The "Processing Shaders" step happens every time I launch the game, and takes several minutes every time. This is unusual compared to almost every other game running on Proton. Is there a reason this game refuses to save the output of shader compilation to disk?

EDIT: Turns out, the game just updates like 15 times a day, and after every update it requires a new shader compilation. Annoying, but I get it.

I'm facing an issue where some arbitrary action in-game kills my frames and I have to restart the game. It's pretty hard to reproduce because I have no idea of the conditions, but any game that lasts long enough has it. Mostly happens during some big fight

Textures dont properly render for me, a lot are plain black, some are black with a metallic shine. Also, its random if player models show up in the game
CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-8265U
GPU: Intel UHD Graphics 620

I'm on Pop!OS 22.04, Nvidia RTX 3080, GNOME/X11 session:

I've been playing the game for 2 weeks with zero issues. As of the latest update, the game semi-freezes GNOME on launch: the game is visually frozen on Valve's logo and my side monitor is frozen on whatever window I had open. I can still move my mouse, and the cursor updates if I move it over a window titlebar/over the game monitor. However, the game audio is still playing, and I can hear audio cues from mousing over/clicking on buttons in game. Each time I launch and the game freezes, I'm unable to recover my system and have to do a hard reboot.

If I launch the game, then immediately select another window on my side monitor, the game launches as normal, briefly displays GNOME's "This application is not responding" dialog, then the dialog disappears, the game runs normally, and I'm able to click back into the game window and play.

game is unlaunchable
debian bookworm
system info: https://gist.github.com/mathew2214/f75390c266e293080b8c44526849d8a2

Archlinux game is crashing for me on start, regardless of what proton version I use, this is logs from 8.0
steam-1422450.log

my problem : game crashing just after the loading screen on game launch

Here is what solve the problem (from "Ari melody" on protonDB)

If you experience crashing while (pre-)loading the map (or proton logs otherwise mention mmap() error cannot allocate memory), 
you may need to adjust vm.max_map_count to something higher than your default.

to see your current value, run sudo sysctl vm.max_map_count. temporarily adjust with 
sudo sysctl -w vm.max_map_count=<num> (262144 works for me, YMMV), 
and when satisfied, set it by adding the value (vm.max_map_count=<num>) in /etc/sysctl.d/99-steamplay.conf.

gaming-centric distros will  #likely have a larger vm.max_map_count by default.

in my case, "Pre-loading map and shaders" was stuck at "0 of 0" at the top of my screen, even when having entered the map.
you can get rid of this with -no_prewarm_map, though i would expect loading times to be worse.

The game stopped launching yesterday, it worked the day before that. After pressing "PLAY" it says "Running" but no window appears, the main game process (deadlock.exe) is left in zombie state. Here's my system info: https://gist.github.com/rkfg/5d567350048d04be36bb39a7626b9ef8 Proton output: https://gist.github.com/rkfg/21fc98f914f67110f2e3acc54ba5e447

What I tried:

• verifying game files
• verifying proton/steam runtime files
• switching to steam Beta and back
• using different Proton versions
• using older kernel
• turning off AppArmor
• updated NVIDIA driver
• turning off compositor/scaling workarounds (I set -system-composer -forcedesktopscaling 1.5 parameters, tried without them)
• clearing Steam cache
• removing the game prefix
• reinstalling the game
• looking at strace not knowing what to actually look for
• rebooting
• turning the PC off completely including PSU switch, in case it's a hardware issue that can persist between regular reboots
• vm.max_map_count is 8388600 since forever so doesn't apply

I managed to launch the game a couple of times but it doesn't happen anymore so I'm pretty much stuck. The weird thing is that it worked on May 3 and I haven't even restarted Steam since then AFAIR, and then it stopped working like that. I believe Steam isolates the environment from the main system so the libraries and programs I have installed shouldn't interfere with it or the games. But just for the sake of completeness, I updated these programs some time between the moments when game worked and stopped:

