XBox Game Pass Cloud Streaming

Royale with Cheese · 24-04-2021 11:51am

Got my invite yesterday, gave it a go on my iPad and MacBook. The stream ran fairly smooth on iPad, quite choppy on macOS. I don't know why but any game streaming app either official or third party for Xbox or PlayStation has always run near flawless for me on iOS and a choppy mess on macOS.

The input lag on both iPad and Mac was noticeable for me though, I can't say I noticed it as bad on the Android app. That's possibly because I've been mainly playing with a razer kishi on Android, I might try and pair the controller to the phone and compare.

Fingleberries · 24-04-2021 12:44pm

Got an invitation mail as well.

It's pretty great actually - I had an old PC that I was using to play Sea of Thieves with the kiddo (they play on the Xbox and the TV). The Laptop could run SoT ok at 'cursed' graphics levels. I switched to using streaming in the browser and it plays great at Xbox One S levels, generally smooth with occasional graphics pop in (not too distracting).

I'm liking it so far. It's a great way to add 'couch co-op' to games that don't actually have local co-op options (I mean games that have online multiplayer only).

askpt · 25-04-2021 8:01pm

How are you getting the invites? Every day I check my inbox for one.

CatInABox · 25-04-2021 8:29pm

askpt wrote: »

How are you getting the invites? Every day I check my inbox for one.

I'm pretty sure I got it because I've been active in the preview program for years, perhaps the other are similar.

askpt · 26-04-2021 9:20am

CatInABox wrote: »

I'm pretty sure I got it because I've been active in the preview program for years, perhaps the other are similar.

Interesting. I was an Insider when it was the first Xbox One but I never did that to Series X. Perhaps that’s the reason.

Fingleberries · 26-04-2021 10:15am

askpt wrote: »

How are you getting the invites? Every day I check my inbox for one.

Just got one randomly in e-mail. I've been in the console OS updates preview / insiders (whatever it's called) for a while now.

Royale with Cheese · 26-04-2021 10:37am

Not on any of the preview programs but I use the Android cloud gaming app somewhat regularly and I have the Xbox app for iPad and sometimes use that for local streaming so they possibly used that info to determine I'd actually use the invite.

Krusty_Clown · 26-04-2021 3:27pm

Tried it on my ageing laptop (Intel i5, 4GB Ram, Wifi) and it was unplayable. Tried on my work laptop (i7, 20Gb Ram - wired) and it was almost as smooth as local play. I had been playing through the Halo series using mouse/keyboard on the Xbox, but unfortunately cloud streaming doesn't seem to support pass/through keyboard and mouse, which is a shame, as it would be really handy when travelling, to just bind mouse/keyboard. Hopefully some day in the future. I'm assuming it's one login at a time and you can't play via the cloud at the same time as local play?

Fingleberries · 26-04-2021 4:32pm

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Tried it on my ageing laptop (Intel i5, 4GB Ram, Wifi) and it was unplayable. Tried on my work laptop (i7, 20Gb Ram - wired) and it was almost as smooth as local play. I had been playing through the Halo series using mouse/keyboard on the Xbox, but unfortunately cloud streaming doesn't seem to support pass/through keyboard and mouse, which is a shame, as it would be really handy when travelling, to just bind mouse/keyboard. Hopefully some day in the future. I'm assuming it's one login at a time and you can't play via the cloud at the same time as local play?

I was trying on an old Surface Pro 4, i5, 4GB RAM and it played decently - a few pop-in or low resolution moments. Connected controller by USB rather than Bluetooth. I played more sedate games (Sea of Thieves, Minecraft Dungeons) but also took Forza Horizon 4 for a spin and held my own in online races. I might try Halo at some point - but I'm crap online at Halo to begin with, so won't be a fair criticism of xCloud to blame it for that

For playing in two places at once. Yeah. I tried that, too.
Looks like there was a recent update on Xbox about presence.

So, you can be playing games in one location / device and watching media on another device with the same account.
If you are playing a game in one location, then start playing a game in another location, it will prompt you to select which location you want to continue playing.

To work with that I've got 3 years of GPU each sorted for me and for the kiddo thanks to some tips from the Boardsies here.

