Game streaming to other Android devices or PCs with Moonlight and GeForce Experience

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It will be the same issue for most phone models out there due to the manufacturer because of the cheap parts they use for the BT/WiFi antennas, especially the N5. 5 GHz will improve it but will still interfere and expected packet losses will occur.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

Well that kinda sucks! Using the moga controller is a lot more convenient because it has the holder for the phone... It would be perfect if you could use the moga over USB instead of Bluetooth!
 

majnu

Senior Member
Apr 18, 2010
52
2
I have an LG Gpad 8.3 Android 4.4.2.

- When using a wired 360 controller (Not XBOX One) plugged into my Android device using an OTG cable, I can navigate the "desktop" but when I launch Limelight and go into a game like Metro Last Light for example I cannot use my controller at all.

- When my controller is plugged in all the "syncronisation" lights are flashing. Could that be the problem? I don't think it is personally as that is only when it's trying to pair itself to a receiver, which I am not using.

Any info or help to fix would be appreciated.

:)
 

Rayman96

Senior Member
Jun 3, 2009
1,192
325
Warszawa, Poland
I have an LG Gpad 8.3 Android 4.4.2.

- When my controller is plugged in all the "syncronisation" lights are flashing. Could that be the problem? I don't think it is personally as that is only when it's trying to pair itself to a receiver, which I am not using.

:)

It is standard behavior of Xbox360 controller under Android. You can check if you have xpad.ko for your playform and some useful exstras like kl and kcm files.
I can provide the extras but i don;t have xpad.ko for your platform.
 
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wadebob

New member
Jul 29, 2014
1
0
RTSP handshake failed

Having trouble getting limelight to work on my OUYA. The OUYA successfully pairs with my computer but when I try to launch an application the application launches on the computer but I get this error on the OUYA: Starting RTSP handshake failed. I've tried turning off the firewall and doing a clean install of the driver. Any ideas why this might be happening? Cheers!
 

cgutman

Senior Member
Aug 14, 2010
485
430
GeForce Experience 2.1.1 incompatibility

Please hold off upgrading to GFE 2.1.1 pending a new version of Limelight. I think they've subtly changed the RTSP handshake process which results in the message: "RTSP OPTIONS request failed 505"

If this is all that has changed, the update shouldn't take long. I'll look at it later today.

Edit: RTSP error 505 is "RTSP Version not supported"
 
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Attreyu

Member
Jun 9, 2013
44
3
Please hold off upgrading to GFE 2.1.1 pending a new version of Limelight. I think they've subtly changed the RTSP handshake process which results in the message: "RTSP OPTIONS request failed 505"

If this is all that has changed, the update shouldn't take long. I'll look at it later today.

Edit: RTSP error 505 is "RTSP Version not supported"

It's exactly the message I'm presented with. Waiting for the update...:victory:
 

sysclan

New member
Jul 26, 2013
4
0
229

Could be gamestream support for stylus input?
youtube dot com /watch?v=4h8k5LLK0jI
Limelght turn any tablet / phone with Stylus in a cyntiq.
I willing to pay much for it.
 

MiniDemonic

Senior Member
Oct 18, 2010
85
25
Shameless feature request incoming:

Hey, could you add a way to change how the touch input works? Right now the screen acts like a touchpad, but the click sensitivity is like really bad and it's hard to make the mouse click sometimes.

What I want tho is the screen to act like a touchscreen instead, so move the mouse to the x,y coordinate of the touch and then click as long as you are touching, this simplifies everything and it would let me play Hearthstone on my phone.
 
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tutchthesky7

Senior Member
Feb 24, 2011
200
39
Non LAN streaming?

With the addition of the "on my network and the internet " to GFE not too long ago, is there a way to get limelight to work from, lets say a different city? I was thinking about using himachi LAN emulator, but not sure how that would work!
 

matejdro

Senior Member
Jul 9, 2009
1,362
152
Does anybody happen to have old installer for GFE? I upgraded to 2.1.1 and streaming does not work.

EDIT: Found it: http://us.download.nvidia.com/GFE/GFEClient/2.1.0.0/GeForce_Experience_v2.1.0.0.exe

---------- Post added at 03:48 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:08 PM ----------



I tested a bit of streaming with USB keyboard and mouse. And it is not usable:

1. Mouse works in-game, but android cursor is visible. I wouldn't mind that much, except that mouse movements are confined to that cursor. So if android cursor reaches screen border, you can't move mouse in that direction anymore.

2. Keyboard just doesn't work or works very weirdly (character won't even walk, holding key will register as double tap). My guess is, you just receive character input events and forward them?

