Peter's "Let's Play..." Youtube thread.

[Peter McCoy]

Here you'll find links, info, updates and announcements regarding my Youtube channel - www.youtube.com/superego13itch

Please check out my channel sometime - it mainly consists of Let's Plays by myself and - eventually - some fellow members of these fabulous forums. Right now I'm working on a System Shock 2 series, but there's also a limited amount of old-ish Minecraft content as well as some Skyrim and Fallout: New Vegas footage. They're marked as old content as I will eventually return to all three games with new stuff (in the case of Skyrim and F:NV I'll start new games and do a Lets Play form scratch).

Upcoming content - once System Shock 2 is finished - includes Deus Ex (the original), Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines and the S.T.A.L.K.E.R series. I'll also be starting a new Minecraft series using the FTB modpack along with a few choice mods in addition to that particular collection.

Stay tuned and if you like what I'm doing, I'd really appreciate if you could Like my videos and maybe even Subscribe to my channel. And if you'd like to help the channel grow, maybe shout about it on any other networking sites you may use such as Facebook or Twitter.

Also, if you'd like to recommend a game for me to play and share the experience on my channel, just post in here. Even if I've played it, I'm still up for re-runs. Hell, I've completed System Shock 2 dozens of times over the years and it never gets old!

[Peter McCoy]

Here's the link to my System Shock 2 playlist: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3tySCK0cxC1881GdNIGx2A00xZn5DLr4

I've just finished recording Episode 2 and it'll likely be in 6 parts since I've got just under two hours worth of footage. As I type, I'm running the raw Fraps dumps through my colour correction process. Basically, some games have a weird way of turning out quite dark when recorded with Fraps. Whats happening is that all the video info is contained in the .AVI file Fraps dumps uncompressed into the target folder as I play my game, but some programs aren’t great at recognising and correctly converting the colourspace that FRAPs uses to the more common colourspace that most video uses.

Because of this, I end up with a file that either discards the darkest and brightest parts of each frame, or it keeps them, but you can’t see this extra data hidden in the brights and darks the video doesn’t display. So I found a process online using a program called WinFF to re-encode my dark footage. But during that encoding process, the only thing that is altered is the colourspace info so that my video program recognises and can see all the "colour data" and therefore resolves the darkness problem. The darkening effect is quite severe with System Shock 2, as well as the other DarkEngine games. It's also an issue with Minecraft footage Fraps captures, but to a lesser extent. And as an added bonus, the colour-corrected files are much smaller than the raw Fraps dumps, which also results in much smaller file sizes for the episodes themselves (by around half!) making it quicker for uploading to Youtube - and with no noticable drop in quality! :)

Once that's done, I can then stitch together the colour-corrected Fraps dumps in Premiere, add in my opening "Superego plays..." sequence, my fade out, and then batch-encode for however many episodes I want. This I will likely do when I get home from work tomorrow afternoon. I could wait a bit longer until the colour-correction is finished but it then means faffing around for half an hour getting things sorted in Premiere and leaving my PC on through the night, and I don't really want to get into the habit of doing that.

As such, expect to see Episode 2 uploaded sometime between tomorrow night and Monday afternoon.

EDIT: Change of plan - the videos are encoding now. If they're done before I leave for work I'll start uploading them to Youtube. Then when I get home they'll be ready to publish once I sort out the titles, info and links in the descriptions.

EDIT 2: Episode 2 is delayed since I forgot to scale the video to the frame size, so all the edges are cut off slightly. Re-encoding now so upload will be overnight most likely. This is what happens when you rush things. Lesson learned!

[Peter McCoy]

System Shock 2: Episode 2 will be available later tonight. 4 parts are already uploaded and the 5th one will be finished in a few minutes, leaving just one to go.

EDIT: Finally, Episode 2 is up on Youtube. Sorry for the delay!

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[Captain Untouchable]

While your chatty banter is fun, it's the sounds of you freaking out and getting pissed off at monkeys and things that really make these LPs awesome. A lot of LPers try way too hard to seem professional, whereas you're swearing and firing insults at enemies like a normal person. It's really really fun to watch. :D

Also, I am pretty sure that "Rickenbacker" is the coolest thing that anyone with a Liverpool accent has ever said.

[Peter McCoy]

LOL! :)

I'm thrilled you're enjoying it mate. Now that I've finished Bioshock Infinite, I'll be carrying on with my System Shock playthrough probably later this evening as well as tomorrow.

[Peter McCoy]

Episode 3 is recorded and I'm in the process of preparing it for Youtube. Should see it online sometime tonight. While it uploads later,. I may record another episode to finish off Deck 3, or even start a playthrough of a different game. Dunno what though. Maybe Vampire: Bloodlines...

[Peter McCoy]

Editing took longer than expected. Watching X-Men Origins: Wolverine may have had something to do with it. But the important thing is it's now encoding. I'll upload as soon as it's done.

