Question / Help Black screen on Ultrafast

[and1022]

In the advanced section of the settings, there is an option of the x264 CPU Preset, and when its on very fast or super fast my screen shows and the stream is fine ( but laggy ). To fix the lag, i put it on ultra fast but the screen now doesnt show and is black.

Just to verify, i've already set up my scene/source for my stream as i have successfully streamed with veryfast and superfast.

I need ultra fast because my game lags without it being on that setting, thanks in advance

 

[Kharay]

First, post a log file that preferably shows both situations, so, the stream working and the stream not working. Here's how to find and post a log file -- viewtopic.php?f=5&t=97

Secondly, if you really need Ultrafast to avoid major frameloss in the game you are playing then you must be on absolutely ancient hardware. Are you sure you wish to stream on such ancient hardware?

 

[and1022]

I obviously dont have ancient hardware.... that was a dumb statement. If being on ultrafast means you have bad hardware, then clearly i have some settings messed up.

Very Fast:
20:42:46: Open Broadcaster Software v0.542b - 32bit (´・ω・｀)
20:42:46: -------------------------------
20:42:46: CPU Name: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-2500K CPU @ 3.30GHz
20:42:46: CPU Speed: 3292MHz
20:42:46: Physical Memory: 4095MB Total, 3842MB Free
20:42:46: stepping id: 7, model 10, family 6, type 0, extmodel 1, extfamily 0, HTT 1, logical cores 4, total cores 4
20:42:46: monitor 1: pos={0, 0}, size={1920, 1080}
20:42:46: Windows Version: 6.1 Build 7601 S
20:42:46: Aero is Enabled
20:42:46: -------------------------------
20:42:46: OBS Modules:
20:42:46: Base Address Module
20:42:46: 01250000 OBS.exe
20:42:46: 65760000 OBSApi.dll
20:42:46: 751B0000 DShowPlugin.dll
20:42:46: 75040000 GraphicsCapture.dll
20:42:46: 75020000 NoiseGate.dll
20:42:46: 6E2A0000 PSVPlugin.dll
20:42:46: ------------------------------------------
20:42:46: Adapter 1
20:42:46: Video Adapter: AMD Radeon HD 7800 Series
20:42:46: Video Adapter Dedicated Video Memory: 2123665408
20:42:46: Video Adapter Shared System Memory: 2171236352
20:42:46: =====Stream Start: 2013-07-24, 20:42:46===============================================
20:42:46: Multithreaded optimizations: On
20:42:46: Base resolution: 1920x1080
20:42:46: Output resolution: 1920x1080
20:42:46: ------------------------------------------
20:42:46: Loading up D3D10...
20:42:46: Playback device Default
20:42:46: ------------------------------------------
20:42:46: Using desktop audio input: Speakers (Realtek High Definition Audio)
20:42:46: Using quad speaker setup
20:42:46: ------------------------------------------
20:42:46: Audio Encoding: AAC
