Steam Link over VPN [ WORKING WELL ]

[Nuclear Nadal]

I am currently using an EdgeRouter ("ER-X") X running an L2TP/IPSec VPN and I'm able to play SteamLink remotely without much issue. I did this because I don't want to take my computer to my brother's every time we want to play games. I first installed an ASUS Router at his house to run a PPTP VPN. This worked -alright- but the stream would have chops every few seconds. After enough tinkering with this free firmware, I gave up and decided to get something supported by an enterprise organization. Since using the EdgeRouter, I can play any game and it feels like I'm sitting at my computer, although I do reduce the video quality heavily to keep the network connection smooth.

Some notes for those who also want to try this:

I found the $40 ER-X to have higher performance running L2TP/IPSec than the $150 ASUS RT-AC68U running dd-wrt, using any type of VPN (PPTP, OVPN, IPSec).

Configure L2TP/IPSec on the ER-X with the "ball of wax": https://community.ubnt.com/t5/EdgeRouter/EdgeRouter-L2TP-IPSEC-VPN-server/m-p/2200470/highlight/true#M192486

A few notes that the thread doesn't point out, because I assume most of us arent familiar with Ubiquiti:

- Use PuTTY or SSH to access the ER-X : https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=105&v=PP6PJbo3Yak

- Once logged in, type configure and hit enter to enter config mode. You will see the $ change to a #.
Then paste in the ball of wax you copy from that thread, making sure to adjust your pre-shared-key and user/password. You can add more user/passwords by duplicating that line and adjusting appropriately.

- Set up L2TP/IPSec on windows : https://www.softether.org/4-docs/2-howto/9.L2TPIPsec_Setup_Guide_for_SoftEther_VPN_Server/4.Windows_L2TP_Client_Setup

Next, type "commit; save" without quotes.
Viola! The VPN is online and should be operational!

My setup:

The computer running steam is <10 miles from the remote location we're playing from.

Home w steam:
400mbit down / 20mbit up over cable, making an L2TP/IPSec connection to the location where Steam Link is. The system is not set to use the VPN server as the remote gateway

Home w steam link:
50/50 fiber, ER-X is the internet-facing router with the public IP address (critical to this configuration!).


SteamLink reports 0% frame loss, 12.32ms ping, 3.21ms variance.

Hope this helps.

[PuppetMaster]

This should be stickied

[DirtyCamper]

If you make any kind of VPN, you must take two things into account: if you use tcp, your packets will always arrive in order. Either 10ms, or 10s later, doesn't really matter.
If you use udp, well, it is up to the vpn protocol.
That's the transport layer.
If you look into the queueing of the original stream, you also have to take queuing into account.
Do you have a 1000 packet queue, or only the necessary 10?

Second: I wouldn't use dd-wrt. I use openwrt and only on hardware I know that's support it.
In the end, a lot of "enterprise" supported crap is running linux anyway.
About VPN: you could just have used any ordinary ip tunnel to do this. I doubt you need protection for a dedicated route.

[VACU ☬]

Thx Nuclear Nadal. Amazing contribution!

[Xjph]

Remote play has made this guide largely unnecessary, but even at the time of writing it was needlessly complicated. The port forwarding available on most unmodified consumer routers was sufficient, without the extra overhead of a VPN, or requiring third party firmware.