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Steam

Steam automatically updates itself to the latest version whenever it is run.

This is the platform for all recent Valve games. You can find out information about whether or not individual games (such as Half Life) run by checking out their respective sections in the database. This page is about Steam only.

Available natively for Mac OS X and Linux.

Application Details:

Version: Official Release
License: Free to use
URL: http://www.steampowered.com
Votes: 162
Latest Rating: Silver
Latest Wine Version Tested: 9.13

Maintainers: About Maintainership

Free Download Download

Test Results

Old test results
The test results you have selected are very old and may not represent the current state of Wine.
Selected Test Results

What works

Everything, straight out of the box, I didn't even have to install the tahoma font.

For the first time I've installed it you can scroll, allowing you to buy games from within steam itself.

What does not

nothing

 

Workarounds

What was not tested

voice chat

Hardware tested

Graphics:

  • GPU:
  • Driver:

Additional Comments

selected in Test Results table below
Operating systemTest dateWine versionInstalls?Runs?Used
Workaround?
RatingSubmitter
ShowmacOS 15 "Sequoia"Aug 01 20249.13Yes Yes NoSilverMinnie 
ShowSlackwareMay 01 20249.7No Not installable NoGarbageMaik Wagner 
ShowSlackwareMay 05 20249.6No Not installable NoGarbageMaik Wagner 
ShowGentoo Linux x86_64Aug 22 20227.15-stagingYes Yes NoSilverRob 
ShowArch Linux x86_64Apr 21 20227.6Yes No NoGarbageOreeeee 

Known Bugs

Bug # Description Status Resolution Other apps affected
22041 External screen resolution changes are not detected NEW View
23301 Steam 2010 version: tooltips popup even when the steam windows isn't top-active one NEW View
26658 Steam startup is slow NEW View
32342 Multiple applications and games using 'Webkit', 'Blink' or 'CEF' (libcef) web browser engine crash on startup ('Arial' and 'Times New Roman' font face name validation) STAGED View
32515 Steam games protected with Valve's CEG (Custom Executable Generation) DRM scheme fail game cache validation UNCONFIRMED View
33982 Steam windows can be resized to 1x1 despite minimum size NEW View
37110 Steam requires Arial/Times New Roman fonts to open Store/Profile/Community pages NEW View
39022 Steam: Mouse cursor shows the wrong symbol UNCONFIRMED View
39166 Steam - streaming from a Wine host does not send sound ( also applies to Steam Link ) UNCONFIRMED View
40865 Steam does not connect to internet (gethostbyname_r used even when not declared in netdb.h) NEW View
41976 Very high CPU usage while downloading stuff in Steam NEW View
42117 Multiple applications have windows with double caption/title bars (Chessmaster 9000, Steam when Windows >= Vista) STAGED View
42929 steam overlay fps dont work since wine 2.6 UNCONFIRMED View
44120 Steam Big Picture mode fails to display content, it shows a black screen (d3d10) NEW View
46388 Steam: Content Server Unreachable (Wineskin doesn't link against/ship libgnutls) RESOLVED NOTOURBUG View
46441 Steam shows an extra icon when minimizing window NEW View
47325 Steam Login: cannot select Account Name or Password text boxes (needs arial) STAGED View
47331 Steam browser flickering NEW View
50311 Lara Croft GoL crashes when running in a new wine prefix (possibly steam CEG/DRM related) UNCONFIRMED View
51146 Last Steam client version often can't connect to server and hangs up for minutes while starting NEW View
51150 Steam controller settings window has no text NEW View
51310 Steam - gameoverlayrenderer.dll issue, fps loss and/or stuttering if not disabled UNCONFIRMED View
51541 nvcuda.dll unable to load within Steam Runtime pressure-vessel UNCONFIRMED View
52750 Steam friends list does not connect UNCONFIRMED View
53097 Steam UI flickers on Intel UHD 630 UNCONFIRMED View
55007 Multiple applications fail to run if Wine is compiled with CFLAGS="-march=znver4" (PlayOnline Viewer, Steam). RESOLVED NOTOURBUG View
55076 Steam fills terminal output with "ResizeObserver loop limit exceeded" messages. NEW View
56757 The text on the steam client is above where it should be ("winetricks arial" is a workaround) UNCONFIRMED View
56758 Steam: drop down menus are glitchy NEW View
57105 Steam GPU process crash loop with 64-bit wineprefix NEW View

Show all bugs

HowTo / Notes

Test Submissions ... how to avoid a rejection notice!!

These notes were last updated: 29 April 2018

Follow these guidelines to avoid embarrassment when your Test Submission is immediately rejected!!

