Question / Help Opening 2 instances of OBS at the same time?

A

Aiiiiii

New Member
Since OBS does not yet suppose dual streams, having two OBS's running should be sufficient for me. However, is this possible? Can't seem to open another OBS whether it's 32/64bit or different version...
 
Aiiiiii said:
Since OBS does not yet suppose dual streams, having two OBS's running should be sufficient for me. However, is this possible? Can't seem to open another OBS whether it's 32/64bit or different version...
Click to expand...

Creating a shortcut and adding -multi to the end of the target allows you to open multiple instances of OBS

e.g OBS_0471b\64bit\OBS.exe" -multi
IMlfRct.png
 
Thanks for this. I'd like to take this a step further though. Is there another command line I can use to maybe set the configuration path to another location? I have two streams I run simultaneously, with not only different scenes, but different bitrates, accounts and audio sources. It would be great if I could to -multi -config <config1> and -multi -config <config2> with two shortcuts so depending on which stream I'm starting up my settings are ready to go. I just had a stream run all night with no music last night because it was importing audio from another machine that was off, instead of the local audio because I forgot to update that setting.
 
That's not possible at this time. But you might be able to use profiles for this purpose. You'd still have to manually switch to them in the profiles menu, but at least you can switch between different settings without changing them all.

What you'd then need to be added is something like a -profile commandline argument to specify a profile to load on startup if you wanted to completely automate that.

This doesn't create different scenes though, you'll also have to manually switch between those.
 
You could copy your OBS installation to another folder and use the -portable command switch in addition to -multi. That switch will enable portable mode, which will make OBS store all its settings and profiles in the same folder you ran the executable from.
 
hey, I tried the -multi thing, it works, but when I activate them, only 1 instance is able to record while the other draws a blank.

I set one to record locally and another to stream downscaled to 1280x720.

v0.584b

am I missing something?
 
If you're capturing a directshow source, then the directshow device can only be in use by one application at a a time.

The rewrite of OBS will make the need for running two instances for OBS moot, so that's something to look forward to.
 
dodgepong said:
If you're capturing a directshow source, then the directshow device can only be in use by one application at a a time.

The rewrite of OBS will make the need for running two instances for OBS moot, so that's something to look forward to.
Click to expand...

okae!
 
Any updates on the multiple instances of OBS running; to eg. do a simulcast to multiple servers?!
(or an option to add multiple servers to broadcast to in the program)
 
"If you're capturing a directshow source, then the directshow device can only be in use by one application at a a time.
The rewrite of OBS will make the need for running two instances for OBS moot, so that's something to look forward to."

To get round this, you can use DXtory to output to 2 virtual cams from the game source, then use dxtory cam 1 for stream 1 and dxtory cam 2 for stream 2
 
bigc90210 said:
"If you're capturing a directshow source, then the directshow device can only be in use by one application at a a time.
The rewrite of OBS will make the need for running two instances for OBS moot, so that's something to look forward to."

To get round this, you can use DXtory to output to 2 virtual cams from the game source, then use dxtory cam 1 for stream 1 and dxtory cam 2 for stream 2
Click to expand...

There really isnt a need for this anymore imo, usually people use nginx for multiservice streams now. Its not THAT hard to setup and there are guides in the guide section, it also removes the second obs encoding so it is way better for the performance.
 
I have multiple cameras for multiple channels and this worked perfectly, although I do not need to record the streams.

I would recommend moving the extra OBS folders out of the Programs Folder. I put them in c:\OBS as the root folder, i.e. c:\OBS\OBS1, c:\OBS\OBS2 etc.

C:\OBS\OBS1\OBS.exe -portable -multi
C:\OBS\OBS2\OBS.exe -portable -multi

This way you do not need Administrative rights to run the different instances.
 
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