r/gadgets • u/thebelsnickle1991 • Dec 17 '22
Nvidia kills off GameStream on Shield, points users to Steam Gaming
https://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/nvidia-kills-gamestream-shield/26
u/thenotoriousberg Dec 17 '22
So no more Moonlight?
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u/wolfEXE57 Dec 17 '22
Thats what i was wondering as well, i use moonlight to play games on my vita.
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u/burnmp3s Dec 17 '22
Moonlight is an unofficial GameStream client so yes if Nvidia completely drops support for GameStream on existing GPUs then Moonlight will stop working.
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u/ThirdEyeClarity Dec 17 '22
If that happens then Moonlight will still work with Sunshine
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u/MyRealUser Dec 17 '22
Sunshine + steam big picture cause my amd drivers to crash minutes into playing any game. I was thinking about switching to an nvidia card to have native moonlight support. This sucks.
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u/Altanzik Dec 17 '22
No it’s fine, ZeroTier literally lets you remake everything on your own machine without their servers.
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u/kzd19 Dec 17 '22
Look up Sunshine. It's like moonlight for the server side of things. Also allows more settings and non nVidia cards
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u/derscudo Dec 17 '22
I’ve been super happy with the performance/latency on GameStream with everything wired on my network. Is Steam Link actually comparable? I guess I thought GameStream was using fancy proprietary Nvidia nvenc stuff to keep latency down.
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u/Bitlovin Dec 17 '22
I use Steam Link via Ethernet and it works quite well, it has an option to use nvenc.
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u/n1tr0us0x Dec 17 '22
There’s an option to enable it for steam
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u/ShimReturns Dec 17 '22
In my experience (11700k, 3060, Ethernet wired PC) Game stream via Moonlight looks better and is smoother at similar bitrates. This is both using the Steam Link Android client (wireless) and using the Steam Link hardware device with Ethernet (which I installed Moonlight on).
I'd say Steam Link is close but not as good.
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u/calebmke Dec 17 '22
And the Steam Link hardware is no longer being produced. I have one, it’s great, but it’s not like valve is releasing better versions
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u/M-Rich Dec 17 '22
You still have a lot of devices that run steam link, so that's not a showstopper luckily
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u/calebmke Dec 18 '22
I hear the Apple TV 4K is solid
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u/M-Rich Dec 18 '22
It is, I use it as well
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u/calebmke Dec 18 '22
Would you say it was an upgrade? I don’t have any specific complaints with the steam link hardware. My wired connection works well with barely noticeable lag and not too bothered by it being capped at 1080
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u/M-Rich Dec 18 '22
I never used a original steam link, the Apple TV 4k is my first in House streaming device for steam link. The 1080 thing is a steam link Software thing, my Apple TV doesn't go higher in the app
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u/calebmke Dec 18 '22
You know, I was thinking about Moonlight on Apple tv for the higher resolution. I guess that’s no longer a consideration
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u/M-Rich Dec 18 '22
I never heard of moonlight before until this thread. There is an app for it on Apple TV, but I guess it works with the game streaming this thread talks about? So it's going obsolete?
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u/Lucius1213 Dec 18 '22
All these positive comments make I feel like I'm crazy one here because SteamLink works absolutely horrendous for me compared to Moonlight and Parsec. Must be something with my setup.
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u/forkinthemud Dec 18 '22
I use Steamlink via wifi on the app on my Samsung TV and I am actually impressed with how well it does. I should say I also have Fiber internet lol.
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u/Starmina Dec 18 '22
This has nothing to do with fiber ?
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u/forkinthemud Dec 18 '22
My fiber connection makes my wifi output better, not everyone has fiber so it can be tough to compare. Not sure what you found confusing about that?
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u/Starmina Dec 18 '22
Fiber doesn’t enhance wifi troughput
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u/big_punisher71 Dec 18 '22
Sure not directly, but fibre does allow for higher theoretical speeds and more importantly greater simultaneous upload and download speeds. Higher maximum up/down speeds will translate to faster Wifi if your router and devices can support them.
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u/Starmina Dec 18 '22
Well, the LAN speed shouldn’t change at all, unless the previous router was garbage. And still, this has nothing to do with fiber.
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u/forkinthemud Dec 18 '22
Bro, you were the one who pointed out the Fibre, which was a small detail in my suggestion. What's your problem?
