Frequent Steam In-Game Overlay freezes with any game

[sizeofbool]

My system information

• Steam client version (build number or date): 1492730551 (Built: Apr 20 2017, at 21:59:41)
• Distribution (e.g. Ubuntu): Debian
• Opted into Steam client beta?: Yes
• Have you checked for system updates?: Yes

CPU: Intel i5-6600 MEM: 16Gb VGA: nVidia GTX1060 6Gb (proprietary driver 375.39) OS: Debian GNU/Linux 9.0 stretch x86_64 (Kernel Debian 4.9.18-1 (2017-03-30)) DE: Xfce 4.12 (lightdm + xfwm4), default settings, compositor enabled. X11: X.Org version 1.19.2

Please describe your issue in as much detail as possible:

Sometimes, when I open Steam In-Game Overlay in Left 4 Dead 2 or in other game, game could freeze and overlay stops responding. When this happens I still can Alt+Tab to other opened windows, such as Steam Client main window and chat windows, access my desktop, etc, but game stays frozen and the only way to close it is by kill command. Frozen game process uses almost no CPU power. Steam Client log

Steps for reproducing this issue:

There is no reliable way to reproduce this issue, but I've noticed it happens more often when I open overlay too soon while overlay still loading (message about accessing overlay in game wasn't displayed yet). Sometimes it happens mid-game while I've accessed overlay multiple times before without any problems. Game and overlay freezes only when I open overlay. (Game runs normally if I don't open overlay)

[JackHasaKeyboard]

Here's a one-line command to unfreeze the process: pgrep <process_name> | read pid | kill -STOP $pid; kill -CONT $pid

[PewieStiffin]

Ive had the same problem (Linux Ubuntu 17.10) but only on cs:go. when i exit my game my mouse cursor dissapears. when i try to execute xkill in terminal it says "unable to grab cursor"

[insanity54]

@PewieStiffin If your cursor is gone then xkill can't do it's thing. Try using regular kill, not xkill. Example: kill -9 csgo_linux64

[PewieStiffin]

Why the -9?

[insanity54]

@PewieStiffin -9 makes kill send the SIGKILL signal. (SIGKILL just happened to be assigned number 9) Without it, kill defaults to SIGTERM which can be ignored by the process being killed. SIGKILL cannot be ignored by the process. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signal_(IPC)#List_of_signals

[hypothermic]

Issue confirmed on Ubuntu 17.10 with any game. My overlay freezes randomly and system is not responsive anymore, hotkeys don't even work. Have to restart PC.

[ozrak]

Issue confirmed on Arch with csgo. If i recieve a message or open overlay in-game it freezes and I can't alt-tab or switch to any other window either. I can ssh to the machine and will try the kill commands @af7567 sugested next time I play.

[insanity54]

@ozrak using SSH sounds a bit extreme. Can't you just drop to a terminal? Ex: Ctrl+Alt+F3

[Mario-paul]

@insanity54 I imagine he tried since SSH ing is more extreme like you said. I've stopped gaming on steam but I recall not being able to input anything when I experienced this bug, which they still have not fixed.

[sizeofbool]

@Plagman Here are coredump files you requested, created when in-game overlay was frozen. This issue could be reproduced reliably in any game if you simply browse through Steam Community Discussion forums, open Steam Profiles of other players and\or type messages in chat.

Updated system info: CPU: Intel i5-6600 MEM: 16Gb VGA: nVidia GTX1060 6Gb (proprietary driver 384.111) OS: Debian GNU/Linux 9.0 stretch x86_64 (Kernel Debian 4.13.13-1~bpo9+1 (2017-11-22)) DE: Xfce 4.12 (lightdm + xfwm4), default settings, compositor enabled. X11: X.Org version 1.19.2

core-hl2_linux_pid_2508_tid_2508_sig_11_1521434735.dmp.gz core-gameoverlayui_pid_3882_tid_3882_sig_11_1521434735.dmp.gz

[vblanton]

Happening here as well, latest stable Steam client. Playing CS:Go and not necessarily using steam overlay, but simply alt-tabbing in and out occasionally to chat via steam chat. 1 out of 15 times or so i will freeze CS:GO but not steam. have to kill the game.

Computer Information: Manufacturer: Unknown Model: Unknown Form Factor: Laptop No Touch Input Detected

Processor Information: CPU Vendor: GenuineIntel CPU Brand: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-2415M CPU @ 2.30GHz CPU Family: 0x6 CPU Model: 0x2a CPU Stepping: 0x7 CPU Type: 0x0 Speed: 2900 Mhz 4 logical processors 2 physical processors HyperThreading: Supported FCMOV: Supported SSE2: Supported SSE3: Supported SSSE3: Supported SSE4a: Unsupported SSE41: Supported SSE42: Supported AES: Supported AVX: Supported CMPXCHG16B: Supported LAHF/SAHF: Supported PrefetchW: Unsupported

Operating System Version: "Fedora release 27 (Twenty Seven)" (64 bit) Kernel Name: Linux Kernel Version: 4.15.11-300.fc27.x86_64 X Server Vendor: Fedora Project X Server Release: 11906000 X Window Manager: GNOME Shell Steam Runtime Version: steam-runtime-beta-release_2017-10-05

Video Card: Driver: Intel Open Source Technology Center Mesa DRI Intel(R) Sandybridge Mobile Driver Version: 3.0 Mesa 18.1.0-devel OpenGL Version: 3.0 Desktop Color Depth: 24 bits per pixel Monitor Refresh Rate: 60 Hz VendorID: 0x8086 DeviceID: 0x126 Revision Not Detected Number of Monitors: 1 Number of Logical Video Cards: 1 Primary Display Resolution: 1280 x 800 Desktop Resolution: 1280 x 800 Primary Display Size: 11.26" x 7.05" (13.27" diag) 28.6cm x 17.9cm (33.7cm diag) Primary VRAM Not Detected

Sound card: Audio device: Cirrus Logic CS4206

Memory: RAM: 7888 Mb

Miscellaneous: UI Language: English LANG: en_US.UTF-8 Total Hard Disk Space Available: 245325 Mb Largest Free Hard Disk Block: 110838 Mb VR Headset: None detected

[DarkAceZ]

I can confirm that stopping the game process, and then starting it again (WITHOUT ending it) will unfreeze the game and can continue playing. At this point, steamoverlay will crash and will not open until next game start.

