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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.

Most Flashback problems fall into a small number of categories: capture pipeline failures, audio configuration issues, file and library path mismatches, hotkey conflicts, and installation quirks. Work through the relevant section below to resolve your issue. If a problem persists after following the steps, check the system tray to confirm only one instance of Flashback is running, then restart the application.

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Recording & Capture

Flashback captures video through Windows Graphics Capture (WGC), which has a minimum OS requirement.
  1. Verify your Windows version. WGC requires Windows 10 version 1903 (build 18362) or later. Open winver and confirm you meet this requirement. Windows 11 is fully supported.
  2. Update your GPU drivers. Outdated drivers are the most common cause of WGC failures. Download the latest driver from NVIDIA, AMD, or Intel and perform a clean installation.
  3. Check the encoder setting. If your GPU’s hardware encoder (NVENC, AMF, or Quick Sync) is unavailable or misconfigured, capture will fail to start. Go to Settings → Encoder and try switching to Auto or Software.
  4. Run as the same user. Flashback must run under the same Windows session as the game. Elevated (administrator) game processes cannot be captured by a non-elevated Flashback instance.
Some games use exclusive fullscreen mode, which prevents WGC from accessing the frame buffer.
  1. Switch the game to windowed or borderless windowed mode. Most modern games expose this in their display or graphics settings. Borderless windowed is the recommended mode for the best capture compatibility with no performance penalty.
  2. Disable HDR output. WGC can produce a black capture when the display is running in HDR mode on some driver configurations. Try disabling HDR in Windows Settings → System → Display → HDR while recording.
  3. Check for DRM or anti-cheat restrictions. A small number of titles actively block screen capture APIs. In these cases no third-party capture tool will work.
This is expected behaviour. When the Instant Replay buffer is active and the game window is not in the foreground (minimised or hidden), Flashback renders a placeholder card instead of duplicating frozen game frames indefinitely. This card appears in the recorded clip where the game window was not visible.To avoid the card in your clips, keep the game window in the foreground while the replay buffer is running, or stop the replay buffer when stepping away.
The Software encoder encodes video on the CPU and is significantly more demanding than hardware alternatives.
  1. Open Settings → Encoder and select NVENC (NVIDIA), AMF (AMD), or Quick Sync (Intel) to offload encoding to your GPU.
  2. If Auto is already selected but still selecting software, your GPU driver may not expose a hardware H.264 encoder — update drivers and try again.
  3. Lowering the FPS or Resolution in Settings → Capture also reduces encoding load.
The Instant Replay save location follows the clips directory configured in Flashback.
  1. Open Settings → Storage and check the current clips directory.
  2. Use the folder picker to set it to your preferred location.
  3. Previously recorded clips in old locations remain visible in the library — only new saves go to the new folder.

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Audio

Flashback captures system audio via WASAPI loopback, which records whatever is playing through your default audio output device.
  1. Confirm audio is playing through the default output device. If your game audio routes to a secondary device (such as a headset set as non-default), loopback will not capture it. Set the device you use for game audio as the Windows default playback device in Sound Settings.
  2. Check that the game is not muted in the Windows Volume Mixer. Loopback only captures unmuted, active audio streams.
  3. Restart Flashback after changing the default output device — the loopback session binds to the default device at capture start.
  1. Check that the microphone toggle is enabled in Flashback’s capture settings.
  2. Verify the correct input device is selected. Open Settings → Capture and confirm the microphone dropdown shows your device.
  3. Grant microphone permissions. Windows requires explicit permission for apps to access the microphone. Go to Windows Settings → Privacy & Security → Microphone and ensure Flashback (and Desktop apps in general) is allowed.
  4. Test the device in another app (such as Windows Voice Recorder) to rule out a hardware or driver fault.
Audio sync issues usually arise when the encoder cannot keep up with the incoming frame rate, causing the video timeline to drift relative to the audio.
  1. Switch to a hardware encoder (NVENC, AMF, or Quick Sync) in Settings → Encoder if you are using Software.
  2. Lower the FPS or resolution in Settings → Capture to reduce encoding load.
  3. Close background applications that compete for GPU or CPU resources during recording.

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Library & Files

The library scans multiple directories: the default clips folder, any previously used folders, the edited clips folder, and the current active clips folder.
  1. Open Settings → Storage and check the configured clips directory.
  2. Confirm the folder exists and contains .mp4 files.
  3. If you moved clips manually to a new folder, add that folder as an additional library source — Flashback does not auto-discover arbitrary locations.
  4. Restart the app after changing directory settings so the new scan takes effect.
  1. Verify the clip file is accessible. Try opening the .mp4 file directly in another media player. If it will not play there either, the file may be corrupt.
  2. Check file permissions. Ensure your Windows user account has read access to the file and the folder it lives in.
  3. Re-record if the clip is corrupt. Corrupt clips can result from an unexpected application crash or forced shutdown during recording.
  1. The game may not appear in Discord’s detectable games list. Clips are still recorded; they just carry no automatic label.
  2. For Minecraft clients, see the Game Detection guide for the path hints that must be present.
  3. You can label a clip manually from the clip editor after recording.

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Hotkeys

Flashback registers global hotkeys using the Windows RegisterHotKey API. Global hotkeys are system-wide and can be blocked by conflicts.
  1. Check for conflicts. Another application (overlay software, streaming tools, chat apps) may have already claimed the same key combination. Close or reconfigure those apps.
  2. Reassign the hotkey. Open Settings → Hotkeys and choose a different key combination that is less likely to conflict — for example, a combination that includes a less common modifier key.
  3. Restart Flashback after saving hotkey changes.
Global hotkeys registered via RegisterHotKey do not fire when a full-screen exclusive application has exclusive keyboard input. This is a Windows limitation.
  • Run the game in borderless windowed mode to allow global hotkeys to reach Flashback even while the game window is in focus.

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Installation

Flashback’s installer is currently unsigned. SmartScreen flags unsigned executables by default.
  1. Click More info in the SmartScreen dialog.
  2. Click Run anyway to proceed with the installation.
This warning disappears once the installer is code-signed in a future release.
Flashback enforces a single-instance policy. If a copy is already running, a second launch exits silently.
  1. Check the system tray (the hidden icons area in the taskbar notification area). Look for the Flashback icon — if it is there, the app is already running.
  2. Right-click the tray icon and choose to open the main window, or quit from there if you want to restart.
  3. If no tray icon is visible but the app still will not launch, open Task Manager and end any existing flashback.exe process, then try again.

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Performance

  1. Switch to a hardware encoder. The Software encoder competes directly with the game for CPU resources. Open Settings → Encoder and select NVENC, AMF, or Quick Sync.
  2. Lower the recording resolution or FPS. A 1080p/60 recording places far less load on the encoder than a native 4K/60 recording. Adjust these in Settings → Capture.
  3. Increase the encode bitrate conservatively. Counterintuitively, a bitrate that is too low can force the encoder to spend more time deciding which data to discard. Try the default bitrate for your resolution first.
The Instant Replay buffer holds the most recent N seconds of encoded video packets in RAM. Longer replay windows and higher bitrates consume more memory.
  1. Reduce the Replay buffer duration in Settings → Capture.
  2. Lower the resolution or bitrate to reduce the size of each encoded packet.

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Still stuck?

Game Detection

Understand how games are identified and what to do when detection fails.

Artwork Setup

Configure SteamGridDB for non-Steam game artwork.

Encoder Configuration

Choose the right encoder for your hardware.

Capture Settings

Tune FPS, resolution, and bitrate for your setup.

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