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Steam won't launch without help (lemmy.ml)
submitted 10 months ago by Father_Redbeard@lemmy.ml to c/linux@lemmy.ml
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I just put together my first dedicated Linux machine. Running Pop!_OS, and I've got a problem with Steam. I've tried installing it from the Pop Shop (i love that name), both the .deb and flatpak versions as well as sudo apt install steam. In both cases, when I open the app it will just blink at me. Like the window is trying to maximize but then minimizes before it can get that far. I made sure that all my drivers look good and was just playing Starfield, so I know it's at least somewhat functional. What's weird is that it launched once for me. Long enough to get signed in. But after a reboot, it will not open unless I type steam --reset from terminal. Then it opens just fine and acts like nothing happened. Of course if I close that terminal window, Steam closes. And if I don't do a reset, it will go right back to flashing at me again.

I've also noticed that games show "Cloud Status: Unable to sync" in the app. The following games are installed currently:

  • The Outer Worlds: Spacer's Choice Edition
  • Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun
  • Starfield Premium edition All of these games show the cloud sync error. But when I checked the first two, the game save I had from my steam deck worked fine. But it still shows the error.

I tried opting into Beta to see if that might have some bleeding edge fix, nope. I'm still new to Linux and I'll admit I'm not even sure where to look for Steam errors specifically to give more details.

Hardware (in case it helps):

  • AMD Ryzen 5 7600X
  • 32GB G.Skill Flare
  • Gigabyte B650i Aurous ITX
  • WD Black 1TB boot drive
  • Samsung Evo Plus 2TB storage
  • Cooler Master 850w gold SFX PSU
  • XFX 6700XT 12GB

Any ideas on what I can try? Or where I can find logs to better understand? I asked in the Linux Gaming sub....lemmy? at least about the cloud sync, but got no traction.

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[-] Sentau@lemmy.one 18 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

This is an issue/bug with steam trying to open with the dGPU. In the steam.desktop file, change the PrefersDedicatedGPU (might not be exactly worded like this) parameter from true to false. Though after using this, you might have to use the DRI_PRIME=1 with your games to make them use the dGPU

Edit : credit for this goes to a kind gentleman who helped with the issue 2 months ago when the new steam UI dropped.

[-] mfn@mfn.pub 5 points 10 months ago

Yeah this is the reason most probably. After the UI update I had the exact same problem. After 2 days of search for solution I finally found it. When it tries to open with discrete GPU it just blinks and doesn't open. I can only open it with integrated GPU. And you definitely have to use DRI_PRIME=1 argument for every game to open them with dGPU. It is kinda annoying but it's only solution for now until Valve updates it.

[-] Sentau@lemmy.one 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

And you definitely have to use DRI_PRIME=1 argument for every game to open them with dGPU.

In my case, I am on a amd+amd laptop and I don't have to use the DRI_PRIME=1 argument to make the game use the dGPU. It just automatically uses the dGPU but I have seen others mention that they needed to use the argument.

[-] Father_Redbeard@lemmy.ml 2 points 10 months ago

I'll have to try it without the argument to see. Do you mean you have an AMD single chip CPU/GPU? Like the APUs?

[-] ichbinjasokreativ@beehaw.org 2 points 10 months ago

He means that his laptop has a dedicated GPU from AMD and his CPU with iGPU is also made by AMD

[-] Father_Redbeard@lemmy.ml 4 points 10 months ago

I had no idea. I even poked around their Github page and didn't see anything mentioned that sounded like this. Hopefully they get a fix released at some point. Thanks for the heads up!

[-] Father_Redbeard@lemmy.ml 1 points 10 months ago

These are the two options in steam.desktop that I see. I've tried setting both, one at a time, and then both simulanteously. Rebooting in between each change. I still can only get it to launch once to sign in and then it just sits in the task tray with no response from any of the menu items other than exit. Am I adjusting the right file? It was the only one that came up in a system-wide search.

[-] Sentau@lemmy.one 1 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

The line you are changing is the right one. Change the PrefersNonDefaultGPU option from true to false

https://lemmy.one/post/151466. Refer to this for the location of the file. This is for the native .deb package

[-] Father_Redbeard@lemmy.ml 1 points 9 months ago

Great, thank you!

