Can't launch Steam games
3d 7h ago by sopuli.xyz/u/QuentinCallaghan in linux_gaming
I can't launch games on Steam for some reason, at least Windows games using Proton. I even reinstalled Steam several times, but nothing has changed. My distro is Pop OS. Here's what happens when I try launching Vanquish for example:
chdir "/home/quentin/.steam/debian-installation/steamapps/common/Vanquish"
ERROR: ld.so: object '/home/quentin/.steam/debian-installation/ubuntu12_32/gameoverlayrenderer.so' from LD_PRELOAD cannot be preloaded (wrong ELF class: ELFCLASS32): ignored.
Game Recording - would start recording game 460810, but recording for this game is disabled
Adding process 63931 for gameID 460810
ERROR: ld.so: object '/home/quentin/.steam/debian-installation/ubuntu12_32/gameoverlayrenderer.so' from LD_PRELOAD cannot be preloaded (wrong ELF class: ELFCLASS32): ignored.
ERROR: ld.so: object '/home/quentin/.steam/debian-installation/ubuntu12_64/gameoverlayrenderer.so' from LD_PRELOAD cannot be preloaded (wrong ELF class: ELFCLASS64): ignored.
ERROR: ld.so: object '/home/quentin/.steam/debian-installation/ubuntu12_32/gameoverlayrenderer.so' from LD_PRELOAD cannot be preloaded (wrong ELF class: ELFCLASS32): ignored.
ERROR: ld.so: object '/home/quentin/.steam/debian-installation/ubuntu12_32/gameoverlayrenderer.so' from LD_PRELOAD cannot be preloaded (wrong ELF class: ELFCLASS32): ignored.
Adding process 63932 for gameID 460810
Adding process 63933 for gameID 460810
Adding process 63934 for gameID 460810
setlocale "fi_FI.UTF-8": No such file or directory
pv-locale-gen: Missing locale fi_FI.UTF-8 (found in $LC_ADDRESS)
pv-locale-gen: Generating locale fi_FI.UTF-8...
pv-locale-gen: Generated locale fi_FI.UTF-8 successfully
pv-locale-gen: Generating locale en_US.UTF-8...
pv-locale-gen: Generated locale en_US.UTF-8 successfully
pv-adverb[64004]: W: Container startup will be faster if missing locales are created at OS level
Adding process 64042 for gameID 460810
Adding process 64045 for gameID 460810
Adding process 64046 for gameID 460810
fsync: up and running.
Adding process 64047 for gameID 460810
Adding process 64050 for gameID 460810
Adding process 64052 for gameID 460810
Adding process 64056 for gameID 460810
Adding process 64068 for gameID 460810
Adding process 64074 for gameID 460810
Adding process 64081 for gameID 460810
Adding process 64113 for gameID 460810
Adding process 64122 for gameID 460810
Adding process 64125 for gameID 460810
Adding process 64132 for gameID 460810
Fossilize INFO: Overriding serialization path: "/home/quentin/.steam/debian-installation/steamapps/shadercache/460810/fozpipelinesv6/steamapprun_pipeline_cache".
pid 64048 != 64047, skipping destruction (fork without exec?)
Game Recording - game stopped [gameid=460810]
Removing process 64132 for gameID 460810
This has something to do with Steam's overlay, even though I have disabled it. Help is welcome.
Looks like you are missing the 32 bit libraries required to run steam. I suggest you look at
PopOS is a derivative of Ubuntu, which is a derivative of Debian. Wouldn’t it make more sense to supply Debian docs opposed to Arch?
If you enable overlay, does it work?
Did it ever work? If so, when did it break?
The overlay and launching games on Steam used to work, but after I had to reinstall Pop OS, they haven't worked.
Try adding an empty LD_PRELOAD variable to the game's command line arguments, it tends to fix issues related to the overlay:
LD_PRELOAD= %command%
(watch the space between the = and %)
Steam has a new experimental 64-bit client in a container. If your system has issues with 32-bit libraries, this could solve it (and the reason why Valve is moving towards this step). You could try to enable that, to see if it works for you. It can be found in Steam settings > System > Use experimental SteamRT3 Steam Client . I think this is only available if you are on the Steam Beta Update channel. More information here: Steam Client Beta - March 19th
Might as well try that!
