Question / Help (Win 10, OBS 240.0.3) 98% Of Frames dropped, despite low GPU & CPU load

FiftyTifty

New Member
Having used OBS just fine on Windows 7, with the exact same hardware, this should just work. But after doing a fresh install of Windows 10, OBS refuses to do it's job. My CPU usage is ~50% when playing Conan Exiles, with OBS reporting 1.2% CPU usage. My GPU is working just fine at a constant 60fps, and even the preview in OBS is also at 60fps.

But the moment I start recording, only a couple frames are displayed throughout the whole video. Audio is fine, oddly enough. The video is being written to a 3TB HDD, which has no use activity outside of OBS when recording.

Here is the log: https://pastebin.com/5bm3tSDy

OS: Win 10 x64
CPU: i7 6700k @ 4.0GHz
GPU: AMD RX Vega 56 8GB
RAM: 32GB DDR4 @ 3000MHz
 
D

Deleted member 121471

1) OBS settings --> Advanced --> Change "Colour format" to NV12, "Colour Space" to 709, Colour range" to Partial;
2) Cap your FPS with VSYNC or other forms of FPS limiter;
3) Update your Windows installation because a recent update contains fixes that help OBS play well with other applications that use GPU resources, as long as "Game Mode" is turned on, in Windows 10 settings --> "Gaming" category.

These are the main things to change, will need new logs if you're still having issues after trying them out.
 
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FiftyTifty

New Member
Unfortunately, that affect the issue in any way. FPS Is always capped with VSync to 60, as was the case when I posted the first log. Enabled Windows 10's Game Mode, and it made no difference. Windows is fully updated as well. Here is the log after applying your suggestions: https://pastebin.com/bwD9KWfB

Edit: The dropped frames are fewer, as I only recorded for a few seconds. If I record for 10 or 20 seconds, as I did previously, the log reports 98% frames dropped.

Now that I think about it, I was running an older version of OBS on Windows 7. It was some 23.0.# version, whereas the latest one is 24.0.3. I'll try and download the old version to see if that makes any difference.
 

FiftyTifty

New Member
I've found some very bizarre behaviour. When I've alt-tabbed from the game, the FPS still staying at a constant 60fps, and then record with OBS in the foreground (game active in the background), it records just fine. And if I then go back into the game, the recording goes back to dropping an insane number of frames.

When monitoring with Task Manager, when OBS is recording in the foreground (game in background), OBS' GPU usage is only 1% or so. And when I alt-tab back into the game, OBS' GPU usage skyrockets to 60%, and the frames drop like crazy.

Here's the log: https://pastebin.com/SZtBux8D
Here's a video demonstrating that behaviour: https://mega.nz/#!qgNEGA5C!4JbmC0I5UD02CMOiaD7a0iX86oJTkJ7aiedy5A0-oYs

At time 0:00 to 0:05, the game is in the background. At 0:05 to 0:15, the game is in the foreground.

Edit: Here's another video. I alt-tab several times, and whenever I do, OBS properly records every frame. The moment I alt-tab back in, it drops all the frames. There is no movement either, all I'm doing is just alt-tabbing repeatedly: https://mega.nz/#!K4NiBICJ!jKnTQXnTPl4MjjxZGQqaEDODMKY3sSUVuNxK7oO3W2U

Log: https://pastebin.com/0HqY6zMH
 
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D

Deleted member 121471

Your logs still show mild to severe GPU overloading.

Could you test the following:

1) For troubleshooting purposes, set game to 1080p (changing OBS canvas accordingly), high settings, VSYNC still on;
2) Reset encoder, blank preset, Balanced Quality, Rate control set to CQP at 20 I-frame and P-frame;
3) Your windows version is still not the latest so, until you update it, Game Mode turned on is detrimental to OBS performance.

If you still have issues after doing 1), there's something else going on.
 
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FiftyTifty

New Member
I should mention, I got a deal on Windows 10 LTSC, which I purchased and installed as it avoids all the telemetry, along with all the mandatory untested updates, enforced Windows Defender, etc. It's based on Windows 10 1809, but gets security updates and fixes regularly. The next LTSC revision is due some time between 2021-2022.

Anywho, Game Mode is still turned off, as is Game Bar and the Xbox stuff.

I set the base canvas to 1080p, used your settings, set the game to 1080p, and it recorded fine. Put it back to 1440p, and the issue appeared again.

However, this is not right. When I alt-tab, with the GPU usage still being the exact same in both Task Manager, and AMD's Wattman, with the game in the background still at 60fps, it records completely fine, even if I record for several minutes continuously. It also shows up fine in the OBS scene monitor while recording, even when the game is in the foreground.

This did not happen in Windows 7 with my GPU at 100%, in both this game, and Plague Tale Innocence running at 60fps, at the same resolution and settings.

