Moonlight Game Streaming

[aicom]

Starting with Moonlight PC v0.10.0, Steam Link is an officially supported platform, and we will be publishing SL app bundles for each new release going forward.

There are some known issues:
- If Moonlight suddenly won't start, make sure you have Moonlight v1.2.1 which is compatible with Steam Link firmware 750 and later.
- Performance on WiFi may be poor with 20 Mbps bitrate and surround sound enabled due to a CPU bottleneck. Ethernet is not impacted.
- If your PC isn't discovered automatically, you will need a physical keyboard to type the IP address manually

Gamepad shortcuts:
- Start (press and hold) - Toggle mouse mode
- Start+Select+L1+R1 - Quit session
- Start - Open settings UI (when not streaming)

Settings UI gamepad controls:
- Up/Down - Next/Previous setting
- A - Toggle checkbox/Open combobox

The Steam Link ZIP is packaged with the full folder hierarchy intact (steamlink/apps/moonlight), so it should be extracted to the root of the flash drive to work correctly.

Downloads (including Steam Link builds): https://github.com/moonlight-stream/moonlight-qt/releases
Source code: https://github.com/moonlight-stream/moonlight-qt

I'm relatively new to Steam Link ports, so any feedback on improving the port is welcome. Of course, we also take pull requests if you'd like to contribute code.

[Matt]

Awesome! I'll try this tonight if I can get the TV!. In theory this should mean on Nvidia cards DirectX 12 games should be smoother than using Steam IHS, I might have to test that. Thanks for the work you've done on Moonlight.

[ラウル]

Wow, really didnt expected that on 2019, ty for your work!
Now add support for AMD <3

[Peppa Pig]

I had a go with it. It works nice with the default settings (10 Mb/s, 720p). Really nice input lag.
Whenever I go higher than this it gets laggy and there are a few screen artifacts.

[Caio Russi]

I'm testing this build, working fine at 1080p 60 fps at 15~16Mbps, but it's not the best image quality, I'm used to 30Mbps on Steam Link (software 8 threads), but it's acceptable. If I try more than this I have sound issues, artifacts and stutters. I'm testing with Forza Horizon 4.

I tried to change to software encode and HEVC, doesn't work, I can only use hardware and h264. Can some update fix it?

PC specs: R7 1700 @ 3,8GHz, 2x8GB DDR4 2933MHz, GTX 1070 Gaming X and Gigabit Ethernet connection.

[aicom]

Escrito originalmente por Peppa Pig:

I had a go with it. It works nice with the default settings (10 Mb/s, 720p). Really nice input lag.
Whenever I go higher than this it gets laggy and there are a few screen artifacts.

Thanks for the reports of issues at 1080p. The problem was a CPU bottleneck causing frame drops.

I spent a couple days profiling, debugging, and optimizing Moonlight to reduce the CPU usage to avoid hitting the limitations of the Steam Link's single core CPU. It's a pretty tight fit, especially since there's another process (PE_Single_CPU) that uses a bunch of CPU too.

I released Moonlight v0.10.1 today containing these new optimizations which should address the issue. I just played a couple hours of F1 2018 at 1080p 30 Mbps on the Steam Link with Moonlight without noticeable issues.

Escrito originalmente por Caio Russi:

I'm testing this build, working fine at 1080p 60 fps at 15~16Mbps, but it's not the best image quality, I'm used to 30Mbps on Steam Link (software 8 threads), but it's acceptable. If I try more than this I have sound issues, artifacts and stutters. I'm testing with Forza Horizon 4.

I tried to change to software encode and HEVC, doesn't work, I can only use hardware and h264. Can some update fix it?

PC specs: R7 1700 @ 3,8GHz, 2x8GB DDR4 2933MHz, GTX 1070 Gaming X and Gigabit Ethernet connection.

The decoder and codec options are client-side decoding options, not server-side encoding options.

