NOALBS

Simple app to automatically switch scenes in OBS Studio/OBS.Live based on the current bitrate fetched from the server stats.

NOALBS is used as a DIY tool to have your OBS Studio/OBS.Live auto switch scenes when you are either in a LOW bitrate situation or if your source disconnects completely.

NOALBS has a Discord, join here: https://discord.gg/efWu5HWM2u

NOALBS is on Twitter, follow here: https://twitter.com/NOALBS

Similar Solutions / Paid Services

Don't feel like setting this all up by yourself? Contact me on discord @ b3ck#3517 and I'll do everything for you for a fee or..

Check out these links for similar solutions/paid services:

• BELABOX cloud - the only SRT/SRTLA service optimised for bonding with a BELABOX DIY / BELABOX BEE
• u³.gg - RTMP/SRT(LA) Endpoint Service Provider
• AntiScuff - Cloud-based OBS Hosting
• IRLToolkit - Step your stream up to the next level
• noRIP.io - Services to stabilize your stream
• IRL Media Solutions - OBS Cloud Servers For IRL Streaming
• IRLKit - Cloud OBS & SRT(LA)/RTMP Relays
• StreamAtom - Powered by the StreamAtom Team, Supported by you.

Do you offer a similar solution or paid service? Want your link here? Message b3ck#3517 on Discord

Quick Start

• Download the latest binary from releases
• Have OBS-Studio and OBS-WebSocket 5.0.0 or higher installed
• Configure NOALBS
• Run the executable

Chat Commands

This script gives you the option to enable some simple chat commands to help you manage your stream from your own Twitch chat, here is how to use them:

Please note: Admins are all the users in the admins array in chat config section, MODs are all of your MODs, and Public is anyone in your chat.

You can also enable/disable certain features from chat, see below:

Configure NOALBS

Open the .env file. If you have a custom Twitch account created for a bot fill in your Twitch Account bot username and oauth.

Use https://twitchapps.com/tmi to get your oauth from Twitch.

We recommend using your Twitch BOT account for this, but if you do not have a Twitch Bot account just use your Main Twitch Account.

The config.json file holds all the user configurations.

EXAMPLE CONFIG.JSON (DO NOT COPY PASTA)

