Question / Help Encoding overload error

[Donkeyking726]

For nearly 2 days now I've been experiencing an encoding overload message when streaming H1Z1 or Dayz. This doesn't occur with games such as euro truck sim and I've not had the issue before when streaming said games.

Please help as it's driving me crazy now

Log included

 

[Boildown]

Different games are differently difficult to encode, so you might need to change settings on a per-game basis.

Post one of your logs from Euro Truck that works well.

Try setting to SuperFast preset for DayZ at 1280x720 30fps output. Run that for 5 minutes of high action gameplay, and post that log file, then exit OBS so it saves the log file separately from your other sessions.

If you've gotten the Windows 10 Creators Update, uninstall it. Make sure your graphic drivers are up to date and that you don't have background applications using up CPU.

 

[Donkeyking726]

Thank you I'll perform those actions later tonight and will post the log files :) thank you for reply

 

[Donkeyking726]

As requested I've logs from my 2 hour euro truck stream tonight. Experienced some encoder issue early but went from 2500 down to 2000 kbps which sorted that.

Dayz ran a little better on ultra. H1z1 on the other hand was a horrible choppy mess

 

[Donkeyking726]

Dayz log

 

[Donkeyking726]

And I've included h1z1 log also. Apologies for 3 replies but I'm typing this on phone

 

[Donkeyking726]

Bump

 

[Fenrir]

22:45:21.380: Output 'simple_stream': Number of skipped frames due to encoding lag: 231 (2.1%)

Your PC is not able to handle 720p 30fps at the same time as those games, you will need to downscale a bit further.

 

[Donkeyking726]

Would it help downscaling the game rather the stream? If not what resolution for streaming would you suggest?

 

[Boildown]

So CPU usage is independent from bitrate. Lowering or increasing bitrate (within reason) doesn't affect CPU usage. The encoding presets, the image size and framerate, and the video complexity are the biggest ways that CPU usage is affected one way or another.

Eurotruck:

19:38:27.658: [x264 encoder: 'simple_h264_stream'] preset: veryfast

22:06:57.103: Output 'simple_stream': Total encoded frames: 267283
22:06:57.103: Output 'simple_stream': Total drawn frames: 267283
22:06:57.103: Output 'simple_stream': Number of skipped frames due to encoding lag: 1129 (0.4%)
22:06:57.103: Output 'simple_stream': Number of lagged frames due to rendering lag/stalls: 92 (0.0%)

Looks good.

DayZ:

22:39:22.225: [x264 encoder: 'simple_h264_stream'] preset: ultrafast

22:45:21.380: Output 'simple_stream': Total encoded frames: 10774
22:45:21.380: Output 'simple_stream': Total drawn frames: 10774
22:45:21.380: Output 'simple_stream': Number of skipped frames due to encoding lag: 231 (2.1%)
22:45:21.380: Output 'simple_stream': Number of lagged frames due to rendering lag/stalls: 7 (0.1%)

Not good. 2.1% skipped due to encoder lag is too many, my rule of thumb is this needs to be under 1% to look decent when the video is watched or played back.

H1Z1:

22:47:12.929: [x264 encoder: 'simple_h264_stream'] preset: ultrafast

The H1Z1 log file is incomplete and the encoding statistics aren't present. Did you copy the entire file or miss the end of it?

So anyways, it looks to me like DayZ has a far higher visual complexity than Eurotruck, meaning its simply harder to encode. Too much for your computer's CPU. You could try to lower your streaming resolution as Fenrir suggested, and I'd add a suggestion to leave your bitrate the same as if you were streaming a higher res, which will help things a bit.

A forum search seems to back this up: https://obsproject.com/forum/search/10046730/?q=dayz+grass&o=date

Downscale the stream, not the game. I'd go with 480p30. Play it with lots of that nasty grass on the screen in high action situations for at least 5 minutes, then look at the log files. If you're getting skipped frames due to encoding lag over 1%, go smaller. If not, go with what you have or test a better preset.

And btw, Eurotruck looks fine, you need different settings for the two games.

 

[Donkeyking726]

Thank you for all your help and suggestions guys really appreciated :) just a q but having overclocked my cpu to 4.3ghz tonight would that improve fps maintaining at 30?

 

[Donkeyking726]

Did some testing with Battlegrounds after overclocking and managed 30 minutes at 1280x720 30fps with obs set to high priority without a frame drop or encoder issue. Cpu etc stayed below 60c so I'm very happy with results.

That's with gfx at low which I'm perfectly fine with tbh

Thanks all