Question / Help Settings Help

[Ornithomancer]

So, I'm new to streaming and I've been trying to play with the settings to try and stream Skyrim. The problem is that I have I'll have a few seconds of smooth streaming, then a few seconds of lag, particularly in high FPS spots.

Here is my log from the last stream I tried:

18:54:55: Open Broadcaster Software v0.522b - 32bit (´・ω・｀)
18:54:55: -------------------------------
18:54:55: CPU Name: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-2430M CPU @ 2.40GHz
18:54:55: CPU Speed: 2394MHz
18:54:55: Physical Memory: 4095MB Total, 4095MB Free
18:54:55: stepping id: 7, model 10, family 6, type 0, extmodel 1, extfamily 0, HTT 1, logical cores 4, total cores 2
18:54:55: monitor 1: pos={0, 0}, size={1366, 768}
18:54:55: Windows Version: 6.1 Build 7601 S
18:54:55: Aero is Disabled
18:54:55: -------------------------------
18:54:55: OBS Modules:
18:54:55: Base Address Module
18:54:55: 00D20000 OBS.exe
18:54:55: 68CC0000 OBSApi.dll
18:54:55: 737E0000 DShowPlugin.dll
18:54:55: 737C0000 GraphicsCapture.dll
18:54:55: 737A0000 NoiseGate.dll
18:54:55: ------------------------------------------
18:54:55: Adapter 1
18:54:55: Video Adapter: NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M
18:54:55: Video Adapter Dedicated Video Memory: 2096693248
18:54:55: Video Adapter Shared System Memory: 2147037184
18:54:55: ------------------------------------------
18:54:55: Adapter 2
18:54:55: Video Adapter: NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M
18:54:55: Video Adapter Dedicated Video Memory: 2096693248
18:54:55: Video Adapter Shared System Memory: 2147037184
18:54:55: =====Stream Start: 2013-06-30, 18:54:55===============================================
18:54:55: Multithreaded optimizations: On
18:54:55: Base resolution: 1366x768
18:54:55: Output resolution: 1364x768
18:54:55: ------------------------------------------
18:54:55: Loading up D3D10...
18:54:55: Playback device Default
18:54:55: ------------------------------------------
18:54:55: Using desktop audio input: Speakers (Realtek High Definition Audio)
18:54:55: ------------------------------------------
18:54:55: Audio Encoding: AAC
18:54:55: bitrate: 128
18:54:55: Using graphics capture
18:54:55: ------------------------------------------
18:54:55: Video Encoding: x264
18:54:55: fps: 30
18:54:55: width: 1364, height: 768
18:54:55: preset: veryfast
18:54:55: CBR: yes
18:54:55: CFR: no
18:54:55: max bitrate: 1884
18:54:55: ------------------------------------------
18:54:57: Using RTMP service: Twitch / Justin.tv
18:54:57: Server selection: rtmp://live-lax.justin.tv/app
18:54:58: SharedTexCapture hooked
18:54:58: SO_SNDBUF was at 8192
18:54:58: SO_SNDBUF is now 65536
18:55:41: Capture window 0x00030428 invalid or changing, terminating capture
18:56:00: SharedTexCapture hooked
18:56:14: RTMPPublisher::BufferedSend: Increasing socket send buffer to ISB 131072
19:19:31: Total frames rendered: 43650, number of frames that lagged: 712 (1.63%) (it's okay for some frames to lag)
19:19:31: RTMPPublisher::SocketLoop: Aborting due to loop exit
19:19:31: librtmp error: WriteN, RTMP send error 10035 (79 bytes)
19:19:31: librtmp error: WriteN, RTMP send error 10038 (42 bytes)
19:19:31: Number of times waited to send: 752, Waited for a total of 2680007 bytes
19:19:31: Number of b-frames dropped: 4122 (9.5%), Number of p-frames dropped: 12430 (29%), Total 16552 (38%)
19:19:31: =====Stream End: 2013-06-30, 19:19:31=================================================
19:25:56: =====Stream Start: 2013-06-30, 19:25:56===============================================
19:25:56: Multithreaded optimizations: On
19:25:56: Base resolution: 1366x768
19:25:56: Output resolution: 1364x768
19:25:56: ------------------------------------------
19:25:56: Loading up D3D10...
19:25:56: Playback device Default
19:25:56: ------------------------------------------
19:25:56: Using desktop audio input: Speakers (Realtek High Definition Audio)
19:25:56: ------------------------------------------
