Question / Help Skipped frames percentage is too high

[M4rW]

Hello,

I know that this blog is full of those but I couldnt find any tutorial or something to help me solve my problem so I am writing here.


OBS: 24.0.3 (64bit)

OS: Windows 10

CPU: i7-8700 @ 3.20GHz

GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 8192MB

RAM: 16GB

Monitor: 144Hz (using 144Hz while recording)


My game runs on 60fps, but on the video still lags. I tried a lot of output and video settings by YT tutorials but the lags are still there. I would really like to start posting videos on Youtube, no streaming.
I hope someone knows how to help me, thanks a lot and have a nice day.
(something in the log file is in Czech, sorry about that)

 

[carlmmii]

Turn off Psychovisual Tuning and Look Ahead. These options (along with Max Quality, which you already turned down) all use CUDA processing, which uses extra GPU resources outside of the NVenc silicon to perform the processing, which depending on the situation, doesn't get the priority it needs to meet frame timing for encoding.

 

[M4rW]

I disabled those 2 options but the encoding lag is still there. I tried to put the priority to high but it doesnt help at all. Should I try to lower my in game graphics or something in Nvidia Control panel ? Do I even have good pc for recording games like GTA Online on 1920x1080 60fps ?
Thanks for replys, have a nice day.

 

[Narcogen]

Lowering in-game graphics won't reduce encoder overload. That just means the card cannot encode your given resolution and frame rate at the selected settings.

I would try CQP rate control instead of VBR and try adjusting the quality setting and see if the problem still occurs. Otherwise you may need to adjust resolution or frame rate.

 

[M4rW]

Okey, so I tried playing CSGO on the CQP, encoding lag was 0.1-0.3% so thats fine. Then I switched into GTA Online, I made two 1920x1080 60fps vids and two 1920x1080 30fps vids. I tried to make the tests as similar as posible and for some reason the 3rd video has encoding lag around 20%. (Those four tests were made in empty lobby, the other ones I made were made in full lobbies. For those who dont know, it makes kinda huge diferences)

What recording quality, frame rate, resolution would you recommend me ?

Thanks for replies and have a nice day.

 

[Narcogen]

1080p30: .4% dropped
1080p60: 20% dropped
1080p30: .5% dropped

I think that's your answer.

 

[M4rW]

Okey, thats all from me for now, thanks for quick help !!

 

[carlmmii]

I'm actually surprised you're getting encoding lag at all with those settings, and even more surprised that you're getting 20% on 1080p60. The nvenc encoder in that card should have absolutely no trouble keeping up.

What happens if you switch to the older Nvenc encoder? As in, the one that doesn't say (new)

 

[M4rW]

So I switched to the older one and did the same tests as last time. I did four of them and they all have been in 1920x1080 60fps.

 

[Narcogen]

Does this happen in simple output mode, indistinguishable quality, large file size?

Just trying to see what deviation there is between your settings and the default w/r/t encoding lag.

 

[M4rW]

No, I am using the advanced option

 

[Narcogen]

I am suggesting, for troubleshooting purposes, that you change to simple output mode, indistinguishable quality, large file size, and perform a recording test in that mode, and compare that logfile to the logfile with your current settings.

Even if you absolutely must use advanced output mode because of a specific feature you need (such as multitrack audio recording) this may at least help track down the cause of your frame drops.

 

[M4rW]

I switch it to simple but there is almost no differences. Whats would you recommend me then ?

 

[Narcogen]

Ok, that's coming in around 2% dropped on defaults, which has psycho-visual tuning on.

If you go to advanced mode, keep your current resolution and framerate, CQP rate control with CQP 15, leave everything else default but turn off psycho visual tuning, does that help?

The only other thing I can think of is deactivating or hiding the OBS preview, because I believe when that runs on a HFR display it can cause problems, and I'm given to understand that the new NVENC encoder includes rendering lag in its reports of encoding lag, so you might try that. You might also try seeing if it makes any difference if you set your monitor's refresh rate to 60hz instead of 144hz.

 

[M4rW]

So I did 4 more tests. First three tests was made on rate control 15 and the last one was 20 ( I made more of them on 20 but there is only one) And there are kinda no differences.

 

[Narcogen]

I have to admit I'm at a loss. Your hardware should be able to do this encode without a problem.

Is the CQP value the only variation above? Preview on or off? 60hz vs 144hz on the display? Run OBS as admin?

Are you recording to an SSD or a spinning drive-- connected via PCI or some external interface?

1% encoding lag or less is not terrible but it just doesn't seem to me you should be having it, if it isn't being caused by any of the items previously mentioned.

Running anything on this list?

Known Conflicts

OBS Studio - Free and open source software for live streaming and screen recording - obsproject/obs-studio

obsproject.com

 

[M4rW]

1.Yes 2.ON 3.Still 144Hz 4.No 5.OBS is installed on SSD but the recording path is set on D:
The only thing from the list is TeamSpeak, I have it always on background
I tried to set the CQ Level on 20 and this is how it went, again this is only one of the test recordings. I ve done like 3 more and they were pretty much the same.

 

[Narcogen]

Okay, so I suggested you to:

1. Turn off the preview
2. Change your display to 60hz
3. Run OBS as administrator

But you did not do any of those, yes? Not in any of the tests, or just in this latest one? Preferably changing one of these elements per test, so you can see which one, if any, causes a change?

Recording path is D. What is D? Is that a spinning drive? If so, what size, make, age? Is it old, or particularly full?

Can you run a test recording to the SSD instead of that drive? Because trying to write to a slow output device can also be reported as encoding lag, I believe.

 

[M4rW]

Yes, I didnt do any of those three. Sorry, recording path is HDD disc. It has 2T, less then 1 year old and currently I have 500GB free there. I will send you the tests tomorrow. Thanks for being so patient with me.

 

[M4rW]

In the first log are tests with no preview and runned as administrator. The second log contains 5 test recordings. First 3 are on 60Hz and the last 2 were recorded on SSD (those were recorded again on 144Hz). I didnt change any recording settings, CQP, CQ Level 20...