Steam In-Home Streaming

[KadreVex]

Hey,

I'm very new to game ex so I'm not totally sure this has been answered but i did search and found nothing..

Steam recently integrated in home streaming over network from one PC to another and I was wondering if there is a way to run games like this through game ex. I have a PC with all my steam games installed upstairs and a htpc with game ex downstairs and it would be great to be able to stream my steam games only using the game ex frontend, Is there a way to do this?

Thanks

[tthurman]

With good hardware and a fast home network

nice disclaimer

This will likely have licensing issues that prevents integration into GameEx, to take a wild guess.

[tthurman]

Pretty cool stuff

Takes a pretty Hoss host machine

[Adultery]

Not sure why you would need to do that. I install my Steam games on the server and point both my laptop and cabinet to that directory and it works fine. Each install sees the directory as just a local directory.

Disclaimer: I have a fast network so it may be an issue if you were to share that directory in a workgroup or something.

[nullPointer]

I think the difference is that each machine pointed to your server is still responsible for running the game locally, right? With in-home streaming the host machine is actually running the game while the client machine is just relaying input and displaying purdy pictures. This way you can run Steam games on a low power HTPC in the living room (even one that is running Linux/Steam OS), while your Windows gaming rig somewhere else is actually doing all the heavy lifting.

I don't use it all the time, but it comes in handy when I do. This way you only need one powerful gaming rig, while every other machine in the house just leeches off that one.

[Draco1962]

I wonder how difficult it would be to setup the Steam Big Picture mode as an external application from within GameEx to stream from the other PC acting as the Steam host?

[nullPointer]

I wondered the same thing except in reverse! (at least if I understand you correctly) Setup GameEx as an external application in Steam, and then stream your GameEx setup to a client machine via Steam. I have to assume that if this is possible, then streaming GameEx through Steam would likely be possible on some level. If it did work, it would be another alternate way of running GameEx on Linux. Lots of possibilities!

[DazzleHP]

I wondered the same thing except in reverse! (at least if I understand you correctly) Setup GameEx as an external application in Steam, and then stream your GameEx setup to a client machine via Steam. I have to assume that if this is possible, then streaming GameEx through Steam would likely be possible on some level. If it did work, it would be another alternate way of running GameEx on Linux. Lots of possibilities!

It does seem enticing! Especially if you have Steam Streaming setup already (meaning you already have a capable host rig). Imagine on tap emulation to multiple rooms in your home, using relatively cheap under powered boxes! To a lesser tech savvy person it would seem unreal - and mind bogglingly impressive!

"What does that little box do?"

"Oh this little thing? Well, let me show you"

@Draco - launching Steam in Big Picture is just a matter of a command line switch, i forget which at the moment but a quick search should give you something. The problem though in my experience, is that Steam BP and GameEx don't always play nice with each other This may well be OS and or GE version independent though. But if you were to try this (again like nullPointer, if i understand you right ) then i would recommend to kill GE when launching Steam, and vice versa

[Adultery]

I think the difference is that each machine pointed to your server is still responsible for running the game locally, right? With in-home streaming the host machine is actually running the game while the client machine is just relaying input and displaying purdy pictures. This way you can run Steam games on a low power HTPC in the living room (even one that is running Linux/Steam OS), while your Windows gaming rig somewhere else is actually doing all the heavy lifting.

I don't use it all the time, but it comes in handy when I do. This way you only need one powerful gaming rig, while every other machine in the house just leeches off that one.

Gotcha. I don't really have that issue. I do remember before I decided to go with the server that streaming was kinda hit or miss... For example, Shovel Knight ran great but 8BitBoy looked horrible and the input lagged. Pinball Arcade worked great and Worms Golf was unplayable.

Maybe it depends on the game... Just crazy how little games play badly and the heavier ones seemed to not have an issue.

[Draco1962]

It can be launched from GameEx!

1. Via Setup Wizard, go to External Applications

2. Select an open application slot

3. For the path, I used C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam

4. for the CMD, I used Steam.exe -bigpicture

There may need to be some additional tweaking, possibly to kill the Steam process after exiting using a "launch after" batch file to kill the process. Also, I noticed that GameEx will not return focus if you "exit to desktop" from Big Picture. You must "Exit Steam".

[DazzleHP]

I noticed that GameEx will not return focus if you "exit to desktop" from Big Picture. You must "Exit Steam".

That's why i suggested to kill GE on Steam launch, and kill Steam on GE launch, aka the "Yo-yo Effect", back and forth. I've tried it thoroughly GameEx and Steam play nice in normal circumstances, but as soon as you introduce Big Picture it (they both) become unstable. They fight for focus and it's kind of random which one wins. It's probably something to do with how each game utilizes "fullscreen", but i'm not experienced in this field. You guys may have more of an idea.

[Draco1962]

So far I haven't encountered any instability with this method other than GameEx not returning if I Exit to Desktop instead of Exit Steam from within Big Picture. I would imagine the same effect you are describing might occur if someone were to launch another fullscreen program in a similar manner, such as XBMC/Kodi. Could be as you suggest, an OS and/or GameEx version issue, and possibly a graphics adapter issue. IDK. I am running 8.1 x64 and the latest version of GameEx with a fairly recent nVidia GPU.

[DazzleHP]

Yeah that's kind of why i put that disclaimer - the rig i tested all this on was w7 x64 with AMD card. I tried to figure it out myself (mind you, it was over a year ago, and things have changed since), but on that particular rig and setup i was encountering all manner of focus issues - but only when launching Steam in BP mode. I would disable it and everything was fine. Like i said it seemed random at the time as sometimes it all still worked flawlessly, other times i would exit a game and all i got was the "big picture screensaver" and had to either hard exit (Steam) or Alt-TAB back to GE.

[CharlesLam]

so...after reading all the posts in this thread...the answer is no? 0_o dont think anyone answered the actual original post. like i could care less about big picture if gameex launches steam games correctly. i havent tried steam via gameex. but i bet it would be a whole lot prettier than steam. biggest reason why i havent is because id rather not have subpar gaming on my media center. if this steam streaming works it might entice me to try it as my gaming rig is so much more powerful than my media center.

[Draco1962]

so...after reading all the posts in this thread...the answer is no?

Steam Streaming is something that is going to be outside of GameEx and handled by the streaming functionality within Steam itself. Steam integration (as well as Uplay and Origin) simply allows one to list the games and some content via an API. Actuall access to the games is still handled via the respective online system launchers.

Adultery answered the question as "not necessary" (in his own words) to use Steam Streaming if you have your paths set to a central location for the remote PCs to access. Likely, the same robustness of the network and PC acting as essentially the "server" for the streaming will need to be a bit on the robust side as well.

So, the actual answer is not no, but it is not yes either. There is no Steam Streaming integration built into GameEx. It would likely have to be run as an extermal app, and, there is no need if the integrated Steam capability is properly configured and on a decent home network.

i havent tried steam via gameex. but i bet it would be a whole lot prettier than steam. biggest reason why i havent is because id rather not have subpar gaming on my media center. if this steam streaming works it might entice me to try it as my gaming rig is so much more powerful than my media center.

If you media center is "subpar" for gaming, then Steam Streaming is most likely not going to change that too much. Steam integration via GameEx works very well, but is not the same thing as Steam Streaming, so your comparison to potential experiences is kinda apples and grapefruits.