OBS Studio

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Getting Started

NOTE: OBS Studio Websocket version 5 or higher is required

The OBS Studio connection allows you to directly interact with your instance of OBS Studio to perform changes to scenes and sources. To enable this, you must do the following:

• Start OBS Studio and navigate to Tools -> WebSocket Server Settings, ensure “Enable WebSocket server” is checked. You may optionally change the server port and password, but it is not required.
• If you changed your server port or you enabled authentication and set a password, you must update those values in Mix It Up in the two text boxes as well.
• Click on the “Connect” button.

Clicking “Connect” does not display any Windows notification or in-app confirmation on success. It simply establishes the connection. If you want to verify connectivity, use the separate “Test Connection” button, which shows an in-app “OBS Studio connection test successful!” message (an in-application dialog, not a Windows OS notification). Once connected, you’ll be able to interact with it using Streaming Software Actions

When launching Mix It Up, if OBS Studio is not already running, it will fail to connect as expected. If that initial connection never succeeds, Mix It Up will not automatically retry on the next OBS interaction. Streaming Software Actions simply do nothing while disconnected. The only automatic reconnection is a background loop (retrying every 5 seconds) that starts only after a connection that had previously succeeded is subsequently dropped. To recover from a failed initial connection, click the “Connect” button again manually.

Events

OBS Studio also provides Events that run when something happens inside OBS itself. These are reported by OBS, so they fire whether the change came from a Mix It Up action, a click in OBS, a Stream Deck button, or anything else. They are listed under OBS Studio on the Events page.

• Stream Started: Runs when OBS starts streaming
• Stream Stopped: Runs when OBS stops streaming
• Recording Started: Runs when OBS starts recording
• Recording Stopped: Runs when OBS stops recording. Provides the following additional Special Identifier:
  • $obsrecordingfilepath = The full path of the file that was just recorded (EX: C:\Videos\2024-01-01 12-00-00.mkv)
• Replay Buffer Saved: Runs when the replay buffer is saved. Provides the following additional Special Identifier:
  • $obsreplayfilepath = The full path of the replay file that was just saved
• Scene Changed: Runs when the current program scene changes. Provides the following additional Special Identifiers:
  • $obsscenename = The name of the scene that is now active (EX: Gameplay)
  • $obspreviousscenename = The name of the scene that was active before it (EX: Starting Soon)
• Scene Transition Started: Runs when a scene transition begins. Provides the following additional Special Identifier:
  • $obstransitionname = The name of the transition (EX: Fade)
• Scene Transition Ended: Runs when a scene transition finishes. Provides the same $obstransitionname Special Identifier
• Source Visibility Changed: Runs when a source is shown or hidden in a scene. Provides the following additional Special Identifiers:
  • $obsscenename = The name of the scene containing the source (EX: Gameplay)
  • $obssourcename = The name of the source (EX: Webcam)
  • $obssourcevisible = Whether the source is now visible (EX: True)
• Filter Visibility Changed: Runs when a filter is enabled or disabled on a source. Provides the following additional Special Identifiers:
  • $obssourcename = The name of the source the filter is on (EX: Webcam)
  • $obsfiltername = The name of the filter (EX: Color Correction)
  • $obsfiltervisible = Whether the filter is now enabled (EX: True)

The Stream and Recording events only fire once OBS reports the output as fully started or stopped. OBS also reports intermediate starting and stopping states, and those are deliberately ignored so an event does not run twice for one action.

$obspreviousscenename is empty for the very first scene change after Mix It Up connects if the current scene could not be read at connection time. Mix It Up records the scene OBS is on when it connects so the first change still reports what it came from.

Common Troubleshooting Steps

In the rare case you experience issues connecting the OBS Studio service, start by checking the following troubleshooting steps:

OBS Studio Connection Failed

If you get an error message saying “Failed to connect to OBS Studio web socket” in Mix It Up, it usually means you missed a step.

• Start by checking that you have enabled the WebSocket server in Tools -> WebSocket Server Settings

• Ensure the port number is the same in both Mix It Up and in WebSocket Server Settings.

• If you enabled authentication, make sure the password in both Mix It Up and WebSocket Server Settings match. If you forgot your password, change it and then update it in Mix It Up and try connecting the service.