{
  "user": { 
    "id": null,                                     // Leave ID null, this is for future use.
    "name": "example",                              // You can change "example" to your name if you like, for instance "b3ck"
    "passwordHash": null                            // Leave passwordHash null, this is for future use.
  },
  "switcher": {
    "bitrateSwitcherEnabled": true,                 // Enable or Disable auto scene switching in OBS based on your current bitrate.
    "onlySwitchWhenStreaming": false,               // Enable or Disable the requirement switching only if OBS has streaming active.
    "instantlySwitchOnRecover": true,               // Bypass retryAttempts and instantly switch to live on bitrate recovery.
    "autoSwitchNotification": true,                 // Enable or Disable chat notifications when auto switching scenes.
    "retryAttempts": 5,                             // Number of retry attempts NOALBS will check bitrate before actually switching.
    "triggers": {
      "low": 500,                                   // Low Bitrate threshold in kbps.
      "rtt": 1000,                                  // RTT threshold in ms for SRT.
      "offline": 450                                // Bitrate in kbps to switch to your offline scene.
    },
    "switchingScenes": {
      "normal": "Live",                             // Scene you want to use in OBS when your bitrate is above your low bitrate threshold.
      "low": "Low",                                 // Scene you want to use in OBS when your bitrate is below your low bitrate threshold.
      "offline": "Disconnected"                     // Scene you want to use in OBS when your bitrate is below your offline threshold.
    },
    "streamServers": [
      {
        "streamServer": {
          "type": "Belabox",                        // This can either; Nginx, NodeMediaServer, Nimble, SrtLiveServer or Belabox
          "statsUrl": "http://example.com/stats",   // URL to your stats page.
          "publisher": "example"                    // Publisher that you're using for the server.
        },
        "name": "BELABOX cloud",                    // Name you want to give you server which will be shown in chat when you do !bitrate
        "priority": 0,                              // Priority you want NOALBS to see this server in, 0 behing the highest.
        "overrideScenes": null,                     // Optional field to override the default scenes.
        "dependsOn": null,                          // Optional field explained here: https://github.com/715209/nginx-obs-automatic-low-bitrate-switching#depends-on
        "enabled": true                             // Enable or Disable the server, this allows you to have mutiple servers saved, then pick and choose which ones you want enabled.
      }
    ]
  },
  "software": {
    "type": "Obs",                                  // NOALBS supports OBS WebSocket v4 and v5. To still use v4 use type ObsOld.
    "host": "localhost",                            // Host of your OBS, most commonly used is; localhost.
    "password": "example",                          // Password to the OBS Websockets.
    "port": 4455                                    // Port to the OBS Websockets.
  },
  "chat": {
    "platform": "Twitch",                           // Twitch is the only current platform supported as of right now.
    "username": "example",                          // Username of your main Twitch Account.
    "admins": [                                     // List of admins in the form of an array, the last name in the array doesn't need a comma.
      "username1",
      "username2",
      "username3"
    ],
    "prefix": "!",                                  // Prefix you want to use in chat to send commands to NOALBS from chat.
    "enablePublicCommands": false,                  // Enable or Disable public commands to anyone can use !bitrate in chat.
    "enableModCommands": true,                      // Enable or Disable mod only commands.
    "enableAutoStopStreamOnHostOrRaid": true,       // Enable or Disable auto stop stream in OBS when raiding or hosting.
    "commands": {                                   // Command Options to override defaults to be used in chat.
      "Fix": {                                      // Full Command Name
        "permission": null,                         // null = Public, Mod = Moderators, Admin = Administrators
        "alias": [
          "f"                                       // Alias to be used in chat, so for this example, !f would replace !fix
        ]
      },
      "Switch": {
        "permission": "Mod",
        "alias": [
          "ss"
        ]
      },
      "Bitrate": {
        "permission": null,
        "alias": [
          "b"
        ]
      }
    }
  },
  "optionalScenes": {                               // Optional scenes you can switch to from chat with these simple commands;
    "starting": null,                               // !starting
    "ending": null,                                 // !ending
    "privacy": "privacy",                           // !privacy
    "refresh": null                                 // !refresh
  },
  "optionalOptions": {
    "twitchTranscodingCheck": false,                // Enable or Disable transcoding check on twitch for your stream. (Non-Partners Only)
    "twitchTranscodingRetries": 5,                  // How many times you would like the transcoding checked before giving up.
    "twitchTranscodingDelaySeconds": 15,            // How long you want to wait to check inbetween checks.
    "offlineTimeout": null,                         // OBS will stop streaming when you you've been in your offline scene for this amount of time.
    "recordWhileStreaming": false                   // Automatically record when you start streaming.
  },
  "language": "en"                                  // Language you would like to use for NOALBS in chat.
}

More In-Depth Explanations of each section below

Software section

"software": {
  "type": "Obs",
  "host": "localhost",
  "password": "password",
  "port": 4455
}

• type: Replace this with the software you're using.

NOALBS supports OBS WebSocket v4 and v5. To still use v4 use type ObsOld.

Stream servers section

Currently NOALBS supports NGINX, Nimble, Node Media Server, SRT Live Server, BELABOX and OBS Sources. You can have as many servers as you want to use in the config.

