Spectator view output to external monitor during Gameplay?

Greg Southall · Jan 16, 2022

Hi All,

Is there an ability in ACC to output a spectator view to another external monitor during gameplay.

If any of you watch Dave Cam, I’ve noticed he now has a PIP of a spectator view which is really cool so you get to see the driver view, and then the aerial view simultaneously. Not sure how he achieves this.

I want to do the same, but to an external monitor instead of PIP.

See attached image below, or check out his videos.

Cheers

Greg

Paul Glover · Jan 16, 2022

Greg Southall said:
Hi All,

Is there an ability in ACC to output a spectator view to another external monitor during gameplay.

If any of you watch Dave Cam, I’ve noticed he now has a PIP of a spectator view which is really cool so you get to see the driver view, and then the aerial view simultaneously. Not sure how he achieves this.

I want to do the same, but to an external monitor instead of PIP.

See attached image below, or check out his videos.

Cheers

Greg

He will have two pc’s with another copy of the game and send that feed separately to OBS, only way it can be done.

Greg Southall · Jan 17, 2022

Paul Glover said:
He will have two pc’s with another copy of the game and send that feed separately to OBS, only way it can be done.

Hi Paul,

Thanks for the response. I understand the basics of that set up. That makes sense. I’ll look into it some more.

guidofoc · Jan 17, 2022

Greg Southall said:
Hi All,

Is there an ability in ACC to output a spectator view to another external monitor during gameplay.

If any of you watch Dave Cam, I’ve noticed he now has a PIP of a spectator view which is really cool so you get to see the driver view, and then the aerial view simultaneously. Not sure how he achieves this.

I want to do the same, but to an external monitor instead of PIP.

See attached image below, or check out his videos.

Cheers

Greg

I think the videos you refer to are not live, in which case he just films himself driving "live" (screen recording + webcam on screen), saves the replay, then plays the replay again it in "helicopter view" and records it in a separate video file, and then finally combines the 2 videos into a single video, also adding intro, music etc. I could be wrong but this is what most youtubers do. I have seen multilple "concurrent" cameras shown during broadcasts and those were done using 2 PCs running ACC connected to the same server (usually both connected in "spectator mode" for the broadcasts).

On a different note, i have tried for fun to use the "Steam Link" app which mirrors my gaming screen on my Samsung 49" TV (basically I play on my screen and the same view is sent to the TV for anyone to see). There was some issue with aspect ratio, and I suspect both network and PC performance may be affected.. also nobody at home wanted to watch me racing

Paul Glover · Jan 17, 2022

guidofoc said:
I think the videos you refer to are not live, in which case he just films himself driving "live" (screen recording + webcam on screen), saves the replay, then plays the replay again it in "helicopter view" and records it in a separate video file, and then finally combines the 2 videos into a single video, also adding intro, music etc. I could be wrong but this is what most youtubers do. I have seen multilple "concurrent" cameras shown during broadcasts and those were done using 2 PCs running ACC connected to the same server (usually both connected in "spectator mode" for the broadcasts).

On a different note, i have tried for fun to use the "Steam Link" app which mirrors my gaming screen on my Samsung 49" TV (basically I play on my screen and the same view is sent to the TV for anyone to see). There was some issue with aspect ratio, and I suspect both network and PC performance may be affected.. also nobody at home wanted to watch me racing

Yeah it's possible but he may be recording the game and the second feed at the same time, then add the other bits.

guidofoc · Jan 17, 2022

Paul Glover said:
Yeah it's possible but he may be recording the game and the second feed at the same time, then add the other bits.

Maybe, but in that case he could do the same in his live streams and he doesn't. Plus honestly I don't think it's worth having two PCs running ACC on the same network connected to the same server just to record a video of a different camera angle, something you can do in a few minutes afterwards at no additional cost and without affecting gameplay.

Greg Southall · Jan 22, 2022

Greg Southall said:
Hi All,

Is there an ability in ACC to output a spectator view to another external monitor during gameplay.

If any of you watch Dave Cam, I’ve noticed he now has a PIP of a spectator view which is really cool so you get to see the driver view, and then the aerial view simultaneously. Not sure how he achieves this.

I want to do the same, but to an external monitor instead of PIP.

See attached image below, or check out his videos.

Cheers

Greg

Update to all those interested.

I reached out and managed to get a response from Dave Cam himself. He (as suggested in one of the posts here) saves the replay and adds this overlay in the post processing to the one single video he uploads To YT.

