A possible future for Big Picture, game streaming, and Remote Play.

[Sawtaytoes]

Hi! I'm a huge advocate for Steam, and it's an amazingly incredible tech stack, but there are some issues I've seen over the years that haven't ever been fixed nor been address by Valve.

I'd like this to find the engineering team if possible. I've spent a few hours writing down my thoughts and would love to get some feedback.

I'd like to put forth some issues I've been dealing with in:
1. Big Picture.
2. Remote Play.
3. Steam game streaming technology.
4. The Steam client itself.

Last night, I spent over an hour getting Steam game streaming working from my HTPC to my tablet, so I could quickly play a bit before bed. I run into this situation every time I want to use game streaming. But it's not just that. Even with Remote Play, it almost always takes 20 minutes till my group is finally playing together.

Steam has incredible tech, but it's implementation leaves much to be desired. It's a nice-to-have so long as you understand the cost to set it up each and every time you want to do something simple.

I think, if you fixed these issues with Big Picture and your streaming tech, a lot more people would be using it today.

The main reason this is an issue for me is I want to stream games to my Steam Deck. I know it's not out yet, but that's why I'm planning ahead.

I don't want to game at 30fps or at really low settings on the device itself. I could also pay a lot less for onboard storage if I could simply stream games from my PCs. More about Steam streaming tech below.

## Foreward
I love Big Picture mode! I actually use it on my LAN gaming machines, not just my TV. While SteamOS isn't gonna work for all my scenarios, Big Picture lets computers feel like a console. I mean "console" as "this is a machine designed for gaming", not productivity like you'd get from turning on a typical PC.

The only machine I don't use Big Picture is my personal desktop because I primarily use it for work.

For all other use cases, I use Big Picture mode:
1. My 3 year old's PC has it, so he doesn't touch Windows at all.
2. My LAN gaming computers for multi-PC gaming online with friends. Big Picture allows guests to turn on their PC and start up a game without messing with Windows.
3. My HTPC (home-theater PC). I have it hooked up to my projector and use it only for couch gaming with friends like a console.

Each one of these is a separate PC, but there are ways to make it work using a single mid-range or high-end PC instead. I'll detail this later.

I own 2 Steam Links, but I've rarely used them because Steam game streaming tech is extremely inconvenient even if I have a PC dedicated to this purpose. Building new gaming PCs is also cost-prohibitive even with spare parts.

I also have multiple Steam accounts I have to maintain on multiple machines:
1. Myself.
2. My wife.
3. My 3 year old (and soon 2 other kids as they grow up).
4. 5 guest accounts for LAN gaming (where I've bought duplicate sets of games back when 4-packs were cheaper).

Big Picture makes switching between these a **bit** simpler, but the experience has degraded over the years.

## Big Picture
I've run into plenty of issues with Big Picture mode though:
1. No auto-login option for Windows.
2. Doesn't auto-login to a Steam user.
3. No easy way of switching between users.
4. Doesn't save passwords for all users anymore.
5. Feels sluggish when using a mouse.

In the past, I'd do [WIN][R] to bring up the user accounts menu and somehow setup my user account to automatically login to Windows on that machine.

I use another piece of software today (Aster) which brings up menu for me. I really think this should be an option in Steam as well. Isn't Big Picture supposed to make a PC into a Steam console?

I really think Big Picture should have an option to auto-login as a specified user. If you don't do this, it's incompatible with Steam Link technology. It'd be a lot easier if I could turn on a PC and then stream games, but no, there are other steps I need to take first before I can do that.

I have a bunch of Steam users on my various PCs:
1. My own (for game sharing).
2. My wife's when she plays with me.
3. My kid's.
4. My sister's if she's over.
5. Various guest accounts that I own for multi-PC gaming.

In the past, Big Picture would remember ever user's password once-entered. Now it only remembers the password of the user who last logged in.

This is really annoying if my wife games with me one night and my 3 year old wants to use his account the next day. I have to remember to log her out and log him in each time.

And if I want super long and complex passwords (which I do), how the heck am I supposed to enter them in all the time? It's easy enough to copy a text file over on a USB drive once, but now I have to do it all the time. It's very insecure to have a Steam account password lying around in a plaintext file, but I have to do that, or I can't easily swap accounts.

