[BUG] OBS window flickers every 4 seconds

Coincident

New Member
Streaming on Twitch has been a nightmare for months now: the OBS main window keeps flickering approximately every 4 seconds.
Here's a recording of what I see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATAsbf3M7zY

This bug happens when:
- Capturing doom (source-port is dsda-doom)
- Streaming to Twitch
- Having the "Twitch Chat", "Twitch Stats", or "Twitch Activity Feed" docks open

I've tried all of these, and they did not fix the problem:
- Updating OBS (over 4 different versions)
- Updating NVidia drivers (over 3 different versions)
- Reinstalling the NVidia drivers with a "clean installation"
- Turning off the preview
- Changing the options on the Game Capture source
- Using Window Capture instead of Game Capture

Because *closing the Twitch Chat window fixes the problem*, I believe this is an OBS bug, and not a graphics driver incompatibility.
What else can I try?
What else can I provide to help fix this bug?
 

PaiSand

Active Member
Test the quality of your upload connection using this app:
Anything below quality 90 it's bad.

Restart OBS and perform a test stream/recording of no less than 30 seconds doing as you normally do, including playing games, full camera or whatever you normally do.
Look in Help menu. Upload the current log file and paste the url to the log in here. Click on the Analize button to start troubleshooting common issues.
 

Coincident

New Member
This has nothing to do with the stream quality/upload connection. The quality is perfect every time I stream.
The problem has to do with OBS' desktop window, which flickers every 4 seconds (there's a video showing that in the OP).
This flickering is only visible on my windows desktop: people who watch my stream do not see any flickering.

Restarting OBS doesn't work. As I mentioned in the OP, this problem has been happening for months so I've restarted (and updated) OBS plenty of times.

Also, I forgot to mention: there's nothing in the logs when the flickering happens.
 

PaiSand

Active Member
If the flicker isn't in the stream (OBS is working correctly) but only in your computer you need to check the video card, check the cable to the monitor, check the monitor. Same with the OS.
As mentioned in thousands of threads in the log file there's information that may give hints. It's up to you if you want help.
 

Coincident

New Member
OBS is NOT working correctly. I posted video proof on the original post of this thread showing exactly that.

-> If I open the OBS dock window for "Twitch Chat", the BUG starts happening.
-> If I close the OBS dock window for "Twitch Chat", the BUG stops happening.
This is an OBS-specific BUG.


There's nothing wrong with my monitor, cable, video card, operating system, or computer case. It's not the whole monitor that flashes, it's just the OBS main window (and sometimes the OBS stats window), like the video that I posted before shows. I use many other graphical-intensive applications on this machine including recording software, video editing software, video games, benchmarks, etc. and everything works flawlessly except for OBS.

In the meantime I also tried turning off G-Sync, but that also did not solve the problem.

As I mentioned before, at the moment that this BUG happens, nothing appears in the logs.
Anyway, I attached below the logs of an example stream where the BUG happened 3 minutes after starting:
- At 21:02 I started streaming and recording.
- At 21:05 the BUG started happening.
- At 21:06 I stopped streaming and recording.
 

Attachments

  • obs-flashing-bug-logs2022-06-08 21-02-23.txt
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Last edited:

Gernuts

New Member
I registered here just to write in this thread that I'm having a similar issue and tried similar stuff to fix it.
My case is a bit different where the flickering translates into the stream as well. In fact even if I don't stream, in the preview window the image still flickers.
I would like to say that this has not happened on older versions (26 I think), only after I updated this started happening.
Any suugestions (other than downgrading)?
 

Coincident

New Member
I registered here just to write in this thread that I'm having a similar issue and tried similar stuff to fix it.
My case is a bit different where the flickering translates into the stream as well. In fact even if I don't stream, in the preview window the image still flickers.
I would like to say that this has not happened on older versions (26 I think), only after I updated this started happening.
Any suugestions (other than downgrading)?
Sad to hear you're having this problem too. No one from the development even acknowledges that this is a bug, and if you post on the development section of the forum they just move your thread here to be forgotten, like the tens of thousands of other "support" threads. So I don't think we're ever going to see a fix for this bug.

Unfortunately I have also never found a work-around to this bug; I just gave up on it: I closed the "Twitch Chat", "Twitch Stats", and "Twitch Activity Feed" dock windows of OBS, and never used them again. That made the flashing stop. Then, I just opened Twitch on my browser and configured the "Creator Dashboard" to see roughly the same information.

I also remember this bug not happening in older versions, so maybe downgrading might be a "better solution" for you?
 

.norman.

Member
This happens to me as well..I am running a Rtx 3050 with the latest drivers...It even freezes up..
the latest drivers could be the problem. I do not have any first hand experience with the issue, but I know that the latest nvidia driver does not work well with OBS. last i heard, the last known good driver was dated October 12th of this year. this may not be related to that problem but I felt like it was worth mentioning.
 

