Everything you need to know

Frequently asked questions

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Getting started

What is vamAI?
vamAI is a Windows app that lets you talk with your Virt‑A‑Mate characters mid-scene, by voice or by text. She answers in her own voice, can change the scene when you ask, and remembers you from one session to the next. When you would rather watch, Director Mode lets the AI run a whole scene on its own. vamAI works with the AI services you choose, on your own keys.
What do I need to run vamAI?
A Windows PC with Virt‑A‑Mate 1.19 or newer, an internet connection, and accounts with the AI services you choose: vamAI runs on your own API keys. The language model and speech recognition can also run on your own PC instead, which works best with a capable graphics card. A microphone if you want to talk out loud; typing works too.
How do I install vamAI?
Download the vamAI app from the Downloads page. It is a portable ZIP with no installer: unzip it and run vamAI. Then put the vamAI plugin (.var) in VaM and add it to your scene. The app connects to the plugin by itself when both are running.
How do I sign in to the app?
In the vamAI app, choose Sign in with Patreon. Your browser opens this site: sign in with Patreon, confirm, and the app picks up your membership, or offers you the free trial if you have none yet. There is no key to copy.

AI services

Who pays for the AI?
You do, directly. vamAI runs on your own accounts with the AI services you choose, and each one bills you for what you use at its own prices. A membership pays for the vamAI app, not for AI usage.
Which AI services can I use?
For her words (the language model): Venice, an OpenAI-compatible service such as OpenAI, OpenRouter or xAI, or a model on your own PC (the built-in local model, or LM Studio or Ollama). For her voice: ElevenLabs, Deepgram or Hume. For hearing you: Whisper on your PC, or Deepgram. You add your own key for each cloud service in the app.
Can I run everything locally?
Partly. The language model and speech recognition (Whisper) can run on your own PC, which keeps that part of the conversation off the internet; a capable graphics card makes it much faster. Her voice always comes from a cloud service (ElevenLabs, Deepgram or Hume), so you need an internet connection and an account with one of them.
Is my data private?
Your conversations go from your PC straight to the AI services you choose, over encrypted connections, and never pass through vamAI: we never see them. Each service handles your data under its own privacy policy. Your characters, memories and settings stay on your PC. For more privacy, run the language model and speech recognition locally.

Membership

What are Pro and Max?
The two memberships, both on Patreon. Pro ($8 a month) is the whole conversation: her voice, text chat, memory, Director Mode and the rest, with up to 3 saved characters. Max ($12 a month) adds the changes she makes in your VaM scene by herself (scene actions, look library, outfit library, pose library, environments, plugin integrations) and as many saved characters as you like. The membership page lists everything.
Is there a free trial?
Yes: 7 days of everything in Max. Download vamAI, sign in with Patreon in the app, and choose Start my free trial. Each account and each computer gets one trial.
Can I use vamAI without a membership?
The app opens and you can set it up, but its features are off until you start your free trial or join Pro or Max. When a membership or trial ends, your characters, settings and data stay on your PC.
How does membership work?
Join Pro or Max on our Patreon. Then sign in with your Patreon account, here and in the vamAI app, and your membership turns on its features. To switch between Pro and Max, change your tier on Patreon.
Can I cancel anytime?
Yes, you can cancel your Patreon membership at any time from your Patreon settings. You keep access until the end of the period you have already paid for.
What happens if I cancel?
You keep access until the end of the period you have already paid for. After that, the app's features are off until you join again; your characters, settings and data stay on your PC. You can rejoin any time.
What about refunds?
Payments run through Patreon. If something went wrong with a payment, ask us on Discord.
Can I use vamAI on more than one computer?
Yes. Sign in to the vamAI app on each PC with the same Patreon account; a membership covers more than one PC at a time. Your dashboard shows how many, and lets you remove one you no longer use.

Technical

What are the system requirements?
vamAI runs on Windows 10 or 11 (64-bit), beside Virt‑A‑Mate 1.19 or newer on the same PC. With cloud AI services, a typical setup needs only a modern PC and an internet connection, no GPU. vamAI itself needs at least 4 GB of RAM (8 GB recommended) on top of what VaM uses, and about 1 GB of disk; it ships as a portable ZIP with no installer. An SSD helps.
Do I need a GPU, and how much disk space do local models use?
A GPU is only needed if you choose to run AI models on your own PC instead of using a cloud service. Audio2Face lip-sync needs an NVIDIA GPU: RTX 20-series / GTX 16-series or newer (CUDA compute capability 7.5+, driver 527.41 or later). It has no CPU mode, so without one your character uses VaM's built-in expressions instead. Whisper speech recognition uses the same NVIDIA GPUs when it can and otherwise runs on the CPU (slower), or you can use a cloud service instead. The local language model uses an NVIDIA GPU when it can, other graphics cards through Vulkan, or the CPU. Larger models need more graphics memory. Downloaded models and engines are stored on disk and can total several GB, depending on which local features you enable.

Support

How do I get support?
Our Discord community is the place for support and discussion, and the documentation on this site covers setup and every feature.
Where can I report bugs or request features?
Report bugs and request features on our Discord server.

Still have questions?

Our community is here to help. Join our Discord server for real-time support, feature discussions, and the occasional late-night conversation about getting her voice just right.

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Pro or Max on Patreon, and a 7-day free trial in the app. Your own AI provider keys, billed by the providers directly.

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