20:42:46: bitrate: 128
20:42:46: Using graphics capture
20:42:46: ------------------------------------------
20:42:46: Video Encoding: x264
20:42:46: fps: 120
20:42:46: width: 1920, height: 1080
20:42:46: preset: veryfast
20:42:46: CBR: no
20:42:46: CFR: no
20:42:46: max bitrate: 1500
20:42:46: buffer size: 1750
20:42:46: quality: 8
20:42:46: ------------------------------------------
20:42:46: using memory capture
20:42:47: Using RTMP service: Twitch / Justin.tv
20:42:47: Server selection: rtmp://live.justin.tv/app
20:42:48: SO_SNDBUF was at 8192
20:42:48: SO_SNDBUF is now 65536
20:42:51: Total frames rendered: 669, number of frames that lagged: 26 (3.89%) (it's okay for some frames to lag)
20:42:51: RTMPPublisher::SocketLoop: Aborting due to loop exit
20:42:51: librtmp error: WriteN, RTMP send error 10035 (79 bytes)
20:42:51: librtmp error: WriteN, RTMP send error 10038 (42 bytes)
20:42:51: Number of times waited to send: 0, Waited for a total of 0 bytes
20:42:51: Number of b-frames dropped: 0 (0%), Number of p-frames dropped: 0 (0%), Total 0 (0%)
20:42:51: =====Stream End: 2013-07-24, 20:42:51=================================================
20:43:04:
20:43:04: Profiler results:
20:43:04:
20:43:04: ==============================================================
20:43:04: frame - [100%] [avg time: 5.357 ms (cpu time: avg 4.5 ms, total 3010.82 ms)] [avg calls per frame: 1] [children: 99.7%] [unaccounted: 0.261%]
20:43:04: | frame preprocessing and rendering - [44.4%] [avg time: 2.379 ms (cpu time: avg 2.098 ms, total 1404.01 ms)] [avg calls per frame: 1] [children: 0.0187%] [unaccounted: 44.4%]
20:43:04: | | scene->Preprocess - [0.0187%] [avg time: 0.001 ms (cpu time: avg 0 ms, total 0 ms)] [avg calls per frame: 1]
20:43:04: | video encoding and uploading - [55.3%] [avg time: 2.964 ms (cpu time: avg 2.401 ms, total 1606.81 ms)] [avg calls per frame: 1] [children: 53.8%] [unaccounted: 1.49%]
20:43:04: | | flush - [7.99%] [avg time: 0.428 ms (cpu time: avg 0.093 ms, total 62.401 ms)] [avg calls per frame: 1]
20:43:04: | | CopyResource - [0.149%] [avg time: 0.008 ms (cpu time: avg 0 ms, total 0 ms)] [avg calls per frame: 0]
20:43:04: | | conversion to 4:2:0 - [0.112%] [avg time: 0.006 ms (cpu time: avg 0 ms, total 0 ms)] [avg calls per frame: 0]
20:43:04: | | call to encoder - [45.5%] [avg time: 2.436 ms (cpu time: avg 2.261 ms, total 1513.21 ms)] [avg calls per frame: 0]
20:43:04: | | sending stuff out - [0.112%] [avg time: 0.006 ms (cpu time: avg 0 ms, total 0 ms)] [avg calls per frame: 0]
20:43:04: | Convert444Threads - [285%] [avg time: 15.294 ms (cpu time: avg 2.541 ms, total 1700.41 ms)] [avg calls per frame: 1]
20:43:04: ==============================================================
20:43:04:

