can't select dropdown menu options

[sysms]

Your system information

• Steam client version (build number or date): stable latest

• Distribution (e.g. Ubuntu): Debian 11
• Opted into Steam client beta?: [No]
• Have you checked for system updates?: [Yes]

Please describe your issue in as much detail as possible:

Since the latest update, I can't choose anymore from the list/dropdown of the compatibility tools.

The list with available compatibility tools opens, but clicking on one of the entries just closes the dropdown, and so it always defaults to "Proton Experimental" on my system (because it's the first entry in the list).

I still can set the compatibility tool from Big Picture Mode - but that currently has other problems (Nvidia user here ;) ).

My system info: https://gist.github.com/sysms/70972bfd68b3ae18cd3c63dc6bb24817

Steps for reproducing this issue:

1. select a game from the library -> properties -> Compatibility
2. select "Force the use of a specific Steam Play compatibility tool
3. click on the dropdown and try to select an available compatibility tool (eg. "Proton 7.0-6" instead of the pre-selected "Proton Experimental"

EDIT: I just noticed it seems to affect ALL dropdown fields in the properties - so I also can't change languages or join betas anymore.

[lfitt]

I am experiencing this same issue.

[Stratagerm]

I hope this gets resolved quickly. It's a pretty major issue.

[mozo78]

Same here on Arch Linux.

[ErrantOverflow]

Same here on Arch Linux

https://gist.github.com/ErrantOverflow/68a34863fd188605246555d754c355be

I made sure to update all packages and the issue is still present.

Also tried the Steam Beta Update, but nothing changed.

[lostwizard]

I have exactly the same problem. It is impossible to change values in the per game dropdown lists. In fact, the form controls behind the dropdown seem to activate through it. I've tried all the same things that ErrantOverflow tried. It means I can't opt out of a beta I previously activated, among other things.

This is a showstopper guys. Seems like it needs to be prioritized.

[BloodyIron]

Yeah I can't use the drop-down menus anywhere. So I can't actually re-add libraries that were removed... I literally cannot play games I've already legitimately downloaded... because of this stupid bug.

We need a fix! no pull-down menus makes STEAM VERY useless!

[BloodyIron]

For me this issue appears to be present on X.org/X11, and not Wayland.

Ubuntu 22.04.

[lostwizard]

Still broken on the update re-issued today (what's up with that? Just issue a new update)

[lfitt]

Confirming today's update does not resolve the issue.

[lostwizard]

Additional information: it seems to be triggered by "focus follows mouse". Disabling focus follows mouse in the desktop settings allowed the dropdowns to work.

And, no, "just disable focus follows mouse" is not an acceptable "fix" lest anyone think it isn't a bug. It worked fine previously.

[sysms]

Additional information: it seems to be triggered by "focus follows mouse". Disabling focus follows mouse in the desktop settings allowed the dropdowns to work.

I have no such option enabled in my LXDE/Openbox, and it's still borked. :/

[ErrantOverflow]

Additional information: it seems to be triggered by "focus follows mouse". Disabling focus follows mouse in the desktop settings allowed the dropdowns to work.

And, no, "just disable focus follows mouse" is not an acceptable "fix" lest anyone think it isn't a bug. It worked fine previously.

Good find, I've changed the window focus on Gnome Tweaks to "Click to Focus" and the issue stops happening.

[PapaBones]

Additional information: it seems to be triggered by "focus follows mouse". Disabling focus follows mouse in the desktop settings allowed the dropdowns to work.

And, no, "just disable focus follows mouse" is not an acceptable "fix" lest anyone think it isn't a bug. It worked fine previously.

Good workaround, just not feasible for me to run my desktop environment like this. Arch with Gnome here in X11. My current workaround is using big picture mode, that works to fix stuff but is just annoying to work around.

[BloodyIron]

Yeah I need Focus Follows Mouse as that is key to my workflow. This issue was not present previously, so the bug probably came from "recent" changes (unsure if it's days/weeks).

[hjpaul7]

Funny enough - a custom skin fixes this.

Default skin = can't select dropdowns Adwaita skin = dropdowns totally fine

[winteriscariot]

It seems to work if you hold Ctrl and click on the version you want to select.

[af7567]

Having this problem with the current beta release. Turning off "focus follows mouse" doesn't fix it for me in openbox, but holding CTRL when clicking the menu item on the context menu is working.

[88mm]

Same issue here on Gentoo.

Using Steam package build date: Mar 24 2023, at 17:20:43

It seems to work if you hold Ctrl and click on the version you want to select.

