Hi, I did a search and looked in a few guides on the site, but I didn't see any mention of this question.
Is there a way to create Jazz Jackrabbit 1 macros or basically a way to create your own demos? I know JJ2 has that option, but I'm not sure about JJ1.

Thanks.

First of all let me welcome you to the forums.

I'm not sure about Macros for Jazz 1. If you want to make some recordings, I recommend you get Jazz 1 to run on an Microsoft machine, (Using Dfend and Dos box) then download a recording program like Fraps or HyperCam. You can also buy Camtasia Studios as that's one of the best. hope this helps.

Thanks, glad to be a part of the fan community of a game I first played so long ago.

I have known about those methods for recording JJR 1 (dosbox has its handy .avi recorder feature too), but I suppose I should just reveal what my plan is anyway.

I was planning to record the first episode of OpenJazz, the open source version of JJR1, but Fraps doesn't load into it (even full-screen). I could use a screen-recorder such as Hypercam or Camtasia, but none of the computers I have have a fast enough processor (even two cores) to handle both at the same time - the resulting video misses too many frames and ends up under 10-15.

Fraps is good enough that it can record in high resolutions, quality, and framerate with even one CPU, but the only issue is that it does not load into OpenJazz. This isn't much of an issue, as I can record the entire desktop and then crop the game window later on. However, if I bring focus back to the game window, so I can control Jazz through the level, Fraps loads into the wrong window and unloads from recording my desktop.

This is basically why I wanted to find a way to make a demo, play it, then start recording so I don't need to control Jazz during recording and need to have the window in focus.

I understand if all this sounds ridiculous, but I do hold the original JJR 1 as the classic still. I would like to just be able to do this and show others what the first game would look like in high resolution. "Hey look, this is Jazz, a game from 1994, and yet look at the potential detail that can be seen with 1600 x 900 (or even 1024 x 768) at 60 frames. It's been 15 years but see how it has still evolved - and there are still fans."
Maybe it's my "even action games as art" side, but it doesn't sound too silly to me.

Well I'm sorry I can't be much more help. If you really want to do this, you may have to upgrade your computer. Ether that or settle with Fraps. Hope you have luck!

I would say that the game does not look all that good at high resolutions, to be honest. It's held up remarkably well when it comes to the quality of sprites and such, but the levels look rather ugly when you can see outside of the intended viewing area on the screen. When playing at 1920x1200 when the game is made for 320x240, you see very far outside the viewing area.

Originally Posted by SonicNathan 1

Well I'm sorry I can't be much more help. If you really want to do this, you may have to upgrade your computer. Ether that or settle with Fraps. Hope you have luck!

You helped fine. It's a shame how close each method is to working though. Camtasia almost works, but I need an even faster computer (not that possible with my budget now). Fraps doesn't load into OpenJazz since it's not based on OpenGL or DirectX (and asking the base be rewritten to include one of those would be out of the question ). Or Fraps could just record my whole desktop, except I can't give any keyboard input. Settling with Fraps would be fine, except I'd need a macro set up (or I could settle with Camtasia, but with 5 frames in the video, I probably should just wait for that faster computer).

Originally Posted by Black Ninja

I would say that the game does not look all that good at high resolutions, to be honest. It's held up remarkably well when it comes to the quality of sprites and such, but the levels look rather ugly when you can see outside of the intended viewing area on the screen. When playing at 1920x1200 when the game is made for 320x240, you see very far outside the viewing area.

Yeah, any number close to a 4-digit resolution can have the levels start to look a little "unraveled", I've definitely noticed. The dimensions could contribute to the collision detection being a bit off too. And it can occasionally crash if I get hit by something. But I'm willing to put up with those occasional or minor issues as long as I can get a recording session in. Personally, OpenJazz is not a replacement for the original DOS one, especially with the reasonable issues in the former, but it's an interesting version of JJR1.

I'm still curious if there is a method to create a Jazz macro though (even for the sake of knowledge and curiosity). It looks to me that the demos are based off the same use of macro files as JJR2 is, so I'm hoping there would be a way to make one for the first game as well.

A random idea: if your graphics card has a TV-out, then you could clone the video output to that and then record it from there (with a video recorder, DVD recorder or even a TV card in another computer).