Question / Help OBS Studio's preview/output stutters, game does not.

A

ArmoredChocobo

New Member
https://gist.github.com/f524bd1512f4ccb08ea948db0c1b3224

The game could run just fine, very smooth @60 FPS, but the preview window starts stuttering at certain intervals, and the output video also shows them. At times, stuttering would subside back to smooth recording, only to return again.

I'm using an emulator (VBA-M) to test this, but I suspect it's also doing this with other games, as well.

CPU usage never goes above 11%, no dropped frames reported (Always at 60).

CPU: i5 6500k Skylake @ 3.50ghz

GPU: GTX960 3GB

Ram: 8GB

I've tried:

  • Changing Priority to high

  • Changing bitrate (15,000/20,000/30,000)

  • Changing encoders (x264 -> NVENC, usually use NVENC)

  • Changing presets to high

  • Changing B-frames (as low as 0 to as high as 4)

  • Making output resolution the same size as the game window

  • Making game window the same size as output resolution (1280x720)

  • Disabling Preview (no effect)

  • Forcing "Game" Scene to Capture foreground window

  • Outputting video to the same HD as OBS is running
Can recreate easily so I can make a video.

This is really infuriating and it's killing my mood to record.
 
Fenrir

Fenrir

Forum Admin
Code: 
20:22:17.992: - scene 'Scene':
20:22:17.992: - source: 'Game 1' (game_capture)
20:22:17.992: - source: 'Display Capture' (monitor_capture)
20:22:17.992: - source: 'Window Capture' (window_capture)

Mixing all those in the same scene unless absolutely necessary is usually a bad idea. If game capture is working with the emu, can you remove the window/display capture from the scene and see if that helps?
 
A

ArmoredChocobo

New Member
Fenrir said:
Code: 
20:22:17.992: - scene 'Scene':
20:22:17.992: - source: 'Game 1' (game_capture)
20:22:17.992: - source: 'Display Capture' (monitor_capture)
20:22:17.992: - source: 'Window Capture' (window_capture)

Mixing all those in the same scene unless absolutely necessary is usually a bad idea. If game capture is working with the emu, can you remove the window/display capture from the scene and see if that helps?
Click to expand...

Still stuttering and has jumpy frames.

https://gist.github.com/5ccf6b6ec9011d5ba0cc7b2c01038bea
 
Fenrir

Fenrir

Forum Admin
Can you provide a quick video sample of what's going on? The logs say everything in OBS is performing fine, there's no skipped or lagged frames.
 
CreeCyan

CreeCyan

New Member
I've got almost exactly the same problem. I've uploaded a video of both the main game screen and OBS preview on secondary monitor, filmed with phone at 1080p@60, the difference in smoothness is very noticeable, imho: https://youtu.be/JlewTgtOU3g
It looks like the same stutter as the op is getting. And, as in his case, changing output resolutions, bitrates, presets, closing preview window, disconnecting the secondary monitor, changing from x264 to NVENC, etc., nothing changes the end result - that micro stutter is there and in the end result, be it in stream or recording. Very frustrating. I've got a powerful rig (5820k OC@4.3, GTX980Ti) running all of this, and even with 25% CPU utilisation, the stutter remains. Turning up the quality settings, using up to 80% - the image looks great, no frames dropped, but that same stutter remains. It seems like it's not performance linked and originates somewhere else.

BUT! Here's an interesting observation I made - there is a way to minimise that stuttering, and it is to do with rescaling in my case. Here's how it works: in OBS video settings I set the canvas resolution to my desired output resolution = 1920x1080. My monitor is at 2560x1440, so I have to just manually make the image fit into the preview screen. I noticed that doing this means the scale filtering is disabled. The resulting image quality is worse, but there a lot less stutter - it's still there, but just occasional, almost like those hiccups now come with at decreased frequency. Going back to display res canvas and bicubic or lanczos makes the stuttering worse, all while CPU load in OBS is reported at 1.2%, overall CPU is at 40% and the GPU is happily rendering around 120 fps. So there is something going on with scaling and how OBS handles it, I think.

P.S.: Could be also something to do with how the frames are accessed on the GPU? This stutter is present with Dxtory too. Only Shadowplay offers a smooth stream/recording with no stutter at all, but we all know the problems that come with using Shadowplay.
 
Fenrir

Fenrir

Forum Admin
What framerate are the games running at? You can try checking the "Limit Capture Framerate" option in the game capture properties, sometimes that can help smooth things out.
 
CreeCyan

CreeCyan

New Member
Fenrir said:
What framerate are the games running at? You can try checking the "Limit Capture Framerate" option in the game capture properties, sometimes that can help smooth things out.
Click to expand...

Depends on the game, of course, but usually around 120 fps, sometimes higher, for example, Overwatch is capped at 175 fps for me (10 fps above display refresh rate). Wouldn't that option limit my game to 60 fps?

UPDATE: OK, tried with "Limit Capture Framerate" - it made the stuttering worse. Game was still running at around 100 fps, so I guess it didn't limit the game fps.
 
Last edited:
Narcogen

Narcogen

Active Member
No stream attempt in the log.

Also, suggest making your own thread rather than bumping one that is 1.5 years old and may be unrelated to your issue, and is certainly from an older version of OBS than the one you're using-- this thread is from OBS 18 and you're using 21.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top