In the past, I'd even have my Chrome account logged into LastPass, but that's such a liability. I trust my guests, but it also means any random person who comes into my house can turn on a PC and get access to everything. Clearly not what I want. And I know LastPass lets you configure sub-accounts, but now I have to maintain those on multiple machines. It's not convenient.

It's also super difficult to change users with Big Picture and impossible with the Desktop client. Why can't I simply click "change user" rather than having it logout, reload Steam, and login again? It'd be lot simpler if I could click "switch user" and have it do all that stuff in the background.

For game streaming, this is even more important as my account might not be logged into a streaming PC because my 3 year old used it earlier today. It's extremely inconvenient find out streaming's not working, go back to that machine and login as my personal account, then go back to my tablet just to play game.

Game's are supposed to be fun. If tech gets in the way of having a good time, then I won't use the tech. But because the tech's so good and because I have invested heavily in the Steam platform, I want to help you guys make it better.

## Steam streaming tech
What happens when I go to stream a Steam game from my tablet?
1. Physically move myself to turn on that PC.
2. Login to Windows.
3. Steam Big Picture opens up.
4. Login as a specific user.
5. Go to the device I want to stream to and start streaming.

I've tried to solve this various ways, but each one winds up with a new problem:
1. The PC needs to be turned on.
2. The Windows user needs to be logged in.
3. The Steam user needs to be logged in.
4. Steam game streaming uses the display connected to the machine.
5. If I remote into the machine with Remote Desktop, and disconnect, that logs out my Windows user.
6. [BUG] If I [ALT][F4] out of a game, Steam doesn't let me stream from that machine again.
7. Display configuration data is stored on the host machine, not the connected machine. I can see why you would and wouldn't want this.

This is my solution:
1. Turn on my home theater receiver.
2. Physically turn on my HTPC which has no keyboard or mouse plugged in.
3. The machine logs into Windows and opens Steam in Big Picture.
4. Plugin a controller and hit the A button when I think Steam started on that machine.
5. Go to my tablet and stream the game.
6. When I'm done, use Remote Desktop to shut down the PC.

As you can see, I'd like to use my HTPC (game console) as a streaming box, but Steam's streaming tech has a lot of limitations which make it a lot harder to do.

I could leave the machine turned on and disable standby, but that's going to wreck my power bill and be a complete waste of power. If I want to use Steam streaming, I shouldn't have to worry about all these things just to play a game before bed.

Steam link requires a monitor is connected to the machine (sometimes even turned on). If it's connected to a home theater receiver, the receiver needs to be turned on or the PC won't have a proper display configured because it needs an HDMI link to the display in question. Why doesn't Steam Link

I have to physically go to the machine and click "OK" on the "do you want to allow Steam to control your machine?" dialog that pops up. This is inconvenient when I want to simply install some Windows updates. The only solution is restarting the machine after I'm done remoting in.

Let's say some game didn't close properly or the machine had an issue. If I could remote in and fix it, that'd be super easy. But no, I have to restart the machine when I'm done, or I can't stream games.

I don't know why you can't virtualize a display for game streaming like you can with VR. The tech is clearly there to create a fake monitor only for games that doesn't show the Windows desktop, but it's not there for streaming.

My main rig has 6 monitors, and the primary one is 3440x1440@100Hz. This refresh rate and resolution aren't going to be compatible with any other device I own and streams funky to devices of not-so-wide aspect ratios. It'd be great if I could run this at 3840x2160@60Hz on a newer TV or projector even if my primary monitor doesn't support it.

There's also the situation of my HTPC. It's connected to a 1080p projector. If I run the game on my Surface Pro tablet, it's gonna be kinda blurry and definitely won't fill most of the screen. It's also possible all the menus and HUD elements will be too large or small.

This is another reason it'd be beneficial if Steam streaming output to a fake display. If my tablet could run games anywhere near it's native res, then I wouldn't need to stream to it.

There's also the issue of game saves. If I'm using streaming, I actually want, not the game saves, but the display configuration settings saved in a special streaming location.

While this would need to be configured per-game, Steam could use a technology similar to Sandboxie to redirect the physical solution of certain files. This would allow separating the display configuration and graphics settings for games when playing on the host versus streaming the game.

It's all about getting the most out of a single computer. That's why this technology exists right?

Steam really needs a way to make this simpler. For someone who doesn't want their gaming rig visible, you could put it in a server closet in the basement and stream it across the house. I swear this is the original vision Gabe Newell had on the tech (from some interview I read many years ago), but it was never realized. I have a way to make this a reality with Aster, but I'll get into that lower down.

