Tag: OBS

Adding subtitles to your stream

Ever wanted to subtitle your stream in your language and add one or two other languages with automatic translation? Looks like there’s a tool for that.

Step 1: Setting up a Apps Script (Google)

Setting up the Apps Script start with creating a new script on Apps Script: https://script.google.com

In the editor you will need to paste the following code:

function doGet(e) {
  const params = e.parameter
  var translatedText = LanguageApp.translate(params.text, params.source, params.target);
  const output = ContentService.createTextOutput();
  output.setMimeType(ContentService.MimeType.JSON);
  output.setContent(translatedText);
  return output;
}

The code will need to be deployed by click on the deploy menu on the top left:

The app must be deployed as a web app:

In the form you must let anyone access it:

When it’s deployed you will be provided the app key, this is what you will need for the next steps:

Step 2: Setting up the page

This is where the fun begins. There’s a form that is totally in Japanese that will require a couple of edits to be usable. Go here to start filling the form: https://sayonari.coresv.com/ninshikiChan/20210822_config.html

In the input field for Google Script API-KEY paste the one from your Apps Script. If you didn’t copy the key in the previous step you can retrieve if by going into the editor, in the deploy menu you need to click on manage deployments and you’ll find it under deployment ID:

Change the languages you want to use lower on the page, feel free to use Google Translate to find out what is what:

On the bottom of the page you will find the URL that you can copy and paste in your web browser, Google Chrome might be the only supported browser at the time of writting.

Step 3: Setting up OBS

Now comes the less fun part. Since the web page needs to listen to your voice you will have to run the page in your own Google Chrome instance, I’m unsure if it works on other browser since I wasn’t able to make the web app perform every single time.

To set it up all you need is a window capture and some filters. If the content of the web browser doesn’t appear you might need to disable hardware acceleration.

For the filters I usually just crop the top and a bit of the bottom, then I apply a chroma key filter to remove the screen background:

Congratulations, you are know streaming while subtitling at the same time. Subs are the way to go and this is what it looks like:

Troubleshooting

Refreshing the tab might help making the web app work, but if your speech isn’t appearing on screen you should instead try closing and reopening your browser.

I kept the tab loaded before closing Google Chrome and when I opened it again it was working.

Once again this isn’t flawless and some words might appear wrong or be heard wrong, these are the limits of speech recognition. Unless we slap some machine learning over your accent.

It might also strain your performances and require relaunching Google Chrome once in a while.

Credits

This is basically a translation of a Japanese page that was shared with me: http://www.sayonari.com/trans_asr/index_asr.html

This is a very useful tool for hearing impaired viewers and to enable people to appreciate better a stream in another language.

Separate your audio streams for streaming on Windows

Streaming and recording video games is something I’ve been into, casually, for years (since 2006). Recording gameplay with audio usually includes all the system audio and this can be a problem.

Recording all system audio issue

Windows, your web browser and the game’s audio will play through the default device. That default device is usually your headphones or your speakers.

OBS and ShadowPlay usually record that default device, this is something we’ll have to change.

Virtual Audio Cable

I’m using Virtual Audio Cable (VAC). You can use the trial version, buy it or use an alternative virtual cable driver, this is all up to you.

Open the Virtual Audio Control Panel as an admin (always) and setup the desired number of lines. Each line will be setup to receive audio from certain apps depending on the usage you want.

I have the main line for gameplay, my Discord line to record people I’m talking to. I also have a third line for miscellaneous things and a fourth that I’m not using.
Ideally I would’ve have set one line specifically for gaming, but Windows 10 being what it is (and standards being what they are) it ain’t going to work like that.

To complete the audio setup I also need to output those lines to something and that something is my headphones. Each output line automatically inputs the sound into a virtual input too, that way you can listen to it.

Basically this is how things go:

  • Outputs:
    1. Headphones;
    2. Line 1: Main output (default output device);
    3. Line 2: Discord output;
    4. Line 3: Misc output.
  • Inputs:
    1. USB Microphone (default input device);
    2. Line 1: Main output mirrored as input into my headphone;
    3. Line 2: Discord output mirrored as input into my headphone;
    4. Line 3: Misc output mirrored as input into my headphone.

Windows 10 doesn’t remember

Like I said previously one problem that forces me to set the line 1 as the default output device is because Windows 10 can’t exactly remember correctly which app is outputting on which device.

This issue could also be the other way around where an app will have a different output selected but still output to the default device, I’m not sure why but answers would be appreciated.

OBS recording

OBS is a great piece of software that permits me to merge lines and split some too! This is perfect for recording gameplay and streaming (at the same time).

First we need to specify that we will be recording several tracks into our ouput in OBS, for that we need to go into the settings: File, then Settings.
From there we go into the Output section and select in Streaming the first audio track as the one we will be using for streaming like so:

As a bonus you can also use a different audio track for the VOD so you can have avoid having Spotify playing in the VOD (and avoid the DMCA).

In recording we need to tick all audio track to enable all audio tracksfor later:

Then of course we need to name them and change the audio bitrate if you desire:

In my case I have everything playing on track 1 since it is the default track.
Track 2 will contain the game audio or the main subject of the video/stream.
Track 3 is my voice, followed by track 4 with voices from Discord.

Having different tracks enables me to control what is output when I record and stream, this way I’m able to make audio commentary when preparing a video and after that replace that commentary with a carefully recorded one, while keeping the gameplay audio without altering it.

To select where what track plays it’s necessary to go into the Edit menu, then Advanced audio properties. Set the different inputs and outputs as you wish in the new window:

Keep the first track checked for all lines, check the other numbers as you need.

Troubleshooting: static/glitch audio

After a while if the computer is not rebooted for days it might happen that the audio fizzles, glitches or becomes static. This isn’t a good experience.

The fix consists in restarting Virtual Audio Cable or the audio service from the control panel (as an admin).