Moonlight Wii U is a port of Moonlight Embedded, which is an open source client for Sunshine and NVIDIA GameStream. Moonlight allows you to stream your full collection of games and applications from your PC to other devices to play them remotely.

It's using the hardware-accelerated h264 library of the Wii U which results in pretty fast decoding.
Using my LAN Adapter 720p@60fps runs almost flawlessly.

Here's a little demo (and april fools) video:

Quick Start​

A Wii U LAN Adapter is recommended!

• Grab the latest version from the releases page and extract it to the root of your SD Card.
• Enter the IP of your Sunshine/GFE server in the moonlight.conf file located at sd:/wiiu/apps/moonlight.
• Ensure your Sunshine/GFE server and Wii U are on the same network.
• If using GFE, turn on Shield Streaming in the GFE settings.
• Pair Moonlight Wii U with the server.
• Accept the pairing confirmation on your PC.
• Connect to the server with Moonlight Wii U.
• Play games!

Configuration
You can configure all of the documented settings in the moonlight.conf file located at sd:/wiiu/apps/moonlight.
Note that a lot of option are commented out by default, to edit them you need to remove the # in front of them.

Supported controllers

• Gamepad (can be disabled with the disable_gamepad option).
• Up to 4 Wii U Pro Controllers and Wii Classic Controllers (Pro).
  The Gamepad needs to be disabled to use the 4th controller.

Troubleshooting​

Input doesn't work when using Sunshine​

Verify that you've installed Nefarius Virtual Gamepad and restarted your PC after the installation.

The stream disconnects frequently/immediately​

Depending on your network connection you need to adjust the configuration to find a stable bitrate and resolution.Try something like this to get started:

width = 854
height = 480
fps = 30

bitrate = 1500

Then slowly increase the bitrate until the stream is no longer stable.

Can't find app Steam​

Moonlight Wii U tries to start the app "Steam" by default, but sunshine does not have a default Application called "Steam".
You can either rename the app in the moonlight.conf to

app = Steam Big Picture

which is a default option in sunshine or add a new application called "Steam" in the sunshine configuration.

Releases: https://github.com/GaryOderNichts/moonlight-wiiu/releases
Source code: https://github.com/GaryOderNichts/moonlight-wiiu

Special thanks to agilly1989, rw and QuarkTheAwesome.

 

[Catarius]

First thanks @GaryOderNichts for this great Tool. Absolutely perfect!!

I have a question, what is the best way to set it up if I want to play on TV?

Post automatically merged: Jan 23, 2023

First of all thanks to @GaryOderNichts for that great Tool, its amazing!

Question:
Is there a setting option for the TV? Unfortunately, it's very pixelated for me at the moment.

 

[Carnage]

@GaryOderNichts Moonlight for Wii U is just too awesome, I have used it almost daily until today my GeForce Experience updated to 3.27.0.112 now it just doesn't stream. I had to download: 3.26 (here is the link if anyone is interested) to get it back to work
https://us.download.nvidia.com/GFE/GFEClient/3.26.0.160/GeForce_Experience_v3.26.0.160.exe
Also I read that Nvidia is ending Gamestream
https://nvidia.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/5436
So I guess 3.26 is the last version we can use with the Wii U

 

[Catarius]

this is really bad news

 

[Famus484]

My advice would be to use sunshine on host, these days it works just as well as GFE, allows for better configuration, won't end because some corporation wants you to pay monthly for an inferior experience, and is open source. Also better maintained than gfe by a long shot.

 

[Catarius]

Hello!

Could someone make a tutorial how to connect sunshine to moonlight wii-u via windows... i don't understand

PLEASE!

 

[Famus484]

I would propose to use the documentation for sunshine in https://docs.lizardbyte.dev/projects/sunshine/en/latest/about/installation.html (you could try making it work with your phone first, if anything just to test sunshine is working). Then, do the usual for the wii-u.
Also, remember to turn off gamestream in GFE in the Shield tab, so as not to conflict with sunshine

 

[bongdanoff]

I tried sunshine and it was pretty laggy and I had to change all the settings to the lowest and then it worked fine but still lags a little bit every once in a while but nothing really annoying. Streaming at 854 x 480 60FPS .

