Any Ideas? Consistent Freezing/Soft Crashing Using Steam Link App
Hey y'all, wondering if anyone has any suggestions for me. Here's my story lol. I have a Lenovo Legion Pro 7i laptop that I recently wired with ethernet, so I figured I'd try streaming for the first time. I got the Steam Link app on my iPhone (connected via wifi), and also got it on my Android TV (also wired via ethernet). For the majority of my testing I've been using my phone as the client, but I've seen no difference in results with the Android TV.
The first day, I spent awhile messing with settings to get it running smoothly, which it did at 1080p. I get about 300 Mbps down and 11 Mbps up wired, with slightly lower (but still very acceptable) speeds wirelessly. I've also been using a dummy HDMI plugged into my host laptop as a virtual monitor, set to 1080p 60hz, to avoid having to manually change resolution and refresh rate to match, disable Gsync, etc. Seemed to work well! I was mostly testing with Car Mechanic Sim 2021, but also had RDR2 and Assassin's Creed Valhalla running smoothly.
The second day, I launched the Steam Link app up again on my phone and proceeded the exact same way as the previous day, without changing any settings within Steam on the host, Windows, or the Steam Link app. Without fail, the stream froze in under a minute of launching any game – regardless of which client device, whether or not I was using the dummy HDMI virtual monitor on the host laptop, or using BPM vs regular desktop mode. Once it freezes, it stays that way until I quit the game. If I end the stream from the client end before quitting the game, it will not reconnect until the game is quit manually from the host laptop (on which it's still running smoothly with all normal hardware temps). In the case of Car Mechanic Sim, it freezes within about a minute whether I load a save and begin playing or just stay on the main menu and don't touch anything. With RDR2, the freeze happens as the Rockstar launcher is loading, which I've since read is a common issue. For AC Valhalla, it happens once I'm past the Ubisoft launcher and loading into the main menu.
Once I realized the problem was here to stay, I toggled every single setting I could find recommended in threads here and elsewhere. Changing resolutions and bitrates, all hardware encoding/decoding settings, changing desktop resolution to match streaming client, prioritize network traffic, low latency networking, HEVC video, Windows game mode, hardware accelerated GPU scheduling, etc. I also messed with network settings – reinstalled ethernet driver, disabled large send offload, changed speed and duplex setting, disabled Windows auto tuning, physically rebooted modem and router, checked cables. Nothing seemed to make a difference. Once I quit the game and return to Steam BPM (or just the desktop), it regains connection and runs perfectly.
Anyone have any further suggestions? I've attached a log from the last time I tried streaming Car Mechanic Sim to my phone to reproduce the problem. I can't for the life of me figure out what's causing the stream to crash. Also worth noting that I tried using Moonlight/Sunshine instead and the problem is exactly the same, leading me to believe that it might not be solely a Steam issue. What am I overlooking? Thanks!
Posted Jun 21, 2024, 2:35 AM UTC