EPT
EDIT: IF YOU HAVE ANY BUGS/PROBLEMS, PLEASE READ THE THREAD BEFORE ASKING FOR HELP. DO NOT PM ME ABOUT THIS. POST YOUR PROBLEM IN THIS THREAD IF IT HASN'T BEEN SOLVED YET
DISCLAIMER - READ IF YOU PLAN ON PUTTING THIS GUIDE TO USE
I am not an expert on this subject. The only reason I know how it works is cause I spent 4 hours messing around with different programs and different settings. Some configuration settings I advise in this guide might not be optimal, or even necessary. What I do know is that Camtasia 4 is a buggy program, and that the SC engine is a total bitch. Some settings can affect your streaming solution in a way you can't even imagine. That's why I advise you to do everything I do in this guide in the exact same order, without skipping steps.
I'd also like to note that I have only tested this on XP. Camtasia 4 doesn't work with Vista. You need Camtasia 5.02 to make it work with Vista. I don't have exact information on how to set it up with those 2 though.
UPDATE: Mogulus changed their name to LiveStream.com. Everything should still work.
UPDATE 2: If you are looking to relay live streams through mogulus like an MBC/OGN stream, read wonkmans guide here: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=94495
UPDATE 3: A small recap of some changes, some bugfixes, and general guidelines on streaming can be found here: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=98812
UPDATE 4: RaptorX posts a High Quality setup configuration:
+ Show Spoiler +
On November 25 2009 18:23 RaptorX wrote:
Thank you rage for making the tutorial!
Everything is working great and I managed to get it running with a great quality!
my specs:
XP
Core2Duo 2.50 Ghz
4Gb Ram
Sound Blaster Audigy with the "What you hear" option on to pick up mic + starcraft sound... note that you have to unmute the mic on the playback panel so you can actually pick up the sound of the mic in your stream.
ADSL
15,000 kbps Download
1,024 kbps upload
Camtasia 5.02
FMLE 3.0
+ Show Spoiler [Camtasia Settings] +
![[image loading]](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v234/raptor_x/TL%20Stream/camsettings1.png)
![[image loading]](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v234/raptor_x/TL%20Stream/camsettings2.png)
![[image loading]](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v234/raptor_x/TL%20Stream/camsettings4.png)
I am using x264 codec you can download it Here
+ Show Spoiler [x264 Settings] +
![[image loading]](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v234/raptor_x/TL%20Stream/camsettings3.png)
+ Show Spoiler [FMLE Settings] +
![[image loading]](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v234/raptor_x/TL%20Stream/fmlesettings1.png)
![[image loading]](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v234/raptor_x/TL%20Stream/fmlesettings2.png)
Now the interesting part...
In FMLE I put some settings that my conection allowed, 350kbps as bandwidth can give great quality so you dont have to use the 500k if you dont want, specially if you cant.
Note that you CANT change the name of the stream, if you change where it says "livestream" on the right side YOU WILL NOT GET IMAGE... at least I couldnt until i changed it to livestream again.
I was using the x264 codec and it worked flawlessly I put the settings there as shown in the images...
As you can see in the next images down there, if you see the little square with green color that is my CPU usage, you can see that is 100% right? yeah encoding takes a lot so... after you know that your channel is live close firefox, trust me it helps a lot.
Also play with affinity and priority settings. I have FMLE in a separate core than starcraft and I have high priority in starcraft so it doesnt lag, I also have CPU Throttling on in starcraft and I disabled cycling colors or something like that on the video menu also in starcraft.
When you start streaming the first cam will be zoomed in... that is normal and that is not the one that you will use. You will cue (If you dont have it done automatically) the other one that says "livestream"
+ Show Spoiler [Almost done] +
![[image loading]](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v234/raptor_x/TL%20Stream/livestreamimages1.png)
Note that you will not get image for a few seconds probably even 30 seconds... that is normal and still the other people can see your desktop even if you cant see it yourself there in livestream I confirmed that out.
+ Show Spoiler [Channel is Live!] +
![[image loading]](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v234/raptor_x/TL%20Stream/livestreamimages2.png)
In the last image you can see that livestream picked up my image and my channel is streaming live!
Thank you rage for making the tutorial!
Everything is working great and I managed to get it running with a great quality!
my specs:
XP
Core2Duo 2.50 Ghz
4Gb Ram
Sound Blaster Audigy with the "What you hear" option on to pick up mic + starcraft sound... note that you have to unmute the mic on the playback panel so you can actually pick up the sound of the mic in your stream.