Here's the log for the first run (1080p), windowed: https://pastebin.com/cV5DcS4k
For the second (1440p), windowed: https://pastebin.com/VqKwQHp7
For the third (1440p), borderless windowed: https://pastebin.com/dUqEi5WJ

If it was an issue of my GPU being maxed out (which absolutely is not a problem, due to the dedicated hardware encoder on all GCN, Vega, and RDNA GPUs), why would it be completely fine when alt tabbed, with the GPU still being fully used? Moreover, why did this exact same scenario record perfectly in Windows 7?

Edit: On a whim, I tried running the game in exclusive fullscreen. It now takes about 6 seconds for frames to start being dropped, rather than immediately upon refocusing to the game window when in borderless windowed. Log: https://pastebin.com/A3u2UeP9
 

FiftyTifty

New Member
Update: Changing the Recording settings to use OpenCL Transfer helped immensely. Now there is only a slight stutter every few seconds.

2nd Update: Enabling OpenCL Conversion, and High Quality Motion Boost, completely fixed the issue. Here is a screenshot of my settings: https://i.imgur.com/0AsDRSU.png
 
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D

Deleted member 121471

That is incredibly bizarre, as those OpenCL options only help with slower processors and have either none or negative impact with faster ones.

Also, if you rescale in the "Output" category, you are using your CPU to do it, which is generally not advisable unless you are streaming and recording at the same time, each using a different resolution.

Using the "Video" category rescale options instead uses GPU, which is much more efficient.

As a sidenote, the way OBS uses hardware capture is NOT as efficient as ReLive. GPU overload has negative impact on GPU encoding.
 
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FiftyTifty

New Member
That is incredibly bizarre, as those OpenCL options only help with slower processors and have either none or negative impact with faster ones.

Also, if you rescale in the "Output" category, you are using your CPU to do it, which is generally not advisable unless you are streaming and recording at the same time, each using a different resolution.

Using the "Video" category rescale options instead uses GPU, which is much more efficient.

As a sidenote, the way OBS uses hardware capture is NOT as efficient as ReLive. GPU overload has negative impact on GPU encoding.

Right? OBS Appears to just be completely borked on Windows 10. Nice shout out for the Output recommendation, I assumed it was all done by the GPU encoder. And see, that's the odd shit. ReLive doesn't have the insane frame drop that OBS does without the OpenCL options enabled.

And it's not like my CPU is chugging. Conan Exiles only stresses the one core due to it using Direct3D 11, With all four of my cores being used to a grand total of 55% usage. OBS Just sits there at 0%.

It's definitely something fucked with OBS, because of that alt-tab behaviour. Because it records perfectly fine, 0 dropped frames, until you tab back in and it's right back to dropping every single frame.
 

Stefs

New Member
I have ten problems with upgrading to Win 10, still worrying about the picture and uploading videos to the non-live video market; But the GPU goes 99%, when it is possible to turn on by clicking not manage to encode in the task manager is seen extra activity. B: Unfortunately I think it's connected with Win 10 because I went to Win 7 and everything worked as it should.

Whichever setting I set always the same, but most lag is when scaling through OUTPUT, where I need rescaling to 2K (2560x1440) for youtube. Is it possible for the developers to check it out or need to do anything for us?

It is quite unpleasant, Shadowplay works without problems, but does not have the possibility of rescaling to 2K.


Thanks for any ATEAM advice! ;-)


Gainward GTX 1070 Phoenix 8GB
 

FiftyTifty

New Member
I have ten problems with upgrading to Win 10, still worrying about the picture and uploading videos to the non-live video market; But the GPU goes 99%, when it is possible to turn on by clicking not manage to encode in the task manager is seen extra activity. B: Unfortunately I think it's connected with Win 10 because I went to Win 7 and everything worked as it should.

Whichever setting I set always the same, but most lag is when scaling through OUTPUT, where I need rescaling to 2K (2560x1440) for youtube. Is it possible for the developers to check it out or need to do anything for us?

It is quite unpleasant, Shadowplay works without problems, but does not have the possibility of rescaling to 2K.


Thanks for any ATEAM advice! ;-)


Gainward GTX 1070 Phoenix 8GB

Have it rescale inside the video options instead, rather than the output options.
 

Stefs

New Member
Hi guys, I feel so good that my problem was solved by turning off Game Mode in Win 10 and playing the most important roles in it. Run the program as manager if I run normally chopping persists if I run OBS as manager lags are none. Please ask the developer for a quick fix. My version is 24.0.3 (64bit)

Thank you very much!


The problem is that you have to run OBS as an administrator otherwise the correct recording will not work and it will lag the final video whatever you set.
 

FiftyTifty

New Member
Now this issue has come back. It's not as bad, as it now drops only ~25% of the frames instead of 98%, but it's still horrid. Guess we just can't win with Windows 10.
 
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