this issue is not only chinese actually, CJK all got big issues with this.

CJK are guys from regions using chinese, japanese, and korean text characters. these dual-byte characters need IME to input.

also ibus family input method enhancer on linux cannot work with steam client for linux.
not only Chinese guys, i once saw a Japanese guy who wanted similar feature supporting with steam for linux.

if i did not go wrong, he once said anthy as a feature request, but which anthy, as far as i know on ubuntu, popular IME structures for Chinese+Japanese+Korean, there are ibus, scim, and, fcitx.
so, there are ibus-anthy, scim-anthy, and fcitx-anthy, so, which one?

well, personally, i think ibus family and fcitx family are better.

plus, another interesting issue going with this is that,

steam for linux cannot support copy and paste on ubuntu graphic desktop.

try it yourself, you will find, type/input some straight text into gedit window,

then copy them, then go steam for linux, go into dota2 game for linux, then paste the text into dota2 game chat window, try it, you will see, nothing copied and pasted.

why?

so if steam for linux cannot support IME on linux, very soon, could you guys add copy and paste for text on linux, then if some steam users only need less text input , copy and paste is enough for noob users.

because actually, now steam for linux can display chinese characters, like WenQuanYi fonts(also known as WQY fonts for Simplified Chinese.)
but, no IME support. and no copy and paste~

Yeah,it should be worked out!

于2014年04月18日 星期五 15时01分49秒,alexanderhou写到:

also ibus family input method enhancer on linux cannot work with steam client for linux.
not only Chinese guys, i once saw a Japanese guy who wanted similar feature supporting with steam for linux.

if i did not go, he once said anthy, but which anthy, as far as i know on ubuntu, popular IME structures for Chinese+Japanese+Korean, there are ibus, scim, and, fcitx.
so, there are ibus-anthy, scim-anthy, and fcitx-anthy, so, which one?

well, personally, i think ibus family and fcitx family are better.

---

Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub:
https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/3255#issuecomment-40791181

Yes I'm using fcitx (with mozc), too, and can only input latin characters. It generally works much better than ibus in my system, so it would be great if I could also use it in Steam.

I'm also interested in support for fcitx.

fcitx support +1

I wonder if IM support for Steam is the same as for the games. Most likely not. I haven't found a game where I can activate fcitx either. If fcitx support for steam platform and for individually games should be implemented seperately then it is much a nightmare.

Sogou Pinyin Method, the most popular input method in China, has released their Linux version by deb package, which is based on fcitx. So I prefer a fcitx fix for now.

Dota2 can input Chinese a year ago but why steam client still can't input ?

In the new year, I hope to quickly fix this problem.We need to communicate in the game.

My guess Valve seems to have no thought to solve this problem. Four years have passed!

Please bump this in priority - not being able to write anything using common input methods on Linux is a serious deficiency.

Even terminals that are barely a few ten thousand lines of C heavy and don't even use high level graphics APIs (urxvt) can somehow get this right.

Hoping the problem can be solved as soon as possible

same issue, any update ?

fcitx5 still not support yet.I dont know why dota2 support fcitx but steam and csgo cant.

Same issue. Tested on Fedora 30/31/32, Steam on Linux still can't use fcitx input method now. So do the games on Steam.

Still an issue unable to input Japanese with fcitx-mocz.

I add this env varaiable XMODIFIERS="" to launch options and it works with ibus.
Not sure works for everyone.

If you have other game options, try this XMODIFIERS="" %command% <Game Options>.

I add this env varaiable XMODIFIERS="" to launch options and it works with ibus.
Not sure works for everyone.

If you have other game options, try this XMODIFIERS="" %command% <Game Options>.

It does not work with fcitx and proton.

It doesn't support fcitx5 now.
Now that Steam Deck is out, how can you sell a device where I can't input my language?

This issue was opened at 2014, seven years have passed, not solved now at 2021. It's miserable for linux supporters.

