# Livecade Documentation Full text of the Livecade documentation. Source: https://livecade.io/docs/ --- # Getting Started Category: Getting Started URL: https://livecade.io/docs/getting-started/ Create your account, copy your overlay URL, and follow the path to your first live interactive game with Livecade. Livecade turns your TikTok Live stream into an interactive game show. Viewers join in from chat and gifts, and the action plays out on a browser overlay you put on screen in TikTok Live Studio. This guide gets you set up in the dashboard, then points you to the next steps to go live. ## Create your account [Register a Livecade account](https://app.livecade.io/register) with your email, or sign in with Google or Discord. There is a free plan to start, so you can set everything up before going live. When you first sign in, onboarding asks for the TikTok account you will go live on. Enter your username without the @. You can add more accounts later in settings. ## Pick a game In the dashboard **Connection** panel, choose a game from the dropdown. Each game has its own settings, like round length and how viewers interact. You can preview a game before going live to make sure it looks right. ## Copy your overlay URL Livecade gives you one overlay URL. It never changes, so you set it up in TikTok Live Studio once and every session appears on it automatically. Copy it from onboarding or from the top of the dashboard. _Copy your overlay URL. It looks like https://overlay.livecade.io/..._ **Tip:** Keep this URL handy. You will paste it into OBS in the next step. ## Your path to going live You are set up in the dashboard. Two steps remain: 1. **Get the overlay on screen.** Put your overlay URL into TikTok Live Studio through OBS. See [Connect to TikTok Live Studio](/docs/connect-to-live-studio/). 2. **Start a live session.** Connect Livecade to your live TikTok stream so chat and gifts flow into the game. See [Start a Live Session](/docs/connect-to-live/). --- # Connect to TikTok Live Studio Category: Going Live URL: https://livecade.io/docs/connect-to-live-studio/ Put your Livecade overlay on screen in TikTok Live Studio. Use OBS and its Virtual Camera for smooth playback, with a quick Link source for testing and clean game audio via VB-Cable. You have your overlay URL from the dashboard. The next step is putting it on screen inside TikTok Live Studio. The recommended way is through OBS and its Virtual Camera, which gives you smooth, reliable playback. TikTok Live Studio's built-in Link source works too, but it tends to lag, so use it only for a quick test. This guide also covers routing the game's audio cleanly with VB-Cable, so the sound your viewers hear is the game itself and not whatever else is playing through OBS. ## Before you start - Your overlay URL copied from the dashboard. See [Getting Started](/docs/getting-started/) if you have not set this up yet. - [OBS Studio](https://obsproject.com/download) installed (for the recommended method). - [TikTok Live Studio](https://www.tiktok.com/studio/download) installed. - [VB-Cable](https://vb-audio.com/Cable/) installed if you want clean game audio (covered below). ## Find your way around OBS Before the steps, here is where things live in OBS. You will use three areas: - **Sources** (bottom left): the list of things on your screen. You add the overlay here. - **Controls** (bottom right): buttons like Start Streaming and **Start Virtual Camera**. - **Settings** (in Controls, or **File -> Settings**): where the canvas size and audio options live. ## Recommended: OBS Virtual Camera You load the overlay in OBS, start the Virtual Camera, then add that virtual camera to TikTok Live Studio as a normal Camera source. OBS captures the overlay cleanly and hands TikTok a smooth feed. ### Set the OBS canvas to vertical TikTok is a vertical 9:16 screen. Match it in OBS first, or the overlay will be cropped or letterboxed. 1. In OBS, open **Settings** (bottom right, in the Controls panel). _Open Settings from the Controls panel._ 2. Click the **Video** tab on the left. 3. Set **Base (Canvas) Resolution** to **1080x1920**. 4. Set **Output (Scaled) Resolution** to **1080x1920** as well. 5. Set **Common FPS Values** to **30** or **60** (your choice), then click **OK**. _Both resolutions set to 1080x1920, aspect ratio 9:16._ ### Add the overlay to OBS 1. In the **Sources** panel (bottom left), click the **+** button. 2. Choose **Browser** from the list, give it a name, and click **OK**. _Add a new Browser source from the Sources panel._ 3. Paste your overlay URL into the **URL** field. It looks like `https://overlay.livecade.io/...`. 4. Set **Width** to **1080** and **Height** to **1920**. 5. Check **Control audio via OBS**. This is required for the VB-Cable audio routing below to work. 6. In **Custom CSS**, make sure this line is present so the overlay background is transparent: ```css body { background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); margin: 0px auto; overflow: hidden; } ``` 7. Leave **Use custom frame rate** unchecked. The overlay follows your canvas FPS. Click **OK**. _URL and size set, Control audio via OBS checked, transparent background CSS in place._ ### Start the Virtual Camera 1. In the **Controls** panel (bottom right), click **Start Virtual Camera**. Leave it running for the whole stream. _Start the Virtual Camera. Keep OBS open while you are live._ ### Add the Virtual Camera in TikTok Live Studio 1. In TikTok Live Studio, click **Add source** and choose **Camera**. _Add a Camera source in TikTok Live Studio._ 2. Set the **Camera** to **OBS Virtual Camera** and the **Resolution** to **1080x1920**. _Select OBS Virtual Camera at 1080 x 1920._ 3. If the overlay looks mirrored, click **Flip** under **Adjustments** so text and the layout read the right way around. Then add the source. 