OBS 30.0.2 Drops 40+ FPS on Games (Without Recording or Streaming)

[Luis Alvarado]

Hi OBS Team, first let me congratulate you on this amazing software. It is basically the only reason I have https://youtube.com/@xtremelinux so thank you so much.

Now, the issue I happened to simply stumble by luck today that has actually solved the doubt I had about a performance issue with Nvidia since about 6 months ago is the following. Using OBS 30.0.2 (Could even go down to 29) is that, even without recording, the FPS value of several games while having OBS opened (again, without recording, streaming or anything, just opened in the background) makes the game drop 40+ FPS. I did not fully notice this since I have an Nvidia 4090 but today I was testing GTA5 and while closing OBS before the game I notice the boost immediately on the game. I will leave some screenshots here for ideas. I managed to pin point the issue to the following section:

I record at 4K with 60 FPS but the issue also happens at 2K or 1080p. If you set it to 30 fps or 60 fps it will happen. It drops X amount of FPS off the game in relation to the Common FPS Value that is set. In the following images you will see the impact with and without having OBS opened (Again, I am not recording or anything):

RDR2 (4K - Ultra High Settings) - OBS CLOSED

RDR2 (4K - Ultra High Settings) - OBS OPENED (Not recording, just opened)

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GTA5 (4K - Ultra High Settings) - OBS CLOSED

GTA5 (4K - Ultra High Settings) - OBS OPENED (Not recording, just opened)

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HOGWARTS LEGACY (4K - Ultra High Settings) - OBS CLOSED

HOGWARTS LEGACY (4K - Ultra High Settings) - OBS OPENED (Not recording, just opened)

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CYBERPUNK (4K - Ultra High Settings) - OBS CLOSED

CYBERPUNK (4K - Ultra High Settings) - OBS OPENED (Not recording, just opened)

I have tested leaving the encoder in x264 and NVENC, both produce the same FPS results as shown above. Same for changing resolution. But, if I change the Common FPS value it changes the FPS value on the game immediately. Just wanted you guys to know about this "issue" as in, without even recording the FPS value goes down super fast. And the computer is not old, here are the specs in case in helps:

 

[Tuna]

Attach your OBS log. Else we cannot say anything.

 

[Luis Alvarado]

Sorry you are right, I could not find the edit on the original post so here it is:

 

[Tuna]

So it is not just OBS being open, but you are also capturing the screen. That can have an impact on the frame rate for sure. Pipewire capture performs best when running on Wayland but you are running on X. Then again NVIDIA has a poor track record when it comes to supporting Wayland so I'm not sure about its current state. In the end you need GPU driver and DE to support texture sharing for best performance.

EDIT: Since you are running X, try using Window capture for that game instead.

 

[cippo95]

Yes, using this screen capture has always caused this issue, use it only to record your desktop (I use it when I do YouTube videos).

It is way better to use window capture, but even better to use obs-vkcapture.

You will need some setup depending also on your distro.

From my experience it is the best way to record:
- I was not able to record Control with window capture while it works with obs-vkcapture.
- Window capture disables G-Sync while obs-vkcapture does not.
- Window capture puts a black screen if the game is not focused, obs-vkcapture keeps recording the game even if it is not focused.

 

[Luis Alvarado]

Thank you i will be testing with the obs-vkcapture for a particular experiment I am running. Thank you for the feedback.

 

[Luis Alvarado]

How do i double check that it is using obs-vkcapture when recording just in case?

 

[cippo95]

Sorry for the late reply, I don't check this forum often.

If obs-vkcapture is working a "Game Capture" source will be present (and you will need to use that).

 

[Luis Alvarado]

Thank you. I tried cyberpunk as the git said

But if I have obs-gamecapture in there the game does not start.

I also tested with the OBS_USE_EGL, the OBS_VKCAPTURE at the top, etc.. I also have the nvidia-drm-modeset already to 1 with the 545 driver of Nvidia.

 

[hgfhgfhngfhfghf]

So it is not just OBS being open, but you are also capturing the screen. That can have an impact on the frame rate for sure. Pipewire capture performs best when running on Wayland but you are running on X. Then again NVIDIA has a poor track record when it comes to supporting Wayland so I'm not sure about its current state. In the end you need GPU driver and DE to support texture sharing for best performance.

EDIT: Since you are running X, try using Window capture for that game instead.

I have this same issue, not streaming or recording, just trying to set up a window on screen, but it's so choppy as soon as i connect to OBS. But i am using window and not screen, but both of them are labled as pipewire, and that seems to be the thing causing the trouble. My old OBS didn't have any pipe wires in it.