Upgrade: librados2:amd64 (18.2.4+ds-13+b1, 18.2.6-1), libxapian30:amd64 (1.4.25-2, 1.4.29-2), libqt6help6:amd64 (6.8.2-4, 6.8.2-5), coreutils:amd64 (9.7-1, 9.7-2), libgles2-mesa-dev:amd64 (25.0.3-1, 25.0.4-1), assistant-qt6:amd64 (6.8.2-4, 6.8.2-5), iputils-ping:amd64 (3:20240905-1, 3:20240905-3), libglx-mesa0:amd64 (25.0.3-1, 25.0.4-1), libglx-mesa0:i386 (25.0.3-1, 25.0.4-1), libssh-4:amd64 (0.11.1-1, 0.11.1-2), mesa-common-dev:amd64 (25.0.3-1, 25.0.4-1), gdb:amd64 (16.2-8, 16.3-1), sgml-base:amd64 (1.31, 1.31+nmu1), libusageenvironment3:amd64 (2:2025.01.17-dmo1, 2:2025.04.24-dmo1), libosmesa6-dev:amd64 (25.0.3-1, 25.0.4-1), python3-lazr.restfulclient:amd64 (0.14.6-2, 0.14.6-3), libcap2-bin:amd64 (1:2.75-6, 1:2.75-7), kwayland5-data:amd64 (4:5.115.0-6, 4:5.116.0-1), libkf5notifications-data:amd64 (5.115.0-2, 5.116.0-1), qt6-tools-dev-tools:amd64 (6.8.2-4, 6.8.2-5), qdbus-qt6:amd64 (6.8.2-4, 6.8.2-5), libgbm1:amd64 (25.0.3-1, 25.0.4-1), libgbm1:i386 (25.0.3-1, 25.0.4-1), librbd1:amd64 (18.2.4+ds-13+b1, 18.2.6-1), libgbm-dev:amd64 (25.0.3-1, 25.0.4-1), gdbserver:amd64 (16.2-8, 16.3-1), sse3-support:amd64 (26, 27), qt6-tools-dev:amd64 (6.8.2-4, 6.8.2-5), libkf5config-bin:amd64 (5.115.0-2+b1, 5.116.0-1), libspnav0:amd64 (1.1-2, 1.2-1), mesa-libgallium:amd64 (25.0.3-1, 25.0.4-1), mesa-libgallium:i386 (25.0.3-1, 25.0.4-1), libkf5filemetadata-data:amd64 (5.115.0-3, 5.116.0-1), gimp-data:amd64 (3.0.2-1, 3.0.2-2), libkf5windowsystem5:amd64 (5.115.0-2+b1, 5.116.0-1), libxatracker2:amd64 (25.0.3-1, 25.0.4-1), isa-support:amd64 (26, 27), libgl1-mesa-dev:amd64 (25.0.3-1, 25.0.4-1), libgl1-mesa-dri:amd64 (25.0.3-1, 25.0.4-1), libgl1-mesa-dri:i386 (25.0.3-1, 25.0.4-1), libosmesa6:amd64 (25.0.3-1, 25.0.4-1), designer-qt6:amd64 (6.8.2-4, 6.8.2-5), libegl1-mesa-dev:amd64 (25.0.3-1, 25.0.4-1), libqt6designercomponents6:amd64 (6.8.2-4, 6.8.2-5), diffutils:amd64 (1:3.10-3, 1:3.10-4), sensible-utils:amd64 (0.0.24, 0.0.25), qt6-documentation-tools:amd64 (6.8.2-4, 6.8.2-5), breeze-icon-theme:amd64 (4:5.115.0-4, 4:5.116.0-1), libcap2:amd64 (1:2.75-6, 1:2.75-7), libcap2:i386 (1:2.75-6, 1:2.75-7), gimp:amd64 (3.0.2-1, 