Forum Announcement, Click Here to Read More From EA_Cade.

Screenshot capture tool in Windows 10

«1
JeansooJeansoo Posts: 3,606 Member
Hi, recently, I got a new laptop with Windows 10. I found there's a game screenshot capture tool, Window key + G key. I tried it whiIle playing the sims 3. It said that screenshot is saved in the sims 3 into the future. I searched the sims 3 11 EP in the Program File Folder in C but can't find the saved ones. Is there anyone knows how to use this capture tool? If it's not good, is there any good screenshot capture program? I want to play in full screen mode on laptop. I used print/screen key but it appears very dark. Also, C key can't take UI or interaction menus in game, so I don't want to use the C key in game. I appreciate all help my issue, thanks. :)

Comments

  • TreyNutzTreyNutz Posts: 5,780 Member
    I use the Window key + Print Screen key. It saves screenshots of the desktop to a Pictures\Screenshots folder. I play in a window though. I'm not sure how that works in full screen.
  • SimplyJenSimplyJen Posts: 14,823 Member
    According to a Google search, it should be under This PC > Videos > Captures.

    I use the paid version of Fraps to save screenshots in .PNG format but you can use the free version for .JPG format. F10 key toggles UI off/on.
    i7-13700K • 16GB • RTX 4070
    S3 simblr: http://simplysimming.tumblr.com/
    S4 simblr: http://simlogic.tumblr.com/
  • Nikkei_SimmerNikkei_Simmer Posts: 9,404 Member
    edited September 2017
    Yeah...right now, I'm having problems with my silly PrtScn button. Will update when I figure it out...
    Post edited by Nikkei_Simmer on
    GYZ6Ak9.png
    Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
  • SimplyJenSimplyJen Posts: 14,823 Member
    edited September 2017
    I think there are control options in the Options menu in order to activate screen-capture mode of all effects with PrtScn (print screen) on your keyboard. I will have to look that up though and I don't have my game active right now.
    "Capture User Interface" under Video Capture via in-game settings only controls video capture, not screen capture. We don't have that option for screenshots. Sims 4, however, does allow UI on/off settings for screen capture... but that's not very helpful for Sms 3. :p

    i7-13700K • 16GB • RTX 4070
    S3 simblr: http://simplysimming.tumblr.com/
    S4 simblr: http://simlogic.tumblr.com/
  • SimplyJenSimplyJen Posts: 14,823 Member
    edited September 2017
    TreyNutz wrote: »
    I use the Window key + Print Screen key. It saves screenshots of the desktop to a Pictures\Screenshots folder. I play in a window though. I'm not sure how that works in full screen.
    Correct, print screen through Windowed mode shows up fine and it will capture the whole screen. Fullscreen mode will have a dark tint.

    @Jeansoo
    With the tool Windowed Borderless Gaming, you can play in windowed mode but make it appear as fullscreen. Instructions can be found on the Manual page.

    i7-13700K • 16GB • RTX 4070
    S3 simblr: http://simplysimming.tumblr.com/
    S4 simblr: http://simlogic.tumblr.com/
  • Nikkei_SimmerNikkei_Simmer Posts: 9,404 Member
    edited September 2017
    We don't have that option for screenshots. Sims 4, however, does allow UI on/off settings for screen capture... but that's not very helpful for Sms 3. :p

    As @TreyNutz was saying Windowed Mode is the place where you can capture in-game screenshots on PrintScreen and they don't go dark either.

    Ugh...TS4? Ewwwwww. I don't play that thing... :mrgreen:
    GYZ6Ak9.png
    Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
  • TreyNutzTreyNutz Posts: 5,780 Member
    We don't have that option for screenshots. Sims 4, however, does allow UI on/off settings for screen capture... but that's not very helpful for Sms 3. :p

    As @TreyNutz was saying Windowed Mode is the place where you can capture in-game screenshots on PrintScreen and they don't go dark either.

    Ugh...TS4? Ewwwwww. I don't play that thing... :mrgreen:

    I didn't know that Win+PrtSc key on full screen produced dark screen shots. I haven't played in full screen in a very long time. :) I also don't use the Win 10 Game Bar (Win+G) for anything. I think I've disabled it completely on some recommendation here somewhere.

    Long ago I used the free version of FRAPs to capture screenshots with the UI, but that produced bmp files and I got tired of converting them to jpg. Since I moved to Win 10 I haven't bothered to install FRAPs.
  • SimplyJenSimplyJen Posts: 14,823 Member
    edited September 2017
    We don't have that option for screenshots. Sims 4, however, does allow UI on/off settings for screen capture... but that's not very helpful for Sms 3. :p

    As @TreyNutz was saying Windowed Mode is the place where you can capture in-game screenshots on PrintScreen and they don't go dark either.

