Question / Help OBS capturing what's in front of a window instead of just the window

[gtadem]

Short version: Window Capture seems to capture the window and everything in front of it instead of just the window. Log file: https://gist.github.com/ea40a31a97b5395fc25cac0b797559bb

Long version: Back in 2015, I streamed Hearthstone (HS) while using Hearthstone Deck Tracker (HDT) on Twitch via OBS without issues.

I got back into HS a number of months ago and have recorded a number of HS videos with HDT for YouTube via OBS without issues.

I just stepped up from a pair of 1080p monitors, to a single, much larger 4k monitor. As such, I've been running HS in a window so that I can use other parts of the screen for other things. When I told OBS to capture window (with overlays) instead of monitor, everything worked fine, except that I had some cursor flickering issues. While trying to research this, I found that OBS was superseded by OBS Studio.

I'm trying to configure OBS Studio to be able to record and stream HS with HDT. In OBS Studio, Game Capture is the only mode that offers overlay support. However, it doesn't record HDT. Upon researching this, I found out about HDT's advanced options, including the capturable overlay window. It's a window that appears underneath HS that is basically the overlay with the rest of the screen magenta. I then add a chroma key filter to filter out the magenta.

You can see in this video, that he is able to get it to work as intended: https://youtu.be/vVDLBkl9abQ

I do not experience this success. I've contacted HDT and they suspect what is happening is that I'm capturing the window AND what's above it, instead of just the window. This seems to be the way my OBS Studio operates, and not just this specific source. Because when I place any other window partially in front of HS, OBS is showing it when I don't think that it should.

Is there any setting or functionality I'm missing? Thanks for reading!

 

[R1CH]

12:09:31.200: Aero is Disabled

Turn it on.

 

[gtadem]

12:09:31.200: Aero is Disabled

Turn it on.

Aero is not required as evidenced by I fixed the issue without turning it on.

The issue is that OBS calls screen area capture Window Capture, and it calls window capture Game Capture. Once I switched to Game Capture, both sources only recorded the window I told them, instead of what was also on top of the window.

 

[Osiris]

Aero is not required as evidenced by I fixed the issue without turning it on.

The issue is that OBS calls screen area capture Window Capture, and it calls window capture Game Capture. Once I switched to Game Capture, both sources only recorded the window I told them, instead of what was also on top of the window.

No, that is most certainly not the issue. Aero being disabled (in Windows) means window capture can't capture a single window without showing what's on top, this is a Windows limitation. Enabling Aero in windows fixes that.

 

[gtadem]

No, that is most certainly not the issue. Aero being disabled (in Windows) means window capture can't capture a single window without showing what's on top, this is a Windows limitation. Enabling Aero in windows fixes that.

I'm not sure what to say to this. I didn't turn Aero on, yet it DOES capture a single window. It's just that OBS calls this Game Capture instead of window capture. And what it calls Window Capture is area of screen capture.

 

[Osiris]

No, OBS uses the correct names, Window capture needs Aero to be on to function correctly. Game capture doesn't capture regular windows, it only captures DirectX/OpenGL applications, which are mostly games.

 

[gtadem]

No, OBS uses the correct names, Window capture needs Aero to be on to function correctly. Game capture doesn't capture regular windows, it only captures DirectX/OpenGL applications, which are mostly games.

Thank you for the distinction. It all makes perfect sense to me now. I'm glad that my overlay qualifies and I was able to make this work without turning Aero on. Though I may just do that anyways.

 

[MinecraftGamerLR]

No, OBS uses the correct names, Window capture needs Aero to be on to function correctly. Game capture doesn't capture regular windows, it only captures DirectX/OpenGL applications, which are mostly games.

Thanks for the info, but what happens if you're trying to capture the latest version of Chrome? What if I want to capture a browser game on Chrome? The true problem happens when you're using Windows 7.