Hotkeys not working when OBS in focus

Dusty:)

New Member
Contrary to most threads I've read, my hotkeys to start recording, etc are not working when OBS is highlighted/in focus.
If OBS is not in focus, it works just fine, no issues. So, if I'm on google, and decide to start recording, hotkeys work just fine. IF I however try to edit the scene, and then instantly want to record, without pressing google again, hotkeys will not work, until I focus on something else than OBS.

I've set the permission where
-> OBS has permission to input monitoring
-> In OBS settings, the hotkeys are 'never disabled', neither in focus nor not in focus.

M2 Macbook Pro, if you need any log or any info, just let me know. I'm hoping its just a simple setting I didn't know about!
 

Dusty:)

New Member
If you guys have any pointers/any idea as to where to look at, I would be eternally grateful!
Thank you very much for checking it out! All help is appreciated!
 

MiccoS

New Member
Same here.
Except that the hotkeys won't work even when the focus is on another app (Adobe InDesign).
I was able to get a recording started when focus was on OBS but not stopped. Also was able to toggle scenes few times until the hotkeys stopped working. Trying several key combinations it always seemed to allow start recording and few scene changes.
Macbook Pro M2 Max.
Settings in OBS and Mac as above.
 

AaronD

Active Member
There's supposed to be a setting here, but I seem to remember something about it not working on Mac?:
1679775154931.png
 

MiccoS

New Member
There's supposed to be a setting here, but I seem to remember something about it not working on Mac?:
View attachment 92688
Yes I found that. And it seems that the Hotkeys are not working even if the main window is in focus. Or works for a short while.
I was planning to buy a streamdeck for hotkey commands but not sure if I want to purchase it if the functionality is not working in the first place.
 

TFE

Member
I can attest that a Stream Deck works very well with OBS, using the free Elgato OBS Studio plugin. The OBS plugin does not (yet) have all the functionality available in OBS via Hotkeys, but it always works (unlike the OBS Hotkeys). For example, the Stream Deck works reliably to switch scenes, toggle sources on and off ("source visibility"), start and save replays, and more — even when the hot keys assigned in OBS to do the same things are finicky or not working at all.
 

AaronD

Active Member
I can attest that a Stream Deck works very well with OBS, using the free Elgato OBS Studio plugin. The OBS plugin does not (yet) have all the functionality available in OBS via Hotkeys, but it always works (unlike the OBS Hotkeys). For example, the Stream Deck works reliably to switch scenes, toggle sources on and off ("source visibility"), start and save replays, and more — even when the hot keys assigned in OBS to do the same things are finicky or not working at all.
If you're doing that, perhaps you could also look at the Advanced Scene Switcher plugin. It can control pretty much everything that OBS does, in response to any arbitrary trigger or combination of triggers.

Another interesting thing to look at is Node-RED. It's a general-purpose automation utility for the computer itself, not OBS, but you can connect it to OBS and/or Adv. SS with the WebSocket nodes. Once you're in the NR editor, you can install a customizable dashboard that runs in a web browser, which allows any device that has a browser to be a control surface.
 

MiccoS

New Member
If you're doing that, perhaps you could also look at the Advanced Scene Switcher plugin. It can control pretty much everything that OBS does, in response to any arbitrary trigger or combination of triggers.

Another interesting thing to look at is Node-RED. It's a general-purpose automation utility for the computer itself, not OBS, but you can connect it to OBS and/or Adv. SS with the WebSocket nodes. Once you're in the NR editor, you can install a customizable dashboard that runs in a web browser, which allows any device that has a browser to be a control surface.
Interesting.
So could I for instace use iPad as streamdeck using these tools?
Hopefully it reacts fast enough.
I”ll need to look into this.

Although if Elgato streamdeck works like a charm that could be the most straight forward option.
 

AaronD

Active Member
Interesting.
So could I for instace use iPad as streamdeck using these tools?
Hopefully it reacts fast enough.
I”ll need to look into this.
Sure! Anything with a web browser.

I tried once to make a complete GUI app in NR to control some PTZ cameras and a digital sound board, and get feedback from them in real time. (actual position, audio meters, etc.) By the time I got all of that in there, with constant activity from the ever-changing feedback, it was usable, but noticeably slow. For single commands, you'll never notice. Practically instant. I still use it for a standalone jukebox of sound effects, with the server running on a Raspberry Pi 4 and my phone as the control device.

The camera and audio control app is now in C++, using wxWidgets for the graphics, and compiled down to machine code with speed optimization turned on. That runs smoothly, but it still takes about 25% CPU on the Pi 4. So I think the NR version was actually doing pretty good for an interpreted language.
 
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