How to Make Steam Games Work After Upgrading to Ubuntu 24.04

[Strange Gamer]

Hi guys, I'm pretty sure that many of you have encountered the problem where Steam games no longer work properly after upgrading to Ubuntu 24.04 due to security upgrades. Unlike other posts that suggest disabling security, below is a proper security minded fix that would allow Steam to work without disabling security.

1- Check if you have the following file:

/etc/apparmor.d/steam

2- If yes, rename it to steam_OLD


3- Create a new blank file called steam in the same directory (/etc/apparmor.d/) and modify it to the following:
#BEGINNING OF FILE
# Allow execution of all games
/usr/games/** rmix,
/usr/lib/games/** rmix,

# Allow access to libraries required by Steam
/usr/lib/** r,
/usr/lib32/** r,
/usr/lib64/** r,

# Access to Steam's home and application data
/home/$(whoami)/.steam/** rw,
/home/$(whoami)/.local/share/Steam/** rw,

# Basic permissions
/usr/bin/steam rix,
/usr/share/steam r,
/tmp/** rw,
/var/tmp/** rw,

# Device access might be necessary for some games
/dev/** rw,

# Allow network access
network inet stream,
network inet dgram,

# Deny everything else (optional but recommended)
#deny /** wb,
}

# END OF FILE

4- run the following command to load the new profile

sudo apparmor_parser -r /etc/apparmor.d/steam

5- Test your games and thank me later

6- If you run into any problems, you can delete /etc/apparmor.d/steam, rename /etc/apparmor.d/steam_OLD to /etc/apparmor.d/steam and then go back to step No. 4

DISCLAIMER:
The above configuration was suggested by ChatGPT when asked which directories steam most likely will need regular access to. If you run into a problem, it is possible that Steam tried to access a directory which was not included in the above profile. You'd need then to wait for a fix from Steam or figure out what directories are causing problems.

Therefore, there is no need actually to disable the new security feature; but instead you just need to give Steam the required permissions to run smoothly. Hope this helps!

At the time this post was made, I personally tested this and it solved the permission problems.

[V3LTA]

Using windows 8.1 or lower?

[Strange Gamer]

Originally posted by V3LTA:

Using windows 8.1 or lower?

The post is referring to Linux Ubuntu 24.04 OS machines, not Windows machines.

[Salaru]

hmmm Might work? Will have to try. Updating the OS has made FF14 stutter like mad from half to two hours of gameplay.
*EDIT*
sudo apparmor_parser -r /etc/apparmor.d/steam command gives me an error.
AppArmor parser error for /etc/apparmor.d/steam in profile /etc/apparmor.d/steam at line 2: syntax error, unexpected TOK_MODE, expecting TOK_OPEN

[RedLightning]

This stuttering has started in ubuntu 24.04 since a recent update for the vast majority of my game s on steam. I thought it was my video card, however the games work fine in windows.

Play it for 10 min to an hour, and the frame lag suddenly gets, and remains, terrible. Have to quit and restart.

[Salaru]

Also heard switching to flatpak version of firefox fixes it, so Ububtu devs need to fix stuff.
Either way, guess I have to type the files and not just copy paste. XP
Though I have no clue what to do... Maybe I did it right and I'm overthinking it? Linux is weird for me... I did have to open, edit, and save the file directly. After copy pasting it to my desktop for the old version. Couldn't rename the file due to permissions. Maybe it did work? Am playing now, so I'll update in a few hours if I don't get laggy.

[Salaru]

OH! NVIDIA cards might be being throttled by the security updates since it was discovered that they all have serious security issues?
Also might need to install a specific updated wine version.

[RedLightning]

This post looks to be for a specific distro... I know ubuntu, or at least my version of steam does not have - or use - some of these folders.

I looked at the entry for apparmor for steam and it allowed full access.

[Salaru]

OH! The update added a new chipset or whatever for graphics didn't it? I opened the steam_steam.desktop file and set PrefersNonDefaultGPU= to false. And so far I've been on FF14 for a couple hours with no issues. Might be as simple as just deleting that added x.org driver or whatever it is.
If the game starts borking again soon, I'll ket ya know. Otherwise that was it.
*EDIT* Never Freakin Mind... As SOON as I post that... Maybe I just gotta downgrade...

[RedLightning]

I ended up just straight out reinstalled the OS, and did not update after that, and so far so good.

Think I'll just wait till they iron out whatever is the issue first.

I know this started happening straight after some nviida updates came down from their servers. Even updating to a new nvidia driver did not fix it after that.

Yea.. throttling for 'security' issues.. right.. probably throttling for some bribe money... this throttling did not take place in my windows installation on the same machine. I certainly hope its not all that and just something that Conical just overlooked.

[Strange Gamer]

Originally posted by RedLightning:

I ended up just straight out reinstalled the OS, and did not update after that, and so far so good.

Think I'll just wait till they iron out whatever is the issue first.

I know this started happening straight after some nviida updates came down from their servers. Even updating to a new nvidia driver did not fix it after that.

Yea.. throttling for 'security' issues.. right.. probably throttling for some bribe money... this throttling did not take place in my windows installation on the same machine. I certainly hope its not all that and just something that Conical just overlooked.

The issue that I had was really apparmor in linux 24.04 blocking steam from accessing crucial directories. I was able to verify that in the logs at the time i made this post. However, I do not know if Steam or linux made any updates for this problem.

[Salaru]

Well at least I still had the old img file to reinstall pop_os. Also got a couple others. Downloaded a few last december. Testing them out.

[RedLightning]

Originally posted by Strange Gamer:

Originally posted by RedLightning:

I ended up just straight out reinstalled the OS, and did not update after that, and so far so good.

Think I'll just wait till they iron out whatever is the issue first.

I know this started happening straight after some nviida updates came down from their servers. Even updating to a new nvidia driver did not fix it after that.

Yea.. throttling for 'security' issues.. right.. probably throttling for some bribe money... this throttling did not take place in my windows installation on the same machine. I certainly hope its not all that and just something that Conical just overlooked.

The issue that I had was really apparmor in linux 24.04 blocking steam from accessing crucial directories. I was able to verify that in the logs at the time i made this post. However, I do not know if Steam or linux made any updates for this problem.

I understand... I was just hoping that your issue was *my* issue and it was as simple as allowing all through the firewall. Alas I ended up just restoring the OS, the issue i gone for now and the only thing that I didn't do was install the most recent updates.

[Salaru]

GAT DANGIT STILL HAPPENING!!! Maybe it's the latest version on WINE? Or did sudo apt update update the stuff it shouldn't have? Maybe a proton version? Or maybe the 550 drivers?

[RedLightning]

I remember this started to happen when an update came down for nvidia....I tried clean installs of many different NVIDIA drivers to no avail. I cannot be too sure.. but the only thing I have not done was install updates, since I reinstalled yesterday, and the games have been running without the issue.

I even tried different proton versions including ProtonGE, which the issue lead me to try.

I tried different 'fixes' all over the web for stuttering frames, most sites blamed the hardware, however windows works fine on the same machine. None of it fixed it. Learned a lot along the way though. :) So it was all good. Found it was less time and effort just to reinstall the OS. Glad I did. If they do not fix the update, I'll have to switch to a distro that it doesn't happen on.

PS.. for some reason, along the line of this fiasco, gamemoderun ended up corrupted and unable to run nor complete its built in tests... any game that I put gamemoderun %command% would fail on account of gamemoderun not working. That is not an issue after the reinstall either.

[Salaru]

So I should reinstall the Pop_OS system again and just get wine from the pop shop instead of the terminal to avoid using sudo apt update?