What's a good replacement for Steam to stream Windows 8 to another PC once the support ends?

[MegaMetal83]

I've been using Steam to stream non-Steam games from my Windows 8 PC to my Windows 11 laptop so I can play them on my TV. The games are on disc and are not compatible with Windows 10 and up due to the DRM support that was removed in Windows 10 (and 7+ with an update). I noticed that Steam is ending support for anything older than Windows 10 soon. Is there another program that could do this? I've also used my TV's screen mirroring (Roku TCL), but that caused so much lag that turn based games were unplayable.

[MegaMetal83]

Postat inițial de Haruspex:

Postat inițial de MegaMetal83:

I've looked into it, and the only way to get them to run is to patch it to run without needing the CD which is illegal.

As of 2015, the US Copyright Office has issued an exemption for using no-cd patches and similar for old PC games with dead DRM.

https://copyright.gov/1201/2015/fedreg-publicinspectionFR.pdf

I also haven't seen any patches for these games, and I'm worried I might get to shady sites or download malware with the patch or something.

[MegaMetal83]

A thing I forgot to mention is that I'd like to keep the costs down for this. While I'd like to use the games I already have, I could buy the Gamecube versions of the 2 games, so any solution would need to be cheaper than the price of the games.

Currently, I'm going to try Moonlight when I have some more time, and if that doesn't work, I'll consider the other options.

[Azure Fang]

As long as you legally hold licenses for the games (as in, you purchased copies), there is a legal argument to be made for cracking the DRM to maintain functionality, and a handful of devs have released patches since the Win7+ lockout of SecuROM, Starforce, et al, that officially remove said DRM.

Aside from that or buying all new copies of your games, a quick search points to Windows Remote Desktop being compatible between Win8 and Win11, though I can't speak for latency. Beyond that, you can experiment with Moonlight as previously mentioned, as it still supports as far back as Win7.

[MegaMetal83]

That's good to know about remote desktop. I'll try that if Moonlight doesn't work

[MegaMetal83]

Got moonlight installed and it seems to be working. Lag is as good as Steam or better even.
Thanks for the help

[Cheetitos69]

THIS AMAZING

[MancSoulja]

Postat inițial de MegaMetal83:

Got moonlight installed and it seems to be working. Lag is as good as Steam or better even.
Thanks for the help

Great stuff! Enjoy :D

[gray knight]

You could have just downloaded cracks from safe sources. I'm sure Reddit has a million suggestions, probably steam too. However, perhaps these old games might become available through GOG one day. They often tend to work better on modern operating systems.

[MegaMetal83]

Postat inițial de gray knight:

You could have just downloaded cracks from safe sources. I'm sure Reddit has a million suggestions, probably steam too. However, perhaps these old games might become available through GOG one day. They often tend to work better on modern operating systems.

I'd still need some way to stream to my laptop and I'd rather not buy a CD drive for it, so this works out better for me.

[Azure Fang]

Postat inițial de MegaMetal83:

Postat inițial de gray knight:

You could have just downloaded cracks from safe sources. I'm sure Reddit has a million suggestions, probably steam too. However, perhaps these old games might become available through GOG one day. They often tend to work better on modern operating systems.

I'd still need some way to stream to my laptop and I'd rather not buy a CD drive for it, so this works out better for me.

If your main PC has an optical drive, you can rip your discs to ISOs then use image mounting software to have Windows treat the ISOs as if they were inserted discs, if you need the discs local on the laptop.