ADSL
15,000 kbps Download
1,024 kbps upload
Camtasia 5.02
FMLE 3.0
+ Show Spoiler [Camtasia Settings] +
I am using x264 codec you can download it Here
+ Show Spoiler [x264 Settings] +
+ Show Spoiler [FMLE Settings] +
Now the interesting part...
In FMLE I put some settings that my conection allowed, 350kbps as bandwidth can give great quality so you dont have to use the 500k if you dont want, specially if you cant.
Note that you CANT change the name of the stream, if you change where it says "livestream" on the right side YOU WILL NOT GET IMAGE... at least I couldnt until i changed it to livestream again.
I was using the x264 codec and it worked flawlessly I put the settings there as shown in the images...
As you can see in the next images down there, if you see the little square with green color that is my CPU usage, you can see that is 100% right? yeah encoding takes a lot so... after you know that your channel is live close firefox, trust me it helps a lot.
Also play with affinity and priority settings. I have FMLE in a separate core than starcraft and I have high priority in starcraft so it doesnt lag, I also have CPU Throttling on in starcraft and I disabled cycling colors or something like that on the video menu also in starcraft.
When you start streaming the first cam will be zoomed in... that is normal and that is not the one that you will use. You will cue (If you dont have it done automatically) the other one that says "livestream"
+ Show Spoiler [Almost done] +
Note that you will not get image for a few seconds probably even 30 seconds... that is normal and still the other people can see your desktop even if you cant see it yourself there in livestream I confirmed that out.
+ Show Spoiler [Channel is Live!] +
In the last image you can see that livestream picked up my image and my channel is streaming live!
Requirements:
- A good internet connection, with especially decent average upload speed.
- A decent computer, preferably dual core so encoding and SC can run on a different core. Encoding a stream while playing SC can be very taxing for your computer, so if you plan on running 2hour+ streams make sure you have decent CPU cooling so your motherboard wont fry.
- Camtasia Studio. This is not a freeware program. I used Camtasia 4.0.2 for my setup. I don't know how well later versions (I believe the most recent one is 6) work with SC:BW.
UPDATE: Camtasia 6 does not have live output so does not work. Camtasia 5.02 works with SC and Vista!
- Flash Media Live Encoder. This is a freeware program, but you have to register at Adobe.com to download it. Download it here. I recommend only installing it after you installed Camtasia and rebooted after the Camtasia installation.
- A Mogulus account. Make it here by following the link at the top right to register your channel.
Step 1: Setting up Camtasia
Note: This part will seem to have useless parts, but believe me, some of them are really necessary in order to get it to work.
The only part of the Camtasia Studio package we will be using is the Camtasia Recorder. Open it up (and this is where it seems to get absurd) and for a second pretend you're gonna make an FPVod. This means we'll be setting input as a fixed region, with topleft corner at screen coordinates (0,0), and resolution 640x480. Then you go to Tools -> Options and open up the Capture tab.
It should look like the following image:
![[image loading]](/staff/RaGe/streaming/Mogulus1.png)
If it doesn't, tick/untick boxes till it does (duh).
After you've done that, stay in the Options screen, but go to the Video tab. Put Video Configuration on Manual. Verify that the frame rate is 10 frames/second and that the Screen capture codec is TechSmith Screen Capture Codec.
+ Show Spoiler [If you don't see TechSmith Screen Capt…] +
Click Video Compression... and see if it's in the dropdown menu. If it is, select it.
If it isn't in the list, you probably have Vista and ignored my advice in the disclaimer. Shame on you.
Downloading the TechSmith Screen Capture Codec for Vista manually might solve your problems, but I'm not sure.
Make sure Screen Capture mode is still on 'Normal Screen Capture (recommended)'.
Next, go to the Hotkeys tab. Disable all hotkeys except for the Record/Pause and the Stop hotkey. It is of absolute importance that you hotkey these to a key that can be easily pressed while playing SC. I recommend F9 for Record/Pause and F11 for Stop. Don't choose F10.
Press 'OK' on the Options screen. Your Camtasia Recorder screen now normally has a little summary of your main settings. It should (I don't recall exactly) look something like this:
- Capture 640x480 region at (0,0)
- Write to .avi
With to the left of it a clickable image labeled 'Fixed Region'.