Example stream server object:

{
  "streamServer": {
    "type": "Nginx",
    "statsUrl": "http://localhost/stats",
    "application": "publish",
    "key": "live"
  },
  "name": "nginx",
  "priority": 0,
  "overrideScenes": {
    "normal": "normal",
    "low": "low",
    "offline": "offline"
  },
  "dependsOn": null,
  "enabled": true
}

• streamServer: Replace the entire streamServer section with the one of these.
• type: Nginx, NodeMediaServer, Nimble, SrtLiveServer, or Belabox
• name: A unique name to distinguish the server
• priority: Decides which stream server to monitor when multiple are online. 0 is consired the highest.
• overrideScenes: Optional field to override the default scenes
• dependsOn: Optional field explained here

Stream server objects

Using NGINX

  "streamServer": {
    "type": "Nginx",
    "statsUrl": "http://localhost/stats",
    "application": "publish",
    "key": "live"
  },

Using an external Node-Media-Server

"streamServer": {
  "type": "NodeMediaServer",
  "statsUrl": "http://localhost:8000/api/streams",
  "application": "publish",
  "key": "live",
  "auth": {
    "username": "admin",
    "password": "admin"
  }
},

• auth: Optional field

Using Nimble Streamer Server (with SRT protocol)

Nimble must have API access enabled and be configured as a SRT receiver - see "Set up receiving of SRT" and have an outgoing stream ("Add outgoing stream" on same page)

"streamServer": {
  "type": "Nimble",
  "statsUrl": "http://nimble:8082",
  "id": "0.0.0.0:1234",
  "application": "live",
  "key": "srt",
},

• statsUrl: URL to nimble API
• id: UDP listener ID (Usually IP:Port)
• application: Outgoing stream "Application Name"
• key: Outgoing stream "Stream Name"

Switches on low bitrate or high RTT (high RTT seems to be a more accurate way of determining if the stream is bad with this) You can change the high RTT trigger value inside config.json

Using SLS (SRT-LIVE-SERVER)

Big Thanks to oozebrood, matthewwb2, and kyle___d for all of the hard work they've put into getting SRT to the masses! If you're using either Matt's modified version or my edit of Matt's version of SLS then follow this section;

"streamServer": {
  "type": "SrtLiveServer",
  "statsUrl": "http://localhost:8181/stats",
  "publisher": "publish/live/feed1"
},

• stats: URL to SLS stats page (ex; http://localhost:8181/stats )

• publisher: StreamID of the where you are publishing the feed. (ex; publish/live/feed1 )

• Publisher, what is a publisher? it's a combination of domain_publisher/app_publisher/<whatever-you-want>.

  • So if your domain_publisher was "uplive.sls.com", and your app_publisher was "live", it would be uplive.sls.com/live/<whatever-you-want>.
  • You could literally call you domain_publisher 'billy', app_publisher 'bob', and then set your streamid (publisher) to 'billy/bob/thorton' if you wanted to.
  • Publisher is also what you entered in the config under default_sid. Unless you are streaming to a different 'StreamID' of course, ex; publish/live/tinkerbell.

See Example Below from the sls.conf file in the SLS main directory:

So in actuality your 'publisher' is your default StreamID, like in the example above it's billy/bob/thorton.

Switches on low bitrate or high RTT (high RTT seems to be a more accurate way of determining if the stream is bad with this) You can change the high RTT trigger value inside config.json:

How do I publish to the SLS Server?

see HERE

How do I pull the SRT feed into OBS?

• Add Media Source
• Un-check Local File
• Make sure Restart playback when source becomes active is checked.
• Change Network Buffering to 1 MB
• In the "Input" field enter in: srt://<SERVER-IP>:<PORT>/?streamid=<PUBLISHER>
  • Using the example from the above image, it would be something like this if you are using SLS on the same machine: srt://localhost:30000/?streamid=jojo/bob/thorton
• In the Input Format field enter in: mpegts
• Change Reconnect Delay to 3S (Three Seconds)
• Make sure Show nothing when playback ends is checked.
• Check Close file when inactive
• Optional: If your streams color looks washed out change your YUV Color Range to Partial
• Sidenote: Do not Use Use hardware decoding when available, Apply alpha in linear space, or Seekable, As I have only ran into issues with these options enabled.

Below is an example when used with a BelaBox Reciever:

Remember this is just an example, your ports and streamid may differ.

