Screen Recording Setup
About two minutes. Please do it before Monday 28 September.
We need a screen recording of both sessions. The recording is as valuable to us as your written feedback, because we can see exactly where things went wrong.
Two things matter most. Start recording before you launch Underwater, so we can see the launch itself. And leave it running for the whole session, crashes included. A recording of something breaking is the most useful thing you can send us.
Recommended: the NVIDIA app (ShadowPlay)
You all have an NVIDIA card, and the NVIDIA app is already built for them. It records with almost no performance cost, which matters here: if recording slows the build down, we cannot tell your machine’s limit from the recorder’s. It is also one hotkey, with no scenes to set up.
- 1
Open the NVIDIA app. If you have GeForce Experience instead, that is the older version of the same thing and works the same way. If you have neither, get it free from nvidia.com/software/nvidia-app.
- 2
Sign in, then open the in-game overlay with Alt+Z. Turn the overlay on if it is off.
- 3
Set where recordings are saved. In the overlay, go to Settings, then Capture, and choose a Save folder you can find later. The default is Videos.
- 4
Turn on desktop capture. Underwater is a custom build, so the app may not recognise it as a game. In Settings then Capture, make sure desktop capture is allowed, so it records your screen even when the game is not detected.
- 5
Test it now. Press Alt+F9 to start recording, wait twenty seconds, press it again to stop, then open the file and check you can see the picture. Do this before Monday, not on the night.
Or use OBS instead
If you would rather not install the NVIDIA app, or you already know OBS, that is completely fine. Use whatever is easiest for you. Windows Game Bar is already built into Windows, so you can simply press Win + Alt + R to start and stop. Anything that records your screen and saves a file will work, and we can watch any common video format.
- 1
Download OBS Studio free from obsproject.com/download and install it with the default options.
- 2
OBS opens with a wizard the first time. Choose Optimize for recording, not for streaming. You can find it again under Tools.
- 3
In the Sources panel, click +, choose Game Capture, and pick UnderwaterClient. If it shows black, delete it and add Display Capture instead, which records your whole screen.
- 4
In Settings, then Output, set a Recording Path you will find later, and set the Recording Format to mkv. An mkv file always survives a crash. An mp4 can be left unplayable if OBS closes unexpectedly, which is the one moment you most want the file.
- 5
Test it now. Start Recording, wait twenty seconds, Stop, then check the file plays.
On the night, whichever you use
- Start recording first, then launch Underwater.
- Leave it running for the whole session. Do not stop and start it.
- When the session ends, stop the recording, then close the app.
- Whichever tool you pick, please keep the session in one file if you can. If it ends up in several parts, send all of them.
If something goes wrong
The recording is black, or the app records the wrong window
Underwater is not a game the NVIDIA app recognises, so turn on desktop capture in Settings then Capture. In OBS, switch from Game Capture to Display Capture.
There is no sound
In OBS, open the Audio Mixer and add Desktop Audio. In the NVIDIA app, check the audio settings in the overlay. If you cannot get sound working, send it anyway. The picture matters most.
The recording stutters, or the file is enormous
In the NVIDIA app, lower the recording quality or resolution in Settings then Capture. In OBS, drop to 720p or set the encoder to NVENC.
Underwater crashed, and now the video will not play
This is expected with mp4 recordings, from either tool. Send us the log file anyway, even if the video is dead. The log tells us why it crashed, and the log is what the £40 covers.
Still stuck? Ask in the #alpha-testers channel on Discord. We would much rather help you now than have you lose a session.
Sending us the recording
We will post upload instructions in the #alpha-testers channel on Discord before each session. Please do not email large video files.