Question / Help How should I setup my settings for Arma3?

[tim0teh]

Hi, I was just wondering if you guys could help me with my settings for Arma 3. I just want to try some streaming and see if I can output good quality. Thanks!

Specs:
Windows 10 Pro
i7 5960x @ 4GHz
MSI GTX 970
16GB 2133 DDR4 ram
Speed test: http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/4577840797

 

[FerretBomb]

https://obsproject.com/estimator

http://obsproject.com/forum/threads/official-overview-guide.402/

720p, 30fps, 2000kbps. No custom buffer or any custom encoder settings. Step down one step at a time from x264 Veryfast (slower = more CPU, but better compression = better image quality at a given bitrate), testing for 10-20 minutes each time, and watching your CPU load/temps/throttling.

 

[tim0teh]

https://obsproject.com/estimator

http://obsproject.com/forum/threads/official-overview-guide.402/

720p, 30fps, 2000kbps. No custom buffer or any custom encoder settings.

So 1080 won't be achievable?

 

[FerretBomb]

Not unless you're a Twitch Partnered caster. 1080p needs too much bitrate. Use enough bitrate to run 1080p (3500-6000), and most who come to your stream will buffer like crazy and leave without saying anything about it.

The realistic maximum that non-partnered casters should stick to is 2000kbps to make sure their stream is most widely viewable, per usage metrics from Twitch. Partners can exceed this as they have transcodes (quality options) available.

Don't get lost chasing a number. It's very easy to blind yourself into the "MUST STREAM AT 1080!" or "MUST USE 60FPS!" mindset, and can be very hard to break out of if you let yourself forget that there's no point to streaming if no one can actually watch it.

On the up side, with that much CPU lying around, you should have pretty damn good quality for a 720@30, 2mbps stream, with the kind of x264 preset you'll be able to use. Most are kind of iffy, though watchable.

 

[tim0teh]

Not unless you're a Twitch Partnered caster. 1080p needs too much bitrate. Use enough bitrate to run 1080p (3500-6000), and most who come to your stream will buffer like crazy and leave without saying anything about it.

The realistic maximum that non-partnered casters should stick to is 2000kbps to make sure their stream is most widely viewable, per usage metrics from Twitch. Partners can exceed this as they have transcodes (quality options) available.

Don't get lost chasing a number. It's very easy to blind yourself into the "MUST STREAM AT 1080!" or "MUST USE 60FPS!" mindset, and can be very hard to break out of if you let yourself forget that there's no point to streaming if no one can actually watch it.

On the up side, with that much CPU lying around, you should have pretty damn good quality for a 720@30, 2mbps stream. Most are kind of iffy, though watchable.

My CPU could handle 60FPS on my side, would that really effect the viewing result?
Edit: Should I use Minimize network impact or no?

 

[FerretBomb]

Think of bitrate like water. You only have so much to go around. It takes roughly twice as much to make an image look as good at 60fps, as it does at 30fps.

Let me restate, don't get lost chasing numbers.

 

[tim0teh]

Think of bitrate like water. You only have so much to go around. It takes roughly twice as much to make an image look as good at 60fps, as it does at 30fps.

Let me restate, don't get lost chasing numbers.

OK thanks, what about preset? Does that effect bitrate if lowered or no?

 

[FerretBomb]

The slower the preset is, the more efficiently your system will use the bitrate available. It's not a magic bullet that'll let you stream 1080 on 2000kbps, but it will make your stream look noticeably better. Reread my first response in the thread, on testing protocol.

 

[tim0teh]

Great thanks, I'll try it out now!

 

[Cryonic]

1080p 60FPS is possible with that gear, the only problem is bitrate - 3500 would not be enough.
If you get the transcoding option - crank it up to 1080p 60fps 4000 bitrate and be happy.

P.S. FerretBomb, no idea where you got the "everyone will expirience buffering" idea, but most people that i know, can watch even 4500+ bitrate streams without transcoding, perfectly fine. Tested it myself with my own channel and some others.
Only people with a really unstable and slow connection would expirience problems watching a 3500bitrate stream.
And most people today have at least 16mbit/s, so where is the problem?

 

[FerretBomb]

Yes Cryonic, we've gone through this before. Again, even though YOU personally do not personally experience buffering on high-rate streams, it does not mean that MOST people will. MOST people will buffer and stutter badly.

Also, 4000kbps is nowhere even close to enough for acceptable 1080p@60; you're looking at closer to 6000.

 

[Cryonic]

Yes Cryonic, we've gone through this before. Again, even though YOU personally do not personally experience buffering on high-rate streams, it does not mean that MOST people will. MOST people will buffer and stutter badly.

Also, 4000kbps is nowhere even close to enough for acceptable 1080p@60; you're looking at closer to 6000.

That is different from game to game. But the 5960X, specially when you OC the hell out of it, is a monster. That thing can actually push 1080p 60FPS with fast preset and any game on the market.
4000-4500 is the max i would give twitch and believe me that makes a lot of games look really great, but not ARMA or anything else from Bohemia. That would require a bitrate close to 12000 to make it look halfway close to the original.

But anyway i dont mind streaming with really high settings, maxing out what twitch can take. No complains whatsoever, only a couple of people with wooden internet had trouble watching before. And some old hardware that was overloaded with flash player and 1080p 60fps but thats expected.

 

[tim0teh]

Hi sorry to bump into your conversation but I'm getting large ping spikes with 30fps slow preset 2000KB (trying league of legends)

 

[Cryonic]

Make sure that "minimize network impact" is enabled. I have the same behavior, even if i left over 4mbit/s - my ping in LoL would play ping-pong without that option. If i enable this, i get my usual ping, around 27-29ms while playing on EUW.
Generally check your network. Slow preset should work fine with 720p 30fps, even if the CPU is not overclocked.
But take a look at this too, just to tell us the magic number aka the CPU-load from OBS :-)

 

[tim0teh]

Make sure that "minimize network impact" is enabled. I have the same behavior, even if i left over 4mbit/s - my ping in LoL would play ping-pong without that option. If i enable this, i get my usual ping, around 27-29ms while playing on EUW.
Generally check your network. Slow preset should work fine with 720p 30fps, even if the CPU is not overclocked.
But take a look at this too, just to tell us the magic number aka the CPU-load from OBS :-)

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