Play

Slipstream is built for games as much as for desk work. A lot of people run the host on a powerful PC (or a Steam Deck / Bazzite couch box) and connect from a TV, a phone, or a Deck so they can play on the machine that has the GPU, with a virtual display sized to the client and controllers flowing back into the host session.

This page is the Play path. It assumes you can already install a host and pair a client; if you cannot, finish Quick Start on a trusted LAN first, then come back here for the couch setup.

If you also need that same host as a remote office desktop, use a separate Work settings profile and follow Desktop at work - same host process, different mouse, display, and picture choices.

Security first. A streaming host is remote control of the machine. Prefer a trusted LAN for Play. If you reach the host from another network, use a private VPN and do not port-forward Slipstream to the public internet. Read Security & Safe Use.

Who this is for

• You have a gaming PC, HTPC, or handheld host you want to stream from.
• You sit on a couch client (TV, phone, Steam Deck) and want low-latency play with mouse-look, pads, and often HDR.
• You already accept that this is full desktop / game control of the host, not a cloud game rental or a sandboxed remote app.

It is a poor fit if you need enterprise RDP features Slipstream does not claim, or if you expect a finished webcam / camera uplink for video calls on the host (that is not a shipping product story yet). Slipstream is a private low-latency stream with PIN pairing on a network you trust.

The short checklist

Do these once on the host and once on the couch client:

1. Install and start the host on a machine with a working GPU encode path - Install the Host, then Quick Start.
2. No competing GameStream host running. Stop Sunshine, Apollo, or forks before starting Slipstream if they are active on the same machine - Troubleshooting.
3. Pair a client. Prefer a native Slipstream client when one exists for your device; use Moonlight when you need a smart TV or a device without a native app.
4. Capture (games) mouse for mouse-look titles. Capture is the default on desktop clients - Mouse modes.
5. Browse the game library and launch a title into the stream - Your game library.
6. Pick a display preset. Headless box for a dedicated stream / couch box; Shared desktop for a family PC you also sit at - Virtual displays.
7. HDR on when the whole chain can deliver 10-bit BT.2020 PQ - HDR.
8. Controllers plugged into the client (or built into a Deck / phone clip). See Controllers.
9. Bitrate for the mode you asked for. Automatic starts at a modest floor; raise it (or run the native speed test) for 4K and high refresh - Picture quality, Client settings.

Recommended host setup for play

Always ready when you want to play

• Run the host as a service so it comes back at login or boot: Running as a Service.
• On a Steam Deck or Bazzite couch box, follow the platform guides: SteamOS (Host), Bazzite. Streaming to a Deck as a client is Steam Deck (Decky).
• Optional: arm Wake-on-LAN so a sleeping host can be woken from the client on the same LAN (magic packets usually do not cross a VPN).

Competing hosts (Sunshine and forks)

Slipstream speaks GameStream for Moonlight compatibility. So do Sunshine, Apollo, and their forks. They bind the same fixed ports and advertise the same mDNS name. Running another host at the same time as Slipstream is unsupported.

• An installed-but-idle Sunshine is not the conflict; a running one is.
• Check on demand: slipstream-host detect-conflicts.
• Fix: stop (and preferably uninstall) the other host, then start Slipstream.

Details: Troubleshooting → Another streaming host and Network & VPN → Competing hosts.

Display policy

Full policy reference: Virtual displays.

Headless box keeps the display (and on a gamescope game host, often the game itself) alive across disconnects with keep-alive forever, and the next client takes the box. Release the display from the console when you are done for the day.

Shared desktop never blanks the physical monitors and tears the streamed display down when the session ends - the right pick when someone might walk up to the host mid-stream.

Where a launched game lands (live desktop, existing gamescope session, or a dedicated headless one) is covered under Dedicated game sessions.

Game library

Every host keeps one library: scanned launchers (Steam, and on each OS the other stores it can see), hand-added custom titles, and plugin-synced entries. Clients browse posters and send only an id; the host runs what it already knows.

• Enable Show game library if it is off in your client settings.
• Moonlight sees the same library when GameStream is enabled.
• Deck clients can pin titles in the Decky plugin.

