Google Chrome (as of SteamOS 2.61) works, but mouse movement is buggy

[mdeguzis]

Description:
Google Chrome now works (without hacks), as of SteamOS 2, update 61. When, using Google Chrome, the mouse cursor is nearly unusable. Previously using Xephyr, along with Antimicro was the solution. I figured since Chrome launching was fixed per the update specifically, it was ok to report this issue against a non-Steam application. I have tested this with gamepads only at the moment.

Symptoms:

• Mouse cursor only shows when clicking the mouse (left mouse click).
• If you hold down left-mouse-click and drag, the mouse will stay visible, but is very slow/buggy.
• The overlay is also disabled, which disallows use of Steam Controller profiles.

Resolution?

If the host cursor can be forced, great (to show where your mouse is invisibly moving). Fixing use of the overlay would solve a lot as well.

[Plagman]

Hi,

We can look into the mouse issues. When you say the overlay is disabled, are you talking about the SteamOS session or somehow running it from a desktop client? I would expect the app to not even display on SteamOS if the overlay doesn't hook properly.

[mdeguzis]

Hi @Plagman , yes the SteamOS session under steamcompmgr.

I would expect the app to not even display on SteamOS if the overlay doesn't hook properly.

I am not sure where to search the commits for the SteamOS beta channel updates, other than parsing the package pool at repo.steampowered.com. The latest update had a fix for Chrome, so whatever was changed to allow Chrome to run, it does indeed work now. Before, the loading animation would just hang (hence the need to unset LD_PRELOAD before). Pressing the Xbox Guide button, or the center Steam Button does not call the overlay.

The package I was testing was google-chrome-stable. When testing it via a script, the latest is pulled from Chrome's servers.

It's funny though, since it seems to just be a weird display issue, since the mouse will show when you left-click. I believe it is actually moving, but will not show. I can capture a video of this later this evening for you to demonstrate, if need be. Thank you for your time.

[flibitijibibo]

Digging this old thing up...

This appears to be an issue with any application that only cares about click events and does not, for example, perpetually query the mouse state (i.e. menu interfaces or any game state that isn't doing relative mouse mode). Some example programs include Qt applications like Dolphin and many Proton games, including BioShock, SBCG4AP, Deus Ex: HR, Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, and probably a lot more than that.

My guess is this can be fixed in steamcompmgr by somehow updating the mouse pointer, but I dunno what the cheapest way to do that is. A lazy fix could be to insert XQueryPointer whenever a mouse motion event happens, maybe?

[flibitijibibo]

Forgot to CC @alkazar. Here's something else that steamcompmgr may need a fix for.

[alkazar]

Is this still an issue on SteamOS?

FYI, using Arch Linux + SteamOS compositor, for whatever reason, fixes this issue. I am able to play Myst Masterpiece and Myst V which suffered from this mouse issue on SteamOS when I last tested it. I also just tested Doom (2016) and that also worked great.