Aren't there any root APIs that could give you raw access to keyboard and mouse? That would make this actually playable.
 
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With the addition of the "on my network and the internet " to GFE not too long ago, is there a way to get limelight to work from, lets say a different city? I was thinking about using himachi LAN emulator, but not sure how that would work!

Very simple, I do it all the time. Once you had added your PC to the LimeLight mobile app, you can access it anytime from your own LAN or over the internet. I play my PC games from my Nexus 5 over an LTE connection from hundreds of miles away sometimes.
 

tutchthesky7

Senior Member
Feb 24, 2011
200
39
Very simple, I do it all the time. Once you had added your PC to the LimeLight mobile app, you can access it anytime from your own LAN or over the internet. I play my PC games from my Nexus 5 over an LTE connection from hundreds of miles away sometimes.

Mine just says PC offline when I'm on anything other than the LAN wifi, side note, this works with PC to PC with hamachi, I tried it last night
 
Mine just says PC offline when I'm on anything other than the LAN wifi, side note, this works with PC to PC with hamachi, I tried it last night

Make sure you have all the proper ports forwarded on your router... I'm not sure if ALL of these need to be forwarded for limelight, but here is a list of ports I have forwarded for limelight:

TCP 35043
TCP 47984
TCP 47989
TCP 47995
TCP 47996
TCP 48010
UDP 47998
UDP 47999
UDP 48000
 

death_entry

Senior Member
Nov 23, 2006
308
29
London
I just find it really laggy and unplayable, how is it you all have such good framerates and no lag??

I started using kainy which i find works quite well...
 
I just find it really laggy and unplayable, how is it you all have such good framerates and no lag??

I started using kainy which i find works quite well...

Its just really depends on a lot of factors. Bluetooth signals and/or other WiFi signals on or near the same band will cause interference and packet loss which causes issues. Also mid range and lower end devices won't have a good enough hardware decoded which will also cause lag. Even on the best hardware with no interference signals you'd still occasionally have micro stutters but it will still be perfectly playable.
 

Rayman96

Senior Member
Jun 3, 2009
1,192
325
Warszawa, Poland
I have no idea what that means :eek:

Let me explain:

xpad.ko is a kernel module that let kernel operate an xbox360 gamepad. It may/may not built in into kernel or rom. It is possible that another module can play xpad.ko role. This module is SoC specific.

kl/kcm files - they are mapping for the controller. There is a pack for wireless one and for the one with wire too. I attach them to post. They should be placed in /system/usr /keylayout or /keychars (this folders exist).

I am really deep into that stuff beacuse I am working with rockcip SoC wchich are very hard to cope with ;)
 
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cgutman

Senior Member
Aug 14, 2010
485
430
GFE 2.1.1 support

Updated builds are up with GFE 2.1.1 support. You'll have to update to GFE 2.1.1 to use them, because enough of the protocol changed that backwards compatibility really sucked. I didn't do as much testing and optimization as I would have liked.

GFE 2.1.1 changed a bunch (and incremented the server's major version from 2 to 3). They tweaked remote input encryption and RTSP handshaking. The video packets are more efficient by using a smaller header. The video change required a rewrite of most of the video depacketizer which is the #1 most bug-prone area of Limelight, so I wouldn't be surprised if the stream can get jammed in a state where it keeps dropping frames indefinitely. I had this happen in my testing, although I believe I have fixed the problem. This depacketizer is also less efficient than the older one, but efficiency will come as we learn more about how the new video stream headers work.

https://github.com/limelight-stream/limelight-android/releases
https://github.com/limelight-stream/limelight-pc/releases

The Android version is also pending rollout on the Play Store. I'm going to hold it there for a bit to make sure nobody has horrible issues with it before sending it to Ouya and Amazon.
 
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    Please don't ask for Moonlight help on Nvidia's forums! It's not their responsibility to support this app. Ask on this forum, another non-Nvidia forum, by email, etc

    What happened to Limelight?/Why did you change your name?
    On April 21, 2015, we received a Cease and Desist letter from Limelight Networks, Inc. They also do streaming services and were concerned about confusion between this project and their company trademarks. To comply with the terms of their C&D, we've decided to rename our project to Moonlight.

