Recording

Tab: Recording — Capture & replay · Plugin: Cinematic Lab

Getting frames out of the editor and out of a running game — stills, a rolling replay buffer, and a recorder that ships in a packaged build.

The Recording tab: output settings, ffmpeg detection, replay buffer and gameplay recorder.

Output settings

Setting	Notes
Aspect Preset	Target aspect ratio
Output Height (px)	Height; width follows from the aspect. The readout resolves it: <w> × <h> pixels
Output Directory	Where captures land; Browse… to pick
FFmpeg Binary	Optional — leave blank if ffmpeg.exe is on PATH

🔍 Detect searches PATH plus the common Windows install locations — Program Files, Chocolatey and Scoop — and auto-fills the path. Worth clicking before assuming ffmpeg is missing.

Recording preferences with the output directory and ffmpeg path resolved.

Choosing the aspect preset, output height and format in the Recording tab.

Actions

• 📸 Take High-Res Screenshot. Schedules a HighResShot at the chosen aspect and height. Output goes to <Project>/Saved/Screenshots/.
• 🎬 Open Movie Render Queue. Opens the MRQ tab to queue a Sequencer render. For the full render. workflow see Render.

FFmpeg merger scripts

Write FFmpeg Merger Script writes <OutputDir>/merger.bat for the chosen output format. ▶ Invoke Merger Now runs the most recently written merger.bat in the background and reports status, exit code and elapsed time below.

The .bat is a plain file you can edit — the panel says so: “Edit the .bat if you want different ffmpeg flags.” Nothing is hidden behind the button.

Replay buffer

A rolling ring of frames, so you can keep the last N seconds after something interesting happens.

Control	Notes
Capture FPS	Frames per second into the ring
Ring length (s)	How much history to keep
Start / Stop Replay Buffer	Hotkey F10
Save Last N Seconds	Dump the buffered frames as a PNG sequence plus an ffmpeg merger.bat — hotkey F11
Clear Ring	Drop the buffer

While running, the status reads Buffered: <n> frames (<s> s) with a RECORDING indicator; idle when stopped.

Gameplay Recorder (PIE and packaged)

Add Gameplay Recorder to Level spawns — or selects the existing — EQLabs Gameplay Recorder actor in the current level.

This is the runtime path: it works in PIE and in a packaged build. Bind its StartCapture and SaveReplayBuffer to input keys in Blueprint to drive it from the game.

Once present, the panel reports the actual configuration rather than a generic confirmation: Recorder in level — <fps> fps × <s> s ring (~<n> MB est.), audio on/off.

The memory figure is labelled est. — it is derived from frame size, rate and ring length, not measured.

Performance overlay

Two toggles that drive Unreal’s own stat commands:

• stat unit. Frame time, draw calls, triangle count. Hotkey F12.
• stat unitGraph. A rolling FPS graph.

Default hotkeys

Key	Action
F10	Start / stop the replay buffer
F11	Save the last N seconds
F12	Toggle stat unit

Notes

• Two different recorders, for two different jobs. The replay buffer is an editor-side ring for grabbing what just happened; the Gameplay Recorder is a runtime actor you drive from gameplay code and that ships in a build.
• ffmpeg is yours. Cinematic Lab writes the merger script and can run it, but does not bundle ffmpeg. 🔍 Detect finds an existing install; otherwise point the field at your own binary.
• The output directory is shared. The NLE Bridge tab can override it for editorial exports, and falls back to this tab’s setting when its own field is blank.