Question / Help Setup Wizard: What streaming service do I select if streaming through Google Hangouts?

AustinEd

New Member
Help.... I'm just getting started with OBS and am hoping to use this resource as a valuable tool during these crazy Corona days. I'm an educator and would like to use OBS to supplement our online, streaming classes and meetings. Unfortunately, I'm "intermediate" at best when it comes to tech matters and have hit my first snag just a few screens into the "auto set-up wizard" when it asks me to select my "stream service" under the "Stream Information" window. We are currently required to use the Google Hangouts platform for all of our online class interactions. Question is: What service to I select? I don't see an option titled "Hangouts" or anything (or at least not obvious to me) like "Google" or similar.
I would sincerely appreciate someone's guidance on this soon so I can at least get the program set up. I tried searching this forum with relevant key words but didn't find anything. If I missed a thread that already addresses this, my apologies and I appreciate your guidance to the applicable thread. Thank you all in advance for any help you can give to a middle school teacher doing his best to work through this educationally-challenging time!
 

FerretBomb

Active Member
Google Hangouts is not a streaming service, and cannot receive RTMP output from OBS.

You can install the OBS-VirtualCam plugin, which provides a virtual "webcam" that you can then use in a Hangout session, just like selecting any other webcam.
 

AustinEd

New Member
Google Hangouts is not a streaming service, and cannot receive RTMP output from OBS.

You can install the OBS-VirtualCam plugin, which provides a virtual "webcam" that you can then use in a Hangout session, just like selecting any other webcam.

YES! Perfect. I knew I was missing something. Once I install that camera will it show up as an option to select at that set-up screen? I'm still not sure what to select for "select streaming service" when asked during set-up.
 

Narcogen

Active Member
Nothing. If you're just using OBS to provide content to Google Hangouts via the virtualcam plugin, you're not actually streaming to anything.

Google Hangouts is not a streaming service. The streaming services OBS supports are platforms like YouTube, Twitch, Mixer, etc. Not Google Hangouts, which is not a streaming service.
 

AustinEd

New Member
Nothing. If you're just using OBS to provide content to Google Hangouts via the virtualcam plugin, you're not actually streaming to anything.

Google Hangouts is not a streaming service. The streaming services OBS supports are platforms like YouTube, Twitch, Mixer, etc. Not Google Hangouts, which is not a streaming service.

OK... so just select any of the listed options and move on? Whatever I choose won't really matter in this case? They just require me to choose something and want to make sure my choice doesn't screw anything up.
 

Narcogen

Active Member
Yup, it won't matter, since you're just using OBS for compositing/video switching and won't ever be pressing the "Start streaming" button.
 

AustinEd

New Member
So I've solved that problem thanks to your help. Now, although I've downloaded and installed the OBS-VirtualCam it is not showing up under the "Tools" pull-down menu. I confirmed it's actually installed, but I don't know how to get it to show up under the Tools menu. Maybe I need to start a separate thread. I searched online and only found REALLY complicated instructions that involved going into that "black box" type screen (not sure of it's real name... it's where it looks like old-school computer coding with line-by-line code). I'm hoping to find an easier solution for this OBS nube.
 

FerretBomb

Active Member
It sounds like it may not have been installed correctly. Getting plugins installed right can be tricky at first, unzipping the stuff to the right place.

Do a test recording of about 30 seconds, then without closing OBS (after the recording has been stopped) go to the Help menu, Log Files, Upload Current Log File, and paste the URL it gives you here. We should be able to see if it was found and loaded, or if there was a problem loading it, or if it just wasn't found at all (mis-installed).
 

AustinEd

New Member
It sounds like it may not have been installed correctly. Getting plugins installed right can be tricky at first, unzipping the stuff to the right place.

Do a test recording of about 30 seconds, then without closing OBS (after the recording has been stopped) go to the Help menu, Log Files, Upload Current Log File, and paste the URL it gives you here. We should be able to see if it was found and loaded, or if there was a problem loading it, or if it just wasn't found at all (mis-installed).

Thanks: If it makes any difference, I used the "Installer" option as opposed to the Zip file option. That was what the website recommended. ("The installer and compressed file can be found in Release Page. Using installer is recommended, but if you want to use compressed file to install manually , please follow these instructions...")

I'll follow your instructions though and try posting that URL as soon as I have the opportunity to get back to the computer I'm using it on.
 

AustinEd

New Member
Thanks: If it makes any difference, I used the "Installer" option as opposed to the Zip file option. That was what the website recommended. ("The installer and compressed file can be found in Release Page. Using installer is recommended, but if you want to use compressed file to install manually , please follow these instructions...")

I'll follow your instructions though and try posting that URL as soon as I have the opportunity to get back to the computer I'm using it on.
It sounds like it may not have been installed correctly. Getting plugins installed right can be tricky at first, unzipping the stuff to the right place.

