Bug Report Low FPS in OBS? Frames missed due to rendering lag? GPU problems? Look here.

[PrinceVinc]

Request to Pin, I would have made another Thread for this otherwise.

So I am not crazy... it only realised it recently when I tried to play a game in 4k while capturing it in 1080@60 that OBS fps was going up and down. Base & Output still set to 1080p

So I went ahead looking at resources. I use Quicksync for Streaming and Nvenc for Recording, and every time I start Nvenc my GPU usage wen't up by ~10% and if I use Nvenc for Streaming and Recording it goes up to 20% GPU usage.

I was wondering if that always was the case or caused by an OBS update, since Nvenc should take place on a "separate" chip. Tried the same again with Quicksync and the GPU Load did NOT go up at all when I started recording.

Unfortunately I can't use it for both, cause then I get encoder overload.

In both instances OBS itself loses frames in the fps corner. It was once as low as 19fps for fuck knows why! But despite my hardest efforts to reproduce that issue ic ould not get it as low anymore.

 

[DEDRICK]

The GPU usage shown when using NVENC is misleading, Windows is only capable of showing 1 of the multiple engines when under Details unless you are specifically on the GPU Tab in Task Manager.

I've seen it say 120% GPU usage while recording, without lagging frames I might add. Says that game is using 95% and OBS is using 25%, but if you look at the engine it will show Encode GPU usage and 3D GPU Usage

 

[PrinceVinc]

The GPU usage shown when using NVENC is misleading, Windows is only capable of showing 1 of the multiple engines when under Details unless you are specifically on the GPU Tab in Task Manager.

I've seen it say 120% GPU usage while recording, without lagging frames I might add. Says that game is using 95% and OBS is using 25%, but if you look at the engine it will show Encode GPU usage and 3D GPU Usage

I was somewhat suspecting that, but I also used GPU-Z and it showed the same under GPU Load whenever I start recording with Nvenc.

It shows a 10% Increase and another ~5% when I use the recorder for Stream and Recording with different settings.

The Task Manager also never wen't above 100% for me though despite me increasing the internal Resolution to absurd numbers.

 

[BK-Morpheus]

Maybe the "10% increase" of the GPU load is just an result of the reduced VRAM speed.
As soon as CUDA or NVENC is used, the graphics memory speed is slightly reduced and therefore any given GPU load at that point will slightly increase.
You can search for an older version (v2.1.3.10) of Nvidia Profile Inspector, which allows you to disable that Cuda/NVENC VRAM downclock by disabling the "Cuda - Force P2 State" feature.

 

[YasinGames]

Uhm...hallo moderator i got at streams on obs 50fps ingame (ROBLOX) AMD in obs my fps is laggy i set iT to 30 iT stil lags

 

[PrinceVinc]

Maybe the "10% increase" of the GPU load is just an result of the reduced VRAM speed.
As soon as CUDA or NVENC is used, the graphics memory speed is slightly reduced and therefore any given GPU load at that point will slightly increase.
You can search for an older version (v2.1.3.10) of Nvidia Profile Inspector, which allows you to disable that Cuda/NVENC VRAM downclock by disabling the "Cuda - Force P2 State" feature.

I deactivated that a LONG time ago, but OMFG! It reverted back to ON!? I have not updated my Driver in Month so how did the setting revert?

And I have still the same 416.34 Driver from back then when I updated and deactivated it immediately.

How is this Possible?

Thank You, but how did that happen >.<

Edit: Found it out... I went into Nvidia Control panel to force V-Sync and Restored default... that in turn defualted changes with Inspector, too...

 

[Nizcik]

I started to suddenly to had my FPS go down from 60 to dipping even to 10-20FPS at times when OBS was not focused (in other words went to play). When the OBS window would be in focus the frames would go back to stable 60. Game worked fine at all times.

I tried SLOBS, xsplit and the same thing occurred. I tied to change scenes, take out stuff, add some and nothing seemed to affect the frame drops. This all happened with windows 10 - 1803.

Yesterday Windows prompted me to update no newest 1809 version and after that all issues disappeared. So my issues seems to have been caused by some weird compatibility problems between Nvidia drivers and Windows 10. Im no expert but maybe recent updates to Nvidias RTX drivers caused something not to work and to get RTX work Windows and Nvidia drivers needed to be updated.

