Witcher 3 does not work in Steam Streaming. I hear sound, but get a black screen.

[Jon]

Does Steam in home streaming work with this game for anyone else?

It doesn't work for me, I can hear the sound, but get a black screen. My host PC is an i7-6700k, with 32 GB RAM and a 980ti graphics card.

I have tried 2 computers as clients. One is an i7 system with a GTX680 graphics card, and the other is an i7 Laptop with Nvidia 850m graphics. All systems (both Host and client machines) are running Windows 10 pro x64. My router is an Asus RT-AC87U.

I have tried streaming with hardware encoding enabled and disabled on Host and client machines, but it still doesn't work regardless of the settings.

Many other games do work, but not the Witcher 3, Batman Arkham Knight or Just Cause 3.

Transformers devastation streams to both of my client machines without issue, as does Binary Domain, and MGS 5. Those are the only games I've tested so far.

Are the Witcher 3 and the other games just incompatible with Steam in Home streaming?

[Jon]

Here is a log of an attempted streaming session of the Witcher 3

[2016-01-09 09:07:49] CLIENT: Attaching controller XInput Controller with ID 1
[2016-01-09 09:07:49] CLIENT: Attaching controller PS4 Controller with ID 0
[2016-01-09 09:07:49] =====================================================================
[2016-01-09 09:07:49] Game: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (292030)
[2016-01-09 09:07:49] Recording system audio
[2016-01-09 09:07:49] Changing record window: 0021057E
[2016-01-09 09:07:49] Recording on device: SPDIF Out (Creative SB X-Fi)
[2016-01-09 09:07:49] Audio client mix format:
[2016-01-09 09:07:49] format: 65534
[2016-01-09 09:07:49] channels: 2
[2016-01-09 09:07:49] samples/sec: 48000
[2016-01-09 09:07:49] bytes/sec: 384000
[2016-01-09 09:07:49] alignment: 8
[2016-01-09 09:07:49] bits/sample: 32
[2016-01-09 09:07:49] channel mask: 0x3
[2016-01-09 09:07:49] data format: {00000003-0000-0010-8000-00AA00389B71}
[2016-01-09 09:07:49] Initializing audio with 2 channels and 48000 samples/sec
[2016-01-09 09:07:49] Audio mix: start=490910282059, returned=0
[2016-01-09 09:07:49] Audio source [System Windows]: init=0, through=0, last_start=0, mixed=0, drop_before=0, drop_after=0
[2016-01-09 09:07:50] CLIENT: Got control packet k_EStreamControlSetQoS
[2016-01-09 09:07:50] CLIENT: Got control packet k_EStreamControlSetTargetBitrate
[2016-01-09 09:07:50] CLIENT: Got control packet k_EStreamControlStartAudioData
[2016-01-09 09:07:50] CLIENT: Got control packet k_EStreamControlSetCursor
[2016-01-09 09:07:50] CLIENT: Got control packet k_EStreamControlSetTitle
[2016-01-09 09:07:50] CLIENT: Got control packet k_EStreamControlSetIcon
[2016-01-09 09:07:50] CLIENT: Got control packet k_EStreamControlSetActivity
[2016-01-09 09:07:50] CLIENT: Got control packet k_EStreamControlSetCursorImage
[2016-01-09 09:07:51] Changing record window: 00560620
[2016-01-09 09:07:51] CLIENT: Got control packet k_EStreamControlSetTitle
[2016-01-09 09:07:51] CLIENT: Got control packet k_EStreamControlSetIcon
[2016-01-09 09:07:51] CLIENT: Got control packet k_EStreamControlSetActivity
[2016-01-09 09:07:51] >>> Switching video stream from NONE to Desktop_MovieStream
[2016-01-09 09:07:51] CLIENT: Got control packet k_EStreamControlSetCursor
[2016-01-09 09:07:51] CLIENT: Got control packet k_EStreamControlSetCursorImage
[2016-01-09 09:07:51] CDesktopCaptureDWM: Reinitializing D3D for adapter 0xa5f0
[2016-01-09 09:07:51] Video adapter: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti, vendor ID: 0x10de, device ID: 0x17c8
[2016-01-09 09:07:51] CDesktopCaptureDWM: desktop duplication enabled
[2016-01-09 09:07:52] CLIENT: Got control packet k_EStreamControlHideCursor
[2016-01-09 09:07:52] CLIENT: Got control packet k_EStreamControlSetCursor
[2016-01-09 09:07:52] >>> Switching video stream from Desktop_MovieStream to GameOverlay_MovieStream_1988
[2016-01-09 09:08:01] CLIENT: Video size: 1920x1080, output size: 1920x1080
[2016-01-09 09:08:18] CLIENT: Video size: 1920x1080, output size: 1920x1080
[2016-01-09 09:08:21] CLIENT: Video size: 1920x1080, output size: 1920x1080

[Jon]

Also, all machines are running latest Steam Beta software and most current Nvidia drivers.

[Dav]

Both Witcher and Batman work fine for me, the only difference is that I use Intel HD graphics as the decoder on the client machine. I sometimes get the black screen issue when the game launches but it simply minimises rather than displaying on the host.

Try this: launch either game and make sure they're running on the host (screen is at the menu) then start the stream from the client. This works for me 100% of the time.

[VRtopian]

I just ran W3 on my Alpha console streaming from my Main PC and it worked without issue.

[Jon]

Originally posted by dqtl74:

Both Witcher and Batman work fine for me, the only difference is that I use Intel HD graphics as the decoder on the client machine. I sometimes get the black screen issue when the game launches but it simply minimises rather than displaying on the host.

Try this: launch either game and make sure they're running on the host (screen is at the menu) then start the stream from the client. This works for me 100% of the time.

Thanks for your tips. I tried the method you suggested on the Witcher 3. I still get a black screen on the client machines. I could see the menu on the host machine and was even able to use the keyboard on my client machine to launch the game while watching it on the host.

The strange thing is that the mouse cursor was appearing on the client machine, not the host, and when I moved it off the screen on the client machine, it disappeared altogether and then moving the mouse caused a bunch of clicking noises in the game like the menu was going crazy.

It seems as though this bug may be related to the game thinking that there are multiple screens connected to the host machine, rather than mirroring the main screen on the host as well as the client.

I have also tried assigning the internal Intel HD graphics to steam.exe and still get the black screen.

[Jon]

Originally posted by Virtopian:

I just ran W3 on my Alpha console streaming from my Main PC and it worked without issue.

Thanks for the info!

[Jon]

So I've tested it out further. It's very strange, now when I launch the game, I get a black screen on the client with a mouse cursor and the streaming info displayed in the bottom left corner. I can use the mouse cursor on the client to launch into the game and play it using the controls on the client. If I quit out of the game, I can see the desktop on the host machine and even interact with it for a few seconds before the steam streaming client closes on the client.

The streaming must be working, because I can see the desktop, it just doesn't work if the host machine is in the game full screen.

[Jon]

I figured out the problem. I had to turn off FRAPS on the host machine, and then it started working properly. Thanks for the help all that responded.