FAQ - ebikatsudon/VTubeStudio GitHub Wiki

The following are some of the most frequently-asked questions regarding VTube Studio. If you have a question or concern about the program, please check if it's already been answered below before asking in the VTube Studio Discord.

Make sure you're using a supported device. For more information on supported devices for VTube Studio, please refer to the page on Hardware Requirements.

Yes, the Steam version of VTube Studio supports webcam tracking.

Yes. DSLR cameras should generally work, but please be aware that some people have reported issues when doing so. You may have to turn off USB selective suspend for some DSLRs. If the camera still doesn't work in VTube Studio, try tunneling it through OBS by using the OBS virtual webcam functionality and reading that virtual webcam with VTube Studio. Note that this may cause performance issues on some PCs.

No.

Specifically, no personal data is stored on the device or sent to any external servers by VTube Studio. VTube Studio writes logs to your PC, but they are human-readable text files and not sent anywhere unless you send them manually. You can also delete them at any time.

For more information, please refer to the privacy policy.

No.

VTube Studio uses your smartphone camera only for face tracking. The app does not store or transmit your face or any raw face tracking data to your PC. Only the calculated parameters are transmitted, so at no point will any video be available on your PC. The PC/Mac version also has no functionality whatsoever to reveal the webcam video.

If you also want to make sure your face is never shown on your smartphone screen, make sure to set Camera Preview to Never Show (see Camera Settings).

Don’t worry so much that people could see your face. You are beautiful! ♥

As an independent, individual creator, you are allowed to use VTube Studio commercially even without purchasing any PRO versions or DLCs. Commercial use in this case includes (but is not limited to) stream monetization (e.g Youtube, Twitch, etc.), Live2D model commissions, and so on.

HOWEVER, If you can afford it and like VTube Studio, please support future development by purchasing it! <3

Please note that the above only applies to individual creators, smaller VTuber agencies, and smaller companies in general. As a bigger company, you will need additional licensing. Please refer to the VTube Studio EULA for more information and/or contact [email protected] directly.

Depending on the size of your company, you may need additional licensing. Please see the VTube Studio EULA or contact me for more information.

There are two ways to purchase VTube Studio PRO depending on how you want to use it.

• If you want iPhone/Android tracking only:
  • First, download the VTube Studio app from the iPhone or Android App Store. The download itself is free. Then go into the app settings. There's a big button to buy the PRO version.

• You DO NOT need to purchase anything from the Steam version of VTS. No watermark is shown while using iPhone/Android tracking.

• If you want webcam tracking only:

  • Download VTS on Steam for free and try out the webcam tracking. You will notice the watermark is shown only when the webcam tracking is active.
  • Purchase the "remove watermark" DLC on Steam to remove the watermark.

If you want to use both webcam- and iOS/Android-tracking, you will have to buy VTS PRO on iPhone/Android and Steam.

I know the watermark is super cute, but please buy VTube Studio regardless! Due to popular demand, you can now turn her back on by unchecking "Hide VTS Logo" in the settings. You can also add her to your scene as an item/asset using the item system.

Watermark animation credit goes to Walfie.

The PRO version gives you access to some features not available in the free version, such as being able to stream to your PC for longer than five minutes and the ability to remove the VTube Studio logo in the app.

Yes, by all means!

The app on Android and iOS itself is free to download and use; the PRO version just has some extra features. The free version contains all features you'll need for streaming (including loading your own models), so please try VTube Studio first before purchasing.

Similarly, VTube Studio (with all features) is free on Steam as well. You only need to purchase the Steam DLC if you want to get rid of the watermark that's shown while using webcam tracking.

As a general rule, no. Technically, it is not possible as Google and Apple use different app stores. However, in some cases, you may be granted a one-month grace period.

If you purchased VTube Studio on Android and want to "transfer" that license to iOS, you can contact Denchi via email or on Discord. Please first also purchase the app on iOS and provide proof of purchase. Denchi will then refund your purchase on Android.

Transferring a purchase to/from Steam is also not allowed by Valve DLC guidelines. However, if you're using iOS/Android tracking, you do not need the Steam DLC anyway. The Steam DLC only removes the watermark for webcam tracking. There is no watermark in the Steam version when using smartphone tracking.

