BORKED! Steam games no longer working with PROTON - Games open, a black window shows up, and then shutdown

Issues & Assistance Games & Emulators
1

Hello!

I’ve been using garuda linux for 3-4 years now, and up until now i’ve really liked it. I’m used to game a ton on this OS, using steam through proton compatibility layer. problem is, suddenly, and I mean, as much as a few hours ago, the games that I played normally using proton are no longer working. I wish I could provide any more info than that, but really its that simple. They now open a blank/black window, as if they were to start running, then dont. ProtonDB says all the games I tried are fully compatible, and they were running a few hours ago. In a few games I got an error by steam saying: “application load error S: 0000065432”. but came up with a few people having this error on windows. plus, not all games that are failing to launch present this error, only one, actually.

I can’t pinpoint the problem. I’ve tried → deleting prefix folders, tired other proton versions, reinstalling and verifying the games files (several games), tried updating it, research the forums (found a guy with the same issue, he fixed it by nuking the OS), I tried uninstalling Proton, but found no way to do this… and a few other things I can’t fully recall.

Other than nuking the entire OS (again) I have no idea what to do next. Its quite the a shame, usually when something goes wrong with linux OS’s the only fix I have is to effin’ nuke them… I’m sure it would work, but I’d like to not resort to this.

I am a bit desperate. Any suggestions?

```
garuda-inxi
System:
Kernel: 6.14.7-zen2-1-zen arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 15.1.1
clocksource: tsc avail: hpet,acpi_pm
parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/@/boot/vmlinuz-linux-zen
root=UUID=65159996-96ad-4cc1-9d40-3c11b2fb9795 rw rootflags=subvol=@
quiet loglevel=3 ibt=off
Desktop: KDE Plasma v: 6.3.5 tk: Qt v: N/A info: frameworks v: 6.14.0
wm: kwin_x11 vt: 2 dm: SDDM Distro: Garuda base: Arch Linux
Machine:
Type: Desktop Mobo: ASRock model: A320M-HD serial: <superuser required>
uuid: <superuser required> UEFI: American Megatrends v: P5.40
date: 07/09/2019
CPU:
Info: model: AMD Ryzen 5 2600 bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Zen+ gen: 1+
level: v3 note: check built: 2018-21 process: GF 12nm family: 0x17 (23)
model-id: 8 stepping: 2 microcode: 0x800820D
Topology: cpus: 1x dies: 1 clusters: 1 cores: 6 threads: 12 tpc: 2
smt: enabled cache: L1: 576 KiB desc: d-6x32 KiB; i-6x64 KiB L2: 3 MiB
desc: 6x512 KiB L3: 16 MiB desc: 2x8 MiB
Speed (MHz): avg: 3400 min/max: 1550/3400 boost: enabled scaling:
driver: acpi-cpufreq governor: performance cores: 1: 3400 2: 3400 3: 3400
4: 3400 5: 3400 6: 3400 7: 3400 8: 3400 9: 3400 10: 3400 11: 3400 12: 3400
bogomips: 81589
Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 svm
Vulnerabilities: <filter>
Graphics:
Device-1: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Navi 22 [Radeon RX 6700/6700
XT/6750 XT / 6800M/6850M XT] vendor: Tul / PowerColor driver: amdgpu
v: kernel arch: RDNA-2 code: Navi-2x process: TSMC n7 (7nm) built: 2020-22
pcie: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16 ports: active: HDMI-A-1 empty: DP-1,
DP-2, DP-3, Writeback-1 bus-ID: 09:00.0 chip-ID: 1002:73df class-ID: 0300
Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.16 with: Xwayland v: 24.1.6
compositor: kwin_x11 driver: X: loaded: modesetting alternate: fbdev,vesa
dri: radeonsi gpu: amdgpu display-ID: :0 screens: 1
Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1920x1080 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 508x285mm (20.00x11.22")
s-diag: 582mm (22.93")
Monitor-1: HDMI-A-1 mapped: HDMI-1 model: Philips PHL 272V8
serial: <filter> built: 2020 res: N/A dpi: 82 gamma: 1.2
size: 598x336mm (23.54x13.23") diag: 686mm (27") ratio: 16:9 modes:
max: 1920x1080 min: 720x400
API: EGL v: 1.5 hw: drv: amd radeonsi platforms: device: 0 drv: radeonsi
device: 1 drv: swrast gbm: drv: zink surfaceless: drv: radeonsi x11:
drv: radeonsi inactive: wayland
API: OpenGL v: 4.6 compat-v: 4.5 vendor: amd mesa v: 25.1.1-arch1.1
glx-v: 1.4 direct-render: yes renderer: AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT (radeonsi
navi22 LLVM 19.1.7 DRM 3.61 6.14.7-zen2-1-zen) device-ID: 1002:73df
memory: 11.72 GiB unified: no
API: Vulkan v: 1.4.313 layers: 14 device: 0 type: discrete-gpu name: AMD
Radeon RX 6700 XT (RADV NAVI22) driver: mesa radv v: 25.1.1-arch1.1
