Steam not launching games - no idea what to do [Solved]

Critical_Insight@feddit.uk to Linux@lemmy.ml – 40 points –

This may not be a Linux specific problem as I had the exact same issue earlier with Windows 7 and it's one of the reasons I installed Linux in the first place.

The specific game I'm trying to play is DayZ but it may not be issue specific to this game. It worked flawlessly untill this point. I had made no changes to anything. Basically when I try to launch the game it starts loading up normally and then just apparently quits and the "Play" button goes back green. No error, no black screen, no freezing or anything. It just stops launching the game.

I've tried checking the integrity of files, deleting downloads catche, disabling steam cloud, removing launch options.. nothing. Almost like it gets blocked by firewall or something. However I feel like it may be an issue with steam itself or then it's a hardware issue (I've got really old PC)

Few things I've noticed that may or may not be related:

  • When opening up steam it almost always used to download some updates first and check the integrity of them or something. Now it doesn't. It just opens up Steam. When I click "check for updates" it says everything is up to date.

  • The firmware updater shows available updates for my SSD and HDD but no option to update. I also tried with sudo fwupdmgr get-devices but it says "UEFI firmware can not be updated in legacy BIOS mode See https://github.com/fwupd/fwupd/wiki/PluginFlag:legacy-bios for more information."

  • In the privacy settings it says "checks failed" and gives me this message:

  • I've tried reinstalling Proton BattlEye Runtime but it wont let me uninstall it and says "missing shared content"
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I don't have any idea about your hardware issues. They're likely unrelated if the game has already been played without issue.

For the steam diagnosing, start with running steam from your terminal, by running steam. You may get lucky and the error is clearly identified in the console.

If that fails, backup $HOME/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/compatdata/221100 - the 221100 is the app ID of of DayZ on the steam store. After backing it up, delete the original 221100 directory and re-launch the game. This doesn't delete the game, but rather deletes the Proton prefix for the game.

If the game launches, copy any save files (if any) you may have in the backed-up 221100 directory over to the new one.

The above worked for me when I had similar issues when playing Batman: Arkham Asylum.

To be thorough, have you tried any other games to rule out your hardware being an issue?

I installed DayZ Experimental and I have the same issue with that. I haven't tried with other games as I have none installed.

Trying to run steam via terminal gives me this wall of text:


