I’m trying to install obs-spout2-plugin onto my portable install of OBS 31. Could someone walk me through how to do this, preferably step-by-step?
I’ve tried following the guide on this webpage on extracting the zip, as well as making some substitutions (of where I install it) that make sense to me for a portable install… and I’ve also tried using the installer exe… but so far I run into one of two problems:
Either the files unzip into where I think they ought to go and when I open OBS, there is no Spout option in Sources.
Or the installation files do not appear in the target folder at all after using the installer.
I expect that this folder would be the same required for both the installed and portable versions but I can’t confirm that. The OBS forum might provide the answer to this.
Otherwise you should get assistance from the OffWorld Live Discord forum. I regret that I don’t have an account for that to help further.
My portable install was set up with this file structure: OBS-Studio-31.0.2 folder contains the folders bin, config, data, and obs-plugins.
The obs-plugins folder contains 32bit and 64bit. Inside those folders a bunch of loose .dll and .pdb files, not contained in their own folders.
The data folder contains the folders libobs, locale, obs-plugins (another one), obs-scripting, and obs-studio.
This second obs-plugins folder contains a bunch of folders each with a name of the associated plugin, e.g. a folder named move-transition. These don’t have .dll nor .pdb files in them.
The bin folder also has a bunch of .dll and .pdb but they appear to be default files, not plugins that I added.
I’ve tried extracting the zip into any of the plugins folders that might make sense, but whenever I did so, I never got Spout to show up in the OBS source list. This includes simply putting the files from the zip’s bin+data folders into my bin+data folders.
And when I use the installer, seems like the Spout files never actually end up in any folder I select as their destination.
Wait, the OffWorld Live? Does that have anything to do with Spout?
OBS No longer recommends installation into the obs "plugins" folder. Instead, unzip the attached zip file into "C:\ProgramData\obs-studio\plugins" directory
Try creating this directory and unzipping into it. You should get a “win-spout” folder containing “bin” and “data” folders with the plugin files.
The OffWorld live company developed the Spout plugin for OBS Studio which uses the Spout library. If the plugin still doesn’t show up when you unzip to the folder as above, they would be best to advise on what to do.
Ok, I tried your advice, thanks. Still doesn’t appear to have worked.
I think those directions probably only work for not-portable installations, since portable installations are supposed to be self-contained in their folder.
I’ll see if I can flag anyone down OffWorld.
In trying to find the answer to this myself I remembered that I just copied the advice from Elgato on how to install their stream deck plugin the first time I needed to do this.
Use the win-spout zip file for the needed bits and when you need to name a new folder call it “win-spout” and then paste the locale file for that step.
Here’s the link for elgatos advice: https://help.elgato.com/hc/en-us/articles/15525011385229-Elgato-Stream-Deck-How-to-use-with-OBS-Studio-Portable-Mode
Ok, I’m closer to it working.
I moved files from the ZIP into my hard drive like this. For reference, my local install folder is called Twitch\OBS-Studio-31.0.2.
We have:
F:\Twitch\OBS-Studio-31.0.2\data\obs-plugins\win-spout\bin\64bit, which has its 4 dll files and 1 pdb file.
F:\Twitch\OBS-Studio-31.0.2\data\obs-plugins\win-spout\data\locale, which has its 3 ini files.
F:\Twitch\OBS-Studio-31.0.2\data\locale, which has its 3 ini files.
F:\Twitch\OBS-Studio-31.0.2\obs-plugins\win-spout\locale, which has its 3 ini files.
F:\Twitch\OBS-Studio-31.0.2\obs-plugins\32bit, which has its 4 dll files and 1 pdb file.
F:\Twitch\OBS-Studio-31.0.2\obs-plugins\364bit, which has its 4 dll files and 1 pdb file.
C:\ProgramData\obs-studio\plugins\win-spout\bin\64bit, which has its 4 dll files and 1 pdb file.
C:\ProgramData\obs-studio\plugins\win-spout\data\locale, which has its 3 ini files, and I even put dll and pdb files in there just in case.
That’s literally everywhere I can think to install the files to, and still the plugin isn’t working.
When I use OBS to add a source, my new available option in the list is “sourcename” instead of Spout. Inside sourcename’s properties, there’s a SpoutSenders dropdown, and the only option is usefirstavailablesender.
From what you say, the method described by @Emma_Garnet has worked and the plugin is now visible to OBS. Normally this would be shown as a source named “Spout2 capture”, but for some reason it shows up as “sourcename”.
In any case it seems to be working because the properties you describe are what the “Spout2 capture” plugin would normally show.
The SpoutSenders dropdown list will show the Spout senders currently running if there are any and you could select the one you want. The list is empty if none are running. If the option “Use first available sender” is selected, OBS will connect to the first sender that becomes available.
Try running the Spout demo sender from the latest Spout release. Then it should show up in the drop down list.
Ok, I confirmed that the demo sender does work.
I also got Veadotube Mini to work with Spout plugin in this way.
So it’s mostly working but something about the installation is a little messed up. It shouldn’t be “sourcename” in the add-source dropdown menu.
While I’m at it, I’ve also noticed a “filtername” in the add-filter dropdown menu. That must have appeared at the same time.
I figure there must be a way to un-f*** my installation so the source and filter names populate correctly, but I’m not smart enough to figure it out by myself.
Could you expand on that? I don’t know what you mean. What exactly am I looking for and where would you look if you were me?
It’s a pretty obvious sign of a botched install, so it’s quite possible that there’s more about it that’s broken that I can’t see on the surface.
If I want to avoid a botched install then maybe the wisest thing would be to install this again from the top, this time being more exact on how exactly it needs to be done for a portable install. I just haven’t been told what those steps are yet.
Yes there could be other reasons but in the first place I would suspect something named wrongly in the folders you listed.
Look in the OBS folder "F:\Twitch\OBS-Studio-31.0.2" for the word “sourcename”. I use GrepWin for word searches like this. A hit might reveal the file it is in and lead to a solution.
FYI - I already had an installed version of OBS and as a test I unzipped a portable version in another location and it found all the plugins that were installed already.
Oh, in addition to the placeholder-name source and filter, I also found a placeholder-name in the Tools menu. When I click it, it leads to Win Spout Output Settings. The settings by default are Spout Output Name: OBS_Spout.
Here’s a large screenshot of GrepWin search results for “sourcename” Imgur: The magic of the Internet
I’m not sure what to do with this since it’s in so many places.
If something is named wrongly, like you suggested, then it’s named wrongly in the zip file I downloaded. I didn’t rename anything, I just moved filed from the zip into many locations in my directories. Probably way too many directories tbh. Does anyone know the one and only directory that the files are supposed to be installed to when on a portable install? It’s possible that might result in a less messed-up install.
What do you mean by that FYI, Spout? Are you saying that you installed a portable installation of OBS, and instead of having to install any plugins, the Portable OBS, when run, simply detected all your plugins that you have installed to your non-portable version of OBS? That’s really weird behaviour from a portable install, if true. Supposed to be self-contained within its own folder.
For your GrepWin search of “imagename” I would have a look at “en-US.ini” in “data\obs-plugins\win-spout\data\locale”.
I can find the same file in “C:\ProgramData\obs-studio\plugins\win-spout\data\locale”, and it has an entry -
sourcename=“Spout2 Capture”
is that changed to “imagename”?
As for my comment about the portable version text. Yes - it found all the installed OBS plugins. Even though a program is portable, in the sense it does no have to be installed, it might use other folders such as “ProgramData”, “Appdata” and the registry.