device-ID: 1002:73df surfaces: N/A
Info: Tools: api: clinfo, eglinfo, glxinfo, vulkaninfo
de: kscreen-console,kscreen-doctor gpu: corectrl, nvidia-settings,
nvidia-smi wl: wayland-info x11: xdpyinfo, xprop, xrandr
Audio:
Device-1: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Navi 21/23 HDMI/DP Audio
driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16
bus-ID: 09:00.1 chip-ID: 1002:ab28 class-ID: 0403
Device-2: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 17h HD Audio vendor: ASRock
driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: gen: 3 speed: 8 GT/s lanes: 16
bus-ID: 0b:00.3 chip-ID: 1022:1457 class-ID: 0403
API: ALSA v: k6.14.7-zen2-1-zen status: kernel-api with: aoss
type: oss-emulator tools: N/A
Server-1: sndiod v: N/A status: off tools: aucat,midicat,sndioctl
Server-2: PipeWire v: 1.4.2 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse
status: active 2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin
4: pw-jack type: plugin tools: pactl,pw-cat,pw-cli,wpctl
Network:
Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8211/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet
vendor: ASRock driver: r8169 v: kernel pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1
port: f000 bus-ID: 06:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:8168 class-ID: 0200
IF: enp6s0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
Info: services: NetworkManager, smbd, systemd-timesyncd
Drives:
Local Storage: total: 1.84 TiB used: 802.27 GiB (42.6%)
SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 maj-min: 259:0 vendor: Kingbank model: KP230
size: 476.94 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 31.6 Gb/s
lanes: 4 tech: SSD serial: <filter> fw-rev: SN12221 temp: 39.9 C
scheme: GPT
ID-2: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: XrayDisk model: 512GB SSD
size: 476.94 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s
tech: SSD serial: <filter> fw-rev: 18C1 scheme: GPT
ID-3: /dev/sdb maj-min: 8:16 vendor: Western Digital
model: WD10EARS-00Y5B1 size: 931.51 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B
logical: 512 B speed: 3.0 Gb/s tech: N/A serial: <filter> fw-rev: 0A80
scheme: MBR
Partition:
ID-1: / raw-size: 476.64 GiB size: 476.64 GiB (100.00%)
used: 296.5 GiB (62.2%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/sda2 maj-min: 8:2
ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 300 MiB size: 299.4 MiB (99.80%)
used: 27.4 MiB (9.1%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/sda1 maj-min: 8:1
ID-3: /home raw-size: 476.64 GiB size: 476.64 GiB (100.00%)
used: 296.5 GiB (62.2%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/sda2 maj-min: 8:2
ID-4: /var/log raw-size: 476.64 GiB size: 476.64 GiB (100.00%)
used: 296.5 GiB (62.2%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/sda2 maj-min: 8:2
ID-5: /var/tmp raw-size: 476.64 GiB size: 476.64 GiB (100.00%)
used: 296.5 GiB (62.2%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/sda2 maj-min: 8:2
Swap:
Kernel: swappiness: 133 (default 60) cache-pressure: 100 (default) zswap: no
ID-1: swap-1 type: zram size: 15.54 GiB used: 139.1 MiB (0.9%)
priority: 100 comp: zstd avail: lzo-rle,lzo,lz4,lz4hc,deflate,842
max-streams: 12 dev: /dev/zram0
Sensors:
System Temperatures: cpu: 50.9 C mobo: N/A gpu: amdgpu temp: 49.0 C
mem: 44.0 C
Fan Speeds (rpm): N/A gpu: amdgpu fan: 0
Info:
Memory: total: 16 GiB available: 15.54 GiB used: 6.29 GiB (40.5%)
Processes: 409 Power: uptime: 42m states: freeze,mem,disk suspend: deep
avail: s2idle wakeups: 0 hibernate: platform avail: shutdown, reboot,
suspend, test_resume image: 6.14 GiB services: org_kde_powerdevil,
power-profiles-daemon, upowerd Init: systemd v: 257 default: graphical
tool: systemctl
Packages: 1996 pm: pacman pkgs: 1969 libs: 577 tools: octopi,paru
pm: flatpak pkgs: 27 Compilers: clang: 19.1.7 gcc: 15.1.1 Shell: garuda-inxi
default: fish v: 4.0.2 running-in: konsole inxi: 3.3.38
Garuda (2.7.2-1):
System install date:     2024-06-08
Last full system update: 2025-05-29
Is partially upgraded:   No
Relevant software:       snapper NetworkManager dracut nvidia-dkms
Windows dual boot:       Probably (Run as root to verify)
Failed units:
```
2

Hi reavv,

I would try booting into an earlier snapshot and see if it’s working, if it is maybe consider restoring to it using snapper-tools and trying an update again once a newer Steam release is out. There’s always that non-nuclear option with Garuda, which was designed with cases like this in mind.

