Steam(ClientUI) sometimes turns transparent, freezes desktop

[jmbreuer]

I'm running KDE (stable) using X11 on a Laptop with both Intel (HD Graphics 530 (SKL GT2)) and nVidia (GeForce GTX 950M) graphics. It's that setup where Intel does all the display, and the nVidia dGPU can render to its framebuffer (when all the stars align right).

Code: Select all

x11-drivers/nvidia-drivers-535.161.07
VIDEO_CARDS="iris crocus intel i965 nvidia"
[     7.731] (II) Module glamoregl: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
[     7.731]    compiled for 1.21.1.11, module version = 1.0.1
[     7.731]    ABI class: X.Org ANSI C Emulation, version 0.4
[     7.895] (II) modeset(0): glamor X acceleration enabled on Mesa Intel(R) HD Graphics 530 (SKL GT2)
[     7.948] (II) Module glxserver_nvidia: vendor="NVIDIA Corporation"
[     7.948]    compiled for 1.6.99.901, module version = 1.0.0
[     7.948]    Module class: X.Org Server Extension
[     7.948] (II) NVIDIA GLX Module  535.161.07  Sat Feb 17 23:13:26 UTC 2024
[     7.949] (II) NVIDIA: The X server supports PRIME Render Offload.
[     7.950] (II) NVIDIA(G0): NVIDIA GPU NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M (GM107-A) at PCI:1:0:0
[     8.039] (II) modeset(0): [DRI2] Setup complete
[     8.039] (II) modeset(0): [DRI2]   DRI driver: iris
[     8.039] (II) modeset(0): [DRI2]   VDPAU driver: va_gl

Games making use of this mostly work well, but recently there's a nagging issue with the Steam Client UI itself that has crept in recently (some update within the last few weeks I'd say):

"Sometimes" (meaning, sometimes right when starting it, sometimes / there's a certain chance of this happening whenever activating/raising its window), the Steam Client main window will display with some level of transparency (maybe 30% translucent, ie 30% of the background shines through) and in that state freeze my whole desktop - I can still move the mouse pointer, but clicking anywhere does nothing. Keyboard also is still 'alive' (num lock LED toggles, e.g.) but there's no reaction to any (desktop-related) hotkey combinations (Alt-Tab, bringing up the K menu or KRunner, ....).

Switching to a different virtual console with Ctrl+Alt+F3 (or something) works; and I can 'pkill steam' from there. After that, the desktop is 'normal' again (but the Steam client gone, obviously).

I'm running the steam client from a console window, I didn't see anything logged there that would correlate to the freeze. But I'll continue to observe this more closely.

I'm running the whole steam client under 'prime-run' (not just individual games), because otherwise that shader pre-caching doesn't work so well.

(Also, one game that I'm currently playing - Remember Me - refuses to work when the steam client only 'sees' the Intel GPU, but I run the game with 'prime-run'. Don't know exactly what's going on there exactly, but loading the 'wrong' pre-cached shaders would kinda make sense.)

Any ideas what could be going on here / how to analyse/debug this further?

[pizza-rat]

The new Steam client has been getting more and more broken with each update for me. Sometime it'll even take my X session with it when I close it.

Only advice I can give is trying to switch between beta/non-beta clients in Steam's (interface?) options. If you use Steam through flatpak, do a flatpak update. If you don't use Steam through flatpak, maybe try the flatpak. It's the only thing I use flatpak for because Steam gets angry when I try to Firejail it.