[BUG] "An error occurred while rendering this content" on boot

[VAggrippino]

Please confirm

• [x] I have searched existing issues
• [x] This issue is not a duplicate of an existing one
• [x] I have checked the common issues section in the readme file
• [x] I have attached logs to this bug report (failure to include logs will mean your issue may not be responded to).

Bug Report Description

After a SteamOS update to 3.7.17, BUILD_ID=20251027.1, (the one that enabled display-off downloads), I get an error when I boot.

This occurs after the startup movie, mostly, but sometimes it'll play part of the startup movie then show the error then start the startup movie from the start again before showing the error again.

An error occurred while rendering this content.

Error Reference: Shared SteamUI_10242686_02aa30fa90a03672
Decky Version: v3.2.0

And it continues on with Minified React error #31, followed by a link to https://react.dev/errors/31?args%5B%5D=object%20with%20keys%20%7B%7D

I've tried:

• checking for updates with the other Decky Loader branches from the buttons shown on the error screen
• uninstalling and re-installing Decky Loader
• removing all the plugins (manually, using rm -r in ~/homebrew/plugins. Even with no plugins at all, I still get the error when I try to boot.

It seems that the only solution right now is to uninstall Decky Loader.

I have a Steam Deck system report text file and pictures of the screen with the full text of the error if any of that helps.

Thank you.

Expected Behaviour

Boot into SteamOS and show the home screen.

SteamOS version

SteamOS 3.7.17

Selected Update Channel

Stable

Decky Loader Version

3.2.0

Plugin Info

I had some plugins installed when I first experienced this issue, but I uninstalled Decky Loader, removed ~/homebrew, and reinstalled Decky Loader with no plugins. The problem still occurs with this clean installation of Decky Loader.

Have you modified the read-only filesystem at any point?

No

Backend Logs

20251118_110727_deckylog.txt

Updated 20251119_072015

20251119_061944_deckylog.txt

Frontend Logs

20251118_111041_cef_log.txt

20251118_111041_cef_log.previous.txt

Updated 20251119_072057

20251119_062058_cef_log.txt

20251119_062030_cef_log.previous.txt

Screenshots

[zegar7]

Fully reinstalling decky and all plugins seemed to work for me. I didn't have any useful data in the decky folder so I didn't mind redoing it all, however it might not be the case for everyone else.

[VAggrippino]

Fully reinstalling decky and all plugins seemed to work for me. I didn't have any useful data in the decky folder so I didn't mind redoing it all, however it might not be the case for everyone else.

Uninstalling and reinstalling was one of the things I tried. When I reinstalled Decky Loader I saw that all the plugins were still there. So, I did some reading and decided to uninstall and delete ~/homebrew. Then I reinstalled and the plugins weren't there.

The reason I know whether or not the plugins were still there is that I can usually get back into the Steam UI if I mash the [STEAM] button repeatedly. Then I can look at the list of Decky plugins with [...]. It usually goes back to the error screen before I do much though.

Where's the "decky" folder? I didn't check for anything past removing ~/homebrew. Are there more steps to fully uninstalling Decky Loader?

[VAggrippino]

Somebody suggested that Junk Store might be the problem and that its latest update might be the solution. This is the standalone Junk Store 2 that I paid for so that I can easily integrate my GOG games into Steam OS.

There was some discussion of a similar problem at Junk Store's Discord server and it seems like the update solved it for them.

I updated Junk Store and re-installed Decky Loader, but I still can't boot up without that error message unless I uninstall Decky Loader.

[christopherbmcclay-code]

I had this issue, kept removing plugins until it booted. Removed emudecky and emudeck achievements. After that I got a pop up of deck settings and wine cellar failing to load by steam. So I removed them, uninstalled and reinstalled decky loader and it booted. I fumbled about and this was my fix.

[VAggrippino]

I had this issue, kept removing plugins until it booted. Removed emudecky and emudeck achievements. After that I got a pop up of deck settings and wine cellar failing to load by steam. So I removed them, uninstalled and reinstalled decky loader and it booted. I fumbled about and this was my fix.

One of the first things I did while I was trying to fix this myself is remove all the plugins. Even with no plugins installed I'll get the error message I reported if Decky Loader is installed.

I wasn't using emudeck achievements or wine cellar.

[BananaAcid]

What worked for me: In desktop mode, I changed the homebrew/plugin/* owner to ’deck’ in Konsole to be able to remove 2 plugins (that killed Decky) with Dolphin (reboot changes the owner back to root):

• Emuchivements
• RemotePlayWhatever

This was broken for me too:

• ReShadeDeck

[VAggrippino]

In desktop mode, changed the homebrew/plugin/* owner to ’deck’ in Konsole to be able to remove the 2 killing plugins with Dolphin (reboot changes the owner back to root):

• Emuchivements
• RemotePlayWhatever

This was broken for me too:

• ReShadeDeck

I just used sudo, so the owner/permissions of the files weren't an issue for me. I didn't use any of those plugins, but I removed all of my plugins and still have the problem. If Decky Loader is installed, even with no plugins, I get the error message I reported.

