Recording video of KSP gets choppy after 10 minutes

[Superfluous J]

I don't know if this goes here, but I couldn't find another area to put it.

I've got a mostly-default KSP setup. I upped the resolution to play at full screen but other than that I left everything as-is. I can play KSP and it plays fine. I can record it, and while recording it also plays fine. The recordings look fine (a bit of a frame rate drop but not too bad) and everything's great... for about 10 minutes.

Gameplay is not affected. I don't know anything is wrong. My recording software (Bandicam) doesn't complain or show lowered frame rates or anything. However, when I come later and look at the recorded video, after the first 10 minutes or so it starts getting choppy and after 20 minutes it's a slideshow. Audio is not affected by this but the video is essentially annoying to watch after 10 minutes and unwachable after 20.

I have recorded multi-hour sessions of other games (FTL, Minecraft, and recently Cities XL) with Bandicam and have never had a problem. KSP though is just dogging it.

Has anybody else had a problem like this and have you solved it? I hate to turn down settings but I will if it means I can keep recording. I may even do a self-imposed 10 minute limit and just stop and start the recording each time, though I could see forgetting to do that. But ideally if someone has had this problem and found a fix, that would obviously be better.

[thrashing mad]

No problems with FRAPS here, even though I'm using an ancient computer to play and record.

[katateochi]

I would also suggest FRAPS. 0 issues.

[Aphox]

So, the final recording is just choppy during playback, but has no effect during gameplay? Try opening the video in another media viewer, or open it up in a video editor and see if it plays there. Also, in the one you're currently using, try pausing it during playback for a few seconds, and then play it again and see if it stops. I'm assuming you're using something like VLC. Try Media Player Classic or something else and see if it changes in behavior.

It sounds like this isn't an issue with KSP but with encoding or something to do with the media player. Try what I've suggested, or using different settings with Bandicam, if possible.

[Superfluous J]

It's just weird that I can record anything for hours, but KSP won't record for 10 minutes. It's assuredly the file I've opened it in Windows Media, VLC, and my video editing software. I've tried a few settings to just record differently in Bandicam to no avail as well. It always just gets progressively worse. It's like there's a memory leak or something. If I just stop the recording and start a new one, though, it's fine. This really does tell me the problem is with Bandicam and not with KSP, but it's got to be related in some way to KSP as it only occurs while I'm recording KSP.

Thanks for the suggestions. I've tried a few of them already but will try the others, and then maybe just jump in and get Fraps. I wish there was a trial version that recorded more than 1 minute though so I could see for sure that it will work.

[Superfluous J]

After fiddling for an hour I decided to plop down the $37 for Fraps. I'm not the only one to have this problem with Bandicam as evidenced by their support forum, and in all cases the programmer suggested they turn down their settings. If I turned down my settings any further it'd look like RealPlayer from 1997.

Fraps recorded with perfect framerates all the way through. Possibly better than Bandicam's best framerate even.

Thanks again for the suggestions. I hate to buy my way out of the problem but am glad I can move forward with my videos.

[tom1499]

Glad you've solved it now, but it coulda been a memory issue? KSP does like its limited 2GB of RAM served quickly. But then I've heard FRAPS is rather intensive aswell.