I have to note that im having Nvidia Geforce 1060 so for me just seems these updates broke something between Windows 10 and Nvidia drivers.

 

[PrinceVinc]

Well I have older Drivers, since I don't see the need to update GPU Drivers that often, unless it involves a game I want to play. Nvidia has a tendency to publish broken drivers especially when new GPU's arrive xD

For me disabling Game Mode was the answer, that came with a Windows update.

 

[thxne]

For me it was just turning on vsync that fixed it

 

[DatCrazyOne]

Hi, so I just made an account because I encountered something interesting. So a while ago I upgraded to Ryzen 2700x, which basically let me push my GPU to the limits. Or so I thought. That's when I encountered the same problem this whole thread is about. So yeah I've done all of the stuff previously mentioned, capping the FPS, lowering the in game settings, no problemo I don't really mind that all. Although it is a shame to loose some of the quality.

Either way, back to the point. The interesting part is that I didn't notice this issue right away after the upgrade, and the first game I streamed was AC-Odyssey. That made me curious. After all, and those who have played the game know, that although a rather good game, its optimization is rather bad.
So yesterday I did another stream of it, with my Task Manager open on my second monitor, also keeping an eye on OBS's framerate. Here is what I noticed: The game uses 90-99% of my GPU power almost constantly. Albeit OBS did not loose practically any frames.

I have included a log file from the stream, also yeah it is a log file from SLOBS, but I decided to post this here, hence they are rather alike. Also for some curious reason it has only saved up the information about the render lag frames, but that is also what we are looking into after all. (There is 0.1% of lost frames, which is also most likely from R6 which I did at the end, because every match end screen makes the OBS drop some frames.)
Maybe I am just being dumb, and there is a very simple reason to this, but I was thinking, maybe somebody could somehow look into this? It would seem when playing AC-Odyssey, OBS is getting all of the power it needs either way, as if it had the priority... Maybe this could help ta find some sort of solution.

 

[DEDRICK]

Hi, so I just made an account because I encountered something interesting. So a while ago I upgraded to Ryzen 2700x, which basically let me push my GPU to the limits. Or so I thought. That's when I encountered the same problem this whole thread is about. So yeah I've done all of the stuff previously mentioned, capping the FPS, lowering the in game settings, no problemo I don't really mind that all. Although it is a shame to loose some of the quality.

Either way, back to the point. The interesting part is that I didn't notice this issue right away after the upgrade, and the first game I streamed was AC-Odyssey. That made me curious. After all, and those who have played the game know, that although a rather good game, its optimization is rather bad.
So yesterday I did another stream of it, with my Task Manager open on my second monitor, also keeping an eye on OBS's framerate. Here is what I noticed: The game uses 90-99% of my GPU power almost constantly. Albeit OBS did not loose practically any frames.

I have included a log file from the stream, also yeah it is a log file from SLOBS, but I decided to post this here, hence they are rather alike. Also for some curious reason it has only saved up the information about the render lag frames, but that is also what we are looking into after all. (There is 0.1% of lost frames, which is also most likely from R6 which I did at the end, because every match end screen makes the OBS drop some frames.)
Maybe I am just being dumb, and there is a very simple reason to this, but I was thinking, maybe somebody could somehow look into this? It would seem when playing AC-Odyssey, OBS is getting all of the power it needs either way, as if it had the priority... Maybe this could help ta find some sort of solution.

You can play games uncapped without OBS dipping below 60 FPS, your system GPU usage can be 99% without lagging frames. Windows 10 can properly balance GPU usage between OBS and Games.

There are certain things that push it over the edge like high resolution webcams, Windows Game Mode, watching your own stream, improper GPU installation, installing a second GPU to "offload" encoding(Don't do this)

Capping FPS is a bandaid solution to an issue more complex than GPU usage

 

[Quafi]

I've sent this problem to NVIDIA, this was their response:

Thank you for contacting Nvidia Customer Care with your suggestion. However upon my research it appears the issue with the streaming software and Windows 10 is between the software and Microsoft. Nvidia does not control how the usage is divided. This is done with the program and Windows 10. The suggestion would be better suited to the streaming software company.

