Chess, OBS, and a Missing Overlay: The Struggle Behind the Content

Hello Everyone,

I wanted to make a chess content. this time, a video about my journey to 2400 Elo on Lichess (Rapid Chess). It's been a long time since I made a chess recording or went live. I had to remember and set up like I used to. First, I remembered I use OBS to stream or record.

OBS vs. StreamLabs

70% of streamers use either OBS or StreamLabs, and when I started making content especially here on Hive. I was faced with that choice. I just sometimes see ads showing what StreamLabs can do and how gamers maximize its features. It makes me wonder if maybe putting in extra hours into learning how it works might not be a bad idea. I left it in the first place because OBS was easier to set up and use.

Getting Ready...

I knew everything I had to do before I clicked the "start recording" button. My window capture would be the Chrome browser, since lichess.org would be shown alone to my audience. I also knew the most important part was the image... the overlay. But the problem was, I couldn't find the exact one I usually use. And to be honest, I don't like changing my layouts. Just like my 5 Hive questions all have similar introductions, same way I like my videos to look the same even after 10 years

This was my layout as seen from this post in 2022, but I couldn't find it and I wanted to make a video.

I Know I Made It on Canva, Yeah?

Most of my content images and designs were made on Canva, so I searched my history down to 2021, but I couldn't find this overlay. It was very annoying and frustrating because I couldn't picture myself using another one. It's not bad per se , it just makes the other one something of the past, which I wasn't ready to face yet.

So I started to search for overlays, hoping to find it.

As you can see, over 2,000+ overlays—and truth be told, the chances of finding it are slim. Plus, it's even harder because while scrolling, you need precision. You could pass the image without even knowing, making it fruitless. I really don’t know the probability because it’s certainly not 1/2308. However, I knew it was difficult.

Monty Hall 2.0: Loop Strategy

At this point, I wished finding my overlay was as simple as the Monty Hall problem!

Monty Hall Problem:

You are on a gameshow and in front of you lies three distinct doors. Behind one of the doors is a prize you want (say a car) and behind the other two doors is either nothing or a prize you don't really want that much (like a goat). Your chance of winning this game is one in three. There are three doors and you choose one of them, pretty simple.

@edicted/monty-hall-20-loop-strategy-9xn

But mine looked a lot more difficult than that.

I Found It!!!

Let's skip the terms and conditions because I actually found it. Chess isn't just a board game, after all. I started to think of a way to reduce the search from 2,308. First, the category. I chose Twitch, only because I was almost certain my first plan to stream was on Twitch.

It reduced to 247! Still a lot, but it was easier to navigate. The last giveaway was I figured the overlay was orange. So "orange overlay," Twitch category = answer.

Boom! Got it easily with that. Okay—not easily but that narrowed it from 2k+.

Orange and Charcoal Stripes Twitch Overlay

I had everything I needed for my OBS. Just needed to edit the overlay. I did one without the 3Speak logo for the times I'd post on YouTube, and also another with the 3Speak logo too. I went on to successfully record my chess content, which I'd later post.

Panda Video Compressor

Video recorded came out 2.9 GB, and to be fair, uploading that would be very difficult because of the network. Most times I upload large files on 3Speak, it takes hours, and it sometimes requires me to upload several times before I get it done, as it usually disconnects in between. Panda Compressor was one app I used and still tried today, which works perfectly and helps trim videos to smaller files while still retaining high quality.

Conclusion

It's really very good for me to start creating video content again, but I was really happy to get the setup out of the way. I'm on track to post a video and many more, which makes me happy. Just wanted to share the hassles and also the difficulties I encountered in content creation.

_{Hivechess is played every friday on lichess.org hosted by @stayoutoftherz! For more information, join the chess community and follow the host for reminders and tags}

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Thanks For Reading!