Overlay is blank

The source shows a message instead of the overlay

Two refusals say outright what happened. Both can only turn up on another computer: on the PC running strAImer overlays are let in by address, so neither message can appear there. If you are looking at one, that browser source is not on the streaming machine.

"Access from the local network is off" — the application is not letting other machines in at all. Switch it on where the guide "Core" describes it, then refresh the browser source in OBS: the refusal is an ordinary page and it has no way of reloading itself.

The message also asks you to copy the link again. You do not have to: a link the copy button gave you already carries this machine's address and the key, whether the switch was on at the time or not. Copying it again does no harm — it is simply not what fixes this one.

"This link no longer works" — the access key inside the link is not the one the application expects now. Three ways to end up there:

1. The application was reinstalled, or settings were restored onto a fresh install. The key is deliberately not part of a backup, so the new installation invented one of its own while the sources in OBS still carry the old. This is the common one.
2. The key was reissued with the Change the key button — the guide "Core" says what that button costs. This is the one nobody connects to anything they did: the sources on the other computer were working until then, and they all stop together the next time OBS loads them.
3. The link never had a key in it, because it was read off the page or taken from the browser's address bar instead of being copied with the button. The guide "Overlays in OBS" explains which address is which.

The cure is the same in all three cases: copy each overlay link again with the button on its widget page and paste it into its Browser Source. Every source on that computer needs it, not only the one you noticed — they all carried the same key.

Check in order

1. Is the module on? A module that is off disappears from the sidebar entirely, so the page looks deleted. Turn it back on in Module Catalog → Built-in. A source whose module is off still loads the page and looks fine, but nothing arrives: alerts show nothing at all and the fundraising bar freezes. Chat is the exception — it keeps showing messages, because it reads them directly.
2. Does the URL still contain ?overlay? Without that parameter the same address renders the settings editor instead of the overlay. The source will not be blank — it will show an interface. Copy the link again with the button on the widget page.
3. Alerts: is the link pointing at a group that still exists? The group id sits in ?overlay=<id>. A link copied from an old group, or edited by hand, is ignored in silence. The module's own log says which group was asked for.
4. Alerts: is "Shutdown source when not visible" ticked in OBS? A hidden or shut-down source stops answering, so alerts stop being sent to it. Untick that option and keep the scene visible.
5. Did the overlay reach the app at all? Every overlay that connects names itself in the log console — Widget connected: straimer-alerts-widget/main. One that never shows up there is not talking to the application, and the reason is above this list or below it, not in its own settings.
6. Is the source big enough? A source too small for the content shows less than expected — see the guide "Overlays in OBS", section "Sizing the source".
7. Has anything actually happened? Some overlays are empty by design until an event arrives — see the guide "Overlays in OBS", section "Nothing is shown until something happens".

The sound plays but nothing is drawn

A case of its own, and it tells you where to look. If an alert plays its sound but the card never appears, the event reached the application and stopped short of the page in OBS: the sound is played by the application, the card is drawn by the page itself.

Before version 0.5.0 this happened after every restart of the application: the page lost its connection and never restored it on its own, and only refreshing the browser source helped. From 0.5.0 the connection comes back by itself — if you see this on 0.5.0 or later, refresh the source and write to support.

The application log names the cause outright in such a case, with a line like Overlay "main" is open but has no live connection to the core.

OBS on a second PC

Works from version 0.5.0. Before it, overlay pages looked for the application on the same computer they were opened on, so on a second PC they could not work at all. What has to be set up there is in the guide "Overlays in OBS", section "OBS on a second PC".