19:25:56: Audio Encoding: AAC
19:25:56: bitrate: 128
19:25:56: Using Window Capture
19:25:56: ------------------------------------------
19:25:56: Video Encoding: x264
19:25:56: fps: 30
19:25:56: width: 1364, height: 768
19:25:56: preset: veryfast
19:25:56: CBR: yes
19:25:56: CFR: no
19:25:56: max bitrate: 1884
19:25:56: ------------------------------------------
19:25:57: Using RTMP service: Twitch / Justin.tv
19:25:57: Server selection: rtmp://live-lax.justin.tv/app
19:25:59: SO_SNDBUF was at 8192
19:25:59: SO_SNDBUF is now 65536
19:26:23: Total frames rendered: 809, number of frames that lagged: 0 (0.00%) (it's okay for some frames to lag)
19:26:23: RTMPPublisher::SocketLoop: Aborting due to loop exit
19:26:23: librtmp error: WriteN, RTMP send error 10035 (79 bytes)
19:26:23: librtmp error: WriteN, RTMP send error 10038 (42 bytes)
19:26:23: Number of times waited to send: 6, Waited for a total of 23362 bytes
19:26:23: Number of b-frames dropped: 56 (8.2%), Number of p-frames dropped: 56 (8.2%), Total 112 (16%)
19:26:23: =====Stream End: 2013-06-30, 19:26:23=================================================
19:26:39: =====Stream Start: 2013-06-30, 19:26:39===============================================
19:26:39: Multithreaded optimizations: On
19:26:39: Base resolution: 1366x768
19:26:39: Output resolution: 1364x768
19:26:39: ------------------------------------------
19:26:39: Loading up D3D10...
19:26:39: Playback device Default
19:26:39: ------------------------------------------
19:26:39: Using desktop audio input: Speakers (Realtek High Definition Audio)
19:26:39: ------------------------------------------
19:26:39: Audio Encoding: AAC
19:26:39: bitrate: 128
19:26:39: Using Window Capture
19:26:39: ------------------------------------------
19:26:39: Video Encoding: x264
19:26:39: fps: 30
19:26:39: width: 1364, height: 768
19:26:39: preset: veryfast
19:26:39: CBR: yes
19:26:39: CFR: no
19:26:39: max bitrate: 1884
19:26:39: ------------------------------------------
19:26:41: Using RTMP service: Twitch / Justin.tv
19:26:41: Server selection: rtmp://live-lax.justin.tv/app
19:26:42: SO_SNDBUF was at 8192
19:26:42: SO_SNDBUF is now 65536
19:28:31: Total frames rendered: 3349, number of frames that lagged: 7 (0.21%) (it's okay for some frames to lag)
19:28:31: okay, this is strange
19:28:31: RTMPPublisher::SocketLoop: Aborting due to loop exit
19:28:31: librtmp error: WriteN, RTMP send error 10035 (79 bytes)
19:28:31: librtmp error: WriteN, RTMP send error 10038 (42 bytes)
19:28:31: Number of times waited to send: 45, Waited for a total of 168028 bytes
19:28:31: Number of b-frames dropped: 592 (18%), Number of p-frames dropped: 562 (18%), Total 1154 (36%)
19:28:31: =====Stream End: 2013-06-30, 19:28:31=================================================
19:32:30: =====Stream Start: 2013-06-30, 19:32:30===============================================
19:32:30: Multithreaded optimizations: On
19:32:30: Base resolution: 1366x768
19:32:30: Output resolution: 1364x768
19:32:30: ------------------------------------------
19:32:30: Loading up D3D10...
19:32:30: Playback device Default
19:32:30: ------------------------------------------
19:32:30: Using desktop audio input: Speakers (Realtek High Definition Audio)
19:32:30: ------------------------------------------
19:32:30: Audio Encoding: AAC
19:32:30: bitrate: 128
19:32:30: Using Window Capture
19:32:30: ------------------------------------------
19:32:30: Video Encoding: x264
19:32:30: fps: 30
19:32:30: width: 1364, height: 768
19:32:30: preset: veryfast
19:32:30: CBR: yes
19:32:30: CFR: no
19:32:30: max bitrate: 1884
19:32:30: ------------------------------------------
19:38:39: Total frames rendered: 11093, number of frames that lagged: 3 (0.03%) (it's okay for some frames to lag)
19:38:39: =====Stream End: 2013-06-30, 19:38:39=================================================
19:38:42: =====Stream Start: 2013-06-30, 19:38:42===============================================
19:38:42: Multithreaded optimizations: On
