Screenshot feature broken

[BobbinT]

Tried to screenshot using Print Screen button & only produces black image shots in screenshot folder. How do one take proper screenshot?



Please reply ASAP. Thx.

[Alhanelem]

I've literally never used the built in feature. I usually use the windows Snipping Tool or hold ctrl+alt print screen and paste into an image program (ctrl+alt only captures one screen when you have multiple monitors)

[BobbinT]

That's basically should be the standard feature. It basically annoys me to do snipping every time, since for currently I'm in cutscene & kinda just killed immersion with me needing to snipping forth & back. Plus this will not work if there's like action cutscene where I need to make several screenshot in succession, it's not like there's ability to freeze the screen while i properly snip & save it, then resume so that I could take another one on exact moment.


Also, on Windows 7 atm.

[Alhanelem]

Taking screenshots really has nothing to do with immersion. The resulting image is essentially the same no matter how you do it.

[BobbinT]

Maybe not for you, but it's my own. Can't really compare apple to apple on each own ways to feel theirs.

[Alhanelem]

Maybe not for you, but it's my own. Can't really compare apple to apple on each own ways to feel theirs.
For everyone. Screenshots aren't part of the game world therefore they are not a component of immersion.

I mean I suppose you're referring to the inconvenience of leaving the game for any amount of time to deal with the image capture, and I sort of understand on that level, but there are other reasons, which I probably shouldn't specify here, not to use the game's screenshot taking method, whether or not it's working correctly.

(note, going to check now to see if it actually works or not. Frankly I don't even know where the game stores them since I don't use it. Further edit: Due to an unnamable mitigating circumstance, I actually can't test this)

[BobbinT]

at whichever you install the game:



\PlayOnline\SquareEnix\PlayOnlineViewer\pub\home01\open\ScreenShots\FinalFantasyXI\


or just search *.jpg in PlayOnline folder

[BST]

I use a Controller and with this feature enabled you can press the Back+Start for Xbox style or Select+Start for Playstation style controllers.
Not sure about the Keyboard combo, but with the Controller you press Back or Select first then press Start to take the screenshot, as it will not take a proper screenshot unless the HUD is hidden, which is what Back/Select on the pad does.
This allows you to take multiple screenshots in succession which is what you wanted to do, they are saved in the directory that is specified in the ffxiconfig program.

[Alhanelem]

which is what Back/Select on the pad does.It also adds a copyright notice in the corner. Which is why, at least for screenshots mainly intended for my own purposes, or if I need images with the UI on screen (which is often), you need to use something else. So unless it's something I intend to distribute, I'd rather use the snipping tool so I can have the HUD and lack of watermark on there.

[BobbinT]

I use a Controller and with this feature enabled you can press the Back+Start for Xbox style or Select+Start for Playstation style controllers.
Not sure about the Keyboard combo, but with the Controller you press Back or Select first then press Start to take the screenshot, as it will not take a proper screenshot unless the HUD is hidden, which is what Back/Select on the pad does.
This allows you to take multiple screenshots in succession which is what you wanted to do, they are saved in the directory that is specified in the ffxiconfig program.

keyboard equivalent is Scroll Lock, right beside Print Screen button.

also...

recently got answer from discord, not sure if this is actually applies, but it does work for some reason while it doesn't really make sense:
Scroll Lock, then press Print Screen and F11.

2 discord channel including reddit ones actually post similar ways.

[Dragoy]

Which key is the 'Take Screenshot' command actually assigned to?

That's under Config / Misc. 2 / Commands.

If it's something like [ and a keyboard layout in use is one where you need a modifier key such as alt_gr to make it happen, it might not work, and changing it to something else (such as F11 perhaps) should help.

While on the topic, you might like to change the screenshot directory to something else if it still defaults to the install path, and in addition to that, enable 'Take a screenshot in your screen's resolution'. Both of these need to be done via the FFXI Config utility.

[Dragoy]

Was in a bit of a rush and forgot to add a bunch in the last reply.

What I mentioned earlier is about the keys one can change, but there are the hard-coded Scroll Lock and Print Screen which indeed seem to work a bit oddly for me right now as well.

If I try to use Print Screen, it normally just brings the UI back, but if I first press ctrl or alt (can release or not after) and then Print Screen, it will work, but it's kind of like stuck, too... until I fiddle with other keys a bit...

