Can't Hear Stream Things Through OBS

[istheriskworthit]

So my set up is pretty simple. I use headphones with a chat link pro through my elgato hd60x (I use the chat link pro because without it my headphones aren't long enough to reach the port on my computer - my set up is not great as I currently have a bit of a rough living situation and do not have a lot of space.) Also, I got some wireless headphones for that reason but 1) my bluetooth connection with my computer is apparently too weak and they cut in and out and 2)I could for the life of me not figure out how to get them to work in OBS - I coudl not hear anything. ANYWAY, in my current set up I can hear my gameplay just fine but I cannot hear anything else - when alerts play in the stream they show up on my OBS video feed but I cannot hear them. The same with other interactive things like bits and stuff.... I can see the visual representations but no audio. I have read that its because the headphones are only registering the console and not OBS itself. Is there a way to fix this without there being a gameplay delay audio?

I did not attach a log file as this seems to be a non-specific issue and rather an overall broad one, but if necessary I can grab one. Thank you.

 

[AaronD]

Is there a way to fix this without there being a gameplay delay audio?

Possibly not. If so, you'd have to be very careful to handle each individual thing correctly and differently, so you get everything lag-free and without creating a feedback loop.

My first thought was to "just use the Monitor", but then I see that you're capturing a game, and that's usually done (reliably anyway) by grabbing the entire output of the computer. If you send anything to the Monitor, and send the Monitor to the same device that you're capturing, that's a feedback loop. Everything that you Monitor will also show up in the Desktop source, because it literally captures EVERYTHING that leaves the computer via that device.

What you might do, is have two sound cards. Send the game to one, and Desktop capture that. Send OBS's Monitor to the other. Run both into a physical mixer, that then feeds your headphones. That mixer could be a powered thing with knobs, or it could be a passive thing with resistors that you wire up yourself, that then feeds an explicit headphone amplifier.

Don't connect two outputs directly together. You can damage them that way. Use a 1k resistor or so to isolate each one, and then tie the other ends of the resistors together. That can't drive headphones (at least not very well), so the junction between resistors goes to the input of an amp.

 

[AaronD]

Also, I got some wireless headphones...

Don't! Wireless can easily become a mess that takes a Ph.D. to figure out why it's not working. Even pro rigs are like that. A wire will always be more reliable. Always use a wire whenever possible.

A wire is also more flexible in what it can do, as mentioned above for one example. Anything that is wireless directly out of the computer, is limited to what the software people prescribed for it to do, which is usually not much. If that specifically, doesn't work, it's useless to you.

 

[istheriskworthit]

Possibly not. If so, you'd have to be very careful to handle each individual thing correctly and differently, so you get everything lag-free and without creating a feedback loop.

My first thought was to "just use the Monitor", but then I see that you're capturing a game, and that's usually done (reliably anyway) by grabbing the entire output of the computer. If you send anything to the Monitor, and send the Monitor to the same device that you're capturing, that's a feedback loop. Everything that you Monitor will also show up in the Desktop source, because it literally captures EVERYTHING that leaves the computer via that device.

What you might do, is have two sound cards. Send the game to one, and Desktop capture that. Send OBS's Monitor to the other. Run both into a physical mixer, that then feeds your headphones. That mixer could be a powered thing with knobs, or it could be a passive thing with resistors that you wire up yourself, that then feeds an explicit headphone amplifier.

Don't connect two outputs directly together. You can damage them that way. Use a 1k resistor or so to isolate each one, and then tie the other ends of the resistors together. That can't drive headphones (at least not very well), so the junction between resistors goes to the input of an amp.

I apologize because I am very stupid. By sound card I assume you mean another device like the capture card? I have no idea how to use a sound mixer or a resistor or anything of that nature and if it is all physical set up I do not really have the space for it. I guess I am going to have to do without for now, but I do appreciate you taking the time to try and help me. I will take note of this advice for the future when I am able to move into a better place and have my own separate room for gaming and such. Thanks again!

 

[AaronD]

Media creation is necessarily technical. Some things can be done for you, but if you rely on others to set it up, you're limited to what they did and how they decided to do it. If you get to where you can build your own rig from scratch, with your own design, and have that work because you know what you're doing, then you can make it do whatever you want, however you want. It's not uncommon to see a custom one-off device doing something critical in a serious studio.

By sound card I assume you mean another device like the capture card?

Two audio outputs from the computer. Separate and independent. Send different things to each one, and only connect the Desktop capture to one of them. Physically mix them together, outside the computer, to feed the one set of headphones.

---

If you didn't care so much about latency, I'd suggest one of these:

VB-Audio VoiceMeeter Banana

VoiceMeeter Banana, the Advanced Virtual Audio Mixer by V.Burel

vb-audio.com

VB-Audio VoiceMeeter Potato

VoiceMeeter Potato, the Ultimate Virtual Audio Mixer for Windows

vb-audio.com

Two different sizes of the same thing, that come with some virtual sound cards. Connect the game to one virtual speaker and OBS's Monitor to another, and connect OBS's Mic input to one of the virtual mics. Your headphones, then, come from one of VoiceMeeter's physical connections. Then use VM's routing buttons (A2, B1, etc., next to each fader) to make the right connections and not the wrong ones (feedback squeal or echo).

The trouble with that, is that it introduces another set of latency for each trip through VM. Not because of VM itself, but because of how Windows audio works. Windows audio is just slow.