[nightsky30]

Same issue.

[Zuiron]

its starting to happen to me too now. id say in the previous 14 days or more (a month aprox) it started. never happened before.

[fgdy]

This is so, extremely, infuriatingly pathetic of valve. The original post was posted over a fucking year ago and nothing has been done. This isn't even the earliest recorded incident! Valve has a serious problem and need to fix it, because it affects so many people but you don't do shit! Nobody is doing anything about it and we're left to rig our own solvents that only half-work! This should be a high priority, not something so irrelevant that you can wait over a year to even consider!

[sizeofbool]

Yeah. It's puzzling how they can't fix this bug, which could be reproduced reliably within just a few minutes of In-Game Overlay usage. You don't even have to be connected to any server, just be in main menu of the any game and browse through your friends list, or open random player profiles. I even posted the requested core dump files for them to look into and updated OS information.

I also wonder if fiddling with the frozen process via task manager or kill command to stop\continue game process, could trigger VAC.

[martinpl]

Temporary solution could be a program which freeze and unfreeze game on the key? :see_no_evil:

[sizeofbool]

Today's Steam Client Beta got an update. steamcommunity.com/groups/SteamClientBeta Here is quote from patch notes:

Fixed rare instance of games getting stuck when bringing up the overlay

However, I'm still able to reproduce this buggy behaviour of Steam In-Game Overlay. @Plagman, @kisak-valve I have uploaded a new set of coredump files created with "kill -11 " command, as you requested before. Please, look into this bug again. core-gameoverlayui_pid_3505_tid_3505_sig_11_1526365868.dmp.gz

core-hl2_linux_pid_3498_tid_3498_sig_11_1526366028.dmp.gz

[sizeofbool]

@Plagman Additional information about the issue. To quickly reproduce this bug, I had 5 tabs opened with different URLs, and every sub-process of "steamwebhelper --type=renderer" worked fine, and continued to work even after game+overlay were frozen. I know that because I had YouTube music going in one of the tabs and all processes show 1-5% of CPU activity in Task Manager. During game+overlay freeze, all processes show 1-5% of CPU activity, including "gameoverlayui", "hl2_linux" and active "steamwebhelper --type=renderer" with music. I hope this helps. And, by all means, let me know if you want me to check something, or gather additional info about the problem.

[Plagman]

Argh, OK; thanks for the update. Is your repro still with CS:GO?

When you have all these tabs open, do you repeatedly toggle the overlay to reproduce the issue or just leave it up until it gets stuck? What FPS is the game running at when you reproduce the issue?

[sizeofbool]

Is your repro still with CS:GO?

@Plagman No, it was Left 4 Dead 2. I don't have CS:GO, but this issue occurs in other games, from different game developers and different game engines.

When you have all these tabs open, do you repeatedly toggle the overlay to reproduce the issue or just leave it up until it gets stuck?

No, I just use it in normal way, click on links, open YouTube to listen to music, browse player profiles, browse content section of Steam forums, open screenshots, use chat with players from my friend list and browse through Steam Discussions.

What FPS is the game running at when you reproduce the issue?

I don't use "Sync to VBlank" feature and have it disabled in Nvidia Settings, and I was in main menu of Left 4 Dead 2, when I tried to reproduce the issue last time. That setting removes restriction to 60FPS, so it must be maximum what is allowed by hardware or the game. I have around 260-300 fps in game, when I play it.

Update: I've enabled In-Game FPS Counter and it shows 298-300FPS in main menu and I was able to reproduce the issue again. Unfortunately, FPS counter doesn't show when Overlay is open.

[vlv-henryg]

This bug is definitely my fault, but it took @Plagman and I several months to figure out why. We spent the past two days with paperweights on the Shift and Tab keys, toggling the overlay as fast as possible, trying to reproduce the issue. We couldn't figure it out and we couldn't get it to happen on our systems. Then of course, we gave up, tried to fix another bug, and we reproduced this issue immediately. Anyway, long story short, we just want you to know that this was really hard to figure out and our brains all hurt, but the fix is coming either tonight or tomorrow.

[Plagman]

Can you guys try the new Beta build that just shipped?

https://steamcommunity.com/groups/SteamClientBeta#announcements/detail/1655515215460469020

[ATMarcks]

I just switched over to the beta and the issue appears to be resolved for me (Ubuntu 18.04).

[sizeofbool]

@Plagman @vlv-henryg Thank you so much, it looks like you've really fixed this issue in latest Steam Client Beta build. I've tested it for a few hours during the day and wasn't able to reproduce this bug anymore.

[facePlanted]

Got the update and tested for few minutes on CS:GO, looks like it's fixed. (until yesterday I was getting freezes after few seconds) Thank you Volvo, I can now browse the marketplace and buy some skins :)

[PewieStiffin]

appreciate the work, ty!

[kisak-valve]

Closing as fixed in the 2018-05-15 Steam beta client.