Ahh hah! This was exactly the cause of my problem in #4257 on Debian Jessie 64-bit on my machine with multiple audio devices (onboard sound + HDMI out). I had not experienced the issue on my other machines, which now makes sense, as they only have one sound device.
Just to help you solve this problem with pulseaudio output:
It's not only module-combine-sink which let BPM-Audio-Settings crash but also module-remap-sink.
If valve-devs needs more INFO please let me know (Backtraces and such things, or pulseaudio deamon.conf/default.pa + speaker-configs)
Thx.
I have multiple audio devices (sometimes up to 4), and using a simultaneous output is a must for me. This crash is very reproducible as op said.
I'm getting this same crash when entering the interface audio settings. Checked and the module-combine-sink is NOT loaded, nor is module-remap-sink
This is running on Ubuntu 16.04 using an IEC958 (SPDIF) digital output. Audio works fine, just can't enter the interface settings.
Just to add that I am also getting this crash on 16.04 with module-cobine-sink loaded. It did not happen before I loaded the module, and removing the module stops it happening. Other applications are able to use the combined sink without any issue.
I am getting this crash on Arch Linux with module-combine-sink.
Big Picture -> Settings -> (Under Audio) Interface
Same issue, here's the error I get if I run it in the command line:
../common/pipes.cpp (571) : Assertion Failed: m_pInternalPipe->BRead failed
I can't believe this issue still isn't fixed after an entire year. Please fix it; I bought, with my own hard-earned money, games that I'd like to play, and now I can't because the DRM crashes at launch and I can't view the source. God, I wish the Steam Linux client was open source so we didn't have to rely on a company that doesn't fix half of the Linux bugs for support.
I don't have module-combine-sink loaded and I'm on Arch Linux, tried with STEAM_RUNTIME set to both 0 and 1, big picture mode is disabled.
EDIT: I got Steam to start, with Steam runtime enabled. Crashing seems to happen for me when the startup or login windows lose focus, but it might just be random. I'm using the i3 window manager with X.
@Majora320 This bug is specifically about a Big Picture Mode crash when module-combine-sink is loaded. If you don't have that module loaded or big picture mode enabled, you're probably experiencing a different bug.
@marxjohnson It's giving me the same error (../common/pipes.cpp (571) : Assertion Failed: m_pInternalPipe->BRead failed).
This isn't just an issue with BPM. Using module-combine-sink or module-null-sink (probably other modules as well) will cause Steam to crash immediately on start. Or if Steam is already started it will crash as soon as you load one of those sinks.
Sorry, ignore my previous comment. An update must have fixed something because it doesn't crash when starting Steam any more but it does still crash when accessing the audio options in BPM.
Nothing extracted yet.
So on a new SteamOS box, Alienware Steam Machine, I had edited /etc/pulse/system.pa with "load-module module-combine-sink", so I can have audio on both the HDMI Monitor and headset.
But it seems Steam clients just crashes and lightdm tries just restarts over and over again to get the steam seat up.
So I see if loading module-combine-sink on user-session PulseAudio deamon of a Debian Stretch worksystem makes any different.
It also crashes Steam BPM