3.0.2-2), libcap-dev:amd64 (1:2.75-6, 1:2.75-7), libkf5configcore5:amd64 (5.115.0-2+b1, 5.116.0-1), libcpan-changes-perl:amd64 (0.500004-1, 0.500005-1), brave-browser-beta:amd64 (1.79.95, 1.79.97), libkf5waylandclient5:amd64 (4:5.115.0-6, 4:5.116.0-1), libkf5coreaddons-data:amd64 (5.115.0-2, 5.116.0-1), mesa-vulkan-drivers:amd64 (25.0.3-1, 25.0.4-1), python3-bs4:amd64 (4.13.3-2, 4.13.4-1), python3-prompt-toolkit:amd64 (3.0.50-1, 3.0.51-2), breeze-icon-theme-rcc:amd64 (4:5.115.0-4, 4:5.116.0-1), libkf5wallet-bin:amd64 (5.115.0-4, 5.116.0-1), linguist-qt6:amd64 (6.8.2-4, 6.8.2-5), python3-html2text:amd64 (2024.2.26-1, 2025.4.15-1), libqt6uitools6:amd64 (6.8.2-4, 6.8.2-5), libkf5config-data:amd64 (5.115.0-2, 5.116.0-1), slirp4netns:amd64 (1.2.1-1+b1, 1.2.1-1.1), libkf5notifications5:amd64 (5.115.0-2+b1, 5.116.0-1), libqt6designer6:amd64 (6.8.2-4, 6.8.2-5), qdoc-qt6:amd64 (6.8.2-4, 6.8.2-5), btrfs-progs:amd64 (6.12-1+b1, 6.14-1), brave-browser:amd64 (1.77.101, 1.78.94), libkf5windowsystem-data:amd64 (5.115.0-2, 5.116.0-1), libkf5coreaddons5:amd64 (5.115.0-2+b1, 5.116.0-1), m4:amd64 (1.4.19-7, 1.4.19-8), libpam-cap:amd64 (1:2.75-6, 1:2.75-7), libegl-mesa0:amd64 (25.0.3-1, 25.0.4-1), libkf5solid5-data:amd64 (5.115.0-3, 5.116.0-1), gir1.2-gimp-3.0:amd64 (3.0.2-1, 3.0.2-2), mesa-vdpau-drivers:amd64 (25.0.3-1, 25.0.4-1), libgimp-3.0-0:amd64 (3.0.2-1, 3.0.2-2), qt6-l10n-tools:amd64 (6.8.2-4, 6.8.2-5), wdiff:amd64 (1.2.2-8, 1.2.2-9), iputils-tracepath:amd64 (3:20240905-1, 3:20240905-3)
Upgrade: python3-tz:amd64 (2025.1-3, 2025.2-2), python3-lxml-html-clean:amd64 (0.4.1-1, 0.4.2-1), packagekit-tools:amd64 (1.3.0-3+b1, 1.3.1-1), python3-pytz:amd64 (2025.1-3, 2025.2-2), resolvconf:amd64 (1.92, 1.94), node-ip:amd64 (2.0.1+~1.1.3-1, 2.0.1+~1.1.3-3), libnuma1:amd64 (2.0.18-1+b1, 2.0.19-1), libnuma1:i386 (2.0.18-1+b1, 2.0.19-1), gir1.2-packagekitglib-1.0:amd64 (1.3.0-3+b1, 1.3.1-1), packagekit:amd64 (1.3.0-3+b1, 1.3.1-1), libnbd0:amd64 (1.22.0-1+b1, 1.22.2-1), libpackagekit-glib2-18:amd64 (1.3.0-3+b1, 1.3.1-1), nlohmann-json3-dev:amd64 (3.11.3-2, 3.11.3-2.1), libnuma-dev:amd64 (2.0.18-1+b1, 2.0.19-1)

