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In need of streaming advice!
Hey! Lately I've decided that after years of wanting to do stuff on the internet, I'm gonna try my best to start streaming video games. I'm rather excited to start trying to form a lil community and I wanted to know if anyone here has tips/experience they would like to share. Any and all advice is welcomed and appreciated! I did a little test stream of Bioshock (using OBS) for some friends, but I'm currently using a wireless adapter so it didn't go very well for very long. I'm definitely picking up an ethernet cable before I try again. But in the meantime, I thought I'd ask for some wisdom.
My advice is go for stream quality and framerate, not pixel density. A clear stream at 720p with a consistent framerate is better than a mushy 1080p with constant drops. Heck, don't even be afraid of going lower res than that if necessary. Also, for fast paced games (e.g.: overwatch) framerate is life, so 720p @ 60fps > 1080p @ 30fps. For slower games (e.g.: stardew) the choice is up to you.
Also make sure you have a second monitor or some way to easily monitor chat, because viewer interaction is important to build a community.
Finally, consider bot integrations (like nightbot) and widgets (like streamlabs) that will add a little bit of flavor to your stream. The former is great for automated commands, like linking people to your social media, or for playing music in the background for games that benefit from that. The latter gives you access to cool interactions like follower / sub animations, chat display, among others.
ETA: feel free to link me to your stream and maybe I'll drop by with a couple of friends!
Thanks for the reply! Yeah my goal atm is 720p/60FPS. I'm pretty limited by my GPU atm (GTX960), so I'll be playing less intensive games until I can get my hands on a damn 1070/80 (Much as I'd like to stream Monster Hunter World, it already takes up 95% of my GPU). I have a shitty lil TV I'm using to monitor OBS and chat as well. I may have to mess with bots as well, but maybe after I've gotten the hang of streaming. My twitch is https://www.twitch.tv/videogamecynic but tbh I couldn't tell you when I'll be streaming next haha. Maybe in 2 or so days once I rig up a wired connection (I've got stairs to wire around)
Those things are overpriced due to miners/scalpers. Get you a RTX series instead (2080/2070) as those are same price or lower with a bit more of future proofing in the form of ray-tracing. (At least here in the US)
ETA: you might also want to flip the twitch setting so it saves your previous broadcasts. Will help people watch streams they may have missed.
Eh, IMO that's not worth focusing on too much. I'd bet good money that by the time there are actually a significant number of games making use of the raytracing features Nvidia will have released a second generation of RTX cards with massively improved raytracing performance at a more affordable price, and it will take at least another generation before people without raytracing capable cards feel like they're missing out.
I'd still recommend an RTX series if OP was going to go out and buy a card today, but it sounds like they're a bit strapped for cash at the moment. The mining related inflation is dying out at this point. There are plenty of deals to be had on 1080ti's if you're willing to wait a bit.
Really? How good are the prices on those? Because a base 2080 will cost a lot cheaper right now, have about the same performance (perhaps a bit more with driver updates), and, while I agree RTX isn't something to focus on too hard right now, it still has it. So unless the 1080ti deals drop it below the 2080 by an appreciable amount, I think the RTX is still the way to go.
See I knew I could save the broadcasts but I have no idea where the setting is 😅. But I'll definitely look at the 20 series instead, then. Thanks for the tip!
You got it! Also maybe keep an eye out for deals on 10 series ti cards as @fullmetaljackass suggested. I wouldn't hold my breath, BUT they're still very strong, relevant cards.
The prices on the 1070's have settled, the mining craze is over. The 1080's were not affected (since they have a different, less optimal RAM type) so there was a brief period of time when it was cheaper to buy a GTX 1080 than a GTX 1070.
I don't stream but I used to chat mod for a few partnered twitch streamers (5hizzle, Thadrius, JimmyFantastic) and still watch a ton of streamers daily. Every time any of them get asked this, their advice is/was almost universally "make a weekly streaming schedule and stick to it religiously" since it's impossible to build a following and fanbase if you only stream at random hours whenever you feel like it. And the other most common piece of advice I have heard is "get a good desktop mic, green screen and webcam" since it's unlikely anyone is going to watch a streamer with shit quality audio and no webcam unless they're already well known or exceptionally good at a particular game. Although I guess that advice is more for if you want to try and make a career out of it... if you're just streaming for fun, it's still good advice, but not really as necessary.
The schedule part I've heard is absolutely crucial starting out, yeah. I plan to do consistent late night streams and I usually always have time around then so it's just a matter of me keeping at it. Truthfully, I don't think I'll ever use a webcam. My biggest inspiration is Vinesauce (Vinny specifically), and despite not having a webcam or donation/sub shoutouts, he maintains 4-6k viewers pretty consistently. Hell, his Mother 3 stream netted him around 9k consistently. So cam's probably a no go for me but a good mic and good schedule are crucial, yeah. I think my goal is to just do it for fun, but if I start taking off, then I'll definitely devote some more time to it. Thanks for the advice!