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No really, my shitbox Dell at work can run Crysis, served up by my home computer 15 miles away: What is Steam In-Home Streaming? http://store.steampowered.com/streaming/ It is a new feature of Steam, freshly out of beta. Essentially, it allows you to turn any dinky computer that can run Steam into a thin client, so that it can stream games from a different, potentially more powerful PC. The client sends mouse/keyboard/controller input, and the server sends audio and video. Decoding audio/video can be done on many older PCs with ease, so your forgotten equipment can be put back into use. How does it work? Just have two or more computers on the same LAN, all logged into the same Steam account. In the menu, go to Steam -> Settings -> In-Home Streaming -> Check the "Enable streaming" box (you can also tweak bandwidth settings here). Now all PCs can stream games installed on others. Why would I do this? There are many use cases for this: 1) You could stream your MMORPG to a cheap laptop, so that you could play on the toilet instead of poopsocking. 2) You can stream Windows-only games onto Mac, Linux, and Steam-OS. You don't have to waste time re-configuring settings either. 3) You don't have to re-download games to stream them; they only have to be installed on the original PC. Now that SSD you splurged on can pull double-duty. 4) You could have your loud-as-gently caress,  rig in a cool, isolated environment like your basement, and stream to a quiet, energy-efficient laptop or ultra-small-form-factor desktop upstairs.5) You could enable your friends/mate/etc. to play games at the living room TV, instead of cramming around your desk. Out-Of-Home Streaming? What's this rigmarole? Well, I made that name up just now. If you can use a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to trick a remote PC into thinking it is on the same Local Area Network (LAN), the other PCs will appear on the Steam In-Home Streaming list and their libraries will be available to stream. You could play high-end games from your blingy home PC at a friend's house, or at work. That sounds complicated... It can be pretty  , but it doesn't have to! It was when I was first trying to get it to work via specialized Cisco routing hardware, and/or Open VPN software. Thankfully, I discovered a Windows/Linux program called "LogMeIn Hamachi" which is as easy as installing it on each machine, then creating a network name and password and entering that into each installation. Hamachi does all the fancy configuration behind the scenes, and you get a low-latency, secure virtual LAN.https://secure.logmein.com/products/hamachi/ Valve probably doesn't enable this themselves because it would be completely broken for the end-user unless they plan for it or luck out with the involved ISPs. Even then, things can go wrong. That sounds laggy... The quality of your streaming experience depends on two factors, bandwidth and ping. The higher the bandwidth, the higher the clarity of the display you receive. Lower bandwidth may require lower resolutions, and may involve more compression artifacts (think like on a very compressed JPEG). In-home, you can increase bandwidth by using a wired Ethernet connection (100-base-t or Gigabit Ethernet is ideal) or Wireless-N routers and receivers. Out-of-home, you will want the server's Upload speeds to be as high as possible, and the client's Download speeds to at least match. In my screenshot above, my server has 10mbps up, and the client has over 10mbps down. The lower the ping, the more responsive your controls will be, and the less lag there will be until the frames reach you eyes. Severe lag can leave realtime games unplayable, but many turn-based games are fine if they don't depend on time-sensitive input. In-home, unless you hosed something up, lag should be completely or nearly imperceptible. Out-of-home, lag can be terrible when you involve long distances (across states/countries) or across different ISPs. Thankfully here in Massachusetts, glorious Comcast holds a near monopoly so all of my friends are on Comcast cable modems and the display ping never tops 50 milliseconds (a fraction of an eye blink). Have a look at the stats on my screenshot if you are a nerd, and you'll see that Out-of-home streaming can be a sweet experience. Disclaimer: Everything goes out the window when World cup streaming is involved. Tips and tricks: - Even though Steam's streaming is out of beta, things are still broken. A few games will not send Xbox controller input back to the original PC for example. - If you are streaming out of home, some ISPs will wonder what the gently caress you're doing to be using so much bandwidth. If you're using this every day you might hit some kind of cap. At least if they are suspicious, you can explain that your use