# Recording VRChat with OBS

> *-Kilo, 2023-11-10*

> *Optional steps and notes are in italics, and important stuff is in **bold**!*

1. First off, install and start OBS!
* *You might as well start VRChat (in VR mode, if that's your goal!) up-front as well, but you won't need it until later!*

## *`Profile` setup*
*You can skip this section if you aren't using OBS for other things.*

2. Find `Profile` in the menu bar
* Choose `Profile` > `New` (Click `Profile`, then `New`)
3. Name it, and leave `Show auto-configuration wizard` checked.
4. Choose `Optimize just for recording, I will not be streaming`.
5. `Base (Canvas) Resolution`: `1280x720` is what I use. (but use whatever resolution is the max you want to record with. `1920x1080` is higher quality if you want it, but I don't bother)
6. `FPS`: `30` is what I use (but maybe you want `60`, or one of the other options)
7. **You can change these later too by finding the `Controls` pane at the bottom-right of the window, clicking `Settings`, and going to the `Video` tab.**

## `Scene` setup
8. Find the `Scenes` pane, usually at the bottom-left of the window
9. Create a `Scene` by clicking the `+` symbol for `Add Scene`, and name it (e.g. `VRChat Capture`)
10. Click your `Scene` to highlight/select it

## Use a `Game Capture` source
11. Find the `Sources` pane, next to the `Scenes` pane on the right.
12. `Add Source` by clicking the `+` button
13. **Select the type `Game Capture`**
14. Name it! (I leave the name as the default: `Game Capture`)
15. Set the properties:
* **`Mode`: `Capture Specific Window`**
* (Start VRChat in VR mode, so that this next step can auto-fill by selecting the window from the dropdown!)
* **`Window`: `[VRChat.exe]: VRChat`**
* *`Window Match Priority`: probably doesn't matter, but I use `Match title, otherwise find window of same executable`*
* **Disable `Capture Cursor`!**
* Leave the rest as defaults. (The only thing I leave enabled is `Use anti-cheat compatibility hook`, but I haven't bothered to try without it.)
16. *Observe that this adds the `Source` to your `Scene`, and if your Canvas Resolution is smaller than the resolution of the VRChat window, you'll see the top-left corner of the `Source` on the Canvas, with a red rectangle around it.*
17. **Resize the `Source` within your `Scene` by right-click the Source, and choose `Transform` > `Fit to screen`.** (Or, drag the corner to resize, and drag the body of the rectangle to move, until it's filling your Scene like you want)

## Set your `Audio Mixer` levels
18. Do some test recordings! **I have to drop my `Mic/Aux` levels to about `-3.0dB`** to match the volume of my mic with the audio from other people in VRChat.

## Choose your Recording settings
19. Find the `Controls` pane at the bottom-right of the window, click `Settings`, and go to the `Output` tab**
20. In the `Recording` pane
* `Recording Path` will be where you want your recordings to go.
* `Recording Quality` should probably be `High Quality, Medium File Size`.
* `Video Encoder` should probably be `Hardware` of some kind. H264 is a good choice, though AV1 and HVEC are the best quality but most expensive to encode, and aren't available on older GPUs.
* Hit `Apply` and exit the Settings window.

## That's it!
21. **Record with `Controls` > `Start Recording`!**
* *You probably want to be running VRChat already at this point! I generally start recording from within VRChat via desktop-view in SteamVR.*
23. *Check your work by then hitting `Stop Recording` and checkout out the video file that gets saved!*