This may not be a Linux specific problem as I had the exact same issue earlier with Windows 7 and it’s one of the reasons I installed Linux in the first place.
The specific game I’m trying to play is DayZ but it may not be issue specific to this game. It worked flawlessly untill this point. I had made no changes to anything. Basically when I try to launch the game it starts loading up normally and then just apparently quits and the “Play” button goes back green. No error, no black screen, no freezing or anything. It just stops launching the game.
I’ve tried checking the integrity of files, deleting downloads catche, disabling steam cloud, removing launch options… nothing. Almost like it gets blocked by firewall or something. However I feel like it may be an issue with steam itself or then it’s a hardware issue (I’ve got really old PC)
Few things I’ve noticed that may or may not be related:
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When opening up steam it almost always used to download some updates first and check the integrity of them or something. Now it doesn’t. It just opens up Steam. When I click “check for updates” it says everything is up to date.
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The firmware updater shows available updates for my SSD and HDD but no option to update. I also tried with
sudo fwupdmgr get-devicesbut it says “UEFI firmware can not be updated in legacy BIOS mode See https://github.com/fwupd/fwupd/wiki/PluginFlag:legacy-bios for more information.”
- In the privacy settings it says “checks failed” and gives me this message:
- I’ve tried reinstalling Proton BattlEye Runtime but it wont let me uninstall it and says “missing shared content”
the last part is not true, apt installs things natively. Ubuntu software (the graphical app store) uses snap, howeverI stand corrected. The apt packages on Ubuntu sometimes just install snaps under the hood. really strange move by Canonical
Yeah I installed Steam using the Ubuntu app store. Now I’m trying to uninstall it but it’s been going on for an hour and doesn’t seem to be progressing anywhere.
I’m sorry you’re having such a bad experience. It should be as simple as uninstalling in the Ubuntu store, and then reinstalling either using apt or flatpak. Is the uninstall not working?
I need no try again. The uninstall failed the first time. It got stuck at 80% or so. I’ve had so much issues with Linux from the start that I’m getting suspicious about wether it’s a hardware issue.
The uninstalling issue almost certainly isn’t hardware related, Ubuntu’s app store is just a pile of hot garbage. Stuff like that happens all the time, or at least that was my experience years ago when I used Ubuntu, one of the (many) reasons I no longer recommend Ubuntu to new users.
As for the Steam issues, it’s probably a mix of software and hardware issues. It seems there are some permissions issues (likely caused by snap), but it also seems like there are GPU driver issues. What GPU do you have? If you have an Nvidia card, have you installed their drivers? There is also a very real possibility that your card is so old that DayZ is no longer compatible with it (which may be the case given that it wasn’t working in Windows, but to be fair Windows 7 is incredibly out of date and doesn’t receive updates so it could have also been a software/driver issue there).
My GPU is just a few years old GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER and I just updated the drivers from 535 to 545 but no difference. However I’ve gotten a prompt saying that Steam needs nvidia-driver-libs:i386 so I’m not sure if I should install that instead or in addition to the ones I already have.
I still haven’t been able to uninstall steam snap(?) either. I’d like to try the non-snap version using terminal but I don’t know how to proceed. I’m sorry I’m such a novice with Linux. I’m feeling like my replies are really unhelpful.
EDIT: No luck trying to install the other drivers. All I got is this:
If you were to open the Software & Updates app and go to Additional Drivers, does the driver package you tested say it comes from Nvidia and it is “(proprietary, tested)”? If so, then your drivers should be fine.
nvidia-driver-libs:i386is 32-bit, so I don’t know why you would need that installed unless DayZ is only compatible with 32-bit drivers for some reason. I have Steam installed on my Fedora install, and I don’t have any 32-bit Nvidia drivers installed but everything works perfectly. That’s a separate issue altogether, and I don’t recommend running 32-bit drivers unless your system is 32-bit. Can you copy the “System Details” window in the About tab of the Settings app? It should have Hardware and Software information like the CPU, GPU, windowing system, etc. There are a few things that could cause issues that I might be able to glean from that.I’m on Fedora, but since it’s running Gnome it should theoretically look the same. You access the system details here:
Here’s what mine looks like for reference:
System Details Report
Report details
Hardware Information:
Software Information:
To uninstall the steam snap, you should be able to open up a terminal and type the following:
sudo snap remove steamAnd assuming that works, to install the native version of Steam (which should be what’s installed anyway, but Canonical is pushing their proprietary snap BS that has never worked well), this should apparently work (I don’t have an Ubuntu install to test on though):
sudo add-apt-repository multiverse sudo apt update sudo apt install steamIf it prompts you for anything, you can just confirm by typing “y”. I’d recommend you check that it isn’t installing the snap version, but I don’t know how to guide you to do that, really. I haven’t used a distro with the Aptitude package manager in over 5 years.
