Stream Control — Xbox Game Bar Widget for OBS & PRISM

A polished, lightweight, native Xbox Game Bar widget for Windows 10 and 11 that lets you control OBS Studio and PRISM Live Studio directly from the Xbox Game Bar overlay (Win + G) without alt-tabbing out of your game.

• Native Xbox Game Bar Integration: Registered via official Microsoft Xbox Game Bar SDK (microsoft.gameBarUIExtension) as both a standard widget and dedicated settings flyout.
• obs-websocket v5 Protocol: Direct WebSocket connection with SHA-256 challenge-response authentication, real-time event subscriptions, and request/response correlation.
• Live Stream Controls:
  • Start, Stop, and Toggle Stream.
  • Live indicators with duration (hh:mm:ss), current bitrate (Mbps), and dropped frame percentage.
  • Optional confirmation safety dialog before starting/stopping.
• Recording Controls:
  • Start, Stop, Pause, Resume, and Toggle Recording.
  • Live recording timecode and status badge (● REC / PAUSED).
  • Optional confirmation prompt before stopping.
• Prominent Replay Buffer:
  • Large, high-priority SAVE REPLAY button designed for fast gaming reaction time.
  • Start/Stop Replay Buffer with live ready state indicator and buffer duration.
• Dynamic Scene Switcher:
  • Automatically loads scenes from OBS Studio.
  • Visual highlight for the currently active program scene.
  • Instant scene switching on click.
• Source Visibility Toggle:
  • Shows all sources in the currently active scene.
  • Checkbox toggles to immediately hide or show sources (webcam, overlays, game capture, alerts).
  • Synchronizes with OBS scene changes, source additions, and removals.
• Debounced Audio Mixer:
  • Sliders for all OBS audio inputs (Microphone, Desktop Audio, etc.).
  • Real-time dB indicator (e.g. -12.4 dB).
  • Mute/unmute toggle button with visual volume icon.
  • Coalesced 50ms debouncing prevents flooding WebSocket requests while dragging sliders.
• Studio Mode Support:
  • Displays Preview and Program scenes side-by-side.
  • One-click TRANSITION button.
  • Automatically activates only when Studio Mode is enabled in OBS.
• Customizable Quick Actions Grid:
  • 8-slot gaming grid for 1-click execution: Stream, Record, Save Replay, Buffer, Mic Mute, Audio Mute, Transitions, Virtual Camera.
• Hardware-Backed Credential Security:
  • Passwords are encrypted and stored in Windows.Security.Credentials.PasswordVault.
  • Passwords are never saved in plaintext and never printed in logs.
• Gaming-Optimized Performance:
  • Zero CPU overhead when Game Bar is hidden: automatically pauses timers and WebSocket polling via XboxGameBarWidget.VisibleChanged.
  • Event-driven updates instead of high-frequency polling.
  • Exponential backoff reconnection (1s, 2s, 4s, 8s, 16s) when OBS is offline or restarted.

Xbox Game Bar Overlay (Win + G)
  │
  ├── App.xaml / App.xaml.cs (ms-gamebarwidget protocol activation & widget lifecycle)
  │     ├── OBSControlWidget (MainWidgetView.xaml)
  │     └── OBSControlSettings (SettingsView.xaml)
  │
  ├── OBSGameBar (UWP Presentation Layer)
  │     ├── Fluent Dark Theme (FluentResources.xaml)
  │     ├── Converters & UI Dispatcher
  │     ├── UwpPasswordVaultStorage (Windows.Security.Credentials.PasswordVault)
  │     └── GameBarNotificationService (Windows Toast Notifications)
  │
  └── OBSGameBar.Core (.NET Standard 2.0 / .NET 10)
        ├── Models (ObsState, SceneModel, SourceModel, AudioInputModel, QuickActionItem)
        ├── Protocol (ObsWebSocket v5 OpCodes, SHA-256 Auth, Request Envelopes)
        ├── Services:
        │     ├── ObsWebSocketService (System.Net.WebSockets.ClientWebSocket)
        │     ├── ObsConnectionManager (Auto-connect & Exponential Backoff)
        │     ├── ObsStreamService
        │     ├── ObsRecordingService
        │     ├── ObsReplayService
        │     ├── ObsSceneService
        │     ├── ObsSourceService
        │     └── ObsAudioService (Debounced volume slider updates)
        └── ViewModels (MainWidgetViewModel, SettingsViewModel, AudioInputViewModel)

1. Launch OBS Studio (v28 or later, which includes obs-websocket v5 built-in).
2. Go to Tools → WebSocket Server Settings.
3. Check Enable WebSocket server.
4. Set Server Port to 4455 (default).
5. (Optional but recommended) Check Enable Authentication and set a password.
6. Click Apply and OK.

• Windows 10 build 19041+ or Windows 11.
• Visual Studio 2022 / 2026 with the Universal Windows Platform development workload installed.
• Windows Developer Mode enabled:
  • Open Windows Settings → Update & Security (or System) → For developers.
  • Toggle Developer Mode to On.

Run the following in PowerShell:

& "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\18\Community\MSBuild\Current\Bin\amd64\MSBuild.exe" "OBSGameBar.sln" /p:Configuration=Debug /p:Platform=x64

The build generates an installation package in OBSGameBar\AppPackages:

# Open PowerShell as Administrator and run the generated installer
cd "OBSGameBar\AppPackages\OBSGameBar_1.0.0.0_x64_Debug_Test"
.\Install.ps1

Once installed, Windows registers the app extension with Xbox Game Bar automatically.

1. Press Win + G on your keyboard to bring up the Xbox Game Bar overlay.
2. Click the Widget Menu icon in the Game Bar top bar.
3. Select OBS Studio.
4. (Optional) Click the Pin icon on the widget header to keep it visible on top of your games while playing!

To create a Store-ready submission package (.msixupload / .msix):

1. Double-click or run:

   build_store_package.bat

2. The script compiles using full AOT .NET Native optimization and outputs:
   • StorePackages\Saayan.StreamControl_1.0.0.0_x64.msixupload (Recommended for Partner Center)
   • StorePackages\Saayan.StreamControl_1.0.0.0_x64.msix
3. Upload the .msixupload file directly to the Packages section of your Microsoft Partner Center submission for Stream Control (Store ID: 9NZNFFCZCGF4).

The solution includes an automated test suite (OBSGameBar.Tests) covering protocol framing, SHA-256 authentication hashing, state synchronization, volume debouncing, and connection backoff:

dotnet test OBSGameBar.Tests/OBSGameBar.Tests.csproj

All 20 unit tests execute in ~250ms.

MIT License. Designed and built with Microsoft Fluent design principles for high-performance gaming.