Manual Recording lets you decide exactly when a clip starts and ends. Unlike Instant Replay, which keeps a rolling buffer in memory, manual recording writes frames to disk continuously the moment you start it. Use this mode for planned content — speedrun attempts, tutorial sessions, or any time you know in advance that you want to capture a specific stretch of gameplay.Documentation Index
Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://mintlify.com/CaramelHQ/Flashback/llms.txt
Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
Starting and stopping a recording
You can control recording from two places: the global hotkey or the Flashback UI.Configure capture settings
Choose your target (monitor or game window), FPS, quality, resolution, and microphone options in the capture bar at the top of the Flashback window. These settings are shared with Instant Replay and persist between sessions. See Capture Settings for the full list of options.
Start recording
Press Alt+F9 anywhere on your desktop, or click the Record button in the Flashback capture bar. The button turns into a pulsing stop indicator and the status display begins counting elapsed time and frames.
Stop recording
Press Alt+F9 again, or click the Stop button in the UI. Flashback finalises the MP4 and saves it to
Videos\Flashback\Clips\. The clip immediately appears in the Clip Library.Alt+F9 is a global hotkey — it works even when Flashback is minimised to the system tray or the main window is hidden. You never have to alt-tab out of your game to start or stop.
Hotkey
| Action | Default hotkey |
|---|---|
| Start / stop recording | Alt+F9 |
Capture target
Flashback can record from two types of source:Monitor
Captures everything on a specific display, identified by its device name (e.g.
\\.\DISPLAY1). Select a monitor from the target picker using the thumbnail previews populated by list_monitors().Game window
When game detection is active and a supported game is running, Flashback targets the game’s main window directly using Windows Graphics Capture. This avoids capturing overlays, system chrome, and other monitors.
Capture status
While a recording is active, Flashback exposes live status through thecapture_status() command, which the UI polls to keep the display up to date:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
running | true while a recording is in progress |
frames | Total frames written so far |
width / height | Resolution of the capture in pixels |
seconds | Elapsed recording time in seconds |
Output format and location
Every manual recording is saved as an H.264 MP4 file. Files are named with a timestamp:Microphone input
Enable the Mic toggle in the capture bar to include your microphone alongside system audio. When mic capture is active, Flashback records two separate AAC audio tracks in the MP4 — one for system loopback audio and one for the microphone — which the Clip Editor can mix independently. Select your input device from the mic-device dropdown before starting.Encoder selection
Flashback prefers hardware H.264 encoders (NVENC on NVIDIA, AMF on AMD, Quick Sync on Intel) for minimal CPU overhead and better sustained performance under load. You can override this and force software encoding in Encoder settings. The selected encoder applies to both manual recording and Instant Replay.Related pages
Instant Replay
Keep a rolling buffer so you can save moments retroactively.
Clip Editor
Trim, cut, and export your recordings without touching the originals.
Clip Library
Browse, search, rename, and manage all your saved clips.
Capture Settings
Configure FPS, quality, resolution, bitrate, and microphone options.