I’m NOT Supposed to Have This

[Plouffe]

A game developer for Google Stadia reached out and offered us a Stadia Dev Node! What secrets does it hold inside, how do you develop games for a dedicated cloud service, and what were they possible doing with this Radeon Pro V320 graphics card?

 

 

 

 

[C0deBr3ak3r]

Hey, have you tried to mount and/or dump the drive on a Linux distro? Probably will be encrypted, but it's never bad to try it out. And idk what's the interests of LMG and how far can you share info without you both(LMG and its friend) getting in trouble, but would be pretty nice to share it to at least preserve it and maybe instigate others to learn more about cloud gaming and maybe start a business or a personal project and don't commit the same mistakes that Google did(both in the business model and the software/hardware side) and use and improve the good thing of it

[VioletM]

29 minutes ago, C0deBr3ak3r said:

Hey, have you tried to mount and/or dump the drive on a Linux distro? Probably will be encrypted, but it's never bad to try it out. And idk what's the interests of LMG and how far can you share info without you both(LMG and its friend) getting in trouble, but would be pretty nice to share it to at least preserve it and maybe instigate others to learn more about cloud gaming and maybe start a business or a personal project and don't commit the same mistakes that Google did(both in the business model and the software/hardware side) and use and improve the good thing of it

I would kill for a copy of this!

[darknessblade]

13:40

 

Google music is indeed better than youtube music.

 

Though Youtube music is fine for local music, as long as you have a very very very old version of the app, before they pumped it full of ads. 
So if you have such a APP, NEVER update, and never connect it to internet, do not login as well.

[pstrick2]

These development kit videos are pretty anti-climactic.

 

There's plenty of documentation out there for some older dev kits that would make for some more thorough videos.

[PixelButts]

Made an account just to post here with information in case anyone wants to learn a little and correct a few things. I'm a QA Developer, and have personally handled my fair share of Stadia development (among other platforms), and despite my experience, have never personally needed to use this machine because of it's niche use case. Keep in mind I am not here to violate any NDAs so take these words as my own, and not my employer's.

 

I've done a fairly substantial amount of documentation on these machines on my free time. This included: specs, use case, software, variants, and even making my own with the proper parts and a lucky ebay bid. With the closure of Stadia, a recall of these devices took place so any of these in the wild are intended to be returned. Strangely they're all going back to Japan in the end, which is where many of them are also getting back out into the wild either in parts or full machines. Not sure why but I digress.

 

These machines are Stadia Dev Nodes/Deskkits depending on who you ask at Google. Their model number is GGP-120. These were also paired with a PowerEdge C4130 which handled server routing, but that is the extent of my knowledge on this model outside of it's model number being a YGN-110. They're intended to handle the workload while you stream it locally to your device. This still required a sign-in to Stadia itself but allowed you to target a local machine instead of a remote server. In normal development environments where perhaps you have interference or bad bandwidth, these devices made perfect sense, especially if the platform was not finalized yet. In practice, these (to my knowledge at least) had virtually no use case due to the niche need.

 

The games were built on (usually) Windows workstations where all the programming takes place. They're Linux executables, but with some extra special sauce from the SDK to make it operate to the Stadia standards and cloud gaming delivery, and then deployed (uploaded) to Stadia or the Dev Node. I cannot stress enough that the service worked, and worked well, even to the point where I had multiple sessions running at the same time doing testing with no network impact and no real problems graphically. I don't know which dev sent LTT hardware, but I will echo their comments because they're true - I have nothing bad to say outside of how you could tell 2 different teams worked on frontend and backend so it was a bit more clunky than preferable. That said I don't like cloud gaming and didn't want the future to be this, so while I'm glad it's dead, I cant deny that it worked well.

 

The GPU being the biggest part of this is probably the part everyone wants to know more about so here's the basic rundown

• AMD Radeon Pro V320 / AMD Radeon Instinct MI25 (It reports as both)
• 8GB of RAM, though, depending on where you look it will be 16GB, but afaik there's only 1 spec of it. I'd open mine but I have no intention of doing that
• Self reports to run anywhere from 500MHz to 1500MHz
• It's a Vega 10 GPU which is equally neat in its own way
• Linux only for drivers, but there is a driver you can force to use with Windows but it makes it report as a Vega 56 which is wrong
• Is running a custom VBIOS as well
• Has a vapor chamber as opposed to fins, runs quite cool
• Does NOT run in normal motherboards. They will not even post to BIOS if installed. This is apparently due to some whitelisting supposedly, but I cannot verify that
• If running a normal Linux OS on it (ie: not streaming), it can run Cyberpunk 2077 effortlessly on ultra settings 1080p via proton. Not a great benchmark but I had limited options

As mentioned, the chassis is a standard Lenovo P520 ThinkStation, outfitted with the following changes and components