FWIW, the game still works on my Steam Deck. The other games work on PC too, tried HL2 RTX (also Source engine so should probably be close enough?). Only Deadlock is dead.

Okay, localized the culprit. It's the very recent update in Debian, the package is mesa-vulkan-drivers. Version 25.0.3-1 works, version 25.0.4-1 breaks Deadlock. The exact file that triggers the bug seems to be /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libvulkan_gfxstream.so, I copied it over from 25.0.3-1 and the game now launches. There is a bug reported: https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=1104326 however, the suggested update to 25.0.5-1 does NOT fix this issue.

Compatibility Report

• Name of the game with compatibility issues: Deadlock
• Steam AppID of the game: 1422450

System Information

• GPU: RTX 3080
• Video driver version: nvidia 575.64.03
• Kernel version: 6.15.4-arch2-1
• Link to full system information report as Gist:
• Proton version: Proton Experimental, Proton 10.0-1 (beta), Proton 9.0-4

I confirm:

• [x] that I haven't found an existing compatibility report for this game.
• [x] that I have checked whether there are updates for my system available.

steam-1422450.log

Symptoms

While playing the game, at any point (Joining a match, while playing, on public matches or test server, even at start) the following message will pop up and the game will close up. I have to verify file integrity each time this happens and the game will re download 2 or 3 files every time but without a specific fix.

Reproduction

No special reproduction needed, it can happen at startup, match join or match look up. Issue happens both on DX11 and Vulkan, sometimes happens after 2 matches, other times happens when joining a match

Adding the root cause and temporal solution to this issue:
After some investigation, seems that this issue is related to RAM Frequency (this happens on source 2 games like CS2 and DOTA 2) where if you use the max available frequency of your RAM (I run Memtest to check for a faulty RAM but no issues where found on both 3600Mhz and 3200Mhz frequency configurations) it throws this error that the pak01.vpk file is corrupted.
After changing the Frequency of my ram from 3600 Mhz to 3200 Mhz the crashes haven't happened so far. No other games present this behavior where if I use the max frequency of my RAM's stick, it crashes.

NOTE: This error doesn't happen when I dual boot to Windows, I did this as well to rule out a faulty RAM.

It would be nice to know what is the cause on this only happening on Source 2 based games when they are run using proton.

Reference posts:

• pak01.vpk keeps getting corrupted, constantly.
• Dota crashes during runtime after 7.33 update
• Corrupted file citadel\pak01.vpk- happens too often and now getting banned for leaving

Game does not launch on Linux, displaying a grey picture for a few seconds before closing out.

Regardless of proton version

Launch commands:

gamescope -W 2560 -H 1440 -r 170 -- %command%

(doesn't work even if I don't use gamescope either)

Running into the same issue as @officialnochill on arch linux + hyprland

steam-1422450.log

steam-1422450.log

Log^

@officialnochill are you running hyprland by any chance?
because it could be a hyprland only issue https://github.com/hyprwm/Hyprland/discussions/10485

edit: the solution for hyprland is to run the game with SDL_VIDEODRIVER=windows %command%, also please consider upvoting the discussion at the Hyprland's repo in hopes it gets fixed

Hello @19krikma, are you able to test how the game behaves with a current point release of mesa from a PPA like kisak-mesa? If you can reproduce the issue with a current point release of mesa, then you should also mention your findings to your video driver vendor.

I installed the latest kisak-mesa the issue is still there.

@kisak-valve Hello, I got it fixed. I reinstalled PopOS 24.04 and now I can play Deadlock, I suspect the issue was that I installed these drivers, I wasn't sure if I needed them so on old build i had them and on this fresh install I don't have them.
I am back on Mesa 25.1.5-1pop0~1753463422~24.04~8af185e
I am experiencing a bug where game renders the "Strings or the thing that players can travel on a lane" through buildings, so I pretty much see other lanes. I will try to install latest kisak-mesa today or tomorrow and see if the issue remains but so far game runs great, just needed some tinkering because game launched in 2k windowed mode and had to fidget around to get the game in full screen and switch from "Vulkan" to "DirectX 11".

