NVIDIA just released a new driver, version 358.50, with an updated version of GeForce Experience that brings about some interesting changes to the program. First, let's talk about the positive changes, including beta access to the updated NVIDIA Share utility and improvements in GameStream.
As we detailed first with the release of the GeForce GTX 950, NVIDIA is making some impressive additions to the ShadowPlay portion of GeForce Experience, along with a rename to NVIDIA Share.
The idea is to add functionality to the Shadowplay feature including an in-game overlay to control the settings and options for local recording and even an in-overlay editor and previewer for your videos. This allows the gamer to view, edit, snip and then upload those completed videos to YouTube directly, without ever having to leave the game. (Though you’ll obviously want to pause it before going through that process.) Capture and “Instant Replay” support is now capable of 4K / 60 Hz capture and upload as well – nice!
Besides added capability for the local recording portion of Share, NVIDIA is also adding some new features to mix. NVIDIA Share will now allow for point to point stream sharing, giving you the ability to send a link to your friend that they can open in a web browser and watch the game that you are playing with very low latency. You could use this as a way to show your friend that new skill you learned for Rocket League, to try and convince him to pick up his own copy or even just for a social event. It supports voice communication for the ability to talk smack if necessary.
But it goes beyond just viewing the game – this point to point streaming allows the remote player to take over the controls to teach the local gamer something new or to finish a difficult portion of the game you might be stuck on. And if the game supports local multiplayer, you can BOTH play as the remote gaming session will emulate a second attached Xbox / SHIELD controller to the system! This does have a time limit of 1 hour as a means to persuade game developers and publishers to not throw a hissy-fit.
The demo I saw recently was very impressive and it all worked surprisingly well out of the box.
Fans of NVIDIA local network GameStream might enjoy the upgrade to support streaming games at 4K 60 FPS – as long as you have an NVIDIA SHIELD Android TV device connected to a 4K capable TV in your home. Clearly this will make the visual presentation of your games on your television more impressive than ever and NVIDIA has added support for 5.1 channel surround sound pass through.
There is another change coming with this release of GFE that might turn some heads surrounding the frequently updated "Game Ready" drivers NVIDIA puts out for specific game launches. These drivers have been a huge part of NVIDIA's success in recent years as the day one experience for GeForce users has been improved over AMD in many instances. It is vital for drivers and performance to be optimal on the day of a game's release as many enthusiast gamers are the ones going through the preloading process and midnight release timings.
Future "Game Ready" drivers will no longer be made available through GeForce.com and instead will ONLY be delivered through GeForce Experience. You'll also be required to have a validated email address to get the downloads for beta drivers – though NVIDIA admitted to me you would be able to opt-out of the mailing list anytime after signing up.
NVIDIA told media that this method of driver release was planning for stuff in the future but gamers would be getting early access to new features, chances to win free hardware and the ability to take part in the driver development process like never before. Honestly though, this is a way to get users to sign up for a marketing mailing list that has some specific purpose going forward. Not all mailing lists are bad obviously (have you signed up for the PC Perspective Live! Mailing List yet?!?) but there is bound to be some raised eyebrows over this.
NVIDIA says that more than 90% of its driver downloads today already come through GeForce Experience, so changes to the user experience should be minimal. We'll wait to see how the crowd reacts but I imagine once we get past the initial shock of the change over to this system, the roll outs will be fast, clean and simple. But dammit – we fear change.
Ryan, perhaps you could
Ryan, perhaps you could inform Nvidia that the whole driver update tied to GFE is monumentally short sighted, and will be met with a lot of upset customers.
There are still power users out there that want to control their systems, and those are usually the owners that shell out for the high-end, expensive hardware.
What he said! I don’t use
What he said! I don’t use Geforce experience and I have no plan on starting using it either. I should have the choice on what to install and when. This is totally ridiculous.
I tend to agree.
Honestly
I tend to agree.
Honestly though, I see no reason why the drivers couldn't be download and shared amongst the enthusiast community outside of GFE. Just requires one person to bite the bullet.
Because they want to force
Because they want to force people to… check that GeForce Experience thing that almost everyone says “I don’t install it when installing new drivers”. They have invested too much time in that app and it is a good way to differentiate their hardware from AMD’s, something which will probably be more important under DX12 where they will lose part of the performance advantage they have under DX11.
People will not like it, many will stay with the quarterly updates, or install custom drivers, but in the end many people will be “persuaded” to test the GeForce Experience features, and who knows, they could find that they are cool and that they should stick with the Nvidia brand.
So Nvidia is more about
So Nvidia is more about Nvidia’s Cloud and less about the hardware, at least until Nvidia can get some full async hardware support! Nvidia will not be able to run VR through its cloud, and the lack of Hardware async is going to see Nvidia a little too far behind to take advantage of VR at its beginning when market share will be there for the taking for those with more async hardware support!
So what’s Ryans’ e-mail
So what’s Ryans’ e-mail address again ?
I got this.
I got this.
Nvidia, if you want to loose
Nvidia, if you want to loose customers, this is a good start for sure.
I hate GFE, uninstalled it,
I hate GFE, uninstalled it, never installing it again, it’s just bloathware to me.
LMAO… Just wow…
LMAO… Just wow…
yeah…wow is the only game i
yeah…wow is the only game i play too!
