Question / Help Black Screen (Win8+Full Screen Game) [solved]

[Cavar]

Hello,

I'm trying to record game footage to my drive, but all I'm getting is a black screen. I get audio, but not video. I have tried several resolutions mentioned on this board and that I found via google, but nothing has worked.

I added a scene, then added a global Game Capture source and tried to record. Nothing. I've tried monitor, windowed (with the game windowed) and game (full screen) capture all to no avail. Even preview doesn't show any video.

At some point I was able to record my desktop, but when I switched to the game, the video was black again.

I'm running Windows 8 64-bit and OBS 64-bit (as an administrator). I have the latest video card drivers from AMD.

I have attached a copy of my log file. If anyone could help, I would appreciate it.

 

[dodgepong]

Re: Black Screen (Win8+Full Screen Game)

Odd...I see the game capture in the log file, but it looks like it never attempts to capture a game, or you excluded the capture hook log from the end of the log file.

Are you selecting the game from the dropdown in Game capture, or are you using the hotkey method to hook the game?

What game are you trying to capture?

Also, keep in mind that with fullscreen games, you have to have the game focused for it to be captured. Otherwise, it stops rendering if you are alt-tabbed, which could manifest as a black screen or a frozen frame.

 

[Cavar]

Re: Black Screen (Win8+Full Screen Game)

I chose "Use Hot Key".

I ran my log through the online log analyzer and it reported a resolution /bit rate error. I tinkered with my settings and changed the resolution from 2500x1600 to 1680x1050 and I recorded a 13 second video. The first 11 seconds was a black screen with music, then the video appeared in the last 2 seconds.

Next I changed it from "Use Hot Key" to "Game" and I selected my game. I was able to record the game, but the quality was poor.

Next I changed the video back to 2500x1600 and I was able to record my game. Again, it has poor quality.

I am playing the videos back in VLC or Windows Media Player there's a lot of black around the actual game play video. It's mostly on the right and bottom sides.

Any thoughts on the poor quality and the black around the video? Should I upload another log file? If I even can.

 

[dodgepong]

Re: Black Screen (Win8+Full Screen Game)

If you want good local recording settings, follow this guide: viewtopic.php?f=18&t=2972

 

[Cavar]

Re: Black Screen (Win8+Full Screen Game)

I actually have my quality issue resolved now. Yay! I bumped the bitrate and buffer up to 3500, from 1000.

However, I still have the black around my actual game play footage. Is there anyway to resolve this?

This image shows what I mean.

 

[dodgepong]

Re: Black Screen (Win8+Full Screen Game)

Your base resolution is much larger than game game's resolution. I recommend setting your base resolution to match the resolution that the game is running at.

 

[Cavar]

Re: Black Screen (Win8+Full Screen Game)

I have the OBS Base Resolution set to 2560x1600, which is what all of my games are set to. I said 2500x1600 by mistake in my earlier posts. I tried to set the Base Resolution to "monitor", but it would never remember that setting, at least on the setting screen.

Also, I have resolution downscale set to "none" now, though earlier I didn't.

 

[dodgepong]

Re: Black Screen (Win8+Full Screen Game)

Well, you can select the game source and press CTRL+F to make it fill the OBS window...I get the feeling that would be upscaling...it should fix the problem, though.

 

[Cavar]

Re: Black Screen (Win8+Full Screen Game)

Hmm, did that and it put black bars to left and right of the video, which I could live with, but it decreased my quality again.

I bumped the bitrate and buffer up to 4500, which helped a little, I don't think I want it that high if I start streaming on twitch, correct?

 

[Xphome]

Re: Black Screen (Win8+Full Screen Game)

Hmm, did that and it put black bars to left and right of the video, which I could live with, but it decreased my quality again.

I bumped the bitrate and buffer up to 4500, which helped a little, I don't think I want it that high if I start streaming on twitch, correct?

