Bazzite — gamescope

Bazzite already ships everything a punktfunk host needs — the NVIDIA driver, NVENC, PipeWire, and gamescope. So a Bazzite host is the most "appliance-like" setup: the host launches its own gamescope session at the client's resolution and refresh, so your games run at the mode of the device you're streaming to, not the TV the box is plugged into.

This is ideal for a dedicated game-streaming box. For a general desktop, prefer Ubuntu/Fedora KDE or GNOME.

Install

The host installs from the punktfunk COPR repository (see packaging/bazzite/ in the repo for the exact COPR/RPM/bootc options). You can also build from source as on Fedora KDE — Bazzite is Fedora Atomic underneath, and its FFmpeg builds the host fine.

Allow controller input

Gamepad and DualSense input needs your user in the input group. On Bazzite, don't use usermod — the base is immutable and the group is managed by a recipe. Use:

ujust add-user-to-input-group

Then log out and back in. (A controller that's "detected but does nothing" is almost always this permission, not a client problem.)

Configure

Point the host at the gamescope backend in ~/.config/punktfunk/host.env:

PUNKTFUNK_COMPOSITOR=gamescope
PUNKTFUNK_GAMESCOPE_SESSION=steam   # the host owns a Steam session at the client's mode
PUNKTFUNK_INPUT_BACKEND=gamescope
PUNKTFUNK_ZEROCOPY=1

With this, when a client connects the host starts a gamescope-session-plus (Steam) session at the client's exact resolution and refresh, and relaunches it if the client changes mode. There should be no physical gaming session already running on the box.

Run as an always-on host

Bazzite hosts are typically headless. Enable the host service and linger so it starts at boot — see Running as a Service. Because the host launches its own gamescope session per client, you don't need a separate desktop-session unit.

Good to know

• gamescope 3.16.22 or newer is required. Older versions can deadlock during capture. Bazzite's current gamescope is fine; this only bites if you've pinned an old one.
• The mouse cursor isn't included in the captured image — a gamescope limitation for now.
• HDR isn't supported yet on the gamescope path — gamescope's capture output is 8-bit. SDR streams normally.

Then connect a client — Moonlight works great for couch gaming, and the Apple app for Apple TV / iPad.