4. Drag the corners to fill the canvas, then go live. ## Audio: route game sound cleanly with VB-Cable This applies to the OBS Virtual Camera method. By default, TikTok can pick up everything playing through OBS, including background music. VB-Cable is a free virtual audio cable that sends only the game's sound to TikTok. It also lets you hear the game's own audio cleanly in the dashboard, without OBS music bleeding in. The flow is: **OBS game audio -> CABLE Input -> TikTok Live Studio audio source (CABLE Output)**. 1. Install [VB-Cable](https://vb-audio.com/Cable/) and reboot if prompted. 2. In OBS, open the **Audio Mixer**, click the gear on your overlay source, and choose **Advanced Audio Properties**. 3. Set the source's **Audio Monitoring** to **Monitor and Output**. _Set the overlay source to Monitor and Output._ 4. Open **Settings -> Audio**, scroll to **Advanced**, and set **Monitoring Device** to **CABLE Input (VB-Audio Virtual Cable)**. Click **OK**. _Point the OBS Monitoring Device at CABLE Input._ 5. In TikTok Live Studio, open the **Audio mixer** and set the **Audio** (speaker) source to **CABLE Output (VB-Audio Virtual Cable)**. _TikTok Live Studio capturing game audio from the VB-Cable device._ **Tip:** Now only the game's audio reaches your viewers, and you can hear the same clean feed in the dashboard preview. Other system sounds and OBS background music stay out of the broadcast. ## Quick test: Link source If you just want to check that the overlay loads, you can add it directly in TikTok Live Studio. 1. Click **Add source** and choose **Link**. 2. Paste your overlay URL and add it. _Add the overlay URL as a Link source to quickly test that it loads._ **Warning:** The Link source is fine for a quick look, but it tends to lag. Use the OBS Virtual Camera method above for actual streaming. ## Next step With the overlay on screen, start your dashboard session so chat and gifts flow into the game. See [Start a Live Session](/docs/connect-to-live/) to start a session. ## System requirements OBS and TikTok Live Studio run at the same time, so give the machine enough headroom for both. A dedicated GPU lets OBS encode the virtual camera in hardware instead of loading the CPU, which keeps the overlay smooth. | Component | Minimum | Recommended | | --- | --- | --- | | CPU | 4-core (Intel i3-10100, Ryzen 3 3100) | 6-core (Intel i5-10400, Ryzen 5 3600) or newer | | RAM | 8 GB | 16 GB | | GPU | Integrated | Dedicated GPU | --- # Start a Live Session Category: Going Live URL: https://livecade.io/docs/connect-to-live/ Start a session from the dashboard, connect to your live TikTok stream, and let viewers interact with your game in real time. Once your overlay is on screen in TikTok Live Studio and a game is picked, the last step is connecting Livecade to your live TikTok stream. This lets the game read chat messages and gifts so viewers can play along. ## Before you connect - Your overlay on screen in TikTok Live Studio. See [Connect to TikTok Live Studio](/docs/connect-to-live-studio/) if you have not done this yet. - Your stream started. Click **Go LIVE** in TikTok Live Studio first. Livecade connects to an active stream, so you need to be live before connecting. - A game selected and your TikTok account added in the dashboard. ## Start a session 1. In the dashboard **Connection** panel, select a **game** and your **TikTok account**. 2. Click **Connect**. This starts the session and loads the game on your overlay. _Pick a game and account, then click Connect._ 3. Click **Connect TikTok** to link the session to your live stream. The status moves from **Connecting** to **Live**. _Connect TikTok. When the status reads Live, events are flowing._ When the status reads **Live**, the overlay is receiving events from your stream. Send a test message or gift from another account to confirm it shows up. ## Connection status The dot at the top of the Connection panel shows the current state. | Status | What it means | | --- | --- | | Ready | A session is open but not connected to TikTok yet. | | Connecting to TikTok | Livecade is linking to your live stream. | | Live | Connected. Chat and gifts are flowing into the game. | | Not live right now | The account is not streaming. Click Go LIVE in TikTok Live Studio, then click Check again. | | Reconnecting | The connection dropped and is being restored automatically. | | Daily limit reached | You hit your plan's daily live minutes. The game keeps running; the TikTok feed pauses. | | Connection failed | Could not connect. Check the username and try again. | **Warning:** Double-check that you are live in TikTok Live Studio and that the account is spelled exactly as it appears on your profile. ## While you are live The Connection panel gives you live controls without ending the session: - **Pause Game / Resume Game** freezes or resumes the action. - **Restart Game** discards the current round and starts over. - **Send Message** pushes a shoutout to the overlay. ## Going offline When your stream ends, click **End Session** in the dashboard. This disconnects from TikTok and closes the session cleanly, so the overlay is ready for next time.