• Thematic customizing to the chassis like the Stadia logo on the front, orange power button, white coat of paint
• CPU: Xeon W-2135, or W-2175 as Gamers Nexus managed to locate, more on this later
• RAM: 64GB ECC RDIMMs @ 2666MHz, from either Micron or Samsung (so far)
• Storage: 1TB Samsung NVMe drive, specifically a MZVLB1T0HALR-000L7 
• PSU: Proprietary Lenovo ThinkStation 690w module
• OS: Debian 9, with some modifications by Google
• BIOS is also somewhat custom, just a slightly modified one for custom splash screen and other Google-made tweaks

Some oddities worth mentioning

• There's a support page on Lenovo's support site coincidentally, fully public with some update packages and documentation
• The NVMe drive is partitioned in a way where only ~17GB is actually used, with the remaining 980GB is unallocated
• The OS runs graphical tasks terribly from new in box, likely because it's configured for a different workload (which albeit is rendering graphics but not in a normal way)
• If you get 2 of these GPUs crossfire might work and I am crazy enough to test this
• Raytracing is supposedly on the table but I have yet to verify this because I have to go at this more or less blindly
• Runs everything as passwordless root. If you understood that, please contact your employer and thank them
• Gamers Nexus' machine is the first outlier I've seen CPU wise. I've seen 5 of these now, and only theirs has the W-2175. It may have been tampered with given theirs came with Windows and a sketchy driver, everything is real about it to my knowledge. I dont have a good explanation.

I have made some efforts to preserve whatever I can, which is helpful. I unfortunately do not have any access to the documentation, so I recommend someone at least attempt to save that information where you can. In terms of what's preserved here's the current state

• Preserved
  • A new in box OS backup - completely clean and never used
  • Lenovo's support site packages and documentation (which still surprises me that it's public but moving on)
  • The GPU VBIOS, and the original name for the rom, thanks to bash history
  • Lists of components that are known to have been used in these machines (Thanks Linus and Gamers Nexus for the extra showcases)
  • The SDK (but not the last)
• Not Preserved
  • Documentation on the SDK
  • The update to the Dev Node when you first boot it (apparently makes a bootable flash drive?)
  • Any YGN-110 content

I hope this shed a little light on these devices/software/etc. I don't have any immediate plan for making the content public yet, but at the very least in the future one of these can be restored and made functional again, or built from spare parts assuming you have the GPU.

 

Also the chassis itself is delightful to build in. There is no reason this kind of toolless chassis shouldn't be available to normal consumers. Sure I can buy from Lenovo but then I'm locked to proprietary mobos, psus, etc. Goodass case.

[GodAtum]

Why did you blur out the top of the CPU cooler?

 

BTW where do I enter the Hetzer promo code in the checkout area?

[C0deBr3ak3r]

17 hours ago, PixelButts said:

Made an account just to post here with information in case anyone wants to learn a little and correct a few things. I'm a QA Developer, and have personally handled my fair share of Stadia development (among other platforms), and despite my experience, have never personally needed to use this machine because of it's niche use case. Keep in mind I am not here to violate any NDAs so take these words as my own, and not my employer's.

 

I've done a fairly substantial amount of documentation on these machines on my free time. This included: specs, use case, software, variants, and even making my own with the proper parts and a lucky ebay bid. With the closure of Stadia, a recall of these devices took place. Strangely they're all going back to Japan in the end, which is where many of them are also getting back out into the wild. Not sure why but I digress.

 

These machines are Stadia Dev Nodes/Deskkits depending on who you ask at Google. Their model number is GGP-120. These were also paired with a PowerEdge C4130 which handled server routing, but that is the extent of my knowledge on this model outside of it's model number being a YGN-110. They're intended to handle the workload while you stream it locally to your device. This still required a sign-in to Stadia itself but allowed you to target a local machine instead of a remote server. In normal development environments where perhaps you have interference or bad bandwidth, these devices made perfect sense, especially if the platform was not finalized yet. In practice, these (to my knowledge at least) had virtually no use case due to the niche need.

 

The games were built on (usually) Windows workstations where all the programming takes place. They're Linux executables, but with some extra special sauce from the SDK to make it operate to the Stadia standards and cloud gaming delivery, and then deployed (uploaded) to Stadia or the Dev Node. I cannot stress enough that the service worked, and worked well, even to the point where I had multiple sessions running at the same time doing testing with no network impact and no real problems graphically. I don't know which dev sent LTT hardware, but I will echo their comments because they're true - I have nothing bad to say outside of how you could tell 2 different teams worked on frontend and backend so it was a bit more clunky than preferable. That said I don't like cloud gaming and didn't want the future to be this, so while I'm glad it's dead, I cant deny that it worked well.

