Question / Help OBS Suddenly Became Unusable And I Don't Know Why?

[pugofwallstret]

Hey, I have been scouring the internet for a fix to my issue. So far I have tried: restarting everything, reinstalling OBS, down/upgrading drivers, removing all scenes, turning on v-sync in-game, using an external frame limiter etc...

I have been streaming and recording (simultaneously) together for about a year. This Monday my stream became incredibly laggy and the recording was also really laggy. Tuesday I decided to record the game Apex: Legends and curiously my preview window was lagging without even recording. I tried putting a frame limiter as most people recommended but there was no change whatsoever. I also made sure to test out a game I never have issues recording and the same problem occurred.

I have attached the log file for my latest recording attempt. Incredibly laggy and unusable of course.

Edit: Forgot to put my specs

Ryzen 7 1700x 3.4GHz
16gb DDR4 2800hz
Rx480 8gb OC

Obs records on a different HDD than where my games are installed.

 

[DEDRICK]

16:50:51.853: Windows Version: 10.0 Build 17763 (revision: 253; 64-bit)

Your Windows 10 updated itself

Disable Game Mode (Windows Key + i > Gaming> Game Mode

 

[pugofwallstret]

I tried that as well. But there is no change. Hmm so it was probably something to do with Windows? I'll go see if there is anything I could do. Thanks for the speedy help.

 

[Narcogen]

Please post another log after turning game mode off. Make sure it includes a recording session.

 

[pugofwallstret]

Here is the latest log. It is legitimately unviewable. I was doing the Assult course in the game I normally play, I have been playing this game since 2015 and recording since then as well. I have always utilized very high fps with no negative repercussions on my recordings. Frame limiters add crazy screen tearing, and v-sync adds a ton of input delay. All in all, I still don't understand why it decided to become unusable this week on the same settings I have been using for years. The frame limiter does help out but It is very inconsistent (sometimes the recording is perfect, sometimes it runs at 30fps and others it's unviewable) and the screen tearing is horrible.

The recording of this logfile plays like it is at 30 fps even though I set the frame limiter to 60fps and the game ran at 60fps.

 

[DEDRICK]

You're facing some other issues here as well, your Audio buffer is maxing out. Your current audio setup is a disaster, your system cannot handle whatever is going on.

You should only have 2 audio devices, Focusrite Desktop and Focusrite Mic.

Here it looks like you have 6 duplicated versions of the same devices.

13:10:00.310: WASAPI: Device 'Focusrite USB (Focusrite USB Audio)' initialized
13:10:00.310: source 'Desktop Audio' enabled push-to-mute
13:10:00.323: WASAPI: Device 'Focusrite USB (Focusrite USB Audio)' initialized
13:10:00.394: WASAPI: Device 'Focusrite USB (Focusrite USB Audio)' initialized
13:10:00.394: source 'Mic/Aux' enabled push-to-mute
13:10:00.420: WASAPI: Device 'Focusrite USB (Focusrite USB Audio)' initialized
13:10:00.427: WASAPI: Device 'Focusrite USB (Focusrite USB Audio)' initialized
13:10:00.444: WASAPI: Device 'Focusrite USB (Focusrite USB Audio)' initialized
13:10:00.444: source 'Reverb' enabled push-to-talk

Then you have 1 failing device and missing VSTs.

13:10:01.647: [WASAPISource::WASAPISource] Device '{0.0.1.00000000}.{4581a1a1-d463-4594-8ba0-a20a3d9e1562}' not found.  Waiting for device
13:10:01.647: source 'Music' enabled push-to-mute
13:10:01.647: Failed trying to load VST from ' »¥|î', error 126
13:10:01.647:
13:10:01.647: VST Plug-in: Can't load effect!

