What are the Hololight Stream Software Requirements?

Hololight Stream has specific software requirements to function properly. While the core features work out of the box, certain advanced capabilities are only available if additional software is installed on your Windows PC. Ensuring the right setup helps you get the most out of your Hololight Stream experience.

Operating System

DirectX

Hololight Stream supports both DirectX 11 and DirectX 12, ensuring compatibility with a wide range of 3D applications and rendering pipelines. DirectX 11 is broadly adopted across industrial and CAD environments, offering stable and efficient graphics rendering. DirectX 12, however, unlocks more advanced graphics capabilities—including hardware-accelerated ray tracing and mesh shading—making it ideal for high-fidelity XR experiences and demanding visualization tasks.

DirectX 12 is built into modern versions of Windows (starting with Windows 10, version 1809) and is automatically updated via Windows Update. Typically, no separate installation is needed. Just ensure your system meets the hardware requirements and is equipped with a DirectX 12-compatible GPU to fully leverage these advanced features.

Supported Video Compression Codecs

Hololight Stream supports many of the leading video compression codecs. However, whether a codec is available to use depends on two factors:

• Does the device running Hololight Stream Client support the codec?
• Does the GPU of the server machine running the application support the codec?

When establishing a connection between the server application and Hololight Clients, Hololight Stream looks for the best available codec that both sides of the connection are able to use.

You can also choose a specific codec on the client device using Hololight Clients. However, if the codec you choose isn’t supported on the server machine, the connection won’t work.

Firewall

When you open certain applications for the first time, Windows Defender Firewall may block some of their network features and display a pop-up asking whether to allow access. This is a normal security measure designed to protect your system, and you can usually proceed by confirming the request.

However, some applications—such as game engines like Unreal Engine or Unity 3D—may not prompt you when trying to establish a connection to the editor. In other cases, you may have accidentally clicked ‘Disallow’ when the firewall pop-up appeared. If that happens, you can manually enable access by following the instructions below to allow the necessary features through the firewall.

1. Open the "Windows Firewall Defender"
   
2. Click "Advanced Settings" in the left sidebar
3. Click "Inbound Rules" in the advanced settings window
   
4. Double Click your app - in this case a Unity Engine Version was selected
   
5. Check the box labeled "Allow the connection"
   
6. Hit "Apply" and "Ok"