Hello a have a problem, after update games dont wanna start

Logs include below

Arch Linux
Tested with Proton experimental, bleeding edge branch , GE

RTX 4060 Ti with latest driver 590.48.01
steam-1422450.log
Logs from bleeding edge branch

FIXED, just delete all configs in game folder

Compatibility Report

• Name of the game with compatibility issues:Deadlock

System Information

• GPU:RTX 2060 6GB NVK
• Video driver version: Mesa 26.1.0 git
• Kernel version: 6.18.8
• Link to full system information report as [Gist]https://gist.github.com/pollux78/0cc678c4474d328a989a0589f5e557a4
• Proton version: Proton Experimental
• Log: steam-1422450.log

Symptoms

Game launches but as soon as you click to continue after the deadlock logo the game freezes right when its about to pass the queue table

Reproduction

1. Be on latest mesa git not the nvidia proprietary driver
2. Launch deadlock
3. See the freeze that appears

Hello @pollux78, like elsewhere, you should report your findings to your video driver vendor.

yes, deadlock had a small update i noticed and now it works, with low fps but atleast it launches properly :)

Compatibility Report

• Name of the game with compatibility issues:Deadlock

System Information

• GPU:RX 6700 10GB
• Video driver version: Mesa 25.3.4
• Kernel version: 6.18.8
• Link to full system information report as [Gist]https://gist.github.com/1a26508732fd4df74850212b6f7f901c.git
• Proton version: Proton Experimental
• Log: steam-1422450.log

Symptoms

I am able to crash the game after a hour or so, seems to be some vram leak.

Reproduction

1. Play deadlock for atleast over a hour
2. notice the game will crash and maybe its because of the vram increasing overtime

@pollux78 on my end memory usage didn't seem to increase over time, it does use more when you get into a match when compared to just having launched the game and being in the hub, but subsequent matches didn't increase memory usage further. I'd recommend running the game with mangohud so you can monitor ram usage in real time to see if you're actually running out.

allocate_virtual_memory out of memory for allocation, base (nil) size in the log is a red herring, I get that too. Tthat happens before the game even starts proper, and it happens on my end too where the game didn't crash even after roughly 2 hours.

Replying to https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Proton/issues/8020#issuecomment-3850823846

well whatever it is i have been able to replicate it 3 times now, i will keep testing to see what i can find.

EDIT: Playing today i haven't experienced any crashes so resolved for now.

Follow up: setting textures to high makes the game crash, using medium texture settings i have zero problems, i also exhibit low fps that happens shortly after the game crashes my whole plasma desktop.

RX 6700 10GB, Mesa 25.3.4, Proton experimental, Kernel 6.18.9, Cachyos

Any one else have recent issue with fps drops? My game usually runs at 100+ fps but recently the fps has very suddenly dropped to a constant ~15 fps or so. Restarting the game temporarily fixes the issue but is has happened to me the last like 5 times ive launched the game.

Any one else have recent issue with fps drops? My game usually runs at 100+ fps but recently the fps has very suddenly dropped to a constant ~15 fps or so. Restarting the game temporarily fixes the issue but is has happened to me the last like 5 times ive launched the game.

Yes this happens to me if I play more than one game. I got into the habit of restarting after each game and my fps has been somewhat consistent

there is currently a bug where you can't launch the game with the steam beta client

to make the game work again, disable the steam beta in settings -> interface

there is currently a bug where you can't launch the game with the steam beta client

to make the game work again, disable the steam beta in settings -> interface

I'm on the latest steam beta client with RT3 enabled aswell and the game launches :P

there is currently a bug where you can't launch the game with the steam beta client
to make the game work again, disable the steam beta in settings -> interface

