Question / Help OBS on 14.04LTS Failed to initialize video

[cassandra quin]

hello everyone,

I am new to Ubuntu and I am having some problems with getting OBS to launch.

My system is as follows:

Ubuntu (trusty tahr) 14.04LTS
Processor Intel Pentium (R) D 3.00Ghz x2
Graphics Gallium 0.4 on NV43
OS type 64 bit
Memory 2.0Gib

So what I have done so far:
I went to the terminal and followed these instructions:
sudo apt-add-repository ppa:jon-severinsson/ffmpeg
sudo apt-add-repository ppa:obsproject/obs-studio
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ffmpeg obs-studio
I got this from this site: https://obsproject.com/forum/threads/ubuntu-14-04-ppa-installation-instructions.16495/

I started OBS within the terminal and got this:

Error: Failed to initialize video: Unspecified error.

In the terminal window I got:
error: Failed to create OpenGL context.
error: device_create (GL) failed
error: Failed to initialize video: Unspecified error.

So I did a search and came up with a similar thread:

https://obsproject.com/forum/threads/video-failing-to-initialize-in-ubuntu-14-04-lts.16510/

It talks about updating the drivers on the Graphics card.

I now have this:
Graphics: GeForce 6600GT/PCIe/SSE2

Still same error is being generated.

So I searched for MESA support also talked about in that thread and got this:

https://obsproject.com/forum/threads/mesa-drivers-should-now-be-working.17681/

it directed me to this page:

https://github.com/jp9000/obs-studio/commit/3967c6354a2f5ce9a08f416c7241d5563e28feb9

it is at this point I am in over my head. I do not know what to do with the information contained
on this page.

Finally I went to this page:

https://github.com/jp9000/obs-studio/releases

I downloaded the 0.6.4 and saved to downloads. I click on it and get:

could not display "obs-0.6.4-installer.dmg"
There is no application installed for "Apple disk image" files.
Do you want to search for an application to open this file?

I click yes but it gives me no choices and only a cancel button.

So here is the point where I am stuck, I either need help with how to use the information contained on
the last two web pages I visited or is my Graphics card Nvidia 6600GT just to old to run OBS in the
first place?

Any help would be greatly appreciated,
Cassandra

 

[dodgepong]

Frankly I think that GPU is too old to run OBS. Even if you got it working, it would be incredibly slow.

 

[ubuntuaddicted]

get the proper nvidia driver installed and it should work but as dodgepong pointed out this machine you're using it pretty low spec for streaming. you have to be able to play a game AND encode/stream which would make your entire machine slow to a halt.

 

[cassandra quin]

Thank you dodgepong and ubuntuaddicted,

I got this machine free from work and was going to use it as a build. I was trying to see if I could get OBS to work
first to see if the tower is worth the expense of a MoBo and newer CPU.

And I thought I had already gotten the proper driver for the card. But I will check again and make sure.

As for an upgrade card do you think that a Nvidia GTX 650 card is good?

Specifications here:

http://www.geforce.com/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gtx-650/specifications

Thank you again for all your help,

Cassandra

UpDate:
Okay, I went threw and checked on the driver for the card I already have Nvidia Driver Version 304.123
installed. So I am guess a newer card is needed for even a quick test. Let me know if you think
the GTX 650 card is good enough. That would fall into my budget.

 

[ubuntuaddicted]

can you game or do anything else that's 3D hardware accelerated? if you can't even play a game what will you be streaming? as dodgepong pointed out that card/driver just may be too old but by the looks of the error obs-studio can't find your opengl (libGL) driver (i think). A GTX 650 would definitely suffice, if you install that you'll also need to update the nvidia driver. this can be a tricky process, first you would need to ensure you remove the current nvidia driver which you would then fall back on the open source nvidia driver, then replace the gpu, boot into the system again, install the latest nvidia driver that's available from "additional driver" (there's other means of getting newer but that will be good enough) and then you should be good to go. Good luck

 

[cassandra quin]

Thank you ubuntuaddicted for your reply,

I will not be streaming gaming as I suck at most games. More or less it would be used to stream a section of my
desktop with the current project within it.

Shouldn't the opengl driver have installed when I loaded in the Nvidia 304.123?

I am really just trying to make sure I can get OBS working before a spend a bunch of cash on upgrades. I would hate
to spend 300 to 400 dollars on upgrades if the machine can not stream.

Sorry for all the questions I can't seem to get my head around what is needed here.

Cassandra

 

[admalledd]

cassandra: The issue of "failed to initialize video" tends to be missing OpenGL extensions (or miss-implemented ones).

For one, that is actually a rather old nvidia GPU. I don't know if 304.* actually supported on linux all the GLSL calls needed by obs. Mind dumping a "glxinfo" that we can look at? I can almost guarantee though that the 6600GT does not support high enough OpenGL for obs.

Also, if you have a "not unreasonably old" CPU and are not doing anything else too intense, maybe using the latest softwareGL mesa+Gallium3d drivers might work for you as they did me:

https://obsproject.com/forum/threads/intel-core2-t9400-and-obs-work-around-software-gl.21056/

 

[cassandra quin]

Hello admalledd,

Okay, I am super new to Ubuntu so I need to ask, how does one do a dumping of glxinfo?

Also by the specifications sheet at:

http://www.cnet.com/products/nvidia-geforce-6600-gt/specs/

states it is opengl 2.0 is that high enough for OBS? or is that the last nail in the coffin of the 6600GT?

Furthermore I found some instructions for finding the OpenGL version in Ubuntu it states:

OpenGL version string: 2.1.2 Nvidia 304.123

Is this the issue? The fact that the card is lower than what Ubuntu states.

Thank you again everyone for all your help so far,

Cassandra

 

[ubuntuaddicted]

Hello admalledd,

Okay, I am super new to Ubuntu so I need to ask, how does one do a dumping of glxinfo?

Also by the specifications sheet at:

http://www.cnet.com/products/nvidia-geforce-6600-gt/specs/

states it is opengl 2.0 is that high enough for OBS? or is that the last nail in the coffin of the 6600GT?

Furthermore I found some instructions for finding the OpenGL version in Ubuntu it states:

OpenGL version string: 2.1.2 Nvidia 304.123

Is this the issue? The fact that the card is lower than what Ubuntu states.

Thank you again everyone for all your help so far,

Cassandra

doesn't look like that nvidia driver is providing the needed opengl drivers for obs to work. You need OpenGL version 3.2 to run OBS, unfortunately

 

[cassandra quin]

Thank you ubuntuaddicted,

That would be the smoking gun I was looking for on this problem. I shall get a new video card and report
the results with new drivers installed.

Thank you everyone once again for all your help on this matter. =D

Cassandra

 

[cassandra quin]

Hello again everyone,

So I ended up buying a GTX 650 super overclocked Nvidia card by EVGA. I uninstalled the original
drivers by typing in the terminal:
sudo apt-get remove --purge nividia-*

I restarted the computer to make sure I was back to:
Graphics Gallium 0.4 on NV43

Shut down the computer and shut off the main power. Installed the newer card. Then...

I installed the new driver by typing in the terminal:
sudo apt-get install nvidia-331

Finally I got OBS to open up and got at least my test of the desktop up onto connectcast.tv. So yes the
video card was too old and the upgrade fixed it.

Thank you everyone for you time, suggestions and help.

Cassandra =D

PS I filled out the actual finishing steps to help out anyone in the future.

 

[cassandra quin]

sudo apt-get remove --purge nividia-* <- typo here

The correct command is:

sudo apt-get remove --purge nvidia-*

I had an extra "I" in Nvidia. Sorry,

Cassandra