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Setup Guide

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Alex Byrne edited this page Nov 27, 2015 · 26 revisions

In this guide:

##Prerequisites PC Requirements

  • NVIDIA GeForce GTX 600/700/800/900 series or GTX 600M/700M/800M series GPU (GT-series GPUs won't work)
  • NVIDIA GeForce Experience (GFE) 2.1.1 or higher

In addition, nVidia suggests the following for your PC server (http://www.geforce.com/geforce-experience/system-requirements)

  • Operating System: Windows Vista or newer, with DirectX 11 or newer installed

  • A CPU of reasonable newness (Intel Pentium G Series, Core 2 Duo, Quad Core i3, i5, i7, or an AMD Phenom II, Athlon II, Phenom X4, FX, or any newer, higher speed processor from either of those manufacturers)

  • At least 2GB RAM, more preferred

  • 20 MB of hard disk space for GeForce Experience, plus whatever additional hard disk space requirements are needed for the streamed game or game platform client, like Steam or Desura.

  • A display that can handle at least 1024x768 resolution.

Client Requirements

  • Android: An Android device running Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) or newer. Newer and "flagship" devices with higher processor speeds are more likely to be able to handle Moonlight well by using the hardware video system on the device to produce smooth streaming without video stuttering or freezing. (For the really geeky, if the system on a chip can decode h.264 High Profile in hardware, Moonlight will work well on the device.)

  • iOS: An iProduct running iOS 8.0 or later.

  • PC: The PC client is currently in a beta status, and can't yet take advantage of the ability to process the video using the video card's hardware, so the requirements for the PC client are currently pretty stiff. A computer of comparable power to the server is probably a good starting point.

Internet and Network Requirements

To have a good experience, you need a mid to high-end wireless router with a good wireless connection to your client device (5 Gigahertz (GHz) highly recommended, Wireless-N (802.11n) or better strongly recommended) and a good connection from your PC server to your router (Ethernet/wired connections highly recommended).

Controller

Most controllers will work just fine, but the following have been tested:

  • Xbox 360 wired/wireless
  • PS3 wired (with Sixaxis Enabler app) or wireless (with SixAxis Controller app)
  • PS4 wired via USB
  • MOGA controller (see note below)
  • Amazon Fire Game Controller
  • Shield integrated controller

MOGA controller users: If your controller has a switch with A and B, it must be switched to B to be used for streaming. If you have no switch, use the MOGA Universal Driver app.

SixAxis controller users: Use SixAxis in "Native Gamepad" mode. The default button mapping needs to be adjusted to match the standard controller layout for streaming.

External Mouse and Keyboard

Using an external mouse as a relative input on Android requires a rooted device. If you want to use an external mouse on your rooted device, you should download "Moonlight for Rooted Devices" on the Play Store or app-root-release.apk from releases.

##Quick Setup Instructions

  1. On the server, download the GeForce Experience software from http://www.geforce.com/geforce-experience/download and install it. The server may need a reboot after installation to finish setup. Make sure GeForce Experience is open, updated, and that you've scanned for games. You should see the NVIDIA icon in your system tray. If you don't, try rebooting your machine or reinstalling GeForce Experience. Moonlight may not be able to pair if the NVIDIA icon isn't shown.

  2. Start up GeForce Experience on the server and navigate to the Preferences tab. Then choose the SHIELD option. Of the options in Stream games from [servername] to SHIELD devices, choose either On my network or On my network and the Internet. To set up streaming from the Internet, see Streaming over the Internet later on in the guide.

  3. Download, install, and start your client. In most cases, your PC server will show up automatically in the PC list. Click the entry in the PC list (PC: and then click on the Pair button) to start pairing. If not, click the plus button and add your PC using its local network IP address. If this doesn't work, try the troubleshooting steps here.

    • Find the server's local network address

      1. Click on the Start menu and run the command prompt (cmd.exe)

      2. Type ipconfig /all and press Enter/Return

      3. A local network addresses usually takes the form of 192.168.x.yyy

  4. On your PC, enter the PIN displayed on the Android device and accept the pairing dialog. If you don't see a pairing dialog, try the troubleshooting steps here.

  5. Choose your PC in the PC list and the app list will be displayed where you can select a game to stream.

##Streaming over the Internet

NVIDIA has disabled UPnP support in GFE 2.4.1, so it is necessary to forward ports manually if you're behind a router. Forwarding ports is only required to stream from outside your network. The following ports must be forwarded for streaming to work:

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

To find the external IP address of your server, when connected to your network, use a service like http://www.whatismyip.com to determine the IP address another computer uses to talk to you.

Note: Some Internet Service providers change the external IP address in use by any given subscriber on a regular basis. Since Moonlight needs to connect to the right IP address, this change can cause problems for Moonlight. Using a dynamic DNS service like No-IP will give Moonlight a consistent name to use for connecting, even if the IP address that's associated with that name changes a lot.

To stream over the Internet, in your client: Type the external IP address or name into the IP bar or command line (PC) or, on Android or iOS, tap on the plus key when you see all the possible servers to connect to, then enter in the IP address or name. Choose your PC in the PC list and the app list will be displayed where you can select a game to stream.

##Using a gamepad connected to the PC instead of the streaming device Normally, Moonlight sends controller input from the streaming client which gets sent to the game by GFE. If you want to connect a controller to your PC instead of the streaming device, GFE can cause some problems because the emulated controller still appears to games as controller 1. Luckily there is a workaround for this. You'll need to rename the DLL that Nvidia is using to send controller input so it won't be used anymore. On 32-bit and 64-bit Windows, rename rxinput.dll to rxinput.dll.old on in C:\Program Files\NVIDIA Corporation\NvStreamSrv. On 64-bit versions, there's another copy of the DLL in C:\Program Files (x86)\NVIDIA Corporation\NvStreamSrv which you'll want to rename. You may have to do the renaming again if GFE does an update, but it should allow you to use your controller normally on games that only support 1 controller.

##Adding custom programs that are not 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 SHIELD or 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 (pencil and paper) on the right (underneath the add button).

The next time the client opens and displays the App List, the newly added programs and games should be displayed and ready to stream.

If quitting an application doesn't stop Moonlight, press Ctrl+Shift+Alt+Q on Moonlight PC to quit the streaming session. On Moonlight Android and iOS, pressing the home key will switch out of the streaming session. Choose the Quit Session option from the App List to fully quit the streaming session.

##Using Moonlight to stream your entire desktop Follow the steps above for adding a custom program, but for the path use: C:\windows\system32\mstsc.exe

You can rename the remote desktop entry using the edit button. When you click this entry, you will see your full desktop where you can run whatever you want.

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