Separate Game Settings (resolution, controls, etc.)

[krisvek]

It occurs to me that having the control and graphics settings stored separately for game streaming would be of value to the user.

Currently, the client uses the saved settings from the host. This include resolution, etc. In my case, the client I have been testing with has a different/higher resolution (1080) than my host generally uses (1680x1050 monitor). I don't want to change the saved settings every time I switch between playing it on the host and the client.

If the settings were stored separately, the controls and graphics could load dependent upon what client you were playing the game with.

[Sawtaytoes]

I noticed that my 2560x1440 computer streamed to my 1920x1080 computer worked just fine as if it was natively 1920x1080; no resolution change required.

Are you saying that the game is running at a higher resolution than the client machine when streaming?

[krisvek]

I am getting the 1680x1050 output on my 1080 screen, with black bars ("letterboxing") on the left and right for filler.

[XDeadzX]

First for your setup.. I don't think you can actually run something at a higher resolution to stream it given the way this streaming works. It uses your main screen and captures that, meaning you can't upscale the quality to give you more pixels to stream out. The black bars are simply to keep the 16:10 format on your 16:9 screen so you don't "miss" anything.

Secondly... As for switching settings based on if you're streaming, that would have to be hard coded into the game then. The game is literally being played on the main computer. Using it's config files/save files/system. You would have to add a flag to the game itself, not on steam, to use different sets of files. That means only games which program for it would have it. It would however be a cool feature... Maybe add steam streaming support to games.

[Sawtaytoes]

Oh yeah, that'd be because the aspect ratios are different. I see now why you're having that issue.

That'd be something really interesting to fix, using the client machine's settings instead of the host's.

That would require a major software change. If the game is Steamworks compatible, maybe it could look in a remote directory for display settings or be given them through Steam to mitigate this issue.

[krisvek]

XDeadzX, It's not exactly capturing the screen, though. It's capturing the application window. But this sort of comes back to a different issue: why is the host displaying the game at all? Maybe there are limitation reasons, but if they can be overcome, it would make sense for the host to run the game in the background.

I've run a game in windowed mode and changed the window size, and the client appears to adapt the streamed resolution to the size of that window.

[krisvek]

Saturn2888, maybe Steamworks compatibility type of stuff, or for games that don't do that, some sort of virtualized save folder that the streaming client uses. The game could think it was using it's usual directory, but Steam could in fact be tricking it to use this virtualized folder.

[XDeadzX]

Originally posted by krisvek:

XDeadzX, It's not exactly capturing the screen, though. It's capturing the application window. But this sort of comes back to a different issue: why is the host displaying the game at all? Maybe there are limitation reasons, but if they can be overcome, it would make sense for the host to run the game in the background.

I've run a game in windowed mode and changed the window size, and the client appears to adapt the streamed resolution to the size of that window.

Because steam isn't sandboxing it, it's communicating between two steam clients. Steam is using the desktop to capture whatever is on the screen and projecting it to the second steam client/streaming client. It'd need to act as a second, separate monitor to not display it on the host computer. And then it'd need to sandbox itself to not take input from the hosts controls. It'd add many more layers to the client causing even more lag. And yes, streaming adapts the size based on what image it's displaying, because it's adapting to what it has to work with. It's a not so pretty implementation of working around game launchers, another reason to display on the host.

[Sawtaytoes]

Originally posted by krisvek:

Saturn2888, maybe Steamworks compatibility type of stuff, or for games that don't do that, some sort of virtualized save folder that the streaming client uses. The game could think it was using it's usual directory, but Steam could in fact be tricking it to use this virtualized folder.

Now that's a neat idea. Mounting a folder on top of the actual drive's folder. That would increase compatibility. I agree, this is definitely a possibility.

[krisvek]

XDeadzX, I don't know if it's an option, Windows may limit abilities in this, or require deeper integration, but Steam doesn't necessarily need to be sandboxed. Windows can have multiple users logged in to one box concurrently and remotely, each with their own desktops and applications running. So from a single user's perspective, plenty can going on in the background without necessarily running it on the actual display. Like I said though, this may not be a feasable/reasonable option for Valve. Maybe Valve can have Steam run the game on the host under a different user process (I've seen a handful of software create their own hidden user accounts for reasons like this). I think Valve already does something similar in SteamOS, though maybe for a different reason there.
At the least, it seems it may be possible to have the game running minimized on the host. This may cause issues with input focus between the host and client, but maybe there's some way around this.

[XDeadzX]

Originally posted by krisvek:

XDeadzX, I don't know if it's an option, Windows may limit abilities in this, or require deeper integration, but Steam doesn't necessarily need to be sandboxed. Windows can have multiple users logged in to one box concurrently and remotely, each with their own desktops and applications running. So from a single user's perspective, plenty can going on in the background without necessarily running it on the actual display. Like I said though, this may not be a feasable/reasonable option for Valve. Maybe Valve can have Steam run the game on the host under a different user process (I've seen a handful of software create their own hidden user accounts for reasons like this). I think Valve already does something similar in SteamOS, though maybe for a different reason there.
At the least, it seems it may be possible to have the game running minimized on the host. This may cause issues with input focus between the host and client, but maybe there's some way around this.

Running it under a separate user account messes with control. You can't remote desktop into a user account that's running in the background for "security reasons." Those "reasons" mess with controller/input support and such as well, meaning you wouldn't be able to control your games properly doing so. It may still be able to display it though. Not sure on that one, most real time programs pause if switched. I know quite a few games do even if they normally continue while out of focus and windowed.

I do agree there must be a better way of doing it though. It just that sandboxing is not that way.

[Hurrakan]

I don't want to have to alter my preferred settings for each game to stream it properly, and then have to edit them back again when I want to play it normally.

It would be good if Steam could set a game to start in different resolutions, depending on how the game was initiated.

So if I start playing the game on the host computer, then the game starts in 2048 x 1152. But if I started playing from a client computer by clicking the stream button, then the game would start in the correct (lower) resolution for that client.

- Streaming host game settings - used when host initiates playing the game
- Streaming client game settings - used when client initiates playing the game

It might also be useful for clients to specify whether they want v-sync on or off etc. (I'm wondering how Lucidlogix Virtu MVP affects streaming, if at all).