Per Game Profiles

Per-Game Profiles

A game profile gives one game, or any app, its own recording settings. Flashback switches to it automatically while that program is in front on the display it records, and goes back to your main settings when you're done. From 0.8.0 a profile can cover any program, even one Flashback doesn't recognize as a game, and Settings lists every profile you've made. This page covers setting one up and how switching works.

Why use one

Different games want different settings:

• A fast shooter might want High motion (1080p at 120 FPS) and a short 30-second replay.
• A slower, scenic game might want Quality (1440p at 60 FPS) and a longer replay for whole encounters.
• A game you stream with music might want game audio but no microphone.
• Everything else (the desktop, other apps, games without a profile) keeps your main settings.

Make a profile for any game or app

1. Open Settings > Video and find the PER-GAME PROFILES box, with Saved profiles inside it.

2. Choose Add game or app.

3. Under GAME OR APP, add the program, in whichever way is easiest:

   • pick it from the list of open apps, which includes games Flashback doesn't recognize on its own and games running as administrator,
   • Browse for .exe… to its program file, for example in its install folder,
   • or type its file name as Task Manager shows it, such as MyGame.exe, and choose Add.

   One profile can cover several programs, for example a game that ships separate DirectX 11 and DirectX 12 program files.

4. Give it a PROFILE NAME. It's shown in the profile list, and for a game Flashback doesn't recognize, its clips are also filed under this name.

5. Under WHILE THIS IS IN FRONT, choose what changes. Anything left on Same as main settings follows your main settings.

6. Save the profile, then press Apply changes.

What a profile can set

Setting	Choices
Quality	Competitive, Balanced, Quality or High motion. The list shows each preset's resolution, frame rate and bitrate.
Replay length	The preset lengths, from 15 seconds to 5 minutes
Game audio	On or off
Microphone	On or off
Mouse pointer	On or off

Everything else (codec, capture method, display, shortcuts, naming) follows your main settings. A profile that turns game audio off also turns off editable audio tracks for that game, since they need game audio. The presets are described on Recording Quality and Presets.

The quick way, for the game in front

The top of the PER-GAME PROFILES box shows what's in front right now: "No game detected", "Game detection is off", or the game's name followed by "is in front" until it has a profile, then "Profile for" and the game's name. While a recognized game is in front, Use a profile for this game appears below. Turn it on and pick a Quality preset and Replay length for that exact game. The line under the game's name then says what its profile changes, or that the profile is off and your main settings are in use.

Manage profiles

Saved profiles lists every profile, whether or not its game is open:

• an on/off switch to pause a profile without losing it,
• a short summary of what it changes,
• IN FRONT NOW on the profile that matches the program in front,
• Edit and Remove buttons.

Remove profile, at the top of the box, removes the profile of the game in front so it uses your main settings again. Clear all, next to Add game or app, removes every saved profile after you confirm. Nothing changes until you press Apply changes.

A badge at the top of the box counts your profiles, for example 3 SAVED · 2 ON, or 3 SAVED · PAUSED while profiles are paused.

Profiles are paused while Name captures after the game you're playing is off in Settings > Naming & organization, because they rely on knowing which program is in front. Settings tells you when that's the case.

How Flashback matches a program

• Exact program file. A profile belongs to the program files you added, so a profile for one game never leaks onto another.
• The most specific profile wins. An exact program beats an older build of a versioned one, and a profile for one named window beats a catch-all for the same program.
• Shared hosts. Some games run inside a shared program, such as Java (javaw.exe). Their profiles match by window title too, so a profile for one Java game doesn't apply to every Java program.
• Never Windows or Flashback. Windows' own shell and Flashback itself can't have a profile; the editor explains why.
• Safe fallback. If a profile is invalid or the match is ambiguous, Flashback uses your main settings rather than guessing.

Switching without losing your replay

Changing quality, audio or the pointer, or shortening the replay length, restarts the replay buffer, which would normally throw away the replay you've built up. Flashback avoids doing that needlessly:

• A quick look at another game doesn't switch profiles. Flashback waits a few seconds before switching between two games, or switches at once if the previous game has closed.
• Alt-tabbing out to the desktop doesn't drop the profile. There's a short grace period, and after that the profile stays as long as the game's process is still running. A long alt-tab doesn't keep flipping capture back and forth.
• A profiled browser, launcher or chat app never takes over from a game that's still running. If you gave Discord or a browser its own profile, alt-tabbing to it during a match keeps the game's replay buffer. It takes over once the game closes, or at once when no game is running.
• When the game closes and the desktop is in focus, capture returns to your main settings.

A save made while a game's profile is in use keeps that profile's replay length. Clip names and folders always follow whatever is in the foreground at the moment you save: if you save while alt-tabbed to the desktop, the clip is filed under Desktop, even though the game's profile is still recording.

Related pages

Recording Quality and Presets · Naming and Organization · Instant Replay · Audio