[WORKAROUND] steam is black

20 August 2021, 07:10:32

when i try to use steam every thing is black, i have try every thing on this page https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Steam/Troubleshooting#Steam_webview/game_browser_not_working_in_native_runtime_(Black_screen) it didn't work, when i run steam off the terminal i get this output

"Running Steam on artix rolling 64-bit
STEAM_RUNTIME is enabled automatically
Steam runtime environment up-to-date!
Steam client's requirements are satisfied
WARNING: Using default/fallback debugger launch
/home/dem/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam"

also its says no friends are online when they are

Re: steam is black

Reply #1 – 01 September 2021, 14:34:34

I was having the same problem with Steam in Artix -- the cause appears to be the freetype package being upgraded to version 2.11.0 (specifically, "freetype2-2.11.0-3-x86_64.pkg.tar.zst" is what I have in my /var/cache/pacman/pkg/ directory).

I determined this initially by starting up Steam via Terminal with command 'steam-runtime' -- the following output helped narrow it down to freetype:

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./steamwebhelper: symbol lookup error: /usr/lib/libfreetype.so.6: undefined symbol: hb_ot_tags_from_script_and_language

As referenced in the below links:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Steam/Troubleshooting#Steam_webview/game_browser_not_working_in_native_runtime_(Black_screen)
https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/8011

The way I was able to resolve Steam's rendering issue while also getting freetype upgraded to freetype2-2.11.0.-3 is by performing the following commands (HUGE thanks and original credits go to /u/pwerner2 on Reddit's /r/LinuxGaming for this! Link to original post: Steam doesn't load UI)

1. Exit Steam completely
2. Downgrade freetype via the following command:

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sudo pacman -U https://archive.archlinux.org/packages/path/freetype2-2.10.4-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.zst

3. Launch Steam, and under ''Settings' > 'Account', click the 'Change' button underneath the 'Beta participation' header, and choose 'Steam Beta Update' from the Beta participation drop-down menu.
4. Wait for the Steam update to finish & Steam itself to launch once again; then, exit Steam completely.
5. Perform system update again -- freetype will then be upgraded to version 2.11.0 and Steam will render pages correctly.

Re: steam is black

Reply #2 – 03 September 2021, 15:43:34

Thanks, it helps. Although in my case i didn't need to downgrade freetype because Steam settings was still accessible, I just add beta participation and restart-update Steam client.