Game Streaming

Game Streaming

Another way to play City of Heroes in the same building/house/office is to use a game streaming setup.

For most mobile devices, this works best with a bluetooth keyboard and mouse versus using a controller or trying to use a touchscreen with the Click to Run option enabled. (Mouse support is broadly available since Android 9 and iOS/iPadOS 14.)

Basics

In Game Streaming, you'll involve two devices:

• The Host system, containing the installation of Homecoming: City of Heroes, your game streaming app installed in Host Mode, and your hardware graphic card.
• The Client system, which has the Game Streaming app installed. For the client to stream your game you will need to leave your gaming PC powered on during play, and the keyboard/mouse will be accessible to a bystander while streaming.

The Host system may need to be kept updated to the latest software for both the Game Streaming app as well as the video card driver. If your client doesn't connect, make sure these updates are installed first before you try again.

Methods

Commercial services like GeForce Now, Stadia, and Luna are not going to work, as developer support is required before use. However, you can use the following on your own:

Hardware Methods

• NVidia -- Use Moonlight. This app has full support of NVEnc hardware encoding. Client support is VERY broad, however, including Raspberry Pi, Android, Apple TV, and even Steam Link boxes.
• Radeon -- AMD Link is available, which works on cards and integrated video using Adrenalin version 22.3.1 or later. Guest hardware includes iOS and Android devices.

For hardware solutions, the use of a USB and/or an HDMI dongle for simulated keyboard/mouse and monitor may be needed for a headless system (a PC with no KVM or Remote Desktop access only) to be useable (when using a spare system instead of a normal computer.) Both methods require proprietary software to be installed for each solution (AMD Link for Radeon, GeForce Experience for NVidia) and will not work without installation.

Software-Only

Full software solutions include Parsec, Kainy, Steam Link, and Rainway.

Most have h264/h265 support as the basis of operation, which can be used by a wide swath of devices. Browser-based play is usually limited to Google Chrome, as streaming video support is not as broadly implemented on Firefox, Safari, or other browsers. (Steam Link doesn't directly support City of Heroes use, the client will need to use a trick to gain access to Windows desktop to start the game manually.)

Software Game Streaming apps may be able to take advantage of hardware encoding in certain circumstances, however, they will have a performance hit compared to using hardware encoding only and will rely more upon the strength of your network.

Video Considerations

As a concept: your computer is the bottleneck of the session. Game streaming is going to deliver video playback AT that same resolution and framerate or lower. You cannot use Game Streaming to get performance out of your machine it isn't capable of in the first place. (If you're using a GeForce 1060, it's not going to have the framerate and performance of a 1090.)

Likewise, you need to consider the following:

• Resolution:
  • 4K or higher - reduce playback resolution to 2K (2560x1440) or lower.
  • 2K - for 60fps, a Gigabit Home Network is required. 40Mbps is needed for 60 frames per second (FPS).
  • 1080/1440 - you can operate at 60fps with 20Mbps of bandwidth.
  • 720 - you can operate at 60fps with 10Mbps.
• Framerate:
  • For all the bandwidth values above, cut in half when using 30FPS. (2K at 20Mbps, 1080 at 10MBps, 720 at 5MBps.)
  • If your gameplay gets jittery, disconnects, or halts, turning your framerate down is quickest way to stabilize the connection, however if you need to get below 30fps, turning your resolution down may also be necessary.

Game Streaming may not be viable for your network if your video is turned down to 720/30fps and you are still having trouble playing.

Network Considerations

Your house network must be capable of at least 5-10MBps of free bandwidth internally PER SESSION to permit game streaming in the same house (2 people streaming? At least 20Mbps available). This is NOT your Internet Speed, but your internal network speed between network hardware and computers.

• Wi-Fi: using Wi-Fi 5/6 is recommended (802.11 AC or AX), and the use of Wi-Fi Mesh equipment with a node plugged into every room you wish to stream from instead of using a single router (unless your house is very small). A strong signal is needed to maintain 60fps video at any size. (Most online video and TVs are 30fps.)
• Ethernet: your NIC card, port on a laptop, and router must be at least 1Gbps. 100Mb Network hardware in a house with multiple devices may not have sufficient headroom for Game Streaming use.
• Use of 4K video will be extremely difficult at any capacity. It is strongly recommended to use a 2K resolution or lower while streaming.

As a generality, your home network is only as fast as your slowest device. If you cannot stream well, the following may help:

• replacing any switching or routing devices that can't exceed 100Mb,
• replacing 10/100 only NICs,
• switching older laptops and appliances from Ethernet to Wi-Fi only,
• replacing old cabling (use CAT-5E or CAT-6),
• finally, any Wi-Fi devices at 802.11b/g/n should also be removed if they can't be upgraded.

Playing remotely away from home

For play outside of your house your upload speed (not download) must exceed the actual bandwidth used to stream the game in your house. If it does not, game play will be jittery or fail to stream out. (Your download speed only matters to the client device outside your house.) To solve this, you'll need to turn your host resolution and frame rate lower until your upstream bandwidth is low enough for stable play.

While some services like Parsec can negotiate a connection outside of your home network, for zero-account software apps you may also need to configure your uplink device or router to allow traffic outside, which is a security precaution.