ChosenBC

New Member
OBS isn't bugged, you need to fix your Scenes.

240FPS x 2 w/GTX1080 Ti, LMFAO good luck with that.....
Sorry... OBS is bugged. Same issue. Clean image of computer 2 months ago. No issues until the most recent update of OBS, having exact same issue. Not the scenes. If it was the scenes then closing chat and activity windows wouldn't "fix" the problem. This indicates it's an issue with browser integration in the OBS application coding that essentially causing the "browser"interface to reload every few seconds.
Seen the same issue with other software that integrated browser loading using Chrome in the past.
 

rockbottom

Active Member
Really? Your log indicates otherwise.

You have 2 choices:

Clean them up or don't do anything & live with the flickering/believing that OBS is bugged.
 

darthclide

Member
I notice the flickering happens whenever I interact with my Google Chrome browser that is open. Combining that info with another person saying the Twitch Chat overlay in OBS causes the flicker, I am suspicious this is yet again a problem with chromium + hardware acceleration. And if that is the problem, don't hold your breath that they will fix it. Far easier to just blame Microsoft or Google (like they do for many problems), than to switch the base browser software in OBS or find a workaround.
 

Wayne01

Member
+1 things are flickering for me as hell once OBS is streaming stuff
Like the front window on my main monitor flickering revealing what's beside it (chrome, or explorer)
 

LeNETYOU

New Member
OBS just really bugged I don't know why you're kidding about it rockbottom but it's not because everything works well for you that others will not have bugs...
I mean it just feels like you don't accept it ???
 

rockbottom

Active Member
OBS just really bugged I don't know why you're kidding about it rockbottom but it's not because everything works well for you that others will not have bugs...
I mean it just feels like you don't accept it ???

You're not the OP of this thread, I have no idea what your issue is but the OP's Scene setup was lame.

