Question / Help Can't properly record my 2D games / Encoder Overload

[SquareHard]

Hello there!

I am brand new here, and I should say right off the bat that I am not tech savvy at all. I am trying to get into YouTubing, but it has been a huge struggle as even basic stuff about recording and streaming comes very difficult to me, so please bare with me as I try to explain my problem.

Currently, I'm just trying to record a play through of Final Fantasy I on PC. This should not be graphics intensive at all, but I do want the sprites and pixel art to appear as crisp and un-blurry as possible, so I put on what I think are the best settings. A few seconds after I start recording, I will get a message at the bottom that says the Encoder has been overloaded and that I should try consider turning down video settings or using a faster encoding preset. I do what I think his following these directions, but the problem persists. When I view the video I recorded, its so incredibly blurry and artifact-ed that it is unwatchable. As I said before, this is all very confusing to me, but I'm trying my best. I will post my computer specs below, and then the settings I have in OBS right now:

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Machine: HP ENVY TS m6 Sleekbook
OS: Windows 10 Home
Processor/Graphics Card: AMD A10-5745M APU with Radeon(tm) HD Graphics 2.10 GHz
Installed Ram: 6.00gb (5.21 usable)
System Type: 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor

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Video Settings in OBS:
Base (Canvas) Resolution: 1920x1080
Output (Scaled) Resolution: 1920x1080
Downscale Filter: Bilinear (Fasted but blurriest if scaling)
Common FPS Values: 60

Output Settings:
Output Mode: Advanced
Encoder: x264
Rescale Output: 1920x1080
Rate Control: VBR
Bit Rate: 30,000
Use Customer Buffer Size (Checked)
CRF: 23
Keyframe Interval: 0
CPU Usage Preset: Very Fast

Advanced Settings in OBS:
Process Priority: Normal
Renderer: Direct 3D 11
Color Format: NV12
YUV Color Space: 601 / YUV Color Range: Partial
Buffer Size: 2500

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If I need to provide any other information let me know. I would appreciate any kind of help at all. Thanks!

Edit: Forgot to add a log file. Here you go: https://gist.github.com/0a0e09a2ace2bd38f630e52af81c1bc0

 

[Fenrir]

....yikes those settings are bad. I really hope you didn't just google "best OBS settings" and follow some random youtube guide by someone who has no idea what they're doing.

Get out of advanced mode, and use the recording quality presets under Settings > Output when in Simple output mode. In the recording section, change the Recording Quality to Indistinguishable Quality, and then select your encoder.

I would also recommend turning resolution down to 720p, as your PC is, to put it bluntly, very weak. It's unlikely to be able to handle a full 1080p 60fps recording that you're trying to do now.

 

[SquareHard]

Fenrir, thank you so much! That completely solved the problem! I'll be honest, some of the pixels in the 2D art does still look a little fuzzier than the original game itself, but that's just because I'm hyper obsessed with getting as sharp an image as possible. But as you said, my computer is pretty weak.

Speaking of which, I have been looking into getting a new laptop specifically for editing, gaming, streaming... but I have a budget of only around $500-$750 max. Are there any laptops you would recommend in that range? Thanks so much for being helpful!

Edit:
"I really hope you didn't just google "best OBS settings" and follow some random youtube guide by someone who has no idea what they're doing."

That may have been EXACTLY what I did. :D

 

[Fenrir]

No laptops in that price range will handle 1080p 60fps, and I honestly can't recommend laptops in general unless it's an absolute necessity.

 

[SquareHard]

A laptop would probably be best for my living situation, but I could consider getting a desktop computer. I guess most importantly would be the specs, but like I said in the first post, I am pretty helpless with what is current tech-wise. If you could direct me to to a "minimum requirements" for a computer that can handle 1080p 60fps for producing high quality content that is as close to a reasonable price as possible I would appreciate it. If you can't that's fine too, you've already helped a lot, I don't want to take up too much of your time! I'm just not always a 100% sure where to look for this information...

 

[Fenrir]

I don't have any specific recommendations offhand, it really depends on the type of content you're trying to stream.

If it's going to be all retro games like FF, an i5-based (or Ryzen 7) system with a 10-series nvidia GPU or AMD equivalent would be sufficient.

 

[SquareHard]

I don't think it will be all retro games. That will be a large part of it, but I also want to stream current stuff like Final Fntasy XV and the upcoming Dissidia arena fighting game, which will probably be very intensive (similar to Overwatch?). Seems like most laptops for this are in the $2000 range, stuff like ASUS or Alienware. Like I said before, I'm not totally opposed to a desktop computer. Would a desktop PC be cheaper than a laptop of the same speed/quality?

 

[Fenrir]

Yes, significantly cheaper, and no laptop no matter how expensive/powerful will ever come close to desktop performance.

At least, given today's available components.