Steam Overlay not working

[Emdecay]

Hey guys, I have a problem with the steam overlay, it has stopped working some weeks ago (approx. 1-2 weeks). It´s not only in Source Games, there is not a single game working with it, in some games the "starting overlay" pop up shows for a sec, then nothing.

What I did thus far:

- reinstalled the games I own and I even reinstalled steam
- reinstalled my nvidia drivers, also tried an older versions of the driver
- verified game files on all games
- unchecked the "Steam Overlay" option (general and game specific) and checked that
- installed the steam beta

Nothing has worked, has someone any idea what could have caused it or is encountering the same issue?

[Emdecay]

@Sythrin: I never encountered that issue, is your bandwidth limited? Could be a non related issue.

[zemka]

I use a program called Avast Anti-Virus, if that is any help

[Emdecay]

@zemka: we use different Anti-Virus programs, it´s most likely not related to that.

[Sir Garlin]

I used AVG. Uninstalled, stopped service, and tried disabling too. I highly doubt its anti virus related.

[Da Jester]

yeah getting same problem here, just tried a full format and reinstall same problems.

nvida 560ti running latest 3.whatever drivers just downloaded

[Sir Garlin]

Out of curiousity I went over to Nvidia's website and searched their forums. I tried two more steps uninstalling Nvidia Geforce Experience and Disabling Razer 2.0 software ( Ihave Razer mouse/keyboard). Both mentioned during Steam overlay. Sadly they both didn't help, still no overlay.

[theotherdan]

I found out the issue for me. I believe it is a bug in the Chromium dll file used as a web browser in the overlay.

To fix, go to: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\bin", that is, if you have a default installation. Find the "libcef.dll" and rename to "libcef1.dll" or any other name that varies the original. Understand, no matter what you try, you may end up with Steam updating EVERY TIME you open Steam like I do. This is due to Steam not seeing the appropriate files when it launches. I have attempt various files and no matter what I name them, Steam ALWAYS updates.

I use the following in a batch file to automatically for me:

del libcef1.dll
ren libcef.dll libcef1.dll

Open Notepad.exe and copy the above into the blank file. Then, save the file in the location of the libcef.dll file. Save the notepad file at NAME.bat. When you run the file it will automatically delete the previous file, due to the rename, and rename the new file.

[Sir Garlin]

引用自 Danger DAN：

I found out the issue for me. I believe it is a bug in the Chromium dll file used as a web browser in the overlay.

To fix, go to: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\bin", that is, if you have a default installation. Find the "libcef.dll" and rename to "libcef1.dll" or any other name that varies the original. Understand, no matter what you try, you may end up with Steam updating EVERY TIME you open Steam like I do. This is due to Steam not seeing the appropriate files when it launches. I have attempt various files and no matter what I name them, Steam ALWAYS updates.

I use the following in a batch file to automatically for me:

del libcef1.dll
ren libcef.dll libcef1.dll

Open Notepad.exe and copy the above into the blank file. Then, save the file in the location of the libcef.dll file. Save the notepad file at NAME.bat. When you run the file it will automatically delete the previous file, due to the rename, and rename the new file.

Yes! This works for me and I will send it to Steam. So it IS a Steam issue, not our other thoughts, Thanks for sharing.

[theotherdan]

Glad to help...

[neoooo]

2123123

[Waggs]

Good for you two! :D Sadly that still hasn't helped my issue nor has the permissions for AppData/Temp folders :(

[Megan]

That fix did it for me as well. How did you figure that out?

[theotherdan]

So, I went ahead and reinstalled Windows over my existing installation as a last chance fix. It did seem to work. I can now use the overlay without the fix.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/3413-repair-install.html?ltr=R

That is tutorial on the procedure. BUT BE WARNED! This will reinstall WIndows without loosing data in a perfect situation. YOU NEED TO BACKUP your data to ensure that you don't loose anything.

You will also need to have you product key to reactivate you system. BE WARNED! I would only suggest this if you know what you are doing. I have been in the infomration technology field since 2003 and I am very familiar with this procedure.

I wanted to resolve the issue without a repair install or full install. But, I couldn't get around it.

If you need help, let me know...

[Shockwave]

The library fix came from a different thread on this issue. The funny thing is I've reinstalled steam multiple times and it doesn't fix the issue. I'm not going to reinstall my whole operating system because Valve broke their own code. Rather I'll use the batch fix that doesn't really work that well. Now I know Valve is extremely busy with their new games but how about they make a true bug forum that shows us where mods post, and whether or not VALVe employees even care about these kind of bugs. I understand there are many different OSes, but breaking a program so that it doesn't work on older ones or specific major ones. I use Vista 64 bit, no anti-virus but I also know I have no viruses because from time to time I install and run anti virus programs, clean (usually nothing), and uninstall because of all the problems having them causes. I also have this OS fully updated. This is on Valve (and Microsoft).

[Megan]

Yeah I might end up doing a reinstall (seems like the only way to fix Windows problems), but I don't see any other signs of things going wrong on my machine. I feel like Valve must be at fault here because it seems really unlikely that all of us just suddenly broke Windows in the same way.