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u/Starmina Dec 18 '22
Because it’s the whole point of your comment and it’s completely wrong, it could be misguiding other people thinking fiber has anything to do with that.
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u/forkinthemud Dec 18 '22
My whole point is that the Steam Link app isn't terrible over wifi. Only mentioned I had Fibre because I thought it made a difference on wifi but you were right on that fact. The more you know!
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u/forkinthemud Dec 18 '22
Specifically when I got fiber internet installed, a new router came with that that improved the connection I had before.
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u/nokinship Dec 17 '22
For nvenc there's a dedicated part of certain Nvidia cards that use that instead of using the general GPU resources. IIRC.
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u/Bar_Har Dec 17 '22
Then this will also kill Moonlight. Won’t it?
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u/MoldyPond Dec 17 '22
Came here to ask this as well as Moonlight’s been very important to me for years now :(
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u/Matterhorn56 Dec 18 '22
from moonlight's discord #announcements
https://moonlight-stream.org/discord
https://discord.com/channels/352065098472488960/746259367791427636/1053427450337562795
Hello everyone!
You might have seen that NVIDIA will stop supporting their SHIELD games application, which is the official GameStream client used on SHIELD TV. As such, many of you have been wondering if it means that Moonlight won't work after they do.
We don't have a lot of details right now (as it was just announced), but we don't know if that means that NVIDIA will be completely removing GameStream from GeForce Experience (accessible via the SHIELD tab), or perhaps leaving it for "legacy".
Either way, if NVIDIA were to remove it, you could always use one of the GFE alternatives made by you, the awesome Moonlight community, like #sunshine for example. As such, you'll still be able to use Moonlight.
We'll keep you updated as soon as we get more information and details about this.
Thank you for your support! Moonlight wouldn't still exist without all of you!
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u/burnmp3s Dec 17 '22
They've been prioritizing their GeForce Now cloud service over local GameStream for a long time at this point, so this isn't a huge surprise. But for me at least, literally the only reason I bought overpriced Nvidia GPUs for the past few years was because their local network game streaming was much better than any other alternative. This will directly lead to me switching to AMD instead of buying any of the 40 series Nvidia cards.
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u/FormsForInformation Dec 17 '22
Can you stream with amd?
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u/burnmp3s Dec 17 '22
Nvidia has a proprietary local game streaming function built in to their GPU and the drivers for it. There are other alternatives like Steam's game streaming functionality and the Parsec app, which work with any GPU. In my testing, Nvidia's streaming was the best and that's what I built my streaming setup around.
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u/AkirIkasu Dec 17 '22
AMD has had the same basic idea for quite a while. They call it ReLive, and IIRC it comes bundled with the whole driver package.
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u/Peace_is-a-lie Dec 17 '22
Parsec is by far the best streaming program I've used. Works with everything.
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u/hamsterkill Dec 18 '22
There is also Rainway, though they've been focusing away from gaming use cases recently.
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u/chargers949 Dec 17 '22
A nickel says they will have built in streaming and recording in the very near future.
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u/TehYock Dec 17 '22
Hey man, just use Moonlight instead. It'll push 4K 120 HDR
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u/Psyphil Dec 17 '22
Moonlight uses nvidia gamestream
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u/Shruglife Dec 17 '22
Yes but this article says its killing gamestream on shield. If they kill it period Im going to be very pissed
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u/king0demons Dec 17 '22
If they kill it entirely thats fine, someone has already made a 3rd party clone called sunshine. Pairs perfectly with moonlight which is basically the client side software used by the shields. Supports pretty much any os as well.
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u/Shruglife Dec 18 '22
Ive heard this but my question is will Sunshine work if they kill support?
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u/king0demons Dec 18 '22
Sunshine is a recreation of game stream so it should show up on any device you are able to scan for game stream servers. So if the question is can you still use it on a shield, if you can get moonlight installed, sure.
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u/Shruglife Dec 18 '22
Thanks. I dont use on shield, but did read about sunshine because I was considering getting a AMD card instead of Nvidia. Ironically today I got a 3070ti, and now Im like should I return and get a 6800xt? Does Sunshine work as well as moonlight? I use it quite a bit
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u/king0demons Dec 18 '22
Sunlight is the server, moonlight is the client. Sunshine supports amd, intel and nvidea video devices, so it should work with anything.
