Conan Exiles early access streaming started a day early

Conan Exiles early access streaming has already started today on twitch.tv!

So today browsing the game directory on Twitch.tv I noticed Conan Exiles was on the list and I said to myself isn't the official early access release tomorrow?

Checking the sticky on the steam community section does indeed list the release for early access as follows:

• Pacific Standard Time 9:00pm 30th, 2017
• Mountain Standard Time 10:00pm 30th, 2017
• Central Standard Time 11:00pm 30th, 2017
• Eastern Standard Time 12:00am 31st, 2017
• Atlantic Standard Time 1:00am 31st, 2017

How is it that there are already people streaming the game on Twitch? It seems they gave out many press copy game codes to either Twitch which then gave them out to a selected list or streamers gain them directly in some fashion from the game community team.

Whatever the case is does it make sense to continue this selected press copy streamer thing in 2017?

My opinion is that its probably more harmful then good and here is why I think this way.

• Majority of the streamers who are selected for press copies are your typical pump and dump. Do you want to build a streaming community on twitch for your game or just sell as many copies and not care? I guess that would be the question right? If it was me picking who gets any time of special early access or press copies I would find streamers who have been doing youtube content already, podcasting, fansite making and/or bloggers who have been talking about the game. These people would be first on my list for any press related content or perks.
• Cutting out other streamers will make some angry and you may lose them as customers. Go look at the subbreddit or the steam discussion forum you can see some of the anger there.
• Extra confusion of release dates and time, again you can see this play out on the forums or the subreddit. 
• Disclosure issues, are the streamers who received press copies are following correct disclosure protocol? I have a strong feeling this is something overlooked...

Follow up next day directory check shows around 500 streamers showcasing the game in the early morning at around 5:30 AM EST.

In order to gain access you have to pay $29.99, and judging by the reviews it seems better to wait for server issues to be fixed.  Many reviewers are saying server performance is really bad, alot of rubber banding and other issues.

Recheck video clip embeds!

Updates to Twitch Video Embed Coding, requires recheck of video embed pages since previous embed code will no longer work.

If you are a long time Twitch broadcaster and have been embedding video clips to a blog or a website its time to recheck all those pages. The <object> flash embed will not work anymore and you have to use the new video clip embed code.

Here is what the old Flash video embed code looks like:


Click on image to enlarge


You will need to switch it out to the new code found here:
https://dev.twitch.tv/docs/v5/guides/embed-video/


Here is the snip that I'm currently using for embedding video clips to my blog.

<script src= "http://player.twitch.tv/js/embed/v1.js"></script>
<div id="{PLAYER_DIV_ID}"></div>
<script type="text/javascript">
    var options = {
        width: 570,
        height: 350,
        video: "{v47183494}"
    };
    var player = new Twitch.Player("{PLAYER_DIV_ID}", options);
    player.setVolume(0.5);
</script>

If you want to use this code you will have to change the width, height sizes and in the video: section the clip ID # which I made bold. In order to find your clip ID number, go on Twitch and use their search functionality.

Here is a screenshot of me looking up the clip ID from the video in the old embed screenshot above. Take note of the old embed code for flashvars it shows title=, use that information there to search for the clip id numbers.


Click on image to enlarge

Once you find it on the search panel, click on it and you should see the clip id in your URL path. From my example it shows "twitch.tv/daopa/v/47183494". Replace all the numbers, switch out the old code for this new code and your good to go!

Tip: New Embed Video code includes a auto play feature which will start up another video as soon as the one listed is over. This is why you see on the video of Twitch.tv so many past broadcast showing up. The default next auto play video is last broadcast video the streamers have done. I personally hope they switch this to highlights instead of past broadcasts by default.

How to export chat from a Twitch.tv vod?

Guide on how to export a chat replay transcript from a Twitch.tv vod.

Here is a quick guide on how to export the chat replay from a video clip on Twitch.tv. You will need to download python, a script and then run it in a command prompt.

Step 1.

Download python 2.7 which you can get from here: https://www.python.org/download/releases/2.7/

Step 2.

Get the Twitch chat replay downloader script from here: https://gist.github.com/PetterKraabol/0daed253f4c4ebce25c3fdac8f3cf0d3

Step 3.

Install python 2.7, extract the script from step 2 and make sure you put them it in a easy to find folder.

I made a folder on my D: Drive called it Temp and extracted the chatreplay.py file into that directory.

Step 4.

Script requires a special module to run called requests. To get this module for Windows Python install you can use the easy_install.exe script located in your python\scripts folder.

Open up a command prompt, go to the directory for python27, then scripts, then type easy_install.exe requests

That should download the required module.

Step 5.

