Buddy installation guide - FrogTheFrog/moondeck-buddy GitHub Wiki

Install the latest redistributables for Windows.

Go to the Releases page and grab the latest 7z or exe (installer) release.

Verify that the app is running:

Add MoonDeckStream to the Sunshine Apps List (or GFE while it's still kicking). See Sunshine setup page for more info.

If MoonDeckBuddy is unreachable from outside the PC, whitelist it in Windows' firewall.

Version 1.6.2 and later will have the Windows installer enable autostart by default.

Enable autostart by clicking on the icon (right-click) and selecting the following option:

Install the moondeckbuddy-appimage through the Arch User Repository (AUR).

Start MoonDeckBuddy or MoonDeckStream from the CLI with:

$ MoonDeckBuddy
$ MoonDeckStream

Continue Step 3 in Linux install below.

Go to the Releases page and grab the latest AppImage release.

Setup the AppImage however you want or just apply chmod +x to the file.

The AppImage contains 2 binaries MoonDeckBuddy and MoonDeckStream. By default, when executing MoonDeckBuddy.AppImage the MoonDeckBuddy binary is executed.

A specific binary can be executed like this:

$ MoonDeckBuddy.AppImage --exec MoonDeckBuddy  # This will invoke MoonDeckBuddy binary
$ MoonDeckBuddy.AppImage --exec MoonDeckStream # This will invoke MoonDeckStream binary

Another option is to create a symlink that contains the correct binary name. For example:

$ ln -s <some_path>/MoonDeckBuddy.AppImage ./MoonDeckStream
$ ./MoonDeckStream # This will invoke MoonDeckStream binary

Verify that the app is running:

Add MoonDeckStream to the Sunshine Apps List. See Sunshine setup page for more info.

Enable autostart by clicking on the icon (right-click) and selecting the following option:

It creates the shortcut in the user's startup directory pointing to the executable. If you move the executable around it will point to the invalid location and you will need to recreate the shortcut by turning the autostart off and on again.

Also if you remove the app without turning it off, you will need to remove it.

Version 1.6.2 and later will have the Windows uninstaller automatically remove it.

It creates 2 systemd services:

• moondeckbuddy.service - responsible for starting the MoonDeckBuddy in a headless mode.
• moondeckbuddy-gui-session.service - it attaches itself to xdg-desktop-autostart.target and restarts the MoonDeckBuddy in a GUI mode when the DE session is running (GUI mode needs display to be available, otherwise the app will crash). When the DE session is about to end, MoonDeckBuddy will be restarted again in the headless mode.

These 2 services keep the MoonDeckBuddy alive when switching between the SteamDeck's Desktop and GameMode modes, for example. However, for the first time you need to manually restart the device in order for the services to kick in or you need exit MoonDeckBuddy first and then start them manually: systemctl --user start moondeckbuddy && systemctl --user start moondeckbuddy-gui-session.

See Buddy configuration page for more info about the GUI/headless modes.

Autostart needs to be disabled manually, before you remove the app.