    Ugh...TS4? Ewwwwww. I don't play that thing... :mrgreen:
    Heh, we posted pretty much the same thing. :)
    TreyNutz wrote: »
    I use the Window key + Print Screen key. It saves screenshots of the desktop to a Pictures\Screenshots folder. I play in a window though. I'm not sure how that works in full screen.
    Correct, print screen through Windowed mode shows up fine and it will capture the whole screen. Fullscreen mode will have a dark tint.

    @ Jeansoo
    With the tool Windowed Borderless Gaming, you can play in windowed mode but make it appear as fullscreen. Instructions can be found on the Manual page.

    i7-13700K • 16GB • RTX 4070
    S3 simblr: http://simplysimming.tumblr.com/
    S4 simblr: http://simlogic.tumblr.com/
  • Nikkei_SimmerNikkei_Simmer Posts: 9,404 Member
    edited September 2017
    This was a screenshot (cropped to edit out the stuff I didn't need for that shot) taken with "Windowed Mode" & the PrtScn button.

    CurrFinSit_09-09-2017.png

    Came out without the screen image going dark - it was taken at night...around 1:47AM Sunset Valley Local Time.

    for me, full-screen mode+PrtScn gave me this:

    Screenshot%2B%25289%2529.png

    Oh...wow...who turned the lights out? EMP blast?
    GYZ6Ak9.png
    Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
  • JeansooJeansoo Posts: 3,606 Member
    TreyNutz wrote: »
    I use the Window key + Print Screen key. It saves screenshots of the desktop to a Pictures\Screenshots folder. I play in a window though. I'm not sure how that works in full screen.


    Yes that's what I've used it for a long time on 27 inch desktop monitor. The recommended resolution of my 15 inches laptop is only 1920*1080 in full screen.

    1.png

    I tried 1680*1050 and 1600*1024 on windowed mode but the low part of the letters are disappeared and hard to read English text in game. I expanded the height of the window with a mouse and the UI is placed underneath the task bar so that I'm not able to click 'start' menu of game. So I selected 1600*900 and the letters are too small, I can't read it with my poor eye vision. :(
  • JeansooJeansoo Posts: 3,606 Member
    edited September 2017
    TreyNutz wrote: »
    I use the Window key + Print Screen key. It saves screenshots of the desktop to a Pictures\Screenshots folder. I play in a window though. I'm not sure how that works in full screen.
    Correct, print screen through Windowed mode shows up fine and it will capture the whole screen. Fullscreen mode will have a dark tint.

    @Jeansoo
    With the tool Windowed Borderless Gaming, you can play in windowed mode but make it appear as fullscreen. Instructions can be found on the Manual page.

    Then, does it vanish the task bar on monitor? Thanks very much! I can try this one! :D

    Looks like I missed something with this program.

    1. Run the Windowed borderless gaming app.
    2. Set the game to windowed mode and start the game.
    3. Press F3 or click 'add window'
    4. Then it says,'no window added' ..

    Is it right? :(
    I tried it on Main menu screen and it says,'no window added'.
    I tried it in Bridgeport, and it moves to build mode..-_-

    Post edited by Jeansoo on
  • SimplyJenSimplyJen Posts: 14,823 Member
    edited September 2017
    Sorry, took me a while to reply.

    It's a little finicky. What I do is start the app, run the game in windowed mode, click on the game icon from the task bar and press the F3 key. Then try Add Window through the app. You may see the Windows 10 task bar still appear at the bottom on top of the game. If this happens just quit and re-launch the game. I think the user @Namaya92 started using Windowed Borderless Gaming app. I only use it occasionally.

    If you have a Nvidia card with v-sync turned on through the Control Panel, you will need a program like Nvidia Inspector to use v-sync since Control Panel won't work through windowed mode.
    Jeansoo wrote: »
    TreyNutz wrote: »
    I use the Window key + Print Screen key. It saves screenshots of the desktop to a Pictures\Screenshots folder. I play in a window though. I'm not sure how that works in full screen.


    Yes that's what I've used it for a long time on 27 inch desktop monitor. The recommended resolution of my 15 inches laptop is only 1920*1080 in full screen.

