Steam

Refresh Steam files

If there are any problems with your Steam installation first try to reset it's configuration and files. This won't affect your currently installed games.

$ steam --reset

Start Steam with debug output enabled

$ STEAM_RUNTIME=1 STEAM_DEBUG=1 steam

Debug a Steam application / game with strace

Open the Steam options of the specific application and enter the following command into the start parameters form.

$ strace %command% 2>&1 | tee ~/strace.log

Engine and Game specific workarounds (required on e.g. Fedora)

No sound in Unity based games (e.g. in Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues)

Most of the time this is solved by removing the PulseAudio libraries Steam ships with its STEAM_RUNTIME to force the game to use the system installed PulseAudio libraries.

$ rm ~/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam-runtime/amd64/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libpulse*

$ rm ~/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam-runtime/i386/usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libpulse*

Killing Floor

Killing Floor ships it own openal library instead of relying on the (working) one which comes with the steam runtime.

$ cd ~/.steam/steam/SteamApps/common/KillingFloor/System

$ rm openal.so

$ ln -s ~/.steam/steam/ubuntu12_32/steam-runtime/i386/usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libopenal.so.1 openal.so

To play the German version with gore (uncut) set the game language to English in Steam and then edit the configuration file by adding an additional line.

File: ~/.killingfloor/System/KillingFloor.ini

[Engine.Engine]
bdevgoreoverride=True

Duke Nukem 3D: Megaton Edition

$ cd ~/.steam/steam/SteamApps/common/Duke\ Nukem\ 3D/bin/

$ ln -s /usr/lib/nvidia/libGL.so.1 libGL.so

Shadow Warrior Classic Redux

$ cd ~/.steam/steam/SteamApps/common/Shadow\ Warrior\ Classic/bin/

$ ln -s /usr/lib/nvidia/libGL.so.1 libGL.so

Dungeon Defenders Eternity

Right click the Dungeon Defenders Eternity in the Steam library, choose "Link Steam Libraries" in the context menu.

Steam on Exherbo Linux

Host - Prepare system tools

File: /etc/paludis/options.conf

# i686-pc-linux-gnu cross
dev-util/pkgconf targets: i686-pc-linux-gnu
sys-devel/binutils targets: i686-pc-linux-gnu
sys-devel/gcc targets: i686-pc-linux-gnu
app-admin/eclectic-gcc targets: i686-pc-linux-gnu

This is required temporarily to get you started and will be reverted later on.

File: /etc/paludis/options.conf

sys-devel/gcc -threads

# cave resolve pkgconf binutils gcc eclectic-gcc -x1

Target - Prepare cross environment

Create a copy of your paludis environment.

# cp -a /etc/paludis /etc/paludis-cross

In the cross environment you can remove any repository .conf not needed, required are ::arbor, ::desktop, ::gnome, ::media and ::x11 (::hardware for nvidia-drivers).

File: /etc/paludis-cross/repositories/i686-pc-linux-gnu.conf

format = exndbam
location = ${root}/var/db/paludis/repositories/cross-installed/i686-pc-linux-gnu
name = i686-pc-linux-gnu
split_debug_location = /usr/i686-pc-linux-gnu/lib/debug
tool_prefix = i686-pc-linux-gnu-
cross_compile_host = i686-pc-linux-gnu

# mkdir -p /var/db/paludis/repositories/cross-installed/i686-pc-linux-gnu

File: /etc/paludis-cross/bashrc

CHOST="x86_64-pc-linux-gnu"
x86_64_pc_linux_gnu_CFLAGS="-pipe -O2 -march=native"
i686_pc_linux_gnu_CFLAGS="-pipe -O2 -march=native"

File: /etc/paludis-cross/platforms.conf

*/* x86 ~x86

File: /etc/paludis-cross/options.conf

*/* targets: i686-pc-linux-gnu
*/* build_options: jobs=13 -recommended_tests -expensive_tests symbols=strip
*/* LINGUAS: -* de
*/* VIDEO_DRIVERS: -*
*/* INPUT_DRIVERS: -*
*/* X86_CPU_FEATURES: -* avx mmx sse sse2 sse3 ssse3 sse4.1 sse4.2

# Steam minimal dependencies setup
*/* -bash-completion
*/* parts: -configuration -documentation
dev-libs/libglvnd X

File: //etc/paludis-cross/suggestions.conf

*/* -*/*

# cave -E paludis:cross resolve --make cross-compile sys-kernel/linux-headers -x1

# cave -E paludis:cross resolve --make cross-compile --no-dependencies-from sys-libs/glibc sys-libs/glibc -x1

# /usr/i686-pc-linux-gnu/bin/localedef --prefix=/ -i de_DE -f UTF-8 de_DE.UTF-8

# cave -E paludis:cross resolve --make cross-compile libatomic libgcc libstdc++ -x1

Remove the previously set sys-devel/gcc -threads from /etc/paludis/options.conf and rebuild gcc:

# cave resolve gcc --no-follow-installed-dependencies -x1

# cave -E paludis:cross resolve --make cross-compile libatomic libgcc libstdc++ -x1

Prevent installing unneeded Python cross dependencies:

# cave -E paludis:cross resolve --make cross-compile xcb-proto -x1 -0 '*/*'

Cross environment (NVIDIA)

Install the 32bit libraries of nvidia-drivers.

File: /etc/paludis-cross/options.conf

x11-drivers/nvidia-drivers -tools

# cave -E paludis:cross resolve --make cross-compile nvidia-drivers --ignore-from xorg-server

List of installed cross packages

File: List of installed packages

dev-libs/libbsd
dev-libs/libglvnd
dev-libs/libmd
dev-libs/libpthread-stubs
sys-kernel/linux-headers
sys-libs/glibc
sys-libs/libatomic
sys-libs/libgcc
sys-libs/libstdc++
x11-dri/libdrm
x11-drivers/nvidia-drivers
x11-libs/libvdpau
x11-libs/libX11
x11-libs/libXau
x11-libs/libxcb
x11-libs/libXdmcp
x11-libs/libXext
x11-libs/xtrans
x11-proto/xcb-proto
x11-proto/xorgproto