Steam In-home streaming

blass

Just thought I'd share my steam In-home streaming set up. I find this a great way to comfortably play games on big tv. The host and client machine communicate over the home network. Run a game on the host and open Steam on the client and the "play" button should have changed to "Stream" Both my devices are wired Ethernet. Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrxRsq-QWTs

Controller: wireless Xbox 360 crossfire with wireless receiver dongle (dongle plugged into Celeron NUC 2820).

Host Machine: i5 Intel NUC D54250WYKH w/Intel HD 5000 graphics, Kingston SSD and 8gb Ram. Wired via TP link homeplug. OS = Windows 8.1.

Client Machine: Celeron Intel NUC 2820FYKH w/Intel HD graphics, Samsung SSD and 2 gb Ram. Wired to Router. O.S. = Linux Mint

I set the Host options to "enable hardware encoding" (I never tried "Prioritise network traffic" cause the game performance is fine for my expectations.)

On the client side I chose the "Beautiful" setting. (I have not had need to use the "Limit bandwidth" option.)

There is also the option to sacrifice some prettiness by dropping the game resolution to your desired resolution.
You can also choose to display the Res and FPS onscreen if you wish.

The i5 NUC successfully handles games such as Tomb Raider 2013, Dead Island, Nearly all Resident Evil games, Devil May Cry DMC, Half Life 2 etc.

It important the game is running on the host machine in a resolution that the client machine can handle but that easily fixed in graphics options of the game.

Overall I find this a great way to game casually if you don't mind less than 1080 graphics. However, if I was a big gamer who spent hours everyday gaming I would buy a console.

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Robert ninja

Thanks for posting your results. Always nice to get more and more feedback for this kind of stuff. I think I'd rather build a tiny PC and have it working straigth from the living room if I wanted long-term living room gaming, though. The kind of games I play with local multi-player are more often than not ruined by lag, despite how casual we play em'. Fighting games, things like nidhogg, rythm games, And they usually don't require high end systems.

blass

Robert ninja wrote: »

Thanks for posting your results. Always nice to get more and more feedback for this kind of stuff. I think I'd rather build a tiny PC and have it working straigth from the living room if I wanted long-term living room gaming, though. The kind of games I play with local multi-player are more often than not ruined by lag, despite how casual we play em'. Fighting games, things like nidhogg, rythm games, And they usually don't require high end systems.

Fair point. In my case we had a htpc beside the tv anyway AND my i5 NUC at the back of the room. I just decided it was better to kill 2 birds with one stone so I dual booted the HTPC with Openelec for regular streaming and Linux Mint for Game streaming when I want to play on big telly while sitting on the couch.

dreamers75

Is the steam stream thing not a Dongle you plug into the Tv like Chromecast and play away from the main pc?

blass

dreamers75 wrote: »

Is the steam stream thing not a Dongle you plug into the Tv like Chromecast and play away from the main pc?

No. In this case you are streaming from one pc to another over the home wired network. Just install steam on 2 pc's and the client (can be quite a lowly pc) detects the host (needs to be able to support game specs) so you can play games on it.
There is a Steam Link box coming out that acts as the client but if you already have a second pc or htpc you don't need it.

I might try this with raspberry pi and see how it runs before forking out on a Steam link and steam controller

http://www.howtogeek.com/220969/turn-a-raspberry-pi-into-a-steam-machine-with-moonlight/

blass

Deleted User wrote: »

I might try this with raspberry pi and see how it runs before forking out on a Steam link and steam controller

http://www.howtogeek.com/220969/turn-a-raspberry-pi-into-a-steam-machine-with-moonlight/

Looks cool. I love my Pi2 but didn't think it was feasible to us as a streamer. Good luck hope it works for you.

lmimmfn

dreamers75 wrote: »

Is the steam stream thing not a Dongle you plug into the Tv like Chromecast and play away from the main pc?

thats the Steam Link which is available now in Gamestop, its pretty cool, only annoying thing is needing a wired controller.

Damo 2k9

lmimmfn wrote: »

thats the Steam Link which is available now in Gamestop, its pretty cool, only annoying thing is needing a wired controller.

