Screen tearing in recording (but not while playing)

[CeceWho]

Hello all,

I have started recording Return of the Obra Dinn for a let's play. I used the same settings as for my previous recording for which I had no issues. I saw no problem on the screen while playing. However when I started editing the video, there was a clear tearing whenever I was moving around. I have attached a screenshot and the log file of the OBS session.

I am quite new in all of this so I made a little bit of research and tried a few fixes from the developers ( Command Line Options – 3909 - Support (zendesk.com) ° which did not help. I also tried to change the fps in OBS but it did not help either.

I am sure there is a fix (maybe linked to my screen?) but not being an expert makes all this quite complex... I hope you can help! :)

Thank you in advance and let me know if you need more information!

 

[FerretBomb]

It is strongly advised to NOT use Display Capture if at all possible. It is the worst-performing capture method, and will interfere with other captures... including other display captures.

Use a Game or Window Capture instead.

If it is still occurring with the appropriate one of those, please update and @ me; I've noticed significant tearing issues in OBS lately, and am working to collect more information about the situation. It may be unrelated to this though, thanks to the display capture in use.

 

[CeceWho]

Thank you for your quick answer @FerretBomb ! I did the test again with Game capture this time and the result was the same :( I attached the log file and a screenshot from that test to this message.

This game has been streamed and captured a lot, I may reach out to some of these people to see if any of them used OBS...

 

[CeceWho]

@FerretBomb Also I just tried a different encoder than x264. I could only choose "NVIDIA NVENC H.264 (new)". I tried with game capture with a fast Hook rate. It is better (see attached screen shot) but still present.

 

[CeceWho]

@FerretBomb And the last one for today ;) Encoder "NVIDIA NVENC H.264 (new)" with preset "high quality" , Game capture (hook rate : fastest), video at 30fps. It is better even if the tearing is still present, but at least it is watchable. I am still looking forward your thoughts on this and happy to test your ideas :) Thank you!

 

[FerretBomb]

Thanks much for the thoroughness, @CeceWho! I was about to ask about trying it out with x264, and you already have done so.

Does this happen with any other games, or just Obra Dinn?
Have you tried forcing on vsync in the nVidia control panel?
Are you using GSync or any kind of adaptive-sync technology? (I assume not from the monitor listed in your log, but want to make sure)
Running any of the known-conflicts sofware from the list?

 

[CeceWho]

@FerretBomb No worries, thank you for helping! :) So I will test your proposal one by one and let you know.

First the forced v-sync in the nVidia control panel. I tested both the general and program specific tab (selecting OBS) and it did not make a major difference from the best attempt above (which is still "NVIDIA NVENC H.264 (new)" with preset "high quality" , Game capture (hook rate : fastest), video at 30fps). It may feel slightly smoother, especially in 30fps, so I may keep it :) But tearing is still there.

I have attached the logs and print screens below.

 

[CeceWho]

Next question: Does this happen with any other games, or just Obra Dinn?

I have noticed (since I know this problem!) a slight tearing on other games, but they are games with smoother graphics (The Medium and It Takes Two) so it is not as bad. I think the pixel graphics and few color shades of Obra Dinn makes this problem super obvious!

 

[CeceWho]

Are you using GSync or any kind of adaptive-sync technology?

As I understand this is linked directly to the monitor and mine definitely does not have that (it is quite old). Out of cuisriosity could it help with this problem ?

 

[CeceWho]

Running any of the known-conflicts sofware from the list?

The only think I have on there is Discord. I have disabled it and run the same tests as above, no change.

The biggest impact seems to have been changing the encoder so far.

 

[FerretBomb]

I have noticed (since I know this problem!) a slight tearing on other games, but they are games with smoother graphics (The Medium and It Takes Two) so it is not as bad. I think the pixel graphics and few color shades of Obra Dinn makes this problem super obvious!

No worries, just trying to isolate variables. If it was just Obra Dinn that'd suggest the game doing something weird. If it's there for all games (more or less) it's less likely to be something that could lead to a clue.

Are you using GSync or any kind of adaptive-sync technology?

As I understand this is linked directly to the monitor and mine definitely does not have that (it is quite old). Out of cuisriosity could it help with this problem ?

No, GSync is known to cause this sort of problem though. It's a monitor-side sync technology, but it also causes the frame buffers in the GPU to be handled differently, and in a way that OBS can't cope with. Disabling GSync is one of the quick 'stop tearing' fixes when it's in use.

Appreciate the continued troubleshooting, I'll try to think of other test cases to check, but keep being told that there is no way that OBS can be the cause of this, despite everything pointing toward OBS being the only streaming software that shows it.

Possible other testing:
-Do you have a second GPU laying around that you could swap into the machine? One of the claimed counterpoints is 'failing GPU hardware' as the root cause, but I don't have a spare GPU to test with, myself.
-Have you tested this with XSplit? They have a free version and I hesitate to suggest their software, but it is a testing method.

 

[CeceWho]

Hello @FerretBomb, sorry for the delayed answer on this topic. I do not have a second GPU either so unfortunately I cannot test that either :(. However I just bought a new webcam that came in with a free 3 month premium license for XSplit. I will give it a go and let you know! :) Thank you again for your help!

 

[CeceWho]

Hello @FerretBomb, I finally managed to test with XSplit today and I had no screen tearing at all (see attachment with xsplit). In the meantime I saw new screen tearing on different games since our last discussion. I may switch to Xsplit from now on but I would still be interested in any fixes you would identify as I enjoyed OBS. Hopefully talk to you soon!

 

[FerretBomb]

Thanks for the update and confirmation @CeceWho!
A couple of further troubleshooting steps:

• Try forcing OBS to a single core using Task Manager's "Set Affinity" function
• Try running OBS with the --allow-opengl flag and attempt to reproduce with the OpenGL renderer

Beyond that, it'd all be rolling back GPU drivers and OBS versions until you find one where the tearing doesn't happen, or waiting for the devs to acknowledge the tearing issue and actually investigate. So far it's been 'not our problem, not something OBS could possibly do', of which I'm... quite skeptical. :/

 

[CeceWho]

Thank you @FerretBomb ! I will check the two points above and will let you know. To be honest, Xsplit gave me quite a lot of grief today (the audio settings are just awful!) so I would really want to go back to OBS. Hopefully one of the two points above will work!