Spout2 Plugin for OBS Studio (64bit)

This plugin enables the import and export of shared textures at high resolution to and from SPOUT2 compatible programs.

Why

Previously the only way to import shared textures from SPOUT was via the DirectShow SpoutCam interface or by screen-capturing the full-screen output of the SpoutReceiver program.

The SpoutCam is limited to standard webcam resolutions and capped at 1920x1080 and capturing the SpoutReceiver is both inefficient and limited by your current screen resolution.

Previously, there was no way of outputting Spout video textures from OBS.

This plugin implements the SPOUT2 SDK, creates an OBS Source from the SPOUT shared texture and a Spout output which sends the content of the OBS canvas to Spout.

Please see installation and usage guide here

Acknowledgements

Thanks to the developer of OBS-OpenVR-Input-Plugin whose source helped greatly in getting my head around the OBS API.

Thanks to the OBS team and their discord channel

Thanks to the authors of SPOUT for the library and clear documentation

Requirements

• Windows 10/11, 64-bit, OBS Studio running on its default Direct3D 11 renderer. On the OpenGL renderer (--allow-opengl) only the Spout Output from the Tools menu works; the Spout2 Capture source and the Spout Filter share textures with OBS's Direct3D 11 device and are not available.
• A matching OBS Studio version. Each release is built against a specific OBS version and OBS refuses to load plugins that were built for a newer OBS than the one running. The release page states the minimum OBS version for each download (for example "requires OBS Studio 33.0 or newer"). If you are on an older OBS, update OBS or pick an older plugin release.
• There are no plans for 32-bit builds.

Installation

Every release ships three downloads. Pick the one that matches how your OBS is installed. This version requires OBS Studio 33.0 or newer and uses the plugin layout introduced in OBS 33, so it is not flagged as Legacy in the plugin manager.

1. Installer (OBS_Spout2_Plugin_Install_v<version>.exe) — normal OBS installs

• Close OBS.
• Download and run the installer (accept the "unknown publisher" prompt).
• Keep the default destination. The plugin is installed into OBS's shared plugin folder, which every OBS installed on the machine picks up automatically:

  C:\ProgramData\obs-studio\plugins\win-spout\
  ├── win-spout.dll  (+ Spout.dll, SpoutDX.dll, SpoutLibrary.dll)
  └── data\locale\en-US.ini  (…)
  

• The installer checks the version of the OBS Studio it finds in the registry and refuses to install if OBS is too old for this build.
• The installer removes files left by older versions in plugins\win-spout\bin\64bit and C:\Program Files\obs-studio\obs-plugins\64bit. If you installed manually from a zip, delete those old copies yourself.

2. Zip (win-spout-<version>-windows-x64.zip) — the same layout, done by hand

Extract the archive so that you end up with exactly the folder tree shown above under C:\ProgramData\obs-studio\plugins\. (Create the plugins folder if it does not exist yet.)

3. Portable zip (win-spout-<version>-windows-x64-portable.zip) — portable OBS

OBS in portable mode (a portable_mode.txt file in the OBS folder) does not read C:\ProgramData, so use this archive instead. Extract it straight onto your OBS folder so that you end up with:

<your OBS folder>\
└── plugins\win-spout\
    ├── win-spout.dll  (+ Spout.dll, SpoutDX.dll, SpoutLibrary.dll)
    └── data\locale\en-US.ini  (…)

Alternatively, run the installer and choose <your OBS folder>\plugins\win-spout as the destination.

Troubleshooting

• "The following OBS plugins failed to load: win-spout — Please update or remove these plugins." OBS is older than the version this plugin build was made for. Open Help → Log Files → View Current Log and look for a line like Module 'win-spout.dll' compiled with newer libobs 32.1. Update OBS, or install the plugin release that matches your OBS version.
• "Spout2 Capture" is missing from the Sources list, but the plugin loaded. Another plugin is registering the same source id (spout_capture); the OBS log shows obs_register_source: Source 'spout_capture' already exists!. Remove the other plugin (PRPR Live's prpr-library.dll is a known case).
• Menu entries show up as toolslabel / sourcename. The data\locale folder was not extracted next to the plugin; compare your folder tree with the ones above.
• The source lists the sender but the preview is black, and the log says gs_texture_open_shared (D3D11): Failed to open shared 2D texture (80070057): the sending application is running on a different GPU than OBS (typical on laptops with an integrated + dedicated GPU). In Windows Settings → System → Display → Graphics, set both OBS and the sender application to the same GPU.
• Where do the Spout Output settings live? Tools → Spout Output Settings. The AutoStart and sender-name values are stored in your OBS user config (%APPDATA%\obs-studio\user.ini, section [win_spout]) and survive reinstalling OBS or the plugin.

Contributing / Building

• Clone this repo recursively

git clone --recursive git@github.com:off-world-live/obs-spout2-plugin

• Install CMAKE min version 3.28
• Either configure and generate through the CMAKE Gui or through the command line for the windows-x64 architecture
• Run Configure, Generate and then Open Project in the CMake Gui

Building a release locally

• Open git bash or similar bash terminal interpreter
• Run ./scripts/Release.sh <version number>
• You should find the executable (installer) and zip file in the main win-spout directory

Building the windows installer

• Download the latest version of NSIS here;
• Set the the APPVERSION variable in win-spout-installer.nsi
• Compile win-spout-installer.nsi

Pull Requests welcome!

Contributors

Thanks to everybody that submitted bug tickets and in particular the code contributors:

• @shugen002
• @mzlt
• @terids

Roadmap

• Improve CMakeLists.txt to copy Spout.dll automatically (thanks to @shugen002)
• Spout Output
• Spout Filter Output

License

This plugin authored by Campbell Morgan is Copyright Off World Live Ltd, 2019-2021 and licenced under the GPL V.2.