Nope, can use the steam controller or the wireless xbox 360 controller (assuming u have the dongle to go with it) , or a little wireless keyboard :P

Shred

You can also use a wireless Xbox One controller with the USB adaptor plugged directly into your PC if you're within range.

dreamers75

blass wrote: »

No. In this case you are streaming from one pc to another over the home wired network. Just install steam on 2 pc's and the client (can be quite a lowly pc) detects the host (needs to be able to support game specs) so you can play games on it.
There is a Steam Link box coming out that acts as the client but if you already have a second pc or htpc you don't need it.

That seems overly complicated who actually has a 2nd pc running under their tv in this day and age?

VLC app and chromecast, i assumed Steam link was Chromecastish whereas you press a button and your pc appears on the tv.

If its not that its fairly fcuking pointless.

VinLieger

dreamers75 wrote: »

That seems overly complicated who actually has a 2nd pc running under their tv in this day and age?

VLC app and chromecast, i assumed Steam link was Chromecastish whereas you press a button and your pc appears on the tv.

If its not that its fairly fcuking pointless.

Thats what the steam link is, its not a client it simply streams steam or your desktop to the tv

I got it up and running on the raspberry pi. It was incredibly easy.

Some nice fellow made this video showing how, but he more importantly put together a script that installs everything you need. All I did was ssh into my pi, run this (wget raw.githubusercontent.com/the-raspberry-­pi-guy/game_stream/master/install.sh) and leave it for two hours.

It uses NVidia Shield to pair to my PC. I was initially disappointed because I couldn't stream my desktop but I just added VLC as an application via Shield so I can watch anything I've torrented through that. I already use a VLC app on my phone to control it.

I just need to map my xbox controller to see how it runs fallout 4.

Damo 2k9

Deleted User wrote: »

I got it up and running on the raspberry pi. It was incredibly easy.

Some nice fellow made this video showing how, but he more importantly put together a script that installs everything you need. All I did was ssh into my pi, run this (wget raw.githubusercontent.com/the-raspberry-­pi-guy/game_stream/master/install.sh) and leave it for two hours.

It uses NVidia Shield to pair to my PC. I was initially disappointed because I couldn't stream my desktop but I just added VLC as an application via Shield so I can watch anything I've torrented through that. I already use a VLC app on my phone to control it.

I just need to map my xbox controller to see how it runs fallout 4.

What Pi did u use? Have a B version and wouldnt mind using it to see how it pairs up against the link that I bought the other day, a comparison would be a good idea

Damo 2k9

Damo 2k9 wrote: »

What Pi did u use? Have a B version and wouldnt mind using it to see how it pairs up against the link that I bought the other day, a comparison would be a good idea

Fairly sure I have this one https://www.raspberrypi.org/products/model-b-plus/

Getting the controller set up was simple. The audio doesn't work whatsoever though. I haven't properly tried to figure out why yet. Fallout 4 and rocket League ran fine. I didn't have a chance to check the exact framerate but both appeared playable at the default stream setting of 60fps and 1080p. Rocket League felt slightly sluggish, as if there was a small input lag. I'm using a wired PowerLine to connect to my pc, not sure the exact specs of it.

blass

dreamers75 wrote: »

That seems overly complicated who actually has a 2nd pc running under their tv in this day and age?

VLC app and chromecast, i assumed Steam link was Chromecastish whereas you press a button and your pc appears on the tv.

If its not that its fairly fcuking pointless.

As it happens many many households have a htpc device attached to their tv for streaming purposes. Your comment is fairly ignorant to be honest.

blass

VinLieger wrote: »

Thats what the steam link is, its not a client it simply streams steam or your desktop to the tv

the steam link actually IS a client.
It is attached to your tv and it receives the game stream from your PC. http://www.itworld.com/article/2995410/personal-technology/hands-on-with-valves-steam-link-client-for-in-home-streaming.html

blass

Deleted User wrote: »

I got it up and running on the raspberry pi. It was incredibly easy.

Some nice fellow made this video showing how, but he more importantly put together a script that installs everything you need. All I did was ssh into my pi, run this (wget raw.githubusercontent.com/the-raspberry-­pi-guy/game_stream/master/install.sh) and leave it for two hours.

It uses NVidia Shield to pair to my PC. I was initially disappointed because I couldn't stream my desktop but I just added VLC as an application via Shield so I can watch anything I've torrented through that. I already use a VLC app on my phone to control it.

