protonscr

Steam games won't run without Steam client Native Wayland flag

protonclosed
ValveSoftware/Proton#9583 · opened 2026-03-17 by Kyloof · updated 2026-03-18 · 3 comments · github
KKyloof 2026-03-17 github

Your system information

  • Steam client version (build number or date): 1773426488

  • Proton version: I've tried Proton 10, 9, 8, Experimental and GE

  • Distribution: Fedora 43 Workstation GNOME Wayland

  • Steam Logs:
    steam-logs.tar.gz

  • GPU: Nvidia RTX4070 Super 580 driver

Details:

None of my steam games wan't to work while running the client without forcing wayland on steam: steam --enable-features=UseOzonePlatform --ozone-platform=wayland. They either crash instanly or open with a black screen. When they open with a black screen I can hear all the audio and the game seems to be running but the screen is completely dark (Only the custom cursor shows up).

Now the strange thing is that I tried to edit my steam.desktop file to run with the working option given above so i wrote:
Exec=steam --enable-features=UseOzonePlatform --ozone-platform=wayland %U
but still it doesn't work and crashes the games.

I don't know how the client options corresponds to games. The only thing that came to my head was the Overlay, which I disabled but to no avail sadly.

Games I tested the issue on (the same behaiour on all of them):

  • Stronghold Definitive Edition
    - Europa Universalis V
  • Sid Meier's Civilization VI
  • Assasin's Creed Origins

Steps for reproducing this issue:

  1. Fedora 43 with nvidia GPU
  2. Run steam via .desktop file or just steam command via terminal
  3. Run any game
  4. The game doesn't work
  5. Run steam via steam --enable-features=UseOzonePlatform --ozone-platform=wayland via terminal
  6. Games work normally
KKyloof 2026-03-17 github

Running the steam launcher with the steam command from terminal also makes all the games crash/open black-screened.

Steam Runtime Diagnostics (as requested):
runtime-sys-info.txt

Kkisak-valve maintainer 2026-03-17 github

From your runtime diagnostics:
"DRI_PRIME=pci-0000_0f_00_0",

        "x11/vulkan" : {
          "renderer" : "AMD Ryzen 5 7600 6-Core Processor (RADV RAPHAEL_MENDOCINO)",
          "version" : "Mesa 25.3.6",
          "issues" : [
            "cannot-draw"
          ],
          "exit-status" : 1,
          "devices" : [
            {
              "name" : "AMD Ryzen 5 7600 6-Core Processor (RADV RAPHAEL_MENDOCINO)",
              "api-version" : "1.4.328",
              "vulkan-driver-id" : 3,
              "driver-name" : "radv",
              "driver-version" : "Mesa 25.3.6",
              "vendor-id" : "0x1002",
              "device-id" : "0x164e",
              "type" : "integrated-gpu",
              "messages" : [
                "vkCreateSwapchainKHR (renderer->device, &create_info, NULL, &renderer->swapchain) failed: ERROR_INITIALIZATION_FAILED (-3)"
              ],
              "issues" : [
                "cannot-draw"
              ]
            }
          ]
        },

This definitely reads like https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/8179 where DRI_PRIME was set by the desktop environment in response to PrefersNonDefaultGPU=1 and mesa can't render to the GUI session running on the NVIDIA proprietary driver.

KKyloof 2026-03-17 github

I changed PrefersNonDefaultGPU to false and now it works thanks a ton!
The log also confirms that:

      "graphics-details" : {
        "x11/vulkan" : {
          "renderer" : "NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER",
          "version" : "580.126.18",
          "devices" : [
            {
              "name" : "NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER",
              "api-version" : "1.4.312",
              "vulkan-driver-id" : 4,
              "driver-name" : "NVIDIA",
              "driver-version" : "580.126.18",
              "vendor-id" : "0x10de",
              "device-id" : "0x2783",
              "type" : "discrete-gpu"
            },

Wonder why forcing --enable-features=UseOzonePlatform --ozone-platform=wayland worked while just steam didn't if it was the desktop environment causing it. Anyway thanks once again for the help:)