HowTo record video of a OpenGL game with Yukon(WoW, etc)

[LaLLi]

I play World of Warcraft and I wanted to record some fun moments. I looked into a few tools, but wasn't sure they would do what I wanted until I found Yukon. Yukon records OpenGL applications using seom video with lossless compression.

I'm using Hardy atm and had a bit of trouble getting Yukon to work with their own Wiki so I desided to make my own how-to for Ubuntu.
yukon Wiki http://dbservice.com/projects/yukon/

1. Install all required files.
sudo apt-get install libx11-dev libxv-dev x11proto-xext-dev mesa-common-dev libgl1-mesa-dev libasound2-dev build-essential subversion lame mplayer mencoder

2. get yukon.
svn co svn://dbservice.com/big/svn/seom/branches/packetized-stream seom
svn co svn://dbservice.com/big/svn/yukon/branches/rewrite yukon

3. compile it.
cd seom
./configure && make && sudo make install
cd ../yukon
./configure && make && sudo make install
cd ..

4.yukon installs libraries to a folder that Ubuntu doesn't search so we need to add it to Ubuntu library search.
echo '/usr/local/lib' | sudo tee -a /etc/ld.so.conf
sudo ldconfig

5. Copy configuration files and edit to your liking. Do NOT edit the sysconf file!
cp ~/yukon/tools/yukon.conf ~/.yukon/conf
mkdir ~/.yukon/system
cp ~/yukon/sysconf ~/.yukon/system/
nano ~/.yukon/conf

6. Verify that all files are where they are supposed to. It's not fool proof but if it fails so will making videos with yukon.
sh ~/yukon/tools/post-install-check.sh

Yukon works as a wrapper. You use it before the application you want to record. example:
yukon glxgears
default capture start/stop key is F8.
default capture folder is /tmp.

Raw video recorded with yukon with a resolution of 640*512 takes 10MB every second.

To play a seom video use the yukon filter and mplayer.
cd ~/yukon
sh play-stream.sh /directory/of/video.seom

To make the videos a LOT smaller you need to convert them to another format. You can use conver-to-avi.sh.
cd ~/yukon
nano convert-to-avi.sh
sh convert-to-avi.sh /directory/of/video.seom


EDIT: There is a similar software available called GLC. It's easier to get working especially or 64bit. http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=587935&highlight=glc

[boubbin]

nice, works.
its just drops the framerate of my game... i have pretty old gfx card tho..

[LaLLi]

Good to know it works for some-one else than me. I don't have any notisable fps drop from recording. Dual Core 2,1GHz, 2GB DDR2, GF8600GT and recording to a seperate IDE drive.

[zwastik]

could you do a deb package plis? :)


I am getting this error:

make
gcc -shared -o libX11.so.native -Wl,-soname,libX11.so.native
gcc -Iinclude -Wall -std=c99 -O3 -fPIC -shared -o libX11.so src/libs/libX11.c libX11.so.native
rm -f libX11.so.native
gcc -shared -o libGL.so.native -Wl,-soname,libGL.so.native
gcc -Iinclude -Wall -std=c99 -O3 -fPIC -shared -o libGL.so src/libs/libGL.c libGL.so.native
rm -f libGL.so.native
gcc -Iinclude -Wall -std=c99 -O3 -fPIC -c -o src/core/conf.o src/core/conf.c
In file included from include/yukon.h:33,
from src/core/conf.c:2:
include/stream.h:17:25: error: seom/stream.h: No existe el fichero o el directorio
In file included from include/yukon.h:33,
from src/core/conf.c:2:
include/stream.h:29: error: expected specifier-qualifier-list before ‘seomStream’
make: *** [src/core/conf.o] Error 1

[LaLLi]

Hmm..if you followed my guide exactly then I don't know what went wrong. My spanish is a bit rusty(e.g. haven't studied it) so I'm not even sure what error you are getting. "File or directory doesn't exist"?

Sorry I can't make a DEB since I don't remember how I can make one and It would propably suck. :P

[birdiewd]

Hello, I have gotten yukon to work using your guide (thank you so much).

I was wondering if you had (or knew of) a way to show any kind of on screen display or overlay to show that you are recording. I play WoW at full screen and it would be nice to know at a glance if I'm recording something or not.

Thank you again for the wonderful guide.

[LaLLi]

Good to hear that it works for you. I doesn't work for me anymore..propably cos I use 64bit Ubuntu. :P

No sorry I don't know how to overlay "Recording" or anything like that. If you do the research and find a way to do it please post it here, thanks :)

[sblanzio]

Hi!
I haven't tried that yet, but i was curious: is it possible to start/stop the recording after the game is started?

EDIT: sorry, i didn't read well -- solved --

[Ferrat]

Also if you want to record 32Bit apps on a 64bit system you should use the install scripts (added. originally from a ticket response on yukon page), I also added the GLC build scripts, it's a similar program works a little different but good, but the reason I added it here is for the elfshacks that make it possible to capture 32bit and 64 bit apps just the same, yukon makes the swtich but needs the help of the elshacks (at least mine did) :)

Will maybe look in to doing a combined script for seom, yukon and glc with menus etc. but for now unless you want to install the elfshacks yourself then I recommend the script.

EDIT:
Links to original script sites
http://dbservice.com/projects/yukon/ticket/28 <<<--- SEOM and YUKON script

http://nullkey.ath.cx/projects/glc/wiki/HowtoInstall <<<--- GLC

[airtonix]

i play wow on wine, with a core duo e6550 2gb-800mhzram and a nvidia8800gt.

gtk-recordmydesktop works fine.

[cristo-father]

http://www.getdeb.net/app/RecordMyDesktop

[kielanmatt]

one more question where do the converter AVI end up??

[LaLLi]

You can determine the folder for the recordings. IIRC the default folder is /tmp.