Steam Streaming

[arprince31]

Hi all. I've posted previously that I have performance issues running CW on my laptop. This is despite switching off any unnecessary processes and upping the Priority, which has improved things, but running the game via Steam there are significant overheads that come with Steam, like having to run the steam webhelper that mean typical RAM usage is up at about 8Gb against the laptop's 16Gb and FPS can stutter down around 1-15 FPS dependent on what's going on and the size of the game, which makes the graphics aren't optimum and even running the game is pretty stop-go, even in Wego

However, there is a workaround I've discovered last night in that I have a separate VR gaming desktop machine that I use for my flight sim stuff on Il-2, which is a lot more beefy and runs CM smoothly (60FPS), however that machine is tucked away in a spare room and can't easily be moved, it's on a wheeled trolley, but has something like 20 labelled cables connected to it. This means that when playing on that system requires a conscious decision to set aside specific time to do so, which is fine for something like a flight sim.

One of the things I like about CM is the way that it lends itself to being a game that you can dip in and out of, rather than needing to set aside a few hours for it, especially using Wego. This means I can be playing CM and doing other things pretty concurrently and, indeed, it can help to walk away from the game for a while to ponder a particular move.

So, I have pluses and minuses with my two computers, each with their own pros and cons: laptop - sociable but slow; desktop - unsociable but fast.

So, to the workaround which others may already be aware of: Connect and Stream.

It appears that, as long as you have two computers with Steam on them, on the same network (I haven't tested separate networks yet) you can connect via Wi-Fi between the two computers and then stream from one to the other. This means that I can run CM on my desktop and stream it to my  laptop (thin client/server architecture if anyone remembers that kind of thing). I don't actually know the speed of the Wi-Fi between the two devices, but I can confirm things like Hedgerow Hell still look good on the laptop when streamed and the performance of the actual gameplay is a dream, on a par with Usually Hapless that I've drooled over on YouTube.

I'm interested in the forthcoming Engine 5 performance improvements, but this may help some others until it comes out.

Looking forward to Afrika Korps being released on Steam, so that I can reproduce both the desert and also the original Blitzkrieg of 1940.

This game gives me back the fun and games I got from wargaming back 30 odd years ago with mates and a 12 foot by 8 foot war board in the attic of my first house, it was my first house improvement and hot as hell in the summer.

Thanks to everyone