Posted on cohost Jun 19 2023, most recent edit on Oct 1 2024

BS Manager

BS Manager replaces BSLegacyLauncher AND ModAssistent.
You need this because very often some mods you use won't work on the latest version of beatsaber, and this allows you to install multiple versions and share songs between them.

1.37.1 is listed as the recommended version by bs manager as of this writing, but doesn't have CustomPlatforms available which I use. So as of October 1st 2024, I'm still on version 1.2.9, which has good mod support. Note the latest version of Beatsaber Plus linked below has a 1.2.9 hotfix version.

If switching to BS Manager from either BSLegacyLauncher or a regular install, first import your previous version of beatsaber, then click the settings wheel for that version and select shared folders. Link the CustomLevels folder for songs. You may also want to link these folders:

  1. CustomPlatforms If you have any custom platforms installed(see mods)
  2. NalalunaAvatars If you use Nalaluna Avatars
  3. UserData Contains Mod configuration files.

Getting your avatar in beatsaber

There's a few options for this.

  • Nalaluna avatars: This is what I use
    • uses vrm
    • Is patron only. I haven't researched if it stops working if you unsub or not. It could, since the installer requires you to login to patreon.
    • This also has a model overlay option, that's where the tiny kedama facing the other way in the corner of my streams comes from.
    • With this route you can also get the nalaluna cat mod, and have a lil cat around that watches you play!
    • Installed through nalaluna mod assistant https://www.patreon.com/posts/nalulunamodassis-74489335
  • Nalaluna avatars free version: I tested with this before going with the full version.
    • doesn't have full body tracking, or finger tracking enabled
    • download link in video description: youtube link
  • LIV: This is the main other option people use.
    • Uses vrm
    • This has worse performance than nalaluna, because it's a separate program instead of a beatsaber mod. But I haven't otherwise heard any complaints about it.
    • https://www.liv.tv/vtubing-avatars
  • Custom Avatars Mod: I used this for my first couple streams. Listing for completeness but I don't recommend it.
    • Requires setup of saber position in unity, doesn't use vrm.
    • No finger tracking support
    • I had a lot of problems trying to get this to map properly to my avatar. It doesn't calibrate in a smart way, it only looks at your height(unlike things that calibrate via you doing a tpose), and I think it assumes human head proportions. So with your arms outstretched they could still be bent on the avatar.
    • In the Beatsaber mod assistant

General Mods

Most mods can be installed via BSManager There's a few core ones checked by default, and it'll also auto-check dependencies.

  • Camera 2 This lets you setup and position one or more additional camera views that'll be shown on the beatsaber desktop window.
  • noodle extensions Required to play some custom maps
  • mapping extensions Another one required to play some custom maps
  • Chroma Used by some maps, allows custom block/light/wall colors.
  • BetterSongList makes your list of downloaded songs a lot easier to sort through/navigate
  • BetterSongSearch better interface for searching for new songs from in game
  • Cinema Lets you download and play a video in the background of maps that support it.
  • BeatSaverVoting lets you up/down vote songs from the results screen
  • ScoreSaber Gives you the leaderboard. I look at the friends tab often. It's a red flag when someone better than did very bad on a song.
  • SoundReplacer I use this to completely remove miss sounds, in addition to having hit sounds turned down.
  • Technicolor makes default colored walls and bombs rainbow instead
  • Custom Platforms lets you load in custom environments. This is why i'm on a little desk. via the "desktop" platform by nalaluna https://www.patreon.com/posts/customplatform-83476971

Song Requests

Beatsaber plus is the mod that gives you song requests. It's not available through mod assistant so you install it from here:
https://github.com/hardcpp/BeatSaberPlus/releases/latest

Current Song Overlay

Beatsaber plus also includes the ability to put a current song overlay in OBS, but the instructions for using that are here instead https://github.com/HyldraZolxy/BeatSaber-Overlay

Beatsaber settings

  • sfx volume is under player options and not audio options. This controls the volume of hit/miss sounds. I think for streams it's good to turn this down a good amount, at least to .5
  • Turn on no fail mode!
  • Changing Max shockwave particles from 1 to 2 fixed the visuals on the map Try(!bsr 14d64) for me, at 1 it makes the screen very white for a good chunk of the song. 0 also works.
  • you probably don't want left handed mode on. This mirrors everything, including visuals people have added to songs with words. Songs aren't mapped with handedness in mind anyway.

Filtering beatsaber audio out of VODs(or any audio out of VODs)

OBS generates different audio tracks, which is the combined audio output it creates.
By default all audio sources go to all tracks, but you can change this in advanced audio properties.
Then in Settings -> Output, you either check the "Twitch VOD Track" checkbox to make vods use track 2 if in simple mode, or select a Twitch VOD Track if in advanced mode.
Now any audio with track 2 unchecked won't be in the VOD.