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jt_swanson has Steam for Linux

1 Nov @ 10:55am

No steam console after latest update

Has anyone else seen this? I started Steam as usual. It said it was updating Steam. as usual. I have a Steam icon in my taskbar and the process steam is running and using 3% of the CPU. But there is no GUI, so I cannot play any games. If I start Steam on another computer, it sees the first computer and offers to let me stream games from that computer. However the problem computer is the one with the big monitor and better graphics. I have been using Steam on it problem free for years, but am at a loss as to how to debug the problem. There is a error.log file, but it just reports steam is starting, no errors.

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Showing 1-9 of 9 comments

Zyro

1 Nov @ 11:38am

I guess there's nothing useful when starting Steam from the console either?

thetargos

1 Nov @ 11:40am

Can you simply click the icon and select Library and see your library?

no snd

1 Nov @ 1:31pm

What window manager are you using? Steam was rendering a blank black window last time i fired up icewm recently, but didn't bother diagnosing it.
Here is a list of Steam launch options. Maybe there is one that cures it?

-friendsui - -nofriendsui - -quicklogin - Set the base used to construct quick login URLs -devsites - Use local dev websites -devsiteshost - Pass the hostname, will generate dev site domains like store.{hostname}.steam.dev -openalldevtools - Open Chrome devtools on launch for every HTML window -opendevtools - Open Chrome devtools for shared JS context (offscreen window) on launch -openoverlaydevtools - Open Chrome devtools on creation of any overlay browsers -pipewire - Enable PipeWire desktop capture -pipewire-dmabuf - Enable PipeWire desktop capture using DMA-BUF -dumpvideostream - Dump the game stream as an elementary video file -disable-screensaver-inhibit - Disable logic to keep the screensaver inhibited when activity is detected (controllers, downloads etc.). -verbose-screensaver-inhibit - Verbose the screensaver inhibit logic for debugging. -opengl - Use the OpenGL render for the UI -fullscreenopengl - Use the full screen OpenGL render for the UI -steamos - -enable-desktop-gl-fallback - -vronly - -accesscode - -flushconfig - -nojoy - Disable controller support -fulldesktopres - Run tenfoot in full desktop resolution rather than 1080p, overrides -720p as well. -windowed - Run Steam tenfoot mode in a window rather than a fullscreen borderless window -language - Set Steam client UI language -fullscreen - Set BPM to fullscreen -system-composer - Force the use of the system browser composer -dev - -nobigpicture - Start in regular mode (force Big Picture mode off) -silent - Silent startup mode (tray mode only) -tenfoot - Start in Steam Big Picture mode -bigpicture - Start in Steam Big Picture mode -gamepadui - Start in gamepadui mode -testssa - force display of SSA -sls-skip-version-check - Don't validate the SLS version before starting -offlinemode - Always attempt to start in offline mode -console - -noconsole - -enable-devkit - Enable devkit functionality -master_ipc_name_override - -showallbetas - Disable client beta filtering -forcedesktopscaling - Scale the desktop UI -nopcshutdown - Skip PC power operations -steamdeckdisplay - -steamdeckdisplaynosizescale - -teststoragedata - Enable test storage data -login - Automatically logs in user -rememberpassword - If logging in user with credentials specified on the command line, proceed as if 'remember my password' had been enabled -userchooser - Sends the user to the User Chooser even if they have 0 or 1 accounts -forcecontrollerappid - Force a Specific AppID for Steam Controller Config - Prevents context/app switching from changing configuration -vguimessages - set to see debug vgiui2 messages -fs_log - Log file system accesses -fs_target - Set target syntax -fs_logbins - Log the binaries we load during operation -vguifocus - Print out details of which panel has keyboard focus -ccsyntax - Spew details about the localized strings we load -pid - Pid that we should be watching for -nofasthtml - Disables new fast child hwnd direct in vgui hwnd rendering path -fasthtml - Enable fast child html for any platform -toggle-overlay-html-mode - Disables new faster overlay HTML path (or enables if on a branch it's not on by default for) -no-cef-sandbox - disables sandboxing in CEF -cef-disable-sandbox - disables sandboxing in CEF -cef-disable-seccomp-sandbox - disables CEF seccomp-bpf sandbox on Linux -cef-disable-gpu-sandbox - disables CEF gpu-process sandbox -cef-force-sandbox - force sandboxing in CEF -cef-log-sandbox - Enable sandbox logging in CEF -disable-winh264 - disables loading winh264.dll -cef-disable-hevc - Disables hevc support -cef-enable-vaapi - Enable VA-API video decoding on Linux -disablehighdpi - disables high-DPI support in CEF -cef-verbose-logging - enables verbose logging from CEF -cef-verbose-modules - enables verbose logging for specific CEF modules -cef-disable-js-logging - disables console and log file logging of JS console events -cef-verbose-js-logging - enables verbose logging of JS console events -enable-keyring - enables CEF usage of the Chromium keyring -cef-single-process - runs CEF processes in single process -cef-in-process-gpu - runs CEF GPU processing as thread of browser process -cef-full-memory-crash-report - enables full crash dumps -cef-disable-breakpad - disables breakpad in crash dumps -cef-force-32bit - forces usage of 32-bit steamwebhelper when available -cef-disable-hang-timeouts - disables GPU and renderer hang timeouts -cef-enable-debugging - enables Chromium remote debugging, defaulting to localhost:8080 -cef-disable-occlusion - disables Chromium window occlusion testing -cef-force-occlusion - force enable Chromium window occlusion testing -cef-enable-gpu-debugging - Enable GPU debugging in Chromium, costs a glGetError() call after every command -cef-disable-gpu - Disable GPU usage in CEF (force software rendering/compositing) -cef-force-gpu - Force enable GPU acceleration -cef-force-hw-video-decode - Force enable HW accelerated video decoding -cef-force-gpu-blocklist - Force enable GPU blocklist -cef-delaypageload - Enable early-out for known page loads -cef-disable-delaypageload - Disable early-out for known page loads -cef-disable-renderer-restart - Disable auto-restart of renderer process for existing browsers -cef-disable-gpu-compositing - Disable GPU accelerated compositing in browsers -cef-use-shell-exec - Launch CEF process via sub-shell -cef-use-execv - Launch CEF process via execv -cef-disable-safe-shutdown-workaround - Disable the usage of the safe browser shutdown workaround for Linux+NV -cef-disable-xcomposite-workaround - Disable the glcomposer workaround applied to some video drivers -cef-force-opaque-backgrounds - Force the usage of opaque backgrounds for CEF -cef-no-restart-on-ui-mode-change - Don't restart the renderer on UI mode changes -cef-force-accessibility - Force enable CEF accessibility features -cef-enable-fatal-dcheck - -cef-disable-touch-focus-workaround - Disable touch input browser focus workaround -cef-disable-site-isolation - disables per-process site-isolation -cef-allow-browser-underlay - Allow webhelper to create BrowserView underlays -cef-force-browser-underlay - Force support for BrowserView underlays -cef-use-vulkan - Use vulkan ANGLE backend -html-perf-monitor - Draws html perf data -browser-offline - -no-dwrite - forces CEF to use GDI text even if DWrite support is available -clientui - -cafeapplaunch - Launch apps in a cyber cafe context -complete_install_via_http - Run installation completion over HTTP by default -lognetapi - logs all P2P networking info to log/netapi_log.txt -websocket - forces connection to Steam backend to be via WebSocket -websocketignorecertissues - says it's ok to ignore cert validation issues if using WebSocket connections, for dev use only -disablepartnerlicenses - disable automatically granted partner licenses -compat-disable-filtering - Disable filtering of normally unlisted runtimes. -compat-force-slr - Force enable/disable using SLR 1.0 by default over legacy LD_* setup. -forcedeckcontroller - -controllertypeoverride - -skipstreamingdrivers - Skip streaming driver checks -noshaders - Disable the shader manager -disablelauncherservice - Disable steam-runtime-launcher-service process. -debug_steamapi - enables logging of Steam API functions -disable-overlay-gpu-pri - Disables setting webhelper GPU pri high when overlay visible -net_fake_state - Set initial value for net_fake_state -net_start_wifi_disabled - Set the initial value for wifi enabled to false. (Useful when emulating SteamDeck) -private_ip_override - -verbose-computer-activity - Verbose computer activity detection. -init_universe - -no-shared-textures - forces overlay to avoid sharing texture handles with game process -nocrashmonitor - -usepipewireaudio - Enabled the pipewire audio backend -batterytestmode - rapidly cycle battery percentages for testing -overlaytestmode - Forces overlay testmode mode for debugging -overlaylogging - Enables logging from overlay renderer -disable-overlay-wait-for-cef-frame - Disables waiting for pending CEF frame render when overlay visible. -vrdisable - Disable VR - never even try to load OpenVR DLLs -vrskip - Skip VR initialization entirely no matter who asks for it -vrforce - Always perform Hmd status check even if we crashed the last time we tried -vrverbose - Output additional logging for diagnostics -single_core - Force Steam to run on your primary CPU only -voicerelay - Only allow 'relay' connections for voice (testing). -log_voice - writes voice chat data to the logs/voice_log.txt file -candidates - Show libjingle candidates for local connection as they are processed -ltp - use legacy token persistence scheme

