Guide to Live Streaming A.V.A (Made by Ink)

Welcome! If you have ever wanted to stream, but did not know how, look no further. All the basics of streaming will be yours! Get ready to stream A.V.A! Made by Ink.

Livestreaming Guide

The Basics
Anyone can stream, it is that simple! The hardest part is knowing the correct settings to use for your personal setup. This is via the in-game settings, OBS settings, and of course, your Twitch profile settings! Getting past these hurdles of knowledge takes no time at all, just read below.

Necessary Programs
OBS
http://obsproject.com/download

Twitch.tv Account
http://twitch.tv/

AVA
http://download.aeriagames.com/files/games/us/ava/csd/ava_us_downloader.exe

Minimum Requirments
- 1.5Mb/s Upload Speed
- Either:
a)
Core2Duo+
4GB RAM+
GTX 460+
Second HDD

b)
nVidia NVENC compatible video card

Your First Broadcast
Optimizing Your Computer:

- Turn off Windows Aero
- Turn off Windows Peak/Transparency
- Turn off Paging Pool/Virtual Memory
- Close network and CPU intensive programs (Ignite, Skype, Steam, Chrome/Firefox, Akami Netsession, Pando Media Booster...etc)
- Play through a wired internet connection
- Turn off any QoS settings in your router/modem

Optimizing A.V.A:

- Shadows, Lighting, AF, AA, and other Post-Processing effects should be disabled unless you greatly exceed the above hardware requirements
- Lowering Background Detail, Texture, and Quality may also improve FPS performance while streaming
- Play A.V.A in windowed mode (bugs in fullscreen with OBS)

Setting up OBS:

x264 Settings:

General
- Setting Profile should be named to your stream's purpose

Encoding
- Encoder to x264
- Use CBR, Enable CBR padding
- Quality Balance 10
- Max bitrate: Please review the explanations below.
- Buffer size: Please review the explanations below.

Audio Encoding:
- AAC
- 48KHz
- Bitrate: 96/128
- Channel: Stereo

Broadcast Settings
- Mode: Live Stream
- Twitch/Justin.tv
- Server: Pick the closest one to your location.
- Stream Key: Put your stream key here (check below for details).
- Auto-Reconnect: Checked
- Minimize Network Impact: Optional, test it out, see if your ping deviates or not
- Fill in your filepath and hotkey settings

Video
- Custom: Your playing resolution here
- Resolution Downscale: The final video output resolution
- Filter: None will have artifacts if you downscale, Lanczos may cause performance issues
- FPS: Please review the explanations below.
- Disable Aero: Checked, no exceptions.

Audio
- Select your default audio device
- Set up these settings to your liking

Advanced
- Use Multithreaded optimizations if you have a quadcore
- Process Priority: Normal
- x264 Preset: Please review the explanations below.
- Encoding Profile: Please review the explanations below.
- Keyframe: 2
- Use CFR
- Force audio timestamps
- Automatic Low Latency Mode: Optional.

Low Quality/Better Performance Stream
- Max bitrate: 1500 Kb/s
- Max Buffer: 1700 Kb/s
- FPS: 30
- x264 Preset: Superfast/Veryfast
- Encoding Profile: Medium

Medium Quality/Average Performance Stream
- Max bitrate: 2500 Kb/s OR 3000 Kb/s
- Max Buffer: 2700 Kb/s OR 3200 Kb/s
- FPS: 35
- x264 Preset: Veryfast/Fast
- Encoding Profile: High

High Quality Stream
- Max bitrate: 2500 Kb/s OR 3000 Kb/s
- Max Buffer: 2700 Kb/s OR 3200 Kb/s
- FPS: 35 OR 48
- x264 Preset: Fast/Faster
- Encoding Profile: High

*FPS, and x264 preset can be configured to any setting that fits your hardware/performance. Pick one of the 3 options above, start there, and change your settings based off of your personal preferences.


NVENC:
Encoding
- nVidia NVENC: Checked.
- Use CBR

Video
- Same considerations as with x264.

Advanced
- NVENC Preset: High Quality
- Encoding Profile: High
- Use CFR

Additional Setting Considerations
- Use a second HDD if you record your stream. Not recording will improve performance

- Higher stream FPS will look better and smoother to viewers, but will exponentially degrade performance in-game (exception NVENC)

- Higher bitrates may choke your network connection, be aware of this. Trying the numerous network priority options in OBS can yield positive results

- Playing AVA while streaming in fullscreen may present various bugs and other issues. Some of these can be solved with workarounds, but most can not. Playing in windowed mode enables the easiest method of streaming.

Stream Key:
1. Go to your Twitch Dashboard.
2. Click on Stream Key.
3. Copy these characters to your OBS setting.
4. Do NOT share this key with anyone or show it on stream. Anyone can stream to your channel if they get this key. You can reset your key if this occurs.

Additional References
Twitch OBS Guide:
http://help.twitch.tv/customer/portal/articles/1262922-open-broadcaster-software

How to Add AVA to OBS as Window Capture:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLhQZemZkH0

*Written by inkofdeath* Source: http://ava.aeriagames.com/livestream_guide

[Hungh]

Good to know bro

[GoTurboTwitch]

sweet ty

[Ink]

Nice guide.