  • Ensure the version of Wine you have installed currently supports the Steam Client
    (see the Steam Client Build Issues section below).
  • Where possible please indicate the build date of Steam - you used to run your test against. From the Steam Client window:

    mouse Help
    mouse About Steam

  • Put your PC specifications in the Extra Comments section e.g. like your CPU and system memory.1
  • When adding test results please specify video card and driver version you are using.2
  • It's also useful to mention what Desktop Environment you are using (e.g. KDE/Plasma, Gnome, Xfce, Budgie, Mate, Cinnamon, ...)
  • Specify if you installed the Steam client into a fresh Wineprefix (or not), and what programs and games you have installed.
  • Specify what version of the Windows compatibility you use for your Wineprefix (e.g. Windows XP, Windows 7). Specify if you override this for the Steam client executable.
  • Specify whether you installed into a 32-bit or a 64-bit Wineprefix.
  • Add detailed comments about what is not working for you.
  • Please indicate if your using Wine Staging and/or any additional patches applied - to the version of Wine you are using.
  • Please, don't submit test results like "Everything is working" or "Everything isn't working".

These guidelines ensure your submitted test results are actually relevant to other users of Wine and WineHQ.


1 The console version of the lshw utility is your friend. This command will dump your System hardware specification in a clean format. Post command and output in the Extra Comments section:

sudo lshw -short | egrep -v '(volume|disk|bus)'

2 inxi can be used to display information about your graphics card, and your OpenGL/ graphics driver versions. Post the command and output in the Extra Comments section:

inxi -G -c0

Installation

You need:

  • You are recommended to use the latest release of Wine (see Steam Client Build Issues below)
    You can get instructions on how to install the latest Wine release at WineHQ Download.
  • It is not necessary to use a clean Wineprefix, but this is recommended.

How to install:

Download Steam Client installer package. After the download is complete, open a terminal on download folder, and type the following command to install:

env WINEDEBUG="fixme-all" WINEPREFIX="..." wine msiexec /i SteamInstall.msi

It's also recommended to install the fonts: arial.ttf, tahoma.ttf, verdana.ttf and times.ttf. Steam will work without these fonts, but will look ugly. You can also install these fonts, using winetricks, by typing:

env WINEPREFIX="..." winetricks corefonts

Note: Wine should automagically import all system fonts (e.g. TT fonts you may have imported from a Windows partition).

You can also automatically install steam with winetricks and apply the necessary patches, using winetricks, with the following command:

env WINEPREFIX="..." winetricks --no-isolate steam

To learn how to use winetricks and find out more about this monolithic BASH script, see: WineHQ Winetricks.


Remember to set your WINEPREFIX variable, replacing ... , with a valid Unix path.

See: WineHQ FAQ: Wineprefixes.

Steam Client Launcher

Create a .desktop file launcher file

The command line is for losers right? So why not create yourself a Steam launcher! Now you can launch your Steam games straight from your Ubuntu Unity Gnome menu.

Wine will typically automagically extract Steam png icons from the original Windows .ico version:

find "${HOME}/.local/share/icons/hicolor/" -name "*steam.0.png"

Typically the icon codes are: BAC4_steam.0 / F664_steam.0 (type png; 0=Steam client, Steam games will use the Steam game ID number)

Use this information to create a Steam64.desktop file, e.g. for a 64-bit Wineprefix:

[Desktop Entry]
Name=Steam64
Comment=Application for managing and playing games on Steam (Wine, 64-bit Wineprefix)
Exec=env WINEPREFIX="..." wine C:\\\\windows\\\\command\\\\start.exe "C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Steam\\Steam.exe" -no-browser +open steam://open/minigameslist
TryExec=wine
Terminal=false
Type=Application
StartupNotify=true
Icon=BAC4_steam.0
Categories=X-Wine;Network;FileTransfer;Game;

  1. Replace ... with your actual WINEPREFIX path (typically "${HOME}/.wine" - by default).
  2. The Exec should have backslashes (\) escaped. If expressions are left unquoted then you need to escape your escape codes - as the Unix Command Shell will "eat them"!!
    To avoid a world of pain - just quote any paths...
    But note: you can only use double quotes (") in a .desktop file.
  3. The .desktop file can be put in any sub-directory of:

    "${HOME}/.local/share/applications/"

  4. When your click on your desktop entry, in your Desktop Environment menu, and it appears to do nothing... Check it for common errors with:

    desktop-file-validate Steam64.desktop



Note: the Steam client command line parameter: -no-browser +open steam://open/minigameslist ; is a rudimentary workaround to current situation with the Steam CEF web browser which does not render correctly (with any currently released version of Wine). You will only get a basic (installed) games list with these launch options and will not be able to install, remove, or purchase games. The mini games list option also disables access to Steam friends and community features.

Steam Client Build Issues

tl;dr you currently need at least:

  • Wine Development: ≥3.12
  • Wine Staging: ≥2.19 (TBC)

just to be able to install and run the Steam Client!


Steam Client Fails to install games/ applications, with the error "content servers unreachable."

Affects all Steam Client builds, since the Steam client release with build date Jun 1 2018. This issue results from an inability to verify certificates signed using an ECDSA signature. The symptom is that Steam is unable to install any new games, applications or updates (of these).

See bugs: 45329 and 35902.

Wine Development and Wine Staging have a patch-set to support ECDSA signature verification. Wine Stable versions will not work, without the additional ECDSA signature verification patch-set.


