Guernsey Streaming Guide

I can agree with that. I have run many successful streams at 0.4 and had great fun with the chat.

@retroguernsey - As mentioned in my most recent post, the guide was focused on achieving this level of quality while playing both graphically and connection-heavy games like Battlefield in a PVP instance. With an upload speed below 2mbs, it would be extremely difficult to stream games like these in very good quality, whilst being able to maintain a decent ping and fps in-game. Granted, you would be perfectly able to stream offline content (sp/local games) with bitrates of less that 2k, and the quality would probably be pretty much perfect. However, as I mentioned before, this is centered around streaming very performance and connection heavy games, at very good quality.

The input is a appreciated though, please don't take this as me 'biting back'

geist I wasn't having a go either Ali, it was just how I read the post. To me, it seemed as though you were saying that you can't stream without at least a 2mb up. But yeah quality does help and can help to boost your viewers, but then again it isn't essential. That was merely the point that I was making.

It is also worth noting, that if you play any music during your stream that is under copyright, your past broadcasts will be muted by twitch if their system detects the music, which it does 99% of the time. If you want to play music, it is worth looking at Youtube channels such as MonsterCat or NoCopyrightSounds they have some really good selections of music and playlists and it will stop your VoDs getting muted by the automated bot.

I don't think there is actually a trick or guide that can be used to get the best out of your stream, as hardware, internet and bandwidth all come into it. I found using guides like these, and going to places like the the twitch sub reddit as well as reading various guides on the Xsplit/OBS forums you can get the best out of what you have.

Nice work guys!

Landsi, system specs would really help narrow the problem down, but I'll take a stab at some possible solutions.

I'd say it's probably a hard drive issue, but it could be RAM or CPU based or a combination of all 3, too. Are you archiving to hard drive / delaying footage?

The randomness of the chops (and the fact that the stream is smoother while you navigate menus) would suggest that it's a thrashing issue. If you think about it, if you're streaming at 60fps at 720p, the CPU is re-encoding 1440p and downsampling it by quite a margin, which uses up processor power. Chances are you're hitting around 2500 / 3000 mbit per second, which is being encoded by the CPU (afaik there's no GPU encoding options for most stream software, and written out into RAM and hard drive, which is being accessed .

The game's streaming in a ton of textures from hard drive into RAM, and enemy AI routines are complex in Alien Isolation and use up a lot of CPU power. Much more than the average game does right now.

The webcam is being read anywhere between 15fps and 60fps depending on settings at a fairly high resolution, eating up more CPU and more RAM. Throw in the OBS scripts such as Chroma Key, 3D rotating objects, imagery etc (all being loaded off the hard drive), and it's taking a substantial chunk of your RAM, CPU, and HDD bandwidth.

Unless you're on just an SSD drive, I'd strongly suggest doing a thorough defrag and maybe use Prime 95 to make sure your CPU and RAM are fully working. Turn off all unnecessary background applications, and try again. If it's still not working, then it could be your system is struggling to handle the game and the streaming stuff all at once. Here's what I would try:

1. Make sure you're running 32-bit OBS, as 64-bit is a buggy pile of garbage right now. Assign it it's own relatively unused thread (I have a hex-core, 12 threaded machine, and I assign OBS to Thread 11), and set it's priority to "above normal".

2. Do a thorough hard drive defrag on all non-SSD only drives, including Hybrids. Also, do a registry and temporary file cleanup.

3. Turn off ALL unnecessary background programs and services (especially Antivirus, which can often scan files as you access them in games, adding more bottlenecks)

4. Turn off local file recording of the stream.

See how you go. If you're still having issues, then it could possibly be your system struggling with the game and the stream and the webcam all at once. Try to:

A: Lower down the game settings down - lower resolution etc
B: Minimise the amount of hard drive thrashing going on by lowering Cam resolution, Chroma Key, and removing a lot of the video overlay stuff from the stream.
C: Ramp up the voltage and try to overclock your system as much as possible while retaining stability if your cooling and processor allows it.