Summer/Fall Video Project: F-Zero GX

[Shoulder]

How's it going, everyone?

So over the past year, I've made references to a video project I've been wanting to do, and for some of you I even mentioned the game, but I almost always on purpose never followed through with it. Well now, I'm here to tell you that I'm making my video project official for the first time on TNE.

So what is this F-Zero GX video project I have? In essence, for the past couple of years, after I got back into playing GX, I started to consider the idea that this was the pinnacle of arcade racing, and possibly the greatest Arcade Racing game of all time.

So with that, I thought it would be awesome to capture some of that awesomeness of what makes F-Zero GX so good, but also give it a fitting tribute in my own interpretation.

Here are some snippits I have that I wrote down a few weeks back:

Length: 3-5 minutes (subject to change)

-Intro: Cut-scenes from story mode, while mixing with some gameplay footage
-Might add in Menu footage
-Grand Prix footage of kicking ass
-Advanced driving techniques (drifting, spin, snaking?)
-Footage of massive jumps + boosting speeds of over 2k kph
-Various story mode footage
-Other things I won't talk about yet

-Meant to be as a tribute to the awesomeness that is F-Zero GX

Music: ******************** (Keeping this under wraps for now)

So yeah, I already have a lot of ideas down as to what I plan on capturing, and then with the music I'll be using, I'll be fitting the footage to that song. Like I said, I will not disclose the song yet as I want that part to be a surprise. All I'll say it's a remix of a popular song, and it is NOT related to F-Zero.

The first thing I'll be needing to get is capture equipment, and then if it's truly necessary before I do this, I'll be buying a Gaming Rig to not only play PC games on, but to also do video and possibly photo editing. In essence, this is only the start of what I have planned not just for TNE, but for my hobbies in general.

I'll be updating you guys as things start to happen, and because I currently don't have any equipment besides the Wii, and my beloved copy of F-Zero GX, I'll also be updating this thread of when I receive new equipment and whatnot. This is not only a thread about F-Zero GX, but also my journey into creating a new video which I haven't done since 2005.

Keep you all posted as things happen, everyone!

 

[TheAmazingLSB]

 

[Mr-Chris]

Awesome Shoulder! So you're essentially doing a F-Zero GX montage video to show how awesome the game is? I look forward to it, GX is one of my favourite games.

Look forward to your updates and the eventual finished product

 

[Shoulder]

Awesome Shoulder! So you're essentially doing a F-Zero GX montage video to show how awesome the game is? I look forward to it, GX is one of my favourite games.

Look forward to your updates and the eventual finished product

That's exactly what it is. And since I'm fairly good at the game itself, it should make a lot of the footage more awesome rather than making an ass of myself. But if there's a moment where failing is awesome, I'll include it.

 

[Shoulder]

Update for you all: So I haven't started any recording of footage yet, but that'll come relatively soon, but first things first, I had to order some parts for my PC, which I just did last night.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/wMRCZL

I figured this would be a good starting point given what I plan on doing with it. Sure, there might be some better parts out there, but I essentially borrowed @WolvenofGames proposed gaming rig that he was going to make, and added a case for it. I think as far as actual gaming is concerned, this will provide mid-to low high capabilities, and video editing should be pretty good I think. I thought about upgrading the ram to 16GB, but 8GB these days should be minimum for a gaming rig that includes video/photo editing (this motherboard allows up to 32GB). My fricking 2009 Macbook Pro has 8GB of ram, so this one should at the very last have it also.

Only thing left to choose is my OS, which I'll be doing later this week. I feel I should get Windows 8, but I know Windows 7 is still a good OS. Any ideas, everyone?

So I'll keep you all posted as the parts arrive, and I get to building it, and whatnot. Yes, this project is still happening, but Fall is now almost a sure possibility. I also have another video project I'm considering around the same time as this that I could finish by the end of the year, so if all things work out, I'll have two projects done by the end of this year. We'll see.

 

[Cubits]

I just did a new system, and rolled with win 8.1 just because I got it at an oem price. It's pretty shitty, honestly. The way it keeps jumping into full screen, borderless apps is really fucking annoying, it's the antithesis of multi tasking. Keep 7 and go straight to 9, skip this turd.

That pc is pretty close to mine. I went with the 250d case so I could have a massively watercooled but tiny pc, but the extra pci-e port of the 200 is handy for internal video capture cards.

I was tossing up between the faster evga card or the quieter gigabyte, and ended up with the latterbbecause it was on special. In games my pc is pretty silent, which is handy for when it's playing media centre.

Looking forward to the video, the game needs more recognition.

 

[Shoulder]

I just did a new system, and rolled with win 8.1 just because I got it at an oem price. It's pretty shitty, honestly. The way it keeps jumping into full screen, borderless apps is really fucking annoying, it's the antithesis of multi tasking. Keep 7 and go straight to 9, skip this turd.

That pc is pretty close to mine. I went with the 250d case so I could have a massively watercooled but tiny pc, but the extra pci-e port of the 200 is handy for internal video capture cards.

I was tossing up between the faster evga card or the quieter gigabyte, and ended up with the latterbbecause it was on special. In games my pc is pretty silent, which is handy for when it's playing media centre.