It still doesn't support ibus, just wonder when can the issue been fixed

It's just astonishing to see that 7 years has passed since this issue was opened, and the steam client still doesn't support any of the most popular input methods. Needless to say that this issue is already marked "in review".
Steam has a very large user base in China, let alone Korea and Japan. In recent years, Linux users from China are steadily increasing as well. It's very disappointing for us Chinese users to see that Valve hasn't taken its user's opinions into account.
We hope that this issue can be closed asap. If even Nvidia can move to support wayland, why can't you guys make an effort to support ibus? @ValveSoftware

+1 here, can't type Japanese on Steam or Team Fortress 2 with fcitx5 on Debian Sid

So Chinese Linux gamers do not deserve a community in Steam's mind.

The kind Fcitx developer will save us: https://github.com/libsdl-org/SDL/pull/5281.
Hope Valve will update SDL in steam client as soon as this PR gets merged.

@VitalyAnkh no, it's not relevant..
I know steam big picture uses SDL and people can use input method there. The PR you are pointing is just to fix some small issue between SDL and input method.

The windowed version I have no idea what steam is using, but definitely it doesn't send anything to input method.

@wengxt Sorry, I didn't look into that PR carefully. But it's still great work, thank you!
AFAIK steam is using Chromium Embeded Framework (CEF).

https://github.com/libsdl-org/SDL/pull/5281 has been merged. Waiting for the SDL release it and steam update the dependency

2022 now, how do i type chinese on the login page>

Why are you inputting Chinese there?

libsdl-org/SDL#5281 has been merged. Waiting for the SDL release it and steam update the dependency

New version released, great.

@escape0707 Anything wrong to type your own langauge in a Steam chat window?

[macOS] Serious compatibility issue with macOS InputMethodKit framework.
https://steamcommunity.com/groups/SteamClientBeta/discussions/0/5144805327258452073/

@ShikiSuen

@escape0707 Anything wrong to type your own langauge in a Steam chat window?

2022 now, how do i type chinese on the login page>

@escape0707 His needs of typing non-ASCII contents to login page is invalid.
However, this is not related to the fact that Steam, at this moment, has lack of inline composition support on macOS.

His needs of typing non-ASCII contents to login page is invalid.

Thank you.

However, this is not related to the fact that Steam, at this moment, has lack of inline composition support on macOS.

I didn't deny that part in my comment at all. That's the exact reason I've subscribed to this thread.

@escape0707 As the developer of vChewing IME, I decided to manually implement a popup composition buffer window instead. However, its location will be situated to the bottom left of the current Steam window.

I am afraid that the IMKTextInput protocol implementation in Steam is incorrect / incomplete. It simply doesn't show any inline composition. Regarding the lineHeightRect reported by Steam through IMKTextInput protocol to IMKServer: It sometimes looks at the right place, and sometimes looks wrong with negative origin axis (i.e. outside of the screen).

This issue was opened since 2014, until 2022, not fixed.
Steam and valve games do not support cjk context.
however, it's ok to copy and paste cjk characters into the text-box, they can be displayed correctly.

@K85 Steam PC 版我不清楚，但 Mac 版目前的問題有兩點：
一、謊報當前文字輸入的座標位置給 macOS 系統的 InputMethodKit。
二、不顯示內文組字區。

Kernel: 6.0.9-arch1-1
Steam，Vavle基于Linux编译的Native游戏，基于Proton运行的游戏，均存在CJK输入的问题。
但是Copy-Paste是可以正确显示的，只要安装了对应的fonts即可。
Linux版本的Steam缺少对CJK环境支持的组件，Windows版本的Steam会在输入框右侧显示关于CJK支持的图标。
鉴于Steam Deck也基于Linux，CJK输入问题应当重新得到关注。

@K85 Linux 用 FCITX4 的輸入法（或者任何使用單獨的浮動組字視窗的輸入法）也無法與 Steam 搭配使用嗎？

我并没有测试过fcitx4，我一直使用的是fcitx5。
但是根据其他人的经验，fcitx无法与steam进行兼容。
其余的App可以通过修改/etc/environment来兼容fcitx，但是在Steam的窗体之中，根本无法唤起fcitx。
当然，你可以在外部窗体将fcitx打开，并且看到中文输入窗体，但是仍然无法将cjk文字键入到Steam的窗体中。（但却可以粘贴CJK文字到Steam的窗体之中）

@K85 Thanks.