Steam Client Fails to start 

Affects all Steam Client builds, since the Steam client release with build date Jul 6 2017. The most obvious symptom of this issue is that the Steam Client self-updates and then crashes when it starts up the new version. Terminal output includes:

net.cpp (262) : Fatal Assertion Failed: PlatformSocketsInit failed, error [no name available] (1)
net.cpp (262) : Fatal assert failed: net.cpp, line 262. Application exiting.

Assert( Fatal Assertion Failed: PlatformSocketsInit failed, error [no name available] (1) ):net.cpp:262

A patch to fix this issue is in the Wine Staging Git tree - see commit 996d9ab307d102399c0014458c59b27671bb921d - now included in version 2.12.
See patch: Set return size when calling WSAIoctl with WS_SIO_GET_EXTENSION_FUNCTION_POINTER.

This patch is in the Wine Git tree - now included in version 2.13.

This patch is in the Wine Stable Git tree - now included in version 2.0.2.

All currently released versions of Wine incorrectly set the ret_size value of the function:

WSAIoctl(... code=WS_SIO_GET_EXTENSION_FUNCTION_POINTER ... *ret_size=0 ...)

The correct behaviour is:

WSAIoctl(... code=WS_SIO_GET_EXTENSION_FUNCTION_POINTER ... *ret_size≥4 ...)

See bug: 43315.


Steam Client Store/(built-in) Web Browser not working 

Affects all Steam Client builds, since Steam with build date Oct 7 2015. The most obvious symptom of this issue is that you get backtrace error pop-up(s) referring to steamwebhelper.exe crashing. Typically, with recent builds of Wine Staging, you will see black/blank areas - in place of rendered web content. The Chromium Embedded Framework" (CEF), that Steam is built on, now has sandboxing/kernel hooking enabled by default. The CEF sandboxing hooks directly into the Windows kernel and this breaks under Wine.

See bug: 21232.

Ensure that your Wine (Windows) version is left at the default setting of Windows XP (this can easily be checked with the winecfg utility). Setting this to a more recent Windows release version introduces additional (known) compatibility issues. If a Steam game needs to use a newer version of Windows, for compatibility reasons, then you can override the Wine Windows version to Windows XP  - just for the Steam client and steamwebhelper executables.

32-bit Wineprefix:

export WINEPREFIX="❚❚❚❚❚❚"
wine reg.exe ADD "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Wine\AppDefaults\Steam.exe" /v "Version" /t "REG_SZ" /d "winxp" /f
wine reg.exe ADD "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Wine\AppDefaults\steamwebhelper.exe" /v "Version" /t "REG_SZ" /d "winxp" /f

64-bit Wineprefix:

export WINEPREFIX="❚❚❚❚❚❚"
wine reg.exe ADD "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Wine\AppDefaults\Steam.exe" /v "Version" /t "REG_SZ" /d "winxp64" /f
wine reg.exe ADD "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Wine\AppDefaults\steamwebhelper.exe" /v "Version" /t "REG_SZ" /d "winxp64" /f

See bug: 38960.

Workaround Option 1 (recommended) use CEF no sandboxing (-no-cef-sandbox) - command line parameter - when launching Steam Client

The recommended solution is to launch the Steam Client, with disabled support for CEF-based runtime sandboxing (for a 32-bit Wineprefix):

export WINEPREFIX="❚❚❚❚❚❚"
cd "${WINEPREFIX}/drive_c/Program Files/Steam"
wine Steam.exe -no-cef-sandbox

Steam Client web rendering is supported - when run from both 32-bit Wineprefix 's & 64-bit Wineprefix 's.

This is a workaround - so please indicate if you've used this Steam CLI switch when submitting AppDB tests for Steam!


Workaround Option 2 patch wine ntdll to support Chrome sandbox (only supports 32-bit Wineprefix)

There is currently one semi-official patch to get the Steam store to work correctly. This patch partially fixes sandboxing support for the CEF runtime. However 64-bit Wineprefix 's are not supported at present.


Workaround Option 3 Crossover (hack) patch

This patch injects a --nosandbox parameter to the CEF runtime - when it is called from a steamwebhelper.exe process. This is a hack - so please indicate if you've used this patch when submitting AppDB tests for Steam!

Steam Client web rendering is supported - when run from both 32-bit Wineprefix 's & 64-bit Wineprefix 's.

Rebuild Wine (vanilla or Wine Staging) with the following experimental patch:


Steam Client Overlay not working

Wine versions 1.7.37(-) do not fully implement the MSDN guidelines for Input Method Manager: cross-process/thread IME must be prohibited. For further details see bug 35361. The most significant symptom of this is that all Steam Games exit after any/the first key press.

This is a wine regression exposed by a Steam Client build dated 3 Dec 2013. Update your Wine version to 1.7.38 or disable the Steam overlay and Friends window.


Steam Client crashes after user login

This is an issue related to the Dec 3 2013 Steam Client build. You will need to use a fairly recent version of Wine that has a patch to fix this API implementation mismatch. Development releases of Wine 1.7.7(-) and Stable releases of Wine 1.6.1(-) no longer support the Steam Client.