But I am not sure if sunshine's to blame. I am using the Wii U with an ethernet adapter (Plugable USB 2.0 to Ethernet Fast 10/100 LAN) and just realized that the speed is only 4.5mbps (tested in testmy.net) is this normal? Maybe the adapter is bad? My speed in my PC is 600mbps and this adapter is supposedly 100Mbps maximum speed so shouldn't it be higher?

I wonder if I am the only one with this problem

 

[samandhi]

@GaryOderNichts Moonlight for Wii U is just too awesome, I have used it almost daily until today my GeForce Experience updated to 3.27.0.112 now it just doesn't stream. I had to download: 3.26 (here is the link if anyone is interested) to get it back to work

Also I read that Nvidia is ending Gamestream

So I guess 3.26 is the last version we can use with the Wii U

I Just installed the latest version of Moonlight on my WiiU, and also have the updated version of GFE (3.27.0.112) and I only changed the IP address and App = Steam to App = Desktop and it connected great. I played Pokemon Violet via Ryujinx and it worked flawlessly. I have not tweaked any settings at this point, but for me, it doesn't really need any tweaks.. We shall see with other games though.

I am using a ROG Strix G731GW gaming laptop with RTX 2070 BTW if it makes any difference. If Nvidia kills off this feature it is not really that big of a deal for me though because I don't use GFE for anything else anyhow and can leave it at the current version if I need to, and it doesn't prevent me from updating my drivers, which I only check if I need to when I install brand new (cutting edge) games. If it ain't broke, don't fix it...

It is great being able to play switch games on a handheld device again. My OG Switch finally died on me after many years of fun and hacking with it. But honestly, I find the WiiU gamepad to be MUCH more comfortable than the generic Switch design anyhow. I think the WiiU could have been SO much more than it was. The hacking scene is/has making/made it that way. Apparently, with clever apps like this one it STILL hasn't seen its full potential.

 

[WiiFlea]

I wasn't able to get WiiU Moonlight working with Geforce Experience (GFE) 3.27.0.112.
I'd been using an old version of GFE with a firewall rule to block it from updating. But decided I'd had enough of that.

So I have recompiled the app using the latest version of the moonlight-common-c library.
These files were updated as recently as last week.

I have tested, and it currently works for me with the latest version of GFE (Y)

I assume it will work perfectly with Sunshine as well, but I haven't tested this as I removed Sunshine a while back after failing to get results from it that were comparable to Nvidia Game Stream. (On my computer, with my specific hardware and drivers)

I've attached a copy of the "new" version here in case anyone else who is having problems wants to try it out.
There is the .elf and .rpx versions included. I was unfortunately unable to get the WUHB Packager to work for me so I couldn't make the .wuhb version, sorry!
I've updated the meta file, icon.png and the app to show that it is "v1.5.1-Unofficial" so no one gets confused and thinks this is from the original author of the app.

I've included a copy of the full source code here as well.

 

[samandhi]

I wasn't able to get WiiU Moonlight working with Geforce Experience (GFE) 3.27.0.112.
I'd been using an old version of GFE with a firewall rule to block it from updating. But decided I'd had enough of that.

So I have recompiled the app using the latest version of the moonlight-common-c library.
These files were updated as recently as last week.

I have tested, and it currently works for me with the latest version of GFE (Y)

I assume it will work perfectly with Sunshine as well, but I haven't tested this as I removed Sunshine a while back after failing to get results from it that were comparable to Nvidia Game Stream. (On my computer, with my specific hardware and drivers)

I've attached a copy of the "new" version here in case anyone else who is having problems wants to try it out.
There is the .elf and .rpx versions included. I was unfortunately unable to get the WUHB Packager to work for me so I couldn't make the .wuhb version, sorry!
I've updated the meta file, icon.png and the app to show that it is "v1.5.1-Unofficial" so no one gets confused and thinks this is from the original author of the app.

I've included a copy of the full source code here as well.

Maybe that is the reason I was able to get it running with no issues on GFE 3.27.xxx because I just installed (the latest version of Moonlight) on my Wii U right before I posted my last comment?! Also, I grabbed the binary, rather than compile it myself, so maybe the binary has the updated libraries needed to make it run with the latest version of GFE?!

Curious. But, thanks for sharing your "working" version of this.

