What’s the optimal choice? HAGS, Frame Gen, Capture Card.
What’s the optimal choice? HAGS, Frame Gen, Capture Card.
I’ve been conducting several tests to achieve smooth, dependable streaming in MSFS 2024 with OBS. I’m looking for feedback or alternative approaches from others. Initially, streaming MSFS 2020 worked well—OBS handled it smoothly, bitrate stayed consistent, and encoding didn’t cause problems, even with HAGS enabled. However, MSFS 2024 presented challenges. With HAGS active, OBS would intermittently drop to 0 kbps, causing the preview to freeze while timers and CPU stats remained normal. The encoder would stay active but nothing would be transmitted, despite the GPU being at 50–60% usage and ample VRAM (11GB used on a 24GB system). Turning HAGS off resolved the freezing but introduced encoding delays (1–2% lag) and rendering issues, especially during fast camera movements or when Frame Generation was on. Even without maxing out the system, OBS struggled to keep up. MSFS 2020 performed consistently. The situation seems to hinge on HAGS: either freezing or lagging encoding. I’ve applied common fixes—adjusting NVENC settings, limiting frame rate, simplifying scenes—but nothing breaks the pattern. I’m curious if using a capture card could help, even on a single machine. While typically for dual-PC configurations, routing the game through a local capture card might alleviate GPU scheduling conflicts. Additionally, I’d appreciate guidance on OBS behavior with Frame Generation. It appears the tool only captures base frames, not the generated ones, which could contribute to streaming difficulties when aiming for 60fps from a game outputting around 30+ FPS. Any insights or proven setups would be greatly appreciated.