[GUIDE] Recording Gameplay with OBS

[MrLewisMHarris]

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So... You want to know how to record high quality gameplay with OBS? or maybe you just stumbled

upon this post because you're an avid forum user. Either way, I hope you learn something from this

Guide, and hopefully I can help people that need a little bit of help.

So, you may be wondering, why somebody would want to record gameplay with a tool that is meant for

live streaming purposes. And the simple explanation for this is that OBS offers a much wider set of

features that many other recording programs such a FRAPS, playclaw, and Dxtory (and all the others)

are just missing. Some of these tools include text over video, PiP (Pincture in Picture) that lets you

put your webcam (and literally any source over the top of the gameplay), and not only these, but OBS

has an extremely wide variety of third-party expansions, so there's an endless amount of tools at your control.

 

"Hey, buddy, why don't you just add all these things in post-production or editing?" - well, Buddy, not everyone

has the time to do that sort of thing, and since people on the internet, mainly in the medium of online video,

are fighting over who can produce lots of videos in a faster time-span, making videos without the need for

post-production or editing means that making videos is more efficient: 100% of the time. And another point

I would like to add is that most of the time YouTubers who post lots of videos don't really have a lot of editing

in their videos. The main things that they use are intros, outros, and sometimes that have edited clips as well,

which are ALL THINGS THAT DON'T HAVE TO BE ADDED IN POST PRODUCTION, but instead can be added live with

the means of OBS... Well, enough of that short rant, I know you didn't come to this guide for that, so.... yeah.

So. The Guide. Here goes nothing.

 

So the fact-of-the-matter is that when you are solely recording gameplay it doesn't use as much processing power as if

you were live streaming as well. for example, you don't need to use a buffer size to process the information, because you

don't need the information to be encoded as much and sent to Twitch's server an the likes (which is what I assume

happens when you are streaming).

 

 

1. Make sure you backup all your current settings that you may have for streaming. One way of doing this is going to:

C:\Users\*YourUsername*\AppData\Roaming\OBS\profiles and then changing your profile name's filetype to something

else. For the example, I added ".backup" to the end. Note: This doesn't save extension settings.

 

The reason for this is so that OBS doesn't automatically use the previous settings.

 

 

2. Open up OBS and you will notice all the settings have reset to default and you have no profile. If you go settings

on the general tab you will notice your old profile is gone, instead you have an "Untitled" Profile. Now you need to

rename this profile to something you'll later identify as the profile you will use for recording gameplay.

 

As you can see, for the example I used "Gameplay". This is memorable, and will help me remember that this is the recording profile.

 

 

3. Time to change some settings BABY! For a start we can change the encoding settings:

 

As you can see, I disabled CBR, put the quality to 10, put the max bitrate to 1000kb/s, and like I mentioned before, I turned on "use

custom buffer size", and set it to 0 kilobits because it disables VBV and allows x264 to change the bitrate itself.

 

 

4. Next up, the Audio settings. You can set this to whatever floats your boat if you have knowledge in this sort of stuff,

or you can copy mine if you like (mine matches most music audio quality)   

 

Pretty simple stuff, but I'm obliged to talk you through it so you understand: AAC has higher quality than MP3 at the same file size,

but has less compatibility, but this DOESN'T MATTER because it will be encoded differently when uploaded to YouTube, etc.

48kHz, because it's obviously faster. 128 - 160 bitrate, doesn't really matter I guess, but obviously higher = better. Aaaannndd last

but not least, stereo... for 2 channel operation... because you have 2 ears. and nobody wants mono. Ever.

 

 

5. N-n-n-n-n-next up is the Broadcast Settings. Not much to change here, just make sure you have the "Mode" set to

File output only. Lastly you will need to set the output destination. I made a new folder in my videos folder.

