Twitch linux streamer wants to blame steam ui for a bug causing black window captures in OBS.

[macmorven]

until the end of june i was happy streaming games and music and planning many steam-compatible events for my channel. i have used linux exclusively for decades.

july 01 2023 a bug arose on my system, then running ubuntu for maximum compatibility with steam using an rtx 3060 -- ordinary window capture in OBS stopped working.
i could stream but no longer from steam games or web pages. [windows users will expect me to try game and browser capture buttons in OBS but we do not have those and might not trust them.]

over the summer i worked through variations of drivers, linux distributions, OBS versions and, after an embarrassing number of fresh installs, landed on debian to begin august -- where non-steam programs worked as if it were only june 2023, until the bug re-appeared after a few weeks, live on stream. often i can see the expected window content for part of a second before it darkens.

a few days ago, for fun, i tested without having launched the steam UI. every thing was perfect.
launch UI again, black window bug returns. reboots, gone, etc. blah blah: after a few days and more tests i can capture anything except steam products or the steam UI itself, all native linux code behaves as i expected.

this is not the first time, and not the worst, steam has disabled or damaged my linux systems. i submit they resort to coding with no plan to respect system administration in linux and therefore they cannot be relied upon in production studios.

this pc has 32 gigs, Ryzen 5600, 1Tb M2, 500Gb SSD, RTX 3060 ti. ANTEC case housing ASUS x570 PRO TUF with a Seasonic GM-850.

to avoid unnecessary finger-pointing, discord was not installed for any of these builds and firefox was not used for sources.

took some time to get the first windows user i told this to -- to stop laughing.
the irony is palpable.
seems that i cannot correctly stream games from Steam because their UI is buggy.
i have to use a camera to capture the monitor live.

if someone has a Linux suggestion...?
thanks for reading this far.

[Chompman]

Try the linux forum here:

https://steamcommunity.com/app/221410/discussions/

[lsdninja]

macmorven eredeti hozzászólása:

took some time to get the first windows user i told this to -- to stop laughing.
the irony is palpable.

It's not a problem if it's not a problem on Windows. And I say that as some who is currently experimenting with Linux.

[macmorven]

Chompman eredeti hozzászólása:

Try the linux forum here:

https://steamcommunity.com/app/221410/discussions/

____
thank you, the linux forum does not handle linux UI bugs either.

steam for linux bugs may go to github, if you have an account, where there is lots of room.

https://steamcommunity.com/app/221410/discussions/0/2860219962080763731/

[Wolfpig]

Just saying.
Every overlay can make problems when using another overlay regardless of the system.

So i doubt that it is the steam ui which causes your problems, but rather the steam overlay which gets recorded by the obs overlay.

try turning the steam overlay off to see if it might help.

[BJWyler]

This has been an ongoing, off and on issue with OBS for nigh on a decade, OP. It is not a problem specific to any website or game.

[macmorven]

Wolfpig eredeti hozzászólása:

Just saying.
Every overlay can make problems when using another overlay regardless of the system.

So i doubt that it is the steam ui which causes your problems, but rather the steam overlay which gets recorded by the obs overlay.

try turning the steam overlay off to see if it might help.

thank you for the suggestion.

i have just verified all entries in my steam library, overlay is not ticked on.
[incidentally, steam broadcast settings were never used for streaming here.]
as far as i recall -- i have never had steam overlay on, even for testing,
but the idea of interference seems sound.

in my case i did not use or install overlays from other people or products. that is why, for months, i was blaming OBS. i would like to publicly express shame for trash-talking OBS. it's a love/hate thing.

[macmorven]

BJWyler eredeti hozzászólása:

This has been an ongoing, off and on issue with OBS for nigh on a decade, OP. It is not a problem specific to any website or game.

thank you for the comment.
there is a long history of complaints about OBS in forums where a black window capture arises.
as far as i know most were never resolved.

my case is general to all games, web pages, and often open windows in linux apps, of course i was only able to test them one at a time. the bug was a stream-breaker, games and web pages were never actually directly affected.

perhaps you miss my point, in my case the OBS issues Are resolved -- as long as steam is not launched in linux.

[nakoda]

absolutely, i have stopped laughing.

James Poyser . gif

[macmorven]

nakoda eredeti hozzászólása:

absolutely, i have stopped laughing.

James Poyser . gif

following up on <Wolfpig>'s point about the steam overlay

i have dug into steam/settings/in_game where i found two toggles on,
and i removed scale steam overly [as well as browser tag restores].
the overlay is coded into the UI and keyboard items are locked,
the toolbar toggles were also on by default.

this has permitted me to capture the steam UI as a window in OBS [cue more GIFs]

and in these tests i have found ONE item in my steam library which behaves for capture.

specifically, Graviton, an independent early access sandbox item, shows normally;
Fly Dangerous does not; Stardew Valley does not; Borderlands 2 does not; and my favourite Valheim does not capture yet in OBS.
testing will continue.

understandably, i can unconditionally commend Graviton, the Great Sand Simulator to our readers today...

[macmorven]

a progress update,
recording of the black screen bug allowed me to see that focus matters.
returning to the desktop for steam. from the desktop i ran obs on,
permitted the recording of the blacked out game although obs did not display it.

i am running multiple desktops on KDE,
over the summer other desktop environments such as gnome were included in testing with muliple desktops in the setup. the focus of shifting between these is a relevant variable now,

when i moved All the applications for a stream onto the same desktop, capture seems to work on the recording and is now displayed in studio mode. . . will test more this week.

i cannot close the thread on the basis that steam for linux dictates desktop settings by fiat.
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25/09/23 stream on twitch was successful, it was quarantined to one desktop, used one game.