Your first show, start to finish
This is the long way round, once. After this you'll do it in a few minutes.
Before you start, you need the programs on What do I need to run a game?. BobbleHub checks for them and tells you what's missing, so you don't have to remember the list.
1. Link BobbleHub to your account#
Open BobbleHub. If it hasn't been linked yet, there's a bar across the top saying so.
Your hub key is on the website, under your account. Copy it, then in BobbleHub click Setup and paste it into step 1 along with the portal address.
This is the step everything else depends on. Until it's done your Store is empty and scenes can't load, and that's the single most common reason a first evening stalls. Full details: Linking BobbleHub to your account.
2. Check the other programs#
Still in Setup, step 2 shows what BobbleHub can see on your machine — Discord, OBS, NDI and DistroAV.
If something says it couldn't be found, that isn't always wrong: BobbleHub looks in the usual places, so an unusual install location can show up as missing when the program is right there. Nothing here blocks you. If you know you have it, carry on.
3. Get a scene#
Open the Store tab. Scenes you own — or that come with your plan — appear here.
Pick one and press Download. BobbleHub fetches it, checks it, and installs it. A large scene is a large download, so start this before your players arrive rather than while they're waiting.
More on this: Scenes: buying, downloading and loading.
4. Point OBS at the show#
BobbleHub hands the finished picture to OBS over NDI, and OBS streams it wherever you stream.
In OBS, add an NDI Source and choose the one with BobbleheadStreams Program in its name. It'll be
prefixed with your computer's name, so it reads something like DESKTOP-ABC (BobbleheadStreams Program).
Full walkthrough, including sound: Getting the show into OBS.
5. Open the room and invite your players#
Go to Cast Invites and press Start CastTime. This opens your room — and it's the moment your CastTime hours start counting, so do it when you're ready for people, not an hour before.
Copy the invite link and send it to your players. They open it in a browser and allow their camera. They don't install anything. Rows appear on this tab as people arrive.
More on this: Your players. What the hours cost: CastTime.
6. Capture everyone's face#
Each player who has joined gets a tile with their camera on it. Press the capture button on a tile to take a still of their face. That still becomes their bobblehead.
You only do this once per person per session, and you can retake it any time — if someone changes hats or moves their lamp, capture again.
Faces don't move. That's deliberate, and it's explained on Your players.
7. Load the scene, then load the cast#
Open the Scenes tab. This is two presses, in order:
- Load scene — the set appears. This takes a while on a big scene; twenty to forty seconds is normal.
- Load cast — your characters are placed into the scene.
Two steps rather than one because the set has to exist before anyone can stand in it.
8. Direct the show#
You're live. The tabs across the top are your desk:
| Tab | What it's for |
|---|---|
| Stage Map | Move characters around the scene |
| Cast Animations | Make a character do something — swing, cheer, cast a spell |
| Cameras | Cut, pan and push between camera angles |
| Weather | Time of day, and the weather |
| Sound | Music beds |
| Output | A big look at what's going out, without raising the show window |
Each of these is covered on Directing the show.
9. Finish up#
Press Stop CastTime on Cast Invites when you're done. This closes the room and disconnects everyone, and it stops the hours counting.
Do that even if you're leaving the app open. The room costs while it's open, whether or not anyone is in it.
If something goes wrong mid-show#
There's a PANIC button, it always works, and it's worth knowing what it does before you need it: Panic, and other ways to stop.
Troubleshooting#
My Store is empty#
Almost always the hub key. Open Setup and check step 1 shows as done. See Linking BobbleHub to your account.
The Start CastTime button is greyed out#
Three things disable it: the meter is already running, panic is engaged, or BobbleHub doesn't have your invite code yet. Hovering the button tells you which one.
My players joined but I can't see their cameras#
They need to allow camera access in their browser — it's a prompt that's easy to dismiss. Ask them to reload the link and accept it. Their row appears on Cast Invites either way, so a row with no picture means they're in the room but their camera isn't shared.
The scene loaded but there's nobody in it#
That's the second press. Load scene puts up the set; Load cast puts your characters in it.
OBS shows nothing, or shows black#
Check the source name has Program in it and not Preview. If no BobbleheadStreams source is listed at all, that's usually DistroAV — see Installing DistroAV.