#PastebinMonday 01/27/2025 Fixing My Stream Captions Edition

Fixing My Stream Captions Edition

'Sup, doods!

I am really frustrated right now. One of the gimmicks I'm trying to set up to set me apart from the rest is to use captions to print my speech to text and have video files play automatically as “reactions” to the text that comes from my speech. On Friday, my captions stopped working entirely and nothing I was able to do could bring them back. There's a plugin for the OBS broadcast software that everyone uses for captions that feeds off of Google's Speech to Text API. It sends the captions to Twitch as well as to your software—well, when it's working. I just realized that Friday's Twitch stream had no captions whatsoever. The plugin recognized when I was recording (it only works while streaming or recording). The plugin recognized the conditions to enable the captions. And yet, I'm not sure Google's API was ever called. Even now, I can't get any words to be recognized from my microphone. That's kind of central to getting the plugin working.

Doods, I was losing my mind trying to fix this. I installed multiple versions of the plugin. I installed multiple versions of OBS. I installed multiple versions of other plugins that could have hidden the text from me. I restarted my computer SO MANY TIMES. I thought I was going to have to reconstruct my entire stream layout after all of the things I tried.

Fortunately, I had heard of another plugin that could provide transcriptions of speech in decently real time, although not as fast as the original plugin. Funny enough, doods, this plugin could also transcribe audio from non-microphone devices, something the original plugin is not capable of. I could use it to transcribe Discord call audio...

Anywell, doods, that exercise was enough to get me out of the funk of trying to rewrite my tutorial series. I'm struggling to improve the presentation of the content and how I hook people into it. An exercise I thought would get me through five or six scripts an hour has me fortunate to get through two. I am not the creative dood I used to be. This is going to be a slower process than I thought, even with my tempered expectations.

In other news, it may interest some of you doods that I picked up a humidifier for my bedroom. The added moisture is supposed to help with sleep and breathing in general, two things I am desperate to improve. This part is being typed up at 11:00pm Sunday and I have to wake up at 6:00am so... yeah, improvement desperately needed.

I think I also mentioned a thing to improve my productivity during my lunch breaks that I was going to get? I had an old Chromebook I used to remotely connect to my PC and manage stuff. I just got a better old Chromebook to take care of that. Maybe I can be more efficient with my free time?

Now if you'll excuse me, doods, I need to configure this new OBS plugin to replace my captions. There's a GIGANTIC learning curve to this thing.


Today's (permanent) extra streaming goals:

Goal #1: script and record footage for my Puzzle League tutorial series. I have some scripts left to touch up before feeling comfortable with moving on to recording gameplay. Then I will need to record my talking points and edit it all together. Creative writing is not my strong suit. I'm now hoping to finish rewriting them all next month, but I'm realizing that I may not have the time.
Goal #2: release the Puzzle League tutorial series YouTube shorts once a day until they're all done. I really do think I need to time the release of the series with a ramping up of my streaming schedule so that I can take advantage of whatever there is to gain from releasing the shorts. I have come to realize that if I am going to make my target date, I need to put this above everything else because I don't have as much time or motivation during the week as I thought I would.
Goal #3: clean up my own stream layout. Most of the framework necessary for a semi-proper stream is done now thanks to streaming the process, though I'm not currently motivated to stream any other part of it at the moment. Next major objective is to make alerts. I have stream reaction clips to put in. Emotes, one or two alternate overlay themes, and alternate timer themes would come soon after. As soon as I think of things to put in, I will add them to the list.
Goal #4: catch up on video archives that I have yet to upload since I restarted streaming. I may put them on a separate channel.
Goal #5: edit personal best videos in Tetris Attack Easy – V-Hard (post commentary recorded) and Normal (post commentary recorded)—and everything I did in Pokemon Puzzle Week—and that S-Hard PB—and that V-Hard WR—and that Easy – S-Hard WR—and that TA Easy PB. Standalone archival videos are already attached to my speedrun profile. I'm hoping to make eye-catching productions from each speedrun. I'm considering it to be my personal test to be a YouTuber. I am failing miserably right now.
Goal #6: finalize the tournament layout once and for all in a way that I can adapt for every game we might play. Until someone volunteers to help broadcast the matches in my stead, this is not actually a top priority. I feel like making this happen will encourage others to help out, not the other way around. There has been virtually no interest so far.


This week's schedule:

Friday @8pm-11pm ET – Friday Night Salt Mines – Lt. Surge Open training
Saturday @2pm-6pm ET – twitch.tv/puzzlespeedrun – Lt. Surge Open


That’s my life story for the week. Until next time, everyone, be decent to each other. Later, doods!

--Cards