19:38:42: Base resolution: 1366x768
19:38:42: Output resolution: 908x512
19:38:42: ------------------------------------------
19:38:42: Loading up D3D10...
19:38:42: Playback device Default
19:38:42: ------------------------------------------
19:38:42: Using desktop audio input: Speakers (Realtek High Definition Audio)
19:38:42: ------------------------------------------
19:38:42: Audio Encoding: AAC
19:38:42: bitrate: 128
19:38:42: Using Window Capture
19:38:42: ------------------------------------------
19:38:42: Video Encoding: x264
19:38:42: fps: 30
19:38:42: width: 908, height: 512
19:38:42: preset: veryfast
19:38:42: CBR: yes
19:38:42: CFR: no
19:38:42: max bitrate: 1884
19:38:42: ------------------------------------------
19:38:44: Using RTMP service: Twitch / Justin.tv
19:38:44: Server selection: rtmp://live-lax.justin.tv/app
19:38:45: SO_SNDBUF was at 8192
19:38:45: SO_SNDBUF is now 65536
19:39:06: Using graphics capture
19:39:07: Total frames rendered: 743, number of frames that lagged: 0 (0.00%) (it's okay for some frames to lag)
19:39:07: RTMPPublisher::SocketLoop: Aborting due to bStopping
19:39:07: Number of times waited to send: 0, Waited for a total of 0 bytes
19:39:07: Number of b-frames dropped: 0 (0%), Number of p-frames dropped: 0 (0%), Total 0 (0%)
19:39:07: =====Stream End: 2013-06-30, 19:39:07=================================================
19:39:09: =====Stream Start: 2013-06-30, 19:39:09===============================================
19:39:09: Multithreaded optimizations: On
19:39:09: Base resolution: 1366x768
19:39:09: Output resolution: 908x512
19:39:09: ------------------------------------------
19:39:09: Loading up D3D10...
19:39:09: Playback device Default
19:39:09: ------------------------------------------
19:39:09: Using desktop audio input: Speakers (Realtek High Definition Audio)
19:39:09: ------------------------------------------
19:39:09: Audio Encoding: AAC
19:39:09: bitrate: 128
19:39:09: Using graphics capture
19:39:09: ------------------------------------------
19:39:09: Video Encoding: x264
19:39:09: fps: 30
19:39:09: width: 908, height: 512
19:39:09: preset: veryfast
19:39:09: CBR: yes
19:39:09: CFR: no
19:39:09: max bitrate: 1884
19:39:09: ------------------------------------------
19:39:11: Using RTMP service: Twitch / Justin.tv
19:39:11: Server selection: rtmp://live-lax.justin.tv/app
19:39:11: SharedTexCapture hooked
19:39:12: SO_SNDBUF was at 8192
19:39:12: SO_SNDBUF is now 65536
19:40:14: RTMPPublisher::BufferedSend: Increasing socket send buffer to ISB 131072
19:52:41: Total frames rendered: 24326, number of frames that lagged: 17 (0.07%) (it's okay for some frames to lag)
19:52:41: RTMPPublisher::SocketLoop: Aborting due to loop exit
19:52:41: librtmp error: WriteN, RTMP send error 10035 (79 bytes)
19:52:41: librtmp error: WriteN, RTMP send error 10038 (42 bytes)
19:52:41: Number of times waited to send: 394, Waited for a total of 1414890 bytes
19:52:41: Number of b-frames dropped: 3023 (12%), Number of p-frames dropped: 4955 (20%), Total 7978 (33%)
19:52:41: =====Stream End: 2013-06-30, 19:52:41=================================================
19:56:23:
19:56:23: Profiler results:
19:56:23:
19:56:23: ==============================================================
19:56:23: frame - [100%] [avg time: 3.251 ms] [avg calls per frame: 1] [children: 91.7%] [unaccounted: 8.27%]
19:56:23: | scene->Preprocess - [10.9%] [avg time: 0.354 ms] [avg calls per frame: 1]
19:56:23: | video encoding and uploading - [80.8%] [avg time: 2.628 ms] [avg calls per frame: 1] [children: 67.2%] [unaccounted: 13.6%]
19:56:23: | | CopyResource - [0.831%] [avg time: 0.027 ms] [avg calls per frame: 0]
19:56:23: | | conversion to 4:2:0 - [2.74%] [avg time: 0.089 ms] [avg calls per frame: 0]
19:56:23: | | call to encoder - [62.4%] [avg time: 2.028 ms] [avg calls per frame: 0]
19:56:23: | | sending stuff out - [1.29%] [avg time: 0.042 ms] [avg calls per frame: 0]
19:56:23: ==============================================================
19:56:23:

