Taking Screen Shots : V

» Sat Jun 09, 2012 10:10 am

Hey All,

Just wondered how you take screenshots in the game. Do I need special software?
Cheers

Val

» Sat Jun 09, 2012 5:03 pm

I've always just pressed the PrtScn (Print Screen) button and paisted in to MS Paint or your choice software.

I'm sure you could also use something like FRAPS too.

» Sat Jun 09, 2012 2:03 pm

If you are on console you need capture card.

On computer there are tons of ways to do it.

» Sat Jun 09, 2012 9:22 pm

On PC I use Fraps.

» Sat Jun 09, 2012 7:57 am

On PC, PrintScreen is automatically set to take screenshots (well, it was on my computer, anyway) and save them to your Skyrim folder. Steam also has a preset key for taking screenshots.

I use FRAPS, though.

» Sat Jun 09, 2012 7:15 am

I use MSI Afterburner and then optimise in The GIMP if the file size is too big for Nexus.

» Sat Jun 09, 2012 5:29 am

I'm on PC. Neither am I the mist knowledgeable either. What's FRAPS?

» Sat Jun 09, 2012 1:44 pm

Simple explanation for a layman please.

» Sat Jun 09, 2012 6:45 pm

Print screen is the easiest if you're on PC. When in game look at your keyboard towards the top right (above home/insert/page up generally) you will see a button that either says 'print screen' or 'Prt Scrn' - press that one and it will take a pic of everything you can currently see on screen at that moment, it will save a copy in your steam folder for Skyrim.

» Sat Jun 09, 2012 7:12 am

PrintScrn is the button you need. Steam automatically saves it, and it's also added to your clipboard so you can post it into an image-editing program. Even a basic program like Paint works because it captures each individual pixel.

» Sat Jun 09, 2012 9:32 am

Print screen is the easiest if you're on PC. When in game look at your keyboard towards the top right (above home/insert/page up generally) you will see a button that either says 'print screen' or 'Prt Scrn' - press that one and it will take a pic of everything you can currently see on screen at that moment, it will save a copy in your steam folder for Skyrim.

PrintScrn is the button you need. Steam automatically saves it, and it's also added to your clipboard so you can post it into an image-editing program. Even a basic program like Paint works because it captures each individual pixel.

Excellent, cheers guys that me got it.

» Sat Jun 09, 2012 9:15 am

I'm on PC. Neither am I the mist knowledgeable either. What's FRAPS?

FRAPS is a little utility that captures screenshots, desktop, games and encodes it and has an on-screen frame-rate counter. The free version is limited so I suggest MSI Afterburner.

» Sat Jun 09, 2012 3:58 pm

Can I just download it then?

» Sat Jun 09, 2012 1:08 pm

Is it free to download?

Not, Fraps it's not freeware. There is a trial version that has some limitations which is free to use though.

» Sat Jun 09, 2012 3:01 pm

... Why do you need Fraps for screenshots when PrintScrn works?

» Sat Jun 09, 2012 5:26 am

PrintScreen doesn't take screenshots if you're still in the console by accident (say, if you turned off the UI and forgot that you hadn't exited the console). FRAPS will.

FRAPS can also take screenshots during loading screens, if one were to be interested in such a thing.

» Sat Jun 09, 2012 6:34 pm

PrintScreen doesn't take screenshots if you're still in the console by accident (say, if you turned off the UI and forgot that you hadn't exited the console). FRAPS will.

FRAPS can also take screenshots during loading screens, if one were to be interested in such a thing.

I'm... pretty sure PrintScrn does as well - or at least it saves it to the clipboard, if not a game folder.

» Sat Jun 09, 2012 6:55 am

So far print screen has worked

» Sat Jun 09, 2012 10:39 am

I have to use F12 to take screenshots through steam, which makes a jpg screenshot. I can use print screen, but that will make a bmp screenshot that gets placed in the Skyrim root directory.

» Sat Jun 09, 2012 10:52 am

I'm... pretty sure PrintScrn does as well - or at least it saves it to the clipboard, if not a game folder.

Clipboard doesn't work for me; I take too many screenshots within a game session to use that efficiently. At any rate, there are multiple avenues for use. All work just fine.

» Sat Jun 09, 2012 7:14 pm

I think this problem may have been fixed - I was using the Steam screen cap feature (F12 button), and sometimes I've had Skyrim crash, but I don't think it has happened since the last patch in December, fwiw).

One nice thing about the Steam screenshot system is that you can set it up so that it automatically backs up your screenshots to the Steam Cloud, and you can share them online from there if you want.

Otherwise, whatever floats your boat.

» Sat Jun 09, 2012 11:54 am

I use steam to take photos

» Sat Jun 09, 2012 1:48 pm

F12 takes screenshots.

» Sat Jun 09, 2012 4:21 pm

Print screen outputs as uncompressed bitmap so the file size is huge compared to jpg. If you use something like MSI afterburner, you can pick jpg. FRAPS doesn't let you use jpg unless you register it and pay. Steam outputs as jpg but if you want to show good quality screenshots, that's not ideal, since it compresses them a little too much for my liking.

» Sat Jun 09, 2012 4:45 pm

Simple explanation for a layman please.

Just press F12 in-game.