@wengxt Sorry for interrupting but may I confirm something with you?
Is it a Steam problem (from your perspective) regarding the compatibility issue between Steam and FCITX5?

@K85,

Kernel: 6.0.9-arch1-1 Steam，Vavle基于Linux编译的Native游戏，基于Proton运行的游戏，均存在CJK输入的问题。 但是Copy-Paste是可以正确显示的，只要安装了对应的fonts即可。 Linux版本的Steam缺少对CJK环境支持的组件，Windows版本的Steam会在输入框右侧显示关于CJK支持的图标。 鉴于Steam Deck也基于Linux，CJK输入问题应当重新得到关注。

The virtual keyboard in Steam Deck gamescope UI (launched by Steam + Y) supports CJK typing and works really well in Steam Client itself as well as games. I'm not sure how that is implemented though.

Steam Deck 游戏模式 UI 里的虚拟键盘（用 Steam + Y 触发）支持 CJK 的书写，而且在 Steam 客户端本身和游戏里都没问题，可是我并不是很了解是怎么实现的

A workaround I have been using is to bind a shortcut to use Zenity dialog that prompts to enter text, where I can type out the Chinese characters, it pipes it into xclip selection such that I can paste it into the Steam Client / game text box.

我有一个间接的解决办法是用Zenity对话框给出可以输入中文的文本框，然后放入 xclip 的 selection 剪贴板这样我可以粘贴到客户端/游戏里

# i3 config
bindsym $mod+Tab exec zenity --entry --width=500 --title="Enter text to copy into selection" | xclip -selection clipboard

Steamdeck is using a completely different set of steam client. And steam still hasn't released the new Steam OS source as promised.

Replying to https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/3255#issuecomment-1336507419

这个办法不错，感谢

Update: I just confirmed that this issue has been solved in the current macOS version of Steam.
I dunno how things are going with the Windows and the Linux versions.

Fcitx5 does not work on the new electron/Steam on Linux still.
I am using KDE on wayland if that matters.

https://github.com/electron/electron/issues/33662#issuecomment-1401965053

Valve has never solved this problem. And, after Valve updated the client UI, it still hasn't fixed the issue.

@Tangtangchannel Which system? Linux or Windows?

@ShikiSuen linux , of course

now, steam still hasn't fixed the issue on linux

I'm not sure what happened, but today suddenly I could type Chinese using fcitx5 in both Steam Linux desktop client / Big Picture mode. Everything works perfectly.

Maybe you guys should give it a try, and see if this issue have finally been fixed.

Here is my system information:

• Distro: Gentoo
• Kernel Version: 6.6.12
• Fcitx Version: 5.1.7
• Window Manager: I3
• Steam Client Version:

Steam 測試版分支:  Steam Beta Update
Steam 版本:  1705630720
Steam 用戶端組建日期:  1月19日 週五 09:58 UTC -08:00
Steam 網頁端組建日期:  1月19日 週五 10:04 UTC -08:00
Steam API 版本:  SteamClient021

• fcitx5-related environment variable:

export XMODIFIERS="@im=fcitx"
export QT_IM_MODULE=fcitx
export GTK_IM_MODULE=fcitx

great, beta steam now supports fcitx5 on archlinux kde

Replying to https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/3255#issuecomment-1900462467

Thanks for mention! It work on my system now:

It works on steam beta version, fcitx5 and same environment variable settings.
After nearly 10 years, we finally see the light :)

Still can't get it to work for the time being with following configuration:

Steam 测试分支:  Steam Beta Update
Steam 版本:  1705720677
Steam 客户端生成版本日期:  1月19日周五 21:59 UTC-08:00
Steam 网页生成版本日期:  1月19日周五 20:04 UTC-08:00
Steam API 版本:  SteamClient021

Distro: NixOS
fcitx5: 5.1.6
Window Manager: Hyprland
Display Server: wayland

export XMODIFIERS="@im=fcitx"

Setting QT_IM_MODULE and GTK_IM_MODULE to unset, fcitx, and wayland has all been tested with no observable change.

New beta steam works fine by changing env.

Steam 测试分支:  Steam Beta Update
Steam 版本:  1710281934
Steam 客户端生成版本日期:  3月13日周三 5:14 UTC-08:00
Steam 网页生成版本日期:  3月13日周三 5:13 UTC-08:00
Steam API 版本:  SteamClient021

Arch Linux, linux-6.7.9-zen1-1-zen, KDE Plasma 5.27.10, X11, fctix5.1.8

cat  /etc/environment

GTK_IM_MODULE=fcitx
QT_IM_MODULE=fcitx
XMODIFIERS=@im=fcitx
SDL_IM_MODULE=fcitx

Need to change the symlink script to set the LANG . Or just set the environment and run steam in terminal.

cat  /bin/steam

#!/bin/sh
export LANG=zh_CN.UTF-8
exec /usr/lib/steam/steam "$@"

Can confirm, LANG=zh_CN.UTF-8 was the critical variable that made it work for me. I missed it in January.

I don't know what happened? Now my steam cannot input any characters, including Chinese, but when I change LANG to en_US.UTF-8, I only can input english

my environment variable:

GTK_IM_MODULE=fcitx
QT_IM_MODULE=fcitx
XMODIFIERS=@im=fcitx
SDL_IM_MODULE=fcitx
INPUT_METHOD=fcitx
GLFW_IM_MODULE=ibus

@jinzhongjia What's your distro? My Gentoo box have exactly same issue, and after some testing, I've confirmed it's caused by upgrade x11-libs/libX11-1.8.7 to x11-libs/libX11-1.8.8.

Not sure why exactly this happened, but after downgrade to libX11-1.8.7, everything works fine again.

Yap, very likely. Before I downgrade my libX11, I noticed I could type Latin alphabet into Steam Client if I don't set XMODIFIERS.

It's obviously a problem caused by the libx11 update. All we can do now is wait for the fix

Now Arch has pushed a new patch version for libx11, and steam inputs are normal.
libx11 version: 1.8.8-3

Can confirm, LANG=zh_CN.UTF-8 was the critical variable that made it work for me. I missed it in January.

I can confirm that on Arch Linux this is indeed the critical variable. Good job!

Running Steam on nixos 24.05 64-bit, I found that the font is not correct (means all chinese are displayed as rectangle), but I can switch to IBus input method and typing as normal， seems it is very close.

And, run LANG=zh_CN.UTF-8 steam doesn't helps.

Running Steam on nixos 24.05 64-bit, I found that the font is not correct (means all chinese are displayed as rectangle), but I can switch to IBus input method and typing as normal， seems it is very close.

And, run LANG=zh_CN.UTF-8 steam doesn't helps.

This problem is a steam packaging problem on nixos

May you need use this:

  programs.steam.package = pkgs.steam.override {
    extraPkgs = pkgs: [ pkgs.非可变中文字体包 ];
  };

Yeah,this issue seems like still exist……

XMODIFIERS=@im=fcitx and LANG=zh_CN.UTF-8 are my key to solve the problem

XMODIFIERS=@im=fcitx and LANG=zh_CN.UTF-8 are my key to solve the problem

Thank you.Let me have a try.

