TLDR: Is there anyone who knows how well game streaming from a Linux computer to a Moonlight client works?

Oh, you didn’t stop reading after the tldr? Ok, here’s my life story.

Long time ago I was an avid Linux user and I still have a tender spot for the OS. Gaming under Linux was just a dream but as the end of the century came close (yes, I’m that old), ID released a Linux port of Quake II, and then came a flurry if titles that I still have boxes editions of; Civilization:CTP, Myth II, Soldier of Fortune etc.

Nowadays I use Windows for most things - also of course gaming too. My setup is a big (and pretty noisy) computer in my bedroom, and in the living room I have a fanless HTPC and run Moonlight to stream the games from my main computer (the streaming support built into Steam does not work quite as well, but it is a backup I guess).

Anyone knows if I could do this if I switched back to Linux? On the windows computer I enabled Nvidia Shield, but I get the impression that isnt supported under Linux. How well does Sunshine work?

  • heartsofwar@lemmy.worldEnglish
    3·
    1 year ago

    I can’t comment on the Nvidia Shield / Moonlight, but I have been streaming games from my Linux server to my family room TV and master bedroom TV since 2017 using a variety of Steam streaming enabled devices (Steamlink, Rpi 4 / CCwGTV).

    By far the best combination I have found is to have the Linux server Ethernet (wired) to the router and the SteamLink 5Ghz WiFi (only device on 5Ghz). With this setup, I have played games like Rocket League, Dark Souls 2, Divinity Original Sin 1 & 2, Diablo 4, Path of Exile, Diablo 2 Resurrected, Cities Skylines, Stellaris, Crusader Kings 2 & 3, and more…

    The Rpi4 / CCwGTV seem to have some added display latency that just doesn’t work well; its manageable, but not long-term or for time sensitive games like Rocket League / Dark Souls…

    Most notably in the last year I switched from an Nvidia 1080TI to an AMD Radeon 7900 XTX; the VA-API based streaming is not as good as Nvidia NvEnc / NvDec, but it is good enough that I’m willing to overlook it considering the other Nvidia issues I was experiencing are all now gone / fixed due to having a properly Linux supported GPU.

    The only major issue I had to overcome actually was my linux server was headless and Nvidia drivers allowed injecting a custom EDID via the X-config, but AMD doesn’t allow this without a ton of effort; so, I just purchased an HDMI headless dongle that tricks the computer which is what Windows users have to do.

    You might want to tell us more about your setup so we can help determine if you might have some environment issues that are causing less than optimal performance.