alt Hacker NewsNvidia GPUs refuse to accelerate 3D w/o an output connected; if I had a Radeon, I wouldn't need the plug, it's just an Nvidia thing I believe.
Afaict, Moonshine relies on a separate graphical session running on your monitor and that's how it gets around that limitation of Nvidia GPUs. If I had a monitor plugged in to my box, Sunshine would work just as well.
It’s possible to make a fake display to avoid that; both Linux and Windows have this ability. No dummy plug is required (though it is simpler than software solutions).