Question / Help Unstable framerate even after Windows 1903, Game Mode ON and OBS running as admin

jeanmonday

jeanmonday

New Member
This GPU allocation issue is driving me nuts! I’ve tried everything to keep my framerate stable without going under 720p. I used to record pristine quality with solid 30/60fps on anything, any game. But everything’s going into a downward spiral lately!

WHAT I WAS ABLE TO DO

I ran my games at whichever graphics settings I wanted or needed. I had no problem at all pulling off solid 1080p 60fps recordings, for hours, using the new NVENC encoder back in November 2018 up until, I think, August 2019 when I started to notice some stuttering on my videos.

MY CURRENT PROBLEM

Since that point in time I’m not able to reach the same quality. I’ve tried almost every method I could find after Windows 1903 and, currently, I’m able to barely get STABLE 30/60fps on a 720p recording with my games running at minimum graphics, reduced resolution, capped framerate and with Windows Game Mode turned on while running OBS as admin.

Everything I’m trying is NOT working and I’m going crazy since I’m seeing many people overcoming this issue already!

WHAT I’VE TRIED
  • Any other encoder
  • Lowering my bitrate
  • Lowering game graphics
  • Recording at 30 and 60fps
  • Factory resetting my laptop
  • Capping game framerate at 60
  • Turning Game Mode on and off
  • Setting OBS’ process priority to High
  • Running OBS normally and as admin
  • Turning V-Sync and G-Sync on and off
  • Lowering my encoder’s Preset and Profile
  • Changing my Canvas and Output resolution
  • Lowering monitor’s refresh rate from 144 to 60Hz
  • Changing my monitor’s resolution from 1440 to 1080p
  • Changing my Downscale filter from Lanczos to Bicubic
And probably many more things!

SPECS

I own a Lenovo Legion Y720 with these specs:
  • Windows 10 Home (Version 1909)
  • Intel Core i7-7700HQ CPU @ 2.80GHz
  • NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB (Laptop)
  • 16GB of RAM
I also use a 24” Dell S2417DG as my main monitor for gaming and recording, I don’t use my laptop’s screen since it is too small for my taste.

Lastly, I recorded some CSGO gameplay as a test for this forum post, you can watch the video here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eYzi8PIBe0&feature=youtu.be) and look at the log file here (https://obsproject.com/logs/hnoeF1EgN9cuxUe2). In case you recommend me some methods/settings, I’ll be sure to test them and upload both the video and the log file as a reply to see if the problem persists.

I would LOVE if anyone could help me out with this issue, or even just enlighten me, I’m so frustrated! I had planned to start streaming and/or making YouTube videos this March but, at the rate this is getting worse, I’m running out of hope.
 
Narcogen

Narcogen

Active Member
17:54:32.634: psycho_aq: true

Turn this off.

Some small stutter is unavoidable if you run display at 144 and capture at 60.
 
jeanmonday

jeanmonday

New Member
Hello there, @Narcogen ! Thanks for replying.

I tested your suggestion. I have to clarify that the video on the original post was made with the monitor set at 120Hz refresh rate and, because of that, I did three more tests:
  • Test #1 at 120Hz with Psycho Visual Tuning OFF
  • Test #2 at 60Hz with Psycho Visual Tuning ON
  • Test #3 at 60Hz with Psycho Visual Tuning OFF
Did this because I wanted to clear out the possibilities of it recording smoothly at a 60Hz refresh rate, since you said that "Some small stutter is unavoidable if you run display at 144 and capture at 60". I still get unstable framerate anyway.

Here's the link to the video:

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.
www.youtube.com www.youtube.com

And here are the logs in the order they appear on it:
Let me know if you have any questions or more suggestions.
 
Last edited:
carlmmii

carlmmii

Active Member
It seems like there's quite a bit more stuttering actually being shown in the video than the logs are showing, which would be an indication that the game capture isn't receiving everything it needs to keep up. I do notice you have "Limit capture framerate" checked for your source settings -- try unchecking that. I would also (just for the current testing) keep vsync enabled, and make sure you're running the game in full screen (not borderless windowed... not sure if that's even an option for CS:GO).