Ultrafast:
20:45:47: Open Broadcaster Software v0.542b - 32bit (´・ω・｀)
20:45:47: -------------------------------
20:45:47: CPU Name: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-2500K CPU @ 3.30GHz
20:45:47: CPU Speed: 3292MHz
20:45:47: Physical Memory: 4095MB Total, 3808MB Free
20:45:47: stepping id: 7, model 10, family 6, type 0, extmodel 1, extfamily 0, HTT 1, logical cores 4, total cores 4
20:45:47: monitor 1: pos={0, 0}, size={1920, 1080}
20:45:47: Windows Version: 6.1 Build 7601 S
20:45:47: Aero is Enabled
20:45:47: -------------------------------
20:45:47: OBS Modules:
20:45:47: Base Address Module
20:45:47: 01250000 OBS.exe
20:45:47: 65760000 OBSApi.dll
20:45:47: 751B0000 DShowPlugin.dll
20:45:47: 75040000 GraphicsCapture.dll
20:45:47: 75020000 NoiseGate.dll
20:45:47: 6E2A0000 PSVPlugin.dll
20:45:47: ------------------------------------------
20:45:47: Adapter 1
20:45:47: Video Adapter: AMD Radeon HD 7800 Series
20:45:47: Video Adapter Dedicated Video Memory: 2123665408
20:45:47: Video Adapter Shared System Memory: 2171236352
20:45:47: =====Stream Start: 2013-07-24, 20:45:47===============================================
20:45:47: Multithreaded optimizations: On
20:45:47: Base resolution: 1920x1080
20:45:47: Output resolution: 1920x1080
20:45:47: ------------------------------------------
20:45:47: Loading up D3D10...
20:45:48: Playback device Default
20:45:48: ------------------------------------------
20:45:48: Using desktop audio input: Speakers (Realtek High Definition Audio)
20:45:48: Using quad speaker setup
20:45:48: ------------------------------------------
20:45:48: Audio Encoding: AAC
20:45:48: bitrate: 128
20:45:48: Using graphics capture
20:45:48: ------------------------------------------
20:45:48: Video Encoding: x264
20:45:48: fps: 120
20:45:48: width: 1920, height: 1080
20:45:48: preset: ultrafast
20:45:48: CBR: no
20:45:48: CFR: no
20:45:48: max bitrate: 1500
20:45:48: buffer size: 1750
20:45:48: quality: 8
20:45:48: ------------------------------------------
20:45:48: using memory capture
20:45:49: Using RTMP service: Twitch / Justin.tv
20:45:49: Server selection: rtmp://live.justin.tv/app
20:45:50: SO_SNDBUF was at 8192
20:45:50: SO_SNDBUF is now 65536
20:45:51: Total frames rendered: 470, number of frames that lagged: 2 (0.43%) (it's okay for some frames to lag)
20:45:51: RTMPPublisher::SocketLoop: Aborting due to loop exit
20:45:51: librtmp error: WriteN, RTMP send error 10035 (79 bytes)
20:45:51: librtmp error: WriteN, RTMP send error 10038 (42 bytes)
20:45:51: Number of times waited to send: 0, Waited for a total of 0 bytes
20:45:51: Number of b-frames dropped: 0 (0%), Number of p-frames dropped: 0 (0%), Total 0 (0%)
20:45:52: =====Stream End: 2013-07-24, 20:45:52=================================================
20:45:56:
20:45:56: Profiler results:
20:45:56:
20:45:56: ==============================================================
20:45:56: frame - [100%] [avg time: 4.147 ms (cpu time: avg 3.817 ms, total 1794.01 ms)] [avg calls per frame: 1] [children: 99.8%] [unaccounted: 0.193%]
20:45:56: | frame preprocessing and rendering - [56.3%] [avg time: 2.334 ms (cpu time: avg 2.091 ms, total 982.807 ms)] [avg calls per frame: 1] [children: 0.0241%] [unaccounted: 56.3%]
20:45:56: | | scene->Preprocess - [0.0241%] [avg time: 0.001 ms (cpu time: avg 0 ms, total 0 ms)] [avg calls per frame: 1]
20:45:56: | video encoding and uploading - [43.5%] [avg time: 1.805 ms (cpu time: avg 1.725 ms, total 811.205 ms)] [avg calls per frame: 1] [children: 42.2%] [unaccounted: 1.3%]
20:45:56: | | flush - [2.29%] [avg time: 0.095 ms (cpu time: avg 0.033 ms, total 15.6 ms)] [avg calls per frame: 1]
20:45:56: | | CopyResource - [0.169%] [avg time: 0.007 ms (cpu time: avg 0 ms, total 0 ms)] [avg calls per frame: 0]
20:45:56: | | conversion to 4:2:0 - [0.0965%] [avg time: 0.004 ms (cpu time: avg 0 ms, total 0 ms)] [avg calls per frame: 0]
20:45:56: | | call to encoder - [39.6%] [avg time: 1.641 ms (cpu time: avg 1.659 ms, total 780.005 ms)] [avg calls per frame: 0]
20:45:56: | | sending stuff out - [0.0965%] [avg time: 0.004 ms (cpu time: avg 0 ms, total 0 ms)] [avg calls per frame: 0]
20:45:56: | Convert444Threads - [349%] [avg time: 14.457 ms (cpu time: avg 2.091 ms, total 982.806 ms)] [avg calls per frame: 1]
20:45:56: ==============================================================
20:45:56:

