protonscr

Steam client is "forgetting" the language settings

steamopen Steam clientlocalization
ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux#5060 · opened 2017-07-04 by FurretUber · updated 2019-07-18 · 26 comments · github
FFurretUber 2017-07-04 github

Your system information

  • Steam client version (build number or date): 8 Jun 2017
  • Distribution (e.g. Ubuntu): Xubuntu 17.04 amd64
  • Opted into Steam client beta?: No
  • Have you checked for system updates?: Yes

Please describe your issue in as much detail as possible:

I use Steam in Brazilian Portuguese, however after the computer is rebooted or Steam is reopened some times, problems start to happen with the language. It is noticeable when the problems start, because it is when the window asking to create a new Steam account appears, even if there should open the window only asking for the password.

On this particular time, the client has mixed languages: the Library is still in Brazilian Portuguese, but the Store is in English, parts of Friends window are in both idioms. In settings, the text is in Brazilian Portuguese, however in Interface is selected English but in the text with the link to translations is written:

Fluente em inglês e português? Ajude-nos a traduzir o Steam.

Which is what appears when Brazilian Portuguese is the selected language.

After this particular buggy time, after I restart everything is in English.

Expected behavior: if a language is chosen, it will be always used.

Observed behavior: the language is forgotten by the Steam Client, and in one session it has English and Brazilian Portuguese mixed.

Steps for reproducing this issue:

  1. Set Steam language to Brazilian Portuguese;
  2. Restart the computer and open Steam some times;
  3. Notice how the language reverts to English.
Kkisak-valve maintainer 2017-07-04 github

Possibly a side effect of #5035.

FFurretUber 2017-07-04 github

The issue appears to be similar. The localization issue may be related, but to me it happens much more often than every two days. Only today this happened twice, the difference was lower than 12 hours.

AAztorius 2017-07-13 github

Same issue with French.

  1. Set language to French and restart Steam.
  2. Restart the computer or reload Steam.
  3. Steam may forgot username and password. And language is full English.
Ddarealshinji 2017-07-27 github

I remember a much older discussion about the same issue.

The Steam client overwrites $HOME/.steam/registry.vdf with data that contains no user info:

"Registry"
{
	"HKLM"
	{
		"Software"
		{
			"Valve"
			{
				"Steam"
				{
					"SteamPID"		"0"
					"TempAppCmdLine"		""
				}
			}
		}
	}
}

I was able to "fix" this by adding the required settings and then making the file read-only:

"Registry"
{
	"HKCU"
	{
		"Software"
		{
			"Valve"
			{
				"Steam"
				{
					"language"		"german"
					"AutoLoginUser"		"djcj"
					"RememberPassword"		"1"
					"SourceModInstallPath"		"/home/djcj/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/sourcemods"
					"AlreadyRetriedOfflineMode"		"0"
				}
			}
		}
	}
}

It's weird because sometimes after an installation all this doesn't happen. Maybe it has something to do with timestamps, but I really don't know. A side-effect of having the settings file read-only may be that, if you close Steam during a download or installation it may not continue automatically after a restart. Verifying the cache of a game can help here.

?ghost 2017-08-28 github

I'm affected by this too. I hate it.

Ssoredake 2017-08-28 github

@Kiibakun sudo chattr +i ~/.steam/registry.vdf

?ghost 2017-08-28 github

But that file contains not only my language configuration, it also has "installed apps" and things. Thanks for the workaround but will not have some bad side-effect?

Ssoredake 2017-08-28 github

@Kiibakun these if you close Steam during a download or installation it may not continue automatically after a restart, or try this https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/5030#issuecomment-325124645

?ghost 2017-08-28 github

Uhm, thanks, then i'll do that, i never close steam while updating. 😄

?ghost 2017-09-07 github

Seems to be fixed in the Steam beta client for me.

Kkolen 2018-01-28 github

Having the same problem on MacOS for a long time. Updated to beta, seems that it's fixed in it, selected language is now preserved between restarts.

TThePierrasse 2018-01-28 github

Still having this issue on Ubuntu 16.04.3.

?ghost 2018-02-03 github

still relevant

Kklebes 2018-02-04 github

Nenhuma soluçao, para este problema estou usando o Steam pelo debian 8, possuo dois computadores com o mesmo sistema operacional, e ambos com o mesmo problema com o Steam:perder o idioma, nao salvar login e senha e mais algumas coisinhas, até parece que não comprei um produto, para não darem nenhuma solução com o update

TThePierrasse 2018-02-04 github

I have the exact same issue with the only difference being that my two computers run Ubuntu 16.04.3 and not Debian 8.

Kklebes 2018-02-05 github

@ThePierrasse nota-se uma falta de sensibilidade na hora de compatiblizar a Steam para o sistema Linux e olha que nos dois usamos duas distros mais utilizadas por usuarios dos sistemas Linux

Mmaxtar 2018-04-09 github

I have the same issue for Russian language.

Kklebes 2018-04-10 github

I never again played my steam games, but I will update my steam to see if they have already solved

FFurretUber 2018-04-11 github

Since I reported this issue, I upgraded Xubuntu to 18.04 Bionic Beaver and there were a few updates on the Steam client, but this particular issue was not solved yet.

Aanolting 2018-08-25 github

issue still exists.

RReonu 2018-08-30 github

Issue still happens and it's extremely annoying. Steam keeps forgetting my login info and/or language randomly.

Ubuntu Budgie 18.04 64 bits. Language set to Spanish.

Llegluondunet 2018-08-30 github

Same as Leon on Ubuntu 18.04, Steam sometimes restart in English instead of my native language or worse loose my login/password...
Ubuntu 18.04 64 bits French

?ghost 2018-09-13 github

the problem still persists.

Kubuntu 18.04.1
i always have to change the language to portuguese (brasil) after a reboot. is really annoying.

Ssircola 2019-04-15 github

yeah, got effected by this and it's so annoying that I'm actually here lol. I'm on ubuntu 18.04 and I want to use hungarian always.
Anyways I still love steam.

YYokiToki 2019-04-21 github

Still relevant (Linux Mint 19.1)

Ddarealshinji 2019-04-21 github

@ steam devs:
If this can be fixed by changing the access rights of the registry.vdf file, why don't you just do that as a temporary solution until you figured out the actual cause of this?