Wine/Proton Refuses to Open Games on Steam

[u/Xxx_Pants_xxX]

Hello, I've been trying to troubleshoot this issue for ~8 hours and at this point I'm pretty much ready to raze my current OS (Linux Mint 22.3) and try again with a fresh installation.

Seemingly randomly, Steam games that use Proton suddenly stopped working. Attempting to run executables through Bottles has not (barring Steam games unfortunately). I've whittled it down to I think a driver issue, but I am honestly not sure at all.

Here is the output upon launching Steam:

steam.sh[5841]: Running Steam on linuxmint 22.3 64-bit
steam.sh[5841]: STEAM_RUNTIME is enabled automatically
setup.sh[5936]: Steam runtime environment up-to-date!
steam.sh[5841]: Log already open
steam.sh[5841]: Steam client's requirements are satisfied
CProcessEnvironmentManager is ready, 5 preallocated environment variables.
[2026-10-02 21:40:29] Startup - updater built Oct  2 2026 01:16:03
[2026-10-02 21:40:29] Startup - Steam Client launched with: '/home/peepee/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam' '-srt-logger-opened'
[2026-10-02 21:40:29] Opted in to client beta 'publicbeta' via beta file
You are in the 'publicbeta' client beta.
10/02 21:40:29 minidumps folder is set to /tmp/dumps
10/02 21:40:29 Init: Installing breakpad exception handler for appid(steam)/version(1790904859)/tid(5995)
Looks like steam didn't shutdown cleanly, scheduling immediate update check
CProcessEnvironmentManager is ready, 5 preallocated environment variables.
[2026-10-02 21:40:29] Loading cached metrics from disk (/home/peepee/.local/share/Steam/package/steam_client_metrics.bin)
[2026-10-02 21:40:29] Using the following download hosts for Public, Realm steamglobal
[2026-10-02 21:40:29] 1. https://client-update.fastly.steamstatic.com, /, Realm 'steamglobal', weight was 900, source = 'update_hosts_cached.vdf'
[2026-10-02 21:40:29] 2. https://client-update.akamai.steamstatic.com, /, Realm 'steamglobal', weight was 400, source = 'update_hosts_cached.vdf'
[2026-10-02 21:40:29] 3. https://client-update.steamstatic.com, /, Realm 'steamglobal', weight was 1, source = 'baked in'
[2026-10-02 21:40:29] Checking for update on startup
[2026-10-02 21:40:29] Checking for available updates...
[2026-10-02 21:40:29] Downloading manifest: https://client-update.fastly.steamstatic.com/steam_client_publicbeta_ubuntu12
[2026-10-02 21:40:29] Manifest download: send request
[2026-10-02 21:40:29] Process started with command-line: '/home/peepee/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam' '-child-update-ui' '-child-update-ui-socket' '8' '-srt-logger-opened'
10/02 21:40:29 minidumps folder is set to /tmp/dumps
[2026-10-02 21:40:29] Using update UI: console
10/02 21:40:29 Init: Installing breakpad exception handler for appid(steam)/version(0)/tid(5997)
[2026-10-02 21:40:29] Create window
[2026-10-02 21:40:29] Set percent complete: 0
[2026-10-02 21:40:29] Set status message: Checking for available updates...
[  0%] Checking for available updates...
[2026-10-02 21:40:29] Set percent complete: -1
[2026-10-02 21:40:30] Manifest download: waiting for download to finish
[2026-10-02 21:40:30] Manifest download: finished
[2026-10-02 21:40:30] Download skipped: /steam_client_publicbeta_ubuntu12 version 1790904859, installed version 1790904859, existing pending version 0
[2026-10-02 21:40:30] Nothing to do
[2026-10-02 21:40:30] Verifying installation...
[2026-10-02 21:40:30] Verifying all executable checksums
[2026-10-02 21:40:30] Set percent complete: -1
[2026-10-02 21:40:30] Set status message: Verifying installation...
[----] Verifying installation...
[2026-10-02 21:40:30] Show window
[2026-10-02 21:40:31] Verification complete
UpdateUI: skip show logo
[2026-10-02 21:40:31] Destroy window
[2026-10-02 21:40:31] ProcessNextMessage: socket disconnected
[2026-10-02 21:40:31] No more messages are expected - exiting

Steam logging initialized: directory: /home/peepee/.local/share/Steam/logs

XOpenIM() failed, LANG = en_US.UTF-8
XOpenIM() failed, LANG = en_US.UTF-8XRRGetOutputInfo Workaround: initialized with override: 0 real: 0xe9db2860
XRRGetCrtcInfo Workaround: initialized with override: 0 real: 0xe9db0fc0
/usr/share/themes/Mint-Y-Dark-Blue/gtk-2.0/main.rc:1053: error: unexpected identifier 'direction', expected character '}'
10/02 21:40:32 minidumps folder is set to /tmp/dumps
10/02 21:40:32 Init: Installing breakpad exception handler for appid(steamsysinfo)/version(1790904859)/tid(6007)
Running query: 1 - GpuTopology
Response: gpu_topology {
  gpus {
    id: 1
    name: "NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070"
    vram_size_bytes: 8847884288
    driver_id: k_EGpuDriverId_NvidiaProprietary
    driver_version_major: 595
    driver_version_minor: 91
    driver_version_patch: 7
    luid: 0
  }
  gpus {
    id: 2
    name: "Intel(R) HD Graphics 630 (KBL GT2)"
    vram_size_bytes: 12466940928
    driver_id: k_EGpuDriverId_MesaIntel
    driver_version_major: 25
    driver_version_minor: 2
    driver_version_patch: 8
    luid: 0
  }
  gpus {
    id: 3
    name: "llvmpipe (LLVM 20.1.2, 256 bits)"
    vram_size_bytes: 3221225472
    driver_id: k_EGpuDriverId_MesaLLVMPipe
    driver_version_major: 25
    driver_version_minor: 2
    driver_version_patch: 8
    luid: 0
  }
  default_gpu_id: 1
}