(process:18363): GLib-GIO-CRITICAL **: g_settings_schema_source_lookup: assertion `source != NULL' failed
XRRGetOutputInfo Workaround: initialized with override: 0 real: 0xf6b24370
XRRGetCrtcInfo Workaround: initialized with override: 0 real: 0xf6b22cc0
steamwebhelper.sh[18409]: Runtime for steamwebhelper: defaulting to /home/pokko/snap/steam/common/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_64/steam-runtime-heavy
/home/pokko/snap/steam/common/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_64/steamwebhelper.sh: line 53: /proc/sys/kernel/unprivileged_userns_clone: Permission denied
/home/pokko/snap/steam/common/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_64/steamwebhelper.sh: line 60: /proc/sys/user/max_user_namespaces: Permission denied
steamwebhelper.sh[18409]: glibc >= 2.34, partially disabling sandbox until CEF supports clone3()
steamwebhelper.sh[18409]: CEF sandbox already disabled
flock /usr/share/fonts/truetype/liberation/LiberationSans-Regular.ttf LOCK_SH failed. errno = 13flock /usr/share/fonts/truetype/liberation/LiberationSans-Regular.ttf LOCK_SH failed. errno = 13flock /usr/share/fonts/truetype/liberation/LiberationSans-Bold.ttf LOCK_SH failed. errno = 13flock /usr/share/fonts/truetype/liberation/LiberationSans-Bold.ttf LOCK_SH failed. errno = 13flock /usr/share/fonts/truetype/liberation/LiberationSans-Bold.ttf LOCK_SH failed. errno = 13flock /usr/share/fonts/truetype/liberation/LiberationSans-Bold.ttf LOCK_SH failed. errno = 13flock /usr/share/fonts/truetype/liberation/LiberationSans-Bold.ttf LOCK_SH failed. errno = 13flock /usr/share/fonts/truetype/liberation/LiberationSans-Bold.ttf LOCK_SH failed. errno = 13flock /usr/share/fonts/truetype/liberation/LiberationSans-Regular.ttf LOCK_SH failed. errno = 13flock /usr/share/fonts/truetype/liberation/LiberationSans-Regular.ttf LOCK_SH failed. errno = 13flock /usr/share/fonts/truetype/liberation/LiberationSans-Bold.ttf LOCK_SH failed. errno = 13flock /usr/share/fonts/truetype/liberation/LiberationSans-Bold.ttf LOCK_SH failed. errno = 13flock /usr/share/fonts/truetype/liberation/LiberationSans-Regular.ttf LOCK_SH failed. errno = 13flock /usr/share/fonts/truetype/liberation/LiberationSans-Regular.ttf LOCK_SH failed. errno = 13flock /usr/share/fonts/truetype/liberation/LiberationSans-Bold.ttf LOCK_SH failed. errno = 13flock /usr/share/fonts/truetype/liberation/LiberationSans-Bold.ttf LOCK_SH failed. errno = 13flock /usr/share/fonts/truetype/liberation/LiberationSans-Bold.ttf LOCK_SH failed. errno = 13flock /usr/share/fonts/truetype/liberation/LiberationSans-Bold.ttf LOCK_SH failed. errno = 13flock /usr/share/fonts/truetype/liberation/LiberationSans-Regular.ttf LOCK_SH failed. errno = 13flock /usr/share/fonts/truetype/liberation/LiberationSans-Regular.ttf LOCK_SH failed. errno = 13flock /usr/share/fonts/truetype/dejavu/DejaVuSans.ttf LOCK_SH failed. errno = 13flock /usr/share/fonts/truetype/dejavu/DejaVuSans.ttf LOCK_SH failed. errno = 13flock /usr/share/fonts/truetype/dejavu/DejaVuSans.ttf LOCK_SH failed. errno = 13flock /usr/share/fonts/truetype/dejavu/DejaVuSans.ttf LOCK_SH failed. errno = 13flock /usr/share/fonts/truetype/liberation/LiberationSans-Bold.ttf LOCK_SH failed. errno = 13flock /usr/share/fonts/truetype/liberation/LiberationSans-Bold.ttf LOCK_SH failed. errno = 13flock /usr/share/fonts/truetype/liberation/LiberationSans-Regular.ttf LOCK_SH failed. errno = 13flock /usr/share/fonts/truetype/liberation/LiberationSans-Regular.ttf LOCK_SH failed. errno = 13flock /usr/share/fonts/truetype/liberation/LiberationSans-Bold.ttf LOCK_SH failed. errno = 13flock /usr/share/fonts/truetype/liberation/LiberationSans-Bold.ttf LOCK_SH failed. errno = 13CAppInfoCacheReadFromDiskThread took 44 milliseconds to initialize
Steam Runtime Launch Service: starting steam-runtime-launcher-service
Steam Runtime Launch Service: steam-runtime-launcher-service is running pid 18505
bus_name=com.steampowered.PressureVessel.LaunchAlongsideSteam
flock /usr/share/fonts/truetype/liberation/LiberationSans-Regular.ttf LOCK_SH failed. errno = 13vkEnumeratePhysicalDevices failed, unable to init and enumerate GPUs with Vulkan.
BInit - Unable to initialize Vulkan!
BRefreshApplicationsInLibrary 1: 0ms

(steam:18363): GLib-GIO-CRITICAL **: g_settings_schema_source_lookup: assertion `source != NULL' failed
flock /usr/share/fonts/truetype/liberation/LiberationSans-Regular.ttf LOCK_SH failed. errno = 13BuildCompleteAppOverviewChange: 183 apps
RegisterForAppOverview 1: 18ms
RegisterForAppOverview 2: 18ms

(steam:18363): GLib-GIO-CRITICAL **: g_settings_schema_source_lookup: assertion `source != NULL' failed

Oh damn, you're using the snap version of Steam, this is unfortunately outside of my area of experience :(

Some key error messages I see are:

/home/pokko/snap/steam/common/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_64/steamwebhelper.sh: line 53: /proc/sys/kernel/unprivileged_userns_clone: Permission denied
/home/pokko/snap/steam/common/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_64/steamwebhelper.sh: line 60: /proc/sys/user/max_user_namespaces: Permission denied

and

flock /usr/share/fonts/truetype/liberation/LiberationSans-Regular.ttf LOCK_SH failed. errno = 13vkEnumeratePhysicalDevices failed, unable to init and enumerate GPUs with Vulkan.
BInit - Unable to initialize Vulkan!

