HOW TO: Headless Host - Windows

[vatiquette]

Rig:

Windows 8.1 PC Core i3 4160 + NVidia 750Ti attached to living room TV

Wired network via TP Link AV1200 Powerline

Steamlink + Wireless XBox360 x 2 attached to bedroom TV

Apple Bluetooth Keyboard & Magic Mouse work
PS3 Controller via USB works

Wake up on LAN is configured and works perfectly

Streaming set to beautiful with hardware encoding 1080p with games either at 1080p or 720p

Scenario 1 - PC with TV on

Steam uses NVIFR hardware encoding

Direct X9 games tend to use software encoding
Direct X10/11 games use NVIFR hardware encoding

I enabled the iGPU Intel HD4400 in the BIOS and installed drivers:

Direct X9 games now use Intel QuickSync hardware encoding even though the NVidia 750Ti is doing the rendering

Every game I tested works and is playable

Scenario 2 - PC with TV off

Steam resolution is 1024x768 this appears to be due to no monitor detected however there are registry keys that are easy to change to fix this:

HKLM/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Control/GraphicsDrivers/Configuration/

In here is a series of monitor settings - the ones prefixed SIMULATED have a sub key 00 need their PrimSurfSize.cx set to 1920, .cy to 1080 and Stride to 7680 and a further sub key 00 need their ActiveSize.cx and ActiveSize.cy set to 1920 and 1080 respectively

Everything uses NVFBC hardware encoding

Every game I tested works, extremely well, except GRID which crashes on load and appears to be because it can't find a real monitor. If anyone has a workaround for this that'd be great

[Greg]

You can also enable NVFBC just by flipping the "ShadowPlay" switch in the Geforce Experience software.

Personally I think the NV12 + Quicksync and Game Delayed + QuickSync have far too much latency. I have had better luck either switching NVFBC on or using straight software encoding.

[vatiquette]

NVFBC works 100% of the time when I run headless and is the best performer on average for my setup across my library

Direct X11 + NVIFR is slightly better than NVFBC but I can't do it headless and the whole idea for me is Steamlink to be a headless experience.

I suppose my setup is odd having the PC in my living room and the Steamlink elsewhere.

[vatiquette]

I found the fix for GRID:

"The actual solution is dead simple and this applies to both the steam version and the retail version.

For the steam version head to:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Grid\system

For the reail version head to:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Codemasters\Grid\system

Delete the following xml:

hardware_settings_restrictions

Boot GRID, set your graphic settings, and have fun."

[Greg]

Originally posted by vatiquette:

NVFBC works 100% of the time when I run headless and is the best performer on average for my setup across my library

Direct X11 + NVIFR is slightly better than NVFBC but I can't do it headless and the whole idea for me is Steamlink to be a headless experience.

I suppose my setup is odd having the PC in my living room and the Steamlink elsewhere.

When you say headless, you have absolutely no monitor attached? And it still works?

[vatiquette]

Yes. No monitor attached hence the reg key hacks to get 1080p. My wife was getting tired of me hogging the living room TV :)

[Greg]

Well congrats, I went out and bought an HDMI dongle because I couldn't find a workaround myself.

[vatiquette]

This wouldn't work for me because I only use it headless when I can't use the Living room.

Part of the reason behind this post was to share my findings on the basis I can't be the only one with these challenges

[Greg]

I was actually searching for this post because I was going to try it myself but I couldn't find it at all. I think it's because of the title of the post. It might be worth reposting the monitor information in a new thread named "HOWTO: Headless Host PC" or something like that.

[vatiquette]

Done - now some links to the hardware route and we're done

[Greg]

Awesome. Out of curiosity, before I start cawling behind my TV to get to my host PC. Do you have any idea if this fix works with the new NVENC encoder? I really hate NVFBC with a fiery passion

[vatiquette]

I'm running beta 386 and it is doing NVFBC and Intel QuickSync. I've never seen NVENC in testing.

I'm currently streaming 720p Beautiful with Intel QuickSync and despite the slight latency increase its the best experience I've had.

I get:
Game D3D9 threaded + Intel QuickSync
Game D3D10/11 polling + Intel QuickSync

I've also had RGB with DX8 (postal 2)

NVIFR is probably the best but I simply never get it when I run headless.

I belive the SIMULATED monitor reg keys are created when Windows doesn't see a monitor.

[Greg]

I believe NVFBC takes precedence over NVENC. If you turned it off it should use it, though I wouldn't mess with your setup if it's working fine.

[vatiquette]

I figure I don't see NVENC for the same reason I don't see NVIFR - headless side effect. When opportunity presents itself I will do a non-headless stream.

[vatiquette]

I'm on beta 388 and I get NVFBC NV12 + NVENC headless/non headless and it's very good.

I need to compare the experience using QuickSync. At the moment, based on limited testing, NVENC is as smooth as QuickSync but with lower latency.

[NonDescript]

@vatiquette - I'm trying to understand your original instructions, but I'm not sure and I don't want to b0rk things

you state - "In here is a series of monitor settings - the ones prefixed SIMULATED have a sub key 00"

Are you saying that the simulated profiles/settings are the once that only have a 00 sub-folder?

I see a lot of profiles in there, but none of them are prefixed "SIMULATED"