Used GFE since it came out,
Used GFE since it came out, seemsly update drivers from it and never having issues. I use shadowplay on it alot as well and now trying out co-op play and streaming just fine. Its a good one stop shop for sure. I say it should be up to the user to decide to choose to use it or not.
I have nothing bad to say about it and already have 2 friends using it constantly as well who are tech savvy and do alot of pc gaming, recording and streaming with it.
Looking forward to “GameSteam
Looking forward to “GameSteam CO-OP.” Already been using the Twitch streaming to broadcast gunner view(s) to pilot with a few seconds of delay but this will bring pubstomping to the next level.
Don’t really care about GFE requirements since I’m already running GFE to use ShadowPlay.
All I need now is a PG279Q or XB271HU.
a little sample during the
a little sample during the Star Wars Battlefront Beta weekend recorded at native 2560×1440 60fps max quality no issues
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3WJCS4TBu0
Monitor is the ACER Predator XB270HU IPS 144hz Gsync
I miss it I want to play more SW Battlefront 🙁
How did you get ShadowPlay to
How did you get ShadowPlay to record at 1440p? I have a GTX 970 and an Asus PB278Q. All I get is 1080p recordings. 🙁
In GFE top right click on
In GFE top right click on share then click on Record then select customize. There you will see the option to change bit rate, resolution and fps, don’t forget to hit save when done.
When will Nvidia add an
When will Nvidia add an ability to take screenshots using ShadowPlay/Share? Chesus Christ, even AMD allows to do that with their AMD GE client, why can’t Nvidia add such a simple option?
Ryan, it looks like you have contacts at Nvidia, could you please do something about it? I came across a bunch of threads with this suggestion on Nvidia forum but it looks like Nvidia doesn’t give a duck.
Thank you.
What happens to new users who
What happens to new users who need drivers for a fresh windows install?
GFE only drivers? Bad idea
GFE only drivers? Bad idea nVidia. I’ll just get the copies that people strip out of new GFE versions.
Yeeee… stupid PC master
Yeeee… stupid PC master race got it.
Fantastic dictatorship… 😛 :))
Hey when was the last time
Hey when was the last time there was anything of value in these driver updates. No great new features, no great performance boost. Just a stupid restart for nothing!
The driver for MGSV allowed
The driver for MGSV allowed HBOA+, which was a much needed option versus the choices that were provided in game.
Personally i got 0 problems
Personally i got 0 problems with GFE. Many HW vendors use this method already. Funny , you guys don’t complain when running Razer mouse etc.
I don’t run a shitty Razor
I don’t run a shitty Razor mouse. Or any Razor product, for that matter.
I don’t run *any* hardware that requires me to run shitty bloated software.
And, now, I won’t be running NVIDIA products, either.
But its the Geforce
But its the Geforce experience and is perfect in all ways. What is thy biding my Nvidia masters?
Welcome to the
Welcome to the G-Forced-Experience, now open wide on both ends and Get ready for some G-forcing, lubrication not provided!
GeForce Experience ?
More
GeForce Experience ?
More like
Gang
F**ked
Experiment
New driver available
Oh cool.
Installing GFE.
Wait what? I just want the driver
Streaming service is started.
What!!! I don’t even stream
Thanks you for your information
WTF!!!???
You have mail… 100 msg received.
AH!!!!!
Thanks for installing GeForce Experience.
Um. Yeah, but . . . I don’t
Um. Yeah, but . . . I don’t want any of this shit. I just want the drivers. I don’t use this sharing/streaming shit. I don’t use the profiles shit. I don’t use the auto-updater shit. I don’t use the portable stream-play shit.
Also, can someone clarify exactly why it is we have to have game-specific updates? I mean, I don’t recall that being the case years ago. You just made a driver as good as you could and game developers used the capabilities of those cards and driver as best *they* could.
Something about “game specific drivers” has always rubbed me a bit like “we tuned this benchmark test to exactly the kind of results we wanted for this test”.. instead of just “this is how good our product is, across the board”.
Then again, I have dick to do with graphics development.
I see Nvidia’s continuing to
I see Nvidia’s continuing to make its software less useful to the gaming public. After locking Gamestream behind their account system, I lost a huge reason to use GFE, because I couldn’t stream to my non-Nvidia Android tablet anymore. Now I have to pirate my damn graphics drivers because of greed.
That said, Nvidia should be spending more time fixing GFE on Windows 10, because you can’t install any drivers through GFE without horrible errors that force you to uninstall the drivers and reinstall them via site downloads.
Been using Windows 10 for six
Been using Windows 10 for six months, no issues updating drivers through GFE. GFE isn’t a special updater, it downloads and unpacks drivers to the same C:NVIDIADisplayDriver folder the rest of the packages do.
Ryan,
Nvidia said 90% of
Ryan,
Nvidia said 90% of their users are using GFE. Are the benchmarks you do in the future going to reflect the majority of the Nvidia users and have GFE installed with the services running in the background.
It would reflect actual case use according to Nvidia.
I never had any problems
I never had any problems using GFE, The main feature i use it for, besides installing the latest drivers, Is the feature that puts the optimized settings based on my GPU, into the games.
When ever I install a new game, I make sure GFE puts the optimized settings on it.
Just tried beta gfe 4k game
Just tried beta gfe 4k game stream isn’t working my new $3500 4k TV doesn’t have option in sheild Pro to change from 1080-4k still same as before maybe they gota update sheild app.