Screenr is a small plugin that will take screenshots when you level (and hopefully when you acquire an augmentation too; code is there, I just couldn't test it yet).

You can configure it to take between 1 and 10 screenshots "per event" with 250 or 500 milliseconds between the individual shots.
Taking the shots is reasonably fast, even with 10 shots in a row I don't notice any client lag - and it doesn't use the * key, so you won't have the "screenshot saved" message in the later shots of a series.

Screenshots and settings are saved under "My Documents/Decal Plugins/screenr", so security settings in Windows Vista/7 should not be a problem.

You can find a link to the latest release at http://ac.ranta.info/Screenr

Planned for next versions: "short-time delay release" for manual screenshots and a "stop motion video mode" for e.g. documenting boss fights.

Feedback and more ideas are always welcome.

There is a known issue that the Screenr GUI will show up "in" other plugins GUIs. You can work around that buy opening Screenr once, after that all other GUIs should be fine.
I will investigate what's causing this. (If any decal dev has an idea what could cause this, let me know; source code can be found at http://svn.ranta.info/repos/decaldev/trunk/Screenr/ if you want to have a look or compile it yourself to confirm your idea)

I can confirm that it works with using augmentation gems

 

-----signature-----

Thanks Naia.

Also, on a side note: screenshots work also in window mode no matter on which screen the client is, so all you dual-monitor dual-log people sharing hand-in xp with your mules can be happy too

I just noticed the nice names of the screenshots. i like that

Harvestgain-Sandria Ra-Sal-Archmage's Endurance-20094806-05483183-00.jpg

Harvestgain-Landera Ra-Sal-level41-00.jpg

Btw whats the number behind Sandiras Screenshots ? the 20094806-05483183 part ?

 

-----signature-----

That SHOULD be the date and time (including 10th of seconds), that are needed on manual screenshots (when you click the "make test screenshots" button) and for augs (as you can get the same aug twice on a character). Unfortunately I wasnt sure about the exact placeholders in C# when I implemented that and then later forgot to look them up and fix them. For your case it should be 20090906-17483183 (YearMonthDay-HoursMinutesSecondsTenth).

And of course I saw this post a few minutes AFTER I made the 1.1.0 release, so there is a 1.1.1 now as well...Happy updating

http://ac.ranta.info/DecalDev for direct link to latest installer

From a quick glance at the code, it looks like it uses win32 to blt the screen bitmap. That means that any other windows which are on top of the AC window will block it in the screenshots as well.

If you want to get fancy, you can get the game's DX9 object from Decal, lock the buffer, and copy it to a file. Doing this will ensure a proper screenshot even if the AC window is obscured.

 

-----signature-----

I will look into it, but it might take a while. I am really more a "scripting languages" person and use Decal Development to learn C# - never done anything related to DX yet. But the idea is good, not everyone who dual logs has 2 widescreen TFTs in front of them I guess. If you have any tips, know about pitfalls etc please let me know. I am quite good (or rather: very patient) using the Object Browser in Visual Studio, but that only gives you the API, not the best practices.

On a side note, the screenshots will be fine (if the windows are not covered) even if you level in 2 windows at exactly the same time, had that earlier when I handed in some eater jaws

In case anyone besides VI is still using Win2k: Screenr, HouseMan and IronVsGranite should install and work there as well now, I released new versions of these 3 just a few minutes ago. Those versions also will not try to write to the installation directory anymore, so Vista users should install them as well.

Well, one thing that would be easier than that would be to have a checkbox that makes it take screenshots with the * key instead.

But, since your code is open I may take a look at adding some DX if I get the chance. Shouldn't be too complicated.

 

-----signature-----

Well, I don't like the * for screenshots because you have that "Screenshot saved to ..." message in most of them if you do it fast enough. And to capture the "fireworks" you have to take them fast, the whole animation takes about 2-2.5 seconds only. Also to have those nice filenames you'd have to somehow capture said message (it's not a chat message, so I wouldn't even know how) and then rename/move the created file, which means another system call and more IO, which on slower machines can become a performance issue. (I know on my old computer just hitting * gave me about 1 second client (graphics) lag - and that was just 1 screenshot.)
I guess for those who want it I could add the option and put a text to it that it sets the interval to 1s (think that's how long the damn message stays) and the amount of screenshots to 2.

Performance will become even more an issue when I add the stop-motion feature, which (sufficient HD space given) in the most extrem setting will take 1 screenshot per second over a period of several minutes. (I will almost certainly add a hard limit and for the 1 screenshot per second you will have to edit an xml file manually, so only those who know the risk can activate it - but even with 1 screenshot every 10 seconds you got to be careful on old machines).





Now that would be awesome. After looking at the Virindi View screenshots et al I am sure you are several leagues above me when it comes to decal/C# skill.
I will certainly have a look at it as well, although probably not before next weekend as I want to play some and work keeps me busy too.