# OBS troubleshooting Fix a black or empty overlay, missing alert sound, stutter, an outdated view, wrong size and find the OBS log file. Most overlay problems in OBS come down to the browser source settings. Before you change anything, open the **Stream check** on the PX Studio home page: it tells you whether OBS has loaded your overlay at all. "Opened in a browser, not in OBS yet" means the link works but OBS has not loaded it. For problems with alerts, the bot or connections, see [Troubleshooting](/docs/troubleshooting). ## The source is black or empty ::: steps Check the **URL** in the source properties. Copy it again in PX Studio with **Copy OBS URL** and paste it. After **Reset the OBS link** the old URL no longer works. Check that the source is visible: the eye icon in the **Sources** list must be on, and the scene must be the one that is live. Check the order in the **Sources** list. A source higher in the list covers everything below it, so the overlay belongs above your game or camera. Click **Refresh cache of current page** in the source properties. Turn off **Shutdown source when not visible**. With it on, OBS unloads the page whenever its scene is not active. Try toggling **Enable Browser Source Hardware Acceleration** under **Settings** → **Advanced** → **Sources** and restart OBS. ::: An empty overlay is not always a fault: if no widget is visible in the live PX Studio scene, there is nothing to draw. Check the canvas in the editor and click **Make program scene** for the scene you want on stream. ## "Couldn't load that page!" OBS shows this page inside the source when it cannot reach the URL. The error line below it names the cause: - **Server's IP address not found** or **Connection timed out**: check your internet connection and that the URL is complete. - **Server's SSL certificate is outdated or your computer's time is incorrect**: correct the date and time of your computer. - **Failed to connect**: click **Click here to retry**, then copy the URL fresh from PX Studio. ## The overlay looks out of date PX Studio sends changes live, so an old view usually means the page lost its connection or loaded old files. - Right-click the source and choose **Refresh**. - If that does not help, open the properties and click **Refresh cache of current page**. - Make sure you are looking at the right overlay: each overlay has its own link. ## The background is not transparent The PX Studio overlay has a transparent background. If you see white or black behind it, the **Custom CSS** field of the source was changed. Restore the default, which sets the page background to transparent and removes margins and scroll bars: ``` body { background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); margin: 0px auto; overflow: hidden; } ``` ## Wrong size, blurry or cut off - **Width** and **Height** in the source properties must match your overlay resolution (editor: **Canvas resolution**, by default 1920 × 1080). A smaller value cuts widgets off at the edge. - If the overlay looks blurry, the source was probably set to a small size and then dragged larger in the preview. Set the real size in the properties and use **Fit to screen** (`kbd:Ctrl+F`, on macOS `kbd:Cmd+F`). - **Reset Transform** (`kbd:Ctrl+R`, on macOS `kbd:Cmd+R`) undoes scaling and cropping. - In PX Studio, **Add to OBS** → **Set up automatically** offers **Repair source** and **Fit source to canvas**. See [Add to OBS](/docs/add-to-obs). ## No alert sound ::: steps In the PX Studio Alertbox, check **Sound & voice** and play a **Test alert**. In the source properties, turn on **Control audio via OBS**. The source then appears in the **Audio Mixer**. In the **Audio Mixer**, make sure the source is not muted and its fader is not all the way down. If only you cannot hear it, open **Edit** → **Advanced Audio Properties** and set **Audio Monitoring** to **Monitoring Enabled**. Check the **Monitoring Device** under **Settings** → **Audio** → **Advanced**. If viewers cannot hear it but you can, make sure **Audio Monitoring** is not on **Monitor Only (mute output)**. ::: ## Stutter, dropped frames or high CPU and GPU use OBS needs graphics power to put your scenes together. When the game takes all of it, OBS shows "encoding overloaded" or the output stutters. The OBS guide recommends: - On Windows, run OBS as administrator, so Windows reserves some graphics capacity for it. - Cap the frame rate of your game to your monitor refresh rate or turn on V-Sync. - Close other programs that use the graphics card. - Use few browser sources and keep their width and height as small as needed. Use an **Image** source for static pictures. - Lower the output resolution or frame rate under **Settings** → **Video**, for example from 60 to 30 FPS. One PX Studio overlay source carries all widgets, so you rarely need more than one browser source for PX Studio. ## Find the OBS log file OBS writes a log file every time it runs. Support volunteers and PX Studio support use it to see what went wrong. ::: steps Reproduce the problem with OBS still open. Open **Help** → **Log Files**. Choose **Upload Current Log File** to get a link you can share, **View Current Log** to read it, or **Show Log Files** to open the folder. **Upload Previous Log File** is the log of the last session. ::: After a crash, use **Help** → **Crash Reports** → **Upload Previous Crash Report**. > [!WARNING] > Never post your PX Studio OBS link in a forum or chat. It works without a login. If it leaked, use **Reset the OBS link**. ## Still stuck Ask Pix in the corner of this page, or email support@pxstudio.cloud with your overlay name, what you see and the link to your OBS log. The settings themselves are explained in [OBS browser source](/docs/obs-browser-source). ## Sources - [obsproject.com/kb/browser-source](https://obsproject.com/kb/browser-source) - [obsproject.com/kb/sources-guide](https://obsproject.com/kb/sources-guide) - [obsproject.com/kb/encoding-performance-troubleshooting](https://obsproject.com/kb/encoding-performance-troubleshooting) - [obsproject.com/kb/audio-mixer-guide](https://obsproject.com/kb/audio-mixer-guide) - [obsproject.com/kb/obs-studio-overview](https://obsproject.com/kb/obs-studio-overview) - [obsproject.com/help](https://obsproject.com/help) - [github.com/obsproject/obs-browser/blob/master/data/locale/en-US.ini](https://github.com/obsproject/obs-browser/blob/master/data/locale/en-US.ini) - [github.com/obsproject/obs-studio/blob/master/frontend/data/locale/en-US.ini](https://github.com/obsproject/obs-studio/blob/master/frontend/data/locale/en-US.ini)