Steam remote play flicker when --steam flag is present

[Kam1ni]

Is there an existing issue for this?

• I have searched the existing issues

Are you using any gamescope patches or a forked version of gamescope?

• The issue occurs on upstream gamescope without any modifications

Current Behavior

I am running steam through gamescope as the interface for my media pc. It needs the --steam argument to get the overlay working for for example jellyfiin. But with that flag set whenever I stream a game from the gaming pc, the screen flickers and controller inputs are only passed to the game when the stream is working. So every key press is a guess if it's gonna go to the media pc or the gaming pc.

Steps To Reproduce

1. Launch steam through gamescope (either standalone or from a wayland compositor doesn't matter)
2. Stream a game from a different pc
3. Wait and see (The first time I tried this on a fresh install it worked properly. So if you don't see anything wrong then close the game and try again)

Hardware information

- Distro: Arch Linux
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 6850H with Radeon Graphics
- GPU: Radeon 680M
- Driver Version: Mesa 26.1.1-arch1.2

Software information

- Desktop environment: Either hyprland or gamescope standalone
- Session type: wayland
- Gamescope version: 3.16.23-36-g6ea6b21e
- Gamescope launch command(s): 
* gamescope --hdr-enabled --steam -r 120 --adaptive-sync --backend wayland --force-grab-cursor --force-windows-fullscreen --grab -f -W 3840 -H 2160 -w 3840 -h 2160 -- steam -gamepadui -steamos
* gamescope --steam -W 3840 -H 2160 -w 3840 -h 2160 -- steam -gamepadui -steamos

Which gamescope backends have the issue you are reporting?

• Wayland (default for nested gamescope)
• DRM (default for embedded gamescope, i.e. gamescope-session)
• SDL
• OpenVR

Logging, screenshots, or anything else

Epilepsy warning!

VID_20260524_234206347_scaled.webm

[Kam1ni]

I did some extra testing and can confirm that this is caused by gamescope switching focus rapidly between steam and the streaming client.

[5NORLAX]

try this: gamescope -W 3840 -H 2160 -r 120 -f --xwayland-count 2 -e -- steam -steamos3 -steampal -steamdeck -gamepadui

[Kam1ni]

Funny you suggest that cause I tried it earlier. It indeed stopped flickering but streaming only worked when the overlay was open. Otherwise it would just freeze.

I spent all night today trying to get this fixed and I decided to just look at my steam deck and see what that does. I essentially coppied the script from the steam deck that creates the wayland session.

#!/bin/bash

# Create run directory file for startup and stats sockets
#   shellcheck disable=SC2030 # (broken warning)
tmpdir="$([[ -n ${XDG_RUNTIME_DIR+x} ]] && mktemp -p "$XDG_RUNTIME_DIR" -d -t gamescope.XXXXXXX)"
socket="${tmpdir:+$tmpdir/startup.socket}"
stats="${tmpdir:+$tmpdir/stats.pipe}"
# Fail early if we don't have a proper runtime directory setup
#   shellcheck disable=SC2031 # (broken warning)
if [[ -z $tmpdir || -z ${XDG_RUNTIME_DIR+x} ]]; then
	echo >&2 "!! Failed to find run directory in which to create stats session sockets (is \$XDG_RUNTIME_DIR set?)"
	exit 0
fi

##
## Session globals
##
export SDL_VIDEO_MINIMIZE_ON_FOCUS_LOSS=0

export HOMETEST_DESKTOP=1
export HOMETEST_DESKTOP_SESSION=plasma

export STEAM_MANGOAPP_PRESETS_SUPPORTED=1
export STEAM_USE_MANGOAPP=1
export MANGOHUD_CONFIGFILE="${tmpdir:+$tmpdir/mangohud.config}"

export STEAM_USE_DYNAMIC_VRS=1
export RADV_FORCE_VRS_CONFIG_FILE="$(mktemp /tmp/radv_vrs.XXXXXXXX)"

# Plop GAMESCOPE_MODE_SAVE_FILE into $XDG_CONFIG_HOME (defaults to ~/.config).
export GAMESCOPE_MODE_SAVE_FILE="${XDG_CONFIG_HOME:-$HOME/.config}/gamescope/modes.cfg"
export GAMESCOPE_PATCHED_EDID_FILE="${XDG_CONFIG_HOME:-$HOME/.config}/gamescope/edid.bin"