 

[Granster]

I’ve noticed tonight while playing BFV on game capture through slobs my gpu (1080ti) usage is at 70% and cpu is at 80-90% (i9900k) which is crazy but the stream was smooth as butter! so I read up about high cpu usage and ppl said turn off dx12 so I did and when I run dx11 my gpu went straight to 99-100% usage and cpu dropped to 60-70% but my preview stream was stuttering like crazy! So if you can use dx12 it might be worth a try at a cost of cpu usage! Hope this helps!

 

[DatCrazyOne]

Sooo another post from me, the bastard that doesn't really know much about all of this. But with my relatively small knowledge I've encountered something interesting again. So as I had mentioned previously, unlike other games, streams of AC:Odyssey always run on perfect 60 frames even if GPU is 99% used. That was, until today. A few days ago Odyssey got an update, and today was the first time I tried it out after it. I instantly encountered some glitches within the game, and another, also the largest issue: OBS started to drop frames like crazy during the stream. I was rather disappointed after all it was the one game OBS was working fine with.
So in order to try and fix it I tried buncha stuff. And after something seemingly suddenly I can stream not only Odyssey but other games with a very large GPU usage, without problems.

So the 3 main things that I've done are:
1. Switch the energy usage option from "AMD Balanced" to whichever option gives ya the most power don't remember what is it called.
2. I found out that when you go to Display Settings there is a button called "Graphic Settings" (not 100% sure, am translating it, my interface language is not set on English) where you can add programs and set their own usage and performance settings. I added OBS and set it to max performance of course.
3. Curiously enough I found an old reddit thread about Odyssey which basically said that if you disable the quick launch setting in power settings, or w/e they are properly called, it supposedly runs better. Which I did and indeed game and seemingly OBS actually started to run better.

These are the 3 main things I've done today and can remember of and that might have helped me. I am posting this in case if somebody is curious and want to try this if they haven't yet and tell how it worked for ya.
Cheers!

 

[Lodion]

Hi guys,

I've recently started playing around with streaming and encountered this issue. I don't believe it is GPU load related, as I'm using software encoding.

Testing a few things I've found that disabling "in game overlay" in Geforce Experience has resolved the issue. I'm guessing Nvidia changed something in a driver release.

 

[BK-Morpheus]

[...] I don't believe it is GPU load related, as I'm using software encoding.
[...]

Encoding is not the same as rendering. OBS uses the GPU to render your scene, no matter if the encoder is running CPU based.
Overlays and fps counters can mess up the OSB access, so disabling shadowplay and nvidia overlay can definitely help.

 

[Zap]

I tidied the original post up a bit to hopefully make a bit more sense. But yeah I don't think this is just an OBS issue. People have said it also happens on other streaming programs like XSplit, sooo... yeah it's a Windows 10 issue.

Also OBS tweeted about this on their twitter. For some reason they are saying it is an issue exclusive to Apex Legends.

I replied to their tweet so if you guys wanna give it a favourite you can. See you in another few months lol.

https://twitter.com/ZAHPD/status/1093978816962330624
https://twitter.com/OBSProject/status/1093974215877951493

 

[Puerta_De_Muerte]

been having the same issues for a few days for me and just saw tons of others are having the same issue. What literally has been consistent in solving in the issues is changing the fps in obs from 60 to 59.94 then back to 60. this method how ever dumb has been working for me. i would love to hear how this has been working for you or not!!!

 

[Cageviper]

So i mistakenly made another thread before seeing this. Ive been working with several friends who also stream and found they are all running OBS with no issues on windows 10. Single PC, no capture card, no second stream PC. Im genuinely curious why some are able to run single PC stream/play without issues on windows 10 and yet there are a number of us with near identical setups that cannot.
The only difference with my setup versus theirs is G-sync + SLI. I have tried turning off both to match their settings as close as possible. I have friends that both run 1080 and 1440 on 1080/1080ti cards and scale down to 720p 60fps, same settings as myself, yet they dont have to cap their ingame FPS.

 

[Narcogen]

"The only difference with my setup versus theirs is G-sync + SLI."

To be fair those are important differences.

Please post a log, although my first guess is that by having a 2nd GPU installed you're creating a bottleneck for your main card, or you're running your game on one GPU and OBS on the other.