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Nova — Native Rust GameStream Host

A zero-copy, native Rust + C++ NVENC game-streaming host that speaks the Moonlight/GameStream protocol. Goal: replace Sunshine with a portable, minimal single executable.

Current State — Production Alpha (Phase 9)

Layer Status
Pairing (RSA/AES-ECB, PEM plaincert) ✅ Xbox & Android confirmed
RTSP handshake (OPTIONS/DESCRIBE/SETUP×3/ANNOUNCE/PLAY) ✅ Working
H.264 video (NVENC CBR, infinite GOP) ✅ Working
HEVC Main8 / Main10 ✅ Working
RTP packetizer + Reed-Solomon FEC ✅ Working
ENet control stream (IDR, ping, input, disconnect) ✅ Working
Audio (WASAPI loopback → Opus → RTP, AES-128-CBC) ✅ Working
Mouse input — absolute (desktop) ✅ Working
Mouse input — relative (game camera, raw delta) ✅ Working
Keyboard + gamepad (ViGEmBus) ✅ Working
Cursor compositing (WGC native) ✅ Working
Universal Virtual Display Driver (all apps, headless) ✅ Working
VDD boots dormant — physical monitors undisturbed ✅ Working
Dynamic resolution (VDD follows client negotiation) ✅ Working
HDR10 (HEVC Main10, VDD Advanced Color, MDCV/CLL SEI) ✅ Working
Dynamic monitor naming (renames VDD to client device) ✅ Working
nova.toml runtime config (no recompile needed) ✅ Working
Graceful shutdown — physical monitors always restored ✅ Working
Inno Setup installer (devcon runs as installer, no UAC) ✅ Working
AV1 🔧 Advertised, not end-to-end tested

Architecture

Moonlight client
      │  HTTPS :47989/:47984  (pairing + app list)
      │  RTSP  :48010         (session negotiation)
      │  ENet  :47999 UDP     (control — IDR, ping, input)
      │  RTP   :47998 UDP     (video frames + FEC)
      │  RTP   :48000 UDP     (Opus audio)
      ▼
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  Nova  (nova-server.exe)                                 │
│                                                          │
│  src/config.rs        — nova.toml runtime config         │
│  src/pairing.rs       — HTTP/HTTPS GameStream pairing    │
│  src/rtsp.rs          — RTSP session + SDP negotiation   │
│  src/control.rs       — ENet reliable-UDP control        │
│  src/rtp.rs           — RTP packetizer + RS-FEC          │
│  src/capture.rs       — Windows Graphics Capture (WGC)  │
│  src/encoder.rs       — Rust wrapper around C++ shim     │
│  src/audio.rs         — WASAPI → Opus → RTP              │
│  src/input.rs         — Mouse/keyboard/gamepad inject    │
│  src/virtual_display.rs — VDD lifecycle (SetupAPI + CCD) │
│  src/debug.rs         — File logger (nova.log)           │
│                                                          │
│  shim/shim.cpp        — Zero-copy C++ NVENC FFI shim     │
│    WGC BGRA8/FP16 → D3D11 Video Processor (NV12/P010)   │
│    → NVENC (H.264 / HEVC Main8 + Main10 / AV1)          │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
      │
   Root\MttVDD   (Virtual Display Driver — IddCx, MttVDD 25.7.23)
   Boots dormant (CCD path inactive). Activated per-stream.

Media Pipeline

SDR — H.264 (default)

WGC BGRA8 → D3D11 Video Processor (BT.709 full→limited) → NV12 → NVENC H.264

SDR — HEVC Main8

Same VP path → NV12 → NVENC HEVC Main

HDR10 — HEVC Main10

WGC R16G16B16A16_Float (FP16 scRGB, VDD Advanced Color) → VP (scRGB→P010 BT.2020 PQ) → NVENC HEVC Main10 + HDR10 MDCV/CLL SEI

AV1

Same VP path as HEVC; NVENC AV1. Advertised, not yet end-to-end tested.

Virtual Display Driver — Headless Mode

Nova manages the VirtualDrivers/Virtual-Display-Driver (Root\MttVDD) lifecycle entirely in-process via SetupAPI + the Windows CCD API (SetDisplayConfig). No HDMI dummy plug needed.

Boot sequence:

  1. Pre-seeds all supported modes (720p/1080p/1440p/4K × 30/60/120Hz) into vdd_settings.xml
  2. Enables HDRPlus in vdd_settings.xml (required for Advanced Color / FP16 mode)
  3. Cycles the devnode once so the driver loads the full mode table
  4. ccd_deactivate_vdd_path() — clears DISPLAYCONFIG_PATH_ACTIVE on the VDD's CCD path and writes to the database with SDC_SAVE_TO_DATABASE. Physical monitors are never disturbed.