That might also be due to my keyboard set-up, and I can't re-produce the "Scroll Lock, then press Print Screen and F11" here.

Being as cumbersome and limited as the feature is, I, too, use an alternative. On Linux I have a very simple self-made script to save an image of whatever the active window currently is to a pre-set directory, using the window title as its name and adding time and date to it without any other interaction from me aside from the initial button press.

I might have used Fraps (probably abandoned almost 10 years ago; anyone remember that?) back when I was still using Windows about 12 years ago, but I'd imagine there are plenty to choose from nowadays (like OBS Studio if you only ever want to focus on one window at a time).

[Alhanelem]

As I said before, I normally just use Snipping Tool, which comes with windows (thankfully after enough backlash they decided to update and keep it instead of replacing it with Snip & Sketch which added bloat and some functionality was lost) since snipping tool enables me to just capture part of the screen if I want to and it has a delay feature which can make it easier to capture action moments.

[Dragoy]

As I said before, I normally just use Snipping Tool, which comes with windows (thankfully after enough backlash they decided to update and keep it instead of replacing it with Snip & Sketch which added bloat and some functionality was lost) since snipping tool enables me to just capture part of the screen if I want to and it has a delay feature which can make it easier to capture action moments.

Is it possible to use it to do it unattented (aside from the one button press)? That is, does it always pop up (or hidden) a window, and you need to interact with it manually?

If not, that would not work for me either.

[Alhanelem]

Is it possible to use it to do it unattented (aside from the one button press)? That is, does it always pop up (or hidden) a window, and you need to interact with it manually?

If not, that would not work for me either.
I'm not sure what you mean by unattended. all means o f taking screenshots require some input from the user. There is a hotkey to open the snipping tool (windows key + shift + S.), but you still need to press a button to activate snipping mode. But its functionality (being able to take just a region of the screen, a specific window, etc. makes it versatile enough to work for everyone. The delay feature means you can activate it and it will take the screenshot X seconds later, which means you can go back to the game and strike a pose or do whatever you need to do and it will go off automatically.

Yes, it's less convenient than pressing scl lck and prt scrn but it gives you the ability to do much more than the in-game function can do. You can set up just about anything with the delay feature. I think if you try it rather than dismiss it out of hand based on words I'm typing, you'll find it useful.

[Dragoy]

I'm not sure what you mean by unattended. all means o f taking screenshots require some input from the user.

By unattended I mean anything after the initial button press:


On Linux I have a very simple self-made script to save an image of whatever the active window currently is to a pre-set directory, using the window title as its name and adding time and date to it without any other interaction from me aside from the initial button press.

This seems to be something that BobbinT would appreciate.


It basically annoys me to do snipping every time, since for currently I'm in cutscene & kinda just killed immersion with me needing to snipping forth & back. Plus this will not work if there's like action cutscene where I need to make several screenshot in succession, it's not like there's ability to freeze the screen while i properly snip & save it, then resume so that I could take another one on exact moment.


Yes, it's less convenient than pressing scl lck and prt scrn but it gives you the ability to do much more than the in-game function can do. You can set up just about anything with the delay feature. I think if you try it rather than dismiss it out of hand based on words I'm typing, you'll find it useful.

I don't have a machine with Windows installed on it handy, but I can imagine it pretty well from your description, thank you!

It seems to be very similar to the several open-source applications out there, of which some can be used in the "unattended" way as well, but I can't really recommend any at this time since I'd have to first research their support for Windows.

[Catmato]

Tried to screenshot using Print Screen button & only produces black image shots in screenshot folder. How do one take proper screenshot?



Please reply ASAP. Thx.

The free software Greenshot (https://getgreenshot.org/)might be to your liking. It can be configured to take a screenshot of a window with a single or combination keypress and save it directly to a file.

[BobbinT]

Thanks Dragoy, seems like I totally forgot about config program, which I rarely touch. Turns out all my screenshots are there as per default on config setup, though oddly also creates another one inside original PoL installation as well, albeit some of them turns out to be blank black shots, while few that did get made are in their original lower res as they were back then.


Guess this issues are now resolved, with my part neglected to check config program. ^^;