Using BELABOX cloud

  "streamServer": {
    "type": "Belabox",
    "statsUrl": "http://belabox-stats-url/yourkey",
    "publisher": "yourkey"
  },

You should be able to find the details in your BELABOX cloud account.

Using an OBS Source

  "streamServer": {
    "type": "Obs",
    "source": "Media/VLC Source"
  },

Depends on

When a dependsOn field is found, monitor the status of the given server. If that server goes offline the backupScenes will be used.

"dependsOn": {
  "name": "nginx",
  "backupScenes": {
    "normal": "Scene 3",
    "low": "low",
    "offline": "Scene 2"
  }
}

• name: The exact name this stream server depends on
• backupScenes: Scenes that will be used when the depended on server is offline

Building from source

Download and install:

• Git
• Rust

Then:

• git clone <repository-url> or download from GitHub.
• cd <repository-name>
• cargo run or cargo run --release

FAQ

Need additional help?

You can always contact us on discord @ b3ck#3517 or 715209#0600 and we'll do our best to help out.

I want to keep using the old version

You can find the old NOALBS version in the master branch.

NGINX Setup

If you already have NGINX-RTMP server

• Replace your nginx.conf with the one given here.
• Put stat.xsl in your nginx html folder.

Otherwise here is a Windows version of NGINX+RTMP Server

• Hosted on Github
• Everything is ready to go inside this zip, just extract and click on the nginx_start.bat file to start NGINX, you can use nginx_stop.bat to stop NGINX. HTTP server runs on Port 80, RTMP server runs on 1935, if you need to edit the config file it's in the /conf folder, named nginx.conf.

How to publish to your NGINX RTMP Server

Using the default config where the server is listening on port 1935 and the name of the application in NGINX is publish;

_{(example config, do not copy)}

rtmp {
    server {
        listen 1935;
        (...)
        
        # Stream to "rtmp://IPHERE/publish/live".
        application publish {
            live on;
            (...)
        }
    }
}

• If the app or device requires the key separately put rtmp://(SERVER-IP):1935/publish in the RTMP URL and live in the key.
• Otherwise if the app or device doesn't require the key separately put rtmp://(SERVER-IP):1935/publish/live in the RTMP URL.

Most of these rules apply to the rest of the other types of servers;

• RTMP will usually have an application and a key.
• SRT will use a publisher ID or streamid, some applications or devices will only require your server IP and PORT;
  • Example; srt://(SERVER-IP):30000 but if it the app or device supports streamid it will always be separate.

Either way, pay close attention to your app or device requirements, as you will need to setup accordingly to them and your configuration on the server.

How to pull RTMP stream into OBS

Update your OBS to v26+ and follow the steps below:

1.) In OBS create the following scenes:

• LIVE, LOW, BRB, REFRESH
• I highly recommend creating a STARTUP & PRIVACY scene, the STARTUP scene can contain whatever you want to start your stream on and then switch to LIVE when you're ready, the PRIVACY scene can be whatever you want to put the stream on when you need privacy, the main thing is that it's out of NOALBS scope and won't automatically switch scenes.
• The normal flow is to have your OBS on STARTUP when you start stream and when you're ready either you or an instructed MOD can !switch LIVE, when you need privacy use !switch PRIVACY.

2.) In your LIVE scene, add a 'Media Source', match the image below:

• Right click on the 'Media Source' > Transform > Stretch to screen (this will stretch the video source no matter the resolution, ex; 480p, 720p, 1080p etc.)

3.) Copy and Paste(Reference) the 'Media Source' from the LIVE scene into your LOW scene.

• Do the same transformation procedure from step (2).

4.) Go over all of your scenes and make them your own.

How to run with multiple users

In the .env file add the line CONFIG_DIR=configs where configs is the folder that holds all the config files. The name of the config is ignored so you can name it anything you want.

Help it won't change scenes

It will only change scenes when OBS is set on a scene that's in the config.
(This is so that it wont change when you are on for example your 'intro' or 'locked-brb' scene)