I also think this would be worth trying.
I didn't find anything on Valve's issue tracker with a quick search, but maybe you'd like to investigate deeper.
https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues?q=is%3Aissue+state%3Aopen
You could take a look at game's logs. For Windows titles, enable logs in Proton by adding PROTON_LOG=1 to launch properties, see README for details.
https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Proton/blob/proton_11.0/README.md#runtime-config-options
Try deleting all your proton libs and reinstalling.
I don’t know that deleting steam does that. This happened to me the other day, that was the fix.
What do you get from this terminal command?
apt show steam
And this one?
dpkg -l | grep steam
apt show steam
Package: steam:i386
Version: 1:1.0.0.85~ds-2pop1~1769789104~24.04~911485f
Priority: optional
Section: contrib/oldlibs
Source: steam-installer
Maintainer: Debian Games Team <pkg-games-devel@lists.alioth.debian.org>
Installed-Size: 14,3 kB
Depends: steam-installer (= 1:1.0.0.85~ds-2pop1~1769789104~24.04~911485f)
Homepage: https://steamcommunity.com/linux
Download-Size: 1 778 B
APT-Manual-Installed: yes
APT-Sources: http://apt.pop-os.org/release noble/main i386 Packages
Description: Transitional package for Steam
Steam (https://www.steampowered.com/) is a software content delivery system
developed by Valve software (https://www.valvesoftware.com/). There is
some free software available, but for the most part the content delivered
is non-free.
.
This transitional package upgrades from the old steam package to the
newer steam-installer package.
dpkg -l | grep steam
ii steam:i386 1:1.0.0.85~ds-2pop1~1769789104~24.04~911485f i386 Transitional package for Steam
ii steam-devices 1:1.0.0.85~ds-2pop1~1769789104~24.04~911485f all Device support for Steam-related hardware
ii steam-installer 1:1.0.0.85~ds-2pop1~1769789104~24.04~911485f amd64 Valve's Steam digital software delivery system
ii steam-libs:amd64 1:1.0.0.85~ds-2pop1~1769789104~24.04~911485f amd64 Metapackage for Steam dependencies
ii steam-libs:i386 1:1.0.0.85~ds-2pop1~1769789104~24.04~911485f i386 Metapackage for Steam dependencies
ii steam-libs-i386:i386 1:1.0.0.85~ds-2pop1~1769789104~24.04~911485f i386 Metapackage for 32-bit Steam dependencies
I tested with another Windows game, BattleBit Remastered. It booted up all fine. Vanquish on the other hand stopped after the logos for Sega and PlatinumGames. Looks like this is not a problem with Proton and my system configuration, it's a problem with Vanquish, that game doesn't seem to run with newer Proton versions.
Yeah, I am inclined to agree with your assesment... my first thought was that maybe your steam install had somehow gotten misconfigured and ended up in a situation where some dependency hell was going on.
But... that doesn't seem to be happening...
https://www.protondb.com/app/460810
People are saying it does work with Proton 10.0.3.
It could be that your specific hardware has some quirk about it which is not properly taken into account by the latest Proton...
Does Proton 9 work?
Maybe Proton-GE or some other variant?
May be the case that you're a real guinea pig, a real test subject on this one, might have actually found a real bug in Proton 10.
It could be that your specific hardware has some quirk about it which is not properly taken into account by the latest Proton…
My GPU is GeForce 1070 and I naturally use Nvidia's Linux drivers. My CPU is AMD Ryzen 7 1700. So I highly doubt my hardware is quirky in any way.
I changed my client to a beta version and enabled the new experimental SteamRT3 Steam Client, as suggested. I have not enabled the Steam Overlay.
Does Proton 9 work?
Here's what happens:
Proton 9 results
Adding process 228862 for gameID 460810
ERROR: ld.so: object '/home/quentin/.steam/debian-installation/steamrt32/gameoverlayrenderer.so' from LD_PRELOAD cannot be preloaded (wrong ELF class: ELFCLASS32): ignored.
wine: using kernel write watches, use_kernel_writewatch 1.
Adding process 228877 for gameID 460810
ERROR: ld.so: object '/home/quentin/.steam/debian-installation/steamrt32/gameoverlayrenderer.so' from LD_PRELOAD cannot be preloaded (wrong ELF class: ELFCLASS32): ignored.
wine: using kernel write watches, use_kernel_writewatch 1.