Do a test recording of about 30 seconds, then without closing OBS (after the recording has been stopped) go to the Help menu, Log Files, Upload Current Log File, and paste the URL it gives you here. We should be able to see if it was found and loaded, or if there was a problem loading it, or if it just wasn't found at all (mis-installed).


Here's the URL it gave me: https://obsproject.com/logs/e5p_x-thG3k9YSOP
 

FerretBomb

Active Member
Yep, it didn't install correctly. Did you have OBS open while it was installing? Have you exited and restarted OBS since then?
If it was installed correctly it would have 'obs-virtualoutput.dll' in the Loaded Modules section of the log.
 

AustinEd

New Member
Yep, it didn't install correctly. Did you have OBS open while it was installing? Have you exited and restarted OBS since then?
If it was installed correctly it would have 'obs-virtualoutput.dll' in the Loaded Modules section of the log.

I think OBS was open initially, but the virtualcam installer recognized this and asked permission to shut it down (which I granted). It then continued on with the installation process. I chose the 1-camera setup option (not 4), and it seemed to finish up without issue. When I opened OBS after the install it wasn't showing up under the "tools".

Would it be worth "uninstalling" virtualcam and trying again? I'm not sure if there's an easy "uninstall" button somewhere in the Program Files or not... It's always frustrating when something you think is going to be an easy process turns out to be... well... not easy (at least for someone of my level of expertise/familiarity). I appreciate your help thus far.
 

FerretBomb

Active Member
I think OBS was open initially, but the virtualcam installer recognized this and asked permission to shut it down (which I granted). It then continued on with the installation process. I chose the 1-camera setup option (not 4), and it seemed to finish up without issue. When I opened OBS after the install it wasn't showing up under the "tools".
Try having OBS closed, and run the installer again. You may need to fall back to the manual ZIP installation method if it still doesn't work.

You can verify if it is installed by going to (default location) C:\Program Files (x86)\obs-studio\obs-plugins\64-bit and see if there is a file in there called "obs-virtualoutput.dll". At present, it's probably not there. If you installed OBS to a location other than the default one, that can cause issues with some things too.
 

AustinEd

New Member
I think OBS was open initially, but the virtualcam installer recognized this and asked permission to shut it down (which I granted). It then continued on with the installation process. I chose the 1-camera setup option (not 4), and it seemed to finish up without issue. When I opened OBS after the install it wasn't showing up under the "tools".

Would it be worth "uninstalling" virtualcam and trying again? I'm not sure if there's an easy "uninstall" button somewhere in the Program Files or not... It's always frustrating when something you think is going to be an easy process turns out to be... well... not easy (at least for someone of my level of expertise/familiarity). I appreciate your help thus far.
Yep, it didn't install correctly. Did you have OBS open while it was installing? Have you exited and restarted OBS since then?
If it was installed correctly it would have 'obs-virtualoutput.dll' in the Loaded Modules section of the log.
Try having OBS closed, and run the installer again. You may need to fall back to the manual ZIP installation method if it still doesn't work.

You can verify if it is installed by going to (default location) C:\Program Files (x86)\obs-studio\obs-plugins\64-bit and see if there is a file in there called "obs-virtualoutput.dll". At present, it's probably not there. If you installed OBS to a location other than the default one, that can cause issues with some things too.


Hmmmm... well maybe you've uncovered a different issue: The OBS Studio is installed under regular "C:\Program Files", not "C:\Program Files (x86)". Is that an issue?
OBS Screen Shot.png
 

FerretBomb

Active Member
I'm on a version that's been upgraded all the way from Classic. They may have changed the default install location away from the (x86) directory in the last seven years. :) It SHOULD be fine, I think. The same subdirectory tree should apply, past that.
 

koala

Active Member
You installed the plugin into the correct main directory, but one directory too deep. You should install it in c:\program files\obs-studio, but you installed it into c:\program files\obs-studio\obs-studio.
 

AustinEd

New Member
You installed the plugin into the correct main directory, but one directory too deep. You should install it in c:\program files\obs-studio, but you installed it into c:\program files\obs-studio\obs-studio.

Soooo. Any suggestion on how I would fix that? I didn't have any say in where it ended up installed since I just used the "installer" version as opposed to the zip/compressed file. It installed without ever asking where it should go (at least as best I can tell)
 

R1CH

Forum Admin
Developer
You shouldn't need to touch any settings if using the installer. Leave the path as is:

WnyfFkV.png
 

AustinEd

New Member
You shouldn't need to touch any settings if using the installer. Leave the path as is:



WnyfFkV.png


I'm not getting that window as an option when I click on the installer. 1st screen that comes up is "License Agreement", then after clicking I accept the agreement, the next screen is "Select Additional Tasks" where I choose to either plugin and register 4 cameras or 1 camera. I've selected just 1 camera. When I hit "next" it brings me to a screen that says "Ready to Install" and "setup is now ready to begin installing OBS-Virtualcam on your computer". If I click "Install" it just starts the process. The window you're showing doesn't come up in the process.
 
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