Question / Help Insane (OBS) frame drop when tabbed into a game

[Hunkstaban]

I've been dealing with issue for months.

Whenever I have a game running (as an example PUBG) and I am tabbed into the game, OBS instantly drops frames. If I tab out of the game (though the game is still running and being captured in OBS), frames are normal and running smoothly.

I've tried everything from different ways to capture the game (game, display, window capture) to all settings in the game, both low and high, vsync on/off, fullscreen mode/windowed mode etc. etc. etc.

It's is extremely frustrating that I can't have a smooth stream, and it seems the fault lies with OBS.
NOTE!: This happens even when I am NOT streaming. Just having OBS open and tabbing into the game drops frames in OBS instantly. So it doesn't seem to have anything to do with the CPU usage that happens when you stream.

I really hope someone knows or have experienced this problem, and that knows what to do or what I can try - because at this point it feels I've tried literally everything.

Images has been attached to show you the problem. The first image shows how the game is being captured, but I am not tabbed into it (as in not focusing on it/clicked on it etc.) and OBS is running at 30 FPS.

The next image show you how I tab into the game and OBS instantly drops to under 20 FPS.

Best,
Hunkstaban

Specs:
i7-4770k
1050Ti
16GB RAM

 

[Chris Crowne]

I have the same problem

 

[Coma]

Also have the same problem. Really wish the devs would look into it.

 

[Harold]

I really wish that users would post logs when having problems like this.

 

[Rennerdo30]

I've the same problem.
When I tab into an game my fps drop.

Log: https://hastebin.com/refikevani

 

[Riio]

I am still having this problem as well. It happens in SLOBS as well but not as significant and does NOT happen in OBS Classic. Really confusing.

 

[Harold]

Why are you posting on 9-month-old threads?

 

[Riio]

Why are you posting on 9-month-old threads?

because they are still open and people are still CONSTANTLY having this issue? Why are you being a jerk about things when people are just having issues and asking genuine questions? I have seen you act rude to multiple people on multiple threads, primarily about logs when the issue you are looking for is always in streaming or recording logs when WE are not having that issue, its within the preview itself but it seems you dont understand that. If you see another message from me on another forum or anything, please, do not respond to me. I would rather have the issue forever than hear a solution directly from you. Thank you.

 

[Fenrir]

Let's be civil guys.

Logs contain more than just streaming and recording information. They show us your computer specs, settings, sources, etc. for how OBS is currently configured. It's very valuable for us to see a log so we can get an idea on what's going on, but asking for it in such a rude way is definitely not appropriate here.

This is a common issue that many people face because they don't understand the limitations of their PC. OBS, and video encoding in general, is a very resource intensive task. If the game or other applications they are running are maxing out parts of their PC (most commonly, games without frame-rate limits will max out a GPU), OBS will encounter issues.

However, without logs it's just guesswork at that point. I can see from @Rennerdo30 's log that they have two GPUs in the same system, which is almost definitely going to cause problems.

Most commonly past that, it's people who run their games without FPS limiters. Running a game without vertical sync or a frame rate limiter will frequently cause performance issues with OBS because your GPU will be maxed out. Enable vsync or set a reasonable frame rate limit that your GPU can handle without hitting 100% usage. If that's not enough you may also need to turn down some of the video quality options in the game.

If that doesn't work, we'll need to see logs.

 

[BK-Morpheus]

A different way of proofing, that GPU load is the culprit here:
Show an overlay of ingame FPS in your comparison screenshots. Most games will limit their fps, when the game window is not active.
So I would expect the ingame fps to drop a little, when you tab out of the game (and if so, it's clear that OBS now has more GPU resources left to render fast enough).

 

[YaBoiHaze]

Let's be civil guys.

Logs contain more than just streaming and recording information. They show us your computer specs, settings, sources, etc. for how OBS is currently configured. It's very valuable for us to see a log so we can get an idea on what's going on, but asking for it in such a rude way is definitely not appropriate here.

This is a common issue that many people face because they don't understand the limitations of their PC. OBS, and video encoding in general, is a very resource intensive task. If the game or other applications they are running are maxing out parts of their PC (most commonly, games without frame-rate limits will max out a GPU), OBS will encounter issues.

However, without logs it's just guesswork at that point. I can see from @Rennerdo30 's log that they have two GPUs in the same system, which is almost definitely going to cause problems.

Most commonly past that, it's people who run their games without FPS limiters. Running a game without vertical sync or a frame rate limiter will frequently cause performance issues with OBS because your GPU will be maxed out. Enable vsync or set a reasonable frame rate limit that your GPU can handle without hitting 100% usage. If that's not enough you may also need to turn down some of the video quality options in the game.

If that doesn't work, we'll need to see logs.

This is a very half worked answer and I expect more from a dev. I have a 3080 and 10900k and i still have the same issue trying to stream counterstrike. It has nothing to do with people not knowing the limitations of their pc's. There is a different problem here and your to lazy to find it out and fix it when several people are having the problem.

 

[Harold]

Provide the OBS session log requested then. We cannot "find it out and fix it" without this diagnostic information.

 

[Fenrir]

This thread is from 2018, and is almost certainly not related to any current issues. Going to lock this thread, please create a new thread if you're having issues.