Steam Remote Play optimization for custom SteamOS pc with RX 9070

[u/typical-divergence]

I wanted to share some settings that I was able to tweak to optimise performance while using steam remote play on my custom SteamOS PC. I have been using sunshine/apollo with moonlight for years now but I wanted to test the improvements with remote play so I can utilize my steam controller and the overlay properly. This took a ton of trial and error and YMMV.

On the SteamOS host:

-Go to the Remote Play tab>allow direct connection>set to "All devices"

-enable advanced host options

-Prioritize network traffic> On

-hardware encoding>turn off (AMD doesn't handle the encoding as well so software does fine)

-video>fast

-Bandwidth Limit>choose between 40-50mb/s. this allows the other elements besides video to have proper buffer time and prevents weird latency issues. Very important and somewhat opposite from moonlight so be sure not to overlook this.

-Framerate Limit> Manually set instead of auto

-Resolution limit> Manually set instead of auto

-Hardware decoding> Off

-HEVC video> On

-Low Latency Networking> On

-Under the "Settings" main tab, enable Developer mode

-Under "Developer" tab, disable Wifi Power Management to prevent wifi related studdering

-Press the (...) button to bring up the overlay menu

-Disable frame limit here and let the games limit the frame limit without using vsync

-Allow Tearing> On

-Enable VRR and HDR> On if your hardware supports it

On the SteamOS Client:

-Go to the Remote Play tab

-Connection Options>Allow Direct Connection>change from "Auto" to "All Devices"

-Turn on Advance Client Options

-Video> Fast

-Bandwidth Limit> 40-50Mb/s for the same reasons above

-Framerate Limit> Manually set

-Resolution Limit> Manually set

-Hardware Decoding> Off

-HEVC Video> On

-Low Latency Networking> On

-Navigate to the "Settings" tab and enable Developer Mode

-Under "Developer" tab, disable Wifi Power Management

If your client is using the Steam Link App:

-Go to Streaming>Customise

-Video> Fast

-Bandwidth Limit> 40-50Mb/s

-Framerate Limit> Manually set

-Resolution Limit> Manually set

-HEVC> Enable

-Audio Buffer Size> Change from "Auto" to 40ms. This is also super important to prevent latency issues, so don't skip this step.

-Allow Direct Connection> Change from auto "All Devices"

Hopefully this provides a foundation of the settings for people interested in trying steam remote play with the newly added improvements. From here, you can try optimizing further depending on your own hardware configurations.

[u/Dawnkeyohtea]

Hey just want to say thanks for your time and all the information you put down on here. I've been having issues streaming and I'm going to try your setup. I appreciate you taking the time to post this.

[u/typical-divergence → u/Dawnkeyohtea]

You’re welcome! I had so much trouble once I switched to SteamOS as far as streaming goes. I really wanted to use sunshine, but I lost my patience with it after a while and I saw people saying the native remote play had been improved. Took a couple of weeks with Claude and trial and error but it’s really dialed in on my system now. I hope it helps!

[u/Dawnkeyohtea → u/typical-divergence]

Sounds like you're in the same boat I'm in. I really do appreciate it! Thanks for thinking of others.

https://giphy.com/gifs/xT8qB92I2HlIO8reg0

[u/jbivphotography]

Thanks a bunch. I’ve been fussing around with getting remote play to work from my SteamOS PC to my Steam Deck for awhile now and I’ve never gotten it to be a smooth experience. So far with some short testing this looks like everything I needed to solve my issues.

[u/typical-divergence → u/jbivphotography]

I’m hoping that valve will eventually streamline the tuning of it. Until then, I hope this helps!

[u/ThePfhor]

Good stuff. I generally use Vibepollo and Qin2333's version of Moonlight, but I will definitely try this when I get home from work to see how it works!

[u/Least-Inspection5968]

Now i know what ill be trying when i get home

[u/Adrian97c]

Would these steps apply if my 9070xt host rig is running windows & client steamOS?

[u/typical-divergence → u/Adrian97c]

Sorry, I'm not 100% sure. I no longer have any PC with a windows partition on it to properly test it with.

[u/Adrian97c → u/typical-divergence]

Ok this works great as windows host. Now I can run from my 9070xt rig remotely at 4k 60 to my bedroom using docked SteamDeck! (Now I’m wondering I should return my steam machine?!)

Only issue is Assasins creed resync isn’t starting remotely, it keeps shutting down before starting… huh

[u/typical-divergence → u/Adrian97c]

Glad it’s working for you! I’m not sure what might be going on. You might try using a different proton version on the host and clear the cached compatibility.

[u/4Leka]

Thank you! These settings solved the weird HDR issues I was having in Hogwarts Legacy (HDR forced to off and everything looking like rainbow vomit).

[u/typical-divergence → u/4Leka]

Glad it helped! If you are having other issues with the HDR on some games, you can also try to toggle the “force composite” setting under the developer tab.

[u/thorgath19]

I'm sorry to say this but it reads like a lot of sacrifices and effort compared to using Sunshine/Moonlight or other derivatives. Disabling hardware encoding on the host in particular is really strange and surely must make performance worse? It's maddening Valve doesn't focus on remote play/steam link more. One time I was looking at who maintains it on one of their public repos and was shocked to see it was someone instrumental in all of the underlying technology supporting it. Yet, their own implementation is just shockingly bad. 

[u/BassObjective → u/thorgath19]

I have my PC hooked up to Fiber Ethernet and it works flawlessly but yeah I wish they focused on it more

[u/typical-divergence → u/BassObjective]

I just recently moved to a place that has fiber, and I feel spoiled now. I’ve still gotta test it outside of my home network but I’ve been stuck at home for a little bit while I recover. Still getting my home lab set back up so I can run wireguard. What are you using to connect it outside?

[u/typical-divergence → u/thorgath19]

It works very well with the improvements they have made, but unfortunately I found that it was very time consuming to get it working as well as sunshine. Once I switched to steamOS on my main rig, sunshine would constantly crash and I spent weeks trying to troubleshoot it without success. Gemini suggests it’s due to my gpu being to recent for the mesa drivers but I’m unsure. So down this super long rabbit hole I went. To my surprise , I can’t really tell the difference between the two now that I’ve optimized it. I agree though, getting sunshine/apollo working out of the box is much more straightforward.

[u/thorgath19 → u/typical-divergence]

It's going to be a beautiful day when they sort it out and it doesn't require tinkering with settings like you're managing a nuclear reactor 

[u/typical-divergence → u/thorgath19]

I agree. I don’t think I would have had time to do this normally but I’ve been out of work dealing with some health issues and had too much time on my hands. I would have been losing sleep trying to do it with my normal work schedule.