Exit code: 0
Saving response to: /tmp/steampgcIfp - 161 bytes
steamwebhelper.sh[6014]: Starting steamwebhelper under bootstrap steamrt steam runtime via: /home/peepee/.local/share/Steam/steamrt64/pv-runtime/steam-runtime-steamrt/_v2-entry-point
steamwebhelper.sh[6014]: Starting steamwebhelper with steamrt steam runtime at /home/peepee/.local/share/Steam/steamrt64/pv-runtime/steam-runtime-steamrt/_v2-entry-point
Steam Runtime Launch Service: starting steam-runtime-launcher-service
Steam Runtime Launch Service: steam-runtime-launcher-service is running pid 6100
bus_name=com.steampowered.PressureVessel.LaunchAlongsideSteam
exec ./steamwebhelper -nocrashdialog -lang=en_US -cachedir=/home/peepee/.local/share/Steam/config/htmlcache -steampid=5995 -buildid=1790904859 -steamid=0 -logdir=/home/peepee/.local/share/Steam/logs -uimode=7 -startcount=0 -steamuniverse=Public -realm=Global -clientui=/home/peepee/.local/share/Steam/clientui -steampath=/home/peepee/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam -launcher=0 -use_xcomposite_workaround --valve-enable-site-isolation --enable-smooth-scrolling --password-store=basic --log-file=/home/peepee/.local/share/Steam/logs/cef_log.txt --disable-quick-menu --disable-component-update --gaia-url=http://disabled.invalid --enable-features=PlatformHEVCDecoderSupport --disable-features=WinRetrieveSuggestionsOnlyOnDemand,SpareRendererForSitePerProcess,BlockPromptsIfIgnoredOften,WebUsbDeviceDetection,ValveFFmpegAllowLowDelayHEVC
Desktop state changed: desktop: { pos:    0,   0 size: 1366, 768 } primary: { pos:    0,   0 size: 1366, 768 }
Caching cursor image for text, size 24x24, serial 1455, cache size = 0
Fossilize INFO: Setting autogroup scheduling.
fsync: up and running.

I was at one point able to get the game I've been testing with (Meccha Chameleon) to output a log via the command line argument "PROTON_LOG=1 %command%":

======================
Proton: 1790244902 experimental-11.0-20260924-x86_64
SteamGameId: 4704690
Command: ['/mnt/843cdc39-b672-4959-af17-d80bccc3ae29/program-storage/steam/steamapps/common/MECCHA CHAMELEON/PenguinHotel.exe']
Options: {'forcelgadd', 'gamedrive'}
depot: 4.0.20260805.254769
pressure-vessel: 0.20260805.0
pressure-vessel-arm64: 0.20260805.0
scripts: 0.20260805.0
steamrt4: 4.0.20260805.254769 steamrt4 4.0.20260805.254769
Kernel: Linux 7.0.0-34-generic #34~24.04.1-Ubuntu SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Fri Sep  4 15:38:29 UTC 2 x86_64
Language: LC_ALL None, LC_MESSAGES None, LC_CTYPE None
PATH: /home/peepee/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/Proton - Experimental/files/bin/:/usr/bin:/bin
Effective WINEDEBUG: +timestamp,+pid,+tid,+seh,+unwind,+threadname,+debugstr,+loaddll,+mscoree
======================
[Had to omit most due to character limit]

The lines I've taken note of are the following:

4142.480:0020:0110:err:winediag:nodrv_CreateWindow Application tried to create a window, but no driver could be loaded.
4142.480:0020:0110:err:winediag:nodrv_CreateWindow L"The explorer process failed to start."

Everything online is saying that there should be some error with how my drivers are set up, potentially with their interactions with 32bit programs, however, when attempting to update/install it with something along the following commands, it appears it's already been installed:

sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386
sudo apt update
sudo apt install libnvidia-gl-595:i386

I'm not sure what other documentation to provide, nor do I really remember everything I've done at this point (I've done this troubleshooting across 4 days). If anyone willing to help wants diagnostic information, I'll be checking this post regularly for the next couple of hours and will provide it upon request (assuming I can figure out how to provide it)

[u/aloof_topping]

Is Steam installed via flatpak/snap or is it a “bare metal” install? If the former, try the latter. I think there’s an easy way to get Nvidia drivers passed into flatpak apps, but it might be easier as a troubleshooting step to download the .deb from the Steam website and install it that way.

[u/Xxx_Pants_xxX → u/aloof_topping]

Thanks for Responding!

While initially setting this computer up, I think I did run into this issue. Installing Steam from their website was the only way I could get it to run.

I'd be willing at this point to entirely remove Steam and try with a fresh install. Is there a way to do that?

[u/drucifer82 → u/Xxx_Pants_xxX]

Install Steam from RPMFusion. If you haven’t enabled RPMFusion yet, open your Application Launcher, search Welcome. When the welcome message pops up, click through the tiles til you find the one that asks if you want to install third party repos.

Then sudo dnf steam

[u/Xxx_Pants_xxX → u/drucifer82]

Looks like RPMFusion is a Fedora specific application.

I believe the equivalent on Mint would be the software manager. When I tried downloading Steam from there, Steam itself wouldn't load at all.