madammina: I have a new Asus computer. When I went to stream on Twitch (using OBS) The screan was black. You could get sound, and I was being recorded, but the screen was just black. I tried using Xsplit Gamecaster and the stream toolbar didn't even show up. How can I fix this?
Every game is different, so it isn't possible to give a single answer that will work perfectly for every single game. Modern games use DirectX 9/10/11 or newer OpenGL releases and should thus work with OBS "Game Capture" quite well. If it does not work by default, try switching the game from "Fullscreen" to "Borderless Fullscreen" or "Windowed Fullscreen" and try again. If the game has options for switching the renderer between DirectX and/or OpenGL versions, experiment with that in the game. This might involve editing the game's config files and googling for information, but it isn't too common.
If the game does not work with the Game Capture scene type, then you'll need to experiment. Old MSDOS games running in DOSBOX will need to have DOSbox reconfigured to use OpenGL as the output renderer, and you may need to tweak DOSbox graphic options further such as the aspect ratio and resolution etc. until you find something that both looks nice to play, and OBS is able to capture it as well.
If you can't get OBS to capture a game with Game Capture mode, then you'll need to try the Desktop Capture mode instead, which will capture the entire display you select. Experiment with the various options in Properties for the scene. If you can't get Desktop Capture to pick up the game, then you may have to try Window Capture and specify the window using one of the available options and experiment with what works best.
Note than when using the Desktop or Window capture modes, it is potentially possible if a game crashes or is ALT-TAB'd out to the desktop or other random things happen, that your desktop itself or other programs you have running may end up being captured and recorded or streamed instead, so you want to make sure you have no sensitive or personal information within the eyeshot of the OBS capture. It is best to rigorously test this by recording prior to doing any streaming.
If none of these methods work, hit Google with questions and details to see if anyone has tried to do what you're doing and had problems, and whether they've found solutions that work. Ask for game specific help yourself if necessary on the OBS forums or Discord, etc.
If all else fails, another option which might be the only option for some games, is to buy a video capture card to capture the output that way. There are tutorials on YouTube for doing this, and in theory you can capture any game at all with capture hardware.
Another tip is to make sure your operating system and all drivers are fully updated, and to make sure OBS itself is updated as well.
Video games have used a wide range of graphic interfaces over the years, and they all have different semantics, limitations, pros and cons, so it can be challenging for software like OBS or any other program to be able to handle all of the possible combinations of ways that graphics can be implemented in a game and be able to capture it. It will take some experimentation and fiddling to get some games to work while others will work effortlessly.
Hope this helps.