I'm on the latest steam beta client with RT3 enabled aswell and the game launches :P

i'm glad! maybe it doesn't affect everyone, or they fixed it already

but it is real and also happened to other people following the dash parry update this week: forum

It was fixed yesterday with a client update

On Sun, Apr 12, 2026, 6:17 AM ewy1 @.***> wrote:

ewy1 left a comment (ValveSoftware/Proton#8020)
https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Proton/issues/8020#issuecomment-4231284510

there is currently a bug where you can't launch the game with the steam
beta client
to make the game work again, disable the steam beta in settings ->
interface

I'm on the latest steam beta client with RT3 enabled aswell and the game
launches :P

i'm glad! maybe it doesn't affect everyone, or they fixed it already

but it is real and also happened to other people following the dash parry
update this week: forum
https://forums.playdeadlock.com/threads/game-doesnt-want-to-launch-linux.125921/

—
Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub
https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Proton/issues/8020#issuecomment-4231284510,
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You are receiving this because you commented.Message ID:
@.***>

Deadlock crashes in the middle of the match

Compatibility Report

• Name of the game with compatibility issues: Deadlock
• Steam AppID of the game: 1422450

System Information

• GPU: RTX 3080 12GB
• Video driver version: nvidia-open-dkms 610.43.02-2 / nvidia-open 610.43.02-2 (happened with both)
• Kernel version: linux 7.0.11.arch1-1
• Link to full system information report as Gist: https://gist.github.com/DavidVallaLope/1aca761175aad5748ceeab25c2b3bc40
• Proton version: Proton Experimental, Proton 10.0-4

I confirm:

• [ X ] that I haven't found an existing compatibility report for this game.
• [ X ] that I have checked whether there are updates for my system available.

steam-1422450.log

Symptoms

In the middle of a match, the game crashes but doesnt close and audio is still playing. When checking the journal logs at the crashing time, this is visible:

Jun 06 19:51:24 vallahost kernel: NVRM: Xid (PCI:0000:08:00): 109, pid=47909, name=MainThrd, channel 0x0000001a, errorString CTX SWITCH TIMEOUT, Info 0x3c022

Reproduction

1. Open Steam and click "Play" on Deadlock.
2. Join an Online Game (Either Brawl or Normal Game mode)
3. Play the game until crash

• Video driver version: nvidia-open-dkms 610.43.02-2 / nvidia-open 610.43.02-2 (happened with both)

• Kernel version: linux 7.0.11.arch1-1

Seems that this issue is directly related with the nvidia driver version. After downgrading to 595.71.05, the issue is gone. This worked for a Nvidia 3080 12GB Ver. Kernel was as well downgrade it to Linux 7.0.8-arch1-1 to match the Nvidia Driver

Yah is very borken also on NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti

pacman -Qs | grep -i "nvidia"
    NVIDIA XLib and XCB EGL Platform Library
local/lib32-nvidia-utils 610.43.02-1
    NVIDIA drivers utilities (32-bit)
local/libva-nvidia-driver 0.0.17-1
    Nvidia VDPAU library
local/linux-firmware-nvidia 20260519-1
    Firmware files for Linux - Firmware for NVIDIA GPUs and SoCs
local/nvidia-open 610.43.02-2
    NVIDIA open kernel modules
local/nvidia-utils 610.43.02-2
    NVIDIA drivers utilities

Tried increasing sysctl - vm.max_map_count=1048576

And sometimes it just doesn't crash or at times it will crash 10x per game idek.

Also noticed certain abilities will cause a crash 100% of the time: notably graves 1. Lmao.

Doing any kind of online functionality (invite a friend, join a friend) in deadlock immediately causes Steam itself to crash with the following abort signal:

Jul 09 00:54:41 bazzite steam[122228]: terminate called after throwing an instance of 'std::length_error'
Jul 09 00:54:41 bazzite steam[122228]:   what():  basic_string::_S_create

Using proton experimental with amd, here's the log:

steam-1422450.log