Refreshing Your Stream with the !f Command
Your stream suddenly looks weird or has audio issues? With !f you refresh your ingest in 10 seconds — but use it wisely.
In this guide
Refreshing Your Stream with the !f Command
Sometimes your stream suddenly looks weird: audio crackles, the image stutters, the overlay hangs. Before you panic: often a single !f in chat is enough to fix the problem. Here we show you how to use the command correctly — and when it's better to leave it alone.
What exactly does !f do?
The command !f (short for "fix") tells the FizzyPeak bot to completely reinitialize your ingest feed. Specifically:
- Disconnect your current ingest connection
- Full SRT/SRTLA session closure
- Rebuild the connection to the encoder
- Re-sync audio and video
The whole process takes 5–10 seconds. Viewers see a brief buffer, then it runs smoothly again.
Who can use the command?
- You yourself (as the broadcaster)
- Moderators you've explicitly authorized for it
- FizzyPeak admins in a support case
Regular viewers are ignored. That way no one can troll your stream.
When you should use !f
Typical symptoms that !f fixes:
- Audio and video drift apart
- The image shows green/pink tiles (keyframe damage)
- The overlay reloads, but the main image hangs
- The bitrate fluctuates wildly for no reason
When you should NOT use !f
Important: don't spam it! Every !f is like a power cycle. If you type it two or three times in a row:
- Each refresh takes 10 seconds — the stream stays unsettled longer
- Viewers see 3 buffers instead of one
- Your encoder has to re-sync each time — that makes the actual problem worse
Check first, then fix
A better workflow:
- Type
!b→ the bot shows you bitrate and RTT
- RTT < 100 ms and stable bitrate? The problem is in the encoder, not the network - RTT > 300 ms or fluctuating bitrate? A mobile network problem — better to change location
- Check your location — if your network is weak, a refresh won't help
- Only then !f — and afterwards wait at least 30 seconds before checking again
Alternative commands
FizzyPeak knows several recovery commands that should come before the hard !f:
!refresh audio— reinitialize audio only (1 second buffer)!refresh video— reinitialize video only (2 seconds)!restart obs— a complete OBS restart in the cloud (15 seconds, only as a last resort)
Dashboard alternative
If you have a hand free, you can also trigger the refresh via the FizzyPeak dashboard:
- Dashboard → Stream Health
- The red Refresh Ingest button
- Confirm
Advantage: you see the reconnection status live, including RTT and bitrate — without glancing at chat.
And if !f doesn't help either?
Then it's not an ingest problem but a network or encoder problem. Next step:
- Briefly restart the encoder device (phone, Belabox)
- Check the SIM cards to see whether they're all actively bonding
- As a last resort: ask for support in the FizzyPeak Discord
Still have questions? Open the dashboard or message us on Discord in #support.