I just need to map my xbox controller to see how it runs fallout 4.

Forgive my ignorance but are you using a rpi to stream games from your PC to your TV VIA a Nvidia Shield console?

blass

blass wrote: »

Forgive my ignorance but are you using a rpi to stream games from your PC to your TV VIA a Nvidia Shield console?

Exactly.

I installed something on the rpi called moonlight. You can choose any application to be streamed from the PC using the Nvidia shield application. I can even choose window's own Remote Desktop Connection to effectively stream the desktop itself, combined with this and I can do anything on my PC from my couch with an xbox controller.

Never got the sound to work. It is an issue with Nvidia's gamestream rather than the PI itself. Their only advice is to reinstall everything :pac:

Dave_The_Sheep

So I was thinking of getting the Steam Link for my home setup.

Anyone used it and would they recommend it?

Also, I'd like to avoid Gamestop if possible - without paying Steam's 15 quid delivery fee. Is there anywhere else in Ireland that sells these?

Mr E

It's €54.99 in Gamestop and €50 on Steam (+delivery), so I think Gamestop is OK to use in this situation.

I have a steam link at home and it works really well. I think I'll need to get a keyboard/mouse to use downstairs as a lot of games don't support joypads.

Also games with splash/settings screens before the game loads are a pain the ass too - I've had to run upstairs to click them away before the game would run properly.

blass

I got a Steam Link from Gmestop for eur55. I only had an hour with it the other night but it was simple to set up and it streamed Resident Evil 4 from my PC beautifully. Previously I used a Linux client for streaming from my PC but the Steam Link gives a much better quality stream. Obviously any issues you ahd with your PC gaming experience will still exist but Steam link should replicate the PC gaming experience perfectly on your TV.

Josey Wales

I bought one about a month ago from Gamestop and I've been extremely impressed. I haven't noticed any significant hit to performance or visual fidelity. I do have everything wired though, nothing wireless.

As Mr E mentioned I've had a couple of issues with menus popping up outside of Steam Big Picture mode but I think this mainly when starting a game for the very first time. The 360 controller and my wireless mouse/keyboard all work fine.

One annoyance is that lets say you have the PC in the attic and are using the Steam Link downstairs you might want to remote connect to your PC to do something. But if you do that you can't log off correctly and the Steam Link will always say the PC is locked and unavailable for streaming. You have to physically go and unlock the PC. I did a little Googling and found a very handy script to resolve this though.

Dave_The_Sheep

I got one yesterday in Gamestop.

First impressions... OK to very good. Did a bit of Crypt of the Necro, Darkest D, FIFA. My sound seems to mute itself when Link kicks in, but I've read a few workarounds for that and I'll try them. frame rate seems solid, but my sound in Darkest Dungeon (not a powerhouse) was a second behind. Not great.

I'll keep ****ing around with it.

My work colleague whos has one claims t he wireless throughput is better than wired. So you'll get better performance wireless than not. Thoughts?

Josey Wales

Dave_The_Sheep wrote: »

My work colleague whos has one claims t he wireless throughput is better than wired. So you'll get better performance wireless than not. Thoughts?

I haven't tried it with wireless but if that was true I'd be very surprised. I have never come across a device that had better speeds wireless over wired.

ED E

Dave_The_Sheep wrote: »

My work colleague whos has one claims t he wireless throughput is better than wired. So you'll get better performance wireless than not. Thoughts?

Josey Wales wrote: »

I haven't tried it with wireless but if that was true I'd be very surprised. I have never come across a device that had better speeds wireless over wired.

Its quite possible, if he only has 10/100 Ethernet but good .11N or ok .11AC wireless. My phone can push 110Mb on N (Excess of 200Mb on AC) where as a non gigabit device gets 90Mb wired.

paddyman

I have started using this recently on my Surface Tablet and i am really impressed by how well it is working. I definitely recommend trying it out.

I have good AC WIFI around the house and use it exclusively on wireless. Just install steam on main PC + the tablet and stream. I have ran some pretty graphically intense FPS games and they streamed really well, i don't notice any real lag with the PC been in the other room.

Josey Wales

Did anyone ever have an issue with no audio on the Steam Link on the TV?

I just updated the device to build 554 and there is no audio at all. Non in-game or in the menus. Not even while navigating the Steam Link menus.