Question / Help Encoding Overload while Streaming on Twitch and/or recording on very high end PC

Tryote

New Member
Hi there. I've been having a problem with freezing(?) while streaming and/or recording for the last few months. I'll describe exactly what happens.
1. Playing game, with OBS Studio, LiveSplit, and Project 64(N64 emulation software) open.
2. Whole PC freezes for ~3 seconds, and when it unfreezes, I get an error in the bottom left corner of my OBS that tells me I'm having an encoding overload. Occasionally, I'll get an error box that says "An encoding error occurred while recording/streaming", and after I close that, I won't be able to record or stream again until I close and re-open OBS. But typically, it just freezes for a few seconds.

It happens multiple times a stream, at seemingly random times. I've tried Bitrates from 2500-6000, and it happens on all of them. At first, I figured it might be my internet spiking, but it also happens with offline recording, so it's clearly not that. Plus, my internet is more than strong enough to support a bitrate of 6000.

For clarity: This exact same error has happened to me while:
  • Streaming AND recording at the same time
  • Recording, but not streaming.
I haven't tested other combinations, such as streaming and not recording.

HUGE NOTE: I only ever get this error on Project 64. I've also streamed League of Legends and Super Mario Maker 2(Using an Elgato Capture Card) and this has never been a problem with those games.

PC Specs
CPU - Threadripper 2950X 3.5 GHz (Hexadeca Core)
GPU - Dual Geforce GTX 1080 8GB with High Bandwidth Bridge
RAM - 64GB (8x8GB) DDR4
Motherboard - Asus Prime X399-A
OS - Windows 10 Home Version 1903


Most Recent Log(Recording ended with error box reading: "An encoding error occurred while recording/streaming", but also had normal encoding overload errors at points): https://obsproject.com/logs/PZyHjhGc7wsjmzns

I'm still super new at streaming, and I'm not exactly sure what's causing this. Any help would be greatly appreciated, this is really screwing things up for me.

I'm happy to provide any more info about my setup if needed.
Thanks!
 

IncredibleGeek

New Member
2 things i can think of. 1 is the game compatible with project 64. (what's the game called). if it's not compatible yet than when project 64 crashes it can cause obs to crash. 2 i doubt it's this. but some emulators don't work/play nice with OBS or any broadcasting software. pretty sure it's the 1st one.
 

koala

Active Member
From your log:

22:47:49.899: Device Remove/Reset! Rebuilding all assets...

It looks like your graphics driver crashed and Windows restored access to the GPU. This happens with incompatible or defective hardware, overclocking CPU or GPU, or with an outdated driver, incompatible driver or improperly installed driver.
Your SLI setup doesn't make your system more stable as well, and OBS (capture software in general) doesn't run well in SLI setups.
 

Tryote

New Member
2 things i can think of. 1 is the game compatible with project 64. (what's the game called). if it's not compatible yet than when project 64 crashes it can cause obs to crash. 2 i doubt it's this. but some emulators don't work/play nice with OBS or any broadcasting software. pretty sure it's the 1st one.
The game is Super Mario 64. I can play it fine without problems if I'm not recording/streaming.

From your log:

22:47:49.899: Device Remove/Reset! Rebuilding all assets...

It looks like your graphics driver crashed and Windows restored access to the GPU. This happens with incompatible or defective hardware, overclocking CPU or GPU, or with an outdated driver, incompatible driver or improperly installed driver.
Your SLI setup doesn't make your system more stable as well, and OBS (capture software in general) doesn't run well in SLI setups.
What would you recommend I do to fix this? Is it possible to disable one of the graphics cards?
 

Tryote

New Member
That's a good question. Because this doesn't happen on any game besides Project 64, so if I could find a way to separate the graphics drivers priorities I could maybe avoid the crashing?
 

IncredibleGeek

New Member
That's a good question. Because this doesn't happen on any game besides Project 64, so if I could find a way to separate the graphics drivers priorities I could maybe avoid the crashing?
that and my experience with project64 is it loves to crash obs. idk if they fixed it yet or no. but if not it's the emulator. no other emulator does that to obs. other than pcsx2 sometimes. in my experience.

one way may be nvidia control panel and run on 1 card and let the other card be used for the emulator. like pcsx2 you can select your gpu. so maybe that way it could separate. other than that. like i said project 64 is the only emulator that crashes obs.... unless the emulator crashes on it's own. at that point. pcsx2 with completely none compatible games that crash it. sometimes crash obs.
 

Narcogen

Active Member
can he use one gpu to encode and one to play the games? or obs doesn't work that way?

OBS doesn't work that way. Use the best single GPU you have. Any scheme to attempt to distribute rendering and encoding across multiple GPUs nearly always creates performance bottlenecks on the PCI bus and results in lower performance. Depending on your motherboard, just having the 2nd GPU installed can potentially reduce the performance of the primary GPU.

The best use of a strong 2nd GPU is in a second PC, with the two connected either by a capture device or NDI.
 
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