You've got permission errors and a GPU driver issue somewhere, likely related to the permission errors. The flock errors stand out to me also, as they are fonts. Maybe required fonts for the game to run?

I've been using Linux for only a couple of weeks and all this is complete hebrew to me. I have no clue what is snap version of steam.

I'm not trying to steal hollyberry's job here but here is my understanding of snaps (and why they aren't good).

Snaps were created by Canonical (The company behind Ubuntu) to fix the issue of inconsistent dependencies. The problem with the format is that the market is proprietary and they just aren't very good. Also they perform somewhat worse than Appimages and Flatpak.

Personally I reccomend you look into Flatpak, as it's a better sandboxing format than snap is.

Also the reason you ended up with the SNAP version of steam is because Ubuntu prioritizes the snap version over the native version when using

apt install steam

the last part is not true, apt installs things natively. Ubuntu software (the graphical app store) uses snap, however

I stand corrected. The apt packages on Ubuntu sometimes just install snaps under the hood. really strange move by Canonical

Yeah I installed Steam using the Ubuntu app store. Now I'm trying to uninstall it but it's been going on for an hour and doesn't seem to be progressing anywhere.

I'm sorry you're having such a bad experience. It should be as simple as uninstalling in the Ubuntu store, and then reinstalling either using apt or flatpak. Is the uninstall not working?

I need no try again. The uninstall failed the first time. It got stuck at 80% or so. I've had so much issues with Linux from the start that I'm getting suspicious about wether it's a hardware issue.

The uninstalling issue almost certainly isn't hardware related, Ubuntu's app store is just a pile of hot garbage. Stuff like that happens all the time, or at least that was my experience years ago when I used Ubuntu, one of the (many) reasons I no longer recommend Ubuntu to new users.

As for the Steam issues, it's probably a mix of software and hardware issues. It seems there are some permissions issues (likely caused by snap), but it also seems like there are GPU driver issues. What GPU do you have? If you have an Nvidia card, have you installed their drivers? There is also a very real possibility that your card is so old that DayZ is no longer compatible with it (which may be the case given that it wasn't working in Windows, but to be fair Windows 7 is incredibly out of date and doesn't receive updates so it could have also been a software/driver issue there).

My GPU is just a few years old GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER and I just updated the drivers from 535 to 545 but no difference. However I've gotten a prompt saying that Steam needs nvidia-driver-libs:i386 so I'm not sure if I should install that instead or in addition to the ones I already have.

I still haven't been able to uninstall steam snap(?) either. I'd like to try the non-snap version using terminal but I don't know how to proceed. I'm sorry I'm such a novice with Linux. I'm feeling like my replies are really unhelpful.

EDIT: No luck trying to install the other drivers. All I got is this:

If you were to open the Software & Updates app and go to Additional Drivers, does the driver package you tested say it comes from Nvidia and it is "(proprietary, tested)"? If so, then your drivers should be fine. nvidia-driver-libs:i386 is 32-bit, so I don't know why you would need that installed unless DayZ is only compatible with 32-bit drivers for some reason. I have Steam installed on my Fedora install, and I don't have any 32-bit Nvidia drivers installed but everything works perfectly. That's a separate issue altogether, and I don't recommend running 32-bit drivers unless your system is 32-bit. Can you copy the "System Details" window in the About tab of the Settings app? It should have Hardware and Software information like the CPU, GPU, windowing system, etc. There are a few things that could cause issues that I might be able to glean from that.

I'm on Fedora, but since it's running Gnome it should theoretically look the same. You access the system details here:

SystemDetails

CopySystemDetails

Here's what mine looks like for reference:

System Details Report

Report details

  • Date generated: 2024-01-10 07:58:06

Hardware Information:

  • Hardware Model: ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. ASUS TUF Dash F15 FX516PM_FX516PM
  • Memory: 16.0 GiB
  • Processor: 11th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-11370H × 8
  • Graphics: Intel® Xe Graphics (TGL GT2)
  • Graphics 1: NVIDIA GeForce RTX™ 3060 Laptop GPU
  • Disk Capacity: 1.0 TB

Software Information:

  • Firmware Version: FX516PM.329

  • OS Name: Fedora Linux 39 (Workstation Edition)

  • OS Build: (null)

  • OS Type: 64-bit

  • GNOME Version: 45.2

  • Windowing System: X11

  • Kernel Version: Linux 6.6.9-200.fc39.x86_64

To uninstall the steam snap, you should be able to open up a terminal and type the following:

sudo snap remove steam

And assuming that works, to install the native version of Steam (which should be what's installed anyway, but Canonical is pushing their proprietary snap BS that has never worked well), this should apparently work (I don't have an Ubuntu install to test on though):

sudo add-apt-repository multiverse
sudo apt update
sudo apt install steam

If it prompts you for anything, you can just confirm by typing "y". I'd recommend you check that it isn't installing the snap version, but I don't know how to guide you to do that, really. I haven't used a distro with the Aptitude package manager in over 5 years.

