What's Streaming All About?

What Platforms Can I Stream On?

How Do I Do It?

• What do I need to get started?

  Getting started is really easy!

  In order to stream from your PC to a streaming platform, you’ll require specific broadcasting software. There are many broadcast packages available online, both paid and free. Below are some examples of well known broadcast packages used by both amateur and professional streamers: OBS, XSplit, Vmix, Gameshow and many others

  For the purposes of this tutorial, we’ll be focusing on Open Broadcast Software (OBS Studio).

  The first thing you’ll need to do is download your copy of OBS Studio, which you can do here. Complete the installation process as standard and then start up OBS Studio.

• Configuring General Settings

  With OBS open on screen, click file and settings. This will open up your control panel and you’ll be on the default “general” tab. The only thing you really need to worry about here is making sure you’re happy with the language and theme settings of your OBS client. This won’t affect your stream in any way.

• Linking to your Stream Platform

  As we discussed earlier, you have a choice of platforms from which to stream. In this example, we’ll use Twitch. It’s worth noting before we go any farther that the process of setting up for other platforms is very similar.

  Step 1: Head over to www.twitch.tv and create your channel.

  Step 2: On Twitch, open your Dashboard. From here, click on the Stream Key tab.

  Step 3: Click on “Show Key”. This will show you your unique stream key, which is what links your stream software (OBS) to your stream platform (Twitch). Do not share this key with anyone or they’ll be able to stream on your channel!

  Step 4: Go back to OBS. Under settings, go to “Stream”. From here you need to select your Service, in this case that is Twitch. Next you need to chose your server. Ideally you should choose a server that is the closest to your location geographically.

  Finally, paste your stream key from the Twitch Dashboard into the “Stream Key” are as show below and hit apply.

  At this point, you’ve linked your broadcast software on your computer to your Stream Channel. Feel free to look through the other settings options, but at this point you don’t need to adjust any other settings in order to begin streaming!

• Understanding the OBS interface

  Scenes: A scene can refer to an individual game setup that you wish you stream. So for example, you may have individual scenes for you most played/streamed games that will have different overlays and settings. For now, let’s focus on getting you setup to stream League of Legends.

  Sources: A source is any input that you want to capture and output as part of your stream. Example sources include: The Game, An Overlay, Text, Video etc

  It's important to note and understand that sources operate in layers. This means the order in which they are laid out makes a huge difference in what is displayed on stream. We’ll explain how to setup sources shortly!

  Mixer: Your mixer determines what sound sources are output onto your stream, based on what OBS can detect on your computer. You can adjust the individual volumes of game sound, microphone sound, music players etc from here.

  Start Streaming:Pretty simply, this button starts and ends your stream.

  Start Recording: You can also choose to record your stream to your PC by hitting this button.

  Studio Mode: The best way to use OBS. Studio modes lets you preview scenes before you make live updates. This is very useful if you need to change any text or images in your stream on the fly. We recommend keeping studio mode open at all times.

  Settings:You’ve already been here! It’s a shortcut to the file, settings path we followed earlier.

• It’s time to create your Scenes and Sources!

  Before doing anything on OBS, create a folder on your computer where you can store any images, videos and sound files that you might end up using while streaming. This makes it a lot easier to create different scenes as you get more accustomed to streaming.

  Step 1: Start Up the League of Legends Client and log in.

  Step 2: On OBS, go the the scenes box and hit the plus button as shown below. You can name the scene anything you wish, but in this example we’ll be showing you how to capture the client/pre-game source so that’s what we’re calling it.

  Step 3: Now, click on the plus button under the sources panel, followed by window capture. Name it anything you wish, but we recommend something like Client Capture. Now hit OK.

  A new window will pop up and you need to select which window you wish to capture by clicking on the dropdown menu “window”. Simply select League of Legends as shown in the image below and hit OK.

  #ProTip - From here you can disable “Capture Cursor”. This means that when you’re streaming, your viewers won’t see your mouse moving across your screen. This is entirely optional.

  Step 4: On the left preview screen you’ll see your League of Legends Client. But it’s probably off centre. This will depend on what resolution you have on your screen and what resolution your client is set to.

  By right clicking on the preview screen, inside the red “edit box” area, you can make a lot of adjustment to the image. Check the example below. For now though, we’re going to simply centre the image as shown below, but feel free to experiment with the various other options you find here.

  It’s important to note that just because something is on the preview screen doesn’t mean it’ll be seen on stream. If you want it to be seen on stream, you’ll need to hit the transition button which sits between the preview screen and the live screen.

  Now that you’ve setup your pre-game scene and source, let’s look at the in game scene and source.

  Step 5: Repeat Step 3 above, but this time name the scene “Loading Screen”.

  Step 6: Create a custom game of League of Legends so that we can capture the game in our new scene.

  Step 7: When you’re on the loading screen about to go into game, click on the sources panel and hit window capture. You should see the loading screen being captured on your preview screen. Remember that you’ll need to manually switch between scenes for the stream to updated.

  Step 8: Repeat Step 3 above, but this time name the scene “In Game”.

  Step 9: When you’re in game, create a new source. Add “Game Capture” and match the following setting below. You may need to click on the “Window Match Priority” once for the game to pop up on screen.

  We also recommend playing in “Windowed Mode Borderless” which you can find in the video settings of your game.

  At this point your stream is ready to go! Feel free to try some test streaming now so you can get the hang of switch scenes. OBS also has hotkey functionality to make this more seamless. Check it out in the settings area.

• Adding Overlays To Your Stream

  If you want to make your stream look a bit sleeker you can always add an overlay to your broadcast as well as some custom text.

  It’s quite simple to add an overlay, just follow these steps

  Step 1: Get into a custom game of League of Legends and load up your In Game scene.

  Step 2: Create a new source in the “In Game” scene by adding an image and selecting your overlay file.

  Step 3: If it’s not already, make sure that your overlay image source is above your game capture source. Remember, sources act like layers. So if your overlay image was beneath the game capture, you wouldn’t see the overlay as the game would entirely cover it.

  Some overlays are set to work with a HUD and Map of a certain scale. If it looks like your overlay doesn’t fit, even after you’ve adjusted it’s size and placement on OBS, try adjusting your HUD and Map size in the in game interface.

  Using the same method as above, you’re able to add other custom images to your scene, as well as video and audio as you require. Experiment with these options and you’ll have the hang of it in no time!

• Minimum Requirements

  Each Streaming Platform and Broadcast Program will have their own minimum requirements which are worth reading up on if you’re unsure as to whether or not your computer is up to the task.

  Fortunately, basic streams don’t need the most powerful of machines, so you’re probably going to be ok to get started.

  One thing that we do recommend however is having a minimum of 2mbps up/down, uncongested connection while streaming to deliver a smooth Standard Definition stream. HD streams would need around 5mbps up/down while 4K streams potentially need 15mbps up/down.

• Can I Use Any Music?