The actual Windows implementation of the Win32 function NtAdjustPrivilegesTokenNtAdjustPrivilegesToken does not match the MSDN specification for the API of the function... Wine versions 1.7.7(-) incorrectly assume the MSDN specification is the correct one. It should be emphasised that this is not a bug in the Steam Client - it simply calls this Win32 function and assumes the standard MS Windows behaviour. See bug 35030.

Steam API

Steam browser protocol

There are numerous system-wide commands available that interact with Steam. All of them open up Steam if it is not open.

  • To install a Steam game, with Steam Game id:

    wine start 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\Steam.exe' steam://install/id -no-cef-sandbox

  • To run an installed Steam application, with Steam id:

    wine start 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\Steam.exe' steam://run/id -no-cef-sandbox

    To run an installed Steam/non-Steam application or game mod, with Steam id:

    wine start 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\Steam.exe' steam://rungameid/id -no-cef-sandbox

  • To validate the local files of an installed Steam application, with Steam id:

    wine start 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\Steam.exe' steam://validate/id -no-cef-sandbox

  • To open your Library tab with your current Downloads:

    wine start 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\Steam.exe' steam://open/downloads -no-cef-sandbox

    To open you Steam Screenshots:

    wine start 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\Steam.exe' steam://open/screenshots -no-cef-sandbox

For the full guide see: Valve Developer Community: Steam browser protocol


Steam Application IDs

These Application IDs (id) can, for example, be used in conjunction with Steam via this command to launch a specific application:

wine start 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\Steam.exe' steam://run/id -no-cef-sandbox

or alternately via:

wine start 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\Steam.exe' -applaunch id -no-cef-sandbox

Generally quickest way to get the specific id, for a Steam application, is using the 3rd party Steam Database website.

All the store URLs are in format store.steampowered.com/app/id, so for Wasteland 2, the URL is http://store.steampowered.com/..., and the id is 240760.

Wasteland 2 Digital Deluxe Steam Store page


Steam Command Line Options

These command-line parameters work when launching the Steam application (Steam.exe) under Windows (or Wine):

ArgumentDescription
-applaunch id [launch parameters]Launches an Game or Application through Steam.
-cafeapplaunchLaunch apps in a cyber cafe context (Forces apps to be verified / validated before launch).
-clearbetaOpts out of beta participation (in case for some reason it can't be done via settings).
-complete_install_via_httpRun installation completion over HTTP by default.
-consoleEnables the Steam debug console tab.
-ccsyntaxSpew details about the localized strings we load.
-debug_steamapiEnables logging of Steam API functions.
-developerSets the 'developer' variable to 1. Can be used to open the VGUI editor by pressing F6 or VGUI zoo by pressing F7. Intended for skin development.
-fs_logLog file system accesses.
-fs_targetSet target syntax.
-fs_logbinsLog the binaries we load during operation.
-forceserviceRun Steam Client Service even if Steam has admin rights.
-gameoverlayinjectSets the method how GameOverlay is injected.
-install Install a product from a specified path (e.g. "D:" for the DVD-ROM drive if D: is one).
-installer_testchanges installing a retail game to emit all files to install_validate/ folder instead of to the steam cache.
-language Sets the Steam language to the one specified. (Examples: "english", "german").
-login <[username]|anonymous> [password]Logs into Steam with the specified Username and Password combination. Note: Steam must be off for this to work.
-lognetapiLogs all P2P networking info to log/netapi_log.txt.
-log_voiceWrites voice chat data to the logs/voice_log.txt file.
-noasyncDon't use async file operations, run them synchronous instead.
-nocacheStarts steam with no cache (Steam must be off for this to work properly).
-noverifyfilesPrevents from the client from checking files integrity, especially useful when testing localization.
-no-cef-sandboxDisable sandboxing, for Steam Chromium Embedded Framework-based web browser.*
-no-dwriteForces vgui to use GDI text even if DWrite support is available.
-script Runs a Steam script. All scripts must be in a subdirectory of the Steam folder called test scripts (Steam must be off for this to work).
-shutdownShuts down (exits) Steam.
-silentSuppresses the dialog box that opens when you start steam. It is used when you have Steam set to auto-start when your computer turns on. (Steam must be off for this to work).
-single_coreForce Steam to run on your primary CPU only.
-tcpForces connection to Steam backend to be via TCP.
-voice_qualitySets audio quality, range [1,3].
-voicerelayOnly allow 'relay' connections for voice (testing).
-tenfootStart Steam in Big Picture Mode.

* The -no-cef-sandbox option is no longer officially documented. It is only supported under Windows XP.

For the full guide (including specific commandline options for Valve games and game engines), see: Valve Developer Community: Steam Command Line Options


Warning: all Wine terminal commands in this guide assume you are using a 64-bit Wineprefix!

General Troubleshooting

Steam freezes after opening the library.

This is a bug that affects some users. At this time, there isn't a solution to fix this problem. It is recommended to reinstall steam or (if necessary) start over with a clean Wineprefix.


