SOLUTION: Apparently there’s some sort of bug in xwayland that causes Steam games to flicker, so “downgrading” to X11 solved it (for now). Now all I need to know is how to file a bug report for this.

I’m trying to set up a Linux install for my mom (Ultramarine KDE on Wayland), and all her (2) Steam games are flickering. I thought it was from fractional scaling, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

Her games don’t flicker on Windows, and I’ve already tried multiple versions of Proton. I’m not quite sure what’s happening, and any help would be appreciated.

Specs
  • OS: Ultramarine Linux KDE Edition
  • Host: Dell Inspiron 15 3511
  • CPU: Intel Core i5-1035G1
  • GPU: pretty sure it uses integrated graphics apparently it uses Nvidia? First time I’ve seen that, gonna have to remember that in the future. Both Linux and Windows are using integrated graphics with no sign of Nvidia anywhere??

If you need any more information, please ask me

Edit: other than the flickering, her games run perfectly fine.

Edit 2: Just learned my mom’s laptop model has a discrete Nvidia GPU, gonna troubleshoot that in a bit.

Edit 3: Her laptop doesn’t seem to have anything Nvidia inside, despite the fact that the Dell website says her laptop should, weird…

  • Fecundpossum@lemmy.worldEnglish
    111·
    3 months ago

    What kind pf GPU does she have? What drivers are installed? Also, I get that ultramarine is supposed to be “easy fedora” but it’s certainly a lesser used distro, there might be some quirks at play. The ultimate mom dad or grandma distro is Linux Mint, might be worth trying it out to see if it has the same issue or not.

    • dabster291@lemmy.zipOPEnglish
      21·
      3 months ago

      What kind pf GPU does she have?

      It’s a laptop, so no GPU installed. Turns out I’m a beeg dum stoopid, apparently my mom’s laptop comes with nvidia graphics. Turns out I’m an even beeger dumer stoopider, her computer shows no signs of having anything Nvidia inside it.

      What drivers are installed?

      idk, how do you check?

      The ultimate mom dad or grandma distro is Linux Mint, might be worth trying it out to see if it has the same issue or not.

      I was considering installing Mint for her, but decided against it because of the recent unverified flatpak controversy (she unfortunately still uses chrome, and I would rather have her distro manage all her updates for her); but I think I might install Mint on an external hard drive just to quickly see if any of her issues persist.

      Edit: accidentally forgot an I

      • mrvictory1@lemmy.worldEnglish
        15·
        3 months ago

        It’s a laptop, so no GPU installed.

        Are you sure about that? Dell’s website says the laptop comes with Nvidia graphics. If that’s the case, GPU drivers should be updated to version 555 to resolve flickering.

          • dabster291@lemmy.zipOPEnglish
            1·
            3 months ago

            Huh, TIL to look up the specs of your laptop when troubleshooting.

            Edit: apparently there’s no Nvidia card inside her laptop, despite the fact that Dell says it should.

            • mrvictory1@lemmy.worldEnglish
              1·
              3 months ago

              Check specs on the laptop itself using inxi. Some laptops come in different configurations so looking up specs may be confusing or misleading.

              • dabster291@lemmy.zipOPEnglish
                1·
                3 months ago

                Some laptops come in different configurations so looking up specs may be confusing or misleading.

                Turns out it really is, huh.

        • dabster291@lemmy.zipOPEnglish
          1·
          3 months ago

          So it does! First time seeing a laptop with nvidia graphics, neat.

          Edit: is the Dell website wrong? Her laptop doesn’t seem to have anything Nvidia inside it.

      • Fecundpossum@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        3 months ago

        Many laptops have either discrete or integrated GPUs.

        The command inxi -G should list display drivers. If you don’t have inxi installed, sudo dnf install inxi.

        Google chrome from rpm fusion non-free repo is fine, google chrome flatpak is fine Google chrome .deb package is fine on mint. There’s no controversy’s about browsers worth basing your distro choice on. Better yet, export her shit to Firefox and tell her she’s using that now.

        • dabster291@lemmy.zipOPEnglish
          1·
          3 months ago

          The command inxi -G should list display drivers.

          inxi only seems to see the integrated graphics, weird. I’m starting to doubt that her laptop even has a discrete Nvidia card inside…

        • dabster291@lemmy.zipOPEnglish
          1·
          3 months ago

          Better yet, export her shit to Firefox and tell her she’s using that now.

          Already tried that, for some reason it won’t copy some of her autofill information (this is stopping her from fully switching over).

    • Mrb2@lemmy.worldEnglish
      31·
      3 months ago

      I had the same issue on fedora KDE, and I fixed it by setting my framerate to 60 instead of 144 or disabling adaptive sync.

      • DarkThoughts@fedia.io
        11·
        3 months ago

        I don’t get flickering from adaptive sync but my screen just goes black for a couple seconds every now and then when it is enabled, usually when playing. No idea why or if Windows would have the same issue.

  • avisf@feddit.orgEnglish
    3·
    3 months ago

    If it’s that kind of flickering on KDE 6.X on Wayland that forced me to temporarily move back to Cinnamon on X to play Elden Ring again, it could be related to KDE enabling Explicit Sync by default and the NVidia drivers < 555 that don’t support it.

    It was only flickering, the framerate was fine.

    After I installed the 555 driver from the repository, the flickering in KDE on Wayland was gone.

    There’s a manual for Ultramarine Linux on how to install the nvidia-driver

    According to another comment, your notebook model likely has a integrated Nvidia GPU.

    Hope this helps