Twitch staff says you shouldn't go over 3500, and the lower you go the more people can watch (those with bad internet connections)

 

[dodgepong]

Re: Black Screen (Win8+Full Screen Game)

He's doing local recording, not streaming.

If you get black bars on the left and right of the output video, you are definitely not running your game at your monitor's resolution. Double-check your game settings. Running the game in Fullscreen mode doesn't mean it's running at your monitor's resolution.

Again, if you want to increase your recording quality follow the guide that I linked to.

 

[Xphome]

Re: Black Screen (Win8+Full Screen Game)

He's doing local recording, not streaming.

At the moment yes, but he did ask about streaming.

I bumped the bitrate and buffer up to 4500, which helped a little, I don't think I want it that high if I start streaming on twitch, correct?

 

[dodgepong]

Re: Black Screen (Win8+Full Screen Game)

Ah, good catch.

If he wants to stream, he's definitely going to need to downscale, and not use the local recording guide for quality settings. But if it's local-only, then that guide is fine. Multiple profiles might not be a bad idea.

 

[Cavar]

Re: Black Screen (Win8+Full Screen Game)

Yeah, sorry to bring up the streaming part. I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. :)

Here are my game and monitor resolutions.

Btw, I tried another recording application and it also put black bars on the sides. Even some old videos I made with FRAPS did that. Maybe it's because of the size of my monitor (30") and resolution (2560x1600). *shrugs*

 

[dodgepong]

Re: Black Screen (Win8+Full Screen Game)

If your OBS base resolution aspect ratio matches the aspect ratio that your game is set to, then it should fill the OBS window and both the preview screen and output video should not have black bars unless the game itself has black bars.

 

[Cavar]

Re: Black Screen (Win8+Full Screen Game)

Well, it's hard to saw if it fills the preview window in OBS because the game I am trying to record goes to a black screen when I ALT+TAB out of it. I'm on a single monitor btw.

It may not go to black if I run in windowed mode, but I'll have to test that tonight after work.

The game itself doesn't appear to have black bars and I get the black bars when I try to record other games, such as Diablo 3, as well.

I could always center my stream, but I hate having all that wasted space around my video.

I'm still getting some quality issues around my character, unless my eyes are deceiving me or I'm just being too critical. What do you think about my short sample video I record and uploaded to YouTube? You'll need to switch it to 1080 to see the best quality. This video has the black bars on the sides.

 

[Xphome]

Re: Black Screen (Win8+Full Screen Game)

Well, it's hard to saw if it fills the preview window in OBS because the game I am trying to record goes to a black screen when I ALT+TAB out of it. I'm on a single monitor btw.

It may not go to black if I run in windowed mode, but I'll have to test that tonight after work.

The game itself doesn't appear to have black bars and I get the black bars when I try to record other games, such as Diablo 3, as well.

I could always center my stream, but I hate having all that wasted space around my video.

I'm still getting some quality issues around my character, unless my eyes are deceiving me or I'm just being too critical. What do you think about my short sample video I record and uploaded to YouTube? You'll need to switch it to 1080 to see the best quality. This video has the black bars on the sides.

The black bars are there because the player on YouTube (and Twitch) is 16:9 while you monitor is 16:10.

 

[Muf]

Re: Black Screen (Win8+Full Screen Game)

N.B. You don't need Game Capture if you're on Windows 8. Monitor capture will work without any performance drop compared to Game Capture.

 

[Cavar]

Re: Black Screen (Win8+Full Screen Game)

The black bars are there because the player on YouTube (and Twitch) is 16:9 while you monitor is 16:10.

Yeah, I think I had read a forum post on that some where. It makes since. Sounds like it may be something I have to live with.

 

[Cavar]

Re: Black Screen (Win8+Full Screen Game)

N.B. You don't need Game Capture if you're on Windows 8. Monitor capture will work without any performance drop compared to Game Capture.

Even in a full screen game? Will I still get the black bars based on what Xphome said?