Steam is the world’s largest and most popular digital game distribution platform, where people from all over the world buy their favorite games from the comfort of their homes. If you’re a gamer, you’ve probably used Steam to buy games. Besides selling games, it is the largest platform for online multiplayer games with people from all over the world. However, Steam has a number of hidden features in its desktop client for players to take advantage of, and In-Home streaming is just one of them. With this feature, you will be able to stream games from your Windows PC to other local computers on your network. This is especially useful if you have a powerful desktop at home but want to stick around and play your game on a laptop with low hardware or a different operating system. Well, if you’re interested in trying this out, let’s take a look. How to use Steam In-Home Streaming for game streaming:
Setting Up Steam Home Streaming
First of all, you need to enable and configure in-home steam streaming on the host PC (i.e. the PC that will actually run the game and stream it to your local machine). To do this without any hassle, simply follow the steps below:
note: This feature only works if both Host and Client PCs are connected to the same local network.
- First of all, sign in Steam desktop client Using your Steam account. After logging in, click on “Steam” located in the upper left corner of the client and “Settings”.
- Go now Indoor Flow section and check the box next to it. “Enable streaming”. When you’re done, you can simply click OK.
- If you want to customize the stream quality and make a few settings by HOST PC, just click on it. “Advanced Host Options”.
- In this menu, you can enable/disable hardware encoding for the GPU you have, set the number of software encoding threads, and even prioritize network traffic according to your preferences.
- If you want to make certain adjustments for the client PC, simply click on it. “Advanced Client Options”.
- In this menu you will be able to change the streaming resolution, limit the bandwidth and customize the speaker configuration according to your preference. Once you’re done messing around with the settings, you can click on it. OK.
- That’s pretty much all you need to do on the HOST PC side. Now you need to switch to the client machine (i.e. the PC where your game will be published) and sign in to your steam account using the desktop client and Library section of the account. Select the game to publish from the list of games in your library. When done, click on “Transfer” button.
Well, that’s the whole process, because the stream feed will now be displayed on the screen. You can immediately start playing all your favorite games on your low-end machine, as the host will do the heavy lifting. It is worth noting that due to video compression, the quality of the stream will not be as good as the real shot. So, if you can handle the reduced video quality, you’re sure to fall in love with Steam’s In-Home Streaming.
SEE ALSO: How to Share Steam Games Using Steam Family Sharing
Stream Your Favorite Games with Steam In-Home Streaming
This is definitely a nifty feature if you have multiple computers at home with different operating systems and hardware. All you need to take full advantage of In-Home streaming is a powerful enough machine and a steam client installed on the rest. However, streaming quality may not impress many, as you will have to deal with artifacts, especially if your internet connection’s bandwidth isn’t good enough. If you can ignore all these negatives, you will fall in love with this feature when you try it. So, have you tried Steam Home Streaming? Be sure to let us know your thoughts on this feature by leaving a few words in the comments section below.
