How to stream AoE3 Gameplay: The Ultimate Guide

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How to stream AoE3 Gameplay: The Ultimate Guide

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Post by Mr_Bramboy »

Hey everyone! I made an internal guide on how to stream on esoctv correctly and a few people pointed out that parts of that guide could be useful to getting people started in streaming AoE3. Therefore I have decided to release a new public guide. This guide is ment for people who have never streamed before but would like to stream their gameplay. I will use OBS as the streaming program, but you can also use other streaming programs if you prefer that. This guide is ment for Windows only, as I have no idea how a Mac works. If you have any questions feel free to leave a post in this thread!

1. System Requirements

Not everyone can stream in 1080p 60fps. By using OBS' estimator you can get a general idea of what your settings within OBS should look like. Search for "Run" within Windows and start the program. Type in "dxdiag" and you should get a screen which displays your CPU and graphics card (The graphics card is located under Display). Fill in the options in the estimator and it will give you your recommended settings. Of course you can enable your settings to be higher than the recommended settings, but this will cause FPS lag and/or FPS drops.

2. Getting started with OBS

This part is directly copy pasted from the internal guide with little changes to remove internal stuff. Please leave a reply if something isn't quite clear or if there are errors

Please read the following points carefully in order to set up your stream correctly.

    Download Open Broadcaster Software (OBS). You most likely already have this program or a substitute. I will use examples from OBS in this guide, but you can find everything in other streaming software as well.
    Create a desktop shortcut and right click on it. Select properties and then compatibility and make sure the box “Run this program as an administrator” is checked. This prevents OBS not streaming correctly because it doesn’t have sufficient permissions. From what I know this is only a problem on Windows 10, but it doesn’t hurt to make sure your software works correctly. Image
    Within OBS, add a scene by right clicking in the “Scenes:” box and clicking on “Add scene” (sounds easy, right?). Name this whatever you like.
    Within the scene, add a few sources by right clicking in the “Sources:” box and clicking on “Add”.
    Add Game Capture and select “age3f Age of Empires III”. Click on the “OK” button and make sure the box is checked! Please note that the RE patch and EP patch require two sources.
    Alternatively, you can use either Monitor Capture or Window Capture, but these will display other things than AoE3 as well (for example your skype or twitch stream)

3. OBS Settings

Within the settings, change a few settings in the following sub-settings.
Encoding: Navigate to Speedtest and determine your upload speed by pinging the nearest server. Your maximum bitrate should be slightly lower than your upload bitrate. Note that Speedtest uses mb/s and OBS uses kb/s. For reference, 1 mb = 1028 kb.
Broadcast Settings:
Mode: Set to Live Stream
Streaming Service: Set to Twitch
FMS Url: Set to closest city.
Stream Key: You can gather your stream key at https://www.twitch.tv/YOURCHANNELNAME/d ... /streamkey. Do not share this stream key with anyone.
Delay: Set to whatever you want. For ESOC related events we require 120 seconds but if you aren't afraid of Jerom stream sniping you being stream sniped you can set this to 0
Save stream to file: If you would like to upload your stream to your own youtube channel, set to enabled. If you do not have your own youtube channel, set to disabled. Please make sure you have enough space available on your computer to allow the files to process.
Video: If you have multiple graphics cards make sure you select the right one and make sure you select the right resolution or monitor.

We will not touch the rest of the settings. If you run into any issues while streaming you might be able to fix your problem by adjusting some setting. A quick google search usually delivers the solution to your problem.

Important Configure your sound and microphone correctly (microphone slightly louder than in game sounds). A microphone is obviously not required for casual streams, but you can choose to commentate your gameplay. You can easily configure your sound by recording a test video by clicking on the “Start Recording” button. The file can be found in the path you specified in Broadcast Settings. Change the sound levels within OBS, not within Windows. There are a few options within Windows which you’ll want to change.

