protonscr

Steam fails to startup, Wayland not available

steamclosed
ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux#13313 · opened 2026-06-12 by KosmX · updated 2026-06-13 · 2 comments · github
KKosmX 2026-06-12 github

Your system information

  • Steam client version (build number or date): 2026-07-12
  • Distribution (e.g. Ubuntu): Flatpak runtime (archlinux)
  • Opted into Steam client beta?: Tried with both (and SteamRT3)
  • Have you checked for system updates?: Yes
  • Steam Logs: steam_logs.tar.gz
  • GPU: AMD gfx1201+11 (Mesa 26.0.6)
  • Wayland compositor: niri, xwayland-satellite up and running, I can run other apps that run on X11. Steam doesn't work even if I force it to X11.

Please describe your issue in as much detail as possible:

Steam does not launch, webhelper fails to start for some reason. no sandbox and no gpu options don't help.
I expect steam to start.

There is a very suspicious log in webhelper logs:

[2026-06-13 00:13:54] Browser - launching child process with: /proc/self/exe --type=utility --utility-sub-type=storage.mojom.StorageService --lang=en-US --service-sandbox-type=utility --no-sandbox --crashpad-handler-pid=999 --enable-crash-reporter=, --change-stack-guard-on-fork=enable --enable-chrome-runtime --user-data-dir=/home/kosmx/.var/app/com.valvesoftware.Steam/.local/share/Steam/config/htmlcache --user-agent-product=Valve Steam Client --buildid=1781041600 --steamid=0 --valve-initial-threadpool-size=4
[2026-06-13 00:13:54] src/webhelper/html_chrome.cpp (683) : Assertion Failed: SDL_Init failed: wayland not available
[2026-06-13 00:13:54] ERROR: CCEFThread Init failed to initialize SDL: wayland not available

Steam launches successfully if I start it with gamescope -W 2560 -H 1440 -e -- com.valvesoftware.Steam

Steps for reproducing this issue:

I have a standard Steam Flatpak install, 3 packages installed from flathub repo:
com.valvesoftware.Steam, com.valvesoftware.Steam.CompatibilityTool.Proton-GE, com.valvesoftware.SteamLink
I have ProtonGE enabled, i use it for some games, but I don't think that bricks steam.
I did reset the whole instance, and verified integrity, it did solve the problem, but as soon as I close Steam, I could not launch it again.

This issue may be connected to #4924

Kkisak-valve maintainer 2026-06-12 github

Hello @KosmX, Init failed to initialize SDL: wayland not available is a user configuration issue. Somewhere you've set and forgetten SDL_VIDEODRIVER or SDL_VIDEO_DRIVER to explicitly try to use SDL's wayland backend and no other options. If that's unset, then SDL will use the best available option automatically.

The fix here would be to find and remove those environment variables from being set with your desktop environment.

As a short term workaround, you can the flatpak equivalent of unset SDL_VIDEODRIVER; steam in a terminal or if you need to limit the scope, maybe flatseal has something to do similar.

KKosmX 2026-06-13 github

Okay, that works, thanks!

Launch options