Question / Help Juddering / Choppy recordings - no encoder lag or skipped frames

DamageInc

DamageInc

Member
Hi
I am recording Warzone using OBS. I am somewhat at my wits end, as I used to record BattleField 4, BattleField 1 and Blackout all fine using OBS on the same rig.
I am watching my stats during the recording and I am looking at the logs post recording and at most i might get 0.1% encoding lag or 0.1% skipped frames, very often 0%. Yet both the MKV or the MP4s following remux are choppy, awful juddery recordings which make me feel sick to watch.

I can post a log, happily, but it doesnt show me any of the issues I have had in the past when running the quality settings too high etc.
To be clear:
I am recording using Nvec (New), CQP set to 30 and other settings set super low in order to rule out quality of the recording as the issue.
I am recording to a separate SSD (not the SSD with my OS on or the SSD with my game on).

I have some suspicions as to what might be the issue, and perhaps your thoughts might confirm or deny:
When I play Warzone, i get about 50-60 FPS.
I am recording at 1440p and 60 FPS. Could this be the casue of the juddering recordings despite not having encoding lag or skipped frames? How does OBS handle creating a video file at 60 fps when the game itself might dip below that value?

Any help appreciated. Latest recording log attached.

Cheers for ANY replies.

Matt
 

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qhobbes

qhobbes

Active Member
The version of Windows you are running has a limitation which causes performance issues in hardware accelerated applications (such as games) if multiple monitors with different refresh rates are present. Your system's monitors have 2 different refresh rates, so you are affected by this limitation. You can fix this performance problem by setting all displays to use the same refresh rate.

This problem is fixed in the '2004' release of Windows 10, due in the first half of 2020. A prerelease version of this Windows release is currently available via the Windows Insider 'Slow' ring.

Also update your Windows.
 
DamageInc

DamageInc

Member
qhobbes said:
The version of Windows you are running has a limitation which causes performance issues in hardware accelerated applications (such as games) if multiple monitors with different refresh rates are present. Your system's monitors have 2 different refresh rates, so you are affected by this limitation. You can fix this performance problem by setting all displays to use the same refresh rate.

This problem is fixed in the '2004' release of Windows 10, due in the first half of 2020. A prerelease version of this Windows release is currently available via the Windows Insider 'Slow' ring.

Also update your Windows.
Click to expand...
Hi qhobbes
Thanks for the response, and certainly an unexpected one.
Can you clarify the performance issue my version of windows is affected by - ie does it cause problems when recording on OBS but not when playing? I have no performance issues playing games with the two monitors set to the refresh rates they are at (and this is a function of my dell only being a 60fps monitor whereas my predator is a 144 hz). Most of my friends have multi-monitor displays running W10 (at differing reflresh rates) and they arent experiencing this issue recording in OBS with settings far higher than mine.
So is this just something which messes with OBS recordings?
 
DamageInc

DamageInc

Member
Hi there (anyone still reading this)
I have updated to the latest W10 I have access to (1909).
I have tried setting my main gaming monitor from 144hz to 60hz (which is the same refresh rate as my second, non-gaming monitor).
I set in game the refresh rate to 60z

Recordings still show no skipped frames and no encoding lag (becasue they are at the lowest quality CQP possible on New Nvec encoder) and the recordings themselves are still terribly choppy and jumpy.

Would appreciate any more advice. I can post another log, but it will show the same thing as last - no skipped frames / encoding lag.
Thanks
 
D

Deleted member 121471

Different refresh rates aside, if your current game settings do not allow you to maintain a stable ingame FPS that is a multiple of your OBS recording FPS setting, you end up experiencing the issues described. It's a frame sync issue.

In your case, you're recording at 60 FPS so lower ingame graphical settings until you get consistent ingame 60FPS. Otherwise, every time you dip below 60, if memory doesn't fail me, the encoder will simply duplicate a frame, leading to judder.

Possibly unrelated to your issues, disable "Lookahead" and "Psycho Visual Tuning" on your encoder settings.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
DamageInc

DamageInc

Member
Volfield said:
Different refresh rates aside, if your current game settings do not allow you to maintain a stable ingame FPS that is a multiple of your OBS recording FPS setting, you end up experiencing the issues described. It's a frame sync issue.

In your case, you're recording at 60 FPS so lower ingame graphical settings until you get consistent ingame 60FPS. Otherwise, every time you dip below 60, if memory doesn't fail me, the encoder will simply duplicate a frame, leading to judder.

Possibly unrelated to your issues, disable "Lookahead" and "Psycho Visual Tuning" on your encoder settings.
Click to expand...
OK, that makes sense to me. So an option would be to record at 30 FPS and see if the judder goes away as I am pretty much always above 50 FPS. I will report back.
 
DamageInc

DamageInc

Member
Didnt work.

I have tried recording at 30 FPS, CQP settings set as low as they will go. No skipped frames, no encoder lag. MP4 and MKV recordings show very choppy / juddery points during high movement moments.
Im getting quite fed up about this.

Can anyone else give me any pointers?
 
P

P0lT10n

New Member
I also have Windows' 2004 update and refresh rates lock up as desired for each monitor (using UFO Test) but when streaming, it is still choppy............ I have to minimize anything on the second screen...
 
DamageInc

DamageInc

Member
P0lT10n said:
I also have Windows' 2004 update and refresh rates lock up as desired for each monitor (using UFO Test) but when streaming, it is still choppy............ I have to minimize anything on the second screen...
Click to expand...
P0lT10n said:
Try disabling Psycho Visual Tuning, that worked for me !
Click to expand...
Hi, thanks for the reply.
I am using New NVEC, CQP at 30 (as low as it will go), keyframes 1, bframes 1, phsycho and look ahead off. Quality is perfrmance.
I dont think the issue is encoding or frame skipping (as the logs report none) and I used to record BF1 and BF4 at much higher quality settings and at 60 FPS.

Will try minimising anything on 2nd screen.

Cheers
 
T

TZZxdd

New Member
Found anything? I have the same issue. Tried recording and it was all choppy. Streaming is the same issue. Had no issues before but one day it randomly just stopped working well.
 
DamageInc

DamageInc

Member
Im afraid Ive not been able to fix this at all.

Ive tried setting my monitor refresh from 144 to 60 hz, then recording at the lowest quality possible, with vsync on and off in game.
Ive recorded at 60fps and 30fps
Settings in game are at minimum and im getting 55-70 fps in game.

All recordings looks the same - choppy and juddery. In game its smooth as butter.

Im at a loss
 
DamageInc

DamageInc

Member
Well, I solved the problem, through a friend who also suddenly started experiencing terrible output from OBS when recording Modern Warfare: Warzone.

The solution is to change the capture method from Game Capture to Display Capture. As soon as I did that output to the MKV (or MP4) is as smooth as it is in game.

Since then Ive been creeping my quality settings up, from CQP 30 (on new nvec) to 24 and its introduce no encoding lag etc so Im continuing to lift quality a little at a time.

Hope this helps someone - using Game Capture in any other game does not have these issues - it seems to be only Warzone

YMMV

Damage
 
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