Stream Windows store/Xbox games without stuttering?

[ObviousMan771]

My graphics card came with an Xbox game pass membership, and with Halo Infinite coming out I'd like to play the campaign on my big TV instead of in my office where my desktop is located. I've tested out the both the Steam and Windows store versions of the multiplayer, and the Steam version streams flawlessly, but the Windows store version stutters like crazy over the SteamLink and isn't playable even though both run great locally. I've tried adding the Windows store version to Steam through glosc, as well as just launching it from the desktop through the steam link but I haven't had any success. I also tried the same thing with Forza Horizon 5 and I have the same issue, so it's not game specific. Has anyone had any success streaming something from the Windows store?

Thanks!

System:
Ryzen 7 1700 @3.7GHz
Radeon 6800XT
16GB DDR4 @2933MHz
Desktop and SteamLink both hard wired to the router

[Mary-Jane Rottencrotch]

@ObviousMan771 - Are you on the Steam Link beta or public version? What resolution are you running at? What frame rate does the Steam Link details overlay report whilst playing? I can then compare with my system and Steam Link devices.

I'm installing Halo Infinite now through the Xbox app and then I'll also install through Steam. I can then see if I run into any issues on my Raspberry Pi 4/Steam Link hardware/Samsung TV. My desktop hardware is not as recent as yours so if I'm OK, you shouldn't be having issues.

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 1600X @3.2GHz
GPU: AMD Radeon RX 580 4GB x2
Memory: 16GB DDR4 @2666MHz

[_I_]

his encode times look fine
only thing is the AvgClientBitrate, 30 is low

one other thing to check
steam -> settings -> remote play -> advanced client options
limit bandwidth to unlimited
and tick hardware decoding
for some reason those effect both steam desktop hosting and as a client

[Mary-Jane Rottencrotch]

If they are only streaming at 1080 then the 30Mbit link speed currently set should be fine.

As ObviousMan can already stream from the host with excellent quality in all other games apart from the Microsoft Store versions, we know there isn't a network issue. We also know there isn't a slow convert issue. It appears to be that a different encoder is used for the Microsoft Store versions, this is what we are looking to resolve.

They have tried both software and hardware encoding and found that software seems to do a better job for quality. Software encoding will be best when playing games that are very GPU demanding but not CPU. For me, using hardware decoding sends one of my GPU's to 40-50% when just streaming the desktop. It only uses 18% when using software encoding (4 threads). My CPU goes up by about 3-5% when using software encoding, so no impact really.

The Microsoft Store version of Halo Infinite has finished downloading so now I just need to wait for the Steam version to finish and I can start comparing and see what differences I get.

[_I_]

thats bits not Bytes, = about 3mB/s not enough for a good image at 1080p
mine was showing 100mb/s = 10mB/s for streaming desktop with nothing going on
8 bits per byte, and you add start/stop bits when transferred

[Mary-Jane Rottencrotch]

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από _I_:

thats bits not Bytes, = about 3mB/s not enough for a good image at 1080p
mine was showing 100mb/s = 10mB/s for streaming desktop with nothing going on
8 bits per byte, and you add start/stop bits when transferred

The bandwidth limit is set to 30000 as detailed in the streaming log.

*EDIT*
I now realise I thought I was looking at the streaming bitrate and that obviously isn't it.

[_I_]

im at a loss, unless its dx12 titles

streaming k/m will work fine in non steam games, only issue is multimon setups moving the mouse between displays

but controllers need to be added to steam as non steam game to work

[Mary-Jane Rottencrotch]

So, the Steam version gets the D3D11 NV12 encoder whereas the Microsoft Store version stays on Desktop DWM NV12. I guess Valve need to change the detection methods so that the right encoder is used. I doubt we can force the selection in any way. I assume the Microsoft Store version is a UWP app and that may throw up issues on detecting what is a fullscreen game and what is just the calculator app. I don't know.

With default medium settings at a resolution of 1080; max fps 60; min fps 30; no Vsync;
Steam Version I get on average and pretty consistent 50fps and uses the D3D11 NV12 encoder. As this is polled it should be acurate.
Microsoft Store version I get an average of 32fps with DWM NV12 encoder. As this isn't polled who knows what frame rate the game is running at.

@ObviousMan771 - I assume you're OK using the Steam version instead for the campaign as you sign into your Microsoft account or does the campaign require you to use the Microsoft Store version?

[ObviousMan771]

Thanks for all the replies! Unfortunately I couldn't reply at work today, but I'll try to answer all the questions you posed:

- I'm not on beta, my SteamLink is running the latest standard release. (I've tried streaming to my phone and I see the exact same issues there as well, also not on beta)

- I have a 1440p monitor on my computer, but obviously the SteamLink is limited to 1080p. I leave my games at 1440p and I don't have any trouble except with the Windows store games. I have tried lowering my monitor resolution as well as just the game resolution to 1080p but that hasn't helped.

- The performance overlay always shows 60fps capture when streaming the Windows store games, even though they stutter like crazy. This makes sense since they are running great locally. The graph even looks fine, it just feels terrible to play.

