All Proton games running very slowly

[Humanoid_human]

So recently I ran a partial upgrade on my system (Ubuntu 22.04 LTS). After that, I restarted my computer. Now when I open a game that uses Steam Proton, it either runs very slowly or just breaks. I tried this with Guilty Gear Strive, Sekiro, and Hollow Knight (where I use proton to get at my old windows saves). GGST and Sekiro just load very very slowly with at least one second of input delay. Hollow Knight breaks while loading, although that might be my mods (last time it worked fine, though.) Godot Engine, which doesn't use Proton, runs just fine. (Without proton, Hollow Knight just closes instantly. I suspect that's a different issue, though.)

I've tried disabling Steam Overlay, clearing the browser and download caches, restarting my computer, setting my computer to performance, and switching graphics drivers. None of these have worked. I checked System Monitor and my CPU and RAM are both completely fine, plenty of resources to spare.

System info:
OS: Ubuntu 22.04 LTS
CPU: Intel i5 10400F @ 2.90 GHz
GPU: GeForce GTX 1050 Ti
RAM: 16 GB
Storage: 240 GB SSD, 106 GB available

[Ettanin]

make sure the proper GPU driver is used after system version upgrade.

[Humanoid_human]

I'm using "NVIDIA driver metapackage from nvidia-driver-525", which is the recommended driver for my graphics card. I also tried X.org.

[Humanoid_human]

Ok i solved it, essentially you need to uninstall and reinstall your graphics drivers
first uninstall all nvidia drivers, which you can find a method for online
figure out which driver is recommended for your device (usually the latest, as of posting it's 525)
and then do
sudo apt install nvidia-driver-525 (or whatever version)

to see if you have the same problem as me, do nvidia-smi in the command line and see if it returns "NVIDIA-SMI could not connect" bla bla bla

[Elucidator]

Ubuntu uses APT to install and update packages (installation packages / programs) on your system,
however it may not always change configuration files. I assume that is what happened.

Your config file...the GPU driver section was likely pointing to the wrong file or wrong version. It couldn'f find this driver so it reverted back to the default driver, causing a lot of features not to be supported.

You could have fixed this without needing to uninstall and reinstall by changing a few lines of text somewhere.


Edit: I recommend looking into how Ubuntu works, how to do these things, because they may happen again.

Xorg is the desktop environment window system service. (its a program running on the background)
if you close it, you, basically close your whole desktop environment.
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/xorg

(basically it allows the right click menu to exist, or a window to have a close button, stuff like that.)
How these windows actually work and how they are managed are done by a different program.
That second program called a window manager will not do much when there is no xorg, since it is dependent on it to function properly. (If you don't like xorg, there are alternatives)


Edit 2, in case you don't like reading websites:

X primarily defines protocol and graphics primitives – it deliberately contains no specification for application user-interface design, such as button, menu, or window title-bar styles. Instead, application software – such as window managers, GUI widget toolkits and desktop environments, or application-specific graphical user interfaces – define and provide such details. As a result, there is no typical X interface and several different desktop environments have become popular among users.

[Large Tomatoes]

Originally posted by Elucidator:

Ubuntu uses APT to install and update packages (installation packages / programs) on your system,
however it may not always change configuration files. I assume that is what happened.

Your config file...the GPU driver section was likely pointing to the wrong file or wrong version. It couldn'f find this driver so it reverted back to the default driver, causing a lot of features not to be supported.

You could have fixed this without needing to uninstall and reinstall by changing a few lines of text somewhere.


Edit: I recommend looking into how Ubuntu works, how to do these things, because they may happen again.

Xorg is the desktop environment window system service. (its a program running on the background)
if you close it, you, basically close your whole desktop environment.
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/xorg

(basically it allows the right click menu to exist, or a window to have a close button, stuff like that.)
How these windows actually work and how they are managed are done by a different program.
That second program called a window manager will not do much when there is no xorg, since it is dependent on it to function properly. (If you don't like xorg, there are alternatives)


Edit 2, in case you don't like reading websites:

X primarily defines protocol and graphics primitives – it deliberately contains no specification for application user-interface design, such as button, menu, or window title-bar styles. Instead, application software – such as window managers, GUI widget toolkits and desktop environments, or application-specific graphical user interfaces – define and provide such details. As a result, there is no typical X interface and several different desktop environments have become popular among users.

I think they were probably referring to using xorg in place of wayland. To clarify for any readers, xorg is the window manager and not the desktop environment, the desktop environment is the likes of KDE, MATE, Gnome et al.

This is more than likely related to the kernel module for the driver not being attached after upgrading, Ettanin's suggestion was the correct diagnostic step.

[Elucidator]

My explanation sucks I guess.
Its more or less the backbone of whatever window manager you use though, not the manager itself (as my wikipedia copy paste explains).
and it helps provide means on how your desktop environment looks.

There are basically three layers that can be included in the Linux desktop:

X Windows – This is the foundation that allows for graphic elements to be drawn on the display. X Windows builds the primitive framework that allows moving of windows, interactions with keyboard and mouse, and draws windows. This is required for any graphical desktop.

Window Manager – The Window Manager is the piece of the puzzle that controls the placement and appearance of windows. Window Managers include: Enlightenment, Afterstep, FVWM, Fluxbox, IceWM, etc. Requires X Windows but not a desktop environment.

Desktop Environment – This is where it begins to get a little fuzzy for some. A Desktop Environment includes a Window Manager but builds upon it. The Desktop Environment typically is a far more fully integrated system than a Window Manager. Requires both X Windows and a Window Manager.

(sourced from: https://www.ghacks.net/2008/12/09/get-to-know-linux-desktop-environment-vs-window-manager/)