Of course, it probably isn't helpful, but I'd recommend avoiding vanilla Ubuntu if you aren't already too deeply invested. Linux Mint seems to be a common recommendation for new users and it's based off Ubuntu, but in all honesty I'd probably recommend Nobara (gaming focused and more user friendly version of Fedora). That way you don't get snaps shoved down your throat by Canonical, which break things constantly. Up to you if you want to install another OS though; in theory you shouldn't need to, and there should be a way to resolve these issues with your current install.

The drivers I had before were proprietary and tested but the ones I updated to now (545) are just proprietary. Earlier I got this message so that's why I'm trying to install the 32 bit drivers too though it worked just fine before without them.

Here's my system info. I'll try uninstalling steam again now.

System Details Report

Report details

  • Date generated: 2024-01-10 18:28:58

Hardware Information:

  • Hardware Model: ASUSTeK Computer INC. P5Q-PRO
  • Memory: 12.0 GiB
  • Processor: Intel® Core™2 Quad Q9450 × 4
  • Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER
  • Disk Capacity: 1.5 TB

Software Information:

  • Firmware Version: 1613
  • OS Name: Ubuntu 23.10
  • OS Build: (null)
  • OS Type: 64-bit
  • GNOME Version: 45.1
  • Windowing System: X11
  • Kernel Version: Linux 6.5.0-14-generic

Yeah the unistallation gets stuck with terminal aswell. It managed to break steam so it no longer opens but wont remove it either. Guess I'll just try and install it again via terminal nevertheless.

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By the way, if you still have issues after the native Steam install and it gives you the same 32-bit driver warning, you should be able to resolve it with the following:

sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386
sudo apt update
sudo apt install nvidia-driver-libs:i386

That is of course assuming that the error message you pasted in another thread gave the correct package name, which is not a guarantee. It should have automatically been installed as a dependency to Steam if it was installed through apt though, so I don't feel like that will necessarily be a solution.

Yeah I actually saw that on an article while googling about it. I ran the code but haven't managed to test it yet. Trying again with the different steam version in a moment. I think I saw something about i386 scroll by while it was installing.

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How would I go about checking which version mine is? Atleast it isn't in the snap folder.

Isn't apt install firefox meant to install the snap version?

that would be really weird. snap install firefox or clicking "Install" in Ubuntu Software installs the snap, apt install firefox installs from the apt repositories

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Thankfully someone stepped in about snap... I don't like it and would have gone on a rant without circling back to the issue on hand lmao

As recommended somewhere up the chain, try a different version of Proton. Support for your hardware may have been deprecated.

From here, I'm out of my element. Best of luck, sorry I couldn't have been of more help!

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Interestingly that file doesn't seem to be located in the location you mentioned but rather: home/snap/steam/common/.steam/steamapps/steam/comptdata

There is no steam folder at "share"

I'll try deleting that anyways. I'll report back in a moment

EDIT: Nope, nothing.

The logs say error on Vulkan, make sure your GPU is running with the correct drivers. If it's a Vulkan thing old native games that use OpenGL should work, I think Team Fortress 2 is OpenGL but I'm not entirely sure.

I'm sorry I just don't know how to check any of that. These are the GPU drivers I'm using (I think) The game worked just fine for several weeks with these drivers.

You can install vulkan-tools (ubuntu package name - not sure if it's the same for your distro) and running vkcube. It's a simple vulkan app that will display a rotating cube using vulkan. It will also spit out the GPU that it's running on.

If it reports your nvidia card and the cube looks good then your drivers may be fine and the issue is with Steam and/or this application specifically. If not then there's an issue with your drivers.

Occasionally when I've had a kernel update or something the nvidia drivers have gotten borked. Removing, re-installing, and rebooting has helped. Something like this:

apt purge nvidia-driver-*
apt install nvidia-driver-535
reboot
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