PC to PC over same network, LAN (Ethernet) remote play is being relayed

[HellBreaKer<|>]

I am trying to do remote play setup with two PCs, one (host) with rtx 2070 super and second (client) with r9 290.

When I try doing a remote play together in the two PCs, for local split screen coop over multiple displays, the network is being redirected via relay instead of using LAN.

How can I force it via LAN.

I tried disable all the network adapters except the main LAN, then restarted steam.
Tried using remote_connect <ip>:27036 in the steam console. This also didn't work.

Any help is appreciated.

[Far-out Son Of Lung]

Having the same problem. Looks like remote_connect trick is only working for case when same user is logged into steam on both machines. When different users it does not work.

[HellBreaKer<|>]

Can you explain the steps. I am not able to get the trick to work.

[Far-out Son Of Lung]

Basically there are two streaming scenarios, at least that I know of and use them:
1. Same user is trying to stream game from beefy PC1 to weeker PC2 or portable, that's "In-home streaming".
2. Two users are trying to play game together, hence "Remote play together".

In scenario 1, when the same user logs into several Steam clients, they are UDP broadcasting to port 27036 seemingly on all local subnets. If this port is blocked by local PC firewall or any other means then this specific PC will not be visible by other Steam clients on LAN. In my experience it looks like all accesible subnets are broadcasted to: physical LAN, VPN, Hamachi, etc. Hovewer, for obvious reasons, if the PCs are on different subnets, the broadcast won't work. For this Steam has console command remote_connect <ip>:<port> to force connection to other Steam client. This way you can connect across subnets and even across internet, I'll get to that later. To know whether connection is successful, the Steam will show popup "<name of computer> is available for streaming". After that each game in your library will have a drop-down near Play/Install button where you can select on which machine you want to install/play the game. When streaming play session is started then the Steam on PC1 starts listening on UDP port 27031 and streaming client on PC2 will connect to that port. So, that's another thing to consider with firewalls. If all is well and good then the streaming client will start with the commad line similar to this

C:\Games\Steam\streaming_client.exe --steamid <user_id> --gameid <game_id> --server <pc1_ip>:27031 --transport k_EStreamTransportUDP ...

If diagnosting is enabled in streaming client, then you'll see in connection "direct".

I've managed to set up "in-home" streaming from PC with good GPU at home to my work office PC without any VPNs by port forwarding on home router to 27036 (TCP control port) and 27031 (UDP streaming) respectively. This way when you want to play across internet, you need to use console command in Steam console:

remote_connect <PC_WAN_IP>:<port_mapped_control_port>

On successfull connect Steam will notify that your PC1 is available for streaming. Another trick is to force Steam streaming client to use streaming to your PC WAN IP and port mapped UDP streaming port instead of default 27031. For this, use the following command in Steam console:

@StreamClientArgs "--server <PC_WAN_IP>:<port_mapped_UDP_stream_port>"

This will add this params to streaming_client command line at the end, overriding the ones provided by Steam.

Scenario 2 is trickier and does not allow Steam clients to communicate directly, no commands exist to force direct connection between them and no initial broadcasting is done, at least it does not look like it. What happens is when the User1 starts a game and sends invite to User2 to "remote play together" the other 3rd-party peer is used for the connection mediation. And this connection mediator is one of the Steam SDR servers. SDR stands for Steam Datagram Relay, this network of specialized servers handles connection bootstrapping and routing of game traffic between Steam users.
Internaly Steam play-together invite link looks like this:

steam://remoteplay/connect/<user1_ID>?appid=<game_ID>&auth=<authentication_token>&transport=k_EStreamTransportSDR&relay=146.66.155.54:3478&restricted_countries=CN,XC

When handled by User2's Steam client (clicking join button in chat) this link is transformed to streaming client command line connecting to SDR server initiating bootstrapping between User1 and User2. Something like this:

C:\Games\Steam\streaming_client.exe --steamid <user1_ID> --gameid <game_ID> --server 0.0.0.0:0 --transport k_EStreamTransportSDR --relay 146.66.155.54:3478 --cert ... <authentication_token>

From playing around with streaming client logs I've seen that this bootstrapping first initiates ICE (Interactive Connectivity Establishment) process to randezvous two peers directly, this includes LAN discovery, which for whatever reasons is very flaky and succeeds in 1 out of 10 attempts. Seems like to get better results in local P2P discovery port 27036 should be opened and accessible on both PCs, however even with this true often the LAN discovery fails leading to fallback to SDR which is basically routing traffic between 2 PCs through the relay server even if the PCs are on the same LAN.

Hope these insights will help.

[huelfi]

I've had the same problem.
For me, it works "direct", if i set steam on the host to offline-mode.

[jpnn80]

Originally posted by Far-out Son Of Lung:

I've managed to set up "in-home" streaming from PC with good GPU at home to my work office PC without any VPNs by port forwarding on home router to 27036 (TCP control port) and 27031 (UDP streaming) respectively. This way when you want to play across internet, you need to use console command in Steam console:

remote_connect <PC_WAN_IP>:<port_mapped_control_port>

On successfull connect Steam will notify that your PC1 is available for streaming. Another trick is to force Steam streaming client to use streaming to your PC WAN IP and port mapped UDP streaming port instead of default 27031. For this, use the following command in Steam console:

@StreamClientArgs "--server <PC_WAN_IP>:<port_mapped_UDP_stream_port>"

This will add this params to streaming_client command line at the end, overriding the ones provided by Steam.

Does your method to stream from your home pc to your work pc still work, because when I enter the remote_connect command in my Steam console, it says "command not found "?

[_I_]

try using the steam link app for windows/mac/linux

link windows forum
https://steamcommunity.com/app/353380/discussions/8/

link mac forum
https://steamcommunity.com/app/353380/discussions/9/

link linux forum
https://steamcommunity.com/app/353380/discussions/10/

[FoldedFrog]

Originally posted by _I_:

try using the steam link app for windows/mac/linux

link windows forum
https://steamcommunity.com/app/353380/discussions/8/

link mac forum
https://steamcommunity.com/app/353380/discussions/9/

link linux forum
https://steamcommunity.com/app/353380/discussions/10/

I have constant connection problems if using steam link over WiFi. Even if I’m sitting right in front of the router. Using a Lan cable to the router corrects that failure. Just a heads up.

[_I_]

then its a poor wifi nic or router
wifi 2.4ghz has many devices that can interfere with it
cordless phones, any bt devices, cell phones, all other 2.4ghz devices, other 2.4ghz networks

if there are many wifi ssids nearby, grab wifi analyzer app for android/ios and check what channels they use, and log into your router and change its wifi channel to something that is more free

be aware, that wifi freq bandwidth is +/- 2 channels
ch3 uses bandwidth from ch 1 to ch 5
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4a/NonOverlappingChannels2.4GHz802.11-en.svg