Start up the command prompt and then go to the directory where you installed the chatreplay.py script.

Then type python chatreplay.py VOD#

Replace VOD# with a number to the video clip you want to get the chat replay transcript from on twitch.tv.

Then that finishes, inside the directory where you have the chatreplay.py script will have a text file with the VOD# as name. If you open that up all the chat from that vod will be in there.

And thats basically how you would do it! Please note this script and the API it uses is not really supported for this sort of a thing and may change at some point making this script not work anymore.

I followed to say I'm reporting you!

[15:58] <zaycara> i followed just to tell you that i reported you for veiw botting , unfollowed now

[17:01] <swishyswish> I followed you to tell you I reported you. Have a good day
[17:01] <swishyswish> View bot with partner? not sure how you have made it this far
[17:01] <swishyswish> :) :)

So this happened yesterday during my streaming session.  It was the first time I streamed a game called, "Tiger Knight: Empire War".

 

I have enabled Follower-Only Chat a while ago so these two guys had to wait 5 minutes in order to write in the chat. Both appear to be streamers of this game so I guess that's how they found my channel by looking at current streamers under the game directory.

This problem appears to be creeping up more and more across twitch.tv. Recently I've checked out a r/twitch reddit post talking about a similar sort of a thing.

Comment from discussion Is there anything you can do if a channel's broadcaster and its viewers are slandering you? (long post).

My advise for streamers who get accused of such things has been to document it and ignore it.

Follower-Only Chat feature for Twitch.tv

New Feature: Follower-Only Chat

A new feature has been pushed out to a select number of partner streamers (update - everyone has this feature now) called "Follower-Only Chat"! It allows you or your mods to restrict chat based on how long viewers have followed the channel. You can set it to 0 minutes or to a maximum of 3 months.

Some example commands to enable the feature:

• /followers 30m, or /followers
  Viewers need to follow to chat for 30 minutes.
• /followers 2h, or /followers
  Viewers need to follow to chat for 1 hours.
• /followers 2d, or /followers
  Viewers need to follow to chat for 2 days.
• /followers 1w, or /followers
  Viewers need to follow to chat for 1 week.
• /followers 3mo, or /followers
  Viewers need to follow to chat for 3 months.

You can also enable or disable the feature using the cogwheel in the chat box. And they also have some default time frames for the feature if you don't want to setup your own custom time.


I have just started using it and already see a notable difference in the chat, and the amount of followers gained per day.

If a viewer isn't following your channel and you have this feature enabled they will be alerted with the following text when they attempt to chat in your channel.

"This room is in 5 minutes followers-only mode. Follow daopa to join the community!"

I setup a 5 minute time frame for my channel, if you setup a different time it will list it in the alert.

The PRO's and CON's of using this new feature for your twitch.tv channel.

• Pro's
  • Allows you to prevent spam bots from spamming links and other text in chat.
  • Unwanted raid chat prevention
  • Trolls who get banned and create new accounts will have to wait longer to keep up the trolling.  Most likely they wont even bother and leave the channel due to the time restriction.
  • Can be used as some long time loyalty perk, rewarding long time channel followers.
  • Similar to Sub-Only chat blocking but with out the pay wall.
• Con's
  • Some viewers will not like being restricted from chat and will possibly leave your channel due to that reason.
  • 3rd party websites that have embedded streams and chat may not have the ability for viewers to follow.

Additional Notes
This feature is in a experimental phase but pretty sure if all goes well they will push this out to all broadcasters of twitch.tv soon. Update - this feature has been rolled out to everyone.

New dashboard interface goes live at twitch.tv!

New Dashboard interface made available to all streamers at twitch.tv!

Twitch just pushed a update to the dashboard interface for all streamers which makes the menus rearrangeable and collapsible. Handy to switch around the board and hide away parts you don't really use on a daily basis.

Here is how the new dashboard looks from default:

Panel Sections include the following:

• Announcements - seems they will use this to link updates, status message and news articles.
• Stream Information - use this to set your stream title, broadcast language, and what game your currently playing.
• Stream Health - shows if your stream is configured correctly, the status and additional information for troubleshooting problems via Twitch Inspector.
• Video Preview - displays your stream on the dashboard.
• Stats - variety of different statistics for your stream.
  
  • The number of people currently watching the stream.
  • How long you have been streaming for in the current session.
  • Number of clips that have been made.
  • Total number of channel views.
  • Number of followers
• Host - view all the different channels hosting your stream. 
• Run Commercial (Partners Only) - slider showing a ad block time frame with a button to trigger advertisements.