Adding process 228885 for gameID 460810
wine: using kernel write watches, use_kernel_writewatch 1.
[2026-06-15 01:01:45.033] [MANGOHUD] [info] [config.cpp:118] skipping config: '/home/quentin/.config/MangoHud/wine-explorer.conf' [ not found ]
[2026-06-15 01:01:45.033] [MANGOHUD] [info] [config.cpp:118] skipping config: '/home/quentin/.steam/debian-installation/steamapps/common/Proton 9.0 (Beta)/files/bin/MangoHud.conf' [ not found ]
[2026-06-15 01:01:45.033] [MANGOHUD] [info] [config.cpp:118] skipping config: '/home/quentin/.config/MangoHud/wine64-preloader.conf' [ not found ]
[2026-06-15 01:01:45.033] [MANGOHUD] [info] [config.cpp:118] skipping config: '/home/quentin/.config/MangoHud/MangoHud.conf' [ not found ]
sh: 1: glxinfo: not found
[2026-06-15 01:01:45.354] [MANGOHUD] [info] [config.cpp:118] skipping config: '/home/quentin/.config/MangoHud/wine-explorer.conf' [ not found ]
[2026-06-15 01:01:45.354] [MANGOHUD] [info] [config.cpp:118] skipping config: '/home/quentin/.steam/debian-installation/steamapps/common/Proton 9.0 (Beta)/files/bin/MangoHud.conf' [ not found ]
[2026-06-15 01:01:45.354] [MANGOHUD] [info] [config.cpp:118] skipping config: '/home/quentin/.config/MangoHud/wine64-preloader.conf' [ not found ]
[2026-06-15 01:01:45.354] [MANGOHUD] [info] [config.cpp:118] skipping config: '/home/quentin/.config/MangoHud/MangoHud.conf' [ not found ]
sh: 1: glxinfo: not found
[2026-06-15 01:01:45.584] [MANGOHUD] [info] [config.cpp:118] skipping config: '/home/quentin/.config/MangoHud/wine-explorer.conf' [ not found ]
[2026-06-15 01:01:45.584] [MANGOHUD] [info] [config.cpp:118] skipping config: '/home/quentin/.steam/debian-installation/steamapps/common/Proton 9.0 (Beta)/files/bin/MangoHud.conf' [ not found ]
[2026-06-15 01:01:45.584] [MANGOHUD] [info] [config.cpp:118] skipping config: '/home/quentin/.config/MangoHud/wine64-preloader.conf' [ not found ]
[2026-06-15 01:01:45.584] [MANGOHUD] [info] [config.cpp:118] skipping config: '/home/quentin/.config/MangoHud/MangoHud.conf' [ not found ]
sh: 1: glxinfo: not found
[2026-06-15 01:01:45.926] [MANGOHUD] [info] [config.cpp:118] skipping config: '/home/quentin/.config/MangoHud/wine-explorer.conf' [ not found ]
[2026-06-15 01:01:45.926] [MANGOHUD] [info] [config.cpp:118] skipping config: '/home/quentin/.steam/debian-installation/steamapps/common/Proton 9.0 (Beta)/files/bin/MangoHud.conf' [ not found ]
[2026-06-15 01:01:45.926] [MANGOHUD] [info] [config.cpp:118] skipping config: '/home/quentin/.config/MangoHud/wine64-preloader.conf' [ not found ]
[2026-06-15 01:01:45.926] [MANGOHUD] [info] [config.cpp:118] skipping config: '/home/quentin/.config/MangoHud/MangoHud.conf' [ not found ]
sh: 1: glxinfo: not found
ERROR: ld.so: object '/home/quentin/.steam/debian-installation/steamrt32/gameoverlayrenderer.so' from LD_PRELOAD cannot be preloaded (wrong ELF class: ELFCLASS32): ignored.
wine: using kernel write watches, use_kernel_writewatch 1.
Adding process 228961 for gameID 460810
wine: using kernel write watches, use_kernel_writewatch 1.
