just the way the game is built. I'm even thinking of trying to get hold of some hardware to capture the DVI output - no joy yet or try a PC - all of which would take a lot of expense and research.

Any help appreciated.

Oh.. those of you that know this game, the creation of movies from within the game is no problem of course - I am trying to capture scenes of the actual studio game play - thanks.

Hello,
It's likely an issue with the way the game is being drawn on the screen. If that's the case, different hardware shouldn't make a difference. I don't have the game to try myself. I would definitely try is out on a faster machine before drawing any conclusions. Sorry, wish I had a better answer for you!