3 Likes
3

@reavv have you tried remote update/repair, such often fixes update issues.

sudo garuda-update remote fix

Other than that restoring an old snapshot seems to be only other option worth trying apart of a reinstall of your OS.

4

Deactivate “Shader Pre-Caching” in steam preferences and try again.

3 Likes
5

great Ideia! will try and report!

EDIT: It has not worked! Unfortunately. I Tried 2 different snapshots, at least 10 days old, and nothing seemed to change.

6

will do right now and report too

EDIT: tried this and the snapshots, alas, it did not work.

7

I tried that too. It has not worked! Nothing works.
I’m so cooked. Its so weird. maybe its the steam app?

8

Sounds like the issue is in the home folder since the snapshots did not change anything. Even a different distro might not solve the problem if you bring in all your games. So the last thing I would try before reinstalling the entire OS (if you’re up for it) is to uninstall Steam, delete the .steam and .local/share/Steam (or other game storage path) folders, reinstalling Steam, and downloading all the games from scratch again…

3 Likes
10

hey guys. So I reinstalled steam after deleting the folders. then redownloaded and reinstalled the games. it didn’t do anything. I think the issue then might be the protontricks files. Can I delet them and force steam to redownload them? or is there anyway to delete them from my OS? so I can reinstall them from scratch?

11

Hey guys, big improvement! While I’m not sure if I can call this a solution, I’ve managed to get one of the games that wasn’t working to WORK!

I simply downloaded a ProtonGE (Which I never use) to try and open the games with it. Lo and behold it worked! BUT, all the other versions of proton I used ( 9, 10 [beta], 8, 7 and exeperimental ) seem to be completely borked and don’t work in any game (despite working before). I don’t need to nuke the OS, since it is definatly not the problem.

I think I might have a problem with my ProtonTricks files. But i don’t know how to fix it. come to think of it, I don’t even know what proton even is. ProtonGE doesn’t work for most titles, especially older games from 2010’s.

So, If anybody understands how proton works, simply uninstalling and reinstalling it DID NOT WORK. But I don’t know how to delete these versions I have, to make a clean reinstall.

So, anybody knows how to solve it? Now I know I have some sort of corruption on my proton versions!

12

You can safely remove protontricks: sudo pacman -Rs protontricks-git

After protontricks is removed, you could try to kill the directories that may have been modified by it. I am not a protontricks user, so I don’t immediately know which folders are related, but I assume ~/.wine and ~/.winetricks. There may even be a subfolder at ~/.config/winetricks or ~/.config/protonfixes. If they are missing, they will be regenerated upon launch. Hopefully someone who does actually use it could confirm that.

Well, this is certainly a temporary solution, but the other runtimes should work.

tl;dr Wine but rapidly patched by Valve

If you did in fact delete ~/.steam per this post, then it should have cleared your existing prefixes.

13

thank you for your answer. I did delete the .steam files. So if that didn’t work (or partially worked?) then I don’t know what else to do.

Guess I’ll eventually have to nuke the OS. Got at least most modern games working. games from before 2015 are completely borked. So things like Bayonetta, Sonic All-stars Racing Transformed and other X360/PS3 era titles, that were once working, are completely gone. they open a blank window but then rapidly close.

Games that are more modern are working with protonGE but not any other proton prefix. DMC5, Jedi Survivor and RIDE 4 are working fine with it. So, I guess the prefix is the problem? hard to tell.

I’ll keep this post alive for 1 or 2 more days and then I’ll give up maybe

EDIT: I’ve downloaded Heroic Launcher and tried Cris Tales and Control. Both work phenomenally. So it is confirmed that steam’s protontricks is the issue here.

14

If you run Steam from a terminal, can you give the error from it at the time of launch?

That is what seems to be the case as I see it, but I’m not entirely sure the best way to solve it aside from removing the prefixes and resetting steam.

That’s as close to confirmation of a prefix issue as I can hope to see.

says steam --reset may help, but that almost certainly won’t remove any existing prefixes or cached files.

  1. Remove steam
  2. Remove steam subfolders in home subdirectories ~/.steam ~/.local/share/steam and any others related
  3. Double-check that all traces of Steam are gone
  4. Reinstall steam
  5. Success hopefully?
1 Like