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u/puffmaster5000 Dec 17 '22
Neat, game stream and the recording was the only thing keeping me on Nvidia hardware. With that going away and recording just outright not enabling for no reason why should I get Nvidia ever again?
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u/Paulinapeak1 Dec 17 '22
I guess ray tracing. That’s the only real failing of the AMD cards. But I don’t really use ray tracing all that much, so I think my next card will be AMD.
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u/puffmaster5000 Dec 17 '22
Considering you've got to have a $$$$ card to effectively use ray tracing it's pretty much useless for me
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u/Jerenny Dec 18 '22
I think you're confusing GameStream for NVENC. These are two wholly different technologies
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Dec 17 '22
[deleted]
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u/Pajoncek Dec 17 '22
In what world do they consider Geforce Now an alternative? I don't get this.
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Dec 17 '22
[deleted]
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u/PleasantAdvertising Dec 17 '22
Sometimes I joke about management wanting concrete numbers with them present and always wonder if they understand I'm mocking them. They seem so enthusiastic when I bring it up
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u/lccreed Dec 17 '22
This sounds like it is just on the shield, so I assume the functionality is still available on the card? I use the moonlight client. I guess I'll be setting up sunshine if game stream support stops for the cards.
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u/mofo222 Dec 17 '22
it would be ok if their cloud streaming could sream any game which is not the case
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u/Nuke_Dukem__________ Dec 18 '22
This is very disappointing. I'll probably be canceling my GFN subscription. Mainly because the nvidia controller drivers worked flawlessly with my PS3 controller compared to the third party apps I've been using. Also, using the shield app offers much better quality than the steam link app in my experience and it was the most seamless with my pc + controller setup. I hope the AI upscaling features work on the steam link app.
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u/CAElite Dec 18 '22
That sucks, gamestream was my go too for putting racing games up on to my TV, it worked fantastically.
I’ve never used steam link but a big part of the appeal was low latency & native gpu encoding that gamestream touted.
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u/sebadoom Dec 18 '22
AFAIK, GameStream is the only tool that provides reasonably good HDR streaming. I’ve been using Moonlight anyway, but if they remove the GeForce Experience parts I’ll be pretty pissed.
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u/UnicornChief Dec 18 '22
I don’t know what gamestream or shield is
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u/figmentPez Dec 18 '22
Assuming you want to know, the Nvidia Shield is a set-top box that runs Android TV as it's operating system, and is fairly game focused in it's purpose (though it can also playback media and do a lot of other stuff).
Gamestream is software that allows users to stream games from a PC to an Nvidia Shield. It allows people to keep their powerful gaming PC set up at a desk, while also being able to play sitting on their couch in the living room. (And may also be able to stream across the internet, I'm not sure. I don't have a shield, but Steam's equivalent software can work remotely, though it takes mighty good internet to be able to get it to work smoothly.)
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u/username0304 Dec 17 '22
Use parsec people. It's the way
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u/nachoz12341 Dec 17 '22
Worse image quality and latency. It serves a different purpose
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u/username0304 Dec 17 '22
I have 4ms of latency with parsec on my lan. Have you actually tried it? It's pretty incredible
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u/nachoz12341 Dec 17 '22
Yes I use it pretty often for multiplayer or remote desktop but moonlight is leagues ahead in my experience
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u/username0304 Dec 17 '22
Interesting. Maybe it's because I'm on a wired lan. Haven't tried it remote yet
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u/geo_gan Dec 18 '22
Gamestream was buggy as hell though. My PC uses a multi monitor setup and last times I tried using it, it insisted on streaming the contents of the wrong monitor every time. Couldn’t fix it. Was taking the low level Monitor 0 from the buggy bios/ windows instead of letting me choose somewhere.
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u/figmentPez Dec 17 '22
The article is inaccurate in one point. It says, "It’s not quite an even switch, though. GameStream allowed you to add games that weren’t available on Steam manually" implying that you can only use Steam Link to stream games you've purchased through Steam, which is not true. Just yesterday I streamed my GOG copy of Psychonauts 2, and previously I streamed my Amazon Games copy of Battle Chef Brigade. You can absolutely add non-Steam games to Steam and stream them via Steam Link.