OBS Science! Display Capture VS Game Capture - Solving The Frame Rate Issue

In this video I demonstrate why using display capture when using a 60hz and 144hz monitor causes both monitors to default to 60hz, and show you two different ways to fix this problem.

I am not totally sure WHY this happens, but I suspect it goes something like this:

Display capture isn't programmed to cooperate well when you have two monitors with different refresh rates. So, when you have OBS open on a 60hz display and are using the "display capture" option in sources, regardless of the other monitors peak refresh rate the software tells both displays to run at the same frequency. If you have two 144hz displays, I would assume you wouldn't run into the same issue I was having.

I found a workaround to this by just placing the OBS window on the 144hz display, minimizing the window, and just returning to the game. This allows the monitor to resume displaying the full 144hz refresh rate, but obviously you won't be able to monitor any of your stats or change anything without minimizing the game first.

Option #2 is to just not use display capture and use game capture instead. However, this doesn't work on every game. You won't have any issues with frame rate IF the game in question cooperates with game capture, but I was not able to get this to work on my other main game so good luck.

IMPORTANT NOTE

The frame rate issue also happens if ANY video is playing on the 60hz monitor. Say, for example, you pull up your Twitch dashboard on the 60hz display and are watching the playback of your stream as a viewer. Your gaming monitor will again be set to 60hz. If you use display capture you cannot play any video on the second monitor or the problem will persist :/

[cody_raves]

If you run OBS / OBS studio “as administrator” you can use game capture on any game.

[hotdropknockdndc]

First piece of advice for any question/issue many people have in OBS/SLOBS is to run OBS/SLOBS as administrator (rIght-click on program and click "Run as Administrator") for CPU/GPU performance issues, check your video settings and ensure your base canvas is the set to the resolution of your monitor or if you use stretch resolution, set it to the resolution of what you have it custom set to and keep the output resolution to the resolution you want to output to your stream (most use 1280x720 when running on a 1920x1080 monitor playing the game at the same) I use a 2560x1440p monitor and play at that so my base canvas is 2560x1440 and output is 1920x1080. For audio, you have two options, you can either go into settings and choose your Desktop Audio Device and Aux/Mic Device and set it there and then have to go and set your bitrate for audio and whatnot, OR you can go to Add Source and add an Audio Input Capture and select your microphone and then go to Add Source and add an Audio Output Capture and not have to worry about your audio settings. this also gives you the ability to turn them down separately. Another thing is ALWAYS turn Preview off while streaming as it uses less resources having to produce an image for you to see. When you're gaming you aren't looking at it and if you need to for some reason, create a hotkey to toggle it on and off as needed. Dual monitors are awesome because they can divide workloads in certain scenarios, if you run an Nvidia RTX card (unsure if GTX do it too I can't remember) and are using a Laptop, then the RTX card will become strictly attached to the monitor and the integrated Intel Graphics 630* iGPU will stay with the laptops display so when extending displays, whatever is being shown on the external monitor will be tasked by the RTX GPU. Also, Nvidia Control Panel should be setup for any game you are playing to be ran by the Nvidia Processor NOT auto-choose. Also if you run an Nvidia GPU, in stream settings or output settings, make sure to run using the NVIDIA NVENC (new) encoder. Bitrate is going to be different based on your internet connection because if you set it too high on slow connection, then you're going to affect the game as well hogging bandwidth, too low and the game will look crappy. I may be forgetting some simple overlooked things. But hit me up if you have any issues. If I don't know the answer, I'll try to point you in the right direction.

[mannyskybluegaming]

I been looking for this by weeks!!! thnks!!!

[loaf_iii]

great video brutha, my secondary display is actually my laptop screen, I set that at 144hz to match the main screen, now it all works well enough.

[RisingAssassin]

YOU JUST SAVED MY LIFE HOLY CRAP THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!

[vefas]

I spent hours and had no solutions thanks!!

[mistertunado]

nice one bro, found this cuz was having this issue streaming csgo, because of the shitty update that you can't capture with game capture anymore, and the only way to stream is with display capture...
didn't solve my problem but at least now i know why this happens and a temporary solution, thanks a lot though

[malesulo]

its because one graphic card cant handle two different monitors. its streaming signal in 144hz or 60hz. it cant do both at the same time. you need to have two 144hz monitors or just play at 60hz (i know it sux hard :D ). I have tested it once and you can bypass it sometimes. Set everything you want - chat, discord whatever you want have on that 60hz monitor and then set 144hz in nvidia control panel. BUT! Dont click, drag or do anything from now with that second monitor, once you click/drag anything there you will be back at 60hz again


and that black screen is happening to me too. sometimes it can be fixed by closing streamlabs/obs or launching in administrator mode.

[fh-kwob]

thank you so much i was trying to fix streaming cs go and this fixed it all!

[tryhardsagaming]

Hey I'm curious if you can help with my issue? My stream labs OBS I can capture and stream all my games except ring of won't show up on stream just says looking for game to capture

[jasonelazegui]

I have it the other way around
60hz monitor is where obs is
144hz is where i am gaming
When using game capture it lags
But when using display capture its smooth, though this is only happening through cod warzone. Thanks for the video though

[parkeranderson]

Good content. Deserves more attention.

[ammartech]

This is interesting !
Did you run OBS as Administrator ? or disabled preview on OBS ? because this findings is pretty shocking !

[dionshepard]

Actually thats an issue with how the games being run. You need to add it to display settings-graphic setttings, and browse for the .exe for the game. Then change between power saving or high performance. That made any games that didn't show on obs work

[ptbabayaga]

dude, you just have to run obs as admin to solve the destiny 2 situation ;)