Looking forward to the video, the game needs more recognition.

Yeah, once I get all the parts, build it, and also pick up a capture card (which I'm still deciding on which one) and get windows, I'll get right onto recording footage. I know that some capture cards don't have the hardware in them, so they rely on the hardware of your computer, which is what I don't necessarily want since I want to record PC games on top of consoles. I hear good things about the Hauppauge HD PVR Rocket, so that's one to consider.

 

[Cubits]

I have the avermedia gamer hd card which has a hardware encoder, so I can record battlefield 4 without dropping a frame. It's truly excellent for hdmi stuff, and it comes with a big red button for your desk. The TNE podcasts and my channel shows off the quality, but it actually records at 60fps (which is a must for f-zero).

I also have one of their cheaper cards for recording component/composite.

If you want, I'll let you have the live gamer hd for free, just pay the shipping (shouldn't be much). I've got to switch to usb capture due to my itx mobo.

Edit: The component card is already gone to my brother. You actually probably need a component-capable recording device to hook up to the gamecube (unless you softmod your wii u).

 

[Shoulder]

I have the avermedia gamer hd card which has a hardware encoder, so I can record battlefield 4 without dropping a frame. It's truly excellent for hdmi stuff, and it comes with a big red button for your desk. The TNE podcasts and my channel shows off the quality, but it actually records at 60fps (which is a must for f-zero).

I also have one of their cheaper cards for recording component/composite.

If you want, I'll let you have the live gamer hd for free, just pay the shipping (shouldn't be much). I've got to switch to usb capture due to my itx mobo.

Edit: The component card is already gone to my brother. You actually probably need a component-capable recording device to hook up to the gamecube (unless you softmod your wii u).

Wow! That's an incredible offer, Cubits.

I would imagine it should be possible to get a HDMI to Component cable and still be able to record gameplay off my Wii (since that's where I play my GCN games these days). The issue now becomes recording gameplay footage off the PS3, which I know from what others have encountered, you cannot record via HDMI (stupid HDCP crap), so you have to resort to component.

 

[Shoulder]

Speaking of this PS3 video recording, I just remembered this video from last year of Rich detailing how to bypass the HDCP for recording PS3 (and PS4) gameplay footage.

I might have to seriously consider that if I decide to take this business of recording gameplay footage a bit seriously, because I don't want to put too much money into this, and then not take advantage of it. The only barrier is now Wii footage with component, but I'm sure I'll think of something.


EDIT: There is that Wii2HDMI converter to consider I've just realized. I'll look into that.

 

[Shoulder]

My GeForce 770 arrived yesterday, but I picked it up just now. That's the first of a few different parts to be had. It's happening, everyone. This is really going to happen, and I'm started to get seriously excited right now.

Other parts should be arriving on Friday, Saturday, and Tuesday, so the last bits will be after Labor, which I was hoping for everything to arrive by the end of this week, but I'll deal with it. I can use that time to read up more about actually building this thing, and also getting Win 7 as well.

Btw @Cubits , if you're still interested, I can always buy your Avermedia Live Gamer HD card from you. Send me a PM, and we can talk further about this. I've been reading up on it, and recording footage should be pretty easy, and with an HDMI adapter for my Wii, recording footage should be ridiculously easy.

 

[Shoulder]

Memory and DVD drive arrived earlier today, and I'm expecting the computer case and the power supply by tomorrow, which leaves the motherboard, hard drive, and the CPU, with the latter arriving on Saturday and the first two next Thursday it appears.

I'll probably go ahead and purchase Windows 7 by the end of this week, so I then have just about everything I need. Only thing left will be the critical bit of what video editing program to get. I understand there are loads of them out there, so it'll be interesting to see what's out there.

 

[Shoulder]

So, even though not all my parts arrived yet, I decided to go ahead and install at least a couple of the parts to get a head start. I then discovered something that worried me that I had not considered.

So my power supply is 550w w/ a 80+ bronze certification, and my GPU's manual says the minimum wattage is 600w. I first thought, "Oh shit," and then I was wondering then why would pc part picker say there aren't any compatibility issues. Granted, PC park picker is just a website, but now I'm second guessing myself if 550 is enough, or if I should return it and exchange for a beefier PSU.

What are your guys' thoughts on this?

 

[Shoulder]

So all the main parts have arrived as of today. Last parts were the motherboard and my main 1TB HDD. I also have some thermal paste and a copy of Win 7 arriving tomorrow as well.

@Cubits has also kindly offered his Avermedia Liver Gamer HD capture card to me (for a fee of course), so I'll be able to start recording some gameplay very soon. I hope to get things started by the end of the month at this point.

Also, I know this thread talks about this being my Summer/Fall video project, but at this point I doubt I'll make the Fall release date (which technically ends by Nov 7th) seeing as it'll take me some time to get fully familiar with everything. An end of the year deadline is what I'm shooting for now.

But don't fret (to all those who read through this thread ), as F-Zero is only the beginning. I have a few other video projects in store for everyone, and I hope to also take advantage of live-streaming via twitch in the near future.