Setting breakpad minidump AppID = 460810
Steam_SetMinidumpSteamID: Caching Steam ID: 76561198052811166 [API loaded no]
ERROR: ld.so: object '/home/quentin/.steam/debian-installation/steamrt64/gameoverlayrenderer.so' from LD_PRELOAD cannot be preloaded (wrong ELF class: ELFCLASS64): ignored.
ERROR: ld.so: object '/tmp/pressure-vessel-libs-K54fyC/${LIB}/libMangoHud.so' from LD_PRELOAD cannot be preloaded (cannot open shared object file): ignored.
wine: using kernel write watches, use_kernel_writewatch 1.
Adding process 228980 for gameID 460810
Fossilize INFO: Overriding serialization path: "/home/quentin/.steam/debian-installation/steamapps/shadercache/460810/fozpipelinesv6/steamapprun_pipeline_cache".
pid 228821 != 228820, skipping destruction (fork without exec?)
Game Recording - game stopped [gameid=460810]
Removing process 228980 for gameID 460810
Proton 10
Adding process 234540 for gameID 460810
ERROR: ld.so: object '/home/quentin/.steam/debian-installation/steamrt32/gameoverlayrenderer.so' from LD_PRELOAD cannot be preloaded (wrong ELF class: ELFCLASS32): ignored.
ERROR: ld.so: object '/home/quentin/.steam/debian-installation/steamrt32/gameoverlayrenderer.so' from LD_PRELOAD cannot be preloaded (wrong ELF class: ELFCLASS32): ignored.
Adding process 234673 for gameID 460810
ERROR: ld.so: object '/home/quentin/.steam/debian-installation/steamrt32/gameoverlayrenderer.so' from LD_PRELOAD cannot be preloaded (wrong ELF class: ELFCLASS32): ignored.
ERROR: ld.so: object '/home/quentin/.steam/debian-installation/steamrt32/gameoverlayrenderer.so' from LD_PRELOAD cannot be preloaded (wrong ELF class: ELFCLASS32): ignored.
ERROR: ld.so: object '/home/quentin/.steam/debian-installation/steamrt32/gameoverlayrenderer.so' from LD_PRELOAD cannot be preloaded (wrong ELF class: ELFCLASS32): ignored.
ERROR: ld.so: object '/home/quentin/.steam/debian-installation/steamrt32/gameoverlayrenderer.so' from LD_PRELOAD cannot be preloaded (wrong ELF class: ELFCLASS32): ignored.
Adding process 234678 for gameID 460810
ERROR: ld.so: object '/home/quentin/.steam/debian-installation/steamrt32/gameoverlayrenderer.so' from LD_PRELOAD cannot be preloaded (wrong ELF class: ELFCLASS32): ignored.
fsync: up and running.
Adding process 234679 for gameID 460810
Adding process 234680 for gameID 460810
ERROR: ld.so: object '/home/quentin/.steam/debian-installation/steamrt32/gameoverlayrenderer.so' from LD_PRELOAD cannot be preloaded (wrong ELF class: ELFCLASS32): ignored.
Adding process 234684 for gameID 460810
ERROR: ld.so: object '/home/quentin/.steam/debian-installation/steamrt32/gameoverlayrenderer.so' from LD_PRELOAD cannot be preloaded (wrong ELF class: ELFCLASS32): ignored.
Adding process 235015 for gameID 460810
ERROR: ld.so: object '/home/quentin/.steam/debian-installation/steamrt32/gameoverlayrenderer.so' from LD_PRELOAD cannot be preloaded (wrong ELF class: ELFCLASS32): ignored.
Adding process 235018 for gameID 460810
ERROR: ld.so: object '/home/quentin/.steam/debian-installation/steamrt32/gameoverlayrenderer.so' from LD_PRELOAD cannot be preloaded (wrong ELF class: ELFCLASS32): ignored.
Adding process 235028 for gameID 460810
ERROR: ld.so: object '/home/quentin/.steam/debian-installation/steamrt32/gameoverlayrenderer.so' from LD_PRELOAD cannot be preloaded (wrong ELF class: ELFCLASS32): ignored.
Adding process 235035 for gameID 460810
ERROR: ld.so: object '/home/quentin/.steam/debian-installation/steamrt32/gameoverlayrenderer.so' from LD_PRELOAD cannot be preloaded (wrong ELF class: ELFCLASS32): ignored.