Krusty_Clown · 26-04-2021 4:48pm

Fingleberries wrote: »

I was trying on an old Surface Pro 4, i5, 4GB RAM and it played decently - a few pop-in or low resolution moments. Connected controller by USB rather than Bluetooth. I played more sedate games (Sea of Thieves, Minecraft Dungeons) but also took Forza Horizon 4 for a spin and held my own in online races. I might try Halo at some point - but I'm crap online at Halo to begin with, so won't be a fair criticism of xCloud to blame it for that

For playing in two places at once. Yeah. I tried that, too.
Looks like there was a recent update on Xbox about presence.

So, you can be playing games in one location / device and watching media on another device with the same account.
If you are playing a game in one location, then start playing a game in another location, it will prompt you to select which location you want to continue playing.

To work with that I've got 3 years of GPU each sorted for me and for the kiddo thanks to some tips from the Boardsies here.

I've been playing through the Halo campaign. Might try a wired network connection as the Wireless card/driver in that laptop is old (11 years), but it was still getting 60Mbps. Can't get back in to the beta today anyway. Wondering if my work VPN triggered a different geo-location that they're not happy with? :eek:

[Deleted User] · 27-04-2021 9:27pm

Has anyone tried playing it on the browser on xbox or even olaystation or nintendo switch?

I could try myself but I'm lazy and thought maybe someone has already tried?

recyclops · 28-04-2021 11:33am

on the switch you can get onto the page but it wont load up the games

-Toppy- · 28-04-2021 12:36pm

Tried in my Ipad - its okaay so far little laggy (siro 1g with 5ghz network in house)
Fine for simple games but anything that needs quick reaction not a chance

Vudgie · 30-04-2021 5:13pm

I tried it on my iPad but found it pretty unplayable mostly due to lag between the controller and the iPad, there is a split second delay which makes it very frustrating.

[Deleted User] · 01-05-2021 9:01am

-Toppy- wrote: »

Tried in my Ipad - its okaay so far little laggy (siro 1g with 5ghz network in house)
Fine for simple games but anything that needs quick reaction not a chance

Yeah I've never felt its good enough for racing games, even on android. Tried out dirt 5 on PC which normally is a very easy game, usually I jump to 1st place after an initial battle and stay there to the finish. On xCloud I'm crashing all over the place. Same happens with Forza. We're probably talking milliseconds of lag but its enough to ruin your whole game.

Fingleberries · 02-05-2021 11:38am

Mr Grumble wrote: »

Yeah I've never felt its good enough for racing games, even on android. Tried out dirt 5 on PC which normally is a very easy game, usually I jump to 1st place after an initial battle and stay there to the finish. On xCloud I'm crashing all over the place. Same happens with Forza. We're probably talking milliseconds of lag but its enough to ruin your whole game.

I found that first too, when I was connecting by Bluetooth (it adds a little latency at times). Switching to plugging directly to the USB (on android), it takes that slight delay out.

Sure, there's still the chance of latency depending on your network connection, but it removes one less thing that I can use to excuse my general crap-ness at Racing and FPS games

feargantae · 03-05-2021 12:36pm

Disappointed as to how bad this runs for me. I have Gigabit Internet and get about 300 down on Wifi, and over 900 down on 5G but yet it's barely playable. Something like Sims 4 that doesn't require much response time is okay at best, but aside from that games are unplayable. I'm raging cos I'm a Stadia user playing in 4K and that works a treat.

I won't hold it against Microsoft though as i realise it's a beta, and I'm happy to have been selected in general cos I've only had the Series S/GamePass for a week!

Treppen · 03-05-2021 6:30pm

feargantae wrote: »

Disappointed as to how bad this runs for me. I have Gigabit Internet and get about 300 down on Wifi, and over 900 down on 5G but yet it's barely playable. Something like Sims 4 that doesn't require much response time is okay at best, but aside from that games are unplayable. I'm raging cos I'm a Stadia user playing in 4K and that works a treat.

I won't hold it against Microsoft though as i realise it's a beta, and I'm happy to have been selected in general cos I've only had the Series S/GamePass for a week!

Jeez that sounds bad given your speed available.