Windows supports all features. MacOS does not support transparent backgrounds with OBS and background hotkeys. This means hotkeys will only work on macOS if the VTube Studio window is focused. When for example playing a game at the same time, the hotkeys will not activate.

Also, webcam tracking for macOS is highly experimental and will most likely stay that way. Please keep that in mind when using VTube Studio for macOS.

• Linux: Not officially supported, but it's possible to run VTube Studio on Linux by using the Network Tracker mode and starting OpenSeeFace manually. See this Trello item for details. You can also find more information on this page: "Running VTS on Linux".
• MacOS: Supported experimentally with limitations. Download normally through Steam but please be aware that some functionality may not work, including stable webcam tracking and sound lipsync. Silicon M1 Macs should also work but there may be even more stability issues. I can only offer very limited support for macOS.

Linux isn't officially supported. However, some people have managed to make it work. You can find more info about that on this page: Running VTS on Linux.

Yes, but only if you use an iPhone/iPad for face tracking. Direct face tracking data USB connection is not supported on Android. USB is very stable, so this is the recommended way to send face tracking data for iOS devices.

On Android, as an alternative you could connect your smartphone via USB and then use USB tethering to put them in the same network even without WiFi.

IMPORTANT: This is unrelated to VTube Studio, but when you connect an iPhone to a PC/Mac via USB and you have a Personal Hotspot active, your PC will automatically try to use the iPhone mobile data connection to access the internet. See this for example.

Such use cases are extremely uncommon, but yes. If you have both active, webcam tracking will be used as long as the webcam can track you. Once it loses tracking, VTS will automatically use the tracking data received over the network instead.

If you're trying to load a model in the iOS/Android app and the app just crashes instantly, this is most likely because your textures are too big. 16k textures or three or more 4k textures are too much for most mobile devices. Having textures that large does nothing to improve your model display quality, so please export the model from Live2D with a reduced texture size. As a general rule, one or two 4k textures should always be enough.

If the model texture size is not the issue, check the logs for any errors messages. If there are errors in the logs but no error popup was shown, there may be a bug in the app. Please contact Denchi on Discord to report it.

There have also been cases of antivirus software blocking the app from reading models. Try disabling them or adding an exception for VTube Studio. One such example is IObit Malware Fighter.

You can start VTube Studio multiple times using the start_without_steam.bat file. Then you can use multiple webcams or multiple smartphones to control the models. You can also use one webcam to control multiple instances of VTube Studio.

If you want to do a collaboration stream with your friends over the internet, that is possible by using Zoom/Discord/Skype/etc. group video chat.

When using Discord for example, just have everyone use the Virtual Webcam feature of VTube Studio and then select that webcam as your main video chat camera in Discord. Alternatively, record using OBS and then use the OBS Virtual Webcam plugin to create a webcam stream for Discord. The person "hosting" the stream/collab can then record their Discord window using OBS, cut out everyone’s streams and use chroma key filters to remove the backgrounds. This works quite well, but you might need the high-quality 1080p video chat upgrade in Discord to get good picture quality.

Note (experimental): It is also possible to use VTS over the internet using LAN-Over-Internet tools like Zero Tier One or Hamachi (free up to 5 participants). You could start multiple instances of VTube Studio on the “host” PC and then have people connect to them. Just remember to use different ports for each instance! Disclaimer: I have not personally tested this method, but users have reported that it works. Of course, there may be network delay.

"Virtual Webcam" (available on Windows only) allows you to record the VTube Studio window (without the UI) and directly make it available as a webcam stream, making it easy to use it in Discord, Zoom, etc.

First, you need to install the virtual camera by pressing the "Install" button. This should show a windows console popup and may ask you for administrator privileges, which you’ll have to grant. After successful installation, you can check the “Activate virtual webcam” option to start the webcam stream.

You can now select the stream as normal webcam in Discord, OBS, Zoom, etc. The name of the webcam is "VTubeStudioCam". The virtual webcam also supports streaming with transparent background. Please note that the video quality with the virtual webcam might be slightly lower than what you would get when directly recording the window with OBS.

If the installation did not work, make sure to start VTube Studio as admin. If the webcam still does not show up (for example in OBS), make sure OBS is also started as admin.

Lag is almost always caused by network issues. As a first thing to try, restart your router/switches, PC and smartphone. If the issues persist, check the chapter "Connection Issues & Troubleshooting".

