Question (SOLVED) I have a question about a problem I'm having using OBS for game capture?

[Frag Maniac]

This is for anyone that has used OBS Studio for game capture, or knows how to solve this problem.

Simply put, I can get it to capture audio, but the files are black screen when it comes to video. The files are .mp4, and I'm using VLC to view them. VLC is already set to be associated with mp4, and I know it works with mp4 because I've viewed numerous mp4 ShadowPlay clips with it.

The reason I'm using OBS vs ShadowPlay btw is ShadowPlay is not working properly in the game I'm trying to capture. In my searching others have had this problem, but the 2 workarounds suggested (admin mode for OBS, and setting OBS as a Desktop capture device in W11), did not work.

 

[Zloth]

Steam beta has video capture now. The GUI for saving could use some help, but the system works fine. Have you tried that yet?

 

[Frag Maniac]

Steam beta has video capture now. The GUI for saving could use some help, but the system works fine. Have you tried that yet?

I ended up searching for a basic OBS game capture guide, and I found out I just didn't have Game Capture selected as the Source.

I posted this same thread on OBS Forums just prior, but had not posted a relevant OBS log with it. Otherwise I may have gotten the correct answer from one of the two people that responded there. They don't like to say anything there until you post a log they can look at.

OBS is working for capture now though, and I'm amazed there's zero lag even when running it in the background while playing. It's going to be my go to capture tool now, as I'm finding more and more ShadowPlay has various problems that go unfixed for months if not years.

 

[Brian Boru]

Good stuff Frag—so I can hijack you thread a bit now, ya?

Steam beta has video capture

I have this going fine with Steam games, but can't get it to work on Far Cry 6 which is not Steam. I manually added it to my Steam Library and have played it from there and also from the Ubi shortcut on my desktop, but no recording.

Any idea if/how to get that to work?

 

[Frag Maniac]

Good stuff Frag—so I can hijack you thread a bit now, ya?

Well since it's no longer needed now as my problem has been solved, it's anyone's thread as far as I'm concerned (though I will declare it solved in the title). And if you by chance want to give OBS a try, I can tell you it's not nearly as daunting as some think, so even this old fart could get you started with it. It works extremely well too.

 

[Brian Boru]

if you by chance want to give OBS a try

Thanks for the offer, I may take you up on it sometime. I got OBS going sometime last year, made a bunch of FC5 practice videos with it, but it was just for interest rather than an intention to start videoing regularly.

If I recall correctly, my main issue was finding a way to cut out sections from within a video—to get rid of the stupid-dull bits—but I never followed thru with that. I had thought OBS was also an editor, which it seems it's not.

What editor do you use?

 

[Frag Maniac]

I had thought OBS was also an editor, which it seems it's not.

What editor do you use?

I had thought so too, and was quickly corrected by one of the two that responded on the OBS Forum. After fact checking I found out he was right. In my (or anyone that's tried OBS) defense though, it's easy to assume it's an editor because it has an option right on the video preview page that is for selecting Transitions. Turns out the only thing they apply to is when changing from one Scene to the next. So it only effects how the preview page looks to you when swapping to another page, and has zero effect on the actual video content.

As for the editor I use, it's Avidemux. I used to use it with the x264 codec in Two Pass mode ABR (Average Bitrate), but now I use it with HEVC, which is Nvidia's codec. It's actual H.264, and works well with any Nvidia GPU since the 600 models, which have H.264 hardware encoders built in. The beauty of HEVC is you get the same quality as Two Pass, but in MUCH less time. I recommend changing the default setting to Constant Bitrate though. As long as you use enough bitrate (30,000 to 35,000 Kbps recommended for 1440p), and set OBS' output to 1440p (or resize to that res when using Avidemux), your YouTube videos will look nice, because it will force YouTube to use their VP9 encoding.

I'm not sure what system spec you have now, but the reason I suggested resizing as an option if necessary, is some games obviously yield lower FPS at 1440p, depending on your spec. Meaning I wasn't sure if you play some games at 1080p. 1080p resizes to 1440p fine in Avidemux as long as you use the bitrates I suggested, and select Lanczos3 for resizing. Avidemux is a fairly bare bones tool, which has minimal editing options. I only use Fade to Black transitions, via fade in or fade out, so I'm OK with it. It will also let you trim out segments and you can advance video one frame at a time if you wish. I find streamlined tools are best as far as time spent though, as there's no bloat to slow them down.

The Trim feature is pretty straightforward in Avidemux, just go to Edit, select the start point (A), and the end point (B), and then click Delete. It will also store all Edits in it's cache, so you can at any point click the curved arrow at the top to Undo the last edit, or any number of edits. If you need anymore help with it, just let me know. If you select a point that is not a Keyframe, it will usually warn you the edit might have a slightly rough look to it, but rarely is it bad enough to worry about, and only one frame worth, which in Avidemux is a very small fraction of a second.

I have tried a TON of tools to edit with, including Windows Movie Maker, VirtualDub, DxTory, MSI Afterburner, and even Adobe Premier, and Avidemux is the one I've had the best results with, and the least problems.

 

[Brian Boru]

Avidemux is the one I've had the best results with, and the least problems

Brilliant, thanks a bunch for all that

 

[DXCHASE]

Since the topic of OBS is right here im going to vent. My biggest problem with OBS is using programs like nvidia broadcast to work (even though the SOLE purpose of nvidia broadcast is to be used in things like OBS). Whenever i go to start a stream, it takes me an hour to get the camera to read in OBS through nvidia broadcast by closing programs and restarting them as admin and changing which apps i start up first. It doesnt work the first 4 or 5 times, but eventually it does. So if you have a workaround for this lmk!

 

[Brian Boru]

a workaround

Sounds like you need a multi-boot setup for Windows, which gives you say 3 seconds to select an alternative startup config.

As to the startup config, I have no clue without research, but maybe one of these 3 will help:

How to Enable Programs and Custom Scripts to Run at Boot

In this guide we will show you how to enable programs or custom scripts to run when Windows boots up.

www.howtogeek.com

Making a script to open, configure, and run multiple programs sequentially

While I have experience coding in Java and c++, I have never scripted anything and would like to learn. I want to create a script or a program which: Opens Avast Virus Scanner -deep scans ...

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Run a script on start up on Windows 10

On previous versions of Windows I have used the below technique to run a batch file on Windows startup. Create a shortcut to the batch file. Once the shortcut is created, right-click the shortcut ...

superuser.com