I'd love it if Steam had a way to shutdown the streaming PC somehow. I'm pretty sure the hardware Steam Link can do it, but from the Steam client of my tablet, I have no way of turning off my HTPC.

It'd be neat if I could "connect" to that machine and play the games off it in a streaming session. Then I could turn off that machine when I was done.

### Steam Link - Magic Packets
Even with a Steam Link, I could never get magic packets to work. You should put a guide or a set of community guides on the site for how you can configure magic packets in the UEFI for various BIOSs. Even a few guides for common vendors (ASUS, AsRock, Gigabyte, etc) would be super helpful.

I also want to know why there's no magic packet mode for a Steam client running in Windows. Not every Windows machine (like my Surface Pro) is going to be gaming-capable. And I don't always have my gaming machine turned on. In fact, I most-likely have my gaming machine turned off when I'm using my tablet.

### Steam game streaming modes
Steam link technology is amazing. It's the most-incredible gaming steaming tech around, but the implementation sucks.

Different Steam Link modes:
1. LAN-Hosted: Start Steam game on a PC, other Steam link apps can "connect" in to watch or play along. It's crazy how you can have multiple people at home playing on the same machine.
2. Remote Play: The online version of this is called Remote Play, but that's a different beast and has its own set of problems.
3. Client-Hosted: This is where you click "stream game" from a tablet or non-capable rig, it starts up the game on the host and connects your machine to a remote session which only has access to that running game (unless it crashes and gives you access to the full Windows desktop).

LAN Hosted has a number of benefits:
1. If you disconnect from a Steam link session, the game stays running. There've been some times where I've been streaming a game and my linked computer had an issue which required a restart to fix, but I didn't want to close the game on the host machine.
2. You can use this to continue a game from the bathroom on your phone. You really need to advertise this feature. Super convenient, but I bet you no one uses it. In fact, I only realized it when writing to you.

While client-hosted is nice, I already detailed my issues with it above. Way too many problems to make it convenient enough for me to use as a daily-driver.

## Remote Play
Remote Play never seems to work right the first time. When I've used it 3-4 times, even just recently, it always has trouble getting people connected.

It wasn't so bad this time, but we both had to close and re-open Steam a few times until it worked. In the past, we spent 30-40 minutes trying to get a few people connected. Sometimes one person would get connected but the other wouldn't. Eventually it would work, and once it works, it's flawless, but it's a horrible experience.

I'd love to play more couch games online as my friends get older and have less time to get away from family, but it really does suck to have all these problems. Even if I'm playing with my sister, I'd like to turn it on and have it just work.

While the Steam Link is a dead product, I know she games on her TV by connecting an HDMI cable to it and using it as a second monitor. It'd be neat if she could simply use a Steam Link on her TV for both local streaming and Remote Play.

I think you guys are missing some huge market potential with this ridiculously cool tech stack. Eventually, someone will come along and do it better, and then you'll be playing catch-up. It sucks to have tech this good for almost a decade that few can actually use.

[Sawtaytoes]

...continued

## A Single PC for Steam around the house
Years ago, I'd hookup a composite cable from my PC to an adjacent TV for couch gaming with friends. These days, I have a dedicated machine for pretty much every configuration, but it's no longer cost-effective nor has it ever worked out that well.

Honestly, the lower-end or hand-me-down hardware I've purchased to do multi-PC or couch gaming locally separate from my main rig has always been pretty awful.

I've found that, the better hardware you buy, the more-likely it is to work and stay working well over time. I like investing in super high-end gear, and I found a way to make it more useful with Aster.

### Aster
Aster is this amazing piece of software for Windows which lets you create multiple workplaces on a single machine. I use this on my kid's computer now which could be a single PC for him or 5 workplaces when doing multi-PC gaming with guests.

In the software, you configure a workplace by assigning monitors, mice, keyboard, controllers, etc. When you turn on the computer, everything's there and ready to go. It even lets me hot-plug controllers!

This isn't using virtualization tech like Unraid, Proxmox, or VMware ESXi (all technologies I tried), it's using Microsoft Window Multipoint tech from 20 years ago. It allows multiple Windows users to login to a single machine at the same time and use whatever resources they want.

I've found that it's best to not dedicate resources to a single workplace and let all workplaces have access to the full machine.