13:15:53.028: [ffmpeg muxer: 'adv_file_output'] Writing file 'E:/obs raw/2019-02-07 13-15-52.mkv'...
13:16:01.300: adding 42 milliseconds of audio buffering, total audio buffering is now 469 milliseconds
13:16:21.323: adding 21 milliseconds of audio buffering, total audio buffering is now 490 milliseconds
13:16:41.378: adding 21 milliseconds of audio buffering, total audio buffering is now 512 milliseconds
13:16:57.756: Stopping recording due to hotkey
13:16:58.373: [ffmpeg muxer: 'adv_file_output'] Output of file 'E:/obs raw/2019-02-07 13-15-52.mkv' stopped
13:16:58.373: Output 'adv_file_output': stopping
13:16:58.373: Output 'adv_file_output': Total frames output: 3884
13:16:58.373: Output 'adv_file_output': Total drawn frames: 3920
13:16:58.373: ==== Recording Stop ================================================
13:16:58.406: warning: 2 frames left in the queue on closing
13:16:58.406: warning: 2 frames left in the queue on closing
13:17:02.057: adding 21 milliseconds of audio buffering, total audio buffering is now 533 milliseconds
13:17:21.453: adding 42 milliseconds of audio buffering, total audio buffering is now 576 milliseconds
13:18:01.522: adding 21 milliseconds of audio buffering, total audio buffering is now 597 milliseconds
13:18:05.741: User switched to scene 'Game'
13:18:21.553: adding 21 milliseconds of audio buffering, total audio buffering is now 618 milliseconds
13:18:22.518: User switched to scene 'Game'
13:18:41.577: adding 21 milliseconds of audio buffering, total audio buffering is now 640 milliseconds
13:19:01.624: adding 21 milliseconds of audio buffering, total audio buffering is now 661 milliseconds
13:19:21.783: adding 21 milliseconds of audio buffering, total audio buffering is now 682 milliseconds
13:19:41.698: adding 21 milliseconds of audio buffering, total audio buffering is now 704 milliseconds
13:19:43.144: adding 21 milliseconds of audio buffering, total audio buffering is now 725 milliseconds
13:20:02.943: adding 21 milliseconds of audio buffering, total audio buffering is now 746 milliseconds
13:20:22.358: adding 21 milliseconds of audio buffering, total audio buffering is now 768 milliseconds
13:20:41.967: adding 21 milliseconds of audio buffering, total audio buffering is now 789 milliseconds
13:21:02.150: adding 21 milliseconds of audio buffering, total audio buffering is now 810 milliseconds
13:21:21.899: adding 21 milliseconds of audio buffering, total audio buffering is now 832 milliseconds
13:21:41.950: adding 42 milliseconds of audio buffering, total audio buffering is now 874 milliseconds
13:22:22.038: adding 42 milliseconds of audio buffering, total audio buffering is now 917 milliseconds
13:22:42.070: adding 21 milliseconds of audio buffering, total audio buffering is now 938 milliseconds
13:23:02.867: Max audio buffering reached!
13:23:02.867: adding 21 milliseconds of audio buffering, total audio buffering is now 960 milliseconds

 

[pugofwallstret]

thanks, I will try and purge the unnecessary copies and failing items

 

[pugofwallstret]

So OBS has become somewhat stable whenever I use v-sync. Still unsure why I would need v-sync now since up until this week I was fine without it. My worry with v-sync is the issue of input lag. If you guys know of a way to limit fps with no screen tearing or a method of implementing vsync with no input lag please share.

Edit: Here is the log file for my latest recording run and the link is to the corresponding video. Stable 60 fps with v-sync and frame limiting just in case (you never know). As you can tell the video does drop frames throughout certain sections making it look like 25fps. It is definitely better than a powerpoint slideshow but definitely not what it used to be. Any ideas on how to smooth out the kinks? Video

 

[pugofwallstret]

So eposvox just made a video showcasing my issue https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyjeJVwKoq0

 

[DEDRICK]

Spring 2017 is when Windows 10 Game Mode was first introduced, since then it has been nothing but lagged frames. But this issue is more complicated than Game Mode and GPU usage.

I've tested several games, even multiple games at the same time in borderless, 100% GPU usage, no lagged frames. I never cap FPS or use V-sync, the only time I ever lag frames is when I alt-tab or have Game Mode enabled.

Check this image out, it's older but still relevant. The only reason I had 3 lagged frames is because I hit Print-Screen.

OBS should be puking its guts right now by all accounts. Now, things do change once you hit Record or Stream, but there are people that can't even have OBS open without lagging frames.