is indeed legit. Your traffic is encrypted so the ISP can't prove anything one way or the other. - You can add non-Steam games, and programs, to stream them! If you add Notepad.exe, stream it, and press F1, it is a ghetto way to stream your desktop. The desktop can stream at 60 frames a second, much faster than Windows built-in Remote Desktop Connection, making it ideal for say... streaming porn? - While streaming, the original PC is locked, and the display is mirrored. You might want to turn the monitor off to save energy. - With out-of-home streaming, you might have Steam tell you that "The remote computer is locked". This can happen if you use windows Remote Desktop Connection to the server, and it is because the Console session is locked even though the RDP session is unlocked. You can sidestep this by using VNC, or running the command "%windir%\System32\tscon.exe %sessionname% /dest:console" from a prompt or batch file to kick yourself out of the RDP and unlock the console session. - You might want to Google about how to set up your server PC for "Wake on LAN", "Boot automatically after power loss" and/or VNC, as these will make it easier to administrate your server remotely, saving your fat rear end a trip up the stairs or a drive back to your house. - LogMeIn Hamachi, while easy to use, has some restrictions on the free version. Namely, it only works with 5 users max on one network, and more obnoxiously it will close itself if you end a RDP Connection. By using VNC instead of RDP, I believe you can avoid that. Alternatively, you could purchase Hamachi for $30 a year, which can be worth it just for zero-configuration secure remote access to any of your computers. Does this really need its own thread? Probably, as it will only become more popular as people figure out how to do it and we get more enabling tech like Google Fiber. Use the thread for discussion and troubleshooting. Steam Streaming involves multiple disciplines including software, hardware, and advanced networking. Recommend games for the latency challenged. This is some trailblazing poo poo, so let's work together to see if we can figure out new ways to use In-Home streaming, such as within virtual machines or with one-click Open VPN configuration scripts. Sky is the limit!  TROUBLESHOOTING At a minumum, tell us the OS of your host PC, what you are streaming to, and whether you are using Wired or Wireless to network them. If possible you should try ethernet to rule out Wifi issues before you post for help. Zero VGS fucked around with this message at 02:07 on Jul 1, 2014 |
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Jun 26, 2014 18:06
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All this poo poo isn't crazy enough. What else can I Steam-Stream with? You asked for it. If you have an Nvidia 600 series or newer card, you can use a program called Limelight to piggyback on "Nvidia Gamestream", which is meant for streaming to the Nvidia Shield handheld device, to stream to Android, iOS (in development), and Raspberry Pi (a $30-ish handheld PC). Here are the relevant links: Hamachi for Android and iOS: http://blog.logmein.com/products/hamachi-mobile-for-ios-and-android-is-now-in-beta Hamachi for Raspberry Pi: http://lifehacker.com/5978098/turn-a-raspberry-pi-into-a-personal-vpn-for-secure-browsing-anywhere-you-go Limelight: http://limelight-stream.com/ Zero VGS fucked around with this message at 20:50 on Jun 26, 2014 |
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Jun 26, 2014 18:06
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ajgrkwelrawefawe oh sorry i fell asleep reading the op of this thread and my head hit the keyboard haha
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Jun 26, 2014 18:07
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Playing contemporary just-launched PC games on my three year old Mac mini streamed from my gaming rig in the basement was an eye-opening experience for me. I feel like I'm finally living the dream: using a Mac desktop day-to-day, and still being able to play whatever games I want without any compatibility or platform concerns. To be fair, everything is on the same gigabit wired LAN, but man-- it's everything I ever wanted. I can hide my ugly gaming PC in a closet, I don't even have a monitor connected to it. I don't have to use Windows. More than anything else, I think Steam streaming is a real boon to Mac users. All I need now is a cheap steambox HTPC so I can start streaming to my living room and I can toss my Xbox too.
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Jun 26, 2014 18:10
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mick foley forever posted:ajgrkwelrawefawe oh sorry i fell asleep reading the op of this thread and my head hit the keyboard haha Sorry, I had a big posting load saved up over the past few days.
