Encoding Stutter on any Quality Recording - Not Overheating

[gplaps]

Hi All,

I have been trying to figure out some stuttering/loss frame issues I have been having now for weeks and cannot seem to get to the bottom of what is happening. Generally the FPS of the game remains stable, and OBS does not report any issues, but I encounter random stuttering where it looks like the framerate simply is not lining up between my footage and game fps. I have tried all settings and it doesn't seem to matter the quality I try to use for recording, so I am expecting it may not even be OBS related.

I recorded a quick clip of my issue available below. This occurs randomly but almost every minute of the recording. In-between the footage is smooth. During this recording I had task manager and MSI open just to view what is going on with my graphics card/cpu, but even without these on the screen or running I get the issue:

2021-03-19 12-39-22

Watch "2021-03-19 12-39-22" on Streamable.

streamable.com

I am running an i7 4770k and a GTX 1070ti 8g. From the MSI statistics neither is nearing any sort of capacity or overheating. At this point I believe there has to be some kind of frame mismatch between my graphics card and OBS, however I am running at 60hz locked with vsync and never see a frame dip in the game.

I have also attached my log from this recording session.

 

[TemurG]

Exact same problem here, I was having same issue with my old system which was running i7 -7700k + 1080TI + 32GB RAM, then GPU died so I bought a new system with Ryzen 3950X and 3080 + 32GB RAM. Today I even bought new display cables as it was my last hope.. but nope.. the issue still remains.. I'm running dual monitor setup one with 2560x1440/144Hz & 1920x1080/120Hz, tried to match up refresh rates, limit games at 120 since 120 devided on 2 is 60. But no luck. Tried Single Monitor but same results. I'm browsing google all day everyday for a month now. Going crazy here!

 

[gplaps]

Exact same problem here, I was having same issue with my old system which was running i7 -7700k + 1080TI + 32GB RAM, then GPU died so I bought a new system with Ryzen 3950X and 3080 + 32GB RAM. Today I even bought new display cables as it was my last hope.. but nope.. the issue still remains.. I'm running dual monitor setup one with 2560x1440/144Hz & 1920x1080/120Hz, tried to match up refresh rates, limit games at 120 since 120 devided on 2 is 60. But no luck. Tried Single Monitor but same results. I'm browsing google all day everyday for a month now. Going crazy here!

Sorry to hear you are also having this issue. I should note that I am running a single 60hz monitor. I have read about the issues with multiple monitors and refresh rates, but that shouldnt be a problem here. I have the monitor set up with the display port connection to my card and that is the only display connected.

 

[Harold]

What sort of drive is the R: drive?

 

[gplaps]

What sort of drive is the R: drive?

The R: Drive is a 2TB Samsung ssd

 

[gplaps]

I should also mention that i normally record to mkv, but was trying mp4 to see if the issue was related.

 

[Tomasz Góral]

Have you checked for a lower resolution?

 

[gplaps]

Have you checked for a lower resolution?

Yes I have tried both canvas and output resolutions at 1920x1080 and still see the issue. None of my hardware looks to be maxxed out.

I did try a recording with Shadowplay and did not see the problem. So I believe it has to be something with my OBS set up.

 

[Tomasz Góral]

Shadowplay use VFR, OBS use CFR to recording.
This means that Shadowplay skips some frames, eg when you set 30fps, OBS tries to produce 30fps, if it fails, it results in skipped frames and saved instead of 30 frames left, 29 or less. Shadowplay uses a different technique, that is, it tells the encoder that it uses a variable number of frames and there may be 26 frames per second, then 30 or even 32 (and you still have VFR 30fps entered).
For CFR (Constant Frame Rate) mode, probably your computer is not getting better, it doesn't have to mean CPU load, but there are other elements needed for proper operation.

 

[gplaps]

Shadowplay use VFR, OBS use CFR to recording.
This means that Shadowplay skips some frames, eg when you set 30fps, OBS tries to produce 30fps, if it fails, it results in skipped frames and saved instead of 30 frames left, 29 or less. Shadowplay uses a different technique, that is, it tells the encoder that it uses a variable number of frames and there may be 26 frames per second, then 30 or even 32 (and you still have VFR 30fps entered).
For CFR (Constant Frame Rate) mode, probably your computer is not getting better, it doesn't have to mean CPU load, but there are other elements needed for proper operation.

I am not able to identify any metric in Task Manager or MSI Afterburner statistics which look like it is being maxed out or running out of resources. Reducing resolution also does not seem to help at all.

 

[fatmatrow]

So this is a known issue, we don't know what causes it yet but the OBS team should be investigating it after the OBS 27 release. Theres a small but growing number of people running into this, theres a support ticket open for it at the moment. I've been doing months of testing that has told me essentially nothing. Both my PC's do it. It sucks.

 

[gplaps]

So this is a known issue, we don't know what causes it yet but the OBS team should be investigating it after the OBS 27 release. Theres a small but growing number of people running into this, theres a support ticket open for it at the moment. I've been doing months of testing that has told me essentially nothing. Both my PC's do it. It sucks.

It does indeed suck! I tried older versions of OBS and my graphics card drivers, back to OBS 24, but I still seem to have the issue. I feel like there was a time in the past where I didn't have this, but I've really started making more videos in the past few months and becoming more aware of quality.

 

[fatmatrow]

It does indeed suck! I tried older versions of OBS and my graphics card drivers, back to OBS 24, but I still seem to have the issue. I feel like there was a time in the past where I didn't have this, but I've really started making more videos in the past few months and becoming more aware of quality.

I think it comes down to something fundamental that maybe windows changed and thats tied to some kind of hardware combinations or something, or something to do with how OBS is handling the frames. I have tried all combinations of obs settings, older obs versions going back 3 years, older versions of windows, older drivers, different hardware configurations, older bios, and all different combinations of this to no avail. I tried all kinds of windows and bios settings, registry settings, so many reinstalls of windows I can't even count. I've run all kinds of monitoring programs, submitted findings, everything that I'm capable of doing and I still can't nail ANYTHING down that coincides with the issue.