HyCast Studio — YouTube & Webcam Streams Inside Hytale

Operators broadcast YouTube videos and webcam feeds directly into players' in-game HUDs.
No browser. No alt-tab. Just pure Hytale, with video.

⚠ Requires external software — this plugin will not work out of the box. yt-dlp and ffmpeg must be installed on the server machine before use. See Requirements below.

What Is This?

HyCast Studio is a server plugin that renders real video — frame by frame — inside a native Hytale HUD overlay. Operators control all video playback and broadcast YouTube videos, YouTube Shorts, or webcam feeds to every player on the server.

Players can tune in to the active broadcast or close their own HUD — that's it.

This is a technical case study, not a polished production mod. Video renders without audio — the missing audio alone makes this impractical for real use. It demonstrates what's possible with Hytale's UI system, not what's ready for a live server.

Features

Operator-controlled broadcasts — operators start and manage all video playback; players watch
Webcam stream — show a webcam feed in-game
Server broadcasts — operators stream to every player at once
Broadcast Planner — operators build multi-scene playlists with YouTube clips, webcam, and static noise; reorder, save, and load them in-game via a GUI; preview personally before going live
Video caching — videos pre-download to disk so playback starts fast and skips re-downloading the same clip
YouTube Shorts — portrait-mode canvas automatically resizes for 9:16 content
Scrolling text — broadcast a ticker message that scrolls across every player's HUD
Sequences — play multiple scenes back-to-back, HUD closes cleanly when the last one ends
Linux + Windows — works on both; Flatpak users get automatic host delegation

Requirements (server host only)

Install yt-dlp and ffmpeg on the machine running the Hytale server.

Linux

# Ubuntu / Debian
sudo apt install ffmpeg yt-dlp

Both binaries must be at /usr/bin/yt-dlp and /usr/bin/ffmpeg.

Running Hytale through Flatpak? Grant host and webcam access once:

flatpak override --user com.hypixel.HytaleLauncher --talk-name=org.freedesktop.Flatpak
flatpak override --user com.hypixel.HytaleLauncher --device=all

Windows

Add yt-dlp.exe and ffmpeg.exe to your system PATH.

Commands

All commands use /hycast or the alias /hcs.

Player Commands

Command	Description
`/hycast join`	Tune into the active server broadcast
`/hycast stop`	Close your HUD

Operator — Getting Started

Start here: /hycast planner opens the broadcast planner GUI. Build a scene sequence, save it by name, and launch it as a personal preview or live broadcast — all without leaving the game. The raw commands below exist for quick one-off playback; for anything planned, use the planner.

Command	Description
`/hycast planner`	Open the broadcast planner GUI

Operator — Personal Preview (HUD visible to you only)

Use these to test a source before going live. Only your own HUD is affected.

Command	Description
`/hycast play <url>`	Preview a YouTube video in your own HUD
`/hycast webcam [index]`	Preview a webcam feed in your own HUD
`/hycast static [seconds]`	Show static noise in your own HUD
`/hycast text <message> [seconds]`	Show a scrolling text ticker in your own HUD
`/hycast webcams`	List available webcam devices

Operator — Direct Broadcast (opens HUD for all players)

Note: Every broadcast command and any plan executed via the planner as a broadcast immediately opens the video HUD for all players on the server (or those who /hycast join). Use personal preview first to verify your content.

Command	Description
`/hycast broadcast play <url>`	Broadcast a YouTube video to all subscribers
`/hycast broadcast webcam [index]`	Broadcast a webcam feed to all subscribers
`/hycast broadcast static [seconds]`	Broadcast static noise to all subscribers
`/hycast broadcast text <message> [seconds]`	Broadcast a scrolling text ticker to all subscribers
`/hycast broadcast stop [--close]`	Stop the broadcast (optionally close subscriber HUDs)
`/hycast broadcast next`	Skip to the next scene in a sequence
`/hycast broadcast joinall`	Force all players into the broadcast

URL Format

Only official YouTube URLs are accepted:

Notes

No audio — video plays silently. For voice and ambient sound, use Hytale's built-in proximity voice chat alongside the stream
Video renders at 10 FPS at low resolution — optimised for in-game use, not cinema quality
Cached videos are stored in /tmp/hycast_*.mp4 on the server and reused across sessions
Webcam capture requires the webcam to be accessible from the server machine
Webcam scenes never end on their own — use /hycast broadcast next (or the planner's manual-advance) to move to the next scene in a sequence; same applies to static/text scenes with seconds = 0