    I tried 1680*1050 and 1600*1024 on windowed mode but the low part of the letters are disappeared and hard to read English text in game. I expanded the height of the window with a mouse and the UI is placed underneath the task bar so that I'm not able to click 'start' menu of game. So I selected 1600*900 and the letters are too small, I can't read it with my poor eye vision. :(

    You want to play in your computers recommended resolution because this is the size native to your screen. The only time you may want to go lower is if the video card doesn't meet resolution requirements but it can cause visual issues going against the native resolution.
    i7-13700K • 16GB • RTX 4070
    S3 simblr: http://simplysimming.tumblr.com/
    S4 simblr: http://simlogic.tumblr.com/
  • ShojoDaggerShojoDagger Posts: 320 Member
    edited September 2017
    If you have Sims through Steam, you can use Steam's screenshot tool f12 for getting interfaces, it saves them in a seperate folder that you can reach from your Steam library interface.

    I also use Lightscreen which is free & has plenty of options for hotkeys etc, and you can set a custom destination for the saved pics. You can take full screen shots, shots of the active window or open a tool to select an area of the screen, each set to their own custom hotkey combo. It saves the pics as .png format & does a good job on the compression as well. And did I mention it's free?
    I uploaded something! (yay) My Studio
    Enjoy!
  • JeansooJeansoo Posts: 3,606 Member
    edited September 2017
    Sorry, took me a while to reply.

    It's a little finicky. What I do is start the app, run the game in windowed mode, click on the game icon from the task bar and press the F3 key. Then try Add Window through the app. You may see the Windows 10 task bar still appear at the bottom on top of the game. If this happens just quit and re-launch the game. I think the user @Namaya92 started using Windowed Borderless Gaming app. I only use it occasionally.

    If you have a Nvidia card with v-sync turned on through the Control Panel, you will need a program like Nvidia Inspector to use v-sync since Control Panel won't work through windowed mode.
    Jeansoo wrote: »
    TreyNutz wrote: »
    I use the Window key + Print Screen key. It saves screenshots of the desktop to a Pictures\Screenshots folder. I play in a window though. I'm not sure how that works in full screen.


    Yes that's what I've used it for a long time on 27 inch desktop monitor. The recommended resolution of my 15 inches laptop is only 1920*1080 in full screen.

    I tried 1680*1050 and 1600*1024 on windowed mode but the low part of the letters are disappeared and hard to read English text in game. I expanded the height of the window with a mouse and the UI is placed underneath the task bar so that I'm not able to click 'start' menu of game. So I selected 1600*900 and the letters are too small, I can't read it with my poor eye vision. :(

    You want to play in your computers recommended resolution because this is the size native to your screen. The only time you may want to go lower is if the video card doesn't meet resolution requirements but it can cause visual issues going against the native resolution.

    Thanks very much for caring help. I did what you said but still it says 'no window added'. Maybe I better find other software for screenshots but I appreciate you. :) Yes I have some visual errors from wrong resolution.
  • JeansooJeansoo Posts: 3,606 Member
    edited September 2017
    If you have Si
    ms through Steam, you can use Steam's screenshot tool f12 for getting interfaces, it saves them in a seperate folder that you can reach from your Steam library interface.

    I also use Lightscreen which is free & has plenty of options for hotkeys etc, and you can set a custom destination for the saved pics. You can take full screen shots, shots of the active window or open a tool to select an area of the screen, each set to their own custom hotkey combo. It saves the pics as .png format & does a good job on the compression as well. And did I mention it's free?

    Thanks, I downloaded the lightscreen but it still shows as dark image in full screen mode. Unfortunately, I don't have account in Steam. :(


    Untitled-2.png

    then it works actually the same as 'printscreen' key. Maybe, the Fraps would be the best choice in full screen mode. I'm considering to get one.
  • SimplyJenSimplyJen Posts: 14,823 Member
    Ah, I just double checked and Fraps requires the paid version for JPG. I'm sorry... $37 USD just to take screenshots with the UI is a bit much.
    i7-13700K • 16GB • RTX 4070
    S3 simblr: http://simplysimming.tumblr.com/
    S4 simblr: http://simlogic.tumblr.com/
  • JeansooJeansoo Posts: 3,606 Member
    Ah, I just double checked and Fraps requires the paid version for JPG. I'm sorry... $37 USD just to take screenshots with the UI is a bit much.
    Thank you! :) I will purchase Fraps. :)

  • SimplyJenSimplyJen Posts: 14,823 Member
    Jeansoo wrote: »
    Ah, I just double checked and Fraps requires the paid version for JPG. I'm sorry... $37 USD just to take screenshots with the UI is a bit much.
    Thank you! :) I will purchase Fraps. :)
    That's what I ended up doing and I really like Fraps. It's easy to understand and work with. Just remember to install it onto your biggest drive... Screenshots will take up a lot of space. I keep Fraps on my 2TB storage drive. .PNG is the best quality over .JPG

    Feel free to ask me any questions about it.