I know this is an old issue but I still cannot get Chinese typing to work 100%.
One thing I am sure is that the environment variables are working to allow fcitx to type within steam / other applications. However, the instances launched at start up / with the .desktop will not work despite I loaded the variables using /etc/environment and .bash_profile.
For instance, I have to close steam that launched with desktop mode and manually launch again to get fcitx working.
Moreover, for flatpak based apps like edge, I have to launch within the konsole (which then has the variables defined) to work with fcitx.
The fcitx5 in discover works differently , that it would work with flatpak apps by default but it is a few versions back. However, that doesn't work in steam unless I relaunch steam.
I think this is an issue with how flatpak and steamos sets the variables during launch, and just setting /etc/environment does not work with the fcitx I installed with pacman. And the fcitx5 from discover works somewhat auto-magically (I dont know why).
A bonus is that I can type with the floating keyboard in Minecraft, but I cannot with my physical keyboard (in desktop mode). And I cannot figure that out.

Now Arch has pushed a new patch version for libx11, and steam inputs are normal.现在 Arch 已经推送了 libx11 的新补丁版本，steam 输入正常。 libx11 version: 1.8.8-3libx11 版本： 1.8.8-3

即便如此使用 fcitx 仍然出现漏字问题

XMODIFIERS=@im=fcitx and LANG=zh_CN.UTF-8 are my key to solve the problem

用这两个环境变量的确可以使用了。虽然我也有漏字符的问题，不过勉强是可以用了。
另一个问题是候选字框的位置跟输入光标的位置离得很远，可能是X11程序界面缩放的问题。

Yup, I am using Fcitx5 (Because I am using Plasma Wayland).
In RT3 Version ( x64 Beta ),The bug is also not fix yet.
Idk why not Valve let their Steam client support Wayland and Wayland IME, It based by libcef.
Always missing some charaters, It is so uncomfortable

A bug that has existed for more than ten years. It's obviously a bug from the fcitx team. For a long time, whenever the fcitx team is asked about bugs, they always shift the blame to other software. They're used to doing this. Are they still shifting the blame to Steam now?

@leonevilred When you say this, this only shows that you have zero understanding on how this works. For X11, it works like
App (steam) for every key event it receives from xserver, it sends an IPC via libx11 to fcitx, and then fcitx sends a reply back.

When such random key leak happens, it only means App failed to send some all keys to input method, which means there's no way that this is a fcitx issue. If you don't trust fcitx, just go use any other input method on linux instead.

@leonevilred When you say this, this only shows that you have zero understanding on how this works. For X11, it works like App (steam) for every key event it receives from xserver, it sends an IPC via libx11 to fcitx, and then fcitx sends a reply back.

When such random key leak happens, it only means App failed to send some all keys to input method, which means there's no way that this is a fcitx issue. If you don't trust fcitx, just go use any other input method on linux instead.

This is ridiculous. On GNOME Wayland with IBus, you can switch between all software without modifying any configuration files. Yet you go to Steam to attack others?
I forgot to unsubscribe. I support Steam in closing this issue.

The most ridiculous kind of negative feedback is shifting blame for your own bugs onto others instead of reflecting on your own flaws.

Not reflecting on why Linux hasn't gained widespread adoption, but instead shifting blame and taking pride in configuration files.

Replying to https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/3255#issuecomment-4103335905

Please not finger-point at each other, lets just provide the right feedback and suggest the right fix shall we?

If you think something is wrong with fcitx, please elaborate how ibus is doing things differently and how fcitx should fix it.