You can still access the old dashboard interface at the moment by visiting the link in the announcements section or by adding the following parameter to the end of the dashboard url "/dashboard?show_previous=true"

Here is a screenshot of the old dashboard interface:

Advantages of the new dashboard over the old is pretty straight forward, you can hide sections and make the dashboard alot smaller taking up a small amount of screen space.

Moderator Chat Commands List

Twitch moderators carry a lot of responsibility. One moment the chat feels like a friendly hangout, the next it can turn into chaos during a raid or heated discussion. The good news is you still have fast, reliable commands that let you step in quickly without hunting through menus.

Twitch has added excellent dashboard tools over the years, including Mod View and stronger AutoMod options, yet the classic chat commands remain some of the fastest ways to keep things under control. Here is a clear, practical guide to the moderator commands that matter most in 2026.

Quick Actions for Individual Viewers

These commands help you handle specific people fast when something needs immediate attention.

• Timeout a user
  /timeout username seconds reason
  Temporarily removes someone from chat. Leave the seconds blank for a default length (usually around ten minutes). Add an optional reason so you have a record and the user understands what happened. This works great for first offenses or moments that just need to cool down.
• Ban a user
  /ban username
  Permanently removes someone from your channel. Use this for serious or repeat problems. Banned viewers lose the ability to follow or chat until you lift it.
• Unban a user
  /unban username
  Brings someone back after a ban. You can also use a one-second timeout on a currently timed-out user to end it early.
• Clear the entire chat
  /clear
  Wipes every message from the chat window at once. Extremely useful when a raid brings in a flood of spam or offensive content. Use it thoughtfully since it removes everything at once.

Chat Mode Commands

These commands change how the whole chat behaves. They are your go-to options when you need to slow things down, reward supporters, or protect the community during busy periods.

• Subscribers Only Mode
  /subscribers
  Only subscribers can chat. Excellent for celebrating milestones or giving your paying supporters a more exclusive space. Turn it off anytime with /subscribersoff.
• Followers Only Mode
  /followers time
  Viewers must have followed your channel for a set period before they can chat. You can use flexible times such as /followers 10m, /followers 2h, /followers 3d, or up to three months. This mode shines during raids or harassment waves because many trolls simply will not wait around. Turn it off with /followersoff. Short windows of ten to thirty minutes usually work well without frustrating your regular community.
• Slow Mode
  /slow seconds
  Limits how often anyone can send a message. Values like /slow 15 or /slow 30 keep chat readable during busy moments without completely silencing people. Disable it with /slowoff.
• Emote Only Mode
  /emoteonly
  Chat becomes emotes only. Perfect for fun celebrations, meme nights, or cutting down on text spam and spoilers. The streamer and moderators can still type normally. Return to regular chat with /emoteonlyoff.
• Unique Chat Mode
  /uniquechat
  Blocks repetitive copy-paste messages that spammers and bots love to use. This is the modern replacement for the old R9K mode. It works especially well during raids. Turn it off with /uniquechatoff.

Helpful Utility Commands

These extra commands make daily moderation smoother and give you better information before you act.

• Send an Announcement
  /announce Your message here
  Posts a highlighted, standout message in chat. Great for important updates, rule reminders, or giveaway details that you want everyone to notice.
• Check User Information
  /user username
  Shows when the account was created, past timeouts or bans on your channel, and lets you leave private moderator notes. One of the most useful commands before deciding on stronger action.
• Monitor or Restrict a User
  /monitor username and /unmonitor username
  Keeps a closer watch on someone without immediate punishment.
  /restrict username and /unrestrict username
  Hides that user’s messages from regular viewers while moderators and the streamer can still see them. Useful for suspected ban evaders or people you want to observe quietly.
• View Channel Point Requests
  /requests
  Opens the queue so you can quickly approve, reject, or refund Channel Points redemptions.

Best Practices for Effective Moderation

Commands work best when you use them with good judgment and clear communication. Here are a few habits that help strong moderators stand out.

• Keep your chat rules easy to find in panels or through your bot so everyone knows the expectations upfront.
• Start with lighter tools like a timeout or slow mode before moving to a ban. Most situations just need a quick reset.
• During raids, followers-only or unique chat modes often calm things down fast without killing the energy for too long.
• Combine chat commands with Twitch’s newer dashboard tools. AutoMod handles a surprising amount automatically, and Shield Mode gives you extra protection when you need it.
• Stay in sync with your streamer. A quick heads-up when you enable a mode or take a bigger action keeps everyone on the same page.
• Remember that even moderators have rate limits. Stay calm and deliberate rather than spamming commands in a panic.

These commands give you real power to shape the chat experience. The best moderators treat them as part of a bigger toolkit that also includes empathy, clear rules, and Twitch’s improving built-in features. Keep practicing them, stay consistent, and your community will feel the difference.