Quoting: elmapul

Quoting: dubigrasu

Quoting: GuestWhen Google introduces a option to Download the games not just streaming i might consider using it.

Not sure how this would work. Since they have and use Linux builds, the option to download the game would mean nothing to the vast majority of their users. And even for us, those exact Linux builds might not work at all.

i think he is afraid of cloud lock-in, so even an windows build is better than nothing

This though assumes that Google has access to and rights to distribute those Windows builds. As for Stadia exclusive games, there are no Windows builds.

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Couple of things I've observed while I tested Stadia on various systems around the house (PCs and laptops). These might be true for my hardware, so don't take this as a guide or anything.

There is this assumption that Stadia will run on everything, everywhere. No, it won't.
You need a system beefy enough to decode the video stream as fast as possible, just throwing Stadia on a shitty PC/laptop won't work with good results. At best you'll get stutter and a weird lag (that can be measured in seconds) and you might be tempted to put the blame on Google's servers or a bad connection. So basically, don't confuse the video decoding lag (for which your system is to blame) with Google's servers/connection lag. Of course, you still need a good connection to begin with.

The ideal option would be actual GPU hardware acceleration for video decoding, and I say actual because that hardware acceleration setting in Chrome is useless. There is an old guide (I'll post below the link) that details how to achieve that. Note that for Google's default VP9 stream the decoding is problematic and you'll need to force it (with the Stadia+ extension) to H264, which looks a bit worse.

The alternative option is CPU video decoding, but again, the CPU still needs to be powerful enough to decode the stream with no hiccups. Also, you might need to put it in performance mode if you still notice stutter. If the CPU is not strong enough you can try to force the stream to H264, which is less demanding to decode. Don't even think at 4K.

As for the video quality, the incoming stream from Stadia looks a bit washed up and less detailed compared with a local instance. To partially remedy that you can enable Vulkan for your browser and add the vkBasalt layer on top of it, with whatever features you find necessary.
I have added here cas for sharpening and curves (you can also try fakehdr) to bring back some color and contrast. Look at the dam in the background (use the slider):

https://cdn.knightlab.com/libs/juxtapose/latest/embed/index.html?uid=ec0e0aea-898b-11ea-a879-0edaf8f81e27 [External Link]

Hardware acceleration guide [External Link]

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Quoting: GuestWhen Google introduces a option to Download the games not just streaming i might consider using it.

Not sure how this would work. Since they have and use Linux builds, the option to download the game would mean nothing to the vast majority of their users. And even for us, those exact Linux builds might not work at all.

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For whatever reason I get better input response (less lag) on PUBG than on Destiny, is actually surprisingly good, even with the mouse. That being said, is good that (on Stadia) the game is only cross-platform with consoles, no way to stand a chance against PC players.
The video quality is...not bad, I've seen worse. But...PUBG on Linux, that's pretty big, isn't it? How many times it was asked for?
Granted, yes, playing through Stadia is not exactly what "we" asked for, but is better than nothing I guess. Enough to scratch that itch if you really want it.

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So there are some rumors about second gen Stadia HW coming up. A bit long and winded, but some details are here:
https://youtu.be/em32HdkmOqY?t=2192 [External Link]

Edit: Actually the guy is dragging it too much, so basically he is saying that some game devs are already having access to improved Stadia hardware and the games are running better.

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Noticed one interesting thing about Stadia's Destiny video settings.

Yesterday I fired up Destiny in Windows/Steam to see the differences in visual quality, and among other things I tried was disabling Vsync. And most importantly, I enabled Cross Save (I think that's what is called) in order to carry my progress from Stadia to Steam. So basically my Destiny's Stadia and Steam accounts are now linked.

