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Games

streamarr.media includes a full games library with IGDB metadata — and you don't install anything to play: games run on the server and stream directly to your browser via Lightrays, streamarr.media's cloud-gaming service.

The Games Library

Open Games in the navigation. Like the home page, the games page is built from configurable sections: for example Latest Items, platform tiles, favorites, and a dynamic search. Trending games come from IGDB and are refreshed automatically.

The games page needs its own layout

Browse pages only use a layout whose Library field points at their library, and a fresh install only seeds the home layout. The home sections are built for video (a trending carousel, genre rows, trailers), so a games library that falls back to home shows nothing. Create a layout for the games library and bind it, or use the pencil button in the page toolbar to add sections in place. See Page Layouts.

Games also show up in the global search with their own results section, and can be added to lists and marked as favorites just like movies and shows.

Metadata

Game metadata comes from the Internet Game Database (IGDB) and includes:

  • Title and description
  • Cover art and screenshots
  • Release date
  • Genres and platforms (shown as chips with platform logos on the detail page)
  • Developers and publishers
  • Ratings and game modes

Playing a Game

  1. Open a game's detail page and press Play.
  2. If the game exists for more than one platform (for example an N64 ROM and a PC port), a "Choose a version to play" picker appears. Each version is labeled either Play (already on the server) or Download & play.
  3. The server launches a game session — you'll briefly see "Launching game session…" — and the stream appears in your browser.

Download & play

If the version you picked isn't stored on the server yet, streamarr.media starts downloading it and shows the same waiting screen used for movies and episodes: "The game is downloading — this can take a moment." The game launches automatically once the download finishes.

Steam games

Games that run on the Steam runtime open in Steam's Big Picture interface inside the stream. You only need to sign in to Steam once — your login and game data are kept per user and shared across all your Steam game sessions.

Your saves and in-game settings are stored on the server, so you can disconnect and pick up where you left off in a later session.

Controls During a Session

Your mouse and keyboard input is forwarded to the game. Clicking the video captures your mouse; a toolbar above the stream offers:

Button What it does
Fullscreen Switches the stream to fullscreen
Match resolution Adjusts the remote resolution to your current window size
Lock Mouse Captures the mouse pointer for the game (press Esc to release)
Disconnect Ends the streaming session

The toolbar also shows live stream statistics (bitrate, frame rate, and latency).

Tip

For first-person or mouse-driven games, use Lock Mouse together with Fullscreen — the game then receives raw mouse movement, just like playing locally.

Gaming Settings

Under User Settings you'll find two sections that only affect game streaming:

  • Cloud Gaming — choose your Keyboard Layout and Mouse Speed for streaming sessions.
  • Controller — gamepad behaviour for retro game sessions: Analog stick deadzone and D-Pad mode (D-Pad, left analog stick, or right analog stick).

Changes apply to your next session.

Availability & Limits

Server-side feature

Cloud gaming has to be set up by your administrator (it needs a GPU-equipped streaming service). Administrators configure ROM folders, BIOS files, and emulator cores in Retro Game Streaming. They can also limit how many game streams your account may run at once, or disable game streaming for an account entirely, and on servers with paid plans it may be part of a specific membership tier. If Play fails with a permission error, contact your admin.

Next Steps