    i7-13700K • 16GB • RTX 4070
    S3 simblr: http://simplysimming.tumblr.com/
    S4 simblr: http://simlogic.tumblr.com/
  • JeansooJeansoo Posts: 3,606 Member
    edited September 2017
    Jeansoo wrote: »
    Ah, I just double checked and Fraps requires the paid version for JPG. I'm sorry... $37 USD just to take screenshots with the UI is a bit much.
    Thank you! :) I will purchase Fraps. :)
    That's what I ended up doing and I really like Fraps. It's easy to understand and work with. Just remember to install it onto your biggest drive... Screenshots will take up a lot of space. I keep Fraps on my 2TB storage drive. .PNG is the best quality over .JPG

    Feel free to ask me any questions about it.

    Ok then I can delete the windowed borderless gaming app. How can I delete this? I can't find it on uninstall program in Control panel.

    I experienced Fraps maybe...a couple of years ago which I borrowed from my friend. I was surprised why my C drive fills up so quickly and only 10 Gbs space left. And I found one hot key was used for screenshot and video at the same time. I found lots of videos by Fraps in other folder. I can't remember what folder it was. I deleted all and changed the hot key for video to other one on keyboard, then it filled up little by little. :)

    Yes I agree with you. I prefer PNG file than Jpeg.
  • SimplyJenSimplyJen Posts: 14,823 Member
    Delete the files it installed with. I can take a screenshot of what they are tomorrow.
    i7-13700K • 16GB • RTX 4070
    S3 simblr: http://simplysimming.tumblr.com/
    S4 simblr: http://simlogic.tumblr.com/
  • JeansooJeansoo Posts: 3,606 Member
    Delete the files it installed with. I can take a screenshot of what they are tomorrow.
    Ok Thank you! :)

  • ShojoDaggerShojoDagger Posts: 320 Member
    Jeansoo wrote: »
    Ah, I just double checked and Fraps requires the paid version for JPG. I'm sorry... $37 USD just to take screenshots with the UI is a bit much.
    Thank you! :) I will purchase Fraps. :)

    If the problem is 3rd party screenshots coming out too dark, from what I have seen that is some sort of quirk with fullscreen mode itself, regardless of the screenshot program.
    Fraps might not fare any better than other tools in that respect.
    I suggest trying the free version of Fraps first, to see how the screenshots come put, before deciding to buy it.

    Another option for dark screenshots might be to use an image editor, such as Gimp, to lighten the pics after you've taken them. However I've not tried that myself, & don't know how well it would actually work, I only mention it as a possibility.
    I uploaded something! (yay) My Studio
    Enjoy!
  • MazakeenMazakeen Posts: 440 Member
    edited September 2017
    My question is, why not use ordinary ingame screenshot? (Press TAB for freecam, use WASD and + and - to move camera around).

    If they are to dark, consider to adjust brightness? Or add a lightsource if its in a room?
    ie62Ymx.jpg
    Rawwrr...
  • JeansooJeansoo Posts: 3,606 Member
    Jeansoo wrote: »
    Ah, I just double checked and Fraps requires the paid version for JPG. I'm sorry... $37 USD just to take screenshots with the UI is a bit much.
    Thank you! :) I will purchase Fraps. :)

    If the problem is 3rd party screenshots coming out too dark, from what I have seen that is some sort of quirk with fullscreen mode itself, regardless of the screenshot program.
    Fraps might not fare any better than other tools in that respect.
    I suggest trying the free version of Fraps first, to see how the screenshots come put, before deciding to buy it.

    Another option for dark screenshots might be to use an image editor, such as Gimp, to lighten the pics after you've taken them. However I've not tried that myself, & don't know how well it would actually work, I only mention it as a possibility.


    Yes I know that you suggested it for just another option and I had a wish it would be worked. I'm not blaming you.:) You are correct. The problem is just the sims 3 fullscreen mode itself. So many other screenshot tools got the dark image too unlikr Fraps. I used it the paid version of my friend a couple of times before and it works perfectly.:)
  • JeansooJeansoo Posts: 3,606 Member
    edited September 2017
    Mazakeen wrote: »
    My question is, why not use ordinary ingame screenshot? (Press TAB for freecam, use WASD and + and - to move camera around).

    If they are to dark, consider to adjust brightness? Or add a lightsource if its in a room?

    Because it doesn't recognise UI bar of sims. There are 2 options, just normal picture and picture with UI in the sims 4, but the sms 3 ingame C key only works for normal picture. I want to take a picture with UI in my screenshots. It will be annoying to adjust brightness each shots every time on photoshop.

Sign In or Register to comment.
Return to top