[-] Father_Redbeard@lemmy.ml 1 points 9 months ago

Well this is frustrating.... I changed it as referenced in your other thread and it still will not work. Since this is a new computer, it was no big loss to format the drive and start with a fresh install. But this time I installed EndeavorOS, since it's not Ubuntu-based like Pop. Then installed Steam and opened it to login. Then closed it, reopened, repeatedly to see if I could replicate the issue. Nope. It works fine on EndeavorOS. Nothing against that OS in general, but Pop is a much better fit for me. So I formatted the drive once again and did a fresh install of Pop instead. I then installed the .deb package from Pop Shop and before even launching the app for the first time I edited steam.desktop and switched PrefersDedicateGPU to false. It won't launch at all now. Before it would launch once to let me login and I could even install and play games. But once I closed the app it was right back to the flashy business. Looks like I'll need to try to get some help from Valve and/or System76 on this one. So strange!

[-] Sentau@lemmy.one 2 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Maybe you can try logging in before changing the file. Then quit steam, change the file and restart your ~~steam~~ system and then try to open steam. This was the exact process I followed and it worked.

Edit : the change to the .desktop file is not applied until you reboot your system.

[-] Father_Redbeard@lemmy.ml 2 points 9 months ago

No luck. I uninstalled it via Pop Shop first, but it was still holding onto my login. So I removed it via terminal:

sudo apt remove steam

sudo apt purge steam

sudo apt autoremove

rm -rf ~/.steam

rm -rf ~/.local/share/Steam

At this point I conffirmed the steam.desktop was removed

sudo apt clean

I was able to open it to logon page and sign in. But it immediately began the flash dance. steam via Terminal does work to open it, but of course if you kill that session the app closes as well.

[-] Sentau@lemmy.one 2 points 9 months ago

I have edited the comment above. I had made an error while typing. Please check if that changes anything

[-] Father_Redbeard@lemmy.ml 2 points 9 months ago

Hmm, it works now. But I swear I rebooted multiple times! Oh well, I'm just happy it works now. Thanks for being patient with a newb!

[-] ober@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 10 months ago

Not sure how to help with this but as a temporary workaround you can append an "&" after the command to make it run even after the terminal is closed. Should look like steam --restart &.

[-] Father_Redbeard@lemmy.ml 3 points 10 months ago

Oh, right you are. I'll have to do that until I can figure it out. So weird.

[-] NormalC@hexbear.net 7 points 10 months ago

I would recommend using the flatpak version of steam and seeing if that works before heading any further.

[-] Father_Redbeard@lemmy.ml 6 points 10 months ago

Well, I was cautiously optimistic. I removed the .deb version and installed the flatpak version. I was able to launch it and sign in. I was about to try installing a game when I remembered I hadn't turned on Proton and all that mess, which requires steam to restart. Now instead of just flashing at me I get the Steam "waiting for network" screen, then the icon appears in the task bar (idk if that's what it's called in Linux, but in Pop, this is the top right corner where volume, network, etc is). But the favorited icon in the dock doesn't show the little dot under it like normal open apps would show. If I click on the task bar item, I get the menu, but it's all unresponsive other than Exit.

I forgot to mention in my original post but this issue persisted through a reimage of the boot drive. That's not why I reimaged, but pretty alarming that it would stick around through a full reinstall of the OS.

[-] NormalC@hexbear.net 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Are you sure that Steam is uninstalled completely from your filesystem. Steam creates a ".steam" user directory and leftover data in the directory may be conflicting with the flatpak. Delete it if it exists and then try restarting your computer. The flatpak version of steam sandboxes the .steam directory.

As always, Steam is proprietary software and doesn't bother to follow freedesktop standards. The support I can give can only go so far. GOG is always a better solution as it can be used with a libre client like Heroic Games Launcher or Lutris without DRM or invasive anti features. You do not need Steam to leverage Valve's contributions with Proton and Vulkan.

[-] Father_Redbeard@lemmy.ml 4 points 10 months ago

I suppose I can't answer that with any confidence. I will look closer at it and try again. Good to know about the other game launchers.

[-] db2@sopuli.xyz 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Try closing steam entirely before closing the terminal.

[-] Father_Redbeard@lemmy.ml 2 points 10 months ago

Just tried and it's the same thing. I don't know why I didn't think about Linux being any different when it was "closed" vs actually closed.

[-] db2@sopuli.xyz 2 points 10 months ago

Is it still in your system tray when you close steam though? Mine doesn't like to fully exit that way. If so then it isn't exiting cleanly, you could have bad data getting read the next time you open it.

[-] Father_Redbeard@lemmy.ml 4 points 10 months ago

Yeah, it was, but I clicked on it and Exited. Weirdly it seems really slow to reply to that exit command but it does eventually close.

this post was submitted on 03 Sep 2023
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