HDR support for the Steam Deck

[alon-z]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe. Users cannot enable the HDR option on the Steam Deck (Linux client) when connected to an external display that supports HDR.

Describe the solution you'd like Being able to enable HDR setting in moonlight and see HDR content when streaming

Describe alternatives you've considered Possible to use other clients for HDR (couldn't find one that supports HDR 4K 60hz)

Additional context I have seen something about ffmpeg 6.1 that was released that enables HDR on vulkan? (I think) I would love to help coding (golang knowledge) but I have 0 idea on where to start here.

Thank you :)

[Kabraxist]

Seconding this. New Steam Deck OLEDs have builtin HDR support for its new display, but in the meantime Valve enabled HDR for first generation devices as well when connected to an external display that supports HDR. It seems to work well except Moonlight on Linux doesn't allow toggling the "HDR mode".

[cgutman]

On Linux, HDR is only currently supported when streaming outside of a desktop environment (where Moonlight can take full control over the display hardware to configure HDR). In theory, it should be possible to support HDR using our existing EGL+GLES renderer, but I think Gamescope only supports HDR via Vulkan.

In any case, I am working on a Vulkan renderer that will support HDR on Linux from within Gamescope.

[kaitolucifer]

https://github.com/streetpea/chiaki4deck/issues/93 I think this could help.

[Jordan-Ch]

I use moonlight regularly to stream from my PC to my Nvidia Shield, often with HDR.

Recently grabbed an OLED Steam Deck hoping to stream with HDR to the Steam Deck. Is this currently not possible?

HDR option on the Linux build seems to be greyed out.

[eliw00d]

I use moonlight regularly to stream from my PC to my Nvidia Shield, often with HDR.

Recently grabbed an OLED Steam Deck hoping to stream with HDR to the Steam Deck. Is this currently not possible?

HDR option on the Linux build seems to be greyed out.

Both the LCD and OLED Steam Decks now support HDR to external displays. Only the OLED supports it on its own display. However, the support for external displays is limited to games run on the Steam Decks themselves. Streaming apps like Moonlight need to add support for HDR separately. I hope that helps.

[HA55EHH]

It's the only thing holding back the Steam Deck for me at this point... hope you can figure it out!

[david-pili]

Not sure if you accept bounties or sponsorships for features but I'd happily pay to have this prioritized.

[arshiatn]

On Linux, HDR is only currently supported when streaming outside of a desktop environment (where Moonlight can take full control over the display hardware to configure HDR). In theory, it should be possible to support HDR using our existing EGL+GLES renderer, but I think Gamescope only supports HDR via Vulkan.

In any case, I am working on a Vulkan renderer that will support HDR on Linux from within Gamescope.

Guys from chiaki4deck got the HDR working and are debugging. I have tested it and it works great. I don't know how they made HDR work but you can check it out:

https://github.com/streetpea/chiaki4deck/pull/104

[ritmototal]

Also dying for HDR remoteplay on the steam deck so I can drop the nvidia shield and its horrible controls with moonlight due to its limited control configuration support. If the steam deck could do HDR remote play then it can be the ultimate TV Docked and Portable experience paired with a gaming PC.

[zachrd]

Happy to test this right now! Let me know what if any logs i can provide.

[zachrd]

Ok, initial test of the latest automatic build.

Cannot enable HDR within moonlight settings on the OLED Deck.Happy to try anything else needed.

[cgutman]

Yep, that's expected if you're using the AppImage build from CI. It doesn't have the required libraries yet for Vulkan. I'm working on that now.

[cgutman]

You can try this AppImage - https://ci.appveyor.com/project/cgutman/moonlight-qt/builds/48754905/job/7r54vi0b48f1b6n1/artifacts

You'll need to make sure you run it from within the regular Steam Deck UI rather than the desktop mode since it requires Gamescope for HDR.

There are still known issues with the Vulkan renderer but I think it should work for testing.

[TheBacon00]

You can try this AppImage - https://ci.appveyor.com/project/cgutman/moonlight-qt/builds/48754905/job/7r54vi0b48f1b6n1/artifacts

You'll need to make sure you run it from within the regular Steam Deck UI rather than the desktop mode since it requires Gamescope for HDR.

There are still known issues with the Vulkan renderer but I think it should work for testing.

I actually just tried this build on my Steam Deck (from the "Game Mode" UI by adding the AppImage as a non-Steam game), HDR option is still greyed out. Do I need to set an env var or something to enable the new Vulkan renderer?

[zachrd]

You can try this AppImage - https://ci.appveyor.com/project/cgutman/moonlight-qt/builds/48754905/job/7r54vi0b48f1b6n1/artifacts You'll need to make sure you run it from within the regular Steam Deck UI rather than the desktop mode since it requires Gamescope for HDR. There are still known issues with the Vulkan renderer but I think it should work for testing.

I actually just tried this build on my Steam Deck (from the "Game Mode" UI by adding the AppImage as a non-Steam game), HDR option is still greyed out. Do I need to set an env var or something to enable the new Vulkan renderer?

Going to test the JSON here: FrogTheFrog

@FrogTheFrog posted this on the Discord the other day.

[FrogTheFrog]

You can try this AppImage - https://ci.appveyor.com/project/cgutman/moonlight-qt/builds/48754905/job/7r54vi0b48f1b6n1/artifacts

You'll need to make sure you run it from within the regular Steam Deck UI rather than the desktop mode since it requires Gamescope for HDR.

There are still known issues with the Vulkan renderer but I think it should work for testing.