When opening a new window in Steam, that window starts transparent.

This is a compositing-related problem. Try disabling compositing in the settings for your Window Manager.


Steam In-Game overlay will not close.

This is an intemitent issue with no permanent solution. You can try to close the overlay by clicking on the "Close the steam overlay" link at the top of the screen. This is currently the most effective solution, but, sometimes the only way is to close the game.


Big Picture Mode fail to open, asking for DirectX.

Until now Steam Big Picture mode doesn't work with Wine. Big Picture mode requires DirectX 10.1 libraries that Wine currently does not support.


Steam window is unresponsive or slow.

This bug is not yet resolved. If you're using Desktop compositing, you can disable-it and it will improve steam performance. The Steam client requires and uses OpenGL acceleration.


Steam window stealing window focus or not taking focus.

This is a common glitch with Wine running under X-Windows. The best solution in this case is minimize the steam window or close it to the taskbar.

Users of the KDE/Plasma Desktop can set fine grained Focus Stealing control over applications. It is recommended to set the Wine Steam class to None if you have problems with game draw windows not running in fullscreen.

When Wine draws windows using X-Server protocols these cannot guarantee or mimic the same ordering or focus that DirectX/Draw libraries provide under Microsoft Windows.


How to fix "Could not Connect to Network" Issue.

For those experiencing the "Could Not Connect to Network" problem often the Windows solution is to delete the ClientRegistry file. To do that, delete it:

rm "${WINEPREFIX}/drive_c/Program Files/Steam/ClientRegistry.blob"

Note: For most people simply restarting the client works around the issue.


Chat window doesn't work.


The chat appears to be working but messages are not displayed correctly. Try resizing and/or minimizing/maximizing the chat window.

Try to call any friend to chat from the friends list, and the window will show up again.


Steam Takes too long to start.

When starting the Steam client - Wine crashes and writes a small memory dump (*.mdmp files). ­

A fix, for Linux-based systems, is to edit the /etc/sysctl.conf file (Arch: create a file /etc/sysctl.d/98-steam-network-buffers.conf) and add these entries:

# Send and receive buffer sizes to make steam happy
net.core.rmem_max = 131072
net.core.wmem_max = 131072

and then, run as root:

­sysctl -p

or for Arch:

sysctl -p /etc/sysctl.d/98-steam-network-buffers.conf

Unable to launch games with error: "The registry was in use by another process".

This is a Steam client bug resulting from the Linux kernel caching file operations. You can fix this problem by shutting down Steam cleanly (keep running and exiting steam itself until you get a clean shutdown without any errors after "Shutting down" - watch the console you ran steam from) and then restarting it. Once steam has been shut down cleanly and restarted the error should not occur.

If all fails, start Steam, right-click on the game and select Properties. Go to Local files tab and click on Verify integrity of game cache...

Some file systems support extra sync flag. This should solve the problem. However it will reduce performance, so use with care!

chattr -R +S ~/.wine/drive_c/Program\ Files/Steam

Most/All games crash after open or after a short time.


Try disabling the gameoverlayrender.dll. Run winecfg, go to Libraries, add a new library replace named gameoverlayrenderer and set to disabled. Note the In-Game Overlay will not work (including the Steam screenshot facility).


Steam client crashes when authenticating user.


This problem can be caused by WINE requiring the native ntlm_auth library to be installed (in order to authentic your login). On most Linux-based distributions this library is included in the Samba (server) package - typically this package includes winbind.

If you have this issue then you will see an console/debug error similar to the following:

err:winediag:SECUR32_initNTLMSP ntlm_auth was not found or is outdated. Make sure that ntlm_auth >= 3.0.25 is in your path. Usually, you can find it in the winbind package of your distribution.

­


Steam client window(s) do(es)n't render any text.


For Wine versions 1.5.10(+) stubs for the dwrite.dll were introduced and subsequently implemented. This results in the symptom that the Steam Client will render with invisible text without a workaround (see below). See bug 31374. Upgrading to Wine versions 1.7.49(+), with a fully implemented dwrite.dll, will fix this issue.

Ensure Steam client is launched as follows...

wine Steam.exe -no-dwrite


Backup/Restore games: file dialog displays files out of order.

The Symptom of this is that the Steam Client file browser, for Backing up or Restoring Steam games, displays files and folders in an apparently jumbled up order. Technically this is a bug in the Steam Client. It assumes that WinAPI functions FindFirstFile/FindNextFile will return files and folders in sorted order. This is however only the case for NTFS formatted drives. See bug 34122. Upgrading to Wine versions 1.9.10(+) fixes this issue.


General Workarounds.

If you have an problem that you can't solve one 'hack' is to force the Steam client to reinstall itself.

Shutdown your Steam client - if necessary force shutdown, with:

wineserver -k

Delete all files in your Steam folder (default is typically: ~/.wine/drive_c/Program Files/Steam/) except the file steam.exe and the Steam games directory: steamapps.

Re-launch your Steam client - in order to re-download all application files.

Your Steam games will be intact - since games are stored in subdirectories off the steamapps directory.

Steam Tips

How to disable/enable forced Steam Client updates.

This workaround disables write access to your Steam package folder where Steam downloads updates to. Caveat Emptor - disable updates for too long and your Steam installation will break... You have been warned!!

First, navigate to (32-bit Wineprefix):

cd "${WINEPREFIX}/drive_c/Program Files/Steam"
chmod -w package

... this disables all subsequent Steam Client updates...

chmod +w package

... this re-enables all subsequent Steam Client updates...



Make fonts look less ugly.


To make fonts look better in Steam and in other applications, running via Wine, we need to change a few values in the Wine registry...

First make a new text document called fontfix.reg in your favourite text editor with the follow content:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop]
"FontSmoothing"="2"
"FontSmoothingTypeFontSmoothingType"=dword:00000002
"FontSmoothingGammaFontSmoothingGamma"=dword:00000578
"FontSmoothingOrientationFontSmoothingOrientation"=dword:00000001

Then we need to import this file to the wine registry, to do that:

env WINEDEBUG="fixme-all" WINEPREFIX="${WINEPREFIX}" wine regedit fontfix.reg

Once complete, fonts will be smoothed and will look a lot better in Steam and all other Wine applications.

If your Steam Client fonts still look poor then navigate to:

"${WINEPREFIX}/drive_c/windows/Fonts"

and press Ctrl + F  and type arial to find, then delete, all variants of Arial except the original Arial.ttf.



Playing videos/trailers through Steam Store - directly in Steam client window. 


Steam now uses the Chromium Embedded Framework runtime to render the webstore. Playback of trailer videos is handled by the builtin HTML5 / Pepper Flash players. No extra Windows software is required to support this.

If your Steam Chromium Embedded Framework is running with sandboxing enabled - then the Steam store will typically not be rendered at all...
So you've got bigger problems, to deal with (see the Steam Client Build Issues section), than non-playing trailer videos!



How to completely re-install the Steam Client application.


To reinstall Steam without loosing your installed games, you need to move/copy the folder (and all sub-folders):

"${WINEPREFIX}/drive_c/Program Files/Steam/steamapps"

... or for a 64-bit Wineprefix ...

"${WINEPREFIX}/drive_c/Program Files (x86)/Steam/steamapps"

to a safe place.

In a clean Wineprefix, after reinstalling steam, you can just move back the steamapps folder (and all sub-folders). Hey Presto! All your backed up games should show up, as installed, when you launch the newly installed Steam Client...

NB This will not backup or restore your saved games!! These will need to be safely backed up separately.



Keep Saved Games in your Wineprefix

Using the:

winetricks sandbox

command will ensure that all symbolic links to your Linux HOME folder are removed from your Wineprefix. Your Steam games Saved Games will therefore all be stored directly within your Wineprefix.
Note the winetricks sandbox command will remove the default link to your Linux / root directory:

ls -hl "${WINEPREFIX}/dosdevices/"
lrwxrwxrwx 1 user group 1 Oct 14 16:53 z: -> //

There are legitimate reasons why you might want to access files outside of your Wineprefix. In order you to re-enable this access, you have to recreate the Linux / root directory symbolic link:

ln -s / "${WINEPREFIX}/dosdevices/z:"


Issues with Multi-Monitor Setups

Often issues arise when using a hardware set-up with 2 or more monitors... Symptoms are that games launched from your Steam client will render on the wrong display, mess up your X display resolution or not render/support your native (target) monitor resolution/refresh rate. A work around for this is to launch the Steam client in a virtual desktop (32-bit Wineprefix), e.g.:

cd "${WINEPREFIX}/drive_c/Program Files/Steam"
wine explorer /desktop=Steam,1920x1080 "Steam.exe"

(N.B. replace 1920x1080 with your monitors native resolution - if different)

Comments

The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. WineHQ is not responsible for what they say.

SteamCMD as Browser alternative
by Luna Crane on Thursday November 12th 2015, 12:35
There is also the alternative to use SteamCMD as an alternative to getting games when the Steam browser isn't working. SteamCMD is actually available on Window$ and Linux, but you'll be using the Window$ version.

developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/SteamCMD

Right-click on a Steam [Play Now] button for a game in Firefox and copy link. The game ID number is there.

Put steamcmd.exe in /Program Files/Steam/ and run it from there to put things properly in the Steam directory system! Run the following, filling in your own login name instead and your game ID number. More options at the link above. Also, if you can't type, use ALT+TAB to change window focus and then switch back to Steam on Wine.

login LunaCrane

app_update 299360

Run the the game via taskmgr.exe -> File -> Run, while Steam is running if the game doesn't show up in your Library!

Games known to work this way (Free to Play): Block N Load, Creativerse.
How I do steam for steam games testing
by Maquis196 on Thursday February 9th 2012, 10:32
Just in case this suits anyone the way I do it is to have a /home/maquis196/wine_games directory and create a wine_global_steam directory in there.