High CPU/GPU usage is not normal. VTube Studio should not require a strong CPU/GPU, so something may be going wrong. Ask in the VTube Studio Discord if you're having performance issues.

Sometimes, "gaming performance improvement" tools like Razer Game Boost or MSI Afterburner can also cause performance issues, so try deactivating them and see if that improves things.

Alternatively, try turning onNVidia Reflex if you have it and see if that helps.

This is a bug caused by some GPU drivers reporting incorrect display refresh rates. This causes the FPS to become unlocked when VSync is active in VTube Studio, so the program will try to render at the fastest possible speed.

To fix this, turn on G-SYNC in the Nvidia GPU settings (or the equivalent for your GPU). If that still doesn’t work, consider setting the FPS config to 60 in VTube Studio instead of VSync.

Usually this indicates a hardware issue, typically related to your RAM, CPU, or motherboard. If you check the Windows Event Monitor, you may see it showing error 0xc0000005 as the reason for the crash.

In some cases, this can be fixed by modifying BIOS settings. For a full list of things you can try, check this page.

This is unfortunately normal. Your device may get really hot, but with the correct settings, it should not lead to any serious issues such as overheating or crashes. This mostly affects older supported devices like the iPhone X.

To reduce heating, do the following when streaming to PC:

• Unload your Live2D model on the smartphone. You do not need to have a model loaded when streaming to PC. Having a model open on your smartphone requires a lot of performance, which can be too much for some smartphones.
• Remove the camera preview. Rendering the camera preview in the app can also cause some performance issues when done for a long time.
• Turn the screen brightness all the way down. This will significantly reduce the heat produced by your phone.

When using these settings, streaming for 15+ hours should be no problem if the phone is kept charged (tested on iPhone X and iPad).

Note: Streaming Mode in the app will automatically do all of the above when toggled. It is recommended to always use streaming mode when streaming to your PC.

This means your device is not supported. You should also have seen a popup telling you this when the app starts. For supported devices, see the chapter Hardware Requirements.

First, close and restart VTube Studio. Then, restart your iPhone. If that doesn't help, delete VTube Studio from your iPhone entirely and re-install it. That should fix it. If not, please open a thread in the VTube Studio Discord.

Restart VTube Studio, restart your PC, and try starting iTunes on your iPhone. If that doesn't fix the issue, close iTunes and VTube Studio again.

Then, open an Explorer and type %ProgramData%\Apple\Lockdown in the folder navigation field. Delete everything in that folder, then try starting iTunes and VTube Studio again.

First, try rebooting your phone.

If that doesn't help and the tracking mask in the camera preview is flying around or glitching out randomly, this is usually caused by magnetic interference. The iPhone/iPad uses a magnetometer (digital compass) to calculate the direction the device is facing.

Please make sure your device does not have a case with magnets inside and is not leaning against a computer monitor. Having the device on a wireless charger may also cause similar issues.

In some instances, it can also be caused by bad lighting. Make sure you have good, non-colored lighting in your tracking setup. Some colors seem to confuse iOS/Android face tracking. Try going in a different room and see if that helps.

It has also been reported that mirrors somewhere in the camera view can confuse the tracking.

This may happen with certain hardware combinations, for example when using a GoXLR. This can be fixed by updating your BIOS to the newest available version.

Some users have reported this in the past, but the cause is still unknown. Updating the GPU driver usually fixes the issue.

Webcam tracking on MacOS is experimental and may not work at all depending on your device. Before purchasing any DLCs, please make sure you are happy with the tracking on MacOS as I cannot guarantee it will work in a stable way. In the worst case, if VTS or any other app can't access your webcam anymore, you may have to reset your SMC like this:

System Management Controller (SMC) Reset Guide: https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201295

That said, there are quite a few users who use VTube Studio on macOS and do not have any problems. iOS/Android tracking with macOS should work fine.

You may have turned off anisotropic filtering in your GPU settings. This setting must be active for models to render correctly.

Make sure anisotropic filtering is set to either application controlled or 8x or 16x. Here is an example of how to do this for different GPU drivers: https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Glossary:Anisotropic_filtering_(AF)

For NVIDIA GPUs, this can be done in the "NVIDIA Control Panel". Make sure it's anisotropic filtering is NOT set to Off.