Setup and usage

Moonlink is the companion application that passes your mouse through to the gaming PC and lets Moonlight add its movement on the way. For what each Moonlink setting does, see What Moonlink does.

You need Moonlink only when your output device is Moonlink Direct (an Arduino board flashed with the Moonlink firmware). MAKCU and Medius devices are selected directly in Moonlight and do not use the Moonlink application.

#How it is connected

1. Your mouse plugs into the Moonlight PC.
2. Moonlink runs on the Moonlight PC and reads the mouse.
3. The board connects the two PCs: one USB cable to the Moonlight PC, one to the gaming PC.
4. The gaming PC sees the board as an ordinary mouse.

Unplug other mice and mouse receivers from the gaming PC while you set this up, so you can tell what is moving the cursor.

Both USB cables on the board must be data cables. A charge-only cable looks connected and moves nothing.

#Flash the board

Run Moonlink Flash.exe on the Moonlight PC. The flasher shows the steps for your board, including which port to use. For wiring an Arduino, use the guide for your exact board:

• Leonardo with Moonlink
• Due with Moonlink

After flashing:

• The COM port number Moonlink uses afterwards is often not the one you flashed on. Pick the port Moonlink lists.
• If the flasher says no bootloader was detected, open the port list, unplug and replug the board, and choose the port that reappears.
• Restart both PCs and replug both ends of the board before testing.

#The order to start things in

1. Open Moonlink on the Moonlight PC.
2. Enter capture mode and move the mouse. The cursor must move on the gaming PC. Check buttons and scroll too.
3. Only when that works, open Moonlight, select Moonlink Direct as the input device, and Start.

If step 2 does not work, Moonlight cannot work either. Fix the mouse path first.

In capture mode the cursor disappears from the Moonlight PC. That is expected: the mouse now belongs to the gaming PC.

#The cursor does not move on the gaming PC

Work through these in order.

1. The mouse is plugged into the Moonlight PC, not the gaming PC.
2. Both cables are data cables. To test one, plug the board into a PC with it: a new device should appear in Device Manager.
3. The cables are in the right ports on the board. On a Due the two ports are not interchangeable; follow the flasher and the Due guide.
4. The board was flashed. An unflashed board shows up but passes nothing.
5. Moonlink and the board firmware are both current. A Moonlink application or firmware that is months old will not work with a current Moonlight.
6. Both PCs were restarted after flashing.
7. No other mouse tool is running in the background on the Moonlight PC.

If it worked and then stopped, reflash the board with Moonlink Flash.exe.

#The mouse feels slow, choppy or laggy through Moonlink

• Try another USB cable and another USB port. A bad cable caps the polling rate.
• Very high polling rates (4000 Hz and 8000 Hz) can feel laggy through Moonlink. Lower the mouse to 1000 Hz and test again.

#Moonlight shows a Moonlink error on Start

1. Moonlink must be open and in capture mode before you Start Moonlight.
2. Update Moonlink and reflash the current firmware.
3. Close any second copy of Moonlink.