General issues with dropped frames, artifacting, and failure to capture for dozens of games.

Pinkaminks

New Member
This is a really broad problem I'm having but considering the widespread nature of it I have to assume there's something specifically at fault as opposed to a bunch of different things pertaining to each instance coincidentally causing the same issues.

First, and this is something I don't expect to get much help with since I've scoured the forums for help on how to capture individual games with no luck, but it seems like every game arbitrarily only works with Window Capture, Display Capture, or Game Capture. Rarely does a game work with more than one, which seems particularly strange when it doesn't cooperate with Display Capture. Game Capture almost never works, and Window Capture often has issues with freezing the video feed on the first frame and only recording audio past that. I don't know if there's anything else to be done (I of course have tried variations of fullscreen, windowed and borderless) but maybe someone has some suggestions.

Secondly, it doesn't seem to matter what settings I use; NVIDIA NVENC HEVS gives me errors, while H.264 does not. I've tried using the later encoder on MKV and MP4 with no changes. I've tried CBR, VBR, and Lossless rate controls, with anywhere from 3k to 30k KBPS for CBR/VBR. I've tried every preset available. I've tried all of this while attempting to lower the resolution from the native 2560x1440 and capturing at that same resolution and that only introduces more problems.

If I have the preset on Max Quality, it looks, at best, ok, still with some artifacting, and always with seemingly arbitrary dropped frames (completely random, not related to onscreen action) while on Max Performance it turns into complete artifact hell. Neither 'Quality' nor 'Performance' do anything besides provide slightly less extreme version of the same problems their 'Max' counterparts have.

I've recorded and streamed dozens of games with all of these various options swapped around to try to get any noticeable change, but ultimately always settle with Max Quality because then at least the picture is visible even if I get semi-frequent stutters/dropped frames. The list includes anything from mainstream high demand games like Cyberpunk or Elden Ring, to super low end indie games like Hotline Miami and Axiom Verge 2, and everything in between including Warframe and even PCSX2. Unless the game is PARTICULARLY intensive, to the point where it's barely playable, there is no effect on recording.

Here's my specs.
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I save to an HDD as my only SSD doesn't have a ton of room left and in trying to preserve quality, the file sizes can get quite bloated, and unless I know for certain I can lower settings without losing much visual clarity I don't really want to try that.

Here's 3 logs from test recordings of Hotline Miami I did just today.
 

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PaiSand

Active Member
You need to fix a lot of things:

To capture games you normaly use game capture. That's the secret. The ones that can't be captured with this can be capture with window capture. In just a few cases you need to use display capture because the game's devs don't allow the other 2 types.
Display Capture should be on it's own scene as it interfere with window and game capture.
Color format is partial. We all know about those youtube guides telling other things.
base resolution is the resolution of your monitor, the one you use to capture. You have 2k monitor.
output resolution is the one you aim to stream/recording. This should comply with the service capabilities where you publish/stream to.
frame rates, stick to 30 or 60. Some people can use 120. Never 90 or 240 or any other strange frame rate some uses.

If it's needed update the GPU driver, or even better do a clean install:

For recording it's adviced to use CQP and set the CQ level between 23 and 15 (lower better quality)
If you don't record several audio sources individualy, it's better to use simple output mode and select on of the presets for recording. To remove any missconfiguration you may have introduced, use the Auto-configuration Wizard (tools menu) and apply the settings it suggest. Restar OBS. Yes, restart OBS. Now test as is. Test whit a better output quality.
Use the Analyzer after each test.
 

Pinkaminks

New Member
You need to fix a lot of things:

To capture games you normaly use game capture. That's the secret. The ones that can't be captured with this can be capture with window capture. In just a few cases you need to use display capture because the game's devs don't allow the other 2 types.
Display Capture should be on it's own scene as it interfere with window and game capture.
Color format is partial. We all know about those youtube guides telling other things.
base resolution is the resolution of your monitor, the one you use to capture. You have 2k monitor.
output resolution is the one you aim to stream/recording. This should comply with the service capabilities where you publish/stream to.
frame rates, stick to 30 or 60. Some people can use 120. Never 90 or 240 or any other strange frame rate some uses.

If it's needed update the GPU driver, or even better do a clean install:

For recording it's adviced to use CQP and set the CQ level between 23 and 15 (lower better quality)
If you don't record several audio sources individualy, it's better to use simple output mode and select on of the presets for recording. To remove any missconfiguration you may have introduced, use the Auto-configuration Wizard (tools menu) and apply the settings it suggest. Restar OBS. Yes, restart OBS. Now test as is. Test whit a better output quality.
Use the Analyzer after each test.

I was aware of the game > window > display tiering already and was trying everything I could to get games working in game or window whenever possible, but didn't know that display being on the same scene could cause problems, so that's good to know.
Update my GPU drivers, ran the auto-config wizard, switch to CQP and changed the settings the analyzer flagged (Im guessing 144 fps doesnt work?) and while it's not QUITE as crystal clear as i'd prefer it's a hell of a lot better than what I had and doesn't get slowdowns or stutters. Honestly astounded that I haven't seen that Analyzer page before because it's incredibly convenient. Thanks for the help.
 

PaiSand

Active Member
Stay at 30 or 60 fps. If your computer lets you do more, 120. No more than that.
In your case to do 120fps you probably need to scale to 720p.
 
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