Experimental Squad Stream

#1

Looking for volunteers to do a squad stream.

The idea of the stream is to include the point of view of all players with minimal latency

Can be either PC or console players but know that console players will still need to use a PC for broadcasting (using OBS and Remote Play)

I can assist with technical setup (love to help) but if you have no experience using any streaming software you might want to start reading some documentation and watching videos online to learn before hand, otherwise you are likely going to be extremely lost trying to understand how to set everything up.

All crossplay is done through Epic, so console and steam players need an active and linked epic games account to be able to join the game with others

Here are the basic instructions

Squad stream setup instructions

On the PC
Install OBS 27 (DO NOT USE THE LATEST OBS 28 VERSION, plugins are broken and stuff doesn’t work) https://www.neowin.net/software/obs-studio-2724/
Install OBS NDI plugin https://obsproject.com/forum/resources/obs-ndi-newtek-ndi™-integration-into-obs-studio.528/
Install NDI Tools https://www.ndi.tv/tools/#download-tools

For PC Players:

Start your game
Start OBS
Set Canvas to 720P Resolution
Set framerate to 60
Create a source to capture your game and select your game window
Stretch the source to the canvas size if needed
Go to Tools>NDI Output Settings
Check Main Output and input your name in Main Output Name

For Console Players:

Start Remote Play on your PC and make sure you are able to see your game screen on the Remote Play App
Start OBS
Set Canvas to 720P Resolution
Set framerate to 60
Create a source to capture the remote play app window
Stretch the source to the canvas size if needed
Go to Tools>NDI Output Settings
Check Main Output and input your name in Main Output Name

For both:

Open NDI Bridge (Named Bridge)
Select Join
Click Encoder Settings
Output: NDI|HX
Encoder: H.264
Quality: LOW
Use the provided Server IP Address, Port and Password and click Join

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#2

Do you absolutely need this to be OBS Streamed- if so maybe indicate this in the subject line too?
or can we do recorded over AMD Adrenalin softwarre and saved to a compressed mp4 locally and uploaded to you?

My videocard can do pretty much compression on the fly which is extremely useful when doing capturing. I’m not sure if there is a streaming feature built in though, but i’m sure there is.

#3

No. It needs to be either OBS or the NDI Screen Capture Tool. It needs to use the NDI open source protocol to work.

The advantage of OBS vs the Screen Capture tool is that you can specify what window to capture on OBS, while the Screen Capture tool will capture your whole desktop.

Adrenalin, Nvidia Capture and Microsoft’s Game Capture software do not support NDI yet.

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#4

not the case with Adrenalin. It captures the windows you specify but its like a crop of the entire desktop (to the window of your choice). Which is probably what you mean.
In other words, if you drag something over it, it will capture it. at least that is what i recall from tests.

#5

No. What I mean is that in order for this to work it needs to use the NDI streaming protocol. That protocol is still not supported by Nvidia or AMD’s game capture software. Is even not supported by OBS natively, hence why you need to install the NDI plugin for it to work

#6

I see. Its sort of the open source version of what Zoom or MS Teams have built in natively to cherry pick what source/screen you want to stream from and I imagining it has a fair bit more versatility.

and what you are trying to test out is this direct stream source and its apparent latency?

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#7

NDI started out as a way to do IP video over local networks, allowing you to share video sources (webcams, screens captures, etc.) Over an established network with minimal latency and using a sort of matrix mixer (multiple video feeds and multiple video outs)

This is what I use at home when using multiple sources located in different rooms.

They have now expanded this to be able to be done over the internet. So the idea is that everyone feed their stream into a single server that can record/stream to twitch/youtube/etc

The greatest feature about the protocol IMO aside from its versatility, is the low latency it offers

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#8

I know for certain there are problems with Zoom room latency to begin with just for comparison. One can easily point out how audio has such a high latency that in comparison to a simple 4 person Discord voicechat its horrendously slow - by that I mean so slow that you need to meditate between what you say and waiting for the guy to respond. Maybe its true …but i don’t know…could be 100+ms where it should be 20ms.

#9

What are your latency numbers using OBS in a internal home network( in milliseconds) out of curiousity?
For some perspective:
20 ms is like hearing yourself speak in a reflective bathroom
1-200ms is like slapback echo that is so obvious that its disturbing.

One last question, where is the stream going to?
Is there one dedicated host to which this OBS stream app can stream to ? Like Twitch or Youtube which can literally publish it there after (which I assume is what you’re going for).

and what do you want to conclude or understand?
if latency is an issue using other applications, how are you going to prove (unless there is a benchmark application) the difference between the streaming latency of OBS and other platforms?