[Rumik]

I'm having the same problem. I've tried uninstalling some plugins but there's no change.

[jullson2]

Please fix this. Can't load Decky at all since the latest stable SteamOS update.

[ynhhoJ]

I checked the issue author logs and found multiple errors, ex:

After you clear your plugins folder, make sure that you make a reboot in order to see if everything was fixed.

P.S: I'm on latest Beta Steam Update with same Decky version as author, but on my machine everything is fine 🤔

There is not enough details what you guys have in common what can cause this error

[castle024]

Somebody suggested that Junk Store might be the problem and that its latest update might be the solution. This is the standalone Junk Store 2 that I paid for so that I can easily integrate my GOG games into Steam OS.

There was some discussion of a similar problem at Junk Store's Discord server and it seems like the update solved it for them.

I updated Junk Store and re-installed Decky Loader, but I still can't boot up without that error message unless I uninstall Decky Loader.

That was me, but I deleted the comment because I noticed it was the same error just presented in a different way, and I didn't want to confuse people. If I uninstalled Decky the boot error with the options to start without Decky, restart Decky, restart steam, etc, went away, but when Steam booted there was another "cannot render content" window. This was fixed when I updated Junkstore. Moral of the story is that Decky and Junkstore were broken with the update. Junkstore is fixed, but I still have a Decky problem even after a complete wipe, without any plugins installed.

[jullson2]

Nope. I use MuraDeck and Steamgriddb, nothing else. But Decky doesn't work with SteamOS at the moment. I have cleared alls settings, folders and made a clean install and it still doesn't work. Tried it on my second deck (LCD) and it's the same. Seems like an issue with Decky.

[Rumik]

No, I don’t use JunkStore.

[VAggrippino]

I checked the issue author logs and found multiple errors, ex:

After you clear your plugins folder, make sure that you make a reboot in order to see if everything was fixed.

P.S: I'm on latest Beta Steam Update with same Decky version as author, but on my machine everything is fine 🤔

There is not enough details what you guys have in common what can cause this error

I've updated the screenshots in my initial post and generated new log files.

I've rebooted many times since removing the plugins. I've also rebooted after completely removing Decky Loader and after completely removing ~/homebrew.

I don't know what any of those error messages mean, but I did notice messages from plugins I don't have installed including some that I uninstalled long before I ever had any problems.

For example, I uninstalled Emuchievements a while ago but continued to use Decky Loader and other plugins without any problems:

[1111/180809.393350:INFO:CONSOLE(5748)] "Uncaught Error: [mobx] There are multiple, different versions of MobX active. Make sure MobX is loaded only once or use `configure({ isolateGlobalState: true })`", source: decky://decky/legacy_plugin/Emuchievements/index.js (5748)

I don't know where it's getting these. My plugins directory is completely empty:

(deck@steamdeck ~)$ ls -AlR homebrew
homebrew:
total 12
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Nov 18 09:02 plugins
drwxr-xr-x 3 deck deck 4096 Nov 19 05:29 services
drwxr-xr-x 2 deck deck 4096 Nov 18 09:02 settings

homebrew/plugins:
total 0

homebrew/services:
total 26624
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root        7 Nov 19 05:29 .loader.version
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 27251896 Nov 19 05:29 PluginLoader
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root     4096 Nov 19 05:29 .systemd

homebrew/services/.systemd:
total 8
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 379 Nov 19 05:29 plugin_loader-backup.service
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 406 Nov 19 05:29 plugin_loader-release.service

homebrew/settings:
total 4
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 134 Nov 19 06:16 loader.json

[VAggrippino]

That was me, but I deleted the comment because I noticed it was the same error just presented in a different way, and I didn't want to confuse people. If I uninstalled Decky the boot error with the options to start without Decky, restart Decky, restart steam, etc, went away, but when Steam booted there was another "cannot render content" window. This was fixed when I updated Junkstore. Moral of the story is that Decky and Junkstore were broken with the update. Junkstore is fixed, but I still have a Decky problem even after a complete wipe, without any plugins installed.

I figured it was something like that, but I read the conversation thread and some of Junk Store's other troubleshooting information and didn't find a solution for me. In Junk Store's Troubleshooting FAQ they mention a similar error and their solution is just to update Decky: https://www.junkstore.xyz/2.0troubleshooting/#junk-store-not-working

I installed the latest version of Junk Store Pro (2.1.0.0) and re-installed Decky Loader but it's still broken for me.

[ynhhoJ]

Do you guys use Steam Beta Channel Updates?

If yes, can you try to change it to Stable?

[VAggrippino]

Do you guys use Steam Beta Channel Updates?

If yes, can you try to change it to Stable?

I don't use beta but you said you did and you're not having this problem. So, I considered switching to beta.

[ynhhoJ]

@VAggrippino , what do you have on 4242 port?

Even on last logs, it is here:

[10019:10019:1119/061807.674777:INFO:CONSOLE(1)] "TypeError: ImportCall("http://localhost:4242/loader/index.js?c=3972539872") is not a function", source: https://steamloopback.host/chunk~2dcc5aaf7.js?contenthash=d7d898731ea6f6080907 (1)
[10019:10019:1119/061810.109695:ERROR:atom_cache.cc(229)] Add _NET_WM_STATE_KEEP_ABOVE to kAtomsToCache

It seems to me that the reason of Steam Deck UI crash is somehow related to this ImportCall which fails.

[VAggrippino]

@VAggrippino , what do you have on 4242 port?

Even on last logs, it is here:

[10019:10019:1119/061807.674777:INFO:CONSOLE(1)] "TypeError: ImportCall("http://localhost:4242/loader/index.js?c=3972539872") is not a function", source: https://steamloopback.host/chunk~2dcc5aaf7.js?contenthash=d7d898731ea6f6080907 (1)
[10019:10019:1119/061810.109695:ERROR:atom_cache.cc(229)] Add _NET_WM_STATE_KEEP_ABOVE to kAtomsToCache

It seems to me that the reason of Steam Deck UI crash is somehow related to this ImportCall which fails.

It looks like that's part of Junk Store. I just updated that, thinking it was part of the problem. I didn't see any uninstall instructions for Junk Store, so I'll have to do some digging to figure it out. I guess there must be a systemctl service?

tcp        LISTEN      0           50                   127.0.0.1:4242                 0.0.0.0:*          users:(("junk-loader.run",pid=121392,fd=7))       

[ynhhoJ]

@VAggrippino , I'm not familiar with JunkStore, but can you try to search in your system? Maybe you can try to search by keywords like junk, junk-loader and etc

[Rumik]

Okay yeah I backed up my plugins and data and wiped Decky. Then reinstalled one by one and restored their settings. Not sure which was causig the issue but it's fine now.

[jullson2]

I found the culprit! Muradeck!

[WAR282737]

How did you remove the plugins? When I press restart without the decky loader, the console gives me a black screen and none of the buttons work...

[jullson2]

Go into desktop mode and use the decky installer to wipe it! Wipe, don't keep any settings. Backup any important data first in the homebrew folder

[ZeroFoxx]

Had the same issue, I tried sudo rm-ing a few plugins and I believe a few including MuraDeck are to blame. Just wish there was a way to temp disable plugins to troubleshoot crashes like this.

you dont have to fully wipe decky from what i tested, just try running sudo rm -rf /home/deck/homebrew/plugins/(plugin) first

[SiTWulf]

Due to problems like this, a request was made about two years ago to allow plugins to be disabled without uninstalling them, but the request was completely ignored. A perfectly reasonable request that would have prevented problems like this was quickly forgotten by everyone.

For cases like this, it would be so simple to disable the problematic plugins and then reactivate them once they are updated...

[revlisoft]

Same issue here. Had to disable entire plugin by booting into desktop mode. Never used the junk store either so no clue what that is.

[VAggrippino]

Based on the conversation here, it seems that there's more than one way to trigger this issue.

I've had a brief conversation with the developer of Junk Store. He's aware of the issue and investigating a conflict between Junk Store Pro (the paid version, not the Decky Loader plugin) and Decky Loader.

For me, with no Decky Loader plugins installed, the problem is probably caused by a conflict between Decky Loader and Junk Store. But there are people experiencing the same or similar problems that have never used Junk Store. There's probably something going on here that the Decky Loader devs could take a closer look at, too.

[KaliEros]

I started experiencing the same error message a few days ago. Well, the error reference was the same, but the first few times it said that the problem was with Steam. It also didn't list a specific plugin as the culprit like it did when I had an issue with MagicPods months ago. A few times when the error message popped up, it even kept turning my screen black for a few seconds, like a mini-restart, then it would come on again, go black again etc. So, I only had a few seconds to tap "Restart without Decky" before it would go black again.

Anyway, I eventually deleted every plugin except for 3 that I consider essential and finally got Steam to start in Desktop mode without the error message. I thought that fixed it as I didn't get another error message for about a day. Then it popped up again this morning. Except now it's saying that the problem is with the Decky Frontend and it's finally listing a specific plugin: SteamGridDB.

When I get back home, I'll try uninstalling every plugin, restarting, and reinstalling my top 5: ProtonDB Badges, Power Tools, Storage Cleaner, Cheat Deck (for those games I've already beaten and don't want to grind a lot on), and SteamGridDB. If that doesn't work, I'll try wiping Decky completely rather than just uninstalling and see if that fixes it.

I should also point out that I don't have the latest Steam OS. I forget exactly which OS I'm on, but I haven't updated in months. The reason is that, according to the comments on Steam, every update seems to come with quite a few problems, some minor and some not so minor. It's made me very hesitant to update unless I see one where the comments don't include multiple people saying it bricked their Steam Deck. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

One other thing I want to mention that I find strange is these error messages don't take up the entire Steam Deck screen. When I had a problem with MagicPods, that error message took up the entire screen. This set of error messages over the past few days takes up roughly a third of the top left screen. So, I can still see the game I'm playing, the website I'm on etc. I don't know if that matters at all, but I thought I'd mention it.

Well, I'll update on my progress with these errors. Hopefully everyone experiencing this can get it fixed ASAP.

[DClem85]

I just removed all my plugins and tracked my issues down cheatDeck.