I have tested AppImage (and my flatpak build), both with no luck.

I will generate some logs from AppImage in gamemode and add them here.

[arshiatn]

You can try this AppImage - https://ci.appveyor.com/project/cgutman/moonlight-qt/builds/48754905/job/7r54vi0b48f1b6n1/artifacts You'll need to make sure you run it from within the regular Steam Deck UI rather than the desktop mode since it requires Gamescope for HDR. There are still known issues with the Vulkan renderer but I think it should work for testing.

I actually just tried this build on my Steam Deck (from the "Game Mode" UI by adding the AppImage as a non-Steam game), HDR option is still greyed out. Do I need to set an env var or something to enable the new Vulkan renderer?

Same. I just added Applmage to Steam after making it executable and HDR (Experimental) is grayed out. I thought that I may have to connect to my PC first then change the options and it is still grayed out. I tried out every combination of Display Mode X Video Decoder X Video Codec and HDR is still grayed out. Restarting the steam deck didn't do anything either.

Using Windows 11 with a LG C2 OLED and (HDR on before connecting to my PC).

I have no idea how to generate logs for you but it seems like that @FrogTheFrog is going to generate his logs.

[FrogTheFrog]

So here are some logs (PLVK_LOG_LEVEL=5, for debug logs) for SteamDeck running from gamemode: with_prefer_vulkan.log with_prefer_vulkan_and_force_vaapi.log without_prefer_vulkan.log

I noticed there is SDL Error (0): pl_map_avframe_ex() failed, but have no idea what this means :/

[matte-schwartz]

This latest AppImage is a winner! Very impressive work, devs. System details: Nobara Linux, Kernel 6.6.7-200, Steam Deck OLED. Added the AppImage as a non-Steam game, switched to game mode and HDR was available as an option within Moonlight’s settings.

[johnyz333]

This latest AppImage is a winner! Very impressive work, devs. System details: Nobara Linux, Kernel 6.6.7-200, Steam Deck OLED. Added the AppImage as a non-Steam game, switched to game mode and HDR was available as an option within Moonlight’s settings.

Hmmm… HDR is grayed out on my end…

[matte-schwartz]

This latest AppImage is a winner! Very impressive work, devs. System details: Nobara Linux, Kernel 6.6.7-200, Steam Deck OLED. Added the AppImage as a non-Steam game, switched to game mode and HDR was available as an option within Moonlight’s settings.

Hmmm… HDR is grayed out on my end…

Even on the build from an hour ago? The previous ones I tried hadn’t worked but this worked OOTB for me… happy to dump logs if it would be useful

[johnyz333]

This latest AppImage is a winner! Very impressive work, devs. System details: Nobara Linux, Kernel 6.6.7-200, Steam Deck OLED. Added the AppImage as a non-Steam game, switched to game mode and HDR was available as an option within Moonlight’s settings.

Hmmm… HDR is grayed out on my end…

Even on the build from an hour ago? The previous ones I tried hadn’t worked but this worked OOTB for me… happy to dump logs if it would be useful

Can you link the build please…

[cgutman]

Here's a link to the working AppImage build with HDR support: https://ci.appveyor.com/project/cgutman/moonlight-qt/builds/48762923/job/8ciibh342qicq980/artifacts

[chipgw]

I can confirm latest build is working with Sunshine on Windows to host if you aren't getting it working here are some things to try:

• what remains of the NVidia driver host did not work for me; upon starting a stream Moonlight would say the PC can't encode AV1 or H265 in HDR (my 30-series GPU can't encode AV1 at all, so that one at least makes total sense)
• you need HDR turned on for the display you're streaming from in Windows display settings on the host machine; which yeah if Windows isn't outputting HDR then there's no HDR to stream.

[dylanfrankcom]

Thank you for your work on this! It looks like Appveyor has hit its download quota:

{"message":"Artifacts download limit (1024 MB/day) exceeded."}

Is there a mirror available?

[matte-schwartz]

Thank you for your work on this! It looks like Appveyor has hit its download quota:

{"message":"Artifacts download limit (1024 MB/day) exceeded."}

Is there a mirror available?

I anticipated this happening and uploaded a mirror here: https://pixeldrain.com/u/1zMvXLqi @ cgutman please feel free to delete if this is not okay

[Moredread]

I've tried the Appveyor AppImage on my OLED Steamdeck with a Nvidia 2080TI and Sunshine on my PC.

I can select HDR in Moonlight, but starting the stream produces a black screen.

When manually changing the codec to HVEC (AV1 encoding isn't supported by the graphics card) I get a warning "This PC's GPU doesn't support HEVC Main 10 decoding for HDR streaming" and the stream is shown in SDR (i.e. washed out colors and no HDR indicator in the brightness settings)

[TheBacon00]

I've tried the Appveyor AppImage on my OLED Steamdeck with a Nvidia 2080TI and Sunshine on my PC.

I can select HDR in Moonlight, but starting the stream produces a black screen.

When manually changing the codec to HVEC (AV1 encoding isn't supported by the graphics card) I get a warning "This PC's GPU doesn't support HEVC Main 10 decoding for HDR streaming" and the stream is shown in SDR (i.e. washed out colors and no HDR indicator in the brightness settings)

Yeah this is my experience as well. Happy to provide any data that might be useful (unless the SD really can't do HEVC Main 10 decoding?).

[johnyz333]

Had the same issues, set it to automatic, that worked for me.

[zachrd]

I also had this problem. Will check automatic in a moment.