An important part of Esports is live streaming competitions. Whether streaming for millions of viewers around the world or hundreds on a college campus, producing engaging live streams is one of the best ways to expose a program to new and existing audiences.
In the case of SUNY Potsdam Esports, our streams help sell the program to administration, faculty, alumni, as well as current and prospective students, and in return, could lead to an increase in funding opportunities in the long run.
The steps for streaming a game will vary by the platform or console.
In the Lehman Hall Gaming Lounge, there are six PCs available during Fortnite, League of Legends, and Overwatch competitions.
Before starting to setup for any kind of streaming, it is strongly recommended that your connection to the internet is wired from an ethernet cable and not WiFi. A wireless connection is not as reliable for constant uploading and a drop in signal can cut the stream short. An ethernet connection is more stable for streaming.
If you are only streaming game play and not other sources like cameras or microphones for shoutcasters, you do not need a capture card connected to your system. If you need the capture card for any reason, it is located in the wooden cabinet in the Gaming Lounge. You can get the combination for the lock from Dr. Betrus.
The program that is recommended for streaming is Streamlabs OBS. If it is not already installed on your PC, you can download the program from the Streamlabs website. Streamlabs OBS is not available for Mac, so you will need access to a computer with the Windows operating system before proceeding. After installing and opening the program, you will come to the main screen where your stream will originate from.
A brief overview of the OBS, which stands for Open Broadcast Software. The area labeled "Untitled" is where all your scenes are located. Scenes contain all of the elements and sources that will be required to complete a certain shot such as video sources, files, and graphics to name a few. To create a new scene, click on the "Plus" icon, then name your scene, and click "Done". Your new scene will now be listed.
Next to the list of scenes are your list of sources. These are the sources that are included in the selected scene. To add a new source to your scene, click the "Plus" icon". A pop-up window called "Add Source" will appear and it lists 14 different standard sources that you can add to your scene. Select a source and click "Add Source". You will then name your source, then click "Add Source".
In this demonstration, we clicked on "Game Capture" as our source. This will be your primary source when streaming a game, so in the drop-down next to "Mode", select "Capture specific window" then underneath, select the window where your game will be located. If you have not opened your game's application, you need to do so before adding the source.
When you have selected the window, under Scale Resolution, click the box next to "Capture Cursor" to remove the check. That will prevent the mouse cursor from appearing during the live stream. Then click "Done". Your new "Game Capture" source has been added to the scene. The list of sources will work from top to bottom, so the source at the top will have top priority, followed by the source underneath, and so on. For example, if you want graphics layered on top of your "Game Capture" source, Game Capture should be at the bottom with the graphics listed above it.
Next to the sources is the audio mixer, which will display real-time audio levels coming from devices and selected sources, such as desktop audio, headset or microphone audio, and game audio. You can change the maximum dB level by dragging the slider, you can mute or unmute the audio source by clicking the speaker icon, and you can change settings to an audio source by clicking the gear icon.
When setup of your scenes, sources, and audio is complete, you will move on to settings for the stream. In the lower left hand corner of the application, click on the "Gear" icon to access the settings.
Many of the settings within Streamlabs OBS will not need to be adjusted, but to access the settings that DO need to be changed, go to "Stream". The Stream Type should remain "Streaming services", the service in most cases will be Twitch, and the server should remain at the Auto recommendation. If you run into bandwidth problems during streaming, one possible solution is to go back to this window and change the server to one closer to Potsdam, in this case Quebec, Canada.
Next you will need to enter the stream key, which can be retrieved from Twitch by going to the Creator Dashboard. From there, click on the word Dashboard and you will be taken to the Stream Key & Preferences. Click on "Copy" next to the box with your stream key and then back in Streamlabs OBS, paste it in.
Other settings that should be checked before starting a live stream.
In Streamlabs OBS under "Video", be sure your Base Canvas Resolution matches the Output Scaled Resolution. Strive for 1920 x 1080, which is the highest quality output, but if you run into bandwidth problems or other streaming issues, drop the Output Scaled Resolution to 1280 x 720.
Under "Advanced", scroll down to "Stream Delay" and enter the number of seconds your stream will need to be delayed by. The ECAC has set guidelines in regards to delays which varies by game. Fortnite and Overwatch require a 5-minute delay, which is 300 seconds. There is no delay mentioned for League of Legends, but if the rulesets do not call for a delay, a 60-second delay should be acceptable.
When you have finished adjusting your settings in Streamlabs OBS, click "Done".
Back in Twitch, two fields under Stream Information will need to be changed. The title should be changed to reflect your opponent. PES, which stands for Potsdam Esports, versus the name of the opposing school. Under category, change the name of the game to whatever game you are playing. This will allow casual viewers interested in a particular game to find your stream, increasing viewership numbers and possibly adding more followers to the channel!
At this point, no further changes are required and you are ready to stream from your PC. To start the stream, click "Go Live" in the lower right hand corner.
When you click "Go Live" and your stream is on a delay, Streamlabs OBS will start a countdown to the stream. You are actually streaming when you click "Go Live." That countdown is when the stream will be available to viewers. At the end of the stream, wait for one minute before ending. This will give Twitch the opportunity to broadcast as much of the stream as possible without cutting you off at the end.
Streaming from a video game console follows the same concepts as streaming from a PC. Unlike a PC where everything was done using the same system, streaming from a console will require additional equipment and setup time.
We will discuss working with the Nintendo Switch since that is the console used for competition in Super Smash Brothers Ultimate.
To stream from a Switch, you will need to connect it to a video capture card, one of which can be found in the wooden cabinet in the Gaming Lounge along with HDMI cables. You can get the combination to the lock from Dr. Betrus.
The capture card is then connected to a PC or laptop, which will be used as the production hub for your stream. The software for the capture card will be on a CD-ROM disc in the box, but the necessary drivers are also available online if you do not have a DVD drive on your system.
Once your Switch and capture card are connected, be sure you have a stable, hard-wired internet connection and not WiFi. When your connection is confirmed, you will open Streamlabs OBS and setup your primary scene and source so that you are receiving your game play feed from the capture card, which the PC or laptop should have recognized from a USB port.
If the capture card software is open at the same time as Streamlabs OBS, you will get a black screen when trying to configure the source. When that happens, two programs are trying to talk to the capture card at the same time and the default software will have priority since the capture card can only send to one source at a time. Make sure that the capture card software is closed before opening Streamlabs OBS.
If you are not familiar with how to work with or stream from Streamlabs OBS, watch the previous video on PC streaming before proceeding.
The same settings applied to streaming from a PC apply to the Switch, with the main exception being the Stream Delay. The ECAC requires a 3-minute delay for Super Smash Brothers, so the delay needs to be set at 180 seconds.
When you are ready to stream, start by clicking "Go Live" in the lower right hand corner.