 

You can also set the file type, with an impressive 2 file extensions to choose from, wow!!! mp4 and flv. The difference

between the two isn't anything impressive, but I'd suggest mp4 because it is easier to edit, plus flv is rumored to have a

1.2% larger file size, which doesn't seem like that much but mp4 = 1GB:1.12GB = flv... so yeah  :blush: 

 

 

To change the file type, just change the "Save as File Type" on the "Save As" Dialogue box.

 

 

6. The video settings are down to you. Base resolution needs to be set as the monitor that you will be recording,

or customize it to the correct size; For me that is 1080p. I wouldn't recommend downscaling the resolution, but

you may need to if you notice any lag below around 30FPS. If you are downscaling you can use a filter if you like,

I recommend Bilinear or Bi-cubic since it doesn't make sense to Lanczos, which would most likely make your PC lag.

FPS can be set to 60fps if you think your PC can handle it, pro-tip: it probably can. and lastly disable Aero if you like   

 

 

 

7. Audio settings. Okay, you can literally use your own settings for this because it's different for every individual,

but I will include my own so that this guide is complete.

 

As you can see, I have set-up hotkeys, and customized the desktop boost, and the other stuff.

 

 

8.  ADVANCED SETTINGS YAY! Warning: These settings are advanced... and to be honest I don't entirely understand them.

 

So in the advanced options tab make sure you enable CFR to enable a constant frame rate. Next you need to check where

it says "Use x264 Encoding Settings", and you need to type the following into the text field.

crf=X

"crf" = Constant Rate Factor in x264, and "x" = A Value for 1-20, representing the quality of the output file. (0 = Lossless)

 

Serious Warning: START BY USING CRF=15-20 TO BEGIN WITH, AS A LOW CRF USES A HECK OF A LOT OF YOUR CPU.

ALSO, DO NOT USE CRF IF YOU ARE GOING TO EDIT, AS IT USES A PROFILE CALLED HIGH 444, WHICH MOST EDITING

SOFTWARES AND EVEN A FEW VIDEO PLAYERS CANNOT HANDLE.

 

To read more about x264 parameters, and High 444, please visit: http://mewiki.project357.com/wiki/X264_Settings

 

So your settings should look like this is you kept all the default ones other than the ones I told you to change:

 

 

Now, start testing your recording settings in-game to make sure:

 

1. It doesn't lag too much when playing the game

2. The footage doesn't looks too laggy, and          

3. Make sure the footage is sharp and non-pixely 

 

Once you test it a few times you can start changing the settings based on what is happening.

Common Problem: My Game is lagging too much to play.

 

How to fix: Try lowering the FPS, and see if that helps. If not, try changing the CRF (x264 parameter) and make it higher, or

just try disabling it completely. Now, if that doesn't work it's probably your hardware, so try downscaling the resolution about

and see if that even helps, and also try reducing the Max Bitrate in the Encoding tab by about 100 each test. If all else fails,

try reducing the quality balance. THIS IS A LAST EFFORT and I highly discourage this.

 

Common Problem: The gameplay is fine, but the footage is glitchy or has lag issues

 

How to fix: If the footage is glitchy then you definitely need to disable the Custom x264 Settings. See if this helps (which it should)

If this fails to work then I guess you could try changing the filetype. mp4 to flv, or flv to mp4. see if that helps at all. If that fails to

work then I'm gonna say it's your hardware, so follow the hardware fix for the above problem.

 

Any other common problems please send them my way   

[soldier01654]

Good tips helped me understand it. Still having problems. I am trying to record euro truck simulator 2 (in windowed mode) but its not working. In preview mode it works (with "warning: high encoding" popping up a few times) but when I go to actually record it only records for like a second and then freezes while still recording sound (presuming that warming still popping up). please could you help me. Having same problem recording my other game too (Space Engineers)
Thanks

[Firearm2112]

Awesome guide! I noticed in my video encoder settings I can change it so my GPU does the rendering. Would this work ok?

[Rashy]

Noice been using OBS a long time, but. Never did understand all of the options. PLUS WHY IS MY UPLOAD SPEED SO SLOW.. ME WANT TO STREAM ;_; GOODBYE RICH STREAMING WORLD.

