So I'm not exactly sure if I need a capture card to livestream and/or record footage of gameplay right off my computer, however, if I don't need one I'm at a loss on how to set it up properly. If anyone could help me with how to do the set up I'd very much appreciate that. For some reason when I tried setting the software up it told me to choose an external capture card. I'm pretty much a complete greenhorn at OBS.
Question / Help How To Set Up OBS For Gameplay Capture Without Capture Card
- Thread starter Atari6600
- Start date
Add a Game Capture source to capture games. You may also want to check out some of the guides at https://obsproject.com/wiki/
koala
Active Member
The purpose of he game capture source is to grab the video frames from a directx-based or opengl-based 3D application. Usually, this is how games are captured best. If a game or application does not use directx, it cannot be captured by game capture, but probably by some other source type.
The Window Source grabs one specific Window from your desktop. If a game runs windowed, you can probably grab it with either the game capture source or the window source, but using game capture is more efficient.
On laptops, it might be difficult to get an application (game or normal app) with game capture or window capture. Game capture does not always work, even if the game is directx-based. In this case you can use display capture as last resort.
Display capture is similar to an external capture card, if you use it to "capture yourself" and not a second device, but it is more efficient than a capture card. See it as emulation of a capture card that is free and more efficient than a capture card.
The Window Source grabs one specific Window from your desktop. If a game runs windowed, you can probably grab it with either the game capture source or the window source, but using game capture is more efficient.
On laptops, it might be difficult to get an application (game or normal app) with game capture or window capture. Game capture does not always work, even if the game is directx-based. In this case you can use display capture as last resort.
Display capture is similar to an external capture card, if you use it to "capture yourself" and not a second device, but it is more efficient than a capture card. See it as emulation of a capture card that is free and more efficient than a capture card.
I'm guessing if I need to I can google display capture and find a download for it, if the need be? I'll definitely try game capture as well and if it doesn't work I can always change the settings. Out of curiosity, as an emulation of sorts, would that mean that display capture is capable of doing capture for external devices like a game console, or would I definitely have to buy an external for non PC game stuff?
Ahhhh ok. I think I got it. I'll definitely try the Display Capture thing out while handling the set up then and see how it works.
UPDATE: I just ran a test of OBS using Display Capture. It seems to work just fine for me. I'm not sure if the game footage blurred while I was playing is because the game of choice is not Windows 10 friendly (I first played it way back in the early 2000s) but I do have a question to finalize everything: How do I set up a built-in webcam (the one built into my lapotp) for when I do recordings/streamings?
UPDATE: I just ran a test of OBS using Display Capture. It seems to work just fine for me. I'm not sure if the game footage blurred while I was playing is because the game of choice is not Windows 10 friendly (I first played it way back in the early 2000s) but I do have a question to finalize everything: How do I set up a built-in webcam (the one built into my lapotp) for when I do recordings/streamings?
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