In meantime, I have purchased and installed the game on a separate PC, set up server, and joined as spectator on that second pc. the Camera angles are limited (only in car and follow angles) so I’m testing Race Director which then allows more cameras i.e. the aerial. I’ll update again with final thoughts and whether successful or not.

Cheers.

MAYAman · Feb 11, 2022

Greg Southall said:
Update to all those interested.

I reached out and managed to get a response from Dave Cam himself. He (as suggested in one of the posts here) saves the replay and adds this overlay in the post processing to the one single video he uploads To YT.

In meantime, I have purchased and installed the game on a separate PC, set up server, and joined as spectator on that second pc. the Camera angles are limited (only in car and follow angles) so I’m testing Race Director which then allows more cameras i.e. the aerial. I’ll update again with final thoughts and whether successful or not.

Cheers.

Any updates? I'd like to pick your brain a bit if possible. I've been struggling with this for months.

Greg Southall · Feb 12, 2022

MAYAman said:
Any updates? I'd like to pick your brain a bit if possible. I've been struggling with this for months.

Certainly. Going to update post with findings and results. Keep watch out.

Greg Southall · Feb 12, 2022

VIDEO LINK:

iCloud

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share.icloud.com

ALTERNATE LINK

SPECTATOR VIEW

Shared with Dropbox

www.dropbox.com

OK, seems I’m not the only one trying to achieve this. Well, I can report FULL SUCCESS .

What I can’t guarantee, is me adequately conveying the set up required to achieve the results, but I’ll give it a go, assisted by some images and video.

So, here goes:
THE ORIGINAL PROBLEM:
Unable provide spectators (friends / family) ‘locally‘ an alternative ‘controllable’ ‘spectator view‘ of any camera angle on another screen of your race, and not just watch your cockpit view on the one screen, allowing them to see the action around and be their own camera person.

DESIRED OUTCOME:
See video in this post. Now able to play ACC on one machine in cockpit view, whilst spectators (either locally or remotely) can observe you (or anyone else in that race if they don’t like you) race from any camera angle (in this case a changing track side camera set).

REQUIREMENTS:

2 PC’s - I’ll refer to these as ‘Gaming PC’, and ‘Spectator PC’ from now on.
2 Copies of ACC (through two different accounts of Steam)
For the second copy of ACC, I set up another Steam Account. This is to be different to your existing. This will be used solely for the purchase and being able to enter a multiplayer game as a spectator under this separate user name)
1 copy of ACC Dedicated Server GUI 1.3.0.0. (Obtained through RD forum)
1 copy of ACC Director Assistant (Obtained through RD forum)
You may need to:
- open some TCP and UPD ports on your main house router, and
- allow traffic through these ports through setting up firewall rules

For item 5, I’m not going to cover here. There are some YouTube videos out there on this subject specifically for setting up Dedicated ACC servers. I used this one

The set goes something like this:
GAME PC:

Assumed ACC installed already. No config changes here.
Start Steam under your existing / normal steam username.
Install separate ACC Dedicated Server GUI 1.3.0.0. App. Refer to general set up from the developers page in RD forum. See image Below
Importantly to achieve our desired result is to ensure we have a Server Name (we come back to this later), and separate join password, admin password, and Spectator password.
Start the server.
Start ACC - Multiplayer - Server List - your server should be seen under LAN server
The password you need to enter here is either the ‘join’ or ‘admin’ password
Connect

SPECATOR PC:

Assumed ACC installed.
Go to your Documents > Assetto Corsa Competizione > Config folder
Edit the ‘broadcasting.json’ file with text editor as shown.
Start Steam under the new spectator username
Install ACCDirectorAssistant. See image. IP address needs to be 127.0.0.1 as the app is only connecting to ACC through the same computer ACC is installed.
Start ACC and set up a profile (mines just a nickname)
Navigate to - Multiplayer - Server List - again, the same server should be seen under LAN server
IMPORTANT, the password you enter here needs to be the ‘Spectator‘ password
Connect
You should now be observing as a spectator
Go back to ACCDriectorAssistant (see image) and ‘CONNECT’.
You should now have the ACCDirectorAssistant dashboard And this will show cars in the server i.e. your car from your GAME PC
Change CAMERAS i.e. in this example (see image) I used ‘set1’ and HUD PAGES ‘Blank’
Click back into ACC game