And here is the video: http://www.twitch.tv/ornithomancer/b/424118742 (I don't start moving around and playing until about 1:19)

I am running Skyrim through windowed mode with a mod that lets me go fullscreen. I have tried setting OBS to window mode, like some places suggested and all I get is a black screen, so I'm stuck with game mode (which I understand is preferable anyway). I've tried changing the bitrate, minimizing the window while playing, changing my theme to Windows Basic, and changing the resolution downscale.

I am running this on a i5 processor with 8gb of memory. The graphics card (it's a dual gpu so this is the gaming one) is an NVIDIA Geforce GT 540m/2gb GDDR3.

I would appreciate any suggestions!

 

[dodgepong]

The problem is that you're dropping frames. Dropped frames are a result of an insufficient connection to the streaming server to upload at the rate you are trying to upload. Sometimes this is because of issues with the server, but in this case I'm guessing it's an issue with your upload speed.

Can you run ShaperProbe and post the results here? http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~partha/diffpr ... probe.html

Also, are you streaming over wireless or Ethernet?

 

[Ornithomancer]

The problem is that you're dropping frames. Dropped frames are a result of an insufficient connection to the streaming server to upload at the rate you are trying to upload. Sometimes this is because of issues with the server, but in this case I'm guessing it's an issue with your upload speed.

Can you run ShaperProbe and post the results here? http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~partha/diffpr ... probe.html

Also, are you streaming over wireless or Ethernet?

I am streaming over wireless. Here are the results:

DiffProbe release. January 2012. Build 1008.
Shaper Detection Module.

Connected to server 80.239.168.202.

Estimating capacity:
Upstream: 827 Kbps.
Downstream: 36554 Kbps.

The measurement will take upto 3.5 minutes. Please wait.

Checking for traffic shapers:

Upstream: No shaper detected.
Median received rate: 802 Kbps.

Downstream: No shaper detected.
Median received rate: 35877 Kbps.

For more information, visit: http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~partha/diffprobe

It crashed on me the first time, but I guess that's because I was watching a stream.

 

[dodgepong]

Median received rate: 802 Kbps.

That'll do it right there. You only have a max upload of 800kbps. Drop your bit rate to below that (say, 600) and keep CBR enabled and you shouldn't drop frames. It won't look very good, though...I would also recommend downscaling to 480p or lower, and dropping frame rate to 25.

 

[Ornithomancer]

Median received rate: 802 Kbps.

That'll do it right there. You only have a max upload of 800kbps. Drop your bit rate to below that (say, 600) and keep CBR enabled and you shouldn't drop frames. It won't look very good, though...I would also recommend downscaling to 480p or lower, and dropping frame rate to 25.

Thanks for your help! It ran a whole lot better, though with lower quality, as you said.

I wanted to say though, that I realized that the upload speed was crappy and that I know for a fact it should've been higher. So my dad and I just went through the wireless settings and changed the channel on the router to try and get less interference. Here are my new results from ShaperProbe:

DiffProbe release. January 2012. Build 1008.
Shaper Detection Module.

Connected to server 4.71.210.213.

Estimating capacity:
Upstream: 2579 Kbps.
Downstream: 32257 Kbps.

The measurement will take upto 2.5 minutes. Please wait.

Checking for traffic shapers:

Upstream: No shaper detected.
Median received rate: 2538 Kbps.

Downstream: Burst size: 44075-44983 KB;
Shaping rate: 8885 Kbps.

For more information, visit: http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~partha/diffprobe

On SpeedTest.net I get over 15000kbps up and and 27000kbps down. Is speedtest not a reliable measurement?

With that being said, does that mean I can bump up the bitrate to about 1400? Also, I'm not sure I understand how the resolution downscale works.

 

[dodgepong]

Speedtest.net is not reliable because it opens multiple connections to test speed, while streaming only uses one connection.

If ShaperProbe says you have 2500 upload, you can try bumping up your bit rate probably to 2000, at which point you can probably stream at 720p. (which may or may not look good on Skyrim, your call)