[Peter McCoy]

System Shock 2: Episode 3 is now online!

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EDIT: Should be able to view it now - I had the privacy set to Private instead of Public! Silly me!

[Peter McCoy]

Episode 4 is online after a long hiatus.

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If you were to start watching the first two videos, Part 3 should be public before you finish as I'll edit it on my phone while I'm out - as I type this it still has about 30 minutes processing time.

I'll be starting a new Let's Play very soon - a restart of Fallout: New Vegas!

[Peter McCoy]

Episode 5 of my System Shock 2 Lets Play is finally uploaded. It's been sitting on my hard-drive for ages and I've neglected the channel for long enough. With my new planned daily videos things will be more regular and structured now. Instead of several videos weeks apart, I'll upload a single video a day - or at least upload in one go and then make one video a day public and add it to the playlist. I think this may encourage subscribers since they're more likely to subscribe to a channel that has new content each day (even if its just one video) than every few weeks/months.

As such, Episode 6 is uploaded and ready to go Public starting tomorrow and over the course of the week. I plan to record and edit Episode 7 tomorrow and get that uploaded over the course of Sunday night/Monday morning. And if I can do another episode during the week and get that uploaded, it allows me to go on holiday and simply log into Youtube each day and change the Privacy Settings so the video can be viewed. That'd be enough content for a daily video until I get back home.

Anyways - Episode 5. Enjoy!

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[Peter McCoy]

I've just returned from a week in Ibiza and while I was there I continued my daily video releases thanks to my decision to pre-upload pre-upload several videos before I went. I had planned to do the same before coming up to Scotland for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this morning but alas, I never got to finish recording the footage I wanted to. As such, I'm releasing some videos of my play through of Toejam & Earl on the Mega Drive/Genesis. They're much quicker to render and upload but I still only managed 3 videos. So having released one yesterday and one today, I'll follow up with another on Wednesday and another on Friday. If that doesn't't finish the game I'll end the week with one more before carrying on with System Shock 2 as of Monday.

I'm approaching the end of my System Shock 2 series so if anybody has any suggestions of games they'd like to see me do a Let's Play of, please reply in this thread and let me know. If you haven't already subscribed to my channel I'd really appreciate it. Leave Likes and Comments on my videos and tell your friends and family to do the same if you think it's something they may enjoy. But be warned - I tend to swear a hell of a lot when I'm under pressure or frustrated or scared or generally posses off as you'll witness in my new Toejam & Earl videos when monsters send me back down to the previous level.

[Peter McCoy]

Tonight I finished my current Let's Play of Toejam & Earl. You can find the full playlist here (http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3tySCK0cxC0NwNAzGld1pb1Rj_oEvUIt) - it's only 5 videos and clocks in at just under 1 hour 40 minutes.

Later on I'll be resuming my System Shock 2 playthrough and those videos will be out as of tomorrow, continuing with my daily video schedule. I'm probably going to shorten each part to 15 minutes, so that 2 hours gaming gets me 8 videos over 8 days. That way if I record several days on the run it gives me plenty of content for the forthcoming weeks. And as I make those videos public each day, I have the time free to do smaller projects like I did with Toejam & Earl and release them as bonus videos as and when I like.

This is fun!

[Peter McCoy]

Although it'll be late due to internet problems, I plan to meet my commitment to releasing new videos daily. The next installment of my System Shock 2 playthrough should be up later tonight.

[Peter McCoy]

Well I did plan to have more System Shock 2 this weekend but after doing a lot of overtime in work (double my normal hours) and having the folks round yesterday evening, I haven't had time to invest in making any System Shock 2. So I've just done a quick video of The Lost Vikings. It'll be pretty quick to render and upload for todays video (I still have 4 hours of Saturday left, lol!). I'll do another video for tomorrow and then tomorrow I'll plough on with System Shock 2.

It's actually an appealing format - release my main game in the week and have a shorter side project for the weekend.

Anywho - expect The Lost Vikings online a bit later this evening.

[Peter McCoy]

Episode 3 of The Lost Vikings is online!

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Also, my System Shock 2 playthrough is nearing it's conclusion as I prepare to leave the Rickenbacker! The time to select my next game is almost upon me!

[Peter McCoy]

Holy fuck! Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs is playable! I'll start recording tomorrow and release videos in tandem with the final episodes of System Shock 2, otherwise it means waiting a week or two before I can publish them.

So from around Monday it'll be two videos a day. Then once I finish System Shock 2 I'll start a new game - up to now I'm thinking either Fallout 3, Metro 2033 or Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl. Or perhaps a Resident Evil game, that'd be fun!

[Peter McCoy]

My System Shock 2 playthrough is complete! The final part will be released on Friday (my birthday!).