4. Troubleshooting

Most problems with OBS or your microphone can be fixed by searching on Google. However, here are some problems and solutions to common problems. If you still run into problems, feel free to contact an ESOC Media Team member.

P: My microphone is too quiet in comparison to my co-caster and game sounds.
S: Increase the microphone sound level within OBS and/or decrease the external sound level within OBS. Keep decreasing and increasing small amounts in order to find the optimal sound comparison. Avoid using Windows’ Mic Boost as it causes a lot of background noise.

P: There is a lot of background noise when I talk.
S: This can have a lot of causes. The most common one is having a bad microphone, but that does not have to be the case. Right click on the sound icon in the taskbar and click on “Recording Devices” and open the properties of the microphone you’re using. The microphone you’re using will have a big green checkmark next to its icon. Within the properties, click on “Levels” and decrease the “Microphone Boost” level. Increase your microphone level within OBS to compensate and you should have less background noise.

P: My stream displays a black screen when I have AoE3 checkmarked in the source box.
S: Make sure OBS is run as an administrator to prevent OBS from having too few permissions. Please note that there is a difference between AoE3 RE patch and AoE3 EP patch. You will need two game sources; one for RE and one for EP.
Another solution is to enable windowed mode within AoE3.


Jerom wrote:Low upload tips: Set resolution downscaling, usually I go for 480p. I've also gone to 25 fps rather than 30 so that more of the bandwidth can be devoted to un-pixelizing your video. Make sure the audio bitrate is set to the lowest setting possible. It defaulted to 128 kbps for me, which is a lot if you're streaming at 600 bitrate.


If you have any questions please leave a reply in this thread, no matter how stupid you might think your question is! The more streamers the better :D
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Re: How to stream AoE3 Gameplay: The Ultimate Guide

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media team best team
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Re: How to stream AoE3 Gameplay: The Ultimate Guide

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brambonnie how will you address these allegations?!?!? :hmm: :hmm: :hmm:
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Re: How to stream AoE3 Gameplay: The Ultimate Guide

Post by jesus3 »

Thanks for this guide, thanks to it i could confirm it wasnt my laptop thats shitty but my internet thats too bad to stream.

Blessings!
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Re: How to stream AoE3 Gameplay: The Ultimate Guide

Post by EAGLEMUT »

pecelot wrote:brambonnie how will you address these allegations?!?!? :hmm: :hmm: :hmm:


Looks like it's been addressed. RIP ESOC Council.
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Re: How to stream AoE3 Gameplay: The Ultimate Guide

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RIP taking credit for other people's work
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Re: How to stream AoE3 Gameplay: The Ultimate Guide

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Post by Durokan »

n0el is not the admin we deserve but the admin we need
Check out my Custom Map Workshop here!
http://eso-community.net/viewtopic.php?p=98718#top
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Re: How to stream AoE3 Gameplay: The Ultimate Guide

Post by Mr_Bramboy »

n0eL wrote:RIP taking credit for other people's work

thanks m8
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Re: How to stream AoE3 Gameplay: The Ultimate Guide

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What ish thish? Censorship?
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Re: How to stream AoE3 Gameplay: The Ultimate Guide

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I received a telegram from Herr Noeltz. He asked me demanded that I wear a yellow star on my chest, which I categorically refused, because I've never really liked sheriffs.
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Re: How to stream AoE3 Gameplay: The Ultimate Guide

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The American corporate overlords must control their copyright or else their profits might be lessened.
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Re: How to stream AoE3 Gameplay: The Ultimate Guide

Post by momuuu »

Strong showing, community!

