Hi folks,
Title says it all. I’ve only started speed running recently so I’m a bit of a noob but am getting some times that are reasonably competitive that I’d like to upload.
I’m currently using OBS to record but the file is absolutely huge and my laptop is getting on to be 8+ years old and can’t really handle it. I’ve also tried streaming thinking that would help but it puts my game frame rate to unusable levels. Is there any recommendations for ideas of getting video proof of my runs or do I just have to suffer until I can get a new laptop?
gonna be honest with you dude, as an also new speed runner, i just use my phone. just set it to where the angle isn’t annoying, and make sure the quality is clear. it may not be the most attractive way to record, but if you’re computer isn’t doing it, than that’s what i would recommend at least.
There are bitrate settings you could try lowering in OBS if you want to try something a little more attractive than recording from a phone.
Yeah I’ve tried that with no luck unfortunately. It’s a miracle my laptop can even run emulators let alone recording software, but phone seems like the best suggestion at the moment!
just keep in mind, if you are recording with your phone, quality becomes much much more important. i use a tripod for all my runs, make sure lighting is okay and everything overall is easy to watch. some mods may not verify a run if it’s too difficult to watch or make out.
i’m not trying to plug anything, but if you want some examples check out a couple of my runs or Scotstreams primal rage armadon genesis run.
i look forward to seeing your runs though, dude! as a fellow beginner, feel free to message me if you need anything!
My old runs were done on a 14+ years old vista computer, it's totally possible to run Genesis games on crap pc.
You just need to downscale your screen capture with OBS, there's a lot of people that stream on 16:9 upscaled and it looks terrible. Go 4:3 and downscale at least x2 or 4.
Then put little to no bitrate (enough to be in 320p 480p)
People think HD is the real shit but all retro games were low res so it wont affect your quality
You can also save up computer CPU by lowering audio quality encoding as well
The file format that is the best for local recording is .MP4
Make sure you're playing in window mode, small, so there's no lag/freeze, i used to play on a game boy sized window when recording my runs.
Just know that when it comes to streaming, it's all about the strength of your internet or more precisely your upload speed. Whatever the upload speed is at, adjust your video bitrate accordingly.
The power of your setup shouldn't really matter as that can be easily dealt with by lowering both your Base and Output resolutions (Settings->Video in OBS) so you can stream at a much less demanding 320p/480p quality. Also keep your fps at 30. Going for 59.94/60 fps will make the laptop work that much harder.
Until around a month ago I streamed off a laptop and the CPU does get pushed to its limits on it the way I had it so these are some ways I know of to fix performance issues there.
Hey man, thanks. I’ve actually got a setup going now that works on my Mac mini so that’s doing the trick for now!