I don't have a Linux machine right now. But from what I tried last year, Ibus-wayland did work in Steam X11 to some extend, in a terrible way.
In X11 app, when you type something, the candidate bar will show up as a tiny popup window with decoration (title bar,- + x)

Now Arch has pushed a new patch version for libx11, and steam inputs are normal.现在 Arch 已经推送了 libx11 的新补丁版本，steam 输入正常。 libx11 version: 1.8.8-3libx11 版本： 1.8.8-3

即便如此使用 fcitx 仍然出现漏字问题

You'd better file a separate bug instead. This is not the original purpose of the issue (original issue is steam has no input method support at all, that one at least at this point is solved partially). You can also file a bug to fcitx too if you want where we can collect more information.

Nah,The question is why Valve not porting Steam Client to Wayland and use Wayland IME Protocol.
Not about fcitx5 and Plasma and any other guys.

Not everyone like use the GNOME and ibus. GNOME is suck for me, I am really hate it.

iBus is just design for GNOME, In any other desktop use it, Just get a terrible experience.

Nah,The question is why Valve not porting Steam Client to Wayland and use Wayland IME Protocol. Not about fcitx5 and Plasma and any other guys.

Not everyone like use the GNOME and ibus. GNOME is suck for me, I am really hate it.

iBus is just design for GNOME, In any other desktop use it, Just get a terrible experience.

I also don’t like GNOME and use Wayland instead. But it must be said that Wayland still needs further development.

• desk env:
  • gnome: touch screen, e.g. ipad, 2in1
  • plasma: computer
• (non-latin) input method:
  • ibus: Japan
  • fcitx: china
• system:
  • windows with nvidia gpu for game players
  • android for mobile users
  • linux/wsl for programmers
  • mac/harmony for apple/huawei fans

If use linux to play games: ubuntu+gnome+wine

1985-2025,
the whole open source community is too old
to solve every issue perfectly.

OS info:

Operating System: Fedora Linux 44
KDE Plasma Version: 6.7.0
KDE Frameworks Version: 6.27.0
Qt Version: 6.11.1
Kernel Version: 7.0.12-201.fc44.x86_64 (64-bit)
Graphics Platform: Wayland
Processors: 16 × AMD Ryzen 7 4800H with Radeon Graphics
Memory: 16 GiB of RAM (15.0 GiB usable)
Graphics Processor 1: AMD Radeon Graphics
Graphics Processor 2: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Ti
Manufacturer: HP
Product Name: HP Pavilion Gaming Laptop 15-ec1xxx

dux@fedora:~$ rpm -qa | grep ibus
libuser-0.64-17.fc44.x86_64
ibus-table-chinese-1.8.14-3.fc44.noarch
ibus-chewing-2.1.7-2.fc44.x86_64
ibus-hangul-1.5.5-12.fc44.x86_64
ibus-table-chinese-cangjie-1.8.14-3.fc44.noarch
ibus-libpinyin-1.16.5-3.fc44.x86_64
libusb1-1.0.30-1.fc44.x86_64
ibus-libs-1.5.34-2.fc44.x86_64
libusbmuxd-2.1.1-1.fc44.x86_64
ibus-gtk3-1.5.34-2.fc44.x86_64
python3-ibus-1.5.34-2.fc44.x86_64
ibus-1.5.34-2.fc44.x86_64
ibus-panel-1.5.34-2.fc44.x86_64
ibus-anthy-python-1.5.18-2.fc44.noarch
ibus-anthy-1.5.18-2.fc44.x86_64
ibus-setup-1.5.34-2.fc44.noarch
ibus-m17n-1.4.39-1.fc44.x86_64
ibus-table-1.17.19-1.fc44.noarch
ibus-gtk4-1.5.34-2.fc44.x86_64
libusb1-1.0.30-1.fc44.i686
ibus-gtk2-1.5.34-2.fc44.x86_64
ibus-typing-booster-2.30.10-1.fc44.noarch

video:

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/7c74b66f-3d46-4b50-a6e8-91011c3b914d

I tried XMODIFIERS=@im=ibus.
At most 2 letters can be entered, and the entered letters will be automatically replaced with Chinese characters.
For example, pinyin:ni will automatically output chinese:年.