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Active: 1370 users

OBS lowers encoded frames when I switch to SC2

Forum Index > Tech Support
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RyoNara
Profile Joined October 2011
Germany9 Posts
Last Edited: 2014-03-17 03:25:23
March 17 2014 03:23 GMT
#1
Hi,

I have recently upgraded my PC and finally have found some time to figure out
my stream settings. I have read on these and the OBS forums for guidance and
set up my stream accordingly - at least I believe so.

But I have a problem that is seemingly disconnected from bandwith and/or CPU usage.
If I am streaming (1600/900, 30fps) my stream looks fine, with minor stutters and/or
pixelation. Those I tribute to my amazing ~800kBit upload (thanks Germany!) and
are not the problem I want to solve here.

So stream is running fine as long as I do not have the game (SCII) in focus - as in I
have selected any other window (win7), OBS is claiming 0 dropped frames, 800kbit up
and 30 FPS. Great. CPU usage varies between 50% and 60% on the "veryfast" preset.
I can setup my windows so that I can see my, not yet focussed, SC2 fully and the OBS
FPS next to it. As soon as I click into the window - wich does not change my CPU usage
or my ingame FPS or anything that is displayed on my screen or on the resulting stream
- the FPS that OBS encodes drops to a whopping 8 FPS.

I have tried to change Bandwidth, Encoding preset, resolutions and FPS settings to all
possible extreme values - both high and low - and always hit the same result.
As soon as I switch to the game the encoded FPS drop drastically to around 8 FPS.

Now my only guess here was, that windows somehow throttles the process as soon
as it is considered in the background, but changing process priority or designating cores
does not have any significant impact too...

I am at a loss - can anyone help?

i5 4670k
8GB RAM
Windows 7

Thanks,
RyoNara
"I know you are out there. [...]" -Neo
Cyro
Profile Blog Joined June 2011
United Kingdom20322 Posts
Last Edited: 2014-03-17 08:54:02
March 17 2014 08:49 GMT
#2
Are you using Game Capture with nothing else in your sources?

CPU usage varies between 50% and 60% on the "veryfast" preset.


That's a lot, even for high resolutions

you should probably be using 2.0x resolution downscale with that limited bitrate (and ~medium preset, though you can adjust that after it works)
"oh my god my overclock... I got a single WHEA error on the 23rd hour, 9 minutes" -Belial88
RyoNara
Profile Joined October 2011
Germany9 Posts
March 17 2014 18:57 GMT
#3
How is 50% a lot ?

Should I not aim to use way more than that while streaming and plaing? ~80% sounds like something i would aim for?

The OBS Forum is telling me, that my "terrible" graphics card is the issue - wich should not have anything to do with
the problem described. I tried XSplit today and had no such issues at all.
"I know you are out there. [...]" -Neo
R1CH
Profile Blog Joined May 2007
Netherlands10341 Posts
March 17 2014 19:02 GMT
#4
On March 17 2014 17:49 Cyro wrote:
and ~medium preset, though you can adjust that after it works

Just... no.
AdministratorTwitter: @R1CH_TL
TL+ Member
Cyro
Profile Blog Joined June 2011
United Kingdom20322 Posts
Last Edited: 2014-03-17 19:22:43
March 17 2014 19:09 GMT
#5
On March 18 2014 04:02 R1CH wrote:
Show nested quote +
On March 17 2014 17:49 Cyro wrote:
and ~medium preset, though you can adjust that after it works

Just... no.


What's wrong with medium preset 800x450, 30fps on a 4670k? At least provide reasoning.

Can't really do it @1080 (5.76x the resolution) but it's pretty laughable on even a stock Haswell cpu at 720p~30fps and cutting preset from veryfast to medium actually makes significant differences to encoding quality (below that not so much, medium is the "default" of x264)

I see no problem at all with suggesting to use 800x450@30fps@veryfast and then adjusting to 800x450@30fps@medium if stuff works good. Do you see one that needs pointing out?

I know there at least used to be a lot of people wildly changing presets at inappropriate times. 1.5 or 2x downscale from 1600x900 (~17-31% of 1080p) at 30fps and medium preset should be child's play for even a stock 4670k though. I've played with Haswell a lot, they're encoding monsters.
"oh my god my overclock... I got a single WHEA error on the 23rd hour, 9 minutes" -Belial88
Cyro
Profile Blog Joined June 2011
United Kingdom20322 Posts
March 17 2014 19:15 GMT
#6
How is 50% a lot ?

Should I not aim to use way more than that while streaming and plaing? ~80% sounds like something i would aim for?


It's just quite high. Spikes in CPU load are way higher than average, if it read 80% you'd often spike to 100 most likely with stuff like fast camera pans. It seemed like a bit of a weird number to me because it's way higher than what i get with higher resolutions and framerates
"oh my god my overclock... I got a single WHEA error on the 23rd hour, 9 minutes" -Belial88
RyoNara
Profile Joined October 2011
Germany9 Posts
March 26 2014 02:09 GMT
#7
I just want to confirm that this is a OBS specific problem.

Since my post I have switched to Xsplit and do not have a comparable problem
- although I have others that I will now try to solve
"I know you are out there. [...]" -Neo
herbalshotz
Profile Joined December 2023
1 Post
December 03 2023 10:51 GMT
#8
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