1:02:24.551: Loaded scenes:
21:02:24.551: - scene 'Doom YouTube Stream':
21:02:24.551: - source: 'Doom Background' (image_source)
21:02:24.551: - source: 'Game Capture' (game_capture)
21:02:24.551: - source: 'Heartrate Icon' (image_source)
21:02:24.551: - filter: 'Opacity' (color_filter)
21:02:24.551: - source: 'Heartrate number' (browser_source)
21:02:24.551: - source: 'NohBoard Window' (window_capture)
21:02:24.551: - filter: 'Color Key' (color_key_filter)
21:02:24.551: - source: 'Media Monkey Symbol' (window_capture)
21:02:24.551: - filter: 'Black Transparency' (color_key_filter_v2)
21:02:24.551: - source: 'Media Monkey Now Playing' (window_capture)
21:02:24.551: - filter: 'Black Transparency' (color_key_filter_v2)
21:02:24.551: - source: 'Icons Bar' (browser_source)
21:02:24.551: - filter: 'Opacity' (color_filter)
21:02:24.551: - source: 'Wheel of Torment' (browser_source)
21:02:24.551: - filter: 'Opacity' (color_filter)
21:02:24.551: - scene 'Doom YouTube Break':
21:02:24.551: - source: 'Patron-Credits-Doom' (ffmpeg_source)
21:02:24.551: - source: 'Insert-Coin-Animation' (image_source)
21:02:24.551: - source: 'Media Monkey Symbol' (window_capture)
21:02:24.551: - filter: 'Black Transparency' (color_key_filter_v2)
21:02:24.551: - source: 'Media Monkey Now Playing' (window_capture)
21:02:24.551: - filter: 'Black Transparency' (color_key_filter_v2)
21:02:24.551: - scene 'Doom Twitch Stream':
21:02:24.551: - source: 'Doom Background' (image_source)
21:02:24.551: - source: 'Game Capture' (game_capture)
21:02:24.551: - source: 'Heartrate Icon' (image_source)
21:02:24.551: - filter: 'Opacity' (color_filter)
21:02:24.551: - source: 'Heartrate number' (browser_source)
21:02:24.551: - source: 'NohBoard Window' (window_capture)
21:02:24.551: - filter: 'Color Key' (color_key_filter)
21:02:24.551: - source: 'Media Monkey Symbol' (window_capture)
21:02:24.551: - filter: 'Black Transparency' (color_key_filter_v2)
21:02:24.551: - source: 'Media Monkey Now Playing' (window_capture)
21:02:24.551: - filter: 'Black Transparency' (color_key_filter_v2)
21:02:24.551: - source: 'Twitch Chat' (browser_source)
21:02:24.551: - source: 'Icons Bar' (browser_source)
21:02:24.551: - filter: 'Opacity' (color_filter)
21:02:24.551: - source: 'Wheel of Torment' (browser_source)
21:02:24.551: - filter: 'Opacity' (color_filter)
21:02:24.551: - scene 'Doom Twitch Break':
21:02:24.551: - source: 'Patron-Credits-Doom' (ffmpeg_source)
21:02:24.551: - source: 'Insert-Coin-Animation' (image_source)
21:02:24.551: - source: 'Media Monkey Symbol' (window_capture)
21:02:24.551: - filter: 'Black Transparency' (color_key_filter_v2)
21:02:24.551: - source: 'Media Monkey Now Playing' (window_capture)
21:02:24.551: - filter: 'Black Transparency' (color_key_filter_v2)
21:02:24.551: - source: 'Twitch Chat' (browser_source)
21:02:24.551: - scene 'Doom 3 Twitch Stream':
21:02:24.551: - source: 'Doom Background' (image_source)
21:02:24.551: - source: 'Game Capture' (game_capture)
21:02:24.551: - source: 'Heartrate Icon' (image_source)
21:02:24.551: - filter: 'Opacity' (color_filter)
21:02:24.551: - source: 'Heartrate number' (browser_source)
21:02:24.551: - source: 'NohBoard Window' (window_capture)
21:02:24.551: - filter: 'Color Key' (color_key_filter)
21:02:24.551: - source: 'Twitch Chat' (browser_source)
21:02:24.551: - source: 'Icons Bar' (browser_source)
21:02:24.551: - filter: 'Opacity' (color_filter)
21:02:24.551: - source: 'Wheel of Torment' (browser_source)
21:02:24.552: - filter: 'Opacity' (color_filter)
21:02:24.552: - scene 'Doom Recording':
21:02:24.552: - source: 'Game Capture' (game_capture)
21:02:24.552: - scene 'L4D2 Twitch Stream':
21:02:24.552: - source: 'L4D2 Background' (image_source)
21:02:24.552: - source: 'GameWindow' (window_capture)
21:02:24.552: - source: 'Heartrate Icon' (image_source)
21:02:24.552: - filter: 'Opacity' (color_filter)
21:02:24.552: - source: 'Heartrate number' (browser_source)
21:02:24.552: - source: 'NohBoard Window' (window_capture)
21:02:24.552: - filter: 'Color Key' (color_key_filter)
21:02:24.552: - source: 'Media Monkey Symbol' (window_capture)
21:02:24.552: - filter: 'Black Transparency' (color_key_filter_v2)
21:02:24.552: - source: 'Media Monkey Now Playing' (window_capture)
21:02:24.552: - filter: 'Black Transparency' (color_key_filter_v2)
21:02:24.552: - source: 'Twitch Chat' (browser_source)
21:02:24.552: - source: 'Icons Bar' (browser_source)
21:02:24.552: - filter: 'Opacity' (color_filter)
21:02:24.552: - source: 'Wheel of Torment' (browser_source)
21:02:24.552: - filter: 'Opacity' (color_filter)
21:02:24.552: - scene 'L4D2 Twitch Break':
21:02:24.552: - source: 'Patron-List-L4D-animated' (ffmpeg_source)
21:02:24.552: - source: 'Insert-Coin-Animation' (image_source)
21:02:24.552: - source: 'Media Monkey Symbol' (window_capture)
21:02:24.552: - filter: 'Black Transparency' (color_key_filter_v2)
21:02:24.552: - source: 'Media Monkey Now Playing' (window_capture)
21:02:24.552: - filter: 'Black Transparency' (color_key_filter_v2)
21:02:24.552: - source: 'Twitch Chat' (browser_source)
21:02:24.552: - scene 'L4D2 Recording':
21:02:24.552: - source: 'L4D2 Background' (image_source)
21:02:24.552: - source: 'Game Capture' (game_capture)
21:02:24.552: - source: 'Heartrate Icon' (image_source)
21:02:24.552: - filter: 'Opacity' (color_filter)
21:02:24.552: - source: 'Heartrate number' (browser_source)
21:02:24.552: - source: 'NohBoard Window' (window_capture)
21:02:24.552: - filter: 'Color Key' (color_key_filter)
21:02:24.552: - source: 'Discord VC' (browser_source)
21:02:24.552: - scene 'Grim Dawn Stream':
21:02:24.552: - source: 'Doom Background' (image_source)
21:02:24.552: - source: 'GameWindow' (window_capture)
21:02:24.552: - source: 'Twitch Chat' (browser_source)
 

Wayne01

Member
OBS is flicking because of Chrome, or any other browser based on crhomium? If you set them as a source, if you disable there will be no flicks.
How to fix?
OBS hello?
@admin
 
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