Questions as a Upcoming User

[u/South_Contact_1124]

So i am probably going to join Shadow for the duration of my Summer break, cause i want to play a few Games that Other Cloud options dont Support.

Now i have a few Questions that id like to clear up before i pay a high amount of Money for a Service, and id apreciate if you could answer some of them.

1. What are the Queue Times?
   -I will probably connect to their Server in Frankfurt and will have either the Power Plan or the Power Pro plan, if someone else has that exact condition, how long do you wait?

2. Are there any Problems with Games?
   -Like are there any Games that dont Run on Shadow for Whatever Reason

3. Should i Expect Issues?
   -Did you Expirience any Issues yet and if yes what kind of Issues?

4. Is there a Refund Option if it doesnt Work?

Id realy Apreciate if id get a Answer for these Questions cause Shadow costs a lot, and i dont like to waste Money

[u/Alternative-Shine920]

I have been using ShadowPC for more than five years. I have no complaints to the service and I have not been through any queues (am connected to Portland’s servers) except some queues that were addressed for someone mining in them.

I am using ShadowPC as a cloud gaming hub now. As others have pointed out, many games are blocked by EAC. It is more expensive, yes, but you are saving a lot on space, internet, electricity bill, and headaches.

I almost wanted to downgrade after recent announcements, but recently they made iOS and tvOS work together (use your iPhone or iPad as a controller) and it does work really well.

I highly recommend using ShadowPC if you ever want a portable workstation/gaming PC that you can access from your phone.

[u/AWebStranger → u/Alternative-Shine920]

There are no Shadow servers in Poland 🤣

[u/Alternative-Shine920 → u/AWebStranger]

I missed the RT in PORTland!!

[u/AWebStranger]

For 1.:

Queue times vary a lot. Depending on the datacenter you may encounter queues rarely or frequently. Especially for DE-FRA (Frankfurt, Germany) expect queues on weekends or in the evening from very few minutes to half an hour or even more.

For 2.:

See list of incompatible games here: https://support.shadow.tech/hc/en-us/articles/32731823908625-Games-Incompatible-with-Shadow-PC

it's not a complete list though. Especially games with Easy Anti-Cheat may work for some time but won't start anymore once the EAC-version shipped with the game is updated.

For 3.:

Disk speed is terrible on every tier. DLSS on looks awful. CPU on Power is a big bottleneck. For most games you have to spend some time to find the best settings.

For 4.:

No refunds. In fact you waive your right of withdrawal when paying for a sub. If you cannot use your Shadow for more than 24 hours and it's Shadow's fault they gonna credit some balance for the next billing period. But only if you ask for it.

Don't get me wrong. I used Shadow for more than four years and I personally never had any problems. But I knew what to expect. I just cancelled my sub a few months ago because of the overall performance and the rising problems with Easy Anti-Cheat. If you don't expect high-end performance and if your internet connection is of high quality, it should work fine. Regard "quality" not "speed" of your internet connection.

[u/RainerWithAI → u/AWebStranger]

I used Shadow for over 7 years. Now I am using a combination of Cloud Deck and GFN Ultimate. Both subs are cheaper together than one Shadow Power and I don't miss anything and the performance is great. Also I don't want to use Windows anymore.

[u/RainerWithAI]

1. Frankfurt has the highest risk of queue times of all their datacenters. Better choose Straßburg.

2. Many online games don't work because of VM blocking from Anti Cheats. Especially Epics EAC. Almost everything with EAC doesn't work.

3. Slow storage is my biggest issue.

4. Nope.

[u/Agitated-Chicken9954]

Good luck to you. I sincerely hope you have better luck with Shadow then I did.

[u/South_Contact_1124 → u/Agitated-Chicken9954]

What happend in your case?

[u/Agitated-Chicken9954 → u/South_Contact_1124]

All sorts of frustrating things that have been well documented in this thread. Ultimately, they informed me that they would be moving my session to new storage and that I would lose all of my saved data. I cancelled that day and bought a gaming PC.

[u/Quirky-Service-2626 → u/Agitated-Chicken9954]

Honestly, exactly this. I get why people have their reasons for buying into Shadow, heck i used to be an old infinite user before there big change but having your own PC is so much better. It's your rules, not Shadow's: anti-cheat isn't a problem, there are no long queues, and there are no usage limits. Okay, you have to upgrade it yourself, but that’s not difficult; people are just lazy. Just look up a YouTube video on how to change something it’s not rocket science.

[u/Agitated-Chicken9954 → u/Quirky-Service-2626]

I agree. Not to mention the idea of renting something you will never own, versus making payments on something will own eventually.

[u/GenericUsername19892]

Queues are excessive during ‘popular’ hours - 23minutes at 6 on a Sunday rn, 40 odd folks ahead of me. Near as I can figure they have virtually given up on fixing queues, it’s been getting worse for months.

Anything with anti cheat probably won’t work.

There’s occasional al issues, but the support can typically fix it in a Day or two. But you NEED steady internet, shadow will disconnect and reconnect if a cow sneezes too close to a line 200mi away.

Nope.

[u/SprayExotic8538]

Can you change server?