Polaris v1.4.10

Spaces open up, the couch can put your host to sleep, and KDE Plasma gets a screen of its own for streaming. This is the first Polaris that can create a Space. Nova 1.4.10 comes out alongside it, and existing settings and paired devices keep working.

Spaces Are Open

• Create a Space on a released Polaris for the first time. Host Setup downloads the Steam runtime your graphics card needs.
• On NVIDIA it has been played end to end, from download to a real game session and a clean shutdown.
• AMD and Intel get a runtime too, but nobody has run it on that hardware yet. Reports are very welcome.

Sleep From the Couch

• Turn on Allow Clients To Sleep This Host, and Nova 1.4.10 can put the host to sleep with a press and hold.
• Settings shows whether this host can sleep, and why not when it cannot, with a link to the fix.
• Polaris checks that the host really went down, so Nova no longer says it is asleep when it stayed awake.
• Polaris will not sleep a host while someone is still streaming from it.

A Screen of Its Own on KDE Plasma

• Host Virtual Display on KDE Plasma 6 gets a brand new screen for each stream. No EVDI, dummy plug or VNC.
• The screen matches your client's resolution and refresh rate, 120 and 144 Hz included, and goes away when the stream ends.
• Your monitors keep their order, so your desktop, wallpaper and panel stay put, and the game opens on the stream screen.
• A new Backend setting on the Virtual Display panel picks EVDI, KWin, Hyprland or kscreen-doctor yourself.

Your Library, Sorted

• Find Cover works again: search SteamGridDB through the host, pick the game, then pick the poster you like.
• Completion estimates are back. How Long To Beat moved its search, and every lookup had quietly stopped working.
• Launchers, emulators and the desktop no longer show a completion time borrowed from some other game.
• A missing ROM folder emulator installs from Flathub with one click, and ROM games launch with the emulator you have now.
• The Heroic launcher gets its own poster, and a cover you change in the console reaches Nova.

Easier to Get Help

• Support bundles, issue drafts and copied support text no longer include network addresses, only what kind of network each was.
• The Doctor shows how the client reached the host, and says when a Display Mode Override is why 1080p is missing.

Fixed

• A private stream no longer rebuilds its whole capture about once a second while the screen sits still.
• The right-click menu on an empty Private Stream screen can be read. Its notes were cut off and looked broken.
• Find Cover asks for a name when an entry has none, says what went wrong in plain words, and fits on a phone.
• An emulator install that finishes while you are on another page is reported when you come back to Apps.
• A cover saved in the console shows on the Apps and Dashboard pages right away.
• Heroic and Lutris launcher entries no longer look broken in the app editor.
• When Polaris gives up the KMS capture permission, it now does so before starting any thread. One thread used to keep it.

Heads up

• Host sleep is off by default, and waking the host again is Wake-on-LAN. Read the checklist before you turn it on.
• Every Polaris install or update removes the KMS capture permission. If this host uses KMS capture, run sudo -H polaris --setup-host --enable-kms after installing, then restart Polaris.
• On KDE, a KWin screen carries no HDR, and a Polaris holding the KMS capture permission cannot get one; the troubleshooting guide has the fix.
• Spaces: the NVIDIA runtime needs driver 610.57.04 exactly, one Space runs at a time, and a clean disconnect logs a failed stop that did not happen.
• Bazzite hosts should still install the Fedora 44 RPM through rpm-ostree. The system extension stays withdrawn.
• SteamOS remains experimental Desktop Mode support rather than certified Game Mode support.

wget --output-document=./Polaris-fedora44-x86_64.rpm https://github.com/papi-ux/polaris/releases/download/v1.4.10/Polaris-fedora44-x86_64.rpm &&
sudo dnf install "./Polaris-fedora44-x86_64.rpm" &&
sudo -H polaris --setup-host &&
systemctl --user restart polaris

wget --output-document=./Polaris-arch-x86_64.pkg.tar.zst https://github.com/papi-ux/polaris/releases/download/v1.4.10/Polaris-arch-x86_64.pkg.tar.zst &&
sudo pacman -U ./Polaris-arch-x86_64.pkg.tar.zst &&
sudo -H polaris --setup-host &&
systemctl --user restart polaris

wget --output-document=./Polaris-ubuntu24.04-x86_64.deb https://github.com/papi-ux/polaris/releases/download/v1.4.10/Polaris-ubuntu24.04-x86_64.deb &&
sudo apt install ./Polaris-ubuntu24.04-x86_64.deb &&
sudo -H polaris --setup-host &&
systemctl --user restart polaris

wget --output-document=./Polaris-steamos3.8-x86_64.pkg.tar.zst https://github.com/papi-ux/polaris/releases/download/v1.4.10/Polaris-steamos3.8-x86_64.pkg.tar.zst &&
(
set -e
trap 'sudo steamos-readonly enable' EXIT
sudo steamos-readonly disable || exit $?
sudo pacman-key --init || exit $?
sudo pacman-key --populate || exit $?
sudo pacman -Sy || exit $?
sudo pacman -U ./Polaris-steamos3.8-x86_64.pkg.tar.zst || exit $?
sudo -H polaris --setup-host || exit $?
sudo steamos-readonly enable || exit $?
trap - EXIT
) &&
systemctl --user enable --now polaris

Assets: Polaris-fedora44-x86_64.rpm · Polaris-arch-x86_64.pkg.tar.zst · Polaris-ubuntu24.04-x86_64.deb · Polaris-steamos3.8-x86_64.pkg.tar.zst