[MrLewisMHarris]

Noice been using OBS a long time, but. Never did understand all of the options. PLUS WHY IS MY UPLOAD SPEED SO SLOW.. ME WANT TO STREAM ;_; GOODBYE RICH STREAMING WORLD.

if you send me your DL and Upload speeds then I'll try giving some settings to try; also other information will help as well such as streaming equipment and what setup do you have? (i.e. do you stream on a different PC to the one that you paly the games on?)

[zappian]

Awsome guide thumbs up , Favorited!

[Rashy]

if you send me your DL and Upload speeds then I'll try giving some settings to try; also other information will help as well such as streaming equipment and what setup do you have? (i.e. do you stream on a different PC to the one that you paly the games on?)

Normal equipment, down below in my sig. I play game like csgo and dota 2. Im also interested in streaming Nosgoth

[MrLewisMHarris]

Normal equipment, down below in my sig. I play game like csgo and dota 2. Im also interested in streaming Nosgoth

 

Okay, well your upload speed is pretty bad, but you're from Indonesia, so I'll assume your connections also has a fair amount of jitter as well. I don't really have any solutions for you, but if you want my advise I'd say either upgrade your internet package (if possible) to one with a higher upload speed, maybe 1.5Mb/s+ You probably wouldn't be able to stream anything on the connections you are on now, unless you were able to get another computer that would be powerful enough to encode the media down to around a 400kbps upstream, from whatever you are outputting in your first computer, which would probably be quit a lot of horsepower, but the hole in that is that the money you could spend on a new PC would be better off going towards a better internet package. It seems like a bucket with holes in it I'm afraid.

 

If you want my advise for trying to stream with that internet speed then in theory you could try this (but it may cause framerate and lagging in-game):

 

Recommended Video encoding:

• Use CBR?: No
• Max bitrate (kb/s): 275
• Use custom buffer size: Yes
• Buffer size (kbit): 0
• Video Size: 360p@20-25fps

Recommended Audio Encoding:

• Codec: AAC
• Bitrate: 96 (this could be lowered)
• format: 44.1Khz
• channels: Mono or Stereo. You Choose

 

Hopefully this helped you a little, but don't expect to stream at 1080p at 60 frames per second.

 

I hope this helped and other than what I've already stated I can't really help you for your internet is too slow Im afraid

 

anyway try this and if you have any other questions come and ask them. Cheers.

[Rashy]

Okay, well your upload speed is pretty bad, but you're from Indonesia, so I'll assume your connections also has a fair amount of jitter as well. I don't really have any solutions for you, but if you want my advise I'd say either upgrade your internet package (if possible) to one with a higher upload speed, maybe 1.5Mb/s+ You probably wouldn't be able to stream anything on the connections you are on now, unless you were able to get another computer that would be powerful enough to encode the media down to around a 400kbps upstream, from whatever you are outputting in your first computer, which would probably be quit a lot of horsepower, but the hole in that is that the money you could spend on a new PC would be better off going towards a better internet package. It seems like a bucket with holes in it I'm afraid.

 

If you want my advise for trying to stream with that internet speed then in theory you could try this (but it may cause framerate and lagging in-game):

 

Recommended Video encoding:

• Use CBR?: No
• Max bitrate (kb/s): 275
• Use custom buffer size: Yes
• Buffer size (kbit): 0
• Video Size: 360p@20-25fps

Recommended Audio Encoding:

• Codec: AAC
• Bitrate: 96 (this could be lowered)
• format: 44.1Khz
• channels: Mono or Stereo. You Choose

 

Hopefully this helped you a little, but don't expect to stream at 1080p at 60 frames per second.

 

I hope this helped and other than what I've already stated I can't really help you for your internet is too slow Im afraid

 

anyway try this and if you have any other questions come and ask them. Cheers.

