Nvidia Shield: Steam will not stream if DPI is set above 125%

[Tetsuo Shima]

I am really disappointed that upon picking up the Nvidia Shield I had over two hours of trouble shooting with Steam before I figured out the issue.

When DPI is set above 125% (which is very normal for big picture users on TV's) steam will show on the Nvidia Shield to launch. Once launched it will open steam on the computer at 150% but it never starts to stream and hangs.

After two hours I finally got around to trying "what if the DPI is messing it up?" and sure enough that was the issue. All games that show up from the geforce experience will launch and stream correctly at any DPI level! This is just a steam issue.

So the only way to get access to my steam library is to turn my DPI down to < 125%.

I have tested this issue on Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 and the issue will not allow Steam big picture to stream. Also keep in mind that Windows 8.1 has a new DPI engine that kicks butt and should be taken into consideration.

What I am extremely disappointed about is how Valve and Nvidia some how released a product and not one tester from Valve or Nvidia had their PC on a TV with a higher DPI level then 100%. Almost any big picture user that uses a TV uses a higher DPI. Really no one tested this out at either company?

Well I hope that my hours of wasted time really helps resolve the bug as Windows 8.1 going forward will choose the user DPI level for them automatically and this issue will come up again. Windows 8.1 looks at the resolution and auto throws them in higher DPI depending on the resolution.

I hope someone from Valve can look into this right away.

Note** Turning the option ON under compatibility to "ignore the DPI" level works to make the steam normal size but the streaming is still broken. This was the first thing I tried.

[Tetsuo Shima]

** UPDATE **

This bug stops affect Windows 7, Windows 8 & 8.1 verified locally.

I did find a workaround for Windows 8.1 users only due to the new DPI engine. If you have Windows 8.1, there are two ways to set the DPI.

1) If you have Windows 7, 8 or 8.1 you can avoid this by setting your DPI equal to 125% or less

2) If you using Windows 8.1 you can use the new DPI engine slider to achieve a higher DPI using the new engine. If you set the number manually Windows 8.1 will use the older DPI engine. I was able to use the NEW DPI slider to find the same resize as 150% and its looking good and allowing streaming. You can not apply this fix on anything other then Windows 8.1

Hope this helps some users.

[I Am Become Death]

Thank you very much for posting this! I could not get streaming to work until I found this thread. Indeed, the DPI was my problem. Works like a charm now. Thanks again!

[Legendary old man]

How many people actually bought a Nvidia Shield? Likely part of the problem. Anyway you should also submit this as a bug. Valve is unlikely to see this and I doubt enough people are going to have this issue to bring it to their attention otherwise.

[muckymucks]

Thanks for the informative post, Art Vandelay. Very eye-opening. I'm considering getting a Shield myself. I'll have to keep up on whether this inssue gets resolved.

[Tetsuo Shima]

No problem guys, the Nvidia Shield is amazing when up and running. Its really fast Android tablet / controller thing. The streaming works well.

The fustration comes from that the companies know the users that WILL buy this have these types of setups. I should not have to waste so much time on setup of course this will be sent in. The reason for the post is to have OTHERS avoid/limit wasting their time, like me.

Anyhow, just watch the DPI and if your are installed on Windows with UEFI you will have disable secure boot. more information posted on the Nvidia forum.

For anyone on the edge of the purchase, i would say do it its REALLY nice combo. Unlocked bootloader and all factory images are posted.

It will not sell much but its a champion at what it does.


P.S. The emulators make it worth it alone, I just played SedaCD Sewer Shark, nuff said! =)