Question / Help I cannot figure out why my recording is stuttering

PinkRei

New Member
log file: https://obsproject.com/logs/vfnt-4jfqS0aMOmp
if you need any specs that arent in the log file pls lmk.

Pretty much the title, the game itself runs perfectly while recording, steam's fps counter shows a perfect 60, and yet the recording output is nauseatingly stuttery. If needed I can put the recording online somewhere so you can see for yourself. I am recording to a sata SSD that is not where the game is installed, and I have tried both the nvidia nvenc and the x264 encoders. I've been told that a recommended bitrate for 1080p 60fps is 40000; mine is 20000 and most recently 15000 and even then is coming out stuttering. My cpu usage during recording and gameplay is around 20%, and gpu usage around 50%. I'm baffled and I have no idea why the recordings are looking so bad. I really hope there's some information that can be found in the log because hardware-wise I cannot find any problem.

Looking at the log, I'm seeing it shows one recording at 2500 bitrate, and two at 20000 bitrate, which are all ones I did recently with the x264 encoder. I most recently tried with the nvenc encoder at 15000, but that recording appears not to be in the log. If anyone knows how I can get the log to include that most recent one, pls tell me, as there might be more info in there. Regardless, apart from the 2500, which of course looked terrible, every recording I have attempted is extremely stuttery and jerky.
 

PinkRei

New Member
I have no idea if this is useful information, but in the game i'm playing I have vsync on, which I am to believe would only be helpful to obs, so please let me know if that's not the case. Also, the game is an unreal game and uses something called "smoothed framerate". I have no idea if either of these things would be having an impact on OBS's ability to record smoothly, but I figured I should disclose the info just in case.
 

Harold

Active Member
Settings - Output
Output mode: Simple
Recording quality: Indistinguishable
Recording format: MKV
Recording encoder: Nvenc
 

PinkRei

New Member
Settings - Output
Output mode: Simple
Recording quality: Indistinguishable
Recording format: MKV
Recording encoder: Nvenc
Thank you, those settings worked and the recording was pretty much as flawless as I imagine I'm going to get. So like... why does the advanced recording mode exist, then? I did all this research to learn what all the different settings do, and yet nothing produces as good results as simple mode. What is the advanced mode equivalent of whatever simple mode is doing under the hood?
 

koala

Active Member
why does the advanced recording mode exist, then?
For most setups, the simple settings will suffice (although most of the people don't want to hear this - they insist on using the advanced settings). But there are a few things you can only configure in advanced mode: recording to multiple audio tracks, fine-tune quality settings if you don't like the rough categories "high, indistinguishable, lossless". There also a few performance-related settings in the advanced settings not available in simple settings - for some encoders, you are able to lessen the load of the encoder only with the help of the advanced settings.

The simple mode is nothing else than the advanced mode, only with hardcoded best-practice settings internally. Settings that have been proven as optimal for most setups over the past years.
 
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