Gamescope/Game Mode broken on my hardware :(

5 days ago by artyom to c/linux

E: please read the entire post before replying...

Hi all. For the last several years I've been using Bazzite/Gamescope on my desktop, and even before that I was using it with ChimeraOS. It's been really great and I've enjoyed it thoroughly. Unfortunately I've begun to experience issues with games freezing. Within an hour of firing up a game, the image freezes. Audio continues playing on a loop. I'm able to pull up the menu and exit out of the game no problem. But then I fire it up and the same thing happens again.

I don't really know how to diagnose this issue but I reinstalled Bazzite fresh, same issue. Installed CachyOS-Handheld, same issue. However I tried launching games from the desktop mode and I've now spent ~20 hours gaming with no issue, but this is certainly not ideal. Any ideas on potential fixes?

E: AMD 5700x + 6800XT 16GB

throwaway403 4 points 5 days ago

Others have basically already pointed out how you should go about diagnosing the problem. Which, by itself, is already very valuable.

Below, I will try to touch upon some tips and tricks that are worth noting in this context, assuming Bazzite*.

Pinning a specific deployment to return back to. As we'll be doing some time traveling in a bit, it's definitely recommended to pin your latest deployment (just in case) before you do anything else. See this entry in Bazzite's documentation on that.
Rolling back to images from a certain day. So, IIRC, all of the uBlue products keep around 90 days worth of images you can rollback to. See Bazzite's documentation on brh for more information. With this (and some effort), you can literally pinpoint the exact date from which you started to have problems with gamescope/game mode.
Looking into the exact changes between two deployments. So, after you've identified the last properly working deployment and the first deployment that started misbehaving, you can invoke the rpm-ostree db diff command to see what has changed between the two deployments. Note two things on this:
- That the hashes coincide with the ones you actually want to compare.
- The command catches only changes in packages. However, a config diff applied by Bazzite's maintainers will not be shown here.
Asking help from community channels. You can even start here. But basically, a project's discord/discourse is undoubtedly better equipped in helping you out. See this entry on Bazzite's documentation for links.

Wish ya good luck fam 😉!

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artyom 2 points 5 days ago

Yeah, they have. The problem is that I don't know understand anything they're talking about. And I'm not interested in starting a new career. So I guess I should have known better.

I already wiped Bazzite. But the only communities they support are Reddit, Github, and Discord. None of which I have any interest in participating in. The top pinned thread in their Discourse says no one looks at issues there, and to go to the corporate platforms for support.

I appreciate the effort though.

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MentalEdge 3 points 5 days ago

TL;DR

Install an archival version of Bazzite or whatever else that corresponds to a date when you know it worked correctly.

Bazzite in particular makes this fairly easy. They have straight forward instructions on how to roll back to a given version.

If that fixes it, just use that version and don't update.

If you want to stick with Cachy, you can use the Arch Archive to downgrade your entire system to an earlier date, or just Gamescope.

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throwaway403 2 points 5 days ago

You can access those past images/snapshots even from a new install ;) .

As it seems to have been some time since it started, I'd suggest trying out the oldest still accessible snapshot/image.

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just_another_person 4 points 5 days ago

Are you saying games work fine without invoking the third-party tools?

This sounds more like a general hardware or hearing issue. Monitor your temps, and run a memory test at a minimum. Make sure you don't have a bunch of stuff stacked on your machine or vents clogged.

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artyom 1 point 5 days ago

I don't know what "third party tools" you speak of. If it was a hardware issue, surely it would persist in Plasma?

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MentalEdge 5 points 5 days ago

Gamescope is the extra tool.

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just_another_person 4 points 5 days ago

If it's heat or hardware it may not show up until CPU, Mem, or GPU are under heavy utilization. That's why I said monitor your temps and test your memory.

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MentalEdge 2 points 5 days ago

Step one for me whenever I run into an issue, is to load up an earlier system snapshot and see if that fixes it.

If it does, it was an update that changed something. If it doesn't, it's likely a hardware issue.

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artyom 0 points 5 days ago

How is a snapshot going to help me identify an issue with Gamescope vs. Plasma? And would persist across entirely different distros?

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MentalEdge 5 points 5 days ago

By going back in time to a version that you know worked.

If that doesn't fix it, then you can be sure the problem is hardware related, because it still happens on the exact same software that used to work.

And if it does work on older software, then you can go forward one update/snapshot at a time, until you find the change that causes the problem.

What you need to do is compare different points in TIME (older versions), not the same software just installed differently.

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artyom 0 points 5 days ago

because it still happens on the exact same software that used to work.

It also doesn't happen on different software, which suggests it's not a hardware issue.

I don't have the slightest clue how to do anything with snapshots and it's been months since it began anyway so I wouldn't even know where to start. And even if I did know which version caused the problem, I wouldn't know where to go from there.

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MentalEdge 2 points 5 days ago

A different distro is not different software. Distros are really just different ways to install the same exact software.

Gamescope on Bazzite is the same as Gamescope on Cachy. Same for Plasma/KDE.

Why would they be different?

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MentalEdge 2 points 5 days ago

I don't have the slightest clue how to do anything with snapshots and it's been months since it began anyway so I wouldn't even know where to start

Well, if you didn't create any, you can't go back to them.

My suggestion is to find the archival ISOs of older versions and try them WITHOUT updating after installing them offline.

Though, if you end up having to install gamescope from the internet, then you're likely getting the exact same latest version no matter what distro you use.

Hence, maybe just easier to learn how to install older versions of packages on cachy. The Arch archive repo makes that quite doable.

And even if I did know which version caused the problem, I wouldn't know where to go from there.

You pin the package/system and prevent it from updating so it keeps working for you. And report the bug so it can be fixed.

All of this stuff is a community effort. You can wait for someone else to figure out the problem of course, but the fastest solution is usually to volunteer yourself.

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davad 2 points 5 days ago

I haven't used either, so I don't have any firsthand help to give. But if you want useful help, you'll need more specific details. Crash logs, hardware info, etc.

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artyom 1 point 5 days ago

I don't know how to get crash logs

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MentalEdge 1 point 5 days ago

Start with googling how to use journalctl, filter it based on time, errors, or specific processes.

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bruce965 1 point 4 days ago

In my case it wasn't a total freeze but rather just a massive slowdown. It would happen at random, especially in Desktop mode when I had too many things open. My device is a ROG Ally Z1 Extreme (16 GB of unified memory), Bazzite in gaming mode.

I permanently solved the issue by simply adding a bit of swap memory.

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Zen_Shinobi 1 point 5 days ago

What does BIOS say about your hardware?

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artyom 1 point 5 days ago

What do you mean?

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Zen_Shinobi 1 point 5 days ago

What does the BIOS diagnoatic tests say for your hardware?

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Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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