Full detail: Your game library.

GameStream / Moonlight

For a play-oriented host:

• Prefer a native Slipstream client when one exists - lower latency path, built-in discovery, speed test, and FEC on lossy links (Clients).
• Keep GameStream enabled when you want Moonlight on a smart TV, browser, or other device without a native app (Moonlight).
• GameStream pairing uses legacy plain HTTP; leave it on a trusted LAN only (Security).

You can run both planes: native for the living-room phone / Deck, Moonlight for the TV.

Recommended client settings for play

Create a Play (or Couch) settings profile and bind it to the game host:

Save a second Work profile with Desktop mouse, clipboard, and text-oriented picture settings for the same host when you use it from the office - Desktop at work.

Bitrate for 4K and high refresh

Picture softness and stutter at high modes are usually bitrate or link, not a broken host.

• Native clients: run Test network speed... on the host card, then apply the suggestion, or set an explicit bitrate in client settings. Use the stats overlay to see whether you are network-bound or decode-bound.
• Moonlight: set bitrate in Moonlight's settings; start moderate and raise it.
• 120 Hz+ only helps if capture, encode, network, and decode keep up. A saturated Wi-Fi link fails before the encoder does (How it works).
• 4K wants a strong 5 GHz / wired path and a bitrate well above the Automatic 20 Mbps floor. If the link cannot carry it, drop resolution or refresh before chasing codecs.
• Wired Ethernet / 2.5GbE+: consider PyroWave when you want to spend bandwidth to shrink codec time. Do not run PyroWave over Wi-Fi.

Deeper tuning: Picture quality.

Controllers

Pads attached to the client are injected on the host as virtual gamepads. Multiple controllers get stable slots; rumble and (where the client and pad support it) DualSense extras forward on the native plane. Moonlight's GameStream path carries classic pad events but not the richer motion / touchpad / adaptive-trigger extensions.

Host-side prerequisites matter too: on Linux the host user usually needs the input group (Bazzite, Troubleshooting).

Full guide: Controllers.

Day-in-the-life flow

1. Leave the host logged in (or configure headless / linger / Game Mode so a session exists). Confirm the host service is running.
2. On the couch client, open a native app or Moonlight. If the host is asleep on the same LAN, wake it - Wake-on-LAN.
3. Pair once if this device is new - Pairing & Trust.
4. Connect to the desktop, or open the game library and launch a title.
5. Confirm Capture mouse for shooters (Ctrl+Alt+Shift+M toggles). Plug in a pad if you use one.
6. Play. Release input with Ctrl+Alt+Shift+Q, or L1+R1+Start+Select on a controller - Getting your input back.
7. Disconnect. Your display preset decides whether the game session stays ready for a fast reconnect (Headless box) or tears down cleanly (Shared desktop).

Honest limits (today)

Call these out so Play expectations stay accurate:

• Webcam / camera uplink for video calls on the host is not a finished product story yet.
• gamescope / Gaming Mode hosts are excellent for games and cannot take absolute Desktop mouse - fine for Play, a poor fit for office UI (gamescope, input).
• Moonlight is broad compatibility, not the lowest-latency path; rich DualSense extras travel on the native plane (Clients, Moonlight).
• Wake-on-LAN usually does not work across a VPN - wake on the LAN, leave the box on, or use another wake path (Wake-on-LAN).
• Running Slipstream beside Sunshine (or another GameStream host) on the same machine is unsupported while the other host is active.

Related pages

• Quick Start - first host and first stream
• Your game library - scan, custom titles, launch from clients
• Mouse, touch and pen - Capture vs Desktop mouse
• Controllers - pads, rumble, host prerequisites
• HDR - the four gates for a 10-bit stream
• Picture quality - bitrate, codec, chroma, refresh
• PyroWave - wired-LAN ultra-low-latency codec
• Virtual displays - Headless box, Shared desktop, keep-alive
• Clients / Moonlight - how to connect
• Steam Deck (Decky) - stream to the Deck from Gaming Mode
• Wake-on-LAN
• Desktop at work - office path on the same host
• Security & Safe Use
• Profiles and links - Play vs Work profiles