What's it like on an android phone with the Gamepass app? That was the first platform out with xcloud so should be ahead of the game.

feargantae · 04-05-2021 12:42pm

Treppen wrote: »

Jeez that sounds bad given your speed available.

What's it like on an android phone with the Gamepass app? That was the first platform out with xcloud so should be ahead of the game.

Definitely better on the app, but for me the small screen is a no go.

Weirdly enough remote play works way better than xcloud so i guess it is Microsoft servers

Grumpypants · 04-05-2021 8:20pm

I got an invite to an old account so I just tried logging into xbox.com/play today with my main game pass ultimate subbed account and was logged in. Can stream through the Chrome browser now too.

Grumpypants · 04-05-2021 8:28pm

Treppen wrote: »

Jeez that sounds bad given your speed available.

What's it like on an android phone with the Gamepass app? That was the first platform out with xcloud so should be ahead of the game.

It's great on the right game. I played loads of Jurassic park evolution over the weekend. I got the phone clip for the controller and it is very playable.

DeSelby83 · 05-05-2021 9:16am

I just tried out the streaming in the Edge browser and it's definitely laggier than the android app at the moment. I could see some games being playable but like others have said anything that requires quick precise movements is out of luck at the moment. I imagine this will only improve over though.

marcbrophy · 06-05-2021 12:43am

I got access yesterday!

I played about 30 mins of Destroy All Humans on ethernet connected PC, via Edge and it was flawless.
Delighted with it so far!

Interested Observer · 07-05-2021 4:36pm

DeSelby83 wrote: »

I just tried out the streaming in the Edge browser and it's definitely laggier than the android app at the moment. I could see some games being playable but like others have said anything that requires quick precise movements is out of luck at the moment. I imagine this will only improve over though.

Tried Outriders today and just felt it was totally unplayable. Nothing about it felt good, did the training bit where you're meant to test your guns, missed basically everything, and just turned it off. It looked bad, it felt bad, I don't see myself using this for a while until they improve it (which I'm sure they will).

Grumpypants · 07-05-2021 7:11pm

Outriders is so bad they should remove it. I spent 5 mins just aiming wilding and missing everything. It is only this game that has this issue. Most other shooters are spot on.

Interested Observer · 07-05-2021 9:56pm

Grumpypants wrote: »

Outriders is so bad they should remove it. I spent 5 mins just aiming wilding and missing everything. It is only this game that has this issue. Most other shooters are spot on.

Interesting. I might try something else then thanks. I just assumed it was a problem with the service rather than a single game.

DeSelby83 · 08-05-2021 7:45am

Interested Observer wrote: »

Interesting. I might try something else then thanks. I just assumed it was a problem with the service rather than a single game.

Were you playing on the app or the browser? I've definitely found the android app to run better than the browser on my laptop over wireless.

Interested Observer · 08-05-2021 11:33am

DeSelby83 wrote: »

Were you playing on the app or the browser? I've definitely found the android app to run better than the browser on my laptop over wireless.

In the browser. Can also try the app but not really mad on playing on my phone

feargantae · 08-05-2021 9:41pm

feargantae wrote: »

Disappointed as to how bad this runs for me. I have Gigabit Internet and get about 300 down on Wifi, and over 900 down on 5G but yet it's barely playable. Something like Sims 4 that doesn't require much response time is okay at best, but aside from that games are unplayable. I'm raging cos I'm a Stadia user playing in 4K and that works a treat.

I won't hold it against Microsoft though as i realise it's a beta, and I'm happy to have been selected in general cos I've only had the Series S/GamePass for a week!

I sideloaded the app to my Chromecast w Google TV and it works flawlessly! Every so often the connection symbol in the top right will show but that's it. Very interesting given how poorly it runs eslwhere for me

feargantae · 26-05-2021 2:56pm

I picked up a Razer Kishi controller for my phone and i have to say it's a gamechanger. xCloud now works amazing, it connects straight to your phone and not via Bluetooth for less latency, even playing the likes of Forza and it feels like it's actually a mini xbox and not just a stream. It's pricey @€;100 but definitely worth it

Now i just need a bigger phone :pac:

XBox Game Pass Cloud Streaming

Comments