Try running Steam from a terminal emulator:
steam -opengl

Last edited by no snd; 1 Nov @ 1:38pm

lonesh33p

1 Nov @ 2:02pm

steam --reset from the CLI made my client usable** in mid 2023. No idea whether that still does anything.

**after ill-consider overlay use/abuse broke it

jt_swanson has Steam for Linux

1 Nov @ 4:27pm

I can see the menu that includes Library. If I click on it, nothing happens.

Another menu item is Exit Steam. That one works.

I am running KDE Plasma. Have been since the start. That uses Kwin (I think).

I'll try the steam -opengl, then steam --reset if that doesn't work.

I have just run steam from a CLI, I get no errors, it keeps running until I Exit Steam.

Thanks for the help.

jt_swanson has Steam for Linux

2 Nov @ 9:24am

I tried steam -opengl and saw no change.

I tried steam --reset and saw no change.

Steam is running, but nothing that involves graphics is displayed.

I also tried steam -applaunch and the id of one of the games. Still nothing.

I also tried steam -login and steam -console. I always see the Steam icon appear with all its menu items, but no graphics.

It would take forever to move 250 GB of downloaded games to a USB drive and the internal drive does not have the space. I suppose I could mv the games folder.

Anyone know what needs to be moved to save the games if I remove steam and reinstall it?

Xenophobe

2 Nov @ 9:38am

Originally posted by jt_swanson:
Anyone know what needs to be moved to save the games if I remove steam and reinstall it?

the steamapps and userdata folders ... https://node2.projectplanet.cn/@steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2307584451

Last edited by Xenophobe; 2 Nov @ 9:43am

Pepe

2 Nov @ 1:51pm

Here's a compiled list of things you can do. Pick whatever you haven't tried yet.

* Close Steam before running any of the commands.

1. Try forcing an update from the terminal.

steam -forcesteamupdate -forcepackagedownload -overridepackageurl -exitsteam

2. Are you in Steam Beta?
a) Try this.

rm -rf ~/.local/share/Steam/package/beta

b) ... and this.

steam -clearbeta

3. Reset config
a) Steam Reset command

steam --reset

b) Steam flush config API call
- from the browser

steam://flushconfig

- from the terminal

steam steam://flushconfig

- from the terminal, if you have Steam from Flatpak

flatpak run com.valvesoftware.Steam steam://flushconfig

4. Steam runtime workarounds
a) See if you have an older runtime and tell Steam to use that...

find ~/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32 -maxdepth 1 -name 'steam-runtime*' -type d -printf '%f\n' steam-runtime steam-runtime.old STEAM_RUNTIME_OLD=~/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam-runtime.old STEAM_RUNTIME="${STEAM_RUNTIME_OLD}" steam

b) Tell Steam to use your local libs instead of Steam Runtime... if it listens...