Today I started as usually Destiny on Stadia on Linux and to my surprise it worked like crap, while previously was butter smooth now was a stuttery mess all over the place. I went over my browser settings and everything was OK, and more than that, Serious Sam was perfectly fine.
On a whim, I went back to Windows and re-enabled Vsync on the Steam copy of Destiny, and guess what, yes, that fixed the stutter on Stadia.
Now some would say, well duh genius...that's normal since you now cross-save between platforms, but I don't think that's normal.
I mean sure, achievements, progress and inventory etc, those should be the same on every platform you have linked, but video settings? I don't see for example Sony agreeing with this for their PS4 version of the game.

Basically right now you can go in Destiny Steam's settings and set Vsync to OFF, 30 FPS and 60 FPS (probably more for other monitors) and those settings will be used on Stadia too.
I should also mention that Stadia doesn't have those settings available, actually it doesn't have any video accessible settings except Chromatic Aberration+Brightness, more like a console.
Fortunately, the easy fix is to reset the video settings from within Stadia, and that will undo/reset whatever you did on Steam and get Stadia back on their whatever defaults they have.

For the curious, the Vsync settings are the only settings that seem to be affected by this cross-save...feature/bug(?)

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Quoting: drlamb

Quoting: dubigrasu

Using the New version of Stadia+ took a few times to force 4K. I think it's safe to say I'm best-case scenario. ~10ms Latency

Red Dead [External Link]

10 ms, that's, wow.
I had few times a latency of 24-25 and felt much more playable. I mean I could even use the mouse at that latency. But 10!

Another thing that counts for me is the codec used. From what I understand the default codec should be VP9, but (thanks to the Stadia+ extension) I frequently see H264 used, and the problem with that is that it looks worse, sometimes really worse.
I don't have a very relevant screenshots to demonstrate that, (I choose this one because is static) but even here you can see for example the text on the right "AUDITOR..." looking more fuzzy on H264. Or look at the road texture...
https://cdn.knightlab.com/libs/juxtapose/latest/embed/index.html?uid=09c74374-7d7c-11ea-a879-0edaf8f81e27 [External Link]
Luckily the codec can be forced using the extension, though is a bit inconvenient.

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I...don't understand these ideas that ask for the removal of the trackpad(s), which is one of the unique features of a Steam Controller. The one feature that makes it so remarkably versatile, like practically no other controller in existence (at least that I know of).
If you remove these unique features and put back the analogue sticks, what do you get? Something like an Xbox or PS gamepads or Logitech or whatever? What's the point, we have those already.

Modularity, that's another thing. I wouldn't mind to have the ability to switch/add a dpad when needed, since this one of the most recurring complaints about the SC, but remove the trackpad...what, why?

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Well, no point for me to force it in 4K. I mean I did and it had a lag that can be measured in seconds. Best just to set it to Automatic and let it find the optimal res. Heck, I would force it to 720 even.
On a positive note, today I had a much better experience, the lag was under 25 ms and I even dared to take a mission with other two guys on Destiny. I was a bit afraid to let them down because of the lag and all, but actually it was quite good and I even got the most kills, yay me.
So yeah, is not that bad (and I'm not even in a supported country) think I'll have another round.

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Quoting: armageddon51What is your internet speed ? That'll be nice if people commenting will also put this information because frankly this is the defining factor.

Good point, and maybe we should use the same tools to report the values, so I would use the above mentioned Stadia extension: Stadia+ extension [External Link]
And Google's recommended connection test: https://projectstream.google.com/speedtest [External Link]

So in my case I have have good image quality but substantial lag with:

Streaming resolution: 1920x1080
Codec: VP9
Connection speed: 100-300 Mbps
Latency: 24 -66 ms

Yes, the values I posted varies wildly depending on the time of the day, I suppose this high internet traffic that we see these days doesn't help much. Then again, for me Netflix's speed test consistently reports 1.0 Gbps, but their server is relatively close by.
So I'd say it very much depends on how close you are to their datacenter. GeForce NOW makes it very clear what servers are available and their location, but for Google the closest info I could find is this: https://peering.google.com/#/infrastructure [External Link] though there's no telling which ones are actually used for Stadia.

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