    Quick Links
    Main website: https://moonlight-stream.org
    Help: https://github.com/moonlight-stream/moonlight-docs/wiki/Setup-Guide
    Discord: https://moonlight-stream.org/discord
    PC GitHub project: https://github.com/moonlight-stream/moonlight-qt
    iOS GitHub project: https://github.com/moonlight-stream/moonlight-ios
    Android GitHub project: https://github.com/moonlight-stream/moonlight-android
    Android GitHub releases page (APKs): https://github.com/moonlight-stream/moonlight-android/releases
    Embedded port (for Raspberry Pi and other embedded devices): https://github.com/irtimmer/limelight-embedded
    GearVR port (for GearVR devices): http://sideloadvr.com/detail.php?id=14

    iOS version
    The iOS port of Moonlight is now on the App Store: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/moonlight-game-streaming/id1000551566

    Windows, Mac, and Linux port
    PC port binaries: https://github.com/moonlight-stream/moonlight-qt/releases
    PC port source: https://github.com/moonlight-stream/moonlight-qt

    Moonlight for Chrome OS
    Download the latest version from the Chrome Web Store.

    General Streaming Latency Information
    The latency of streaming is dependent on the device you're streaming to and the network you're streaming over. Different devices have different H.264 hardware decoding latency. After streaming, a toast will show up with latency numbers. It will show the total client latency and the portion of the total client latency spent waiting for the hardware decoder. Note that the total client latency does NOT include network latency, so the real latency is higher than the number you see. The total client latency is a measure of the time that the first packet in a frame is received to the time that the frame is released for rendering on screen.

    Anecdotal Hardware Decoder Latency Numbers
    These are some latency numbers (from memory) I've seen on my test devices as of Moonlight Android 4.0.1. I'll try to keep updating this as I test.

    Tier 1 devices:
    Tegra 4 - Nvidia Shield - 5 ms - 1080p60 supported
    Intel Atom/Bay Trail/Moorefield - Nexus Player - 8 ms - 1080p60 supported (may need a USB OTG Ethernet adapter for consistent performance)
    Razer Forge TV - 10 ms - 1080p60 supported - H.265 supported
    Tegra X1 - SHIELD Android TV - 10 ms - 4K60 supported - H.265 supported in hardware but needs changes in Moonlight to work well
    Tegra K1 - Nexus 9 - 15 ms - 1080p60 supported
    Tegra 3 - OUYA and Nexus 7 (2012) - 17 ms - 1080p60 supported

    Tier 2 devices:
    Broadcom VideoCore IV - Fire TV Stick - 20 ms - 720p60/1080p30 supported
    Exynos 7420 - Galaxy S6 - 20 ms - 1080p60/4K30 supported - H.265 supported
    Snapdragon S4 Pro (rebranded 600) - Nexus 7 (2013) - 20 ms - 720p60/1080p30 supported
    Snapdragon 801 - HTC One M8 GPE - 20 ms - 1080p60 supported
    Snapdragon 800 - Nexus 5 - 20 ms - 1080p60 supported
    Snapdragon 600 - Fire TV (2014) - 30 ms - 720p60/1080p30 supported

    Tier 3 devices:
    MediaTek devices - Fire TV (2015) - 55 ms - 1080p60 supported - H.265 supported

    Adding games/apps that aren't automatically found
    You can stream any almost any game or app by adding the EXE file to GFE manually (if it's not found by the automatic app scan). Open GeForce Experience, click the Preferences tab, click GameStream on the sidebar, then click the add (+) button on the right. Browse to the app or file you want to add and click OK. You can rename the app using the edit button on the right (near the add button).

    Using Moonlight as a remote desktop solution
    You can stream the entire Windows desktop via Moonlight. Follow step 2 from this guide

    Streaming over the Internet
    Install the Moonlight Internet Streaming Helper on your host gaming PC to enable streaming over the Internet. If your router supports UPnP, you won't need to make any manual changes.

    If the above tool isn't able to enable Internet streaming automatically or your router doesn't support it, forward these ports manually:
    TCP 47984, 47989, 48010
    UDP 47998, 47999, 48000, 48010

    General requirements for current APK:
    SoC capable of decoding H.264 High Profile in hardware (Snapdragon, Exynos, Tegra 3 or higher, Rockchip, and more)
    Android 4.1 or higher
    GeForce Experience with a GTX 600/700/800/900 GPU or GTX 600M/700M/800M (GT-series not supported)
    Xbox, PS3 (with SixAxis app), Moga (B/HID mode), Shield, or Ouya controller (other controllers may work too in HID mode)
    Mid to high-end wireless router (preferably dual-band 802.11n or better)
    Good wireless connection to your Android device

    Troubleshooting tips:
    1. Make sure GeForce Experience is open, up-to-date, and that you've scanned for games.