# There is no way to set a color space for an NV12
# buffer in Wayland. And the color management protocol that is
# meant to let this happen is missing the color range...
# So just workaround this with an ENV var that Remote Play Together
# and Gamescope will use for now.
export GAMESCOPE_NV12_COLORSPACE=k_EStreamColorspace_BT601

export STEAM_GAMESCOPE_HDR_SUPPORTED=1

# Workaround older versions of vkd3d-proton setting this
# too low (desc.BufferCount), resulting in symptoms that are potentially like
# swapchain starvation.
export VKD3D_SWAPCHAIN_LATENCY_FRAMES=3

# Make path to gamescope mode save file.
mkdir -p "$(dirname "$GAMESCOPE_MODE_SAVE_FILE")"
touch "$GAMESCOPE_MODE_SAVE_FILE"
echo "Making Gamescope Mode Save file at \"$GAMESCOPE_MODE_SAVE_FILE\""

# Make path to Gamescope edid patched file.
mkdir -p "$(dirname "$GAMESCOPE_PATCHED_EDID_FILE")"
touch "$GAMESCOPE_PATCHED_EDID_FILE"
echo "Making Gamescope patched edid at \"$GAMESCOPE_PATCHED_EDID_FILE\""

# Initially write no_display to our config file
# so we don't get mangoapp showing up before Steam initializes
# on OOBE and stuff.
mkdir -p "$(dirname "$MANGOHUD_CONFIGFILE")"
echo "no_display" > "$MANGOHUD_CONFIGFILE"

# Prepare our initial VRS config file
# for dynamic VRS in Mesa.
mkdir -p "$(dirname "$RADV_FORCE_VRS_CONFIG_FILE")"
echo "1x1" > "$RADV_FORCE_VRS_CONFIG_FILE"

# Let's try this across the board to see if it breaks anything
# Helps performance in HZD, Cyberpunk, at least
# Expose 8 physical cores, instead of 4c/8t
export WINE_CPU_TOPOLOGY=8:0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7

# To expose vram info from radv's patch we're including
export WINEDLLOVERRIDES=dxgi=n

# Enable dynamic backlight, we have the kernel patch to disable events
export STEAM_ENABLE_DYNAMIC_BACKLIGHT=1

# Enabled fan control toggle in steam
export STEAM_ENABLE_FAN_CONTROL=1

# Enable volume key management via steam for this session
export STEAM_ENABLE_VOLUME_HANDLER=1

# Have SteamRT's xdg-open send http:// and https:// URLs to Steam
export SRT_URLOPEN_PREFER_STEAM=1

# Disable automatic audio device switching in steam, now handled by wireplumber
export STEAM_DISABLE_AUDIO_DEVICE_SWITCHING=1

# Enable support for xwayland isolation per-game in Steam
export STEAM_MULTIPLE_XWAYLANDS=1

# We have the Mesa integration for the fifo-based dynamic fps-limiter
export STEAM_GAMESCOPE_DYNAMIC_FPSLIMITER=1

# Support for gamescope tearing with GAMESCOPE_ALLOW_TEARING atom
export STEAM_GAMESCOPE_HAS_TEARING_SUPPORT=1

# We have NIS support
export STEAM_GAMESCOPE_NIS_SUPPORTED=1

# Enable tearing controls in steam
export STEAM_GAMESCOPE_TEARING_SUPPORTED=1

# Enable VRR controls in steam
export STEAM_GAMESCOPE_VRR_SUPPORTED=1

# When set to 1, a toggle will show up in the steamui to control whether dynamic refresh rate is applied to the steamui
export STEAM_GAMESCOPE_DYNAMIC_REFRESH_IN_STEAM_SUPPORTED=0

# Allow status LED brightness control
export STEAM_ENABLE_STATUS_LED_BRIGHTNESS=1

# Don't wait for buffers to idle on the client side before sending them to gamescope
export vk_xwayland_wait_ready=false

# Let steam know it can unmount drives without superuser privileges
export STEAM_ALLOW_DRIVE_UNMOUNT=1

# Allow formatting external drives
export STEAM_ALLOW_DRIVE_ADOPT=1

# We no longer need to set GAMESCOPE_EXTERNAL_OVERLAY from steam, mangoapp now does it itself
export STEAM_DISABLE_MANGOAPP_ATOM_WORKAROUND=1

# Enable horizontal mangoapp bar
export STEAM_MANGOAPP_HORIZONTAL_SUPPORTED=1

# Scaling support
export STEAM_GAMESCOPE_FANCY_SCALING_SUPPORT=1

# Color management support
export STEAM_GAMESCOPE_COLOR_MANAGED=1
export STEAM_GAMESCOPE_VIRTUAL_WHITE=1

# HDMI-CEC support
export STEAM_ENABLE_CEC=1

# Set input method modules for Qt/GTK that will show the Steam keyboard
export QT_IM_MODULE=steam
export GTK_IM_MODULE=Steam

