A primer for the budding artist in all of us
We've been cataloging amazing video game screenshots in our monthly Graphics Porn feature, so we figured it's about time we gave a quick primer on how to take stellar screenshots in your favorite games.
This goes beyond Print Screen and Paint. We're not talking about hastily snapped screens of hilarious moments in Team Fortress 2 or a particularly well-designed cutscene. We do, however, consider utilities like Cheat Engine essential to the process.
Tools of the Trade
The first thing you'll need is an application that'll let you capture screens while in a game. There are an endless number of ways to grab screenshots, but we'll just talk about two in this guide: Fraps and Steam. They're both widely available, well known, and support uncompressed capture.
Fraps has been the tool of choice for a long, long time. It's simple and offers a variety of options for both still and video capture of games. At $37, it's not exactly an impulse buy, but it offers in-game capture to BMP, JPG, PNG, and even TGA files. If you're not willing to shell out your hard-earned cash, skip over the free version—it adds watermarks—and opt for Steam instead.
PNG is our file format of choice for screenshots.
If you're using FRAPS, head on over to the Screenshots tab and pick a screen-capture hotkey—Mouse4 or Mouse5 works great. Set the Image Format to PNG—JPG works fine if you're happy with compressed images—and you're ready to get snapping. By default, Fraps should overlay an FPS counter on the top left corner of your screen. Move it by pressing F12, but keep it visible because it offers a visual indication of a successful image capture.
On the other end of the spectrum is Steam. It's an indelible part of the gaming world and the Steam client has become an integral part of any respectable gaming setup. Fortunately for screenshot takers, it also includes an easy way to capture images in game.
Steam isn't just a game distribution platform, it's also a game capture utility.
Pop open the Steam Settings window, head to the In-Game tab, and select a screenshot hotkey. Make sure you've checked the "Save an uncompressed copy" box to get the highest quality results. Enabling visual or audio notifications—"Play a sound" and "Display a notification"—is an easy way to make sure that you're actually getting screenshots when you press your hotkey.
Next, you'll need some games to capture. Anything at all will work, although the videogame photography community only supports certain games—we'll talk more about this later. The latest and greatest aren't always the best options since it's not all about graphical fidelity.
Perhaps the most important tool that's not directly related to the images being created is Cheat Engine (CE). Despite it's name, CE is a memory scanner, hex editor, and debugger that gives video game photographers the ability to manipulate games. Ever wish you could just stop time in a game? With Cheat Engine, you can. Before you go off and download it, make sure you download the application in archived form to avoid bundled crapware—here's the direct link. The default download link available on the Cheat Engine site bundles the utility with OpenCandy-recommended software.
Many screenshot photographers also make use of mods and visual tweaks to squeeze the most out of their favorite games. We're not going to cover them in this guide, but feel free to add any visual tweaks or in-game content as you see fit before heading into the game to grab screenshots.
Setting up the Moment
Unless you're happy with taking screenshots from the default point of view, Cheat Engine—and user-created tables—allows you to manipulate the in-game camera, time, and sometimes other features like the field of view. Keep in mind that Cheat Engine could very well trigger anticheat software used by multiplayer games, so do your own research before attaching Cheat Engine to the process of a game with something like VAC or Punkbuster. We can't accept liability for banned accounts or other problems associated with running Cheat Engine.
It's called Cheat Engine, but we're not using it to cheat.
To get started, open up CheatEngine.exe and download a Cheat Engine table that's compatible with your game. Again, not all games are supported. Technically savvy people like jim2point0 have to actually create these tables with more than a bit of hard work. The Game Specific Guides section of the DeadEndThrills forum is a great place to start.
Scroll through the list of processes to find the game you're capturing.
When you've got everything ready, hit Ctrl+O and select the table you downloaded. Start up your game, go to File, and click Open Process. Scroll through the list and look for the line containing your game—keep an eye out for the game's icon or name. Hit Open and Yes when prompted to "Keep the current address list/code list?."
The specific controls will vary depending on the creator of the table. The Tomb Raider guide created by jim2point0 uses F1 to toggle camera coordinates, F2 to toggle FOV changes, and F4, F5, and F6 to toggle time on and off.
Some Cheat Engine tables allow for the removal of the HUD. Other times, you'll need to edit configuration files to get rid of the ugly bits that sit between the camera and your scene. Here's an example of a config tweak that removes the HUD and crosshair from Bioshock Infinite. Fortunately, jim2point0 has a Cheat Engine table for Infinite that includes toggles for the HUD along with God mode, slow motion, and a few other useful tweaks. Your mileage may vary from game to game, but resources exist for most popular games.
Here are two photos we captured in Tomb Raider to demonstrate the drastic effect that Cheat Engine manipulation can have on the screenshot-taking process. The end result isn't a masterpiece, but it's a pretty clear departure from the screenshot taken at base FOV and the default camera.
The intial scene without any Cheat Engine adjustments applied.
The final result after freezing time, adjusting the FOV, and pulling out the camera.
Once the Deed is Done
When you've got everything set up and ready to be captured, hit your screenshot hotkey and revel in a job well done. Most times, you wont get what you wanted on your first—or even your second—try, but keep at it and you just might see your screenshots on Graphics Porn.
Already a seasoned screenshot pro with some tips to share? Drop them in the comments below!
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