At least from Bram, great guide.
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Re: How to stream AoE3 Gameplay: The Ultimate Guide

Post by Mimsy for President »

Nice copypasta from this guy's website. :dry:

eduardkhil.wordpress.com
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haha i got baited
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Re: How to stream AoE3 Gameplay: The Ultimate Guide

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Post by momuuu »

Low upload tips: Set resolution downscaling, usually I go for 480p. I've also gone to 25 fps rather than 30 so that more of the bandwidth can be devoted to un-pixelizing your video. Make sure the audio bitrate is set to the lowest setting possible. It defaulted to 128 kbps for me, which is a lot if you're streaming at 600 bitrate.
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Re: How to stream AoE3 Gameplay: The Ultimate Guide

Post by Mr_Bramboy »

Jerom wrote:Low upload tips: Set resolution downscaling, usually I go for 480p. I've also gone to 25 fps rather than 30 so that more of the bandwidth can be devoted to un-pixelizing your video. Make sure the audio bitrate is set to the lowest setting possible. It defaulted to 128 kbps for me, which is a lot if you're streaming at 600 bitrate.

Added to the main post.

Thanks for the sticky :D
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Re: How to stream AoE3 Gameplay: The Ultimate Guide

Post by n0el »

I use window capture, don't need to change the source then for EP/RE. Won't show anything else btw.
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Re: How to stream AoE3 Gameplay: The Ultimate Guide

Post by illusioNtEk »

I use Xsplit... yes there is a monthly charge but it adjust all the settings for me based on my computer and internet specs. As you can see my stream quality is pretty good and I don't even have to mess and bother with any of the settings.
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Re: How to stream AoE3 Gameplay: The Ultimate Guide

Post by Mr_Bramboy »

illusioNtEk wrote:I use Xsplit... yes there is a monthly charge but it adjust all the settings for me based on my computer and internet specs. As you can see my stream quality is pretty good and I don't even have to mess and bother with any of the settings.

That is an option, yes. A monthly subscription is not an option for the majority of the community, though.
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Re: How to stream AoE3 Gameplay: The Ultimate Guide

Post by illusioNtEk »

Mr_Bramboy wrote:
illusioNtEk wrote:I use Xsplit... yes there is a monthly charge but it adjust all the settings for me based on my computer and internet specs. As you can see my stream quality is pretty good and I don't even have to mess and bother with any of the settings.

That is an option, yes. A monthly subscription is not an option for the majority of the community, though.


Well... in that case what some of you guys can do it download xsplit and try out there free trial period which I think its 1 or 2 weeks.... let the program scan your computer to see what adjustments it seens... once its done you can view all the settings and adjustments its done and copy it to OBS :p
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Re: How to stream AoE3 Gameplay: The Ultimate Guide

Post by Mr_Bramboy »

illusioNtEk wrote:
Mr_Bramboy wrote:
illusioNtEk wrote:I use Xsplit... yes there is a monthly charge but it adjust all the settings for me based on my computer and internet specs. As you can see my stream quality is pretty good and I don't even have to mess and bother with any of the settings.

That is an option, yes. A monthly subscription is not an option for the majority of the community, though.


Well... in that case what some of you guys can do it download xsplit and try out there free trial period which I think its 1 or 2 weeks.... let the program scan your computer to see what adjustments it seens... once its done you can view all the settings and adjustments its done and copy it to OBS :p

Or just torrent it (I never torrent though please don't track me down)

Either way, I didn't really like xsplit. I used it a few years ago and in my experiences it caused FPS lag, whereas OBS didn't.
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Re: How to stream AoE3 Gameplay: The Ultimate Guide

Post by Hazza54321 »

@Jerom what have you set your resolution downscaling to 1.25x?
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Re: How to stream AoE3 Gameplay: The Ultimate Guide

Post by momuuu »

Hazza54321 wrote:@Jerom what have you set your resolution downscaling to 1.25x?

x480 basically
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Re: How to stream AoE3 Gameplay: The Ultimate Guide

Post by rickytickitembo »

How do you add your name to the left under "twitch streams"?
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Re: How to stream AoE3 Gameplay: The Ultimate Guide

Post by VinyanyĂ©rĂ« »

^ On Twitch, set the game that you're streaming to "Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties", and ESOC will pick it up automatically.
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