Steam broken as of 2/28/2024 about box64

[theofficialgman]

@ptitSeb found a workaround/fix. disable the steamwebhelper box64rc overrides as such

[steamwebhelper]
#BOX64_NOSANDBOX=1
#BOX64_INPROCESSGPU=1
#BOX64_LOG=0
BOX64_MALLOC_HACK=2
#BOX64_DYNAREC_BIGBLOCK=0
#BOX64_DYNAREC_CALLRET=1
#BOX64_DYNAREC_STRONGMEM=2

and remove all the steam forced args from box86
https://github.com/ptitSeb/box86/blob/14c9cb148d92e601ee691981a6c85efdc7b86352/src/main.c#L1573-L1580

this fixes the issue. I removed all of those commands but I think that specifically the --in-process-gpu argument is problematic and prevents steam webhelper from working. if I add --in-process-gpu to the x64 CEF that that I downloaded it hangs just like steam webhelper in box64

[theofficialgman]

My conclusion is that steam needs to be launched with -cef-disable-gpu parameters on most hardware. It's not needed on my Ampere+RTX4060 machine, but needed on my Lenovo X13s and PI/400.

I'll check other cli args to see if they have any affect in a bit.

thanks for your continued efforts as always.

[Botspot]

Just ran a rebuild in box86-debs and box64-debs for all the pi-apps users and anyone else using those repos.

Can confirm that Steam launches now after upgrading packages. I have pushed an update to the pi-apps steam installer so that it upgrades these packages and reinstalls Steam. That should solve everything for everyone.

Thanks @theofficialgman and @ptitSeb for working together on this. I think this issue can be closed now that it is solved.

[ptitSeb]

I have spent the last 3 days on this.

My conclusion is that steam needs to be launched with -cef-disable-gpu parameters on most hardware. It's not needed on my Ampere+RTX4060 machine, but needed on my Lenovo X13s and PI/400.

I have pushed a commit on box86 to change the steam installer shell script to add this parameter, and also added this info in the README there.

[theofficialgman]

Sorry for the incorrect repo post. I should have caught that it gets stuck in steam 32bit (box86) code and not 64bit (box64) code. If you want to transfer this issue to that repo go ahead.

[ptitSeb]

I thinks it's a 64bits issue, but steam is launched with 32bits app :(

What a mess ... this 32bits / 64bits mix is tricky!

[Botspot]

I have a working archive of the ~/.local/share/Steam folder from 2/26/2024. @ptitSeb or @theofficialgman if you could use that to compare differences, let me know and I can send it over using https://sharedrop.io
It is 762MB

If you want it, DM me on discord, and do not expect an immediate reply as I have to go.

[ptitSeb]

My conclusion is that steam needs to be launched with -cef-disable-gpu parameters on most hardware. It's not needed on my Ampere+RTX4060 machine, but needed on my Lenovo X13s and PI/400.

I'll check other cli args to see if they have any affect in a bit.

Check box source code (either one), on main.c you'll see that when steam is detected, there are a few arguments that are automatically inserted. I didn't forced this one because some machine doesn't need it, so I assume it's a driver issue that might get fixed later...

thanks for your continued efforts as always.

:)

[theofficialgman]

I have an archive of the older ~/.local/share/Steam folder from Monday. @ptitSeb or @theofficialgman if you could use that to compare differences, let me know and I can send it over using https://sharedrop.io It is 762MB

well we already know (from a valve post) that they updated CEF in this update. so it is certainly instigated by with that.

[theofficialgman]

@ptitSeb on my end on nintendo switch only -cef-disable-gpu-compositing is needed. hw accelerated rasterization still works on this hardware though that may not apply to everything.

that should be a bit faster than -cef-disable-gpu

for what it matter, this hardware works fully in upstream chromium using default sandboxing.

[alyssarosenzweig]

Possibly related: FEX-Emu/FEX#3479

[theofficialgman]

I just want to report that I have tested the latest CEF builds on nintendo switch (native ARM64 and x64 with Box64) and both work just fine with no args passed
https://cef-builds.spotifycdn.com/index.html#linux64
https://cef-builds.spotifycdn.com/index.html#linuxarm64

I also did a strings on the steam libcef.so and found that is uses an "ancient" version 109.0.0-HEAD.2772+g7992ccc+chromium-109.0.5414.120
this version came out in Jan 2023

I have not downloaded official binaries for that version and tested them yet

[theofficialgman]

I have tested the above version of CEF (x64 through Box64) without issues with no args. So the problem appears to only manifest with steam or steams build of CEF

[theofficialgman]

also the output error dialog that we see at least makes sense
on a standard x86_64 pc, running ~/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_64/steamwebhelper.sh returns quickly

on arm64 through box64, running ~/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_64/steamwebhelper.sh hangs (which is what the error dialog says)

[theofficialgman]

seems like a variant of this bug chromiumembedded/cef#3565 (comment)
~/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_64/debug.log

[0302/011417.028389:WARNING:task_impl.cc(32)] No task runner for threadId 0
[0302/011417.065305:WARNING:task_impl.cc(32)] No task runner for threadId 0

the issue does not occur with the sampleapplication hence why it is difficult to debug and upstream closed it

[ptitSeb]

Oh, ok. That indeed works on the X13s :O That's awesome. Those settings were needed before (espeically the no sandbox).
I'll do some more stability test and update box86/box64 accordingly. (note the malloc=2 should be automatic if it detect libcef.so)

[ptitSeb]

Possibly related: FEX-Emu/FEX#3479

Probably a different root cause (I guess the use of pressure-vessel might be problematic on FEX?)

[AlekseiKondrashov]

same problem. After update steam don`t working.

src/steamUI/steamuisharedjscontroller.cpp (546) : Failed creating offscreen shared JS context
src/steamUI/steamuisharedjscontroller.cpp (546) : Failed creating offscreen shared JS context

[ptitSeb]

same problem. After update steam don`t working.

src/steamUI/steamuisharedjscontroller.cpp (546) : Failed creating offscreen shared JS context src/steamUI/steamuisharedjscontroller.cpp (546) : Failed creating offscreen shared JS context

Update box86 and box64 and try again, it should work after that.