Try recording for a second and see if the green 'roster' pops up at the top left point of your monitor. Stop recording and see if there's nothing wrong with the image.
Ok, now we're going to set the live output. Go to Tools -> Options and open the Video tab again. This time, select 'Live output capture' instead of 'Normal screen capture'. Then, click on 'Live Output Setup'. Make sure the Live capture rate is at 10fps. Then click on 'Default Video Format'. Image format should be 32 bit RGB and more importantly you should check 'Custom size' and input Width: 640 and Height: 480. Yes, I know its also listed in the dropdown menu, just do it. Click Ok and exit the Options screen by clicking Ok again.
Now DON'T PANIC. Camtasia is buggy and your recorder screen will look like this:
![[image loading]](/staff/RaGe/streaming/Mogulus2.png)
Which of course doesn't make sense, cause you're not recording to .avi at all anymore, and not only are the dimensions and location mixed up, they're also simply wrong. Somehow though, these are the correct settings. If you got your Camtasia to look like this, with the other settings all like I told you, you have just completed the 'hardest' part. Make sure it still has the 'Fixed Region' image like in the image above.
Step 2: Setting up Flash Media Live Encoder
Hopefully you carefully read the disclaimer and installed Camtasia and rebooted before installing Flash Media Live Encoder.
Start up Flash Media Live Encoder and get the 'Encoding Options' tab open (should normally be open) at the bottom of your screen. Change all the settings to make it look like this:
![[image loading]](/staff/RaGe/streaming/Mogulus3.png)
DO NOT USE TLRAGE AS YOUR CHANNEL NAME
Some clarification:
- The FMS url isn't completely visible. It should be rtmp://fme.mogulus.com/mogulus/XXX/username=YYY/password=ZZZ/isAutoLive=true . Replace XXX by your Mogulus Channel Name, YYY by your username, and ZZZ by your password. Example for the people that failed Reading Comprehension 101:
rtmp://fme.mogulus.com/mogulus/TLRaGe/username=RaGe/password=ImHotForYellOw/isAutoLive=true
- The 'Stream:' field should be filled in with your Mogulus Channel name.
- It is very important that you dont tick 'Auto Adjust' on the right side.
- Don't ever change the input resolution.
- Bitrate and output resolution are flexible. Depending on how good your upload is, you can change these. I recommend testing various bitrates and output resolutions while playing games on Lan Latency, to make sure you don't lag while streaming. If you have an insanely good upload speed, you can even stream in 640x480, making the stream quality for the viewers exactly as good as when they're running the game itself!
- The 'isAutoLive=true' at the end of the FMS URL can be replaced by 'isAutoLive=false' . This however makes it necessary to transition to your live stream in the Mogulus Studio. Unless you want to use fancy intro movies, or give a webcam introduction, I don't recommend using this.
- Definately save your Flash Media Live Encoder profile through File -> Save profile so you don't have to bother setting all this again if it ever gets reset.
- Depending on you sound card you of course might see different options for the Audio input. Some people can choose if they want microphone or Stereo Mix (= "What you hear") input, while some can only just choose their input device, and will have to select between Microphone and Stereo Mix in either their Sound Card Driver or the Windows Volume Control -> Preferences -> Recording screen.
Some problems you might have while setting up FMLE :
-If you don't see the Camtasia Studio Video Capture Driver listed in the dropdown menu, your Camtasia wasn't correctly installed. I don't know how to solve this. Post ideas and thoughts in this thread on this problem, cause a lot of people seem to have it.
... (To be continued with bug reports I guess)
Step 3: Optimizing your Mogulus Studio settings
There's some random annoying settings set on Mogulus Studio when you first make an account. Like that live ticker, and other things. I'll give you a brief look around the Mogulus Studio to make sure you know how to deal with these things, or use them if you find them useful.
Open your Mogulus Studio by clicking here. Enter the channel you set up for your SC stream. (Yes you can manage multiple channels. You can even just become a chat moderator for other channels, but let's not get derailed here.)
Click 'Allow' when your Flash plugin in your browser asks you if you want to allow the Studio access to your hardware.
IMPORTANT: When you're recording with Camtasia, you wont be able to click this button for some reason, so always open up the studio before you start streaming.
Go to the Configure Channel tab at the top left. The 'Channel Page Layout' setting lets you choose wether you want a big screen or normal screen setup for your viewers. While the big screen is nice if you're streaming at high resolution, it puts your chat window below the stream, and makes viewers unable to chat while watching the stream without constantly scrolling. If you're going to disable chat anyway, the big screen is nice.
