Taking Tomb Raider Screenshots and Gameplay Video

Fraps: Real-time video capture and benchmarking.

To create gameplay videos in Tomb Raiders 1-5 for PC, you'll need the same tools described in the modern screenshot/video section, below.

The older TR games include a variety of methods for taking screenshots:

TOMB RAIDER: Runs in DOS, so you'll probably need a separate screenshot grabbing program like  Fraps or Bandicam.

You may also want to look into Glidos, a glide wrapper designed for DOS, which allows you to easily install Tomb Raider and Unfinished Business with enhanced graphics and audio. See my downloads page for more info on Glidos, and Dracman's Shotgun City site for some screenshots made in the Glidos version of TR1.

TOMB RAIDER GOLD and the 'UNFINISHED BUSINESS' bonus levels: Press the forward-slash key (/) and the game will start dumping screenshots (in .pcx format) into your TR directory. (Press the slash key again to stop it, or you'll quickly eat up your hard disk space!)

TOMB RAIDER 2: The 's' key takes one screenshot at a time, saved to your TR2 directory in .pcx (or .tga if in 16.7 million colour mode) format also.

TOMB RAIDER 3, THE LAST REVELATION (TR4) and CHRONICLES (TR5): The apostrophe (') key takes the screenshots in .tga format only.

The in-game hotkeys may or may not work with newer versions of Windows. If you find they don't, you'll need to use a separate screen-grab program.

STEAM SCREENSHOT MANAGER: If you own the games through Steam, you can use the Steam client software's built in Screenshot Manager. Pres F12 during gameplay to take a screenshot in .jpg format, which is then stored in a folder on your hard drive. To access the screenshots you've taken, open Steam and click the View menu, then Screenshots. You can then upload directly to your Steam profile or click the "Show on Disk" button to browse the folders where your screenshots are stored.

THE PRINT SCREEN KEY: Depending on your video hardware, you may also be able to use your computer's 'Print Screen' key to capture single screenshots. This copies an image of what's on screen to your clipboard. You can then paste it into a graphics program like Photoshop or Gimp. This can get a little cumbersome if you want to take more than one screenshot at a time, since you have to switch back and forth between programs for every picture.

IMAGE VIEWING & EDITING: If you're having trouble viewing the .pcx or .tga files, you'll need a graphics program, such as Photoshop, Gimp (freeware). Or switch to a dedicated screen-capture program like Fraps or Bandicam, which can take screenshots in .bmp, .jpg, .png or .tga format. (And, no, I don't own stock in these programs; I just use them a lot.)

TR1 & 2 FOR MACINTOSH: Press F13 or Shift-Tab for PICT format screenshots, which you can then paste into your favorite image editing program.

MAC OS X: See these screen capture tips on About.com.

If you have recommendations for Macintosh screen-capture software or techniques, please let me know and I will include them here.

For the PC versions of the newer Tomb Raider games (Angel of Darkness through the latest releases), I recommend a dedicated screen-capture utility like Fraps or Bandicam, or GeForce Experience, if you happen to be using an Nvidia GPU. There are other screenshot programs out there, but I use these exclusively and recommend them. Fraps and Bandicam are especially useful if you need to take a lot of screenshots. Both can handle a variety of formats (.bmp, .jpg, .png or .tga) and store them in the folder of your choice. So there's no need to pause the game to manipulate files. They can also can automatically take a screenshot once per second, or at the interval you set.

If you own the games through Steam, you can also use the Steam Screenshot feature (details above).

The most recent games, Shadow of the Tomb Raider  and Tomb Raider I-III Remastered  include built-in Photo Mode. There's also an unofficial Expanded Photo Mode mod for Shadow, which can be downloaded from Nexus Mods.

Fraps, Bandicam, and GeForce Experience (the same programs recommended for screenshots, above) can also do video capture. Streaming programs like OBS Studio can also record gameplay offline. These programs work with both the classic and new games. There are also a host of other, more advanced programs that will allow you to edit your video, mix in other sources, such as audio commentary, graphic overlays, etc., for livestreaming and let's playing. This is a complex, constantly evolving area, which is beyond the scope of this section. I would recommend checking out various livestreamers and YouTubers who play the games you want to record and seeing what equipment and software they use.

Modern consoles include built-in screen recording and sharing. So check your console's support site for detailed instructions for recording, sharing, and livestreaming your gameplay if you're not sure how it works.

If you have an older console or want more flexibility in terms of saving and editing video, adding graphic overlays, etc., you can use a capture card connected to a computer. There are many brands and variations, most of which come with the necessary software and connector cables.

I'm primarily a PC gamer, so this isn't really my area, but you can find LOTS of hardware reviews and tutorials on YouTube.