Thank you winteriscariot. Ctrl click works.

[BloodyIron]

Ctrl+click is not working for me as a work-around :( And I am using mouse-follow focus mode.

[af7567]

Ctrl+click is not working for me as a work-around :( And I am using mouse-follow focus mode.

For me CTRL, ALT, or SHIFT all work now while left clicking (It used to only be CTRL). Still not working with a normal left click though. Just to make sure, you are only using the modifier for the left click on the dropdown and not the right click on the game name?

[BloodyIron]

My test pull-down menu was trying to select a different version of Proton for a game. That is one scenario where it doesn't select what I click on.

[PapaBones]

For me CTRL, ALT, or SHIFT all work now while left clicking (It used to only be CTRL). Still not working with a normal left click though. Just to make sure, you are only using the modifier for the left click on the dropdown and not the right click on the game name?

Doesn't work in my case, none of those nor a combination of them all works. It's picking the proton version in properties. Using a different theme also isn't working. The only way to fix it is to go into big picture mode and change it there.

[af7567]

If the modifier keys are not working for you it probably means your window manager is not passing them through to steam. In my case I can't use the Windows key with left click since my window manager intercepts that.

One other way I have got it to work is by holding in a thumb button (back/forward navigation) on my mouse at the same time as left clicking the proton version / menu item.

[BloodyIron]

In my case I am doubtful that my WM is intercepting my key-presses, as I really don't see examples of that happening for me, but I wouldn't fully rule it out either.

[captainabernathy]

On the gnome desktop when running the Steam client in Large Mode, I was able to work around this issue by going to Tweaks > Windows and choosing "Click to Focus" in the Window Focus section. For me, this was the only setting where dropdown selections worked. When either "Focus on Hover" or "Secondary-Click" were chosen, dropdown selections did not work at all in Large Mode.

In Small Mode, I had no issues with dropdown selections regardless of my Window Focus setting. However, when either "Focus on Hover" or "Secondary Click" were chosen, I was only able to close the popup window that contained the dropdown after first switching to another window and subsequently returning to the popup window. Otoh, when "Click to Focus" was chosen, I had no problem closing the popup window immediately after making a dropdown selection.

In Big Picture Mode, I had no problems at all regardless of my Window Focus setting.

[Skiski]

With the Steam beta, I can't even select things on the right-click menu. I can't even go in properties if I don't switch to "Click to focus". With the not beta client, I can go to the menu but I have the dropdown problem...

[TTimo]

Latest beta shipped several changes that should improve this issue. Please retest.

[af7567]

No difference for me with beta build Apr 18 2023 23:21:04. I still need to hold a modifier key or a thumb button on my mouse to be able to left click any item on a games context menu or an item in the dropdown boxes of the game properties.

[Skiski]

I can confirm, nothing changed for me with the same beta build.

[ErrantOverflow]

On the beta build I can't even select the games properties, the moment I click on them on the drop down menu it disappears.

Again, the workaround I've been using so far is opening gnome tweaks and changing the focus mode to "Click to focus"

[Lamieur]

In the current beta (Apr 18 version), you can't even go to game's properties without ctrl-clicking. If you right-click on the game and want to go to properties, the pop-up disappears and you click on another game on the list (the click goes to whatever was behind the little context pop-up window)

In stable Steam (Mar 24), Library behaves normally, only in game properties you have to Ctrl/Shift/AltGr/Win+click (I have Alt+click window dragging, so that's intercepted, as af7567 mentioned)

PS. Focus follow mouse always caused problems with Steam. Even the main menu, as well as all drop-down lists / combo boxes in Steam->Settings (still the good old interface), the pop-ups disappear if you move mouse over, then out of their little boxes (which is every time you use the menu of course :))

It's been like that forever and somehow we all live with it. And it's way more frustrating than ctrl-clicking a pop-up which doesn't even disappear if you leave it by a pixel! :) I predict that in 5 years we'll just ctrl-click everything and won't even talk about it anymore ;)

[talkingerbil]

Beta build 1682634349 is still broken for menu selections.

[hjpaul7]

Beta build 1682634349 is still broken for menu selections.

It's worse now: https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/9376

Can't click header/toolbar options to even enter steam settings.

[Okxa]

I can click header options, but all other popups do not work, like context menus when right clicking on games.

Also means I cannot opt out of beta, because I cannot select the option in the popup selection.

EDIT: As a workaround, I could opt out of beta via big picture mode. Hope valve fixes these kinds of bugs before releasing the new UI to production...