    2. Make sure your device is on the same network as your computer for initial pairing.

    3. Try disabling any firewall software running on your machine.

    4. Try rebooting your machine. Sometimes the streaming software gets into a messed up state where it won't work normally until the machine is rebooted.

    5. Make sure your Android device has a strong wireless connection (and your PC too, if it's connected wirelessly).

    6. For Internet streaming, make sure to install Moonlight Internet Streaming Helper on your host gaming PC, then run the Moonlight Internet Streaming Tester that it installs to troubleshoot further.

    7. To check if GFE is working properly, try navigating to the following URLs on your GFE PC:
    http://127.0.0.1:47989/serverinfo?uniqueid=1234
    https://127.0.0.1:47984/serverinfo?uniqueid=1234

    For those with latency issues, please see this post.

    Device-related issues
    Depending on the wireless chipset on your phone/tablet, you may have a bad streaming experience if Bluetooth is active while streaming. Unfortunately, there's nothing we can do about this. If you experience significant connection degradation with a Bluetooth controller connected, you could try connecting the controller to your PC (see the section above), a USB Ethernet adapter, or controller that connects directly to your Android device (assuming your Android device supports USB OTG)

    Older Changes:

    Update 12 - March 13, 2014:
    Significant video quality improvements. Lower video latency. New UI that makes it easier to choose the best streaming settings. Transient messages are displayed while streaming if network or device problems are detected.

    Update 11:
    Tegra hardware decoding latency bug is fixed. Hardware decoding is now used by default on Tegra and Rockchip devices. Performance is vastly improved on Tegra devices (1080p60 decodes in real-time, even on Tegra 3). The parser bug causing additional artifacts and image corruption is (finally) fixed.

    Update 10:
    Added options to force either hardware or software decoding. Reduce audio decoding CPU usage. Fix image quality and performance regressions from update 9.

    Update 9:
    Reduced CPU usage of video decoding. Added options to choose target resolution (720p or 1080p) and FPS (30 or 60).

    Update 8:
    Added a checkbox to choose image quality vs performance (only for CPU decoding). Optimize CPU decoding further. The frame rate is now playable on the Ouya with its Tegra 3..

    Update 7:
    Connectivity issues should be resolved now. Update to the latest APK if you were experiencing connection failures with the last couple of releases.

    Update 6:
    There's now GUI feedback when connecting. The whitelist for hardware decoding (that only included Qualcomm decoders) has now been replaced with a blacklist (currently containing TI and Nvidia decoders). The Exynos decoder in Exynos 5 Octa has been confirmed to work.

    Update 5:
    The app will now request a new reference frame if packet loss occurs on the video stream. This means that the stream will recover from blockiness and artifacting that occur when video packets get lost. CPU decoding for non-Snapdragon devices is a bit better. Fixed back button on Shield.

    Update 4:
    Added multithreaded CPU H264 decoding support for non-Snapdragon devices with ffmpeg. Both landscape orientations now work. This grows the APK significantly so don't be alarmed when this download is larger than previous builds.

    Tegra 4 is now very smooth in the games I've tested. Tegra 3 works significantly better than before, but still not perfect (and won't likely ever be as smooth as Snapdragon or Tegra 4).

    For Qualcomm devices, a dual-core SoC (even as old as Cortex-A8 stuff) is sufficient due to the hardware decoder. For other devices, CPU decoding will now be used. These devices will need more CPU horsepower (a quad-core Tegra 3 is almost enough).

    Look forward to keyboard support and a better GUI coming in the next several days.

    Update 3:
    Frame pacing improvements for Snapdragon and Tegra devices, although Tegra still has more latency than Snapdragon devices. If you have issues with blockiness or discoloration in the video stream, make sure that you have a good wireless connection. Moonlight doesn't currently deal with packet loss as well as the Shield streaming app.

    Update 2:
    PS3, Xbox, Shield, and Moga Pro controllers are working with the latest APK.

    Update:
    Audio is now working. Video is working pretty well on Snapdragon devices (with some lag on Tegra devices). I've attached the current APK here for those that want to test. Due to the framework we're using for video decoding, this app requires Android 4.1 or higher. This is still in alpha so expect bugs.

    Original post:
    Here is a demo of a WIP app that uses the same Shield streaming technology to stream to any Android device. Controller and mouse input works. Keyboard input isn't implemented yet. Video support works (minus some artifacts at rare points and minor frame pacing issues). Audio doesn't work yet (not sure what format it is).

