ProtonDB. If there's nothing there, then I resort to running Steam in the terminal to see logs.
this post was submitted on 09 May 2025
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Linux Gaming
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I start a script instead of the Steam binary directly.
#!/bin/bash
exec steam "$@" >~/.steamlog -console -nobigpicture -nochatui -nofriendsui -silent 2>&1 &
That way, I've always got a log of terminal output in a file in my home directory, and don't need to go restarting Steam, just glancing at the file. Gets overwritten the next time I start Steam.
Does this have different output to the journald logs? journalctl -fex -u steam usually has what I need.
I'm going to have to try this out, thanks!
Check the Github issue tracker too, especially for games that have just released. The pyroveil fix for AC: Shadows was on the issue for that game a day or two before ProtonDB.
Run from terminal and see what went wrong.
If you’re using a launcher with built in logger, refer to that (I’ve seen one on lutris, not Bottles, unsure about heroic).
This. It also made me genuinely hate how Steam on Linux handles library sharing on a multi user system.
Is it just Linux? I keep finding games that clearly make no attempt to separate game assets from user save data.
I've tried multiple user accounts pointing to the same library path and the file permissions keep getting screwed up. I tried one user account with steam's multi user login and the save files tend to jump between users.
I don't think it's acceptable to duplicate a 100GB game so that two users can have different save points.
So far I've yet to encounter the separation between save and game data issue. It's permissions that drive me up the wall. I've tried giving everyone write access, I've tried creating a group specifically for games. But no, proton/wine prefixes require ownership and not just access, and will not yield, and Steam won't even show what's the issue unless you run it from terminal.
It's been a while since I've been in that situation, but I used to just make a common folder /steam and create a group with access to it. I'd then grant all users access to that group. Seemed to work fine?
You have already done most of what I would do, but here is my list:
- Try another Proton version (in my experience Proton 6 seems stable and sufficiently different)
- Check ProtonDB if this problem is known
- Read the logs in the command line output
- Try both steam-native and steam-runtime (maybe this is only an Arch thing?)
- First back up, then delete the entire protonprefix (
~/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/compatdata/<GAME-ID>). THIS WILL ALSO REMOVE ALL SAVEFILES OF THE GAME! - Use an Xorg desktop environment instead of Wayland
- Protondb
- Different proton version
- Restart steam in terminal and look at what it logs (permission problems are quite frequent multi-user system)
- Die
If number 3 fixed it, do I still need to move on to number 4?
You don't have to do it now, but at some point you won't be allowed to delay it anymore.
I don't see how #3 would fix it, it should run the game exactly the same way.
I go on protondb and see if people regularly have problems. If not I check to see if someone has the same GPU. Then I try whatever trick they have there. Then I try switching to an X11 session instead of wayland.
If there's a launcher like rockstar I search for that specifically.
PROTON_LOG=1 in the launch options
I usually don't have to do this at all, but this is my system for the rare hiccups, in order.
- ProtonDB
- Are they using an incompatible anticheat?
- Different proton (usually one a few versions behind esp if it's an old game, maybe GE, more than that isn't useful)
- Verify installed files through steam
- Make sure my mod load order isn't crap (if applicable)
.
- Check if the game launcher actually points to the correctly named file + rename / change the exe if not (usually this gives an error box saying the file is not present)
- Uninstall + reinstall (esp if previously worked)
- Broad internet search for game + linux distro
- Launch options I've used for other games (PROTON_USE_WINED3D11=1 often is my first tried)
.
- Protontricks, tell it to use a different version of windows
- Uninstall DLC, launch vanilla once, reinstall DLC (yes this has worked more than once for various weird issues, no i don't know why)
- Backup personal data files, + delete all installed files / workshop files + verify installed files again
- Wait for someone smarter than me to figure it out / a system update that addresses it / new proton and check in a few months
I have two machines with different hardware.
Sometimes this helps if it runs on one vs the other
If it doesn't work with normal proton or bleeding edge proton experimental, then I refund.
If it's something not on ProtonDB I will try installing common dependencies like the Visual C++ Runtime and .Net.
More often then not it's because of an update and I reboot.
I know, I know, don't ask, it works.
Otherwise I just spam different Proton version until something magically works.
This! Always.
Looks like I'm doing something right then!
Change proton and proton-ge versions. Other than that, pray that it fixes itself if a few days / weeks.
First I typically see if other Proton versions work, like ProtonGE or Experimental. That tends to fix quite a number of issues.
If still not, to ProtonDB I go. Often if I can't find a solution there it's hopeless.
Proton Hotfix and Proton Experimental
I had this issue where a game wouldn't launch at all and there weren't any useful logs. I don't know how to use wine to launch the game without steam so I didn't do that. I stead I pretty much reinstalled kernel and dependencies. I don't know what went wrong or how that fixed it but it did.
I think it had something to do with drivers.