Received "Steam Link" box today.....

[Navy Chief]

I received the "Steam Link" box today. Connected with my home network via wireless. It took me a little while to get things set up, but I finally was able to get FSX Steam started on my PC (in another room), and it displayed on my living room LCD tv, with accompanying sound. I don't have flight controls with this setup yet, but I went ahead and ordered a Xbox 360 wired controller, which is supposed to work with it. My Saitek 52 may work with the Steam Link, but doubtful. I would MUCH rather use a flight stick vs a Xbox controller. It will take some getting used to.

One problem with the Steam Link display, however, is the menu at the top is missing. I am temporarily using a mouse to control the display, but the menu is not available, period. Am hoping it is just a configuration I am not doing correctly, but I am looking for a solution on the forums. So far - nothing.

I only know of one other SOH member with a Steam Link, but if there are others, I would appreciate any tips you might have.

If I can get this device configured properly, this will be fun. It comes with almost zippydoodah printed setup info. I guess they expect you to ferret it all out online?

NC

[Firebar]

As far as I am aware Steam Link should just mirror your display from your flightsim PC, I had a little experiment with Steam's in home streaming (which is what Steam Link is based on) a while ago and that seemed to work OK.

My first guess to not seeing a menu would be that the aspect ratio in the TV or the Stema Link is set wrong and is clipping the top / bottom of the display off, I know I've had issues with getting 16:9 laptop screens to display correctly on 1080p TVs for example.

My grandpa complains a lot about the infatuation with having electronic only manuals, he finds he needs the manual to find the manual ... and that way madness lies. The knowledge base for the device is here https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=8082-YJBN-9141 in case you haven't found it.

[Navy Chief]

Thanks for the link, Firebar.. Have been reading a lot there. Received Xbox 360 wired controller today, and I think it will work ok.... Not givng up on joystick yet, but possibly a Steam Link update may be forthcoming for that compatibilty someday?

[JimmyRFR]

I picked up a Link + Steam Controller just before Christmas, and since the holidays were busy, I haven't had a whole ton of time to play with it yet.

So far, I can't say as I'm completely impressed by the Link:

- really needs a wired connection to get a decent picture
- you need to run games with Steam's Overlay feature turned on to use the Steam Controller
- if your main PC monitor is not 1080p, there's lots of little gotcha's involved. (I had to select some sort of scaling mode in Steam's 'Big Picture' mode to stream from my 2560x2440 monitor, and then the next time I ran the same game on my PC, I had to disable it. However, you have to be in 'Big Picture' mode to disable it (from what I can tell), and jumping into Big Picture mode on my desktop with all my flight controllers attached does not work well - it tries to read from all sorts of different joysticks to move around from icon to icon.)

But, it was rather inexpensive, and I assume that once I figure out it's 'quirks', it'll be suitable to chill on the sofa with a casual game or two.

The Steam Controller, on the other hand, got lots of use over the holidays just on the PC. I was able to use it alongside a wired XBox One controller to play local multiplayer on Rocket League, and my older son and I put in a ton of time on that. It's quite a bit different for a joypad, but it's grown on me. My only beef is that it's not seen as a regular joystick - this precludes me from using it as say, a view controller in FSX or P3D, or a walkaround controller in X-Plane.

[Navy Chief]

Ok, an update of sorts.

I finally got around to connecting my Saitek X52 setup to the Steam Link. Steam has a "beta" software option that has allows for connection of other usb devices to the Link via a freeware software called, "VirtualHere".

So far so good.

The software checks your network for usb controller devices, and then you choose which ones to use. The problem is VirtualHere uses Apple's Bonjour software. During the install process for VirtualHere, Bonjour is installed. But when booting VirtualHere, it does a automatic scan, and then I get a popup saying Bonjour needs to be installed (which it already is:banghead:).

The Saitek controllers don't do anything, except run the cursor all over the screen. I am not giving up though. I would MUCH rather fly using a joystick than a gamepad. The Xbox 360 wired controller I just got DOES work for FSX, but I don't like using it. Maybe ok for other sims, but not FSX.

Update: well, sorta. I found another program that is supposed to allow other controllers to work like the Xbox 360, called, "Xbox 360 Emulator", by Tocaedit. Sounded easy enough except that I (so far) have not figured out how to use it. Grrrrr.......

NC

[Navy Chief]

Making progress.

I remembered having a Ch Products Yoke stored away. Haven't used it in years. I plugged it into the Steam Link, fired up FSX-Steam on my PC, connected Steam Link to it, and EUREKA! It works! Not my preference for flight sim controlling, but it beats the heck outa using a gamepad!

I still hold out hope for a solution from Steam so I can use my Saitek setup. Doing carrier ops with a joystick is much easier for me. But hey, I am just glad the yoke works! :very_drunk: NC