[talkingerbil]

Are the compatibility settings adjustable (per game) in any ascii config files in the .steam dir? Looking for a manual workaround while the GUI is borked.

[TTimo]

Are you still having issues with this in latest beta with the new desktop UI? There were too many changes that will impact this to account for accurately, the behavior is a lot more consistent now on the test systems I have.

[af7567]

Today's latest beta on Slackware64 current. I still need to hold a modifier key to select the game right click context menu items, and the drop down menu items in the game properties window. The top menu bar (Steam View Friends Games Help) and the Store Library Community top links all work OK.

[TTimo]

The issue is now only for folks running gnome who have enabled 'focus follow mouse', correct? Seems to be the case for @af7567 according to earlier posts.

[af7567]

I just tested by logging into a KDE session, still with focus following mouse enabled, and the steam client menus and dropdowns are working fine. I normally use openbox window manager without any gnome/kde desktop environment. So it does seem to be an issue with the window manager.

edit: Just tested with fvwm window manager, focus follows mouse, and no desktop session. That works fine too.

[talkingerbil]

Still broken on my openbox too. 7900xt fwiw.

It's as if the dropdowns aren't even there even though they are visbile. E.g. I try to remove a drive/folder and it clicks right through to the main window and the dropdown dissappears.

[TTimo]

This may be worth reporting to the openbox developers.

[af7567]

I tried running steam client with no window manager at all*, and the context menus work OK then. So it is definitely interference from the window manager which is preventing the clicks getting to the context menus and the dropdown boxes.

Is everyone who still has this problem using openbox? Or are any other window managers affected? I see the person who opened the issue is also using openbox.

As for reporting it to the openbox developers, I'm not sure that is possible. Any openbox patches that I have seen in the last few years have just been created by the community and pop up on some forum before getting added to arch and debian packages.

. * only X server, xterm and steam client were running.

[lostwizard]

I do not use openbox and I still have the problem with the current beta. I'm using MATE with the marco window manager. It seems all context menus activate the control behind the menu instead of the menu item itself unless holding a modifier key.

Given that Steam is the only software that exhibits this problem, "interference from the window manager" is not a helpful diagnosis and given it isn't a single window manager that's causing it, I think it's more accurately characterized as "steam is doing something dumb (or novel) that nothing else does which just happens to conflict with some window managers".

[captainabernathy]

the issue does exist on gnome, depending on your mouse focus settings, and the severity of it varies depending on if you run steam in small, large, or big picture mode.

in big picture mode, everything works regardless of your mouse setting.

in large mode, with focus follow mouse on, dropdown selection doesn't work at all.

in small mode, you can make a selection, but you have to click to another window and then back to steam for the dropdown to close and the selection to take effect.

[af7567]

@lostwizard By interference from the window manager I meant that it is something the window manager is doing which stops the clicks going where they should (since it works OK with no window manager).

The question is why is the window manager doing it? Is the window manager at fault, or is steam creating the context menus wrongly.

Since openbox doesn't seem to have been worked on for a long time, and that was the WM with the most mentions, I was thinking it could just be an openbox thing. But now we know it affects Marco too which is still getting new releases so that will give the steam developers a more modern WM to test with.

[talkingerbil]

Yeah, openbox git hasn't been touched in years. I just now confirmed it is broken in Arch and in Arch's version of LXDE (uses openbox), so no magic patches there yet.

That said, now that we know others are having the issue still, I did just notice that it's only some of the dropdowns. For example, I can right click in the library and successfully get to the compatibility tab. Once there, I cannot use that dropdown.

Conversely, in the most recent non-beta version I can successfully use the dropdown to opt in to the Steam beta. And then obviously can't opt out after the update.

[BloodyIron]

Replying to https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/9273#issuecomment-1535406650

Except, at least for me, the breaking change came from a change in STEAM, not a change in GNOME.

[plane]

Is everyone who still has this problem using openbox? Or are any other window managers affected?

Cinnamon on Linux Mint here. I have to turn off focus-follows-mouse temporarily when I want to use dropdown menus on Steam. I can't recall experiencing this in any other programs.

[Cheaterman]

I find it hilarious that going into big picture mode is a viable workaround. Other than that, this just started happening to me today (or more accurately today is the first time I noticed it), and is indeed very annoying. Valve plsfix.

[toranmallow]

We need a fix for this now! Some people need focus-follows-mouse for accessibility reasons. It is not acceptable for this critical dropdown to be unusable in that mode. At least make it f*cking keyboard navigable or something.