I hope it works with fractional scalling !
Valve should migrate steam to wayland eventually, the X code to run steam is not the cleanest thing ever.
this post was submitted on 01 Aug 2025
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the X code to run steam is not the cleanest thing ever
Where is that available to inspect?
I think this is what they are referring to https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/xorg/xserver
I feel like the part where they say
the X code to run steam […]
is what sets it apart from the entire X server code. Something specific to Steam. But I could be wrong.
I can't find anything online but I remember when I started using linux ( around 12 years ago ) I kept hearing stuff on IRC about how steam needed specific workaround in the X11 and how that was setting a bad precedent.
I can imagine. How curious. 😁
The funniest thing is how the Gaming Mode on the Steam Deck works. It first runs Gamescope, a Wayland compositor. This then runs Steam in a XWayland session. Then when a game is started it starts another Gamescope session which launches the game in a second XWayland session.
Then when a game is started it starts another Gamescope session which launches the game in a second XWayland session.
No, it doesn't start another gamescope. It starts a second Xwayland in the same gamescope instance.
There's a launch option you can add to your Steam .desktop file or whatever that will scale the UI up and fractional works. I think I have mine at 1.15x.
Don't remember the command off the top of my head though.
I actually stopped having problems with steam on Wayland quite some time ago. But, one of the first things I did was turn off scaling (I have 1080 and 1440 screens). There used to be random issues with the menus in steam, and that went away a few months ago.
My only problems (as an NVidia user) with KDE plasma on wayland right now is occasionally discord will just freeze and I need to minimize/maximise to bring it to life. And very very rarely (and actually it might have been fixed, I've not seen it in weeks), one screen will entirely freeze and I have to either switch to a console and back or logout/login to bring it back to life. Oh and not a bug, but the OBS issue with global hotkeys. Now I can run it in X mode, but then it will randomly cause an issue where it makes games shudder. Only in X capture mode. It's most odd.
It brings enough positives compared to X that these really minor problems are worth it.
I have the exact same frozen screen issue!
I thought steam was able to run natively on Wayland?
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