Of course, it probably isn’t helpful, but I’d recommend avoiding vanilla Ubuntu if you aren’t already too deeply invested. Linux Mint seems to be a common recommendation for new users and it’s based off Ubuntu, but in all honesty I’d probably recommend Nobara (gaming focused and more user friendly version of Fedora). That way you don’t get snaps shoved down your throat by Canonical, which break things constantly. Up to you if you want to install another OS though; in theory you shouldn’t need to, and there should be a way to resolve these issues with your current install.
Yeah the unistallation gets stuck with terminal aswell. It managed to break steam so it no longer opens but wont remove it either. Guess I’ll just try and install it again via terminal nevertheless.
Unless it errors out, it should eventually finish. But if you cancelled it, then just purge remove the snap like the following:
sudo snap remove --purge steamThat should skip the data backup when removing. I’ve seen reports of other users that this backup process sometimes takes 10-20 minutes with the default remove command, even with small programs. Blame Canonical for that one.
The drivers I had before were proprietary and tested but the ones I updated to now (545) are just proprietary. Earlier I got this message so that’s why I’m trying to install the 32 bit drivers too though it worked just fine before without them.
Here’s my system info. I’ll try uninstalling steam again now.
System Details Report
Report details
Hardware Information:
Software Information:
By the way, if you still have issues after the native Steam install and it gives you the same 32-bit driver warning, you should be able to resolve it with the following:
sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386 sudo apt update sudo apt install nvidia-driver-libs:i386That is of course assuming that the error message you pasted in another thread gave the correct package name, which is not a guarantee. It should have automatically been installed as a dependency to Steam if it was installed through apt though, so I don’t feel like that will necessarily be a solution.
Yeah I actually saw that on an article while googling about it. I ran the code but haven’t managed to test it yet. Trying again with the different steam version in a moment. I think I saw something about i386 scroll by while it was installing.
I spun up an Ubuntu VM, and while it won’t have Nvidia drivers listed (since it doesn’t have GPU passthrough), this should be similar to what you should have seen when installing:
Pretty much all those are i386 packages (32-bit), so you shouldn’t need to enable the architecture in your version of Ubuntu, it should automatically happen (I didn’t need to use
sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386). Of course I did this on Ubuntu 22.04 because it’s a VM I already had, but it should be very similar to 23.10I think this is completely unacceptable and it’s unfortunate that Canonical decided to make this bullshit the first Linux experience for many users.
This stuff (basically, Snap or the “Ubuntu Software”) is one of the reasons many Linux enthusiasts are so mad at Canonical for pushing their Snap stuff through everyone’s throat. They invented a new software distribution format with significant limitations that power users can weigh the pros/cons of (and in many cases it’s a fine alternative!) but end users like you end up with scenarios where software simply doesn’t work.
The kicker? The Steam snap package isn’t actually maintained by Steam! It’s maintained by Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu. The package appears in the normal software store UI, but their wiki recommends running a bunch of command line tools to make it work correctly.
And then the worst part: their own wiki says:
Basically: for easy updates/downgrades, snapshots of applications are created during installs or uninstalls, and when you clicked “uninstall”, Ubuntu decided to make a copy of your entire Steam install before removing it, in case you want it back. That’s probably why your uninstall is taking forever.
For future reference: Canonical’s Snap packages have a competitor that just about every other Linux distribution uses: Flatpak. Unfortunately, due to decisions by Canonical, to use it on Ubuntu, you will need to install a second software store. Flatpak has advantages and disadvantages, but at least Steam will work when you install it through that.
In my personal opinion, the best way to use Ubuntu is to remove Snap, avoid Snap packages, and use Flatpaks instead. The rest of Ubuntu is probably one of the best Linux experiences a newcomer can have, but Canonical’s self-sabotaging through issues like this are making it very hard to try Linux for games.
Isn’t
apt install firefoxmeant to install the snap version?that would be really weird.
snap install firefoxor clicking “Install” in Ubuntu Software installs the snap,apt install firefoxinstalls from the apt repositoriesI think I first read about it from here: https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2022/04/how-to-install-firefox-deb-apt-ubuntu-22-04
I’ve never tested it, but some of my friends mentioned snaps getting installed via ‘apt’
huh, after some more research it seems you’re right. that seems… scummy
Unfortunately, Ubuntu has been hijacking some major packages (Firefox, notably), causing
apt install firefoxto install Firefox as a Snap package. Most packages come from APT repositories, but it’s become impossible to anticipate whether or not a Snap will be installed.How would I go about checking which version mine is? Atleast it isn’t in the snap folder.