# Make Qt apps use the styling and behaviour of the desktop session
# This fixes some missing icons and unreadable text with Qt desktop apps in gamescope
export QT_QPA_PLATFORM_THEME=kde

# TODO!
# Bring this back when gamescope side is more complete
#
# Remove vsync handling from Xwayland, we handle it in gamescope
#export vblank_mode=0
#export MESA_VK_WSI_PRESENT_MODE=immediate

# This is already on by default on Galileo, but this enables it on Jupiter too
export ENABLE_GAMESCOPE_WSI=1

# To play nice with the short term callback-based limiter for now
export GAMESCOPE_LIMITER_FILE="$(mktemp /tmp/gamescope-limiter.XXXXXXXX)"

# Temporary crutch until dummy plane interactions / etc are figured out
export GAMESCOPE_DISABLE_ASYNC_FLIPS=1

export XCURSOR_THEME=steam
export XCURSOR_SCALE=256

# Chromium (and therefore Steam) ignore XCursor and use on the GTK config
kwriteconfig6 --file gtk-3.0/settings.ini  --group Settings --key gtk-cursor-theme-name steam

# Workaround for Steam login issue while Steam client change propagates out of Beta
touch ~/.steam/root/config/SteamAppData.vdf || true

ui_background=/usr/share/plymouth/themes/steamos/steamos.png
export STEAM_UPDATEUI_PNG_BACKGROUND=$ui_background

# We previously shipped custom boot animations alongside the OS as uioverrides
# These boot animations have now been integrated to the steam client so
# they no longer need to be part of the OS.
for file in ~/.local/share/Steam/config/uioverrides/movies/*.installed; do
	echo "Removing file: ${file%.installed}"
	rm -- "${file%.installed}" || true
	rm -- "${file}" || true
done

ulimit -n 524288

export GAMESCOPE_STATS="$stats"
mkfifo -- "$stats"
mkfifo -- "$socket"

# Attempt to claim global session if we're the first one running (e.g. /run/1000/gamescope)
linkname="gamescope-stats"
#   shellcheck disable=SC2031 # (broken warning)
sessionlink="${XDG_RUNTIME_DIR:+$XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/}${linkname}" # Account for XDG_RUNTIME_DIR="" (notfragileatall)
lockfile="$sessionlink".lck
exec 9>"$lockfile" # Keep as an fd such that the lock lasts as long as the session if it is taken
if flock -n 9 && rm -f "$sessionlink" && ln -sf "$tmpdir" "$sessionlink"; then
	# Took the lock.  Don't blow up if those commands fail, though.
	echo >&2 "Claimed global gamescope stats session at \"$sessionlink\""
else
	echo >&2 "!! Failed to claim global gamescope stats session"
fi

read_gamescope_env() {
	if read -r -t 3 response_x_display response_wl_display <> "$socket"; then
		export DISPLAY="$response_x_display"
		export GAMESCOPE_WAYLAND_DISPLAY="$response_wl_display"

		# Sync environment variables to systemd, then notify we are ready to launch subsequent services
		env > $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/gamescope-environment
		sleep 3
        systemctl --user restart steam
	fi
}

# Spawned in parallel to read values from gamescope
(read_gamescope_env &)

gamescope \
	--generate-drm-mode fixed \
	--xwayland-count 2 \
	--default-touch-mode 4 \
	--hide-cursor-delay 3000 \
	--max-scale 2 \
	--fade-out-duration 200 \
	--cursor-scale-height 720 \
    -W 3840 -H 2160 -w 3840 -h 2160 -r 120 --adaptive-sync \
	-e -R "$socket" -T "$stats"

And then I created a systemd service for steam.

[Unit]
Description=Steam Launcher

[Service]
ExecStart=/home/kamil/.local/bin/steam-launcher.sh
ExecStop=/bin/bash -c 'kill -TERM $(pgrep -P $MAINPID || echo $MAINPID)'
Type=exec
EnvironmentFile=/run/user/1000/gamescope-environment 

That launches a file that I also coppied and modified from the steamdeck

#!/bin/bash

steamargs=("-steamos3" "-steampal" "-steamdeck" "-gamepadui")
exec steam "${steamargs[@]}"

And that worked. All my issues seem to be solved but it's such an ugly solution.

[IftekharUddin]

@Kam1ni is this still open or have you made a pr with the fix? If not, I could take a crack at a clean solution based on your existing work.

[Kam1ni]

Its still open. I have already played around with gamescopes source code. Forcing that if a streaming client window exists its focused at all times but that made it stutter and half of all input events didn't get through. At this point I'm not sure if its even a GameScopes issue or a steam issue. If you're willing to give it a try I wish you the best of luck.