 

The GPU being the biggest part of this is probably the part everyone wants to know more about so here's the basic rundown

• AMD Radeon Pro V320 / AMD Radeon Instinct MI25 (It reports as both)
• 8GB of RAM, though, depending on where you look it will be 16GB, but afaik there's only 1 spec of it. I'd open mine but I have no intention of doing that
• Self reports to run anywhere from 500MHz to 1500MHz
• It's a Vega 10 GPU which is equally neat in its own way
• Linux only for drivers, but there is a driver you can force to use with Windows but it makes it report as a Vega 56 which is wrong
• Is running a custom VBIOS as well
• Has a vapor chamber as opposed to fins, runs quite cool
• Does NOT run in normal motherboards. They will not even post to BIOS if installed. This is apparently due to some whitelisting supposedly, but I cannot verify that
• If running a normal Linux OS on it (ie: not streaming), it can run Cyberpunk 2077 effortlessly on ultra settings 1080p via proton. Not a great benchmark but I had limited options

As mentioned, the chassis is a standard Lenovo P520 ThinkStation, outfitted with the following changes and components

• Thematic customizing to the chassis like the Stadia logo on the front, orange power button, white coat of paint
• CPU: Xeon W-2135, or W-2175 as Gamers Nexus managed to locate, more on this later
• RAM: 64GB ECC RDIMMs @ 2666MHz, from either Micron or Samsung (so far)
• Storage: 1TB Samsung NVMe drive, specifically a MZVLB1T0HALR-000L7 
• PSU: Proprietary Lenovo ThinkStation 690w module
• OS: Debian 9, with some modifications by Google
• BIOS is also somewhat custom, just a slightly modified one for custom splash screen and other Google-made tweaks

Some oddities worth mentioning

• There's a support page on Lenovo's support site coincidentally, fully public with some update packages and documentation
• The NVMe drive is partitioned in a way where only ~17GB is actually used, with the remaining 980GB is unallocated
• The OS runs graphical tasks terribly from new in box, likely because it's configured for a different workload (which albeit is rendering graphics but not in a normal way)
• If you get 2 of these GPUs crossfire might work and I am crazy enough to test this
• Raytracing is supposedly on the table but I have yet to verify this because I have to go at this more or less blindly
• Runs everything as passwordless root. If you understood that, please contact your employer and thank them
• Gamers Nexus' machine is the first outlier I've seen CPU wise. I've seen 5 of these now, and only theirs has the W-2175. It may have been tampered with given theirs came with Windows and a sketchy driver, everything is real about it to my knowledge. I dont have a good explanation.

I have made some efforts to preserve whatever I can, which is helpful. I unfortunately do not have any access to the documentation, so I recommend someone at least attempt to save that information where you can. In terms of what's preserved here's the current state

• Preserved
  • A new in box OS backup - completely clean and never used
  • Lenovo's support site packages and documentation (which still surprises me that it's public but moving on)
  • The GPU VBIOS, and the original name for the rom, thanks to bash history
  • Lists of components that are known to have been used in these machines (Thanks Linus and Gamers Nexus for the extra showcases)
  • The SDK (but not the last)
• Not Preserved
  • Documentation on the SDK
  • The update to the Dev Node when you first boot it (apparently makes a bootable flash drive?)
  • Any YGN-110 content

I hope this shed a little light on these devices/software/etc. I don't have any immediate plan for making the content public yet, but at the very least in the future one of these can be restored and made functional again, or built from spare parts assuming you have the GPU.

 

Also the chassis itself is delightful to build in. There is no reason this kind of toolless chassis shouldn't be available to normal consumers. Sure I can buy from Lenovo but then I'm locked to proprietary mobos, psus, etc. Goodass case.

The drive itself were encrypted? Like, can dump the contents and analyze them effortless? Is there some major group who discuss about Stadia preservation? But anyways, it's good to know that ppl are trying to preserve them

[PixelButts]

1 hour ago, C0deBr3ak3r said:

The drive itself were encrypted? Like, can dump the contents and analyze them effortless? Is there some major group who discuss about Stadia preservation? But anyways, it's good to know that ppl are trying to preserve them

No it was not encrypted to my knowledge. No there really isn't. It's kinda weird to preserve admittedly but it is within its own right a hard thing to do given how few people really have access to stuff. At most I've gone about this from the perspective of an outsider (in that "hey that's neat hardware lets look into it", despite this being my job). Preserving this has challenges though and let me illustrate them

• The machine itself, just handles the processing of the game and streaming to an endpoint
• The SDK is only useful in development purposes, and it's just linux with some special sauce so unless the Stadia platform exists, this is kinda useless
• The platform itself is online only, meaning offline is out of the question
  • This is normally not the case but it requires Google login to interface with it properly which is really dumb
• Game preservation is impossible unless the developer themselves put it up, which is very unlikely
• The hardware is custom, there's no way to really "make" the GPU unless someone wants to sacrifice their Instinct MI25 to find out (and if you do, brave of you) and even then it's not quite an adequate replacement due to memory
• Once the Dev Node is updated, it's bound to whatever company that it's assigned to on Stadia's backend so unless they remove it the thing is only useful to 1 studio unless you can reassign it, and if the platform is dead, good luck

Google has essentially effortlessly killed the usefulness of these machines until you just wipe the OS and put something normal on it. They're nice to repurpose, but then you get into the whole "why would you modify it" territory but if you can return it to stock then no problem which is what I'm more concerned with. The real trouble is keeping these GPUs alive