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Jun 26, 2014 18:19
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I can confirm that this works wonderfully over 5GHz Wireless N ( rig streaming to MacbookPro via a Time Machine).
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Jun 28, 2014 06:19
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In-home works well for me in home as far as graphics are concerned, but my inputs lag by as much as a third of a second. Makes playing stuff like Wolfenstein utterly impossible. Everything's wired by gigabit ethernet right into the router, so I dunno what the hell anymore.  I've tried it on a couple clients, one being my former PC gaming rig and the other being a Zotac something or other that can barely even run the Plex client  . Same good framerate, but same lovely input lag.
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Jun 28, 2014 06:54
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Something I've just discovered is that if I use my old gaming rig as the host, and either of the other machines in the house as the client, it works fine with virtually zero input lag.  I don't have a third PC handy to try as the host, but could that mean something is wrong with my original host? I'm confused
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Jun 28, 2014 19:20
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I have a similar problem. I'm streaming to a NUC PC in my living room through gigabit LAN also. I tried playing a few games but the lag was terrible. Graphics and framerate were otherwise okay but it was unplayable for the majority of games.
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Jun 28, 2014 19:26
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Having trouble with lovely mouse wheel response, if any. Anyone else?
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Jun 29, 2014 03:05
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Ciaphas posted:Something I've just discovered is that if I use my old gaming rig as the host, and either of the other machines in the house as the client, it works fine with virtually zero input lag. Maybe try turning off Windows Firewall and any other Firewall/Antivirus programs temporarily? AlternateAccount posted:Having trouble with lovely mouse wheel response, if any. Anyone else? If I had to make a wild guess, maybe you have one of those really high resolution mouse wheels that scroll smoothly? I have a chunky "click-click" mouse wheel that settles into a groove every 15 degrees, so it would probably send out a very clear "scroll up" or "scroll down" input. If you have an expensive mouse, the wheel might be flooding Windows with hundred of inputs, which might be handled fine locally, but when sent over time-sensitive UDP broadcast packets, a tiny bit of lag could make them receive out of order or flood a buffer or something.
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Jun 29, 2014 03:20
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Zero VGS posted:Maybe try turning off Windows Firewall and any other Firewall/Antivirus programs temporarily? Didn't seem to help (turning off Firewall, anyway; don't have any AV). I'm bored enough to try fixing it via nuking and reinstalling Windows, so we'll see about that.
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Jun 29, 2014 04:00
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Can I reduce input lag if I arrange to have my gamepad connected to the host pc, rather than send the input remotely?
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Jun 29, 2014 04:23
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Maxwell Adams posted:Can I reduce input lag if I arrange to have my gamepad connected to the host pc, rather than send the input remotely? Pretty sure that would make input instant, but remember that you can't run USB for more than about fifteen feet without needing an expensive active repeater to reduce electrical crosstalk.
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Jun 29, 2014 14:43
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Ciaphas posted:Didn't seem to help (turning off Firewall, anyway; don't have any AV). I'm bored enough to try fixing it via nuking and reinstalling Windows, so we'll see about that. In the stats you get by pressing F6, how many milliseconds does it actually peg input lag at? Maybe instead of the hassle of reinstalling Windows, you could make a new partition and install Steam OS, performance is supposed to be slightly better on that anyway.
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Jun 29, 2014 14:46
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Zero VGS posted:In the stats you get by pressing F6, how many milliseconds does it actually peg input lag at? Maybe instead of the hassle of reinstalling Windows, you could make a new partition and install Steam OS, performance is supposed to be slightly better on that anyway. The highest I've ever seen it is 20-30 ms. Not sure if that'd be noticeable, but it's certainly a lot less than the 1/3 second I'm actually observing. As for SteamOS I don't think most of my games would run in Linux anyway, so that'd be a bit of a pyrrhic victory Maybe I'll try it anyway.
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Jun 29, 2014 16:44
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Maybe try swapping monitors around. Older LCD and flat screen TVs without a "game mode" can introduce display lag that could be interpreted as input lag.
