Question / Help Completely Black Screen

[Modded Gamers]

Hello to everyone who reads this thread,

I am Modded Gamers. I am trying to be a YouTuber with this software. I, however cannot make anything appear on the screen. All I can get is a completely blank screen. If you can help me, please reply below. Thanks! Moderaters, please look at this log file.

 

[Suslik V]

Make sure that you had captured and recorded your stuff when you post logs. We need new log (last log with recording attempt in it).

 

[Modded Gamers]

What do you mean? This should be my latest file. Please explain what was not in there that should have been in there. This is my latest log file. Please check this one.

 

[Simes]

Whenever you launch OBS, it starts a new log. So if you launch OBS just to upload a log, the one you upload won't have any recording or streaming information in it. Neither of the two logs you uploaded contained any information about a recording attempt.

 

[RytoEX]

@Modded Gamers
You need to start and stop a recording or streaming attempt before you collect and upload the log file. Otherwise, the log is incomplete.

That said, your first log shows no visual sources, so of course it would show nothing. Your second log shows that you added a Game Capture source for Minecraft. However, we still need to see the logging info for a recording/streaming attempt to get an idea of what may be happening.

 

[Modded Gamers]

RytoEX, I don't get it. I don't do log stuff so I would like you to explain it in Layman's terms. Everyone watching this, try these ones I have not uploaded before.

 

[RytoEX]

@Modded Gamers
@Simes already gave an explanation, and @Suslik V already specified that you need use a log file from a session with a recording attempt, but I'll try to explain since you asked.

When you open OBS, it starts a new log file (the latest file in the log folder, we'll call this the "Current Log File"). When you hit the "Start Recording" or "Start Streaming" button, OBS outputs the full details of your encoder settings into the Current Log File followed by a marker to indicate that recording or streaming has started[1]. Therefore, if you open OBS and grab the Current Log File (the latest file) without hitting "Start Recording" or "Start Streaming", your log will be missing important details that can help people understand your problem.

[1]: The marker in the log for recording looks like this:
==== Recording Start ===============================================


Does that make sense?


Your 2016-07-08-15-24-11-txt log file contains a recording session, so we can look at that now.

Spoiler: Log Analysis

This log in particular shows the following:

15:25:03.969: [game-capture: 'Minecraft'] attempting to hook fullscreen process: explorer.exe
15:25:04.090: [game-capture: 'Minecraft'] using helper (compatibility hook)
15:25:04.228: [game-capture: 'Minecraft'] Hooked to process: Explorer.EXE
15:25:04.228: [game-capture: 'Minecraft'] (half life scientist) everything.. seems to be in order
15:25:04.264: [game-capture: 'Minecraft'] Hooked DXGI
15:25:08.156: [game-capture: 'Minecraft'] attempting to hook fullscreen process: explorer.exe
15:25:42.290: [game-capture: 'Minecraft'] error acquiring, scale is bad​

So it seems, in this particular case, that Game Capture was set to a Windows Explorer window and it may have failed.


Later in the log:

15:26:49.757: [game-capture: 'Minecraft'] attempting to hook fullscreen process: javaw.exe
15:26:49.844: [game-capture: 'Minecraft'] using helper (compatibility hook)
15:26:49.956: [game-capture: 'Minecraft'] capture window no longer exists, terminating capture​

Game Capture was set to capture javaw.exe, but it says that it closed less than a second later. Are you sure that you actually set this Game Capture to the correct window (the Minecraft Game Window and not a launcher)?


Later:

15:44:28.615: [game-capture: 'Minecraft'] attempting to hook fullscreen process: chrome.exe
15:44:29.017: [game-capture: 'Minecraft'] using helper (compatibility hook)
15:44:29.451: [game-capture: 'Minecraft'] Hooked to process: chrome.exe
15:44:29.451: [game-capture: 'Minecraft'] (half life scientist) everything.. seems to be in order
15:44:29.477: [game-capture: 'Minecraft'] Hooked D3D9
15:44:33.349: [game-capture: 'Minecraft'] attempting to hook fullscreen process: chrome.exe
15:49:10.588: [game-capture: 'Minecraft 1.10.2'] error acquiring, scale is bad
15:49:13.721: [game-capture: 'Minecraft 1.10.2'] error acquiring, scale is bad
15:49:15.588: [game-capture: 'Minecraft 1.10.2'] error acquiring, scale is bad
15:49:19.323: [game-capture: 'Minecraft 1.10.2'] error acquiring, scale is bad​

Game Capture was set to Google Chrome.


Finally:

15:54:24.128: [game-capture: 'Minecraft 1.10.2'] attempting to hook fullscreen process: javaw.exe
15:54:24.905: [game-capture: 'Minecraft 1.10.2'] using helper (compatibility hook)
15:54:25.278: [game-capture: 'Minecraft 1.10.2'] Hooked to process: javaw.exe
15:54:25.278: [game-capture: 'Minecraft 1.10.2'] (half life scientist) everything.. seems to be in order
15:54:25.368: [game-capture: 'Minecraft 1.10.2'] gl memory capture successful
15:57:23.565: [game-capture: 'Minecraft 1.10.2'] capture window no longer exists, terminating capture​

This seems like a successful Game Capture with no errors.

Based on your log, you're trying to use Game Capture on Minecraft and that is failing, which may be a different problem from having a completely black output. Have you tried to use Window Capture to see if that works? Have you verified that you're using Game Capture on the correct window/program? Have you tried running OBS Studio as an admin to see if that changes anything?

 

[Modded Gamers]

Right. Now I think I get it. I should have waited until the launcher closed to make the Game Capture source. I might also take your advice on making Minecraft a Window Capture instead of a Game Capture. One more thing, if I play Slither.io, should I use Window Capture or Game Capture? Thanks for the advice, RytoEX.

 

[RytoEX]

Right. Now I think I get it. I should have waited until the launcher closed to make the Game Capture source. I might also take your advice on making Minecraft a Window Capture instead of a Game Capture. One more thing, if I play Slither.io, should I use Window Capture or Game Capture? Thanks for the advice, RytoEX.

If at all possible, you should use Game Capture for games or applications that run in full screen mode, as it is a far more efficient capture method than Window Capture, especially on Windows 7 and your CPU is a bit under-powered. At least, that efficiency was the case with OBS Classic, but if that's not the case with OBS Studio, someone who knows better is welcome to correct me.

If you're playing Slither.io in a web browser, then you should use Window Capture for that. If you're using a recent version of Chrome, you may have to disable Chrome's hardware acceleration to get Window Capture to work.

 

[Modded Gamers]

Got it. Thanks!