NVIDIA Shield

Moonlight PC to Shield Streaming

Overview

• You can stream your PC to your NVIDIA Shield including games allowing you to play on your tv
• Using a Steam controller, or any other Shield-compatible Bluetooth controller, makes it feel very much like a console experience
• This is a legitimate replacement for a console for everything except for games that aren't available on PC
• All you need is your PC, NVIDIA GeForce Experience PC app, NVIDIA Shield, and the Moonlight Streaming Shield app

Requirements

• NVIDIA Graphics Card
  • NVIDIA GeForce Experience
• NVIDIA Shield
  • Moonlight streaming app installed
• Network
  • Wired
  • 100Mbit/sec
    • Recommended: 1000Mbit/sec, not because game streaming needs it (it looks great at 80Mbit/sec) but just in case something else starts heavily using your network bandwidth while streaming.

Steps

1. PC
   1. NVIDIA GeForce Experience
      1. Add Desktop Streaming Launcher
         1. Settings > Shield > Add:
            1. C:\Windows\System32\mstsc.exe
               • This is the command that will allow you to stream your plain desktop to your Shield
            2. I recommend finding a Microsoft Windows logo to set as an image
      2. Configure Steam to always use full desktop resolution
         1. Start > Steam > Right Click > Open File Location> Properties > Right Click > Properties > Target: Add a space and -fulldesktopres after the "...\Steam.exe" part
            • This causes Big Picture Mode to always start in your current resolution
   2. Start Steam Big Picture Mode
2. Shield
   1. Install Moonlight Streaming app
   2. Open the Moonlight app
   3. Run the Desktop Streaming Launcher
      • You should see Steam Big Picture Mode and

Improving The Experience

Add a Wireless or Bluetooth Keyboard for Typing and Touchpad

• Adding a Wireless or Bluetooth keyboard can open up games or other windows functions that require typing
• Some keyboards coming with a touchpad which opens up games that are better with a mouse, such as an adventure game or a real-time strategy game
• People seem to like the Logitech K400 Plus Wireless Touch TV Keyboard that comes with a touchpad. It connects by a usb dongle for a wireless connection and the NVIDIA Shield has USB ports.

Tips and Tricks

Long Press Start Button for Mouse Emulation

• • On a Steam controller, hold down the Start button for 1sec+, release, and you should be able to move the mouse cursor around with your joystick
  • A is left-click, B is right-click

Gotchas

Moonlight Shield App Launches Steam Low Resolution

• When starting Steam from Moonlight, Steam will start Big Picture Mode and, for some reason, start in a low resolution.
• It looks bad, changes your whole desktop's resolution (possibly messing up your desktop icons), and games start in low resolution
• Solution:
  • Start > Steam > Right Click > Open File Location> Properties > Right Click > Properties > Target: Add a space and -fulldesktopres after the "Steam.exe" part
    • This causes Big Picture Mode to always start in your current resolution
    • You must start Steam Big Picture Mode on your PC because Moonlight doesn't know to start Steam with -fulldesktopres
    • You must start Moonlight streaming with the Desktop Streaming

Workarounds

Issues With Higher Than 60hz/60fps Video

• Prefer Fullscreen 60hz monitor refresh rate or at least 60fps limited in-game
  • Shield/GameStream/Moonlight only use 30/60hz anyway by default. 90/120hz can be unlocked in Moonlight settings but anything over that and you're wasting processing power and bandwidth
  • If your native refresh rate is higher than 60hz something in the pipeline from your PC to Shield doesn't like it and your visual fluidity will suffer
    • Could be on-PC encoding overloading your video card or on-Shield decoding of a high refresh rate signal down to a 60hz signal overloading the Shield
    • Example: I have a 165hz diplay. I was running V-Rally 4 at 165hz but streamed to the Shield did not feel very fluid. Once I changed to Fullscreen mode and 60hz, in-game, it felt buttery smooth at the Shield.

Do NOT use the Moonlight Shield App Steam launcher

• This launches Steam in Big Picture Mode but without the -fulldesktopres fix mentioned above
• This results in a low resolution Steam interface, low resolution desktop, and games will start in low resolution
• Just be sure to use the Desktop Streaming launcher from Moonlight mentioned above that you create in NVIDIA GeForce Experience

Known Issues

Audio Muted On PC After Closing Moonlight Streaming

• tl;dr Reboot your PC
• Moonlight will correctly stream video and audio but when you stop streaming your PC doesn't seem to properly "recapture" audio
• I haven't found a solution except for rebooting

You can't turn off your PC monitor / Beware OLED users

• For some reason, your PC monitor will have to stay on even while you stream to your TV
• LCD users don't need to worry about burn-in, but running an LCD backlight can eventually result in dimming or failure
  • LCDs are used in offices all day long so dimming or failure is not a huge worry
• OLED users should beware forgetting their PC monitor is on, though, as that can result in burn-in if you forget to turn it off after your TV streaming session