Question / Help I'm very confused about running multiple instances of OBS. Do you ?

[Dihelson]

Some people say we need to call OBS using the parameter -p, others say other things... Some people even say that in order to run multiple instances, we need to install several OBS on complete different folders instead of running them from the same folder. What's the difference of calling OBS using parameter-p and just clicking two times on the exe file ? The result wouldn't be the same ? What is truth and what isn't ? I'm very confused about running multiple instances.

Any help is welcomed, guys !
Thanks

 

[carlmmii]

OBS and OBS-Studio: Portable Mode on Windows

Running OBS/OBS-Studio in Portable Mode means all settings (Profiles and Scene Collections) are saved within the OBS main folder. You can copy the whole folder to a second PC or USB-Stick and use it wherever you want. Be aware, the File-Paths for...

obsproject.com

tl;dr Portable mode allows you to save local settings/scenes without interfering with the standard installation settings/scenes. The portable "install" can be moved anywhere, run from anywhere, and can be run alongside any other running OBS instance without interfering with it.

 

[Dihelson]

OBS and OBS-Studio: Portable Mode on Windows

Running OBS/OBS-Studio in Portable Mode means all settings (Profiles and Scene Collections) are saved within the OBS main folder. You can copy the whole folder to a second PC or USB-Stick and use it wherever you want. Be aware, the File-Paths for...

obsproject.com

tl;dr Portable mode allows you to save local settings/scenes without interfering with the standard installation settings/scenes. The portable "install" can be moved anywhere, run from anywhere, and can be run alongside any other running OBS instance without interfering with it.

Do you suggest downloading the Portable version and install along side with the version I already run, is that ? In this case, can I install multiple "portable" OBS without one interfere on the other ?

 

[carlmmii]

Just copy your OBS folder to a separate one for each instance you want to run in portable mode. I would avoid running your main OBS install in portable mode, but it's fine to run alongside any portable instances.

 

[koala]

You need portable mode only, if you want your configurations completely separate.
In all other cases, you can just create multiple profiles and multiple scene collections. Then you start the same OBS icon twice and select for one instance one profile+scene collection and for the other instance the other profile+other scene collection.

You can even start different profiles+scene collections from the same installation by creating different shortcuts, so you don't need to manually change to a different profile+scene collection. How to create such shortcuts, see this post:

Question / Help - How to I separate 2 OBS Installation settings?

Ok so basically, I have 2 separate installations of OBS. One for Twitch, And one for Picarto. I have the Twitch one for games and the Picarto one for art. I want to make it so I dont have to add my stream key and platform every time I want to stream on one of the sites. I also have specific...

obsproject.com

 

[Dihelson]

Just copy your OBS folder to a separate one for each instance you want to run in portable mode. I would avoid running your main OBS install in portable mode, but it's fine to run alongside any portable instances.

Thank you. I will try to copy the whole folder to another location and run from there and see what happens. But if I'm not mistaken, OBS has a set of preferences located on another personal folder per user, where it saves everything.

 

[Dihelson]

You need portable mode only, if you want your configurations completely separate.
In all other cases, you can just create multiple profiles and multiple scene collections. Then you start the same OBS icon twice and select for one instance one profile+scene collection and for the other instance the other profile+other scene collection.

You can even start different profiles+scene collections from the same installation by creating different shortcuts, so you don't need to manually change to a different profile+scene collection. How to create such shortcuts, see this post:

Question / Help - How to I separate 2 OBS Installation settings?

Ok so basically, I have 2 separate installations of OBS. One for Twitch, And one for Picarto. I have the Twitch one for games and the Picarto one for art. I want to make it so I dont have to add my stream key and platform every time I want to stream on one of the sites. I also have specific...

obsproject.com

Thank you, Koala. I'll try that.

 

[Dihelson]

You need portable mode only, if you want your configurations completely separate.
In all other cases, you can just create multiple profiles and multiple scene collections. Then you start the same OBS icon twice and select for one instance one profile+scene collection and for the other instance the other profile+other scene collection.

You can even start different profiles+scene collections from the same installation by creating different shortcuts, so you don't need to manually change to a different profile+scene collection. How to create such shortcuts, see this post:

Question / Help - How to I separate 2 OBS Installation settings?

Ok so basically, I have 2 separate installations of OBS. One for Twitch, And one for Picarto. I have the Twitch one for games and the Picarto one for art. I want to make it so I dont have to add my stream key and platform every time I want to stream on one of the sites. I also have specific...

obsproject.com

Koala, but if I want to record my sources independently, do you think I'll need portable version, or just new shortcuts and profiles ?

 

[koala]

That's possible with both variants. All this is only configuration management.

Using the shortcut variant means you always have all profiles and all scene collections shared by both instances. That's no problem, the only caveat is that you might feel the profile or scene collection menu is cluttered with "the other" profiles or scene collections. If you only have one profile+collection per instance, that's no issue, and I suggest you use this solution.

If you use the portable version, you have separate profiles and scene collections and one instance cannot "see" the profiles+collections from the other instance. That's purely cosmetical.

 

[Dihelson Mendonca]

I finally did, and for anyone interested in running several instances of OBS, here are the correct steps ( in 2020 ):

01 - Download OBS studio zip file and extract to whatever folder you like.
02 - In the extracted folder, look in subfolder /bin/64bit/ and find the exe file: OBS64.exe
03 - Create a shortcut of the OBS64.exe file to your desktop.
04 - Right click on the shortcut you´ve created, and click on properties -> target -> And add at the end of the line, the following: --portable
05 - Click on apply and save.
06 - Now, when you run this shortcut, OBS will run on a standalone mode ( Portable ), without using your config files ( Of another instalation you may have ). It´s like running for the first time, after installing it from scratch.

Good luck !

 

[RavenStreamer]

This is just what I needed. Thanks!

Just a quick clarification/edit to your instructions - you need to put a single space between the ".exe" at the end of the target link and "--portable". :-)

 

[Dihelson]

This is just what I needed. Thanks!

Just a quick clarification/edit to your instructions - you need to put a single space between the ".exe" at the end of the target link and "--portable". :-)

Good observation. Thank you. We need to put a single space between the ".exe" at the end of the target link and the "--portable".

I can't edit the instructions anymore, because the post is old. I noticed something that I think is also important. We really need to use "--portable" and never "-portable". I tried with a single dash and it didn't work, only two dashes: "--portable". There are some instructions over there that point only one dash, but that didn't work for me.

Good luck.

 

[soybomber]

hey guys, quick question. How do you "update" the portable install when you want to use a newer version? Do you just download the new zip and overwrite the contents to the "portable" install folder? is there a danger of losing settings if you do that?

 

[paparenasya]

I finally did, and for anyone interested in running several instances of OBS, here are the correct steps ( in 2020 ):

01 - Download OBS studio zip file and extract to whatever folder you like.
02 - In the extracted folder, look in subfolder /bin/64bit/ and find the exe file: OBS64.exe
03 - Create a shortcut of the OBS64.exe file to your desktop.
04 - Right click on the shortcut you´ve created, and click on properties -> target -> And add at the end of the line, the following: --portable
05 - Click on apply and save.
06 - Now, when you run this shortcut, OBS will run on a standalone mode ( Portable ), without using your config files ( Of another instalation you may have ). It´s like running for the first time, after installing it from scratch.

Good luck !

Hi, how do I add the third OBS? Thank you..