I wish you’d be able to get what you want out of this experiment because I get your problem. Latency of streaming from each individual. correct?

trust me, if you can show Playstation streaming latency, then you’re going to open a can of worms. Not only that, but if you can prove that streaming on PS can cause a shit load of problems during gameplay, you literally just went back in time to the beginning of the launch of this game where people were complaining, while streaming not telling people they were streaming, and getting a shit load of Illfonic bashing because they couldn’t articulate their problem or report the bug competently because most people who stream on PS are a bunch of douche bags .

#10

One computer will handle all streams and (re)stream a mix of all 4 streams (in a 2x2 grid) to twitch

Internal latencies (local network) are about 25ms. I’m expecting that to go higher over the internet, but I already tested from my job to my home and the latency was around 200ms, not bad.

The problem with restreaming from other’s people live streams is that twitch/youtube by themselves have like a 10 second (that’s 10,000 ms) delay. With NDI even if the latency is 1 second, is still much better and can be appreciated. I’m not expecting perfect sync, but something that can work.

Of course you can always use render delays in OBS to perfectly sync all streams, but that’s a lot of (IMO) unnecessary work.

Audio wise, I’m going to feed just one audio feed (mine) that will include both Discord and the game (all other players games will be muted to avoid an audio mess).

I don’t experience the discord delay issues you talk about, might want to check your audio/network settings on both Windows and Discord, something must be misconfigured on your end.

I also don’t monitor the stream audio, as to not hear myself with latency. As long as the audio bars are moving, everything should be fine

Lastly, I have a dedicated PC for streaming, so my computer running the game will work just the same as the rest of the players, only difference is that mine is expected to have lower latency due to it being on the same network of the streaming PC

#11

No i didn’t say discord had issue. In comparison to zoom, i"m sure discord is a blessing. I must have missed a comma (sorry for that). I just meant that zoom is like 200ms, vs discord which is like 20ms (this being very very good- of course the issue is the natural feel of talking which is different when you can’t hear yourself while talking and someone who sounds like a telephone and not a natural voice can make ppl feel uncomfortable while talking considering there is a strange muting that is audible. usually ppl aren’t setup to hear themselves through the headphones as apposed to a Joe Rogan podcast where everyone is jacked into the same mixer board and they can hear themselves through their headphones).

your incusive gameplay should be good. but you say you want people from the forums…or in general, other people outside of your network. i can’t say that it has ever bee a problem with latency…so if you feel the quality you have needs OBS then so be it.
i also wonder if this might improve the quality of not only the stream but their gameplay. IMHO i don’t know.

Welp, my only suggestion is to

  1. not use Wifi and use a direct RJ cable for networking your computers.
  2. If you’re streaming with audio and you don’t care if there is a latency with your VO because your Audio/video is syncronized then thats fine. otherwise if you see latency issues with audio and video you have a whole other problem.
#12

other people outside my network

They don’t have to be good players, this game is so easy I carry everyone whenever playing solo pubs so, 90% chance guaranteed win in pubs, no biggie

No wifi is kinda obvious

Never had audio issues and I already use this setup to stream, so I don’t see a reason why there should be any audio issues if I am not using anyone else’s audio except mine.

1 Like
#13

So how do you want to work every stream out? into one video? 4 split screen? or 5?

IS it possible to have one orchestrator to cut every so often to another channel to where the action is? or commentary it? That would be fun if you u can do this.

#14

That would be fun. I can probably push 5 streams, though the layout may be awkward.
4 can easily be setup in a 2x2 grid

The whole switching to where the action is, is totally achievable on OBS, but we are talking automation here if I am also playing, so that’s wishful thinking. Only way I could achieve that is by having 4/5 people feed me their squad/private-match stream and I serve as a commentator/director of the whole composite stream, manually switching to emphasize a specific stream

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#15

Well ideally, if this is the motivation, the cause and effect would be to split screen 1Ft guy and 1 Predator in a split screen if possible.
Then have maybe the guy who is orchestrating it (you or someone else -this could be even a non-player guy ) to switch to the FT player who is exhibiting the most action).

If that could be you, consider yourself a master at multitasking. But if not, and a 5th wheeler is there in the room doing this task or someone from another place doing this–i’m just not sure how.

From a spectator perspective watching this live, this would be the most entertaining.
What do you say to this? Could that be possible? a fifth wheeler controlling the cuts on OBS?
I’m still not familiar with the whole thing. I mean literally this is probably how its done in a basketball game.

#16

we would need 6 people for that, 4 FT players, 1 predator player and one handling the whole stream (director)

I certainly would love to be the “spectator” director handling the stream,

#17

image

3 Likes
#18

don’t go there Ahab. Its not what you think. and if you do refer to this thread:

#19

just promise me this will be a more Predator centric private match?Remember? like we did last time?
Its got to be a tasteful balance and not a DS feast for Rigtig because it would not be worth the time of everyone.

#20

riktig playing pred is worth watching