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Jun 29, 2014 17:04
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Could this be a way for my dad to play Civ on his really old computer while I'm still using my own rig, or does enabling the streaming lock me out of the streamer-PC?
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Jun 29, 2014 17:51
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gradenko_2000 posted:Could this be a way for my dad to play Civ on his really old computer while I'm still using my own rig, or does enabling the streaming lock me out of the streamer-PC? Locks you out.
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Jun 29, 2014 17:51
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gradenko_2000 posted:Could this be a way for my dad to play Civ on his really old computer while I'm still using my own rig, or does enabling the streaming lock me out of the streamer-PC? Well, you didn't specify *which* Civ. I'm pretty sure if he'll settle for Civ 2 (the best one if you ask me) his PC would likely run it. Another option, and someone else might want to chime in because I haven't tried it, is that you could set up your main PC for Remote Desktop Connection and have him log in as a separate user. It might then be possible to run the game windowed. It wouldn't be particularly responsive, but Civ games are turn-based so it may be playable.
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Jun 30, 2014 22:31
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I've been using this on and off for a little while now. I can't get 1080p to work over my home network, the 30fps setting is gone for some reason and when it tries to stream 1080p60 the response time goes from 50ms to like 450, it's weird. I dunno how to fix it.
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Jun 30, 2014 22:44
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I know I am kind of a niche case but... I have an old Core 2 Quad system that I put an Nvidia GTX 750 TI in for my gaming system. My system was not up to snuff to stream most games with out massive slow down. The most resent Steam beta added support for Nvidia Shadowplay encoding if you use the most resent Nv beta drivers. Just like that I can now stream games at full frame rate and super low latency. Not sure if Nvidia HD encoding is better than the Intel encoding built in to their newer chips. I am not sure which Steam will prefer, but I thought the improvement was pretty cool.
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Jul 1, 2014 22:50
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Lowen SoDium posted:I know I am kind of a niche case but... Are you referring to the "Enable hardware encoding" checkbox? That is in the normal Steam client, it is not exclusive to the Beta client. It is unchecked by default though, I believe. I'm also not sure if it is only for Nvidia or if it can run on AMD as well. I think it runs on both. Edit: Back on March 17th was when In Home Streaming got Intel Quicksync acceleration. Zero VGS fucked around with this message at 00:20 on Jul 2, 2014 |
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Jul 1, 2014 23:05
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Zero VGS posted:Are you referring to the "Enable hardware encoding" checkbox? That is in the normal Steam client, it is not exclusive to the Beta client. It is unchecked by default though, I believe. As my post said, the most recent Steam beta added support for Nvidia hardware encoding. quote:
Also, as I stated, my computer has an older Core 2 Quad CPU which doesn't support Intel Quick Sync, so this Nvidia support mode a HUGE difference for me.
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Jul 3, 2014 19:17
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I'm just trying to keep all my information straight, because still with the newest Steam beta, the checkbox simply says "Enable hardware encoding" but it doesn't actually tell you if it is using Intel/AMD/Nvidia when you check it off. If it wasn't for that patch note, I'd have already assumed the Nvenc was working.
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Jul 3, 2014 19:23
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From the latest update on in-home streaming (September 3)quote:
I have noticed that the host option for "Enable hardware encoding" is now available for me (I have an 7950 AMD card) and I enabled it (catalyst drivers 14.9 stable). Was it there before for other AMD cards? Anyway, I've checked it now. I am using a LAN cable (haven't tested over wireless yet with hardware encoding and latest catalyst) connection to my router and so far the experience has been very smooth (tried XCOM EW, Alan Wake, Psychonauts). I still get the notification "Slow capture" when streaming games. I think it's a host related issue, but I have no clue as what would help to fix it. Maybe lower the game's resolution on the host? Wireless experience, before hardware encoding at least, was a bit glitchy and tended to freeze when the screen was filled with a single color (eg fade to white transitions), or when looking towards (and in very close proxity to) a wall in Portal or QUBE.
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Oct 1, 2014 12:31
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