========How to Set Up Your Personal Stream=========
Part I: What is a stream and why should I want one?
This is a guide to set up your own Twitch.TV stream. I presume everyone reading this already knows what a stream is, but for those that don't I'll give a brief overview. A stream essentially shows what you're doing on your computer to people who are watching your stream online. This is primarily used for video games, though can be used for other purposes. For our purposes though we are going to be talking about streaming video games, and specifically Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne. That being said, if you have it set up for one video game it's extremely easy to stream any other video game as well.
The reason you should want to have one is that there is a huge community that loves to watch Warcraft but doesn't own WC3, doesn't have it installed on the computer their on, or are travelling and can only watch via a mobile device like a phone or tablet.
Part II: Registering your Twitch.TV account
This is probably the easiest and most straightforward part of the process. Pick a username you'd like to use and go to Twitch.TV (http://www.twitch.tv/) to register your account. If you scroll a little ways down you'll see where you can do so.
Protip: Your url will be twitch.tv/username. You should make it easy for people to type the twitch.tv channel into the address bar in the browser so don't use a repetitive letter a lot of times, or try to trick people.
Good Username: FFAMastersLeague
Bad Username: FFAMastersLeagggguuueee
Part III: The Software to Stream
There are two primary software tools that are used for streaming. The first is XSplit, and the other is OBS or Open Broadcast Software. I personally use the first, but both have their advantages. I'll talk about XSplit first, and OBS afterwards.
Part III-A: XSplit
Xsplit is the program that allows players to actually capture content on their PCs and to put it on the streams. I pay for Premium XSplit so that I can stream in 720 and 1080. XSplit does have free options however, and I believe that most XSplit users probably use these.
It is one of the most popular broadcasting programs on Twitch and comes highly recommended. XSplit is considered an all-in-one solution as it allows the broadcaster to edit their stream with multiple camera shots, graphical overlays, chroma key, and picture-in-picture effects, as well as encoding the video feed with highly flexible range of quality options.
Key Features
Built-in Encoder: Login with your Twitch account and broadcast directly to your Twitch channel with highly flexible and efficient quality settings
Video Mixer: Add and edit multiple video sources such as desktop screen capture, webcams, capture cards and more
Simple Audio Mixer: Capture computer and microphone audio simultaneously
Twitch Ingest Point Tester: Find the best location on the Twitch network to broadcast from wherever you are
XSplit comes in a variety of free, Personal, and Premium versions, each with its own advantages. Please refer to the XSplit site for up-to-date information on its current status.
Download XSplit (http://www.xsplit.com/twitchtv/SignUp/)
Getting Started with XSplit
After finishing reading this guide, there’s more information available in the XSplit Beginner's Guide on YouTube.
Step 1) Adding Sources
For PC games, you have two choices on how to capture your gameplay. Either by capturing the screen region, or by achieving a direct feed via game source (only available in XSplit Personal and Premium).
Screen Region Method
Go to Add > Add Screen Region
Select the region of your desktop you'd like XSplit to capture by left clicking somewhere in the game window. You can also click the desktop or task bar to select the entire monitor.
The selected area will now appear in your XSplit window for further editing
Game Source Method (Requires XSplit Personal or Premium)
Games that utilize the DirectX or OpenGL platform can be enabled for direct capture, or Game Source. This sometimes results in better performance when compared to the screen region method and supports games in fullscreen mode.
To to Add > Add Game and select the .exe of the game you'd like to capture
The selected game will now appear in your XSplit window for further editing
Step 2) Understanding XSplit Audio
XSplit accepts two audio sources simultaneously.
Windows 7 default playback device (desktop audio) essentially what comes out of the default speaker
The currently selected microphone in the XSplit user settings under Tools > General Settings > General Tab > Audio
Volume Control
Each audio source has its own volume that you can manually adjust - right-click the source and use the properties provided
Sources that tend to have audio settings include webcams, capture cards, video files, etc
Using the Windows Audio Mixer, typically located at the bottom-right hand corner of your Windows taskbar, you can adjust the volumes of these devices individually
Note: All audio sources added in XSplit rely on your Windows 7 Default Device for audio to your stream. In other words, if you can hear it over your speakers, your audience will too.
Step 3) Quality Options and Broadcasting
Basic Broadcast Settings
Go to Broadcast and click the right side gear symbol for your Twitch channel.
Click the Wizard button in the lower left corner and follow the two steps. When it’s done probing your internet speed and computer hardware, click Finish to use the recommended settings.
Set Max Bitrate and Buffer to 1500kps (or less depending on your upload speed and current connection).
Optional: View > Scale Viewport > 50.
Feel free to adjust the wizard settings based upon your own personal preferences and experience broadcasting to Twitch. You can also seek out tips in the XSplit community forum.
Step 3A) Putting a stream delay on your stream using Xsplit
1) Open Xsplit
2) Go to Tools --> Activate Delay Server --> This opens a little box
3) Enter 900 seconds into the box, this is 15 minutes.
4) This box must be left open. Closing the box will delete the delay
Step 4) Go live and interact with your audience!
Connecting to Twitch
Go to Broadcast > Twitch/Justin.tv Username.
Open your web browser and go to http://twitch.tv/broadcast/dashboard to view both your channel and your chat window.
Once you have everything setup then the only bit left is to practice! What I recommend for everyone to do is to stream a 10-15 minute game and then exit the stream. Go to your Twitch.TV account through the web and watch your recorded video a few times and optimize your settings. They’re a bit different for everyone, so make sure yours are right. You don’t want it to be choppy, you don’t want one sound too loud, and you want the stream to be smooth when casting. You can always check your upload and download speed at speedtest.net.
Part III-B: OBS
To be updated. Since I myself do not use it I can't really write a guide for it, that being said they have plenty of guides on their forum. For a getting started guide check here (http://obsproject.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=402)
Part IV: Wrap U
Now that your stream is fully functional you're probably wondering what you should do with it. Well, you should be playing and streaming as much as possible! FML is looking into ways to better incorporate our players streams into the site so keep an eye out for that. In addition there are tons of cool things you can do. As I'm sure you've seen :USA: :ud: FML|Worpex and myself do a lot of shoutcasting on the FML stream and then upload it to YouTube. You can create highlights from games that have been streamed on Twitch.TV to show to others, or just for your personal use.
There are many possibilities, and I'm not going to claim to have thought of them all. If you create some cool FML content let us know and we'll figure out a way to share it through the FML site as well!