this post was submitted on 20 Nov 2025
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Funny this shows up when all of a sudden Steam won't launch anymore on my Arch install. It's installed via flatpak.
How do I even check which version of the Steam runtime I am running? The flatpak version of Steam is just 1.0.something.other.
Usually when steam refuses to launch, it's because there's some Steam process that's borked but still running. Most of the time, a simple
pkill steamfixes it (yes, that includes for flstpak`).As mentioned down thread, the runtime isn't your problem. The runtime is what's needed for native Linux games and I think is also used by proton (not used by Steam itself), so it's kind of like proton for native games. Steam doesn't use the runtime at all to launch.
If killing Steam doesn't work, try rebooting. If that doesn't work, try updating the flatpak. If that doesn't work, I suppose reinstall Steam.
I think it might have been a denial of service type thing as explained in other replies. I didn't reboot or anything and it just worked fine now. All good. 👍 Thanks for all the help though.
Almost every reply is also explaining what the runtime is. 😆 I know what it's for, guys, thanks! ❤️🙏👍
Glad you got it fixed. 🙂
I boosted it up a bit for other people who come along w/ a similar concern. You seemed mistaken at first until a few threads deep, so there's likely someone else who is just as, if not more, confused.
Cool, yeah, no worries. 🫶 I hope someone finds it helpful!
The runtime is not Steam itself. That's more or less independent from the runtime. The runtimes are a collection of libraries that developers can develop against without having to include them themselves.
Kind of similar to the Visual C++ Runtime on Windows.
I know what a runtime is, but I'd like to check which version of it I'm running. 🙂 Wouldn't be very difficult but I'm this instance I don't know how.
The runtime is for launching games, not Steam itself. You can check the runtime selection in Compatibility tab of Steam and of each game. If your Steam Flatpak install doesn't work, the issue is likely somewhere else.
I'd suggest trying to launch the flatpak from the terminal and seeing if there's any strange logging.
Already did that but I couldn't see anything that I could recognize as abnormal. The "Connecting" window shows up, actually. But it just stops loading for a second and then it just says "Reaping pid" in the console and it closes the process.
Hold up, are you talking about the compatibility layer, "Proton"? I'm not sure that's what we're talking about here. Proton is up to version 9 and 10, not 4.0.
You can select Steam Runtime Versions in the Compatibility tab too, separate from Proton versions
Oh okay, I guess that's in the main Steam settings, not per game as the other person suggested.
You can select it per game as well,
steam runtime 3.0and now presumablysteam runtime 4.0should show up in the same drop down menu next toproton 1.0,proton 10.0in the compatibility optionsAnd also, should be noted, only for games with a Linux native version
oh I was wondering what the difference was 😅
No, it is a per game setting. When your game is a native Linux game it will use one of the Steam runtimes. If you had a Linux native game and selected Proton instead of a Steam Linux runtime Steam would download the Windows version of the game.
With Linux native games you usually don't have to touch this setting.
Right but you can't change the native runtime per game. You can only change the compatibility layer (Proton) globally and per game. The runtime is static obviously, and either used or not used. I'm guessing Proton bypasses the native runtime by having the game interacting with it? Or maybe it is a translation layer? Both? Anyway, doesn't matter. 🙂 What wasn't the problem.
But I'd still be interested in how to check which version I have, just to know.
Edit: hold on, does the runtime show up in the same list as Proton versions? That would explain what you all are talking about. And only for native Linux games. That's why I haven't seen it before I guess.
So you can use those to develop on a platform and be sure that it work on the other too? Is this runtime steam-indipendent?
Yes. Exactly.
Older stuff here: https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-runtime
Newer stuff here: https://gitlab.steamos.cloud/steamrt
The dev guide within that gitlab repo confirms that it can be used sans Steam: https://gitlab.steamos.cloud/steamrt/steam-runtime-tools/-/blob/main/docs/slr-for-game-developers.md
This applies to the new runtime as well: https://gitlab.steamos.cloud/steamrt/steamrt4/platform
Oh that's cool, thank your for the link too
idk about that, but it's called the Steam Runtime because it's the library files for running Steam. so I'm not sure what context you would use it in that didn't include Steam, since it's used for everything Steam does from connecting you to your friends in multiplayer games, to notifying Steam users that it's their turn in asynchronous games.
if the game wasn't run from Steam, it probably wouldn't need or want to use the Steam Runtime.
No, it's for running games on Linux. Steam will probably use the libs as well for its own functionality. But the main use is for game developers to target specific libraries so that they are independent of the user's distribution.
And they can indeed be used outside of Steam as well. I sometimes use it to link in specific libraries for other games. @Axolotl_cpp@feddit.it
Thank you!
I stand corrected then
the flatpak version is unsupported by Valve for a reason. there's been a ton of problems over the lifespan of the flatpak. it's usually highly recommended everywhere not to use that version.
You say that as if the versions packaged by your distro are supported.
As it stands, on Linux, Steam is only supported by Valve on SteamOS and LTS releases of Ubuntu.
Seems like I'm not the only one with this issue.
I've been using Steam in a flatpak for a couple years now, I think. What ton of problems are you referring to?
I don't have a reference, but I've been seeing random individuals asking for help and finally saying they fixed their issue by switching away from flatpak, so... You, I guess? Your.problem might be a perfect example of one of the many problems that keep popping up, that seem to only happen on the flatpak version.
You're saying that I am the ton of problems they were referring to? That's either nonsensical or very rude.
What are you talking about? Running Steam in a flatpak works for me.
Ah, sorry, I confused you for the original commenter. The first sentence is a bit nonsensical, it is a bit rude and snarky, but I meant it as a joke, since I had the wrong impression the person having issues with flatpak steam is asking about issues with flatpak steam.
Thanks for clarifying. :)
too many small things over the years to go over them all in one post. some still relevant, some not. drivers, for one. no game mode, if I remember correctly. you might end up having issues with controllers, and VR is out of the question on the flatpak. some people have reported issues with permissions.
it's enough of a troublemaker that Bazzite blacklisted the flatpak, I believe, and it can't be installed normally.
For me personally (Fedora 43 KDE) about 80% of unity games that don't have a native build refused to run at all. No problems at all since I swapped to a non-flatpak Steam install.
OTOH I'm having trouble with pretty much all flatpak apps in some way or another... might just be my system that's being weird.
Install warehouse. It gives you all the details of which runtime is in a Flatpak and even lets you change the version.
I did not know about Warehouse. Thank you.
i usually avoid flatpaks, especially with steam. but every now and then my non-flatpak steam borks too and won't launch on mint. 9 times out of 10 simple reboot helps, but sometimes it requires a reinstall...
Usually it's because Steam is still running in the background, so a simple
pkill steamshould close all the processes and allow it to launch. No need to reboot.usually i go to monitor and kill the steam process, but that's rarely the issue. usually it's already down and it just dies immediately after launching
Why would you use flatpack for stuff natively available on pacman? Search no further, flatpack is a good way to introduce problems where there are none
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Steam#Flatpak
🤷♂️ Seemed like a good way to install it. I had used the native package before but I think I tried flatpak because of some issue or another with the native version.
It's been working great for years now so, no issues until now.
I usually install big corporate software with flatpak if I can help it, to keep them as isolated as possible. Slack, Discord, Steam, etc. Stuff like that. 👍
#justFlatpakThings
You're not alone. I had the same thing on two machