[TF2][Linux] Encountered Extreme Black Flicker When Play Ingame.

[CuriousTommy]

This is probably a me issue, but I wanted to post this issue on the off chance that other people are experiencing the same issue as I am.

How to reproduce:

• Launch TF2 (Select Play Team Fortress 2)
• Load a MvM map
• Try to play it.

WARNING: EXTREME BLACK FLICKERING Screencast from 2024-04-20 18-27-06.webm

System Information

Computer Information:
Manufacturer: ASRock
Model: B550 Phantom Gaming-ITX/ax
Form Factor: Desktop
No Touch Input Detected

Processor Information:
CPU Vendor: AuthenticAMD
CPU Brand: AMD Ryzen 9 3900X 12-Core Processor
CPU Family: 0x17
CPU Model: 0x71
CPU Stepping: 0x0
CPU Type: 0x0
Speed: 4672 MHz
24 logical processors
12 physical processors
Hyper-threading: Supported
FCMOV: Supported
SSE2: Supported
SSE3: Supported
SSSE3: Supported
SSE4a: Supported
SSE41: Supported
SSE42: Supported
AES: Supported
AVX: Supported
AVX2: Supported
AVX512F: Unsupported
AVX512PF: Unsupported
AVX512ER: Unsupported
AVX512CD: Unsupported
AVX512VNNI: Unsupported
SHA: Supported
CMPXCHG16B: Supported
LAHF/SAHF: Supported
PrefetchW: Unsupported

Operating System Version:
Freedesktop SDK 23.08 (Flatpak runtime) (64 bit)
Kernel Name: Linux
Kernel Version: 6.8.4-200.fc39.x86_64
X Server Vendor: The X.Org Foundation
X Server Release: 12302004
X Window Manager: GNOME Shell
Steam Runtime Version: steam-runtime_0.20240304.79797

Video Card:
Driver: NVIDIA Corporation NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB/PCIe/SSE2
Driver Version: 4.6.0 NVIDIA 550.67
OpenGL Version: 4.6
Desktop Color Depth: 24 bits per pixel
Monitor Refresh Rate: 59 Hz
VendorID: 0x10de
DeviceID: 0x1c03
Revision Not Detected
Number of Monitors: 1
Number of Logical Video Cards: 1
Primary Display Resolution: 2560 x 1080
Desktop Resolution: 2560 x 1080
Primary Display Size: 31.50" x 13.39" (34.21" diag), 80.0cm x 34.0cm (86.9cm diag)
Primary VRAM: 6144 MB

Sound card:
Audio device: Nvidia GPU 84 HDMI/DP

Memory:
RAM: 32011 Mb

VR Hardware:
VR Headset: None detected

Miscellaneous:
UI Language: English
LANG: en_US.UTF-8
Total Hard Disk Space Available: 1906088 MB
Largest Free Hard Disk Block: 930855 MB

Storage:
Number of SSDs: 3
SSD sizes: 2000G,960G,0B
Number of HDDs: 0
Number of removable drives: 0

[Tiagoquix]

Try using the Vulkan version with the following ConVars and see if it fixes the issue: mat_phong 1;mat_bumpmap 1;mat_specular 1

Also try this and see if it helps: https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/1873/disable-unredirect-fullscreen-windows/

[slender100]

sounds like #3443

[CuriousTommy]

Try using the Vulkan version with the following ConVars and see if it fixes the issue: mat_phong 1;mat_bumpmap 1;mat_specular 1

Also try this and see if it helps: https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/1873/disable-unredirect-fullscreen-windows/

Hmm... So I tried the following options but it didn't seem to resolve my issue. I wonder if this might be a Wayland Nvidia issue...

[llleeexxxoooppp]

Same issue, similar black flickering at starting after 64bit game' update - arch + kde + nvidia + wayland. SDL_VIDEODRIVER=x11 %command% launch option not change anything, at X11 game works as expected (smth like)

[Juliapixel]

Hmm... So I tried the following options but it didn't seem to resolve my issue. I wonder if this might be a Wayland Nvidia issue...

this is almost definitely happening because of the nvidia+xwayland sync issues, since nvidia graphics drivers lack the implicit sync support xwayland currently needs to properly display frames to the monitor. this blog post has more info on what that means, but basically you should probably use Xorg if you plan on gaming on nvidia graphics cards, at least until explicit sync support gets merged to the stable nvidia graphics drivers (which should happen some time in may) and to whatever wayland compositor you're using

[Tiagoquix]

IIRC e-sync is coming to NVIDIA beta driver for Linux near the end of May.

[ethanholt1]

I've had this issue as well, and can confirm this is related to mat_phong and mat_specular. I believe it's related to Mesa, however I could be completely wrong, and is just a guess based on what I've seen online on the issue.

I was able to fix it by setting both cvars to 0, setting Shader Detail to Low in settings, and then restarting the game.