Frolickin Arse. Im paying internet 200 USD a month, promised 6Mbps Down and 3Mbps Up. They. Are. Lying.

Im also having troubles recording Osu as the playback seemed laggish, super laggish. but when im playing Csgo, etc. Its 60fps.

Im gonna be like NickBunyun, gonna move in to america, get internet, get pc, get streamin, wait for money to rain.

[nekro]

1. I have noticed that obs is streaming at higther bitrate than i have set. I have a 1mbit upload max with average at 740. But many times i see from bottom rigth that it reach more than 800 kbps. is it buffered? is it normal? i notice no lag or dropeed frames at stream 
Settings
X264
cbr
cbr padding
max birate 650kb/s
custom buffer at 650
AAc at 44khz/80 kbits stereo

2. is it possible to see how exactly the stream will be aftewr the encode? At preview windows it has the same quality as the input.

[Satlen]

1. I have noticed that obs is streaming at higther bitrate than i have set. I have a 1mbit upload max with average at 740. But many times i see from bottom rigth that it reach more than 800 kbps. is it buffered? is it normal? i notice no lag or dropeed frames at stream 

Settings

X264

cbr

cbr padding

max birate 650kb/s

custom buffer at 650

AAc at 44khz/80 kbits stereo

2. is it possible to see how exactly the stream will be aftewr the encode? At preview windows it has the same quality as the input.

1. It is normal for the bitrate to go over what you set.

2. There is no way to see what it will look like until you look at your past streams in twitch (if you are using twitch) because the video gets sent to twitch and is transcoded then sent to the viewer.

[nekro]

2. There is no way to see what it will look like until you look at your past streams in twitch (if you are using twitch) because the video gets sent to twitch and is transcoded then sent to the viewer.

I am running dual monitor and i have the twith page on my second to view the stream I thougth from preview windows you could see it

Thank you anyway

[Satlen]

I am running dual monitor and i have the twith page on my second to view the stream I thougth from preview windows you could see it

Thank you anyway

No, the preview is just the raw source, before anything is encoded.

[Rashy]

No, the preview is just the raw source, before anything is encoded.

There is:

Those are on the Broadcast Settings, you can keep recording after your stream stops or record WHILE streaming. Other than that you can just click Preview Stream on the main page, to preview what your recording is like(pure, not encoded, according to your res, for editing texts and placing webcams)

[Satlen]

There is:

Those are on the Broadcast Settings, you can keep recording after your stream stops or record WHILE streaming. Other than that you can just click Preview Stream on the main page, to preview what your recording is like(pure, not encoded, according to your res, for editing texts and placing webcams)

 

 

 

That still is not what it will look like when streamed to  a service like twitch.

[Tim Drake]

Recording with 1000 would look terrible at 1080p.

 

That's a 10th of YouTubes max for 1080p.

 

Also I would recommend 192 for audio.

 

Lastly, MP4 would look better.

[MrLewisMHarris]

Recording with 1000 would look terrible at 1080p.

 

That's a 10th of YouTubes max for 1080p.

 

Also I would recommend 192 for audio.

 

Lastly, MP4 would look better.

 

The 1000Kbit/s bitrate used for offline recording is just a guideline. OBS has some weird issues (not really issues but more like behaviours) when it comes to localized recordings, it doesn't really like to stick to the bitrate that you set when you aren't using a constant bitrate, so the bitrate is going to far surpass the 1000Kbitrate. Also, as you said, anything above 128 for the audio bitrate is fine for localized recording, and the sweetspot is around 192kbps, but youtube can also do much higher bitrates when using ~4k resolutions (up to like 512Kbps)

 

EDIT: Check HERE for more info on the YouTube video and audio encoding settings I'm talking about (if you didn't already know)

 

Also, I should mention that recording in flv or mp4 is purely objectional. It is known that flv encodes faster and has lower file sizes (while maintaining the same overall quality) but  flv isn't widely accepted by most video editing programs,  so mp4 is likely the way to go if the certain conditions are met, such as editing, enough CPU bandwidth to encode, and enough hard drive space.

