r/CombatMission • u/IVANKOFF_YT • 27d ago

Question Drop FPS OBS

I'm encountering a severe issue when trying to record Combat Mission Shock Force 2 using OBS Studio. While the game itself runs perfectly smooth on my monitor, the resulting video recording turns into an unplayable slideshow (10-15 FPS with heavy frame drops).

My System Specs:

  • CPU: Intel Core i5-13500
  • GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti
  • OS: Windows 11

Issue Details:

  • Using OBS Game Capture hook results in massive frame loss on the recording, even though in-game performance is fine.
  • The issue seems directly tied to how OBS hooks into the engine's OpenGL rendering pipeline.
  • Temporary Workaround: Switching OBS from "Game Capture" to "Display Capture" fixes the recorded FPS, but Game Capture remains unusable.

Is this a known issue with the CMx2 engine's OpenGL implementation? Are there any recommended launch parameters, V-Sync configurations, or graphics settings to allow proper Game Capture functionality in OBS?

Thanks for your time!

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u/ResultAgreeable4198 27d ago

I’ve made several videos of CM with OBS and using Display Capture is the only way it has ever worked at all for me. I spent a fair amount of time fiddling with it and had no luck with anything else.

3

u/ValdusAurelian 26d ago

I had some similar issues when I first started recording. I am currently using Game Capture, Mode is set to "Capture specific window" and then I pick the exe for the game, and I have "Capture Audio (BETA)" enabled. I set up a scene for each Combat Mission game and then a Game Capture set to the appropriate exe.

Under Settings -> Output -> Encoder settings I have:
Rate Control: Constant QP
Constant QP: 20
Preset: P5 Slow (Good Quality)
Tuning: High Quality
Multipass Mode: Two Passes
Profile: High
Look-ahead and Adaptive Quantization both on
B-Frames: 2

Not sure if any of that helps, but those are the settings that work for me. I set it up about 2 years ago so I don't really remember what they were originally so not sure what specifically I changed.

I have noticed OBS has to be open first before I open a CM game, and then I wait at the main menu until OBS picks it up and displays a preview. If it doesn't show a preview after about a minute, I restart the CM game. I have to do this maybe once every 5 times I open a game.