Big picture doesn't change primary display when opened via steam link

[TritoN]

I was able to set big picture to always show up on my third display.

When I open big picture from my PC it adjusts my primary display to my third monitor, as expected. But if I connect to my PC using steam link, it opens big picture on my 3rd display, but it doesn't change this display to be my primary one.

I looked around the internet for a while and I can't find anyone links with this same issue. Not sure if I'm trying to do something unique or maybe it's only a glitch on my system. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

[_I_]

steam normally streams the display/window with focus or the mouse

if you move the mouse to the 3rd display before streaming does it work as intended?
or moving the mouse to the correct display after you begin streaming?

[TritoN]

The streaming works just fine. But here's some more background information about my issue

I have two desk monitors connect to my PC, both are 16:10 but my TV is 16:9. Before I changed any settings with Big Picture, I would connect the steam link to my PC and get these black bars on the sides of my TV because the two screens had different aspect ratios. I recently made a 3rd ghost monitor (not sure if that's what its actually called) with 1080p resolution. Pretty much my PC thinks I have a third monitor as an extension of my desktop. When sitting at my PC, I can't see the 3rd ghost/virtual monitor unless I use a screen recording program that will show me a feed of any monitor I choose. I changed the setting in Big Picture so that it will open in this ghost display. With this work around I'm now able to fill my whole TV with the games I stream from my PC using my steam link.

My issue is that Big Picture opens on the ghost display and switches it to the primary display ONLY when I open it from my PC. But Big Picture won't switch the primary display when opening automatically after I connect my steam link to my PC.

I'm able to get most of my games to open full screen on this 3rd ghost display (which my TV is streaming) but there's one that will only open on the primary display. I know I can move the mouse to refocus which display streams to my TV, but I'm using a controller and my computer is on another floor of the house.

I'd also like it if the games always open on my primary display so that there isn't an issue with games showing up on my ghost display when I am trying to play them while sitting at my PC. If I can get it so that everything always opens on my primary monitor then it'll be perfect for when I'm sitting at my PC and perfect for when the steam link opens Big Picture on my ghost display (as long as the primary display gets switched to this display).

I hope this all makes sense.

[Funereal]

I have the same exact problem. When I launch Steam Link app on my 4K Sony TV, Steam Big Picture will launch on my "Fake 4K display" on my computer. But when I launch a game, the game will launch on my 1440p Display which is my primary display. So Steam Big Picture isn't switch my "Fake 4K Display" to primary display when big picture is launching, even if it is set to do so...

[TritoN]

I couldn't find a fix. I ended up setting things up to work best while playing on my Steam Link and then I just never played these games on my computer any more.

[Funereal]

I contacted Steam Support. They were able to reproduce this bug in their lab. They will be working on a fix.

Here is the Steam Support Answer: https://i.imgur.com/GIusYSB.png

[yEMS]

Did you ever get any update from Steam Support? Just ran into the same issue today...

[Sweep the Leg!]

I figured out a kind of hack-y way to do this, as this is still a problem today. My config incase it helps anyone.

I'm using the Steam-Link Android App,
connecting to a machine running Windows 10 with 2 monitors.
1x ultrawide 3440 x 1440 (primary when sitting at my computer)
1x 1080p 1920 x 1080 (secondary when sitting at my computer)

I want to stream to a 16:9 tv (generally in 1080p) so i want to stream from my secondary monitor, because if i stream from the ultrawide my aspect ratio will be all messed up on the 16:9 tv. Like the other user, the Computer is on the other side of the house, so i don't want to have to run back and forth to setup a game when i want to play.

I've configured big picture to target my 2nd monitor @ 1080p, if i launch big picture from my desktop, it will automatically make my 2nd monitor primary and my ultrawide secondary. When i exit big picture it will revert my ultrawide monitor to the primary monitor. -- this works flawlessly. When i play games sitting at my pc I don't launch them through big screen, so this solution is perfect.

The issue i have is when i connect via steam link and it opens big screen, big screen no longer respects that sitting and does not mark my 1080p monitor as primary. As described above.

My workaround is as follows -

in the Steam Link app on my client device, i've changed the settings to boot into desktop instead of big picture. So when i connect to my PC i'm staring at my desktop (i also only use a controller, so don't have a keyboard or anything) I use the back button on my controller to access the steam-link menu and bring up the virtual controller on screen, and hit the "xbox" button in the center of the virtual controller (if i actually click the xbox button on my physical controller it just brings me to android home) but if i click on the virtual xbox button, it auto starts big screen for me, and this version of big screen DOES reset my monitors.

to exit when i'm done, i need to navigate to the power button in big screen and "close big screen" then i use the same steam link menu from the back button , select the power button in the bottom left, and hit "stop remote play" this effectively leaves my desktop back where it was before i started.

Hopefully this can be fixed before the steam deck stuff ships in the next few months as i feel like its kind of a minor bug and a bit of a pain in the ass work around.