I'm running Linux Mint 22.3 MATE 64-bit with kernel 6.8.0-124-generic on an AMD Ryzen 7 5700G with integrated Radeon graphics. Aside from a few titles, mostly Valve games, many Steam games appear to launch after I press Play, do nothing for a moment, and then exit. I've tried reinstalling Steam through both Flatpak and the .deb package, switching between different Proton versions, and verifying the game files. Running Steam from a terminal shows that many games close because smash stacking is detected, even with a fresh installation. What should I check next, and is there a recommended Steam or Proton setup for this system?
3 Answers
The error message and the specific games matter a lot here. Since Factorio runs, this may not be a complete hardware or Steam installation failure. Try one affected game with a clean Proton prefix, collect its Proton log, and check whether the games are on an NTFS drive or another filesystem shared with Windows. That information should reveal whether the issue is related to storage permissions, graphics drivers, or a particular Proton compatibility problem.
First, check where the games are installed and what filesystem that drive uses. NTFS or another mounted secondary partition can cause Proton problems, so the exact game titles and install location would help narrow this down. A Proton log and hardware report would also be useful. On Mint, you may want to try the distribution-supported package with `sudo apt install steam-installer`; Flatpak Steam is often less convenient for troubleshooting because of its sandbox permissions.
Make sure Proton is actually being forced for the affected games. Open the game’s Properties, go to Compatibility, enable “Force the use of a specific Steam Play compatibility tool,” and test a stable version such as Proton 9.0-4. Some games’ native Linux builds are less reliable than their Windows versions through Proton, so forcing Proton can sometimes fix launch failures.
Proton-GE is also worth testing for titles that fail with the standard Proton versions. Checking the game’s compatibility reports can show which Proton version other users have had success with.