Frequently asked questions

The basics#

What is BobbleHub?#

It's the app you run your show from. It takes your players' cameras, cuts out their heads, puts them on characters in a 3D scene, and hands the finished picture to OBS so you can stream it.

You run it. Your players just join a link.

Do my players need to install anything?#

No. They need Discord for voice — which your table probably already uses — and a web browser. You send them a link, they allow their camera, and they're in.

What do I need?#

BobbleHub plus three free programs: NDI, OBS Studio and DistroAV. There's a full list with install guides at What do I need to run a game?, and BobbleHub checks for all of them and tells you what's missing.

Do I need a powerful computer?#

BobbleHub does two demanding things at once on your machine: it cuts the heads out of several live camera feeds, and it runs a 3D scene. Both lean on your graphics card.

If your machine plays modern games comfortably, it's the right shape for this. A laptop with no dedicated graphics is where you'd expect to struggle, and more players means more work.

We'd rather give you real numbers than a guess, and we're collecting them from actual sessions — which is part of why the feedback option in the app matters even when a session goes well.

Does it work on a Mac?#

BobbleHub is a Windows application today.

Your players can be on anything with a browser — Mac, Windows, Linux, a tablet. It's only the GM's machine that needs to be Windows.

How many players can I have?#

Eight.

Can people join partway through?#

Yes. The invite link works for the whole session, and somebody arriving late appears as a new row — nothing has to be restarted and nobody else is interrupted.

Faces and characters#

Do the faces move? Do their mouths move when they talk?#

No, and that's a design decision rather than something missing.

A player's face is a still, captured once from their camera. Animated faces on a bobblehead body sit somewhere between uncanny and comic, and every attempt at it fights the look you're going for.

Reaction happens on the body instead. Characters move, gesture and react, and a character's ring lights up when that player is talking — so you can always tell who's speaking without watching a mouth.

Do my players need a green screen or special lighting?#

No. BobbleHub cuts the head out of an ordinary webcam picture.

Good even lighting always helps, and a strong light directly behind someone is the one thing that reliably makes it worse. But there's nothing to set up and nothing to buy.

Can I retake somebody's face?#

Any time, as many times as you like. If someone changes seats or puts a hat on, capture again.

Somebody's connection dropped and their face is stuck on their character#

That's intended. A bad connection doesn't strip somebody's face off mid-scene — the face stays until you clear it, using the release control on that character.

No. One person per character.

What it costs#

What is CastTime?#

The hours your players' video runs on. Getting several cameras from several houses into one show is the part that costs real money to run, and CastTime is how it's measured.

Running a game on your own, loading scenes, and using the app don't touch it. Full detail: CastTime.

Why does the session number look so big?#

Because it counts everyone at once. A four-person table really does burn about five hours per hour of play.

Per person it's close to one hour per hour, which is the number worth watching, and the app shows you both rather than hiding the total.

Does it cost anything if we leave the room open and go get dinner?#

Yes. The room costs by the clock while it's open, whether or not anyone's in it.

This is the single most common way to waste hours. Press Stop CastTime when you finish playing — closing the app is not the same thing.

Does a player with their camera off still cost?#

Yes, at a reduced rate. If somebody isn't playing, it's better for them to leave the room than to turn their camera off.

What happens if I run out mid-session?#

The session stops. Your players can rejoin through the same link once you have hours again.

How much do hours cost? What's in my plan?#

That's on your account rather than in the app. BobbleHub reads your balance and your rates from your account and shows you exactly what it's told — it never estimates.

Scenes#

Where do scenes come from?#

The store. Packs you own — or that come with your plan — show up in BobbleHub's Store tab, and download from there. Buying happens on the website; nothing in the app takes a payment.

A scene says "Update required"#

A newer version has been published, and the copy on your machine can't be opened any more. Press Download again. You already own it — this is never a purchase.

Why does loading a scene take so long?#

Big scenes are big. Twenty to forty seconds is normal, and your audience sees a loading card while it happens — which you can replace with your own artwork in Setup.

Can I make my own scenes?#

Scene packs are authored in Unity and published to the store. Whether that's open to you depends on your account — that's a question for the website rather than the app.

I loaded a scene and nobody is in it#

That's the second press. Load scene puts up the set, Load cast puts your characters in it. They're separate because the set has to exist before anyone can stand in it.

Sound#

Where does the voice come from?#

Discord. BobbleHub doesn't carry voice at all — your table talks the way it already does, and OBS captures Discord alongside the picture.

My audience can't hear the music I cued#

The picture travels to OBS over NDI, and NDI carries picture only. Music from BobbleHub's Sound tab plays out of your computer like any other program, so OBS needs to be capturing your desktop audio to pick it up.

See Getting the show into OBS.

Streaming#

Which NDI source do I pick in OBS?#

The one with BobbleheadStreams Program in the name — prefixed with your computer's name, so something like DESKTOP-ABC (BobbleheadStreams Program).

Not Preview. Preview is your working picture, where you line up the shot you haven't taken yet.

Do I have to stream? Can I just play?#

You can just play. BobbleHub composes the show whether or not OBS is running — you'd be playing with a screen your table can see rather than an audience.

Can I record instead of streaming live?#

That's OBS's job rather than BobbleHub's, and OBS records perfectly well. BobbleHub hands it the same picture either way.

Safety and privacy#

Something went wrong on camera. How do I stop it fast?#

PANIC, in the command bar. It's never greyed out and works even if the show engine has crashed.

It stops faces immediately and drops every character to a generic avatar. It does not stop your stream — for that, stop it in OBS. Worth reading once before you need it: Panic.

Does BobbleHub record my players?#

No. It composes a live picture and hands it to OBS. If anything is recorded, it's OBS doing it, on your machine, because you asked it to.

What's in a problem report?#

Your words, and what kind of machine you're on. If it's a report about a failure, it can also carry the logs from that session — and the form lists exactly what's attached before you send anything, so you can remove the logs and still send your description.

Nothing is sent unless you press the button. Reports contain no video.

Logs can include file paths that carry your Windows user name.

Is my hub key safe in the app?#

Once saved, BobbleHub will only ever show you the last few characters of it. The app can set the key but can't read it back, so it can't end up in a crash report or on screen by accident.

Treat it like a password — anyone who has it can spend your CastTime hours.

When things go wrong#

My Store is empty#

Almost always the hub key. Open Setup and check step 1. See Linking BobbleHub to your account.

Setup says a program is missing but I definitely have it#

BobbleHub looks in the usual places, so an unusual install location shows up as "we couldn't find it" rather than as a fact. Nothing on that list blocks you — if you know you have it, carry on.

OBS shows nothing at all#

If NDI Source isn't even in the OBS source menu, that's DistroAV — see Installing DistroAV. If the option is there but the list is empty, the show engine probably isn't running yet.

A player joined but I can't see their camera#

They likely dismissed the browser's camera prompt. Ask them to reload the link and allow it.

The wrong character lights up when somebody talks#

Link that person to their Discord name on the Cast Invites tab. Until you do, BobbleHub is guessing from who spoke first — which is usually you, saying "can everyone hear me?".

Everything is fine but I want to tell you something#

There's a feedback option in the app, and it's genuinely read. Reports from sessions that went well are how real hardware requirements get worked out instead of guessed at.