The Steam Link hardware doesn't support HEVC decoding (only H.264), so that's not expected to work. I'm not sure why the software decoder doesn't work, but the Steam Link is already borderline on CPU usage when taking advantage of hardware acceleration, so I would expect software decoding to be a slideshow even if it did work.

[Caio Russi]

Thanks for your hard work and attention, aicom! I'll try this new version! ;)

EDIT: tried the new version (0.10.1) and I'm still having the same issues, tried the "factory reset" on my Steam Lin and reinstalled the Moonlight app and nothing, I can't play with 1080p 15~16Mbps+ without issues, using 20 Mbps it's almost impossible, still freezing all the way.

[Peppa Pig]

Thank you Mr Aicom. On a sidenote, do you think getting the raspberry for moonlight a good choice? How does it stack up against the Steamlink hardware?

[aicom]

Escrito originalmente por Caio Russi:

Thanks for your hard work and attention, aicom! I'll try this new version! ;)

EDIT: tried the new version (0.10.1) and I'm still having the same issues, tried the "factory reset" on my Steam Lin and reinstalled the Moonlight app and nothing, I can't play with 1080p 15~16Mbps+ without issues, using 20 Mbps it's almost impossible, still freezing all the way.

Hmm, can you describe more about your exact setup? I'm using a Steam Link connected via Ethernet and a wired Xbox One controller. I'm streaming 1080p 60 FPS at 30 Mbps with stereo audio.

Just to make sure I wasn't going crazy, I downloaded the zip directly from GitHub and extracted it to my flash drive, and it still worked well like in my testing a few days back.

Is your Steam Link on WiFi? Are you using stereo or 5.1 audio in Moonlight?

If you have SSH enabled on your Steam Link, can you fetch /tmp/moonlight.log after streaming?

Escrito originalmente por Peppa Pig:

Thank you Mr Aicom. On a sidenote, do you think getting the raspberry for moonlight a good choice? How does it stack up against the Steamlink hardware?

The Pi 3 hardware is significantly ahead of the Steam Link in terms of CPU power. There is an embedded version of Moonlight that works on devices like the Pi and other single-board computers, but it's not as plug-and-play as Moonlight for the Steam Link.

I would say that if you're into tweaking stuff, you might want to pick the Pi. It's more flexible and can run other applications and software like RetroPie in addition to streaming. If you're looking for a simple experience for just streaming, the Steam Link is a good option (if you can find one).

[Caio Russi]

Escrito originalmente por aicom:

Escrito originalmente por Caio Russi:

Thanks for your hard work and attention, aicom! I'll try this new version! ;)

EDIT: tried the new version (0.10.1) and I'm still having the same issues, tried the "factory reset" on my Steam Lin and reinstalled the Moonlight app and nothing, I can't play with 1080p 15~16Mbps+ without issues, using 20 Mbps it's almost impossible, still freezing all the way.

Hmm, can you describe more about your exact setup? I'm using a Steam Link connected via Ethernet and a wired Xbox One controller. I'm streaming 1080p 60 FPS at 30 Mbps with stereo audio.

Just to make sure I wasn't going crazy, I downloaded the zip directly from GitHub and extracted it to my flash drive, and it still worked well like in my testing a few days back.

Is your Steam Link on WiFi? Are you using stereo or 5.1 audio in Moonlight?

If you have SSH enabled on your Steam Link, can you fetch /tmp/moonlight.log after streaming?

Escrito originalmente por Peppa Pig:

Thank you Mr Aicom. On a sidenote, do you think getting the raspberry for moonlight a good choice? How does it stack up against the Steamlink hardware?

The Pi 3 hardware is significantly ahead of the Steam Link in terms of CPU power. There is an embedded version of Moonlight that works on devices like the Pi and other single-board computers, but it's not as plug-and-play as Moonlight for the Steam Link.

I would say that if you're into tweaking stuff, you might want to pick the Pi. It's more flexible and can run other applications and software like RetroPie in addition to streaming. If you're looking for a simple experience for just streaming, the Steam Link is a good option (if you can find one).