Now, go to the 'Broadcast Live!' tab. Make sure you 'Monitor Audio' at the top right is off, or you'll constantly hear yourself when streaming. If you have low download bandwith or a semibad computer too, put 'Monitor Video' off too.
At the bottom right, remove the annoying overlays from the 'Overlay' tab. Also, remove the stupid ticker from the ticker tab.
This 'Broadcast Live!' tab is the only internet window you should have open when streaming. It allows you to watch your own stream, change to your webcam input, etc.
If people are being annoying in the chat while you're streaming, go to the Chat tab at the bottom right and you can talk to them there or straight out ban them.
Step 4: Streaming time, baby.
If Camtasia Recorder and FMLE aren't running anymore, start them up. Press your global record hotkey for Camtasia (F9 if you followed my example) ONCE (or you'll pause the stream again). Then go to FMLE and click the green Start button.
If you went for AutoLive=true, your Mogulus channel should now be showing the top left part of your screen with about a 10 second delay. Look at the encoding statistics in FMLE for a while and make sure there's no dropped frames, and that both your input fps and output fps are pretty stable at 10fps (it can drop like 0.5fps sometimes).
If you're correctly streaming that top left part of your desktop with the green roster flickering and the image showing up on your Mogulus channel, it's time for the big test.
Stop your FMLE encoding and stop your Camtasia recording for a second, start up StarCraft and make a replay or random game. Go to Options -> Speed and make sure CPU Throttling is on so your computer won't be running too hot encoding and playing at the same time.
Start the Camtasia recording again and start the stream again. Tab back into StarCraft with one of your friends watching the stream. He will probably see the colours as fucked up right now. Make a replay/game and after the game has started, right after your split, first press your Camtasia Stop hotkey, then press your Start hotkey (in my case F11, then F9). Again, make sure you dont press your Start key twice, or the stream will pause. Stay in the game, don't tab out. Have your friend message you if the colours come out ok. Don't forget that there's a ~10 second delay, so it might take a while till he sees the colours fixed.
If your colours are showing up fine on the stream, you succesfully set everything up.
Next time you want to stream, just start up Camtasia Recorder directly and your settings should still be there. Then start up FMLE, and it should also be there. Just start recording and encoding, and you're live.
Some random issues you should know about:
- You should apply for verification of your Mogulus channel, so the channel isn't capped at 50 users max. Verification isn't hard, you just fill out a little form and upload a channel image and when they confirm you're not infringing any copyright laws, they'll remove some of the restrictions on your channel. It's absolutely free.
+ Show Spoiler [Additional requirement for verificatio…] +
Apparently Mogulus decided a verified channel should have running content at all times. Even when offline, some screen must be running. You can achieve this by configuring your autopilot as explained below
Just go to your mogulus studio (www.mogulus.com/studio ). Then go to the second tab from the left at the top (Manage Library). Import a video from youtube by searching for it and dragging it onto a storyboard. Then go to 'Configure Autopilot', one of the other tabs at the top. Drag your storyboard into the autopilot. Then fill out the verification form with all the required fields, and they should accept you pretty fast.
- If your channel viewers are complaining about a laggy stream, I've heard some rumours that excessive chat activity can lag your stream. You can easily disable chat in your Mogulus Studio.
- When a game is paused in SC, the viewers don't see the screen greyed out. Often enough, if they missed the '.. has paused the game' message, they'll think their stream froze. Be a comforting show host and tell them it's all going to be alright.
TeamLiquid's Stream Status Resources
You've probably all seen that there's a page for ret's stream and mine on the TL server, with the player embedded and the status listed on the TL page. The TL Staff is working on the details of how to get a page like that yourself, and have your own stream listed as Live beneath the Calendar when it's online. Stay tuned for any news on that!
Edit: Info here: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=98812
Ok, that was it, this took me a few hours to type up so I hope it works for you all!
I'd like to thank the people who were on IRC when I was testing and giving me advice. I'd also like to thank Greth from SC2GG specifically, since he suggested many possible solutions ( that didn't really work out, but he was very helpful!). Also ret, for trying to get it to work on Vista and being succesful, providing me some more info.
UPDATE Mogulus decided to change the maximum total bitrate to 500kbps for free users, make sure you dont exceed that.
