Firstly, I'd like to thank you for the support. I appreciate it.
The Subathon Tool may look daunting at first, and you may have no idea where to start. Don't worry! You're not the first streamer to feel this way, in fact, almost everyone has.
That's why this page is here. We'll help to make sure your first Subathon using this tool is successful and fun. I'd like to first state our protocol. I developed this software with the principle that it is to make it easier for the streamer. No more should you have to add time yourself for every new sub - but you've heard this speech before. So why should you have to struggle with the software, taking time away from your stream? In short, it's meant to be as user-friendly as possible, while still covering all of the features you need. If you feel it isn't user-friendly enough, please let us know your suggestions by opening a ticket. It would mean the world to us if you helped us making it perfect.
Activating the Subathon Tool
Your first step is activating the product. This is simple, really. (NOTE: Your Product key won't be as long as the one in the example below.)
Now that you've entered your product key, click "Activate". Simple! You'll be greeted with a thank-you screen, as well as some information on how you can contact us, should you need any assistance.
An introduction to the main screen
Here's where you see everything. It's what you're greeted with when you start the software. Below we pick out the important things that you should probably know.
The Basic Settings
So, now that you're aware of the basic features on the main screen, you're going to need to setup the connection. Here's a simple list of things you really should have set up for it to function, but ultimately it depends on what you're really using the Subathon Tool for.
- Your Twitch Channel should be entered to join.
- Your channel name should be provided if you're using the Giveaway Tool (it needs entering separately).
- Default Countdown (This is the time at which the Subathon starts. Currently, it needs to be in seconds (sorry about that)
- How much time each New sub adds
Connection
Your first step is adding your Twitch account in. This is actually really easy to do. All you need is to enter the full channel into "Channel to JOIN". This value indicates the channel that it needs to join. Don't worry, it won't connect under any account. Twitch have a developer account called "justinfan" - think of it as an anonymous account. It won't show up in the viewer list at all, and can't send messages - but can see incoming ones. Much like a user can when they're not signed into their account. This is what we use to listen out for new subs and re-subs.
The box will require a # - since this is the standard for IRC channels. However, don't worry about adding it yourself if you forget, or just can't be bothered; the software will append it to the start when you click off the box, or click "Done".
The next option is completely optional, but you'll need to fill it in if you're planning on doing giveaways. The check box will fetch the viewer list the moment you click the "Giveaway Tool" button, but you don't need this if you don't want it. There's also a manual refresh button.
There's only one more tab for this guide, and that's Countdown Settings. The other tabs are completely optional and are covered in separate guides. We just want it simple for Getting Started.
Connection Settings
Now, we need to set the timings for the Subathon. Now, I know there's a lot, but they're actually fairly simple once you take a look! They all have a blue "What's this?" question mark, so if you want to understand more about each, click it!
The first box is for how much time the Subathon will start with. For example, if you're starting at 8 hours, you'll need to enter 28800 into the box. (Google "hours to seconds" if you need to find out)
Subscribers Add - this is how much time each NEW subscriber will add (in seconds). Twitch Prime subs will automatically follow this value. In the future, you'll be able to add time separately for Prime subs, but that's not available just yet. Watch this Space!
Re-Subs Add: This is how much time each RE-SUB adds to the timer. Again, Prime re-subs automatically follow this value for now.
Re-sub Value Multiplier: This is a little more complex, but still fairly easy to set up. By default, it's disabled. When enabled, each re-sub will add its normal specified amount, but will also add more time for each month they're subscribed for. This is more incentive for them to stay subscribed for longer! The screenshot below shows 500, but trust me, you don't want it this high ;)
Each 1 Bit Adds: This value defines how many seconds one bit adds. Previously, you were restricted to 1 second minimum, but now, as highly requested, you can go to 0.6 seconds or even lower. We reckon most broadcasters are likely to use 0.6 seconds though, as this means that 100 bits will equal 1 minute (60 seconds).
Next, you need to choose whether the seconds are rounded up, or down. This feature was added as a compromise to the decimal seconds. Because the timer doesn't go as low as milliseconds, we needed a system that would round it to the nearest whole second, rather than forcing each bit to be 1 second. You can choose to "floor" it (round it down, no matter the decimal), or "ceiling" (round it up, no matter the decimal).
Each 1.00 Adds: This relates to donations. You don't need to enter 0 to disable this, since you will need to enable it in the "Experimental" Tab, called "Allow Donation Commands [Mod]". This feature follows the same style as Bits. Currently though, it doesn't have the new hotfix that allows decimals - so when your mods run !addtip [user] [amount], please advise them that they will need to manually round any donation. For example, £12.50 won't be detected at all, so they need to choose whether to round it to £12, or £13.
That's all for Getting Started! I hope it helped. Thanks for reading!
Mike,
Lead Developer, TMG