From d15a23217031dc0bd8de9222728f519cb8b3c0ce Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: "Prof. Andy Couturier" <andy.couturier@umoncton.ca>
Date: Sun, 1 Mar 2026 18:01:05 -0400
Subject: [PATCH] Changed install path and added troubleshooting steps

---
 README.md | 51 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-
 1 file changed, 50 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index ac6180d..77d7094 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -43,9 +43,11 @@ https://github.com/fzwoch/obs-gstreamer/releases
 Extract the zip and copy `obs-gstreamer.dll` from the `windows` folder to:
 
 ```
-C:\Program Files\obs-studio\obs-plugins\64bit\
+C:\ProgramData\obs-studio\plugins\obs-gstreamer\bin\64bit\
 ```
 
+You may need to create the folders if they don't exist.
+
 Restart OBS if it was running.
 
 ---
@@ -106,3 +108,50 @@ For additional webcams, duplicate the pipeline and increment the port number (`5
 
 - **Quad stream**: one player cam per IP (4 IPs total, one webcam each).
 - **Main stream**: two player cams per IP (2 IPs total, two webcams each, ports `5001` and `5002`).
+
+---
+
+## Troubleshooting
+
+### GStreamer Source not showing in OBS (Windows)
+
+**Step 1: Restart OBS**
+
+Completely close OBS and reopen it. The plugin is only loaded when OBS starts.
+
+**Step 2: Check the plugin file is in the right place**
+
+Open File Explorer and navigate to:
+
+```
+C:\ProgramData\obs-studio\plugins\obs-gstreamer\bin\64bit\
+```
+
+You should see `obs-gstreamer.dll` in that folder. If the `ProgramData` folder is hidden, type the path directly into the File Explorer address bar.
+
+If the folders don't exist, create them yourself:
+1. Open `C:\ProgramData\`
+2. Create `obs-studio` folder (if it doesn't exist)
+3. Inside it, create `plugins`
+4. Inside that, create `obs-gstreamer`
+5. Inside that, create `bin`
+6. Inside that, create `64bit`
+7. Place `obs-gstreamer.dll` in the `64bit` folder
+
+**Step 3: Check that GStreamer is installed and in your PATH**
+
+Open PowerShell (press the Windows key, type `powershell`, hit Enter) and run:
+
+```powershell
+gst-launch-1.0 --version
+```
+
+If you see a version number (e.g. `GStreamer 1.28.1`), GStreamer is correctly in your PATH.
+
+If you get an error like `'gst-launch-1.0' is not recognized`, GStreamer is either not installed or not in your PATH. Go back to step 2 of the Windows setup above and re-run the PowerShell command to add it to your PATH. Then **close and reopen PowerShell** and try again.
+
+**Step 4: Check for DLL conflicts**
+
+Some software (e.g. Tesseract-OCR, GIMP) installs its own copy of GStreamer or GLib DLLs. If one of these appears earlier in your PATH than the GStreamer `bin` folder, OBS may load the wrong DLLs and fail silently.
+
+To fix this, open **System Properties > Environment Variables**, find `Path` under User variables, and make sure `C:\gstreamer\1.0\mingw_x86_64\bin` is at the **top** of the list. You can select it and click **Move Up** until it's first.