 

I appreciate all the interest in this thread so thanks for your comment 

[Tim Drake]

SNIP

Good reply sir:

 

Touché

 

I would still prefer to have it higher thought as for my it doesn't jump very much.

[nekro]

If you are refering to me about the 1mbit thing i do not use obs for recording. I use dxtory with lagarith to do it:-) And now a question about dxtory and obs. Is there any profit to use them both (obs video capture dxtory) or it is another bad workload for the system?

[MrLewisMHarris]

If you are refering to me about the 1mbit thing i do not use obs for recording. I use dxtory with lagarith to do it:-) And now a question about dxtory and obs. Is there any profit to use them both (obs video capture dxtory) or it is another bad workload for the system?

I'm assuming you mean you'll use dxtory's DirectShow output to send video to OBS to capture, in which case you are right to think its a bad workload. It won't have any performance increase or decrease since running Dxtory and capping with OBS is LITERALLY the same as using OBS's game capture source, with the added value of having to run dxtory's program in the background also. I would recommend Dxtory for recording if you use it with lagarith already because you can't record with custom codecs on OBS, maybe something they'll implement? Who knows

[nekro]

Than you mr lewis

[tevaron]

I've searched for this and can find no mention of it by anyone else, I've been experiencing this problem with both the multi platform and regular obs. I posted in the OBS help forum several days ago and have yet to get a reply.

Sometimes, not always, I will record something and when I play it back the footage is sped up, like its in slight fast forward, for example a video that should be 2 hours and 30 minutes will end up being 2 hours and 15 minutes with everything slightly sped up as a result, this happens with shorter videos also. What is strange is that it doesn't always happen. I can sometimes even do a test recording that is fine, then do one I intend to use and it is sped up. 

The major problem with this is I record my voice over separately for editing purposes and in these cases the two files will not sync correctly. Sometimes when this happens I can time stretch the video and get it to work, other times the video distorts in some fashion every time I try and I end up losing hours of effort and having to do it again.

I initially thought my overclocked cpu was at fault and the faster system clock was affecting encoding in some manner, so I went back to stock speeds and even locked my cpu so it won't turbo. I thought I had figured it out as it seemed to stop happening, then it started happening again, randomly. With no changes in settings.  I am at an absolute loss and any input is greatly appreciated.  

 

[nekro]

I've searched for this and can find no mention of it by anyone else, I've been experiencing this problem with both the multi platform and regular obs. I posted in the OBS help forum several days ago and have yet to get a reply.

Sometimes, not always, I will record something and when I play it back the footage is sped up, like its in slight fast forward, for example a video that should be 2 hours and 30 minutes will end up being 2 hours and 15 minutes with everything slightly sped up as a result, this happens with shorter videos also. What is strange is that it doesn't always happen. I can sometimes even do a test recording that is fine, then do one I intend to use and it is sped up. 

The major problem with this is I record my voice over separately for editing purposes and in these cases the two files will not sync correctly. Sometimes when this happens I can time stretch the video and get it to work, other times the video distorts in some fashion every time I try and I end up losing hours of effort and having to do it again.

I initially thought my overclocked cpu was at fault and the faster system clock was affecting encoding in some manner, so I went back to stock speeds and even locked my cpu so it won't turbo. I thought I had figured it out as it seemed to stop happening, then it started happening again, randomly. With no changes in settings.  I am at an absolute loss and any input is greatly appreciated.  

 

i have somehow a same problem with dxtory. My video is delaying about 2 seconds after a gun shot for example. I think  the 60 fps recording mya cause this problem. try and record on 30 fps

[tevaron]

Thanks for the suggestion, and this may be the case, but I record everything 60fps and it only happens occasionally even when recording the same games in similar situations, so I don't know, will try it though.

[gajrajgchouhan]

Thanks for tut,homie.