On stream start (every app, controlled by nova.toml → headless_for_all_apps):

  1. SetDisplayConfig(SDC_TOPOLOGY_EXTEND) — wakes VDD from dormant into the active desktop
  2. ChangeDisplaySettingsExW — snaps VDD to client-negotiated resolution/refresh
  3. CCD SetDisplayConfig — moves VDD source to desktop origin (new primary), deactivates physical display paths
  4. SetupDiSetDeviceRegistryPropertyW(SPDRP_FRIENDLYNAME) — renames VDD to client device name (e.g. "Xbox")
  5. WGC rebinds to VDD; encoder recreates at VDD resolution → SPS matches client exactly
  6. On stream end: full CCD topology restore, audio endpoint restore, Advanced Color disable

Graceful shutdown — Dead Man's Switch: impl Drop for VirtualDisplay + explicit teardown at run() exit ensures physical monitors are always restored even on Ctrl+C, OS shutdown, or panic. enc.cleanup() always runs before vd.deactivate_after_stream() to release D3D texture references before the VDD's CCD path is removed.

Quick Start

git clone https://github.com/Zero19-85/Nova.git
cd Nova
cargo build --release
.\target\release\nova-server.exe

On first run Nova creates nova.toml in the exe directory. Edit it to change bitrate, codec, fps, and other settings without recompiling.

CLI overrides (all optional — nova.toml values used when omitted):

--codec h264|hevc|av1    Encoder codec
--bitrate N              Bitrate Kbps
--fps N                  Frame rate
--fec N                  FEC parity % (0 = disabled)
--width N / --height N   VDD boot resolution

Configuration — nova.toml

Auto-generated on first run alongside nova-server.exe:

[stream]
width                = 1920    # VDD boot resolution (Moonlight overrides per-session)
height               = 1080
bitrate_kbps         = 15000
fps                  = 60
codec                = "h264"  # "h264" | "hevc" | "av1"
enable_hdr           = false   # force HDR10 even if VDD capability query is slow
headless_for_all_apps = true   # route all apps through VDD (set false for App 5 only)

[audio]
endpoint_override = ""         # friendly name or GUID of audio endpoint (empty = default)

[network]
fec_percentage = 20            # Reed-Solomon parity % (0 = disabled)

Installer

nova.iss at the project root is the production Inno Setup script. It bundles the VDD package and installs the driver using the installer's own admin token — no UAC child-process suppression, no internet download required at runtime.

Build steps:

cargo build --release
# Copy pre-extracted VDD package to project root:
Copy-Item -Recurse "C:\VDD.Control.25.7.23" ".\VirtualDisplayDriver"
# Open nova.iss in Inno Setup Compiler and press Compile
# Output: Output\NovaSetup-0.1.0.exe

What the installer does:

  1. Copies nova-server.exe, nova_shim.dll, and VirtualDisplayDriver\ to {app}
  2. Runs devcon.exe install MttVDD.inf Root\MttVDD — installs driver under the installer's elevated token
  3. Runs nova-server.exe --install — registers the ONLOGON/Highest-Privileges scheduled task
  4. Launches Nova for the current session

Deployment Files

nova-server.exe      ← main binary (must be alongside nova_shim.dll)
nova_shim.dll        ← C++ NVENC/D3D11 shim
nova.toml            ← runtime config (auto-created on first run)
nova.log             ← rolling log (auto-created, tail for diagnostics)
nova_paired.json     ← paired device store (auto-created after first pair)
VirtualDisplayDriver\← VDD package (bundled by installer)

System Requirements

  • OS: Windows 10 1803+ / Windows 11
  • GPU: NVIDIA with NVENC — RTX series recommended for HEVC/AV1/HDR10
  • VDD: Bundled in installer (VDD.Control.25.7.23) — no manual install needed
  • Gamepad passthrough: ViGEmBus (optional)
  • Audio routing: Steam Streaming Speakers or virtual audio device (optional — falls back to host speakers)

Known Limitations

  • H.264 at 4K@120fps exceeds Xbox H264 decoder Level 5.2 — use 1080p@60fps on Xbox. HEVC resolves this.
  • Xbox Moonlight 1.18.0 reports x-nv-clientSupportHevc:0 — investigation pending.
  • mDNS auto-discovery may not work across WiFi APs with multicast isolation — add the host IP manually in Moonlight.
  • audio.endpoint_override is stored in nova.toml but not yet wired into the WASAPI pipeline (Phase 10).
  • Monitor rename updates Device Manager immediately; Display Settings reflects it on most Windows 11 builds.

Roadmap

Phase Description State
1–4 Core pipeline (DXGI→NVENC→RTP, RTSP, pairing, audio, input) ✅ Complete
5 VDD headless orchestration, dynamic resolution ✅ Complete
6 HDR10 end-to-end (HEVC Main10, VDD Advanced Color, SEI) ✅ Complete
7 Task Scheduler deployment, DPI fix, file logger ✅ Complete
8 HDR teardown, device naming, pairing UX, DLL deploy ✅ Complete
9 Graceful shutdown, VDD boot isolation, perf sweep, config, installer ✅ Complete
10 AV1 confirmed, audio endpoint override, monitor child-devnode rename Planned

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