What is this?
Sunshine is a self-hosted game streaming host that lets you play PC games remotely using any Moonlight client, with hardware-accelerated encoding on AMD, Intel, or Nvidia GPUs (or software encoding as a fallback).
Sunshine is a self-hosted game streaming host that lets you play PC games remotely using any Moonlight client, with hardware-accelerated encoding on AMD, Intel, or Nvidia GPUs (or software encoding as a fallback).Do I install this on my gaming PC, or on the device I'm playing from?Sunshine runs on the PC you want to stream games from (the host); you then connect to it from a separate device using any Moonlight client app.
Sunshine runs on the PC you want to stream games from (the host); you then connect to it from a separate device using any Moonlight client app.How do I get Sunshine running?There's no single install command in the README; full setup instructions, including platform-specific packages, are maintained on LizardByte's Read the Docs site.
There's no single install command in the README; full setup instructions, including platform-specific packages, are maintained on LizardByte's Read the Docs site.Does gamepad emulation work the same way on every OS?No — full gamepad emulation (Xbox, DualShock, Switch Pro, etc.) works on Windows, is only partially supported on FreeBSD/Linux (missing motion, touchpad, battery, RGB, and adaptive trigger data), and isn't supported at all on macOS.
No — full gamepad emulation (Xbox, DualShock, Switch Pro, etc.) works on Windows, is only partially supported on FreeBSD/Linux (missing motion, touchpad, battery, RGB, and adaptive trigger data), and isn't supported at all on macOS.Which operating systems and versions does Sunshine support?Minimum supported versions are FreeBSD 15.1+, Debian 13 (trixie), Fedora 43, Ubuntu 22.04 (jammy), macOS 14.2+, and Windows 11+.
Minimum supported versions are FreeBSD 15.1+, Debian 13 (trixie), Fedora 43, Ubuntu 22.04 (jammy), macOS 14.2+, and Windows 11+.Do I need a specific graphics card for hardware encoding?Sunshine supports hardware encoding via AMF on AMD, QuickSync on Intel, and NVENC on Nvidia GPUs (plus VAAPI and Vulkan Video on Linux), but it also falls back to software encoding on any hardware if no compatible GPU is found.
Sunshine supports hardware encoding via AMF on AMD, QuickSync on Intel, and NVENC on Nvidia GPUs (plus VAAPI and Vulkan Video on Linux), but it also falls back to software encoding on any hardware if no compatible GPU is found.How do I pair a Moonlight client with Sunshine?Sunshine includes a web UI for configuration that also handles client pairing — you can pair from the local server itself or from any mobile device's browser.
Sunshine includes a web UI for configuration that also handles client pairing — you can pair from the local server itself or from any mobile device's browser.Can Sunshine stream in 4K or HDR?Yes, but it needs stronger hardware: 4K is recommended with a Ryzen 5/Core i5 and a GTX 1080-class GPU or better, while HDR needs a GPU like a Pascal-based Nvidia card (GTX 10-series) or an equivalent AMD/Intel encoder.
Yes, but it needs stronger hardware: 4K is recommended with a Ryzen 5/Core i5 and a GTX 1080-class GPU or better, while HDR needs a GPU like a Pascal-based Nvidia card (GTX 10-series) or an equivalent AMD/Intel encoder.What screen-capture methods does it use on Linux?On Linux, Sunshine can capture the screen via KMS/DRM, X11, Wayland (wlroots), the XDG Desktop Portal, or KWin Screencast, with KMS/DRM offering the widest compatibility across all encoding backends.
On Linux, Sunshine can capture the screen via KMS/DRM, X11, Wayland (wlroots), the XDG Desktop Portal, or KWin Screencast, with KMS/DRM offering the widest compatibility across all encoding backends.What are similar projects?moonlight-qt, Apollo, stop-stutter, pyrowave, OpenNOW, TheSimpsonsGameRecomp, Piik, OptiScaler-DLSSNR-PreSR-Multipass
moonlight-qt, Apollo, stop-stutter, pyrowave, OpenNOW, TheSimpsonsGameRecomp, Piik, OptiScaler-DLSSNR-PreSR-MultipassWhich topics is it in?game-streaming, latency, screen-capture, remote-desktop, freebsd, vulkan, hardware, gaming, real-time, streaming, bsd, nvidia
game-streaming, latency, screen-capture, remote-desktop, freebsd, vulkan, hardware, gaming, real-time, streaming, bsd, nvidia