protonscr

[BUG] vrLink is selecting the wrong GPU on startup

steamvropen bug
ValveSoftware/SteamVR-for-Linux#967 · opened 2026-09-25 by november781 · updated 2026-09-26 · 2 comments · github
Nnovember781 2026-09-25 github

Describe the bug
I have a fairly uncommon hardware layout with two GPUs. My Primary (and Display) card is a Radeon RX7800xt. I also have an Nvidia 3070ti installed specifically for NVENC.

Despite the RX7800xt being the display card, vrlink is showing [2026-09-25 17:47:35.456625] [Info] - [HMDVulkan] Using device 'NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti' with driver 'NVIDIA' when it starts up and it doesn't even seem to query the RX7800xt.

I believe this behavior is causing the following issues:

  1. Displaying my desktop streamed in VR shows a black screen
  2. Displaying my host Steam in streamed VR shows a black screen
  3. attempting to load a windows VR game—e.g. No Man's Sky—loads the steam loading environment but never projects the rendered VR game back to the headset

For some reason HL:A works normally with no issues, unlike No Man's Sky.

To Reproduce

  1. Get a PC with both an AMD/Intel and Nvidia card
  2. launch steam VR
  3. attempt to open the desktop or stream a VR game running in proton

Expected behavior
Host Steam window, Deskop, and window VR games should be visible in the HMD

System Information (please complete the following information):

Screenshots
If applicable, add screenshots to help explain your problem.

Additional context
glxinfo.txt
vulkaninfo.txt

Nnovember781 2026-09-25 github

work-around: set DRI_PRIME=pci-0000_2d_00_0! %command% in steam VR's launch options to force the correct card

feature request: can we get some method to select the GPU steamVR will use for the link? I suspect that would also help smooth things over for gaming laptops

Still dont get Desktop streamed over but I suspect that's because of Wayland

Ddanwillm 2026-09-26 github

Steam Link by default will choose a discrete GPU, then will prefer a nvidia card over amd which matches the behavior you're seeing.

We don't currently have the option to prefer a specific GPU, but will add this as a task to look into. Thanks.

Launch lines