obsproject / obsproject/obs-studio

"Read from file" freezes OBS video if file is over the network and unavailable

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Dominant language
C
Stars
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Forks
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Avg merge
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Merged PRs (30d)
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Description

Operating System Info

Windows 11

Other OS

No response

OBS Studio Version

32.0.2

OBS Studio Version (Other)

No response

OBS Studio Log URL

https://obsproject.com/logs/1aTAVlOgxGqzuHxk

OBS Studio Crash Log URL

No response

Expected Behavior

a text source set to "read from file" should not freeze the video output if the networked file is unavailable

Current Behavior

if a networked file becomes unavailable, OBS video output freezes for almost exactly 20 seconds. (~1200 frames at 60 FPS), this will keep happening in a rhythmic interval as OBS tries to load the file over and over

Steps to Reproduce
  1. download the test2.json scene collection
  2. check the "read from file" box on the Now Playing text source, which will attempt to read from //192.168.2.24/Users/SRMZAudio/Desktop/now-playing.txt
  3. wait for 20 seconds, try adding sources - OBS video will not work anymore
  4. look at the OBS stats after 20 seconds, see a giant ~1200 frame missed frames block appear
    ...
Anything else we should know?

super low priority as it's an extremely odd use case, just so happened that i have a multi-PC setup with a dedicated audio control / music playing PC

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Import the linked test2.json scene collection and reproduce the unavailable networked file condition, then inspect the linked OBS log around the repeated file-read attempts and missed-frame block. Done means the text source can retry an unavailable network file without freezing OBS video output or producing recurring large missed-frame blocks.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
c
Domain
desktop, performance
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
38/100

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