protonscr

Latest beta client on Gamescope and Steam Compositor flickers in-game

steamclosed Big PictureoverlayDistro Family: Arch
ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux#7966 · opened 2021-08-02 by Samsagax · updated 2021-10-29 · 10 comments · github
SSamsagax 2021-08-02 github

Your system information

  • Steam client version (build number or date): august 2nd, 2021
  • Distribution (e.g. Ubuntu): ArchLinux
  • Opted into Steam client beta?: Yes
  • Have you checked for system updates?: Yes

Please describe your issue in as much detail as possible:

Running Steam BPM under Gamescope as a single-user session under systemd with these scripts games started by the client flicker alternatively a game frame and a blue (wait, three bars) screen. Only happens under current beta, stable client version works without issues.

  1. Run steam under Gamescope (with $ /usr/bin/gamescope -e -f -- steam -tenfoot -steamos -fulldesktopres)
  2. Opt-in to beta (wait for updates)
  3. Start a game (any game)

Game starts flickering a blue "wait" (three bars) screen from Steam client and a game frame alternatively.

SSamsagax 2021-08-13 github

This also happens in the steam-compositor, not only on Gamescope. Is there a way to test the client with an older version of the runtime so I can pin down if it is a runtime issue?

Aalkazar 2021-09-11 github

This issue is now in the mainline version of Steam, and also affects the SteamOS compositor. It is also worse than just flickering: many games will not become focused at all.

While debugging the issue in steamos-compositor-plus I found that the compositor thought there was always a game with ID 413090 running. This "game" is "Steam Controller Configs - Big Picture" according to steamdb. The compositor can only focus a single app window at a time, so the two apps fight for focus and one will win somewhat randomly or the compositor will constantly switch between the two.

Not sure if this is a bug in the Steam client or the consequence of some intentional new feature. For reference, I worked around it with this change:
https://github.com/ChimeraOS/steamos-compositor-plus/commit/cdfc4431b9f47215c439504af3be223eadb4308a

steamos-compositor-plus 1.8.4 in the AUR includes this change.

Kkisak-valve maintainer 2021-09-11 github

Hello @alkazar, can you also add a focus note to #8055 if appropriate?

SSamsagax 2021-09-11 github

I can confirm the workaround works with current stable and beta client using SteamOS compositor plus.

Gamescope still presents the issue.

PPlagman 2021-09-15 github

There is a fix in the Steam client that is scheduled to release to Beta this week.

SSamsagax 2021-09-18 github

Current version beta (1631912732) still flickers (less frequent like instead of each frame, each half-second). The workaround by @alkazar made the games playable but seems to introduce performance issues. I noticed games don't flicker but instead frames need more time to render or use more GPU time.

SSamsagax 2021-09-25 github

I'm happy to report that current beta version (1632409172) does not flicker in game :) kudos!

Ffrioux 2021-09-25 github

That's awesome!

On Fri, Sep 24, 2021, 6:02 PM Joaquín Ignacio Aramendía <
@.***> wrote:

I'm happy to report that current beta version (1632409172) does not
flicker in game :) kudos!


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PPlagman 2021-09-29 github

Thanks for confirming.

SSamsagax 2021-10-29 github

I've not been testing for a while on the non-beta client. But today I can confirm the issue is gone in (at least) version 1634158817. So I'm closing this one.