Anyone got this to work between a linux host and a steamdeck?
I am using the arch package of steam on the host, I opened the necessary ports, but I can’t get the two to download from each other (just to be safe I completely disabled the firewall on both devices and tested, doesn’t work).
Steam’s remote connection logs mention receiveing broadcast from the other device and when I start the download, the server briefly starts saying “hosting local file transfer” in its downloads page but stays in 0% a little while and disappears.
Yes, it just works for me, always has (as in I have never done any special setup for it). Are you able to stream games from the PC? As in use the deck as a steam link and play games from your PC on it. The reason I’m asking is because that also only works on LAN, so if that works we know steam is able to see the other PC. A possibility might also be that the PC has a slower connection than the Deck so it’s literally faster for the Deck to get stuff from the internet than it is to get it from your PC.
Yeah steamplay works so the devices can communicate. That might be it, not sure. I have about twice the local transfer speed of my internet connection. If its trying to be smart, its wrong. Unfortunately, steam doesn’t tell you why its not working.
For me, the unsuccessful attemp only happens when I configure them to transfer with anyone too. Its still unsuccessful but at least something starts then.
It just worked for me between two archlinux systems. Desktop and laptop. But somehow it was super slow, turning that feature off and force downloading from the internet was way faster.
Can you maybe try connecting them directly to each other without a router and without internet? Afaik KDE has a hotspot button/setting somewhere. I am thinking either your router blocks it (some routers have this as a security feature, that a lan cabled devices can’t talk to a wifi connected devices) or the algorithm is smart and local transfer is slow so it switched to downloading from the web.
There are a couple of variables why it would be slow for you. Steam sharing works great as long as:
Host isn't downloading something
Client isn't downloading something
Client has a fast CPU to still unpack the game
Client has fast storage to saturate the network speed
Host has good network speed
Client has good network speed
For me, it really is that simple. It sometimes even works better than the server cache setup
Note though, you really need a FAST CPU to unpack steam games at even gigabit. It will also make bad SSDs cry.
Can you do it again and share that graph? is the green line higher than the blue bars?
The client here is a steamdeck and its hardware supports receiving. Either way, even if its cpu is bottlenecking, it’ll be faster than downloading from the internet.
Yes, it just works for me, always has (as in I have never done any special setup for it). Are you able to stream games from the PC? As in use the deck as a steam link and play games from your PC on it. The reason I’m asking is because that also only works on LAN, so if that works we know steam is able to see the other PC. A possibility might also be that the PC has a slower connection than the Deck so it’s literally faster for the Deck to get stuff from the internet than it is to get it from your PC.
Yeah steamplay works so the devices can communicate. That might be it, not sure. I have about twice the local transfer speed of my internet connection. If its trying to be smart, its wrong. Unfortunately, steam doesn’t tell you why its not working.
make sure you change the setting on both systems to allows transfer to anybody instead of only me that’s how i got it to work.
For me, the unsuccessful attemp only happens when I configure them to transfer with anyone too. Its still unsuccessful but at least something starts then.
Might be a Flatpak issue if you installed Steam that way.
This works for me between Desktop Arch with pacman Steam install and my Steam Deck.
Never had to do anything special to set it up, I use the GNOME suite so I guess network-manager takes care of any network specifics.
Steam already punches through the firewall so the user doesn’t have to do anything. I included the firewall info because someone would ask anyway.
I’ve had this work from POP OS to steam deck
without effort?
Just had to make sure that steam was launched on the PC first and it worked just fine. Transferred The Division 2 very fast.
It just worked for me between two archlinux systems. Desktop and laptop. But somehow it was super slow, turning that feature off and force downloading from the internet was way faster.
Can you maybe try connecting them directly to each other without a router and without internet? Afaik KDE has a hotspot button/setting somewhere. I am thinking either your router blocks it (some routers have this as a security feature, that a lan cabled devices can’t talk to a wifi connected devices) or the algorithm is smart and local transfer is slow so it switched to downloading from the web.
There are a couple of variables why it would be slow for you. Steam sharing works great as long as:
For me, it really is that simple. It sometimes even works better than the server cache setup
Note though, you really need a FAST CPU to unpack steam games at even gigabit. It will also make bad SSDs cry.
Can you do it again and share that graph? is the green line higher than the blue bars?
In my case I think it’s just the congested WIFI in my area.
And I have no way to cable up the devices without having cables going through my whole apartment.
The client here is a steamdeck and its hardware supports receiving. Either way, even if its cpu is bottlenecking, it’ll be faster than downloading from the internet.
Network can be tough if you are not technical. Have you tried usb? Or using rsync or syncthing in general.