Probably, each of us has seen this on YouTube more than once: a player plays a computer game, and statistics on the use of computer resources are superimposed on top of the picture. How did he do it, and how can he repeat it on his own? This method of displaying information on the display is called OSD. There are several ways to display it, and today we will tell you about one of them. The topic of this article is “MSI Afterburner: How to Enable In-Game Monitoring”.
MSI Afterburner is a program from the eponymous brand of computer components and, de facto, the standard in the field of programs for obtaining advanced functionality when working with graphics processors. It works with graphics cards from any manufacturer and is completely free. MSI Afterburner has long been used by overclockers all over the world, as well as bloggers, streamers, computer component reviewers and casual gamers looking to monitor their computer’s performance while gaming to identify performance issues.
With this program you can:
- Overclock your video card (however, at your own peril and risk)
- Get detailed information about the hardware components of your computer
- Get the ability to control the speed and operating modes of the fans
- Test the performance of the computer’s graphics subsystem
- Record a screen image (screen capture)
<In order to take advantage of all the bonuses it provides, you just need to install it. How do I enable monitoring in MSI Afterburner? We need MSI Afterburner and Rivatuner Statistics Server. Both the first and the second are in the MSI Afterburner installer.
After starting the program using the shortcut on the desktop (1), you will see its main interface. It displays a lot of useful information right after launch. We, in this case, are interested in the ” Settings ” section (2).
After clicking the cursor on this button, the settings window will open, in which we need to go to the ” Monitoring ” tab (3). Here we can choose which parameters will be displayed in our on-screen menu using just a plate with two fields: the first is the name of the parameter, the second is its properties. With the help of the first parameter (Hardware polling period), we can change the value of the equipment polling frequency and, therefore, the refresh rate of our OSD menu. By default, this period is specified as 1000 milliseconds (1 second). For example, select the GPU Usage option (3a).
Next, in order for this parameter to appear in the menu in the overlay, find the parameter ” Show in On-Screen Display ” (3b).
Now, in the properties (Properties) of the parameter we are editing, the text ” In OSD ” should be displayed , which will mean that this parameter has been successfully added to the display in the on-screen menu (3c). It is worth noting that the data in the OSD is displayed in the same order in which it appears in the table. However, their order can be changed by simply dragging and dropping them in the table.
The name of the parameter group displayed in the OSD can be changed using the “ Override group name ” (3d) parameter . In the example, the name ” GPU Usage ” has been changed to ” GPU Load “. We can do the same with the name of the indicator itself, for this we need to activate the ” Override graph name ” option and change the value of the field opposite its name. To save all changes, you must click ” OK ” (3d).
After completing these manipulations with the program, you can start any game, and a menu will appear in it displaying the parameters you have selected.
Also, you can customize the appearance of the displayed menu, and for this we need a second program: Rivatuner Statistics Server. You can find its icon in the tray (1).
By clicking on it, you will be taken to the active window of the program. There are many options here. Below we will look at a few of them that are responsible for the main aspects of the OSD display.
- Option ” On-Screen Display shadow” (1a) allows you to change the display of text so that the letters will have a dark outline, which will positively affect its readability and recognition in almost any scene.
- Option « the On-Screen the Display palette» (1b) allows you to change the color of the text to be displayed on the OSD, as well as the color of its contour.
- The On-Screen Display zoom(1c) option allows you to adjust the size of the OSD.
- The Position of OSDoption (1d) allows you to change the position of the OSD menu from the original (upper left corner of the display) to arbitrary.
If, after you have completed all the steps indicated in the instructions, MSI Afterburner does not show monitoring, then first of all, you need to check the correctness of their implementation and repeat again. If everything is correct, the next step is to check if the OSD specifically for this process is enabled in the Rivatuner Statistics Server and what its (menu) settings are. If this does not help, then you need to check if some other application is working in the overlay and if it conflicts with MSI Afterburner. For example, this could be the frame counter on Steam. If this is the case, then the overlay of the other application will have to be disabled. After that, most likely, the problem will disappear, and you can use the OSD menu for your needs.