STEAM_RUNTIME=0 steam

c) Tell Steam to use your local libs instead of Steam Runtime... in a different "language"...

LD_LIBRARY_PATH='/usr/lib' steam

d) Steam crying for missing local libs, let it get them from steam-runtime, still using the system libs found

LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/lib:~/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam-runtime/lib/i386-linux-gnu steam

e) "Two heads are better than one"... maybe...

LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/lib:~/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam-runtime/lib/i386-linux-gnu STEAM_RUNTIME=0 steam

5. If nothing works... "Hans, Get ze Flammenwerfer"

# Move games library - if you have it in the default path mkdir ~/my_steamapps mv ~/.local/share/Steam/steamapps ~/my_steamapps ls ~/my_steamapps ls ~/my_steamapps/steamapps # Remove steam package ## deb - Debian/Ubuntu/Mint/Pop!_OS sudo apt purge --autoremove steam ## rpm - RedHat/Fedora/Alma/Rocky sudo dnf remove steam # Delete everything, just to make sure the package didn't let anything behind rm -rf ~/.local/share/Steam/ rm -rf ~/.steam/ ## * there are some files installed by the package in /usr/bin/, /usr/lib/ and ## /usr/share/, but it's a good bet to asume those are system wide files ## that didn't cause the Steam issues ## ** note that Valve hasn't discovered ~/.config or XDG_CONFIG_HOME, so ## there's no ~/.config/Steam to delete # Install steam package ## deb - Debian/Ubuntu/Mint/Pop!_OS sudo apt install steam ## rpm - RedHat/Fedora/Alma/Rocky sudo dnf install steam # Restore games library - if you had it in the default path mv ~/my_steamapps/steamapps ~/.local/share/Steam/ ls ~/.local/share/Steam/steamapps rm -r ~/my_steamapps

Later Edit 4: If you're worried about the game saves...
a) Steam Cloud works for majority of the titles pretty well.
b) As far as I could observe, the package doesn't touch the GNU/Linux game saves, it doesn't even know where the games are saving the progress files. Why would it know something that is not for the package (or Steam) to decide?
c) One place that could be of any concern is Proton games data files. Those are in steamapps/compatdata/. Proton game saves are in steamapps/compatdata/<game_id>/pfx/. But we've moved the whole steamapps for safety. So we're good.
d) Where are the game saves though? I can only speak for the small collection of installed games:

- ~/.config/ > directory <game_name>, but it might be <company_name>/<game_name> (I haven't seen this, but it's a legit location) - ~/.config/unity3d/ > directory <company_name>/<game_name>, seems like a standard location for Unity games - ~/.local/share/ > directory <game_name> or <company_name>/<game_name> - ~/ > dotted name .<game_name> - ~/.godot/app_userdata/ > directory <game_name> (one game found) - ~/My Games > directory <company_name>/<game_name> (one game found) - ~/Library/Application Support/ > directory <game_name> (one game found) - ~/Documents/ > directory <game_name> (one game found)

So, they're all over the place.

Feel free to find the game saves you're worried about and make a backup copy for each and every one of them.

Later Edit: What would be funny is to have some DE/WM or display system issue. You said you have KDE Plasma, but on what distro, what version of KDE Plasma? Are you using X11 or Wayland? Do you get the same issue with Wayland/X11 (the one you haven't used)?

Later Edit 2: ... or... I've seen some topics on the web with steam not starting due to some nvidia GPU drivers issue. Do you have an nvidia graphics card? Look further on the web for fixes.

Later Edit 3: I've seen from your other topic you're using Ubuntu 18.04. There are some issues related to conflicting libs on the web. Here are just a couple of pointers (one leeds to the other - ignore the reinstall suggestions that I've already mentioned here, just look for those lib related conflicts or missing 32bit GPU drivers):
- https://askubuntu.com/questions/1038754/steam-wont-start-on-18-04
- https://askubuntu.com/questions/771032/steam-not-opening-in-ubuntu-16-04-lts

Last edited by Pepe; 2 Nov @ 7:43pm