How to set up remote game streaming with Moonlight and Sunshine

Years ago, it was unthinkable to run games on a remote system and stream them to your device of choice. Today, thanks to advances in hardware capabilities and network bandwidth, you can not only stream your entire library from a state-of-the-art PC, but also enjoy high graphical fidelity and solid frame rates while doing so.

In fact, there are a handful of applications that allow you to set up remote streaming on all your favorite computing devices. If you're looking for a free yet robust way to stream games, the combination of a Sunshine server and a Moonlight client is clearly the best option. However, configuring both apps can be quite cumbersome, so we've created a step-by-step guide to help you set up remote game streaming via Moonlight and Sunshine.

Setting up Sunshine

Sunshine is an application that represents one half of the remote streaming setup and allows you to turn a powerful PC into a server that can render games and send the stream to any client device. It is also quite easy to configure as all you need to do is:

1. Go to Sunshine’s official GitHub link and download the portable version of the app.
2. Extract the folder and run it sunshine.exe as administrator.
3. Copy the Configuration UI Link from the Sunshine Terminal to your web browser.

   

4. Select a user name And password and click on Login before logging in with your newly created account credentials.

   

5. (Optional) If you prefer to play with controllers, you will need to download and install the ViGEmBus drivers.

Setting up Moonlight

After you configure the host computer, you need to download Moonlight, an application that allows you to connect a client device to the Sunshine server.

1. Download the latest version of Moonlight from the GitHub link.
2. If you are using the portable version, simply extract the folder you just downloaded and run Moonlight.exe with administrator rights.
3. If your firewall is trying to block Moonlight, click the Allow access Button.

   

4. Provided your Sunshine host and Moonlight client are on the same network, the server will appear in the Moonlight client.

Pairing the Sunshine server with a Moonlight host

After installing Sunshine and Moonlight on your PCs, it's time to pair them via LAN/WLAN.

1. In the Moonlight app, click on the Sunshine Server.

   

2. Please note the PEN of Moonlight and switched to the other PC.

   

3. Click on the PEN the Sunshine user interface and enter the four-digit code before clicking on the Send Button.

   

4. The lock out The icon on the host/server PC will disappear from Moonlight and you can use it from the client system.

   

(Optional) Optimize video settings on Moonlight

Once you have Sunshine and Moonlight set up, you can click on the server name in Moonlight and start broadcasting your games and even desktop screen to the client system. However, you will find that the image quality on Moonlight leaves a little to be desired. To fix this, simply adjust the video settings on Moonlight by following these steps:

1. Click on the Settings Symbol in the moonlight.
2. Increase the resolution and FPS by clicking on the Arrows and choose the ideal values ​​according to your network bandwidth and speed.

   

3. You can also improve the image quality using the Video bitrate slider.

   

(Optional) Setting up ZeroTier to stream games over the Internet

So far, you can only stream games through devices connected to the same network. But for those who want to stream games over the Internet, the ZeroTier application is a good solution.

1. Download the ZeroTier app from the official link on both the server and client system.
2. Run zerotier_desktop_ui.exe on both devices.
3. Right-click on the ZeroTier app icon in the taskbar and select the Join new network… Option to open a new dialog box.

   

4. Go to your web browser and log in to ZeroTier to access the network Settings page.
5. Click on the default setting network created by ZeroTier.

   

6. Choose 10.147.17.* than the Automatic IPv4 assignment Reach.

   

   Also make sure that all Automatic IPv6 assignment Settings are disabled.

7. Copy the Network ID in the Join the ZeroTier Network dialog box and click Join.

   

   Repeat this step for the client device.

8. Back to ZeroTier's network Page in your web browser and enable the Checkbox under the Auth? Column for the server and client systems.

   

9. Switch to the client system running Moonlight and click the Add PC manually Button.

   

10. Copy and paste Managed IP of the server in the empty field and press OK.

    

Once the server appears in the Moonlight app, you can access it from any network, not just your home Wi-Fi/LAN.

Completing the Sunshine and Moonlight setup process

Remote gaming is a pretty neat feature, especially if you want to play your PC games on other devices like a portable laptop, gaming handheld, or smartphone. It's also a better alternative to cloud gaming as you retain full control over the actual hardware and games. However, if you're more interested in the productive aspect of remote streaming, you might want to check out the easy-to-install Parsec application instead.

On the other hand, if you're experiencing random slowdowns during your remote gaming sessions, your Wi-Fi router is probably not powerful enough to stream your games, so you should lower the resolution or upgrade to a high-speed router. If that doesn't work, however, the server PC could be the culprit and it might be time to upgrade to better components.