Have you finally built up the courage to go live on stream and show off your gaming skills to the world? If you are playing on PC and want to stream your gameplay this is the perfect guide.
We are going to show you how to set up a simple streaming set-up in 5 minutes or less. We will show you all the basics you need to stream your gameplay, microphone and webcam if you choose to do so. We won’t be covering fancy stuff like transitions, alerts etc here. This is a bare-bones set-up to get you streaming as fast as possible. If you want a more in-depth guide check out this tutorial.
What You Will Need
Below is a list of everything you will need to get started on your stream.
- A computer capable of handling gaming and streaming
- OBS Software
- Microphone
- Webcam (Optional)
Yep, that’s really everything you need. Streaming doesn’t have to be complicated.
How To Stream On Twitch PC (Step By Step)
Simply follow the steps below to get your stream up and running in 5 minutes or less.
Step 1 – Download and Install OBS
The first thing you need to do is download OBS Studio. This is a free broadcast software which allows you to customize and encode your stream.
Click here to download OBS Studio
Select the operating system you are using (Most likely Windows). Once downloaded, run the application to install it on your computer.
Step 2 – OBS Auto Configure
When you open OBS an “Auto-configure” wizard will pop up. This will install OBS with the settings that are best for your computer, giving you a smooth stream. Follow the steps below for the best configuration.
Select “Optimise for Streaming, Recording is secondary” and click next.
Set your base canvas resolution to 1920×1080 (This is more than enough for a good stream) and set your FPS to 30. Click on Next.
Now you will be asked to connect your account. Select “Twitch” as your service and click on connect account. You can simply just login into your account and your Twitch account will now be connected to OBS.
You can also connect your stream through a stream key. If you prefer that method check out this guide to find your Twitch stream key.
Once you have connected your account, click on next.
The Auto-configuration wizard will now analyze your computer and give you the best settings for your specific setup. This configurator works pretty well and will get you close to the best settings your computer can handle.
If you are happy with these settings, select “Apply Settings”.
You have now successfully configured OBS for streaming. We now need to start adding our gameplay, microphone and webcam.
Step 3 – Add Your Sources
Now we have OBS configured, we can start adding sources to our stream. The first we want to add is our gameplay.
Game Source
Navigate to the sources section at the bottom of OBS –> Click on the + button –> Select Game Capture
If you play games in full screen you can set the mode to “Capture any Full-Screen Application”. This will then capture any game you are playing. If you play in windowed mode select “Capture specific Window” and select your game from the window selection.
Click on OK to save your selection.
Your game will now appear inside your scene.
Scenes: A scene is a collection of different sources (E.g Game Capture, Webcam, Overlays etc). You can create multiple scenes and switch between them.
Sources: Sources are individual components you use to build up a scene.
Audio Sources
We can add audio sources to a specific scene in OBS or globally. Globally means your audience will be able to hear that specific audio source no matter what scene you are showing. We are going to set up our Microphone and Desktop Audio as Global. This means you don’t have to add them to every single scene you create.
Adding Microphone & Desktop Audio
To set up your global audio sources navigate to “Settings” by clicking on the settings button in the bottom right-hand corner.
In the settings panel, navigate to Audio on the left-hand side. In this section, you will see “Global Audio Devices”.
The first thing we want to select is our Desktop Audio source. This will usually be your headphones or whatever you have selected as your system default. Whatever is output through your default device will be heard by your audience, including game sound.
Under Desktop Audio select “Default” or the specific output your route your audio through.
Next up we need to add in our Microphone so our audience can hear us. To do this go to Mic/Auxillary Audio dropdown and select the microphone you will be using. For me this is a blue yeti.
Now you have selected these audio sources you can click on apply in the bottom right-hand corner.
You will now see two audio sources in your audio mixer. You can apply some filters to your microphone to drastically improve the quality of your sound. You can also set the audio levels by dragging the sound bar left or right. You want to ensure that your audio is balanced and that one is not way louder than the other.
Now we have our audio set up we can add a webcam to our stream so our viewers can see us.
Adding A Webcam To OBS Studio
Navigate to Sources –> + –> Video Capture Device –> Give your source a name –> OK
Select your webcam from the Device drop-down menu and click OK.
Your camera will now appear in your scene. Re-size the camera to your liking and place it somewhere it doesn’t interfere with important game elements.
Your stream is now set up and ready to go. You can add overlays and alerts to your stream to make it look more professional but will not be covering that in this article. Check out the articles below for more info:
Step 4 – Go Live
Once you have your stream set up, you can now Go Live. Just click the “Start Streaming” button in the bottom right-hand corner of OBS.
When you click this button your stream will instantly go live to your Twitch channel which we previously connected.
You can check and Monitor your stream by going to your Twitch Creator Dashboard. You can find your creator Dashboard by clicking on your profile picture in the top right –> Creator Dashboard.
You are now successfully live streaming your gameplay, microphone and webcam to Twitch. It’s time to start building an audience.
Wrapping Up
That is the quick and dirty guide to getting your first stream online with Twitch. While there is so much more customization you can add to your stream, this is really all you need to get started. If your content is good enough the graphics and overlays don’t really matter. As you start to grow an audience, you can invest more in the production side of your stream. Enjoy streaming.
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