This is essentially the beta version of the guide. I haven't really gone through to doublecheck if I've missed anything, so there could be typos and omissions here and there that I'll need to clear up later.
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Also, you'll need to have a pretty beefy rig in order to capture and stream Savage 2. Mine is as follows:
Windows XP (you'll need to adapt this guide for other versions of Windows)
Geforce 8800GT (Honestly a better card would -really- help me get a better quality stream)
4GB RAM (This is mostly for the other video editing stuff I do, and of course only about 3.5gb is available on 32-bit Windows)
AMD Phenom x4 9850 (I'd definitely recommend at least a high tier dual core processor for this)
I'd recommend having at least 1mbit of available upstream bandwidth for a decent stream. You'll need 500-700 for the stream, and enough left over to play Savage 2.
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You'll need to install two pieces of software in order to stream Savage 2.
The first, is a group of programs that can be used to create a virtual webcam based on an area of your screen. The main part of this is VH Screen Capture, but there are other programs in the toolkit (such as VH Multicam Studio) that have some additional functionality that might be useful to you later on in your streaming.
http://www.softpedia.com/progDownloa...ad-101803.html
Flash Media Live Encoder 3 (FME3/FMLE3) is used to grab input from a webcam (such as the virtual one that you'll create with VH Screen Capture) and either save it as a video file, or in our case, stream it to the Justin.tv servers. It can combine that webcam input with an audio source, such as microphone, line inputs from your sound card, etc.
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Multime...-Encoder.shtml
Once both are installed, make sure that you have a Justin.tv account (you'll need to be logged in for this), and then grab the
FMLE 3.0 XML configuration file for Justin.tv. As far as I can tell, that particular XML file that you download will be customized by Justin.tv for your account, so don't accidentally post it somewhere.
Grabbing the Justin.tv FMLE 3.0 Configuration file
Now, I'd recommend that you do an initial configuration for VH Screen Capture first - this'll end up being more or less your default/baseline configuration whenever you start FME.
To start, I'd recommend copying the settings seen here:
The one area where you'll need to enter in your own settings is seen in the above image, where it shows, the left, top, width, and height fields. Load Savage 2 (preferably Windowed), click the "Select" button, and drag a box around the area that you wish to record (the Savage 2 window). The other options in the capture screen are a bit less reliable but might be useful depending on your setup. You can use the "Track screen" checkbox to capture your entire screen (or in my case, all screens of a multi-monitor setup). This might be preferable if you run Savage 2 fullscreen on a single monitor.
Most of the settings area are left to the default. Make sure that resize to output size is set, and the output size should ideally be around 640x480 (unless you have an extremely high spec rig, you likely won't be able to capture higher). For reference, I play Savage 2 in a 1280x960 window, which perfectly halves in both dimensions down to 640x480 and ends up with a very nice-looking capture for use with the stream.
Once you're done with that, open FMLE3, open the "File" menu, click "Open Profile", and select the saved Justin.tv FMLE3 configuration file. Please note that the default browse location for the file points to a default "startup.xml" file. You'll need to navigate to and select the one you downloaded earlier in this guide.
Configuring FME3 (Click to enlarge)
Once you've loaded the configuration file, you'll need to choose your video and audio sources and set some other parameters. With the above configuration, you'll need about 696kbps of upstream bandwidth. If you can run Savage 2 relatively well while streaming, I'd recommend using those settings, with of the exception of the audio device selection (you'll have to choose the device that's appropriate to you). You can tweak your settings later on.
The audio device that you select will depend on what you're recording. Do you want to record game sound? Do you just want to record from your microphone? Do you want to mix both? In most cases, you'll need to simply select your sound card from the list (it may be the only option available, especially if you don't own a webcam or USB microphone).
In Windows XP, you can access the configuration for your audio device using the volume control mixer. You'll need to open the "Options" menu and then click "Properties". You'll then be able to choose the device that you'd like to configure.
(Selecting the recording controls for my onboard sound device)
(Webcam audio)
(USB microphone audio)
How to stream Savage 2
Linear Mode