- I have experimented with the bitrate, haven't noticed any differences between auto and unlimited.

- For Halo Infinite I've been playing at 1440p high settings, I get 80-100fps locally. When I stream I've tried both leaving the frame rate unlimited, and also locking it to 60 via the in game settings. Either way it plays silky smooth locally, just the stream looks terrible.

- Unfortunately I doubt that my game pass membership will work to unlock the campaign in the Steam version... You do log in to Xbox on either storefront, but I think that's just for progression and achievements, not for verifying ownership. I will certainly try it in a couple days when the campaign releases, but I believe it will lock the campaign to the Windows store version. The only reason I've been able to test all of this is because the multiplayer is free on both Steam and Windows store.

Honestly, Halo is probably my favorite game series so I don't mind buying the Steam version to solve the problem. But I would still really love to figure this out!

Thanks!

[Mary-Jane Rottencrotch]

I had nothing to do yesterday so thought I'd at least try and confirm the issue. At least we know it is the Microsoft Store games that are the problem. I was curious to see myself because although I have the Game Pass I don't actually play their games on my PC. After a little searching yesterday I think this may have been a long standing issue and is why I don't think there is anything simple for Valve to do.

I'm hopeful the campaign will be available to you but you never know.

[ObviousMan771]

Thanks for checking that for me. Yes I think it's a general issue that Steam needs to fix, although there's very little incentive for them to optimize game pass games for streaming... I also checked if my game pass membership would unlock the campaign on Steam today, and no luck. The campaign is a dlc download...

Thanks again!

[Avatar]

Hi, did you give a shot to launch the game through UWPHook?

It's uses a different (although more limited) approach. Try with no compromise to figure if the game encoder will be used instead the desktop one.

If works than look for x360ce to be able to use uhphook+link+controller

[Onorio_1981]

Sorry for my English
I have a similar problem.
I have been using steam link via the app on my Samsung TV for a long time now without ever having any problems with Steam, Epic, Origin or Uplay games (at 1080p 60 fps). I managed to add gamepass games through GlosC and everything works but I have an FPS problem. For example, if I use Doom (steam version) on the server pc without steam link I have over 100 fps. If I use steam link the FPS counter in game and the FPS counter of steam link indicates 60 fps (so they are synchronized). When I start a gamepass game on the server PC it doesn't give fluidity problems, but via steam link it gives some stuttering problems and the FPS are not synchronized. For example I set the FPS in Forza Horizon to 30 (in game options) steam link it tells me 47-60 fps. On the PC server it starts up smoothly (and the FPS counter in game shows 30 fps) on the client with steam link there is micro stuttering.
I think is this the problem, that there is no syncronization from game pass to steam link fps

PS
If you have any problem to add game with Glosc, you can create a shortcut with playnite and then add the shortcut to Glosc

[Mary-Jane Rottencrotch]

From what I understand (I could be very wrong) is that the Microsoft Store games are contained within a UWP application wrapper that outputs its video to the Desktop Window Manager (DWM). I assume all the outputs from things such as Direct3D are buffered to the UWP window buffer and then presented by DWM to the screen.

If @slouken is reading, are you able to provide any answer to the issues surrounding Microsoft Store games?

*EDIT*
I'd just like to note that as Steam Link is primarily developed for streaming the Steam library, I wouldn't expect this issue to fall under any commitment from Valve in terms of support. If they did look into it, it would be going above and beyond in my expectations.

[Onorio_1981]

I don't know if the problem is generated by glosC or if the problem is instead gamepass games. But I don't find any other way to use steam overlay

I see that the new project GlosSI contains a D3Dcompiler.dll (doesn't contain in GlosC).

Maybe works better?

[Onorio_1981]

I don't know if this works (the guide talk about remote desktop protocol, I don't know if steam link use this protocol with UWP games)
https://github.com/MicrosoftDocs/SupportArticles-docs/blob/main/support/windows-server/remote/frame-rate-limited-to-30-fps.md

To work around the issue, create a DWMFRAMEINTERVAL entry in registry subkey HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server\WinStations to change the maximum frame rate limit on the remote session host. To do this, follow these steps:

Start Registry Editor.

Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server\WinStations

On the Edit menu, click New, and then click DWORD(32-bit) Value.

Type DWMFRAMEINTERVAL, and then press Enter.

Right-click DWMFRAMEINTERVAL, click Modify.

Click Decimal, type 15 in the Value data box, and then click OK. This sets the maximum frame rate to 60 frames per second (FPS).

[!NOTE] This registry entry sets the maximum frame rate limit that the remote display protocol can deliver to the remote session client. This setting does not set the actual frame rate for the remote session client. The actual frame rate in the remote session depends on other factors such as application and computer hardware resources. Additionally, not all remote display protocols support a frame rate that is greater than 30 FPS. For example, Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) limits the frame rate to 30 FPS. Please contact the remote display protocol providers for more information.

Exit Registry Editor, and then restart the computer.

Is a possible solution?

I tried GlosSI but it's in very very preview and doesn't work well