I am no streamer, I know nothing about streaming and I prefer it to stay that way as much as possible. Yet, I was asked several times to do a stream by my fellow clashers (mainly for shortest in Perl) and I have no problem with sharing my Perl golfing tricks. But whenever someone nudges me and I decide to finally do it, sooner or later I get lost in all those prerequisites related to Twitch.
So, if there’s anyone who is familiar with Twitch, or even has a CG stream, could you please create some minimalistic list of steps for all those, who don’t plan to understand all Twitch obscurities, but who would wish to share some content?
Many thanks in advance!
P. S. I’ve been googling quite a lot and I found tons of guides, but their target audience is someone who wants a super cool stream attracting people via animations, point systems and clickbait-y thumbnails, which then takes hours to finish.
go to settings > stream and choose Twitch as the platform, a server that is close to you and copy paste your streamkey into the streamkey field and save
close the settings and add a scene by clicking on the + symbol on the very bottom left (call it whatever you like)
add a source to the scene by clicking the + symbol one box further to the right, choose display capture to capture everything that is on your screen
hit the start streaming button to start streaming
Optional OBS Settings:
Output
Rate control CBR
If available set encoder to NVIDIA NVENC 264
Bitrate between 3000 to 6000 (I use 4500)
Keyframe interval 2
preset low latency
profile high
max-b frames 2.
Video If your native resolution is higher than 1080p or you only have a very low bitrate then you should use downscaling. Choose a resolution you want to downscale to (output resolution should always be 1080p or lower), set downscale filter to area and fps to 30
The optional stuff is depending alot on your hardware, internet connection, personal preference and content so you have to fiddle around till you have what you want but besides what i gave you can check out what twitch recommends Twitch Streamers - Twitch Video Encoding/Bitrates/And Stuff
You also maybe want to try other capture sources like window capture so you only show a specific programm.
After starting the stream you should keep an eye on the very bottom right of obs, if it is green everything is alright if it is often red then you are skipping frames. Try lowering the resolution and bitrate to fix that.
Low End Settings
Reduce OBS recording resolution to 16:9 ratio 720p (1280x720) or 480p (854x480) and use Bicubic downscale filter.
if you really have a potato for a PC just change your native resolution then you will not need to downscale or just stream at your native resolution (might give you bitrate problems if high res and will add black bars for most viewers)
use Quick Sync Video (QSV) or NVIDIA NVENC 264 if availabe
Lower OBS FPS to 24 or 30
Set OBS Audio sampling rate to the lowest to save some bits - 44.1khz
Avoid running services and other applications while you play
If you are stuck or need assistance you know where to find me
Hope that helped.
OK, I’ve finally beaten my procrastination devil and did my first stream. Just in case someone would find it useful, I am posting a slightly modified copy of Golyator’s list.
Twitch
Sign up with twitch and verify your email
Change the title of your channel - if you want it to appear in CG feed, include “CodinGame”. Go https://twitch.tv/dashboard, click “Edit Stream Info” and change the title.
I run it on a notebook with no solid graphics card and it was incredibly slow due to resizing of the captured area, which was done by CPU. The solution was to shrink the captured area, so that it doesn’t have to be resized.
I found no other easy way to access the chat (which I needed to paste links to private clashes), than opening the stream in the browser (additionally slowing down the computer).
I will not include the title change because this tutorial about going live as easy as possible and you can go online without any title change.
About the OBS first point. If you really have a potato for a PC just change your native resolution on laptop then you will not need to downscale or just stream at your native resolution.
About the second point try chatterino or google for a OBS chat plugin (no overlay).
I know this is an old thread, but just adding my experience in case anyone is interested.
When I’ve streamed, I just use Twitch studio, without OBS. I’ve used OBS for other things, and I know it’s the best tool for the job, but Twitch studio puts everything in one place - I can see chat, I can see if I’m dropping frames, and I can see my stream. It took zero set-up, basically. I’m sure it’s limited but just like you, I’m not interested in “whistles and bells” - I just want a stream.
Also, is this you Twitch ? I too would love to see how the Perl code golf sausage is made, if you’re streaming again any time soon.
Ah, I’ll give it a try, as having OBS and twitch window (for chat) slows my notebook down significantly. Thanks a lot for the tip!
This is my Twitch, I’ve streamed twice so far, it’s kinda hard to find a gap (and I have no ambition to compete with saltAxAtlas or Golyator who have their schedules across all week days) and align it with real life stuff.
</internal>