i have this too, and yes, it is a problem with old nvidia cards

this is a problem with opengl requirements and with nvidia drivers

so, im sorry to say, you either need to get a new nvidia card, or you need to beg them for a fallback for draw_buffers_2

I had this too. Could be the proprietary NVIDIA 304 driver.

The glColorMaskIndexedEXT error occurs with:

• Asus GT 6600 card
  • with 304.43 driver
  • with 304.48 driver
  • with 304.64 driver
• EVGA GT 7900 card
  • with 304.43 driver
  • with 304.48 driver
  • with 304.64 driver
• EVGA GTX 480 HC card
  • with 304.43 driver
  • did not try the 304.48 driver
  • with 304.64 driver

Could not use NVIDIA 310.14 drivers with the 6600 and 7900 cards. Driver would install and activate, but was not "in use" according to jockey.

Everything worked fine and did not get the glColorMaskIndexedEXT error with:

• EVGA GT 620 with 310.14 drivers
• EVGA GT 640 with 310.14 drivers
• EVGA GTX 480 HC with 310.14 drivers

Seems to be a strong correlation with the driver version, versus the card, although it could all be interrelated.

I have this same problem, however I'm using an AMD Catalyst 12.10 (also tried with 12.11-beta11) with an AMD e-450 series APU (cpu/gpu) Radeon HD 6320..

i wish i can figure out how to fix

I receive the same error message when launching TF2.

Processor Information:
    Vendor:  AuthenticAMD
    Speed: 2211 Mhz
    2 logical processors
    2 physical processors
    HyperThreading:  Unsupported
    FCMOV:  Supported
    SSE2:  Supported
    SSE3:  Supported
    SSSE3:  Supported
    SSE4a:  Unsupported
    SSE41:  Unsupported
    SSE42:  Unsupported

Network Information:
    Network Speed:  

Operating System Version:
    Ubuntu 12.10 (64 bit)
    Kernel Name:  Linux
    Kernel Version:  3.5.0-21-generic
    X Server vendor:  The X.Org Foundation
    X Server release:  11300902

Video Card:
    Driver:  NVIDIA Corporation GeForce 7800 GT/PCIe/SSE2

    Driver Version:  2.1.2 NVIDIA 304.64
    Desktop Color Depth: 24 bits per pixel
    Monitor Refresh Rate: 60 Hz
    VendorID:  0x10de
    DeviceID:  0x92
    Number of Monitors:  1
    Number of Logical Video Cards:  1
    Primary Display Resolution:  1280 x 1024
    Desktop Resolution: 1280 x 1024
    Primary Display Size: 14.80" x 11.85"  (18.94" diag)
                                        37.6cm x 30.1cm  (48.1cm diag)
    Primary Bus: PCI Express 16x
    Primary VRAM Not Detected
    Supported MSAA Modes:  2x 4x 8x 16x 

Sound card:
    Audio device: Realtek ALC850 rev 0

Memory:
    RAM:  3955 Mb

Miscellaneous:
    UI Language:  English
    LANG:  en_AU.UTF-8
    Microphone:  Not set
    Total Hard Disk Space Available:  255215 Mb
    Largest Free Hard Disk Block:  224893 Mb

Installed software:

Recent Failure Reports:

Got error with GeForce 6800 GT card, nvidia 304.48 driver, AMD 64, Linux version 3.2.0-35-generic

I'm having the same issue. GeForce 6800 Ultra*, AMD FX 6300, 8GB RAM, 304.64 nVidia driver, Linux version 3.2.0-35-generic (x86_64).

It seems unlikely nVidia are going to update the old drivers since they've officially stopped supporting cards older than the 8xxx series. Some people in this thread seem to have gotten around the issue by creating a stub for GL_EXT_draw_buffers2 (which contains the function glColorMaskIndexedEXT). This suggests it's not a vital function. Perhaps Valve could create a workaround so that TF2 is kinder to older cards?

*Yes I know it's an old card but running Linux has meant there has been been little reason to update it till now.

According to discussion http://steamcommunity.com/app/221410/discussions/0/882966056532198187/#p1
this problem is also affecting AMD cards.

My configuration:

• Dell Inspirion E1505
• AMD Radeon X1300 Mobility, open drivers
• Ubuntu 12.10

Could we add ''AMD drivers" to this issue?

rakk, done.

Hello,

I've taken a look at this today. The extension is, indeed, not used by TF2--though it is used by other Source-engine titles. However, there is an SRGB bug hiding behind the missing extension. These have proven... very time consuming... to find and fix. It may be awhile before this issue gets addressed.

Hello,

I looked at this issue again yesterday. The sRGB issue hiding behind the missing extension is indeed quite complicated. Complicating matters is that:

• 6xxx and 7xxx hardware have been EOL'd. The code specific to these GPUs isn't even compiled into drivers anymore.
• 6xxx and 7xxx GPUs are incapable of performing sRGB functionality needed by Source Engine titles when being driven by OpenGL. (The sRGB behavior as specified in OpenGL is slightly different than the behavior that was actually unspecified in D3D9, which is why this works in D3D9 but not in OpenGL).

tldr; it's extremely unlikely this issue will be addressed, I'm really sorry!

That's okay. Thanks for looking into it for us! It's great to know the reasons why. And it will make things all the sweeter when I eventually get myself a Steambox. Imagine all the new weapons I can be utterly confused by! :-)

This is cool info to know.. But what doesn't make since for me when I read that info provided by McJohn, is how come tf2 plays for me on archlinux with amd catalyst 13.1, and it also plays for me on Ubuntu 12.04 with amd catalyst 12.8+, but it gives the color extension error when playing on Slackware with amd catalyst .... Something doesn't add up.. With the info provided by McJohn, it sounds like if you have this issue with this radeon card then you're out of luck and it will never work, but that's not true because I've got it working and not working depending on configuration..

Cheers

@nvMcJohn, the main issue for me was that there was no way to determine from the Steam client that the GPU wasn't going to work. They could easily check which card (or ask you to input it) and match with a DB of supported gl features couldn't they. Would have saved gigs of downloads.

I am experiencing this Issue with Mint 13, 304.46 on a 7300 GT and Counter-Strike Source.
Can you add the CSS Tag?

That's so bad. I just bought CS: Source and now i can't play it. :( There is no any workaround? I don't want to buy a new graphics card if I can play this game in full details on Windows. And it makes no sense to buy a new graphics card for my old PC, GF 7900GS is just enough.

I'm having the same problem in Counter-Strike: Source with a Radeon 9800 on Lubuntu 12.10 with the latest mesa version and OpenGL 2.1. Yes, I know the GPU old, but it should work. This isn't my primary rig, I'm only testing Steam for Linux on various PC configurations, but I hope this will be fixed. Hell, CSS even runs on Nvidia GeForce 2 MX400 in Windows (www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNsHDOeSbQM), so it would be shameful for it not to work on much newer cards.

I am also having this issue on my 2 laptops (7600 GO and 7900 GS). I found this workaround on Steam's forum:

http://steamcommunity.com/app/221410/discussions/0/882966056532198187/#c846939854269421116

It worked for me for both CS:S and TF2. Hope this helps some of you.

I also have this problem with CS:S on Radeon 9600 c Mesa from git. By windows 7 such problems have not seen.

My computer:
p4s533-mx
Pentium 4 celeron 2600 mgz
1.5 gb ram
Arch Linux on 3.7.1 linux kernel

I think it should work.

Issue transferred to ValveSoftware/Source-1-Games#32.

This issue is closed - continue conversation there.