Adding process 235042 for gameID 460810
[2026-06-15 01:09:51.430] [MANGOHUD] [info] [config.cpp:118] skipping config: '/home/quentin/.config/MangoHud/wine-explorer.conf' [ not found ]
[2026-06-15 01:09:51.430] [MANGOHUD] [info] [config.cpp:118] skipping config: '/home/quentin/.steam/debian-installation/steamapps/common/Proton 10.0/files/bin/MangoHud.conf' [ not found ]
[2026-06-15 01:09:51.430] [MANGOHUD] [info] [config.cpp:118] skipping config: '/home/quentin/.config/MangoHud/wine64-preloader.conf' [ not found ]
[2026-06-15 01:09:51.430] [MANGOHUD] [info] [config.cpp:118] skipping config: '/home/quentin/.config/MangoHud/MangoHud.conf' [ not found ]
sh: 1: glxinfo: not found
[2026-06-15 01:09:51.498] [MANGOHUD] [info] [config.cpp:118] skipping config: '/home/quentin/.config/MangoHud/wine-explorer.conf' [ not found ]
[2026-06-15 01:09:51.498] [MANGOHUD] [info] [config.cpp:118] skipping config: '/home/quentin/.steam/debian-installation/steamapps/common/Proton 10.0/files/bin/MangoHud.conf' [ not found ]
[2026-06-15 01:09:51.498] [MANGOHUD] [info] [config.cpp:118] skipping config: '/home/quentin/.config/MangoHud/wine64-preloader.conf' [ not found ]
[2026-06-15 01:09:51.498] [MANGOHUD] [info] [config.cpp:118] skipping config: '/home/quentin/.config/MangoHud/MangoHud.conf' [ not found ]
sh: 1: glxinfo: not found
ERROR: ld.so: object '/home/quentin/.steam/debian-installation/steamrt32/gameoverlayrenderer.so' from LD_PRELOAD cannot be preloaded (wrong ELF class: ELFCLASS32): ignored.
Adding process 235098 for gameID 460810
ERROR: ld.so: object '/home/quentin/.steam/debian-installation/steamrt64/gameoverlayrenderer.so' from LD_PRELOAD cannot be preloaded (wrong ELF class: ELFCLASS64): ignored.
ERROR: ld.so: object '/tmp/pressure-vessel-libs-68nGNM/${LIB}/libMangoHud.so' from LD_PRELOAD cannot be preloaded (cannot open shared object file): ignored.
Adding process 235118 for gameID 460810
Fossilize INFO: Overriding serialization path: "/home/quentin/.steam/debian-installation/steamapps/shadercache/460810/fozpipelinesv6/steamapprun_pipeline_cache".
pid 234682 != 234680, skipping destruction (fork without exec?)
Game Recording - game stopped [gameid=460810]
Removing process 235118 for gameID 460810
And pretty much the same for Proton-GE 10-34.
Ok, I just did an entire write up and then shit canned it half way through because there's a question I need to ask.
I naturally use Nvidia's Linux drivers.
... which... ones?
Because PopOS has its own way of doing Nvidia drivers.
https://system76.com/support/articles/system76-driver
Installing the System76 NVIDIA Driver for Systems with NVIDIA GPUs
If your system has an NVIDIA graphics card, use this command to install the System76 Driver with NVIDIA graphics drivers included:
sudo apt install system76-driver-nvidiaIn addition to the standard packages, this package also pulls in the System76-supported NVIDIA drivers and all related packages needed to take full advantage of your dedicated NVIDIA graphics card
If you are manually trying to do your own Nvidia Linux driver install, on PopOS, that could cause some nonsense problems, where you would be in a state of essentially having 2, or kinda 1 and a half... sets of drivers installed at the same time, which would/could lead to bunch of extremely esoteric configuration problems, possibly including what you've reported so far.
I installed System76's Nvidia drivers, but then my second display couldn't work, and I read online that it's a common problem. Then I manually installed Nvidia's closed source driver instead, and now my second display works all fine.
EDIT: Now the game booted!
So you either get two monitors, or one that can actually play games... ? lol?
I have to imagine that somehow, this is the fault of X and/or Wayland ... but anyway, I'm glad that at least the game is working now.
Now dont change anything, lol.