Screen Recording and Ubuntu.

Recording gameplay videos on Ubuntu can be a big frustration. Here are some lessons learned.

WM

Compositing window managers are garbage. Get rid of the default window manager 'Mutter' and go with 'Openbox' instead. GDM3 refuses to launch a different windowmanager, so replace that too, with lightdm. *sigh*

  $ sudo apt-get install lightdm
  $ sudo apt-get install openbox

Log off, select openbox, and log on again. Good riddance to the crapfest called compositing. You don't need it. Eye candy and transparent windows are for noobs.

Simple Screen Recorder

So far, the best results I get with Simple Screen Recorder, but with caveats: The docs say OpenGL recording is best. Well, it most certainly is not. It is choppy, glitchy and unreliable. It also causes OpenGL errors. Instead, record the window. Make sure to select superfast setting, otherwise the encoding will cause hitches in the framerate, especially so when trying to make 60Hz videos.

In the end, I got there, and managed to record gameplay for my video, I made with Openshot: