Does it work if you launch it like this?
STEAM_RUNTIME=0 steam

If so, what's the output relating to sound in the terminal?

Ye, it works in that way, no output in terminal about sound.

How does your version of Arch handle sound? Does it use pulseaudio? ALSA? What versions of those libraries? What are your sound configuration files and their contents?

Thanks!

Same issue in Fedora 18, no sound in game after updating TF2. The lines suggesting "warning: The VAD has been replaced by a hack pending a complete rewrite" are a little disconcerting, sound used to work fine, yes music had the selinux JIT issue but I dont need music, ingame sounds however are a little more important

PulseAudio connect failed (used only for Mic Volume Control) with error: Access denied
warning: The VAD has been replaced by a hack pending a complete rewrite
AL lib: pulseaudio.c:612: Context did not connect: Access denied
ALSA lib dlmisc.c:254:(snd1_dlobj_cache_get) Cannot open shared library /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/alsa-lib/libasound_module_pcm_pulse.so
AL lib: alsa.c:512: Could not open playback device 'default': No such device or address
AL lib: oss.c:169: Could not open /dev/dsp: No such file or directory
Generating new string page texture 107: 256x256, total string texture memory is 1.51 MB
AL lib: pulseaudio.c:612: Context did not connect: Access denied
PulseAudio connect failed (used only for Mic Volume Control) with error: Access denied
warning: The VAD has been replaced by a hack pending a complete rewrite
ALSA lib dlmisc.c:254:(snd1_dlobj_cache_get) Cannot open shared library /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/alsa-lib/libasound_module_pcm_pulse.so
AL lib: alsa.c:512: Could not open playback device 'default': No such device or address
AL lib: oss.c:169: Could not open /dev/dsp: No such file or directory
AL lib: pulseaudio.c:612: Context did not connect: Access denied

@slouken export STEAM_RUNTIME=0; steam worked for me on fedora 18 only after I had installed libXdmcp.i686

@careym:
Can you provide the same information I asked for above?
How does your version of Fedora handle sound? Does it use pulseaudio? ALSA? What versions of those libraries? What are your sound configuration files and their contents?

Thanks!

@slouken

[careys@hereford ~]$ rpm -qa | grep pulse
pulseaudio-utils-2.1-5.fc18.x86_64
pulseaudio-module-x11-2.1-5.fc18.x86_64
pulseaudio-2.1-5.fc18.x86_64
pulseaudio-gdm-hooks-2.1-5.fc18.x86_64
pulseaudio-libs-glib2-2.1-5.fc18.x86_64
pulseaudio-module-bluetooth-2.1-5.fc18.x86_64
alsa-plugins-pulseaudio-1.0.26-2.fc18.x86_64
pulseaudio-libs-2.1-5.fc18.i686
pulseaudio-libs-2.1-5.fc18.x86_64

[careys@hereford ~]$ rpm -qa | grep alsa
alsa-utils-1.0.26-1.fc18.x86_64
alsa-firmware-1.0.25-2.fc18.noarch
alsa-plugins-pulseaudio-1.0.26-2.fc18.x86_64
alsa-tools-firmware-1.0.26.1-1.fc18.x86_64
alsa-lib-1.0.26-2.fc18.x86_64
alsa-lib-1.0.26-2.fc18.i686

config is as provided by distro (clean install of fc18 last weekend) doesnt appear to be anything that resembles user overrides in a config file hiding in ~/.pulse/

Hardware is 00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family High Definition Audio Controller (rev 05)

Back to racking up kills for my strange spycicle

Yes, I use pulseaudio

Try this:
ls -l /var/lib/dbus/machine-id
ls -l /etc/machine-id

If /var/lib/dbus/machine-id doesn't exist and /etc/machine-id does, do this:
ln -s /etc/machine-id /var/lib/dbus/machine-id

I have to launch steam with " STEAM_RUNTIME=0 steam " to make sound work in HL and CS.

This is a new problem that came up after the last update for me, also if I run steam like that my tray icon works correctly.

Arch Linux x64 - Cinnamon

edit: " ln -s /etc/machine-id /var/lib/dbus/machine-id " - this fixed my sound issue.

I had no sound with Team Fortress 2 and Book of Unwritten Tales on Arch Linux. The machine-id symlink trick fixed the problem.

@slouken is this an Arch bug or a Steam bug?

Arch Linux x86_64 with Gnome 3.6.2 which pulls pulseaudio as a dependency anyway.

Sound doesn't work unless STEAM_RUNTIME is disabled. Without it the only sound related message is.

[...]
PulseAudio connect failed (used only for Mic Volume Control) with error: Access denied
[...]

@jjkinas: Glad to hear it, thanks!
@darkael: It's a Steam bug, we'll fix it next week.
@tjpld: Does the symlink trick work for you as well?

Thanks everyone!

I can confirm that this also fixes sound for with Serious Sam 3 on my Slackware 14.0 box:

STEAM_RUNTIME=0 steam steam://rungameid/41070

Works. Without the STEAM_RUNTIME=0 part Sam is all sad and quiet. :)

@ThomasLocke, can you try the symlink trick above and let me know if that works for you as well?

@slouken

[careys@hereford ~]$ ls -l /var/lib/dbus/machine-id
ls: cannot access /var/lib/dbus/machine-id: No such file or directory
[careys@hereford ~]$ ls -l /etc/machine-id
-r--r--r--. 1 root root 33 Jan 10 06:15 /etc/machine-id

@slouken Yes, it works perfectly now with the symlink in place.

Great, thanks guys!

This happens to me with TF2, HL1, CS-1.6

The message I see after starting Steam client

[...]
PulseAudio connect failed (used only for Mic Volume Control) with error: Access denied
[/...]

and when running one of the games I mentioned above... I see this message

[...]
AL lib: pulseaudio.c:612: Context did not connect: Access denied
ALSA lib dlmisc.c:254:(snd1_dlobj_cache_get) Cannot open shared library /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/alsa-lib/libasound_module_pcm_pulse.so
AL lib: alsa.c:512: Could not open playback device 'default': No such device or address
AL lib: oss.c:169: Could not open /dev/dsp: No such file or directory
[/...]

and no I don't use OSS

and after trying what slouken said

[...]
Try this:
ls -l /var/lib/dbus/machine-id
ls -l /etc/machine-id

If /var/lib/dbus/machine-id doesn't exist and /etc/machine-id does, do this:
ln -s /etc/machine-id /var/lib/dbus/machine-id
[/...]

it works again

Okay, so I think I have a fix for this issue.
Please revert any previous things you've done to workaround the issue, download these files and run sh steam-runtime-update.sh
http://www.libsdl.org/tmp/steam-runtime-update.sh
http://www.libsdl.org/tmp/steam-runtime-update.tar.gz

Please let me know if this fixes the problem.

Thanks!

@slouken Your update solved the sound issue for me on Fedora 18.

Solved on Archlinux 64bit.

Great, thanks guys!

@slouken This didn't work for me for some reason, Archlinux x86_64.

PD: Now I can see the icon on the systray.

@slouken I removed /var/lib/dbus/machine-id and then used your files, and sound is still working after restarting Steam. (Arch x86_64)

TF2 didn't start the first time though ( had to kill -9 it and restart Steam), but I don't know if it's related.

@slouken I tried your script and it didn't work for me as well. Same old message:

AL lib: pulseaudio.c:612: Context did not connect: Access denied
ALSA lib dlmisc.c:254:(snd1_dlobj_cache_get) Cannot open shared library /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/alsa-lib/libasound_module_pcm_pulse.so
AL lib: alsa.c:512: Could not open playback device 'default': No such device or address
Failed to open digital audio driver Couldn't open OAL device.
Compiled against SDL version 2.0.0 and linked against SDL version 2.0.0

EDIT: Using the
export PULSE_RUNTIME_PATH=$XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/pulse command is still necessary

For the people for whom it didn't work, do you have the XDG_RUNTIME_DIR environment variable set?

Here's another update, please let me know if this helps:
http://www.libsdl.org/tmp/steam-runtime-update-2.sh
http://www.libsdl.org/tmp/steam-runtime-update-2.tar.gz

@slouken I've not yet tested the symlink solution nor the steam-runtime-update script, but I can confirm that on my Slackware 14.0 box the XDG_RUNTIME_DIR environment variable is not set.

I can confirm that the updated libraries are working. Sound works without workarounds.

Still no sound, the XDG_RUNTIME_DIR variable is set.

echo $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR
/run/user/1000

Edit: I'm testing Killing Floor and my copy of UT2004 added as No-Steam Game, both are using openal.

@slouken your last patch works great. Thanks.

Operating System Version:
Linux (64 bit)
Kernel Name: Linux
Kernel Version: 3.7.5-1-ARCH
X Server vendor: The X.Org Foundation
X Server release: 11302000

Sound card:
Audio device: Intel CougarPoint HDMI

The demo of World of Goo has sound (I don't know if had sound before), can someone else test the Killing Floor?

I just want to confirm that export STEAM_RUNTIME=0; steam works for me on arch. I'd previously had sound on all my games(Half Life, Amnesia, and TF2), then a few days ago it all stopped working. I'd tried everything, fiddling with SDL_AUDIODRIVER(I use pulse, but tried alsa and other solutions), etc, but nothing was working.

My errors looked almost exactly like those of careym.

I'm running a pretty "vanilla"(as vanilla as an arch install can be) arch install with KDE4 and pulseaudio.

@LucasHenderson
Please read this:
https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/1179#issuecomment-13066470

Download both files into the same directory, then execute the shell file.

I have run into sound problems on OpenSuse 13.1 (not yet released). In my case the '/etc/machine-id' and the '/var/lib/dbus/machine-id' files both existed but contained different values.

I removed the dbus one and made a symlink to the other by running:
'sudo ln -s /etc/machine-id /var/lib/dbus/machine-id'

This fixed the issue for me.

Same problem as mentioned right above exists on Manjaro and Arch too. This must be some upstream bug that is fixed only in Ubuntu and derivatives basically and broken everywhere else.

thank you hachre this solved my problem with openSUSE 13.1
I have only tried half life, but it did fix the no sound issue.

Thank you hachre, fixed "no Dota 2 intro video" and "no sound in Dota 2 and ck2" problem on openSUSE 13.1 .

Thanks hachre, this fixed it! but how did you find this solution? :D

Interesting. I did have sound, but only on speakers and not on Bluetooth. This fixed it. Seems Steam couldn't connect to pulseaudio and used alsa directly.

June 2014 and this just happened to me. The solution provided by @hachre did the trick and everything seems to have sound again.

I have a problem where my microphone is not working in steam at all. Had some similar ALSA error messages as the ones above. Arch Linux 64 bit here.

Checked @hachre 's solution but in my case both machine-id files contained the same value so there was nothing to do there.

Also #3407 may be related?