ValveSoftware
Gamescope don't work anymore Fedora 41
Is there an existing issue for this?
- [X] I have searched the existing issues
Are you using any gamescope patches or a forked version of gamescope?
- [X] The issue occurs on upstream gamescope without any modifications
Current Behavior
- launch game on steam with parameter -gamemoderun gamescope -w 1920 -h 1080 -W 2560 -H 1440 -F fsr -f --backend %command% and game won't launch
Steps To Reproduce
- launch game on steam with parameter -gamemoderun gamescope -w 1920 -h 1080 -W 2560 -H 1440 -F fsr -f --backend %command% and game won't launch
Hardware information
- Distro: Fedora Linux 41 (Workstation Edition)
- CPU: 6-core Intel Core i7-6800K
- GPU: NVIDIA Corporation TU104 [GeForce RTX 2080 Rev. A] [10de:1e87] (rev a1)
- Driver Version: Nvidia 565.57.01 Mesa 24.2.6 (LLVM 19.1.0)
Software information
- Desktop environment:
- Session type: x11
- Gamescope version: console: gamescope version (gcc 14.2.1)
- Gamescope launch command(s): gamemoderun gamescope -w 1920 -h 1080 -W 2560 -H 1440 -F fsr -f --backend %command%
Which gamescope backends have the issue you are reporting?
- [X] Wayland (default for nested gamescope)
- [X] DRM (default for embedded gamescope, i.e. gamescope-session)
- [X] SDL
- [ ] OpenVR
Logging, screenshots, or anything else
No response
Unless you copy-pasted wrong, I imagine gamescope is crashing for you because you haven't supplied an argument to --backend. From gamescope's --help output:
--backend select rendering backend
auto => autodetect (default)
drm => use DRM backend (standalone display session)
sdl => use SDL backend
openvr => use OpenVR backend (outputs as a VR overlay)
headless => use headless backend (no window, no DRM output)
wayland => use Wayland backend
As you are on X11, I would just go with auto or sdl.
Switched to Fedora 41 (KDE) yesterday, having the same issue (specifically with CS2).
My launch option is: gamescope -W 1920 -H 1080 -w 1440 -h 1080 -S stretch -f -e -r 144.0 --force-grab-cursor --backend auto %command%
The game instantly crashes for me.
EDIT: Running gamescope -- %command% does launch the game, so I'm not really sure what is causing all of this
EDIT2: Running gamescope -W 1920 -H 1080 -w 1440 -h 1080 -S stretch -f -e -r 144.0 --force-grab-cursor -- %command% worked for me and starts the game :)
@nambarn let me know if it works for you, if not, I can try to do some testing as well :)
EDIT: My mistake as well was the missing -- separator.
For me with Fedora 41, gamescope crashes both under KDE (Wayland) and Sway, no matter the flags. I tried both sdl and wayland backends and also tried setting the SDL backend to X11 (that was for me a necessary fix under Fedora 40).
Here are some logs (the game tested is Northgard, DirectX version, with GE-Proton9-18)
gamescope %command%
gamescope --expose-wayland %command%
gamescope --backend sdl %command%
SDL_VIDEODRIVER=x11 gamescope --backend sdl %command% (this one worked on Fedora 40)
gamescope --backend wayland %command%
gamescope --backend wayland --expose-wayland %command%
I'll try later. Is this a new thing with gamescope or is it related with some Steam change? I didn't need that separation before.
If it worked without that separation in the past, it was dumb luck afaik. Maybe the recent Steam for Linux client Steam runtime changes caused this, but what goes on with the Steam client is a mystery to me as well.
It does work with the separation, sorry for the confusion! It indeed worked without separation all the time, so I assume something has changed with how steam does stuff.
If it worked without that separation in the past, it was dumb luck afaik. Maybe the recent Steam for Linux client Steam runtime changes caused this, but what goes on with the Steam client is a mystery to me as well.
It worked without separation for at least a year. This literally "broke" after updating to Fedora 41.
If it worked without that separation in the past, it was dumb luck afaik. Maybe the recent Steam for Linux client Steam runtime changes caused this, but what goes on with the Steam client is a mystery to me as well.
It worked without separation for at least a year. This literally "broke" after updating to Fedora 41.
Yeah it's a weird issue, but it should work with the -- now!
I'm also experiencing this (or similar) issue. Gamescope works with Steam but running it directly in the default Gnome environment it crashes after starting (after window receives focus). Command I'm using is gamescope -- vkcube. This works in Sway and Gnome/X11 sessions, but not the default Gnome Wayland session. Thinking it must not like Fedora's version of Mutter or some such thing.
OS: Fedora Linux 41 (Workstation Edition) x86_64 Kernel: Linux 6.12.10-200.fc41.x86_64 DE: GNOME 47.3 WM: Mutter (Wayland) Terminal: Ptyxis 47.6 CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6700K (8) @ 4.20 GHz GPU: AMD Radeon RX 6800 [Discrete]
It looks like the recent update to 3.16.1 on 1/22/25 resolved my issue. gamescope -- vkcube is stable now and runs as expected. The only odd behavior is that it spams gamescope] [Error] xdg_backend: Compositor released us but we were not acquired. Oh no. in the console, but that doesn't appear to have adverse effect.
I have tried running multiple games with Gamescope through Steam on Wayland with NVIDIA drivers, and I've had no luck. I wanted to try using FSR/NIS on games without it built in, but I can't even get the games to launch..
System specs: Kernel: 6.13.8 Driver: NVIDIA 570 series GPU: NVIDIA GTX 750 DE: GNOME Windowing: Wayland
I've tried the following calls to gamescope:
gamescope -e -W 1920 -H 1080 --expose-wayland -- %command%
gamescope -e -W 1920 -H 1080 --expose-wayland --backend drm -- %command%
gamescope -e --expose-wayland -- %command%
gamescope -e -f -H 1080 -h 720 -- %command%
gamescope -- %command%
The game never opens, the "Play" button just changes from "Running" back to "Play" immediately.
Edit: I can get Slime Rancher to launch with gamescope -e -f --backend sdl -- %command% but I never see the window (I can hear the game audio, but no window is visible..).
