VHC 3

Overview

The VHC - Vico House Cup is a LAN event organized by Victorien “Vico” OST. It brings together 16 players, ranging from the top 6 to top 30 in France, competing in a LAN tournament in Chièvres. The event is streamed live on Vico’s Twitch channel.

For this third edition, I volunteered to assist Vico to help the event reach a new level, building on my successful experiences with Endowar and stream management.

Role

Initially, my role was focused on improving the network architecture and managing data streams during the event. However, due to a last-minute withdrawal, I had to take full control of the broadcast and backstage operations.

Details

  • Network stream

All streams between various OBS setups were handled using the NDI protocol.

  • Python Automation

I started by automating key actions with Python and the obs-ws library to standardize workflows:

  • A scripted transition to show/hide banners

  • Automated player name updates, including logo/title/pseudonym associations

  • Automated caster name updates

  • Management of animations, cameras, and upcoming match sources

  • Draft handling and civilization updates

Then, I developed a custom software interface using custom tkinter, allowing me to manage all these standardized interactions from a single central hub.

../../_images/vhc3_interface.png

Gradually, I was able to fully automate stream management, reducing my direct interactions with OBS to just:

  • Launching OBS

  • Loading the VHC3 profile

  • Starting the stream

I also leveraged obs-ws to control camera scene switching on a separate PC, which was responsible for handling specific camera feeds.

  • Dynamic Ranking System

Instead of manually updating graphics for the rankings, I set up a local Flask server running on port 8000, allowing real-time score updates via Google Sheets. A Python script then processed the data, generating HTML/Jinja/CSS output for displaying rankings and the tournament bracket.

Next Steps

There are several improvements I aim to make to this stream automation tool:

  • Automatic Scene & Source Creation

    Currently, I only edit existing scenes. If a scene or source is missing, it’s not created automatically. I plan to build a system for dynamic scene creation, possibly with default source placements.

  • Repository Structure & Code Readability

    The project evolved quickly, leaving room for better function modularization. I need to refactor several utilities, improve code organization, and add clearer comments.

  • Expanding Use Cases

    Each tournament or broadcast has unique rules. I’d like to implement minimal configuration switching to easily adapt settings between events.

Code Example

Here is a bit of python code to hide or show the player’s camera sources :

def show_hide_cams(SCENE_GAME):

# Connexion à OBS
ws = obsws(OBS_HOST, OBS_PORT, OBS_PASSWORD)
ws.connect()

try :
    # Get Cam Status
    SCENE_CAM = "VHC Adds Cam"

    SCENE_CAM_OBJ = ws.call(requests.GetSceneItemId(sceneName=SCENE_GAME, sourceName=SCENE_CAM))
    SCENE_CAM_ID=SCENE_CAM_OBJ.datain['sceneItemId']
    response = ws.call(requests.GetSceneItemEnabled(sceneItemId=SCENE_CAM_ID, sceneName=SCENE_GAME))
    IS_ENABLED = response.datain.get("sceneItemEnabled", False)

    if IS_ENABLED == True:
        ws.call(requests.SetSceneItemEnabled(sceneItemId=SCENE_CAM_ID, sceneItemEnabled=False, sceneName=SCENE_GAME))
    elif IS_ENABLED == False:
        ws.call(requests.SetSceneItemEnabled(sceneItemId=SCENE_CAM_ID, sceneItemEnabled=True, sceneName=SCENE_GAME))

except Exception as e:
    print(f"Erreur lors du show cams : {e}")
finally:
    ws.disconnect()

Results

Here is the link to the final match stream: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wt0_8SXqTvQ Feel free to watch and enjoy!