Then wineprefix a dir in wine_games (like WINEPREFIX=/home/maquis196/wine_games/wine-steam-gold) and do a mount bind -o /home/maquis196/wine_games/wine_global_steam to the usual Program\ files/Steam in the wineprefix.

This way, you can share one steam install but different prefixes can use different dll's, settings, etc. A symlink won't work because steam is very fussy when it comes to installing/updating games but wont be an issue with using mount bind.

Very very good for testing a game in a fresh prefix without having to backup/restore games which can take a while.
voice chat
by Kevin F on Saturday February 4th 2012, 10:43
I'm having trouble getting steam to find my voice input device. Are there any standard suggestions of what to try when Steam won't detect a usb audio input device? I see it's a known problem:

"Steam in-game voice-chat typically (always??) won't detect a connected microphone correctly"
RE: voice chat
by Rob on Saturday February 4th 2012, 11:30
Ah that be me :-) making that comment.

Actually with recent versions of Wine (>Wine 1.3.37 I believe) my microphone is working properly. Testing with ARCH-Linux, Wine 1.4-rc2 and a Creative USB HS1200 wireless headset (w/ builtin microphone).

If I whistle at my self - I can hear myself and the microphone level works! (Ok I has no Steam friends :-( ).

I still see the "[ No recording device detected ]" notifier above this... But hey so what if the device/audio actually works!

Can you confirm this finding with your setup and a recent version of Wine? Ideally the latest Git which has other Steam client fixes which you would benefit from (like the mouse click capture and jumping Steam window are fixed now)...

If you can duplicate my findings then I will add it into the FAQ and Git bisect to work out exactly when it started working!!

Ta
Bob
RE: voice chat
by Kevin F on Saturday February 4th 2012, 12:03
Hi, thanks for the reply!

I am using wine 1.3.37 on arch-linux x86_64. I see the 'no recording device detected' message, and when I test I don't see the bar moving. I'll try updating to wine 1.4 when I have time to mess around with it and report what happens...
RE: voice chat
by Rob on Saturday February 4th 2012, 13:50
Ah I am very new to ARCH - so bear with me if this is obvious to you!

I just use a hack to roll with the latest version of WINE. I enabled the [multilib-testing] repository but I move it down below the [multilib] repository (in pacman.conf). I force pacman to install Wine from the testing repository by using:
$> pacman -S multilib-testing/wine

I've also got a hack in my alsa.conf:
====
options snd slots=snd_usb_audio
install sound-slot-0 /sbin/modprobe snd_usb_audio

# Keep snd-pcsp from being loaded as first soundcard
options snd_hda_intel index=-2
# Force snd-usb-audio to be loaded as first soundcard
options snd-usb-audio index=0
====

Some of which is probably wrong :-) . Basically I am trying to force my USB headset to be audio device 0. Seems to work anyway...

Since you can't change the audio device in the Steam Client (run via Wine) you have to ensure it gets the right soundcard/device.

BTW I presume you've messed about with the winecfg command (to set the default audio devices)?

Bob
RE: voice chat
by Kevin F on Sunday February 5th 2012, 12:38
I upgraded wine, but no luck. I did do something different than you in my alsa configuration, I followed the steps here:

wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Advanced_Linux_Sound_Architecture#Setting_the_default_Microphone.2FCapture_Device

Later I will trying re-numbering my sound devices to see if that has an effect...
RE: voice chat
by Rob on Sunday February 5th 2012, 15:23
Hmmm,

I forgot to say I actually went as far as blacklisting the internal audio kernel module (in /etc/modprobe.d/modprobe.conf):
blacklist snd_hda_intel

If your mic and speakers/headphones are seperate devices (like you seem to be suggesting) that hack won't work...

God damn,,, The Linux sound architecture is a depressing train wreck... :-)

Have you tried tinkering in with winecfg for your Steam WINEPREFIX? It lets you choose the default WINE device for recording/playback (in more recent versions). I haven't really tested how well this works - but it's a step up from only being able to select 'ALSA'!!

Bob
RE: voice chat
by Kevin F on Sunday February 5th 2012, 15:28
Yeah, you guessed correctly that I don't want to do away with my default sound card since I have input/output on different devices...

I did try playing around in winecfg (being sure to use the right WINEPREFIX), but nothing seems to change.

Anyway, thanks so much for your help thus far! This may just be something we'll just have to hope is supported in future versions.
GameOverlayRenderer Bug Fix
by Artur h0m3 on Tuesday March 1st 2011, 23:26
Some people, like me, have the problem with the gameoverlayrenderer.dll on steam, and have to turn off Steam Community InGame to play the games. I solved this problem.

You need to acess winecfg and add a new application on aplications tab, select steam.exe on steam folder.

with the steam.exe selected in aplications, go to libraries and add a new Library Substituction named: gameoverlayrender and set to disabled.

Head back to aplications, select default configuration and make sure that gameoverlayrenderer isn't present there.

Now open your steam, the steam program gona to igore the gameoverlay renderer but the game itself not, so, the game gonna open with the Steam Community InGame.