 

[WiiFlea]

Huh.... the version on the releases page is from October and at the time was updated to add "Fixes support for GFE 3.26"
It should be 5ish months behind on the moonlight library updates... Although I'm not sure how quickly changes come out for that project, only that the last one was very recent.

I didn't think the release on Github was capable of working with GFE 3.27+
At any rate, compiling it fixed the issues I was having so it wasn't a waste of time in that regard

Glad you have it working though!

 

[GaryOderNichts]

I can push an update with the updated moonlight-common-c soon. Just busy with some other stuff right now.

 

[samandhi]

Huh.... the version on the releases page is from October and at the time was updated to add "Fixes support for GFE 3.26"
It should be 5ish months behind on the moonlight library updates... Although I'm not sure how quickly changes come out for that project, only that the last one was very recent.

I didn't think the release on Github was capable of working with GFE 3.27+
At any rate, compiling it fixed the issues I was having so it wasn't a waste of time in that regard

Glad you have it working though!

Honestly, I don't know what I did except run it... I have had my Wii U hacked for so long, I don't remember much about the ins and outs of it, so just installed the app in Homebrew and ran it (changing only the things I needed to get it running..... On the other hand, I just modded my PSVita the other day and Moonlight will not run on it. I haven't tried reverting back to an older version of GFE though.

 

[axlefoley]

I am having an issue trying to get it up and running. I appear to have everything set up correctly but when I go to start a stream my PC acts like it is trying to do something but doesn't and on my Wii U it says starting stream or something to that effect and that's how it stays and it becomes unresponsive I have to power my wii u down to get out of it.

I am using the latest moonlight and the latest Nvidia and GFE etc. on Windows 10.

Before suggesting sunshine I have tried and I cant get that to work either because there are 0 tutorials that I have been able to find that are geared towards using it with a Wii U and that is the only device I have to try it on.

 

[bongdanoff]

I am having an issue trying to get it up and running. I appear to have everything set up correctly but when I go to start a stream my PC acts like it is trying to do something but doesn't and on my Wii U it says starting stream or something to that effect and that's how it stays and it becomes unresponsive I have to power my wii u down to get out of it.

I am using the latest moonlight and the latest Nvidia and GFE etc. on Windows 10.

Before suggesting sunshine I have tried and I cant get that to work either because there are 0 tutorials that I have been able to find that are geared towards using it with a Wii U and that is the only device I have to try it on.

you don't use sunshine with your wii u. it is meant to replace GFE in your PC. The instructions for windows are simply downloading the .exe and double-clicking it to install. the sunshine config page is accessed through localhost:47990 and can be used for pairing it with moonlight in your wii u.

also make sure to disable gamestream in nvidia geforce experience or it won't work properly.

docs.lizardbyte.dev/projects/sunshine/en/latest/about/installation.html#windows
docs.lizardbyte.dev/projects/sunshine/en/latest/about/usage.html

 

[Zir-Zoinkus]

Hi, So I just tried this out to see if I could get games I like working and every time I boot the file up from homebrew launcher, I just get a black screen, I don't even see if it's connected. I've even downgraded my GeForce experience and even tried that recompile WiiFlea has done and I still just get a black screen. I've added my IP address and all of that in the config file as well.

 

[zenaro147]

@GaryOderNichts how do I supposed to quit the app/session to back to WiiU Menu?
I tried to press L+R+START+SELECT, but didn't work =(
Same when I set the force quit setting to true
Also, the home button didn't work (I mean... it works like a Home button on Xbox.. it calls the Steam Menu)

also, I'm using Aroma

 

[GaryOderNichts]

@GaryOderNichts how do I supposed to quit the app/session to back to WiiU Menu?
I tried to press L+R+START+SELECT, but didn't work =(
Same when I set the force quit setting to true
Also, the home button didn't work (I mean... it works like a Home button on Xbox.. it calls the Steam Menu)

also, I'm using Aroma

Keep holding down the home button for a few seconds.

 

[zenaro147]

Keep holding down the home button for a few seconds.

Thanks it works!
I should hold for more time than I previously hold it

 

[vanartic]

Before i say what my problem currently is (using the unofficial build):

Yes, i've removed the # (hashtag) before the IP address and all functions i'd want to use with this thing, yes i put my LOCAL IP address in, yes i followed all of the instructions exactly as they were.

Thing keeps telling me "Specify an IP address" regardless of what i do. Anyone with a solution?