 

[Kharay]

No, it was not a dumb statement. I am on older hardware than you are and I have no issue whatsoever streaming in 60 FPS without losing a single frame over it. At veryfast. Just what game are you streaming? And, the framelag at veryfast wasn't all that bad, to be honest.

You can gain quite a bit more by simply toning down the graphics of the game just a tiny bit and not have to switch to Ultrafast. Because switching to Ultrafast ends up looking an awful lot worse than simply toning down the game just a bit. Some things games render do not come across on-stream nearly as well as you would think but do cost a lot of power. Shadows, Physics, Indirect Lighting, Particle Effects, things like that are quite resource heavy and don't really shine to their fullest glory on-stream. Key elements to an attractive stream -- Texture Quality, Resolution, Framerate.

Anyhow... back to not being able to capture Ultrafast at all. That is a new one to me and it brings me back to my question -- what game are you trying to stream?

 

[z0rz]

Your problem is trying to stream 1080p 120fps (even 1080p 60fps isn't very practical; 1080p 120fps is downright outrageous). Also, you didn't heed OBS's warning about changing x264 preset. Ultrafast takes such a huge dump on image quality that it's basically never acceptable to use, especially when your performance issues are easily fixed elsewhere. Go back to veryfast and try either 1080p 30fps or 720p 60fps.

 

[Kharay]

I hadn't even noticed the framerate. lol... 1080p@120 FPS? That's funny... because the Flash player can't even render that properly. So, it wouldn't even get across as intended.

Given the fact there are other settings in there which seem off to me, I am going to recommend resetting OBS and not touching anything you don't fully understand and most decidedly not going over 60 FPS, ever. At all.

Resetting OBS: Start -> Run -> %AppData%\OBS -> Empty that folder (without OBS running obviously) -> Start OBS again. It will have reset completely.

 

[and1022]

I had no idea these settings were ridiculous, whenever i stream on veryfast i get like 10 frames in minecraft even with almost everything on low. When im on ultrafast i get 40 frames and its almost the same as me playing without streaming. Whats wrong?

 

[Kharay]

Minecraft is an interesting example as I play that myself. 720@60 FPS -- Not a problem, 60 FPS, constantly. Maybe 0.09% framelag and 0% framedrop. And Minecraft itself does not drop under 120 FPS, except when it's loading chunks. But it even drops below 120 FPS while loading chunks even if you're not streaming, so...

... and, again, on older hardware than yours. An i5 760 and an HD 6870.

To answer your question -- It was already answered -- you're trying to capture it in 120 FPS. That won't work. Not only can the Flash player (which people typically use to actually view your stream) not render 120 FPS (in other words, your 120 FPS stream goes to waste) but it is also making your PC work a great deal harder for it than it needs to. So, as I suggested, reset OBS.

And, do an upload test at testmy.net -- Be sure to pick a server near the one you've chosen to stream to, which obviously should be close to yourself. Then we'll come up with some proper settings so you can have an attractive stream which plays really smoothly.

 

[and1022]

So it could be my upload speed that is causing the lag?? i only have 1.5 mbps, should i get higher to stream without as much lag?

 

[Kharay]

No, it is not just the connection that is causing the lag. In fact, you have 0% framedrop. Framedrop = Connection falling behind. Framelag == PC falling behind.

Now, please do as I suggested twice now, reset OBS. And no more capturing in 120 FPS, OK? Seriously... it's a very, very, very bad idea.

 

[z0rz]

You're experiencing low framerate in-game because you're trying to capture at 120fps which is WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY too high for 1080p (too high for any resolution, really). Your CPU can't handle the amount of load produced by trying to encode 1080p @ 120fps, which leaves no CPU power for your game. You freed up some CPU for your game by dropping to ultrafast, but it's obviously the wrong way to approach the problem. You're "fixing" a problem by ignoring it and creating a new problem.

It's already been mentioned several times: 120fps is too much to encode, period. 1080p @ 60fps is a bit extreme too, so downscale to 720p @ 60fps if you want a smooth/high framerate stream, or 1080p @ 30fps if you want a crisper/clearer image. And go back to 'veryfast' preset.