Besides that, what's interesting is that every single test results in encoding lag. Not much, but definitely not dismissable. Tests 1 & 3 should have had the easiest time from everything, but same issue.

I'm curious about a few things...

  • The E: drive that you're recording to. What is it? What happens if you switch to recording directly to your C: drive?
  • Do you have any power-saving options enabled on your laptop either through NVidia, windows, or otherwise? (such as choosing battery life over performance, or preferring performance over quality)
  • You're using the max performance preset. What happens if you change that to the "Quality" preset? (avoid max quality for the same reason that psychovisual tuning and look ahead should be left off -- these all use CUDA processing)
  • What happens if you change from NVenc (new) to the older NVenc encoder (non-new)?
  • What do things look like if you try recording 1080p60? You mentioned that you've only been able to get recordings barely working at 720p60, I'm wondering what is causing issues at the higher demand -- NVenc on a 1060 should have absolutely no problem with it.
 
jeanmonday

jeanmonday

New Member
Hey, @carlmmii ! Thanks for replying AND for your patience.

I followed what you suggested in your first paragraph. Every test is made with the game on Fullscreen mode, capped framerate down to 60 and minimum graphics settings (as you can see in the previous videos).

I didn’t keep V-Sync enabled in-game for past tests, in fact, it was even globally disabled in the NVIDIA Control Panel. But, don’t worry, I did these recordings both with V-Sync on and off.

As for your curiosity…

ANSWERS

Q1: “The E: drive that you're recording to. What is it? What happens if you switch to recording directly to your C: drive?”

A: The E: drive I’m recording to is a Toshiba Canvio Basics 1TB Portable Hard Drive (P/N: HDTB310XK3AA). When I switch to recording directly to my C: drive, I don’t see much of a difference, really. Even though it is an SSD (a Samsung MZFLV128 NVMe PCIe M.2 128GB, to be precise).

Q2: “Do you have any power-saving options enabled on your laptop either through NVidia, windows, or otherwise? (such as choosing battery life over performance, or preferring performance over quality)”

A: Well, I actually checked that right after I read your reply. Just changed a Battery option to 'Optimize video quality' within Windows’ settings:

Battery options optimized for video quality.png


And created my own ‘High performance’ Energy plan for these tests since it was set on a "recommended" Energy plan:

Custom High performance Energy plan.png


As for NVIDIA stuff, I went back into its control panel and set a configuration I had back in 2018, disabled G-Sync and, well… I think it’s time for the video and the logs to answer your three other questions.

VIDEO

www.youtube.com

Tests in response to carlmmii's post

Timestamps: Test #1 (0:05) Test #2 (3:05) Test #3 (7:10) Test #4 (11:24) Test #5 (15:43) Test #6 (20:04) Test #7 (23:22) Test #8 (26:05)
www.youtube.com www.youtube.com

LOG FILES

• Test #1 720p60 V-Sync ON NVENC New
• Test #2 720p60 V-Sync OFF NVENC New
• Test #3 720p60 V-Sync ON NVENC Old
• Test #4 720p60 V-Sync OFF NVENC Old
• Test #5 1080p60 V-Sync ON NVENC New
• Test #6 1080p60 V-Sync OFF NVENC New
• Test #7 1080p60 V-Sync ON NVENC Old
• Test #8 1080p60 V-Sync OFF NVENC Old

Let me know if you have any questions or more suggestions.
 
jeanmonday

jeanmonday

New Member
jeanmonday said:
I followed what you suggested in your first paragraph. Every test is made with the game on Fullscreen mode, capped framerate down to 60 and minimum graphics settings (as you can see in the previous videos).
Click to expand...
These 8 test were made without capping the framerate, my bad on saying that.
 
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