I'm using a Steam Link connected via ethernet and wireless PS4 controller. I'm trying to stream 1080p 60 fps at 20Mbps with all default options, don't know if it's stereo or 5.1 on Moonlight, but is stereo on Steam Link settings.

Sorry, but I don't know what is SSH and how to enable it.

I'll try to see this audio option and play with a wired controller to see if it changes something.

[Caio Russi]

Tried using a XBox One S and a PS4 wired controllers, nothing changed. Sound setting is on stereo by default, still impossible to play with 16+ Mbps. =/

[Peppa Pig]

Escrito originalmente por aicom:

Escrito originalmente por Caio Russi:

Thanks for your hard work and attention, aicom! I'll try this new version! ;)

I would say that if you're into tweaking stuff, you might want to pick the Pi. It's more flexible and can run other applications and software like RetroPie in addition to streaming. If you're looking for a simple experience for just streaming, the Steam Link is a good option (if you can find one).

Thank you

[aicom]

Escrito originalmente por Caio Russi:

Tried using a XBox One S and a PS4 wired controllers, nothing changed. Sound setting is on stereo by default, still impossible to play with 16+ Mbps. =/

Are you on WiFi or Ethernet? I'm on Ethernet here.

Can you post the last line of the \steamlink\apps\moonlight\moonlight.sh file on your flash drive just to make sure the version is correct?

[Caio Russi]

Escrito originalmente por aicom:

Escrito originalmente por Caio Russi:

Tried using a XBox One S and a PS4 wired controllers, nothing changed. Sound setting is on stereo by default, still impossible to play with 16+ Mbps. =/

Are you on WiFi or Ethernet? I'm on Ethernet here.

Can you post the last line of the \steamlink\apps\moonlight\moonlight.sh file on your flash drive just to make sure the version is correct?

Using Ethernet, works perfectly on Steam Link using 30Mbps+.

Last line: exec nice -n -10 ./bin/moonlight > /tmp/moonlight.log

[fullmetalN.O.]

Just tested 0.10.1 on my Steam Link, and everything works perfectly except for audio.

I noticed a significant amount of audio lag in some games I stream. In my experience, it starts out fine like normal, but starts to worsen as I keep playing, and it stays that way until I restart the game.

This problem also comes up randomly. For example, if I stream Yakuza 0 or Resident Evil 2, there's zero audio problems. But if I stream Lethal League Blaze or A Hat in Time, problems start coming up. I've tested playing in both 1080p and 720p, different Mbps, and tried activating/deactivating VSync, but no luck.

The problem only seems to go away when streaming at 30fps. I use Wi-Fi on my Steam Link, so I thought maybe that's the reason, but then again gameplay is perfectly fine and there's minimal input lag.

Is there a fix to this or could it be an issue with Moonlight? Thanks for your hard work and interacting with the community!

[bg^]

Just tested v0.10.1 on Stable branch of steamlink and all works great in games. 5.1 audio mode, 1080p60 ethernet through 2x powerline adapters. Zero hitches or hiccups. Also notice the mouse input lag is much improved and feels great in comparison to native steamlink mode.

Got 2 questions:

1) Tried the mstsc shortcut as recommended for RDP puposes. It displays the desktop fine and i see pointer moving but left/right clicks don't seem to register with windows.

The keyboard equally doesn't seem to have focus on the desktop, the windows key and CTRL+ESC didn't do anything. Its working though to some extent because the shortcuts Ctrl+Alt+Shift+Z brought up a black coloured mouse which disappeared when I clicked the mouse and also the Q shortcut successfully quit it out.

So for now for me moonlight is deffo superior to native steamlink for games, but the steamlink RDP is the go to for desktop streaming.

2) When updates come out how do you update the app on the steamlink? I'm guessing a repeat method of the first install method but with the latest release on flash drive and it will overwrite the old install?

Amazing work though I'm really impressed how its improved the gaming experience, hopefully issues I've come across will be ironed out in future releases to put the cherry on the cake