Question / Help Settings for recording gameplay and streaming (separately)

[Brandon D.]

I've just recently downloaded the software, never really done any recording or streaming on a PC before, mainly just done console recording with an Elgato and streaming with Mixer/Twitch from the apps on the console, so a lot of settings and what not are already put in.

I've recently wanted to do more with my PC games but all the settings available are a little overwhelming. I did a bit of testing with streaming on mixer from OBS but the stream itself was fairly laggy, more so than any connection issues I was dealing with in the game itself (whereas when doing it on the Xbox it ran just fine with little to no hiccups)
And as far as making good quality recordings (not for streaming) I have this feeling that settings should be handled differently anyways. I could be wrong, which if so I'm always up for a bit of learning.

I've got a fairly decent laptop to run all this on so I don't think there should be too many issues as far as hardware goes, I just need to know what kind of changes to the settings I should be making to have both decent quality streaming and local recording (separately please)

Gefore GTX 1060
Intel Core i7-6700HQ @2.60ghz
12gb RAM

Not 100% sure if I need to post anymore hardware specs but if so let me know

 

[Fenrir]

There are no "best settings." Please understand that every setup, for every use case, will be very different. Any guides or videos that claim otherwise are misinforming. Your best option is to start with a base and adjust as necessary. Test, test, and test again. We are happy to offer suggestions for any issues you may be having, but we will not give you a list of settings.

As of OBS 19.0.0, an Autoconfiguration Wizard was added to help new or inexperienced users select streaming and recording settings that their PC can handle. It can be accessed from the Tools menu in OBS, and then just follow the on-screen directions. You can use this tool to get a set baseline settings for your hardware.

 

[Brandon D.]

Of course, I've seen a lot of people on these forums talking about changing formats or encoders or bitrates for which to record.or cpu usage preset. All of which are settings that didn't seem to be effected by the wizard. The wizard is what I used first then when I noticed streaming quality being less than great is when I turned to the forums and noticed all those other settings in the advanced tab which the wizard had not effected.

The lag I got in the stream is one such issue I am not sure how to proceed to fix, as well as varying levels of stuttering in the recording and frame-rate issues that were no present in the actual playing of a game, only in the recording itself