Not much better than Motec so far, Video is WACKO!

[rwschumm]

Hello - about 18mo ago, I got back into Sim Racing, after an approx 20yr layoff, when I found that the state-of-the-art had advanced so far. I built my own Game PC, as I have done since the mid-80's. ASUS MB, Intel i7-9700k, Nvidia GeForce RTX 2800 Founders, Triple 27" screens, 16GB DRAM. I also have have Simucube Ultimate, Heusinkveld pedals, and DBOX, but usually don't use that, since I'm mostly just trying to improve my skills/times.

I've been running Assetto Corsa Competizione, and to improve my times, I downloaded and installed Motec which is helpful. I saw Vbox was available a month ago in Beta, and after a review by Sim Racing 604 a week or so ago, I decided to purchase and install it from Steam, along with the Free Circuit Tools playback/analysis software. I always thought my setup was pretty good, but I noticed I was having a lot of video stuttering, so I reduced ACC video settings quite a bit until most of that was gone.

HOWEVER, I found that ALL the MP4 videos Vbox generates show me driving at about 3X actual speed, which could also be resulting in a lot of stuttering!! But primarily, it makes review of the videos almost useless!! I always have Circuit Tools at 1X playback speed during recording or playback. When I playback the MP4s in Microsoft vid tools, it's the same! So the problem is not Circuit Tools, but Vbox, which is recording the video at 3X.

Note that the videos are playing back at the correct speed, ie, a 1min vid takes 1min to play back. But I'm going what seems like 3X speed in the video! Also, the speed 'overlay' in CT shows me traveling at straightaway speeds around slow corners, so overlay may actually be tracking 1X speed. I noticed OBS support was added recently, and I do have both OBS and Streamlabs OBS installed. But I rarely use them, and they were not running during any Vbox recording session. I have also tried ACC/Vbox both online and offline in Steam, with the same result.

I will be posting this to Vbox Support in Steam, and also will contact Racelogic directly, if I don't hear back from Support by tomorrow on Steam. Disappointing, for sure, since everything looked so easy in SR604's video, but the more advanced software gets, the more it seems like 1981 and autoexec.bat/config.sys driver (or whatever) hassles all over again. I will be sure to post results, when/if I can get the problem corrected. Or if I have to request a refund.

Thanks
Rick

[jakierobo85]

Hey Rick, Interesting to hear the problem you're having with your video speed. I havent had any issues on iRacing thus far but, cannot comment on ACC as i have not tried it with VBox. You may benefit from using a video capture device? I am sure that support will help out, they seem responsive.

Jacob

[rwschumm]

Hi Jacob - No feedback yet from Racelogic, and Steam support is 'nil' other than reading previous problem postings. Sim Racing 604's review last week was on ACC, and it looked great. I actually can't see how I could possibly even MAKE Vbox do what it's doing for me. Very disappointing that it's happening out of the box. If I hear nothing from Racelogic tomorrow morning, I'll contact their support. I'll update everything here.

Rick

[vbox motorsport]

Hi Rick, sorry to hear about the video problems. The symptoms suggest that the PC is overloaded with the combination of game, displays and VBOX Sim. OBS video record seems like the way forward as OBS is more efficient in offloading work to the graphics card. Great that you're already familiar with OBS. Check the 'OBS Support Added' post for instructions on how to get setup with that beta version. If you get stuck or have further problems then please do drop us a message to [e-mail] with any queries - our support team will be keen to help and are generally very responsive - and we have more detailed documentation on the OBS integration that is just going through our approval processes, but we can share with you. Cheers, Lee

[rwschumm]

Thanks for your reply. I didn't mention that I did once turn off both side monitors, to see if that made a difference, and it didn't. However, I didn't configure Nvidia software for a single monitor, though. I am not too familiar with OBS, which I struggled to record with, and is the main reason I downloaded Streamlabs, which seemed simpler. But I understand OBS may make a difference, so will give that a try and report back. My PC is only a game computer, so I only start Simucube True Drive when running ACC, and I believe Heusinkveld has firmware is built in; no software other than calibration. I didn't start Dbox software, or have any other software running, other than what's req'd for Steam/ACC to run. May take me a few days to test OBS and report back.
Thanks
Rick

[rwschumm]

Hello- I finally have been able today to get Vbox/CircuitTools video playback working as it should. The key factor WAS using OBS, so I'm glad that this option became available a few weeks ago, before I purchased Vbox, or I'm sure I would have asked for a refund. But first... I'll start at the beginning.

The version of OBS that I had was a much earlier version, but I did download and successfully install the newest version and the Websocket tool successfully. Comment regarding final step of 'Getting Started' Instructions under Vbox Help that caused me some minutes of confusion. The File/Settings/Output/.....etc instruction was not clear, since there are 2 Output listings on the page that pops up. One link on the far left which is the one desired, and One Output checklist category in the main part of the window. Should be made clearer.

Next, before trying to record with OBS, I did try one other thing. I disabled 'Surround' on the Nvidia Control Panel, without going through the more complicated process of trying to change display resolution and syncing up just my center monitor. I just used Vbox without OBS, and I DID get normal video 1X playback.... although it also was kind of useless, since it resulted in 3 displays on 1 screen. Really messes with track presence! But I suspect if I want to reset my display to Center Display before using Vbox, that would also work. But the way I have my view set up, I want triples for track presence and fastest times.

Re: OBS, I mentioned earlier this week that I didn't use OBS much. The reason is that it is SO Complex, that after hours of trying with the older version I had, I never did get a satisfactory center screen set up for recording or streaming on Youtube. However, after a couple more hours of working in OBS 26.1.1, I finally was successful yesterday at getting a Game Capture Scene center screen to work and record/play. I didn't have time yesterday to try comparison of multiple sessions in Circuit Tools, but I did try that today, and was able to compare synchronized sessions today.

I am really looking forward to using Vbox and comparing laps, as I keep trying to gain speed! For me, it was a no-brainer, but I can understand how difficult it is for some to make a decision of purchasing Vbox, vs. saving for better steering, braking, or other Sim titles.

Now I'll be trying to build my video settings in ACC back to where they were, and I will update if I find difficulties with detail/frame rates, compared with my previous settings.

Thanks to RaceLogic Help for advice and OBS option! Otherwise, I'd be out of luck currently. I will be planning to buy a new Nvidia RTX3680, as soon as prices return from insanity, back to reality (nobody likes getting hosed). :) Best of luck to all with Simracing!

Rick

[vbox motorsport]

Hey Rick, great that you're up and running. The version with OBS support will soon be moving to the main branch - and we will have walkthrough documentation to assist with the setup. OBS is very flexible but that means there are more settings to get your head around as you say. Will take on board your feedback about making the VBOX Sim UI clearer.

Glad you're all setup now. Happy racing!

Lee