I don't know where post this tutorial, so, i post here in comments.
RE: GameOverlayRenderer Bug Fix
by Rob on Monday June 13th 2011, 17:25
Just signed up as a Steam maintainer. I read your comment a few months ago. I would love to add it into the HOWTO - but I would need to have it corroborated by someone who uses the in-game chat...

Can anyone test this feature (i.e. me!!) or do I need to actually have 'Steam friends'. (I should point out I don't do Twatter, Friendface, or any other online so-called 'friendships' :-) )...

Bob
RE: GameOverlayRenderer Bug Fix
by a player on Sunday December 2nd 2012, 8:50
Just tried this and it works perfectly! The default Shift+Tab shortcut wasn't detected but it is easy enough to change in Settings, I chose F9 because the modifier keys like Ctrl were already assigned in game.

Hopefully others can benefit from this too.
Problems launching Source games since Nov 16th Steam Update Solution
by Mike on Tuesday November 23rd 2010, 11:54
Pull up winecfg then go to the Libraries tab. Add new with name 'gameoverlayrenderer' set to disabled.

Solution was scraped from ' www.codeweavers.com/support/wiki/CXGamesApp_SteamSourceGames'

Enjoy
RE: Problems launching Source games since Nov 16th Steam Update Solution
by Daniel on Wednesday November 24th 2010, 1:21
Thanks so much! It worked!
Steasm and manually compiled wine
by Marcus Hambraeus on Wednesday November 3rd 2010, 18:39
I'm having some trouble with steam and a manually compiled wine. Each time that I'm using a manually compiled wine version, steam will crash when it should get to displaying the login-window (it patches just fine, asks me to install the service if I've chosen w7 as windows version, otherwise skips this step.). It also spawns steamerrorreporter.exe, and the Steam.exe process is still there, but nothing happens.

If I resort to install wine from the ppa, steam works as it should. I've installed all the stuff through winetricks, checked bug reports and everything, but still can't solve the problem. Ideas? Need more info?
RE: Steasm and manually compiled wine
by Ken Sharp on Saturday July 15th 2023, 22:32
Interesting. I'm seeing this now, a decade later.
Another fix for "Cannot connect to Steam network"
by Ivan Vučica on Wednesday August 11th 2010, 12:28
Ubuntu 10.04 LTS, without any updates (installed yesterday, will update immediately after this)

The fix that involves writing to /etc/sysctl.cfg mentioned in the Howto helped me not the "Steam takes too long to start" problem. It has in fact helped me with Steam's inability to connect to its servers.

Since I did not want to change system settings, I used a temporary fix. (I presume it will affect the system only until restart.) As the root, I ran

echo 131072 > /proc/sys/net/core/rmem_max
echo 131072 > /proc/sys/net/core/wmem_max

Afterwards, Steam managed to connect to its servers.
USB microphone not working
by James on Monday August 9th 2010, 2:37
I can't get steam to use my USB microphone. I tried running the windows version of audacity, just to make sure the mic worked with wine in general, and it worked fine.

This is in Gentoo amd64, with wine 1.2.

I have the following registry key entries:
=====
[Software\\Wine\\Alsa Driver]
"AutoScanCards"="N"
"DeviceCount"="1"
"DevicePCM1"="default"
=====
My .asoundrc:
=====
pcm.!default {
type asym
playback.pcm {
type plug
slave.pcm "hw:0,0"
}
capture.pcm {
type plug
slave.pcm "hw:1,0"
}
=====
hw:0,0 is a USB Headphone DAC/Amp and hw:1,0 is my Logitech AK5370 microphone. Any ideas?
Steam fonts are messed up.
by Benjamin Xiao on Monday May 17th 2010, 12:16
All of the fonts in steam are very aliased and italicized. Which fonts do I need to install in order to get the fonts in the new Steam UI to display correctly? I don't want to use winetricks as I don't like how it messes up the wineprefix.
RE: Steam fonts are messed up.
by Benjamin Xiao on Saturday May 29th 2010, 16:44
Found a workaround. It seems that there is a Wine bug where variations of the Arial font in the .wine folder override the regular Arial font. So in other words, if you have the Arial Narrow variation in your .wine folder, it will override regular Arial and make it seem like Arial Narrow. By removing all Arial variations except the regular one from .wine, the Steam fonts are fixed.
how to revert?
by Craig on Thursday February 25th 2010, 5:32
so, once you've made the dumb mistake of running the new beta without *first* checking the appdb, how do you revert back to the old UI?
RE: how to revert?
by Chad Waters on Thursday February 25th 2010, 9:18
run "wine steam.exe -clearbeta"
RE: how to revert?
by Craig on Thursday February 25th 2010, 15:57
thanks. 'wine steam.exe -clearbeta' worked.
RE: how to revert?
by Marisa on Thursday February 25th 2010, 12:12
Open a terminal and type in 'regedit' (no quotes)

Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER > Software > Valve > Steam and delete the 'Beta' entry.

Steam should relaunch as the official client
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