Even without GPU partitioning or weird driver hacks, Aster lets multiple workplaces use the same GPU. The PC I have it in right now has two nVIDIA GTX 1080 Ti cards. I was able to run 4 games on a single CPU on 2 of those GPUs with Aster requiring no special configuration (other than Aster itself).

To use Aster, you need to create multiple Windows users, but it lets you specify which workplaces auto-login as certain users. Then I configure Steam to automatically open on those accounts, but that's where we run into the first issue.

Steam runs at the SYSTEM level and only allows a single open instance. It doesn't care which user is running, it only allows one per machine.

This is a huge limitation. My only workaround is using Sandboxie. Sure, that works, but I spent a long time figuring out how to configure it in a way where it didn't reduce game performance. It also means I have to setup Sandboxie for each Windows user.

To get games working consistently without issue, I first download and run the games once without Sandboxie. After that, I can use Sandboxie no problem. It's an issue if the games have frequent updates though. Frankly, once it's setup, it's not that bad to use, and a major benefit is it lets me have separate display and graphics settings per workplace. It's not always that each monitor or graphics card will be able to support the same settings.

Aster allows fulfilling Gabe's original vision of a single Steam PC that multiple people can game from around the house, and it saved me a ton of money. Especially in today's market, I can have a single machine using my high-end parts that allows multiple people to use it.

Not only does it save money, but it also saves on electricity and saves me on time. Maintaining a bunch of Windows machines isn't easy without special remote-access software. I used to pay for something from LogMeIn, but it's not cost-effective for my small home network.

The biggest benefit of a single multi-user PC is I only have to buy and maintain a single copy of Windows. With Windows 11's performance improving over time I'll eventually want to upgrade. $100 is a lot cheaper than $800 that I would've had to pay in the past for my 8 gaming PCs.

There are still some issues with Steam and Aster which is why I have 3 PCs at home and not a single Aster machine:
1. Steam runs SYSTEM level and only allows one instance per install of Windows.
2. Steam streaming requires a connected display. Even if I create workplaces in Aster, I still have to have a monitor connected to a graphic card for it to work. Honestly, Aster wouldn't know which graphics card to use either. It uses the one connected to your primary display.
3. Steam Big Picture doesn't auto-login. Like I said, I don't want my 3 year old, other kids, or guests messing with Windows. This also prevents me from streaming.

All the issues I described above are issues preventing me from also using Aster as a single PC multi-Steam solution.

Steam streaming just doesn't make sense to me because it's 1:1 meaning you have to have a machine to stream from, and you can only stream one game from one account on that machine, and you have to be at home to get decent performance. It's potential is extremely limited unless you open it up to work with something like Aster.

I want a similar solution from Valve or one that works with Aster to let my wife, my kids, and myself all game from other devices off a single PC. Remote Play doesn't work when we want to play different games or multi-PC games. It's possible those HDMI-terminated monitor connections might work, but that's not an not ideal solution nor are these available from reputable manufacturers.

The hardware is there today, but Steam isn't able to take advantage of it. With the ridiculous prices of today's hardware, I'd really like a better solution than having my kids physically sit at their machines.

As an alternative, I've looked at SteamOS, but it doesn't even remotely solve my problems and has the issue of Linux incompatibility not just in games, but drivers too.

Proton's amazing, but it's not all games and anything running SteamOS could benefit from streaming a game on a Windows machine even if it's in a VM for from an Aster workplace.

Hope to hear back with feedback on my issues, the [ALT][F4] bug I noted with game streaming, and anything else about my situation versus your target market.

[artemoderna]

Holy... now I really hope this finds the engineering team as well.
I've had problems with Remote Play but it didn't have any apparent solution so I gave up and never tried using it again... which is a shame now that I think about it.
And about the other things you mentioned: I've either never heard of them or they just seemed a little too laborious to get to work, so I gave up on them also.

[WhiteKnight]

The problem with Steam is that once they create a features they don't go back to fixing and making improvements. They just leave it and do something else.

I wished they would make improvements to Steam Achievements, workshop and other stuff. I hear they are working on new big picture & steam input that is only happening due to Steam Deck. Fingers crossed that they don't lose interest in SD.

[Sawtaytoes]

Thanks for reading through and providing feedback on what I wrote!

I also heard about the Big Picture updates for Steam Deck, but the thing is, that's gonna be created for a mobile device, not a TV or a computer. We'll most-likely get those updates, but they might not solve things for our console-style use case.