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[Dasquian Belargic]

huzzah! congrastulations :D I gotta go through and catch up on it all now

[Peter McCoy]

Listening back to my final SS2 video, I realised just how much I say "Erm" so I thought I'd draw attention to it with some subtitles for the LOLS.

[Peter McCoy]

Here it is, the last part of my System Shock 2 series!

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I'm quite proud of myself for not only finishing a game for my channel but also sticking to the regular release schedule. Now I really need to decide on a new game. Looking through my Steam list right now.

[Peter McCoy]

I really wanted to have Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl as my next Let's Play but the bugger hates FRAPS. So in the interim I've decided to use my Amnesia footage as my daily uploads instead of releasing a few a week in tandem with my main Let's Play. I've heard Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs isn't very long so hopefully I can get Stalker and FRAPS playing nicely before I finish Amnesia.

Incidentally todays video - the first part of my Amnesia Let's Play - will be up on Youtube in about an hour or so.

[Peter McCoy]

And here it is...

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Let me know what you think of the video quality. Dark games tend to appear a bit blocky. I was surprised at how small the video files were despite being a higher bitrate than my System Shock ones. I may re-upload this after tweaking the export settings to try and improve the quality but let me know what you think.

[Peter McCoy]

Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs - Episode 1, Part 2/4

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[Peter McCoy]

It's crazy how long it's been since I actively worked on my YouTube channel. I don't think I really deserved to retain any of my subscribers during that time. But I did, and I am now motivated and keen to build on the humble foundations my channel currently sits upon. I've released practically nothing on my channel since my unfinished Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs series. I found that game to be disappointing and I lost the drive to see it through, and my channel went into hibernation in tandem.

Today has seen the first major new video on my channel since before I found out I was going to be a dad. Episode 01 of my Alien: Isolation (Nightmare Mode) playthrough is now live on my channel. This video also marks my first use of custom thumbnails as well as some chiptune music and title cards for a simple introduction sequence. The music is free to use under a Creative Commons license, the links to the material is on my channels 'About' page.

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Furthermore, I've made up a schedule. I'll be focusing on three games at any one time. The Featured games videos will be published on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. The second game will be published on Tuesdays and Thursdays. And shorter games/single plays will be published on weekends. This allows me to get most of, if not all, my recording done during one of my days off. The only real timesink is uploading to Youtube on my crazy ADSL Internet connection. But it is achievable and after testing it out, I'm happy to say I can commit to the above schedule, unforseen circumstances not withstanding. With three games a week, I'm essentially looking at three main recording session required per week - the videos can then be split into their espectice episodes and encoded. I should be able to get ahead of the curve and have several weeks worth of footage prepared ahead of time if I choose to.

I hope some of you guys will check out my channel. Here's my current schedule:

Monday - Alien Isolation
Tuesday - Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines
Wednesday - Alien Isolation
Thursday - Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines
Friday - Alien Isolation
Weekend - Toejam & Earl

I'm not going to commit to Saturday or Sunday to keep some flexibility. Sometimes I may just decide to throw out bonus videos on the weekend, depending on my fancy, or if I'm anxious to start a new game and there isn't a weeks worth of content left for a current series, allowing me to introduce new games at the start of the week.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

I can't wait to get home and watch this :D

[Peter McCoy]

Well the first week of my return to Youtube went mostly to play. I encountered some teething problems as I went, but rather that than do extensive testing and have said problems delay my return - at least this way I actually got on and did stuff, otherwise my channel would still be dead.

Got a few new subscribers which was nice. And the only major schedule change was out of necessity - having to swap Thursday and Friday around due to recording issues with Vampire.

But going into this week, all my recording is done and my encoding is almost done. I'll use Monday to pretty much get everything upoloaded, which will take pretty much from now right through to midnight tomorrow night. But it means I can get an awesome headstart on next week's videos, having them uploaded before the weekend arrives. Thats the position I want to be in, so it gives me plenty of time as a game's series is getting close to its end to start testing the next title I choose to play, to avoid the problems I've had this week with Alien's audio sync issues and Vampires sound glitches.

All in all, I'm very pleased with how the videos turned out and plan to continue. Even if I don't get more subscribers, it's a way of documenting my gaming experiences for myself. And I could even use it as an incentive to start exploring my immense Steam backlog and get some blind playthroughs recorded, which could prove interesting.

This week, Alien: Isolation sees the heat turn up as I actually have my first proper encounter with the xenomorph, and it doesn't go well! Nightmare Mode is an absolute bitch! I have hadrly any resources to craft items with and my ability to pinpoint enemy locations is severely hampered by the lack of a map and a malfunctioning motion tracker. Oh joy! As for Vampire, things just carry on at a steady pace with some side quests as well as making progress with the main quest line. And for some reason my character has taken on an aristocratic British accent - no idea why!