    We've had success with very low H264 decoding latency on Snapdragon S4 Pro/600 devices (like the 2013 Nexus 7 and HTC One), but the Tegra 3/4 decoder has a high latency per frame (~1 second) that makes streaming more laggy on devices like the Ouya, 2012 Nexus 7, and even the Shield itself.

    The next big step to a release-ready app is audio support (and the obligatory code cleanup). I'd be happy to respond to any questions about the way the app or the GFE streaming protocol works. If there's significant interest in this, I'll try to put more time into finishing it ASAP.


    Demo video (a bit old now):
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VOti83qZRU

    Downloads:
    I'd recommend downloading the app from the Play Store. Updates are automatically applied through the Play Store when they are released. Crash reports also get to us automatically if you use the Play Store version and click the Report button if Moonlight crashes.

    Google Play Link

    Sometimes APKs are more convenient for sideloading and other things, so they will continue to be posted.

    You can find the latest APKs on the GitHub page here: https://github.com/moonlight-stream/moonlight-android/releases
    6
    Moonlight Chrome Test Build (Alpha 1)

    Since there seems to be some interest in this Moonlight port for Chrome, I've decided to put a binary up for testing. Please report your thoughts on it.

    Working:
    - Pairing and streaming
    - Hardware accelerated video decoding up to 1080p60
    - Game controllers (currently limited to those for which Chrome has a built-in mapping, like Xbox and DualShock controllers)
    - Keyboard and mouse input (with the caveat of Esc kicking the app out of full screen)

    Not working:
    - No feedback when starting a stream - just be patient and wait for the video stream
    - mDNS auto-discovery of PCs
    - (Very) Non-final UI
    - A few settings are missing
    - Error handling needs work
    - Controller detection can be wonky at times (try fully exiting and restarting Chrome)

    To install, drag the CRX file into the Extensions (Menu -> More Tools -> Extensions) page of Chrome.

    To launch, use Chrome App Launcher, the Extensions page, or just search for Moonlight on your PC and you should see it installed like a normal program.

    https://www.dropbox.com/s/ml92xvot25yn23x/moonlight-chrome.crx?dl=0
    6
    Good News about Qualcomm Decoder Latency

    I found by luck that the SDP attributes on the new GFE beta 2.4.0.9 allow the client to adjust video slicing parameters. I've released a new build that enables slicing on GFE 2.4 to reduce latency of Qualcomm devices (hopefully back to 2.1.3 levels). It will also improve the latency on the Fire TV as it's also a Qualcomm device.

    The build is rolling out on Play Store, waiting for review on Amazon store, and up on GitHub now.

    Remember, you MUST have GFE beta updates turned on and be running GFE 2.4.0.9 or higher with Limelight v3.1.4.

    You can enable beta updates for GFE on the Preferences tab in the General pane.
    5
    Another GFE 2.1 status update: success!

    I've figured out secure pairing and encrypted input (required for GFE 2.1) and implemented them in Limelight-common. There's just a bit more work to do for platform-specific support (certificate and private key generation and storage) on Android and PC. My PoC code was able to stream from a GFE 2.1 box over the Internet to a custom version of Limelight-PC.

    I'm off for some much needed rest (4:54 AM here), but we're on the home stretch. Expect a release for Android and PC in the next day or so.

    Update: It's done! Limelight Android version 2.3 is rolling out on the Play Store, waiting for approval on the Ouya store, and posted https://github.com/limelight-stream/limelight-android/releases. Limelight PC is released too https://github.com/limelight-stream/limelight-pc/releases
    5
    Moonlight Chrome Test Build (Alpha 2)

    Changes from Alpha 1:
    - Fixed Esc key kicking the app out of full-screen (press Ctrl-Alt-Shift-Q to quit)
    - Fixed sometimes requiring a restart of Chrome for gamepad detection to work
    - Added mDNS auto-discovery of PCs

    Working:
    - Pairing and streaming
    - Hardware accelerated video decoding up to 1080p60
    - Game controllers (currently limited to those for which Chrome has a built-in mapping, like Xbox and DualShock controllers)
    - Keyboard and mouse input
    - mDNS auto-discovery of PCs

    Not working:
    - No feedback when starting a stream - just be patient and wait for the video stream
    - (Very) Non-final UI
    - A few settings are missing
    - Error handling needs work

    To install, drag the CRX file into the Extensions (Menu -> More Tools -> Extensions) page of Chrome.

    To launch, use Chrome App Launcher, the Extensions page, or just search for Moonlight on your PC and you should see it installed like a normal program.

    https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/19391088/moonlight-chrome-alpha2.crx