This guide covers how to set up a Replay Buffer using OBS Studio. Other methods such as Shadowplay are acceptable but OBS is generally preferred by the community for its simplicity and ease of use.
Note: This guide covers using OBS with NVENC. NVENC is more efficient than recording x264 via CPU. Using X264 puts a heavy strain on the CPU and will affect your game performance. You should have at least an Nvidia GTX 970 or 1060 6GB to use NVENC efficiently. AMD GPUs are applicable as well.
Note2: This guide also assumes you're uploading the replays to Youtube. Please follow Youtube's bitrate guide
if you intend to record and upload at different resolutions or FPS.
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Launch OBS
Press the "Settings" button
Output Mode
Make sure you select "Advanced" under the "Output Mode". We won't be using "Simple" for this tutorial.
Streaming Tab
Encoder: Nvidia NVENC H.264/AMD HW H.264/AV1 (Select the encoder of your choice)
Rescale Output: 2560x1440
Recording at 1440P tricks Youtube into using the VP9 codec instead of the lossy AVC codec. VP9 is vastly superior in terms of quality compared to AVC.
Rate Control: CBR
Bitrate: 25000 Kbps
Youtube recommends 24Mbps for 1440p at 60fps.
Keyframe Interval: 0
Preset: Quality
Profile: High
GPU: 0
Max B-Frames: 2
Recording Tab
Replay Buffer Tab
Video
Base Canvas Resolution: 1920x1080
If you have a 1440p or higher monitor, set it to match what you have.
Output (Scaled) Resolution: 2560x1440
Recording at 1440P tricks Youtube into using the VP9 codec instead of the lossy AVC codec. VP9 is vastly superior in terms of quality compared to AVC.
Downscale Filter: Bicubic
Integer FPS Value: 60
Hotkeys
Start Recording: Assign a key on your keyboard to control the "Start Recording" action.
Stop Recording: Assign a key on your keyboard to control the "Stop Recording" action.
Save Replay: Assign a key on your keyboard to control the "Save Replay" action.
Advanced
Setting up a Scene
Make sure FiveM is running. You may connect to the Testing/Events Server for this step.
Click the + Button under "Scenes" and input "FiveM"
Click the + Button under "Sources" and select "Game Caputre" or "Window Capture".
Under the Capture settings select the following:
Mode: Capture Specific Window
Window: FiveM_GTAProcess.exe
Window Match Priority: Match Title, otherwise find window of same executable
Make sure the Eye icon is not crossed out.
If you've done this correctly, the game should be displayed on the OBS Preview viewport.
If not, you may ask in the Discord for assistance.
Make sure to press "Start Replay Buffer" every time you run OBS.