Question / Help OBS black screen (tried everything).

MathiasDrejer

New Member
So i have tried literaly everything, and whenever i go to OBS in either screen capture or game capture,i ts just a black screen. I have tried using both the integrated and nvida gpu, no luck. I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling, running as administrator, checking that both obs and windows is running in 64 bit, tried to run it in compatability mode for windows 7. Nothing works.

Im on a Dell XPS 15 9560 laptop with a 4k display running windows 10 and i have it connected to a monitor(1920x1080). I've Tried capturing both displays, neither works. I have also tried to disconnect the external monitor. Doesnt work either. I dont know what to do to solve this issue and i would greatly appreciate if someone could help me out. Thanks!
 

FerretBomb

Active Member
That can depend on the game you're trying to capture. Also, the method for selecting which GPU to use has changed, starting with Win10 update 1903. Here are instructions on how to do that:

Also please note, Display Capture should only ever be used as an absolute last resort. Some games/applications require workarounds to allow proper capture; what are you trying to cap? Can you post a logfile of a streaming or recording session where the game capture was in-use, and pointed at the game/app in question? We can take a look and see what's going on, on the back end that way.
 

MathiasDrejer

New Member
Im not trying to capture a game, but Photoshop. I assume you can use gamecapture for all applications, regardless if its a game? I initialy used the nvidia controll panell for selecting GPU, but i also tried the method you linked. Neither seems to work. And yes photoshop is using my nvidia GPU. However i think i might have solved the issue, as i moved photoshop to my other monitor it suddenly worked, even after i moved it back to my laptop screen. When i close and open OBS however i have to move my photoshop window and it works again. Weird. However its not really capturing the screen the way i want it to. I dont know if your familiar with photoshop, but it only captures my canvas and not the whole application, would you know of any way to fix this. Thank you so much for you help!

edit: so i read on some other forum posts that you have to use display capture to record the whole photoshop application, so i guess im still out of luck.
 

FerretBomb

Active Member
Correct, Photoshop is one application that needs Display Capture, due to how it handles all of its elements as separate windows.

Can you try doing a recording, stopping it, then go into the Help menu, Log Files, Upload Current Log File, and paste the URL it gives you here? It'll let us see what's going on, on the back-end, if OBS is set to run on the right GPU, and if it's running into any specific issues.
 

Heducties

New Member
Ok so I believe I am in a worse position than MathiasDrejer and hoping there is an answer out there as I feel I have done everything Mathias did. I am looking at streaming XBOX Console Companion to Facebook Live but OBS hasnt worked since install. I am just using a laptop (no additional monitors) and latest Windows 10 and OBS versions.

I have tried both integrated graphics and High Performance NVIDIA processor for the NVIDIA 3D Program settings and get the same outcome. Literally nothing. The only thing I notice is a little red square to the top left corner but then once you click it disappears.
 

Attachments

  • Graphic Settings.PNG
    Graphic Settings.PNG
    22.3 KB · Views: 183
  • NVIDIA Global settings.PNG
    NVIDIA Global settings.PNG
    56.7 KB · Views: 180
  • NVIDIA program settings - OBS - Integrated Graphics.PNG
    NVIDIA program settings - OBS - Integrated Graphics.PNG
    67 KB · Views: 170
  • NVIDIA program settings - XBOX - Integrated Graphics.PNG
    NVIDIA program settings - XBOX - Integrated Graphics.PNG
    62.4 KB · Views: 171
  • Adding Display capture.PNG
    Adding Display capture.PNG
    36 KB · Views: 168
  • OBS screen showing black screen on display capture.PNG
    OBS screen showing black screen on display capture.PNG
    31.1 KB · Views: 169
  • Adding Game Capture Window for Xbox Console Companion.PNG
    Adding Game Capture Window for Xbox Console Companion.PNG
    42.2 KB · Views: 154
  • OBS Screen showing black screen on game capture.PNG
    OBS Screen showing black screen on game capture.PNG
    33.5 KB · Views: 147

Narcogen

Active Member
You've got both a display capture and a game capture in the same scene. Don't do that. They can interfere with one another, and just hiding the other does not necessarily resolve this,

16:45:08.708: - source: 'Display Capture' (monitor_capture)
16:45:08.708: - source: 'Game Capture' (game_capture)


To run a display capture on this laptop, OBS will need to run on your Intel GPU. Your logfile indicates OBS is running on your Nvidia GPU. That won't work.

Not all applications can be game captured. Your log shows an attempt to capture the companion app, but no success message. If Companion is a Microsoft App Store app, most of them can't be game captured. You may wish to try running OBS as Administrator to see if that helps.

16:45:43.403: [game-capture: 'Game Capture'] attempting to hook process: XboxApp.exe
16:45:43.443: [game-capture: 'Game Capture'] using direct hook
 

Heducties

New Member
I have tried both a display capture and a game capture completely seperate previously I.e. not in the same scene. I have set OBS to both high performance and power saving to try and switch OBS to use each GPU and still get no screen recording.
I have tried running OBS as an administrator and still black screen
With regards to game capture the reason I am wanting to use this is because I believe it the best for recording XBOX gameplay as the Xbox needs to stream to the app to be able to then screen capture with OBS. I think a display capture wouldn’t be as good quality etc.

Do you have any other suggestions?
 

Narcogen

Active Member
No. Display capture is the workaround on applications that can't be game captured, like certain games (Destiny 2) certain applications (MS Edge) or MS app store apps that also can't be hooked into the way game capture works.

The difference between game capture and display capture is not quality, it is latency/efficiency.

A capture card is better than either for capturing footage from a console.
 

Heducties

New Member
Ok but even trying to do a screen capture won’t work on its own. Was there anything in the log that you could see of the display capture that might be causing the black screen issue?
I can do another test run and post the log for that if needs be.
 

FerretBomb

Active Member
I have the same issue... I have tried everything, but the display capture still doesn't work... All that I have is a gray screen

Here is my Log: https://obsproject.com/logs/9EDN8f0m0LRFR7zx
19:16:04.773: Loading up D3D11 on adapter NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 (0)
You're doing the same thing. OBS is running on your nVidia GPU, and if you want to use a Display Capture it has to run on the integrated GPU. One of the BIG down sides to using a laptop for livestreaming. Be aware that if you swap to the integrated GPU, you will NOT be able to use Window or Game capture sources.
 

vicfaustini

New Member
How can I swap it? I already changed it in the nvidia settings but it still doesn't work... I have tried other softwares and I was be able to record my screen well... just in OBS i'm having this problem :(
 

BluePeer

Member
1. You have 2 Display

4:19:21.482: output 0: pos={0, 0}, size={1920, 1080}, attached=true
14:19:21.482: output 1: pos={-1000, 1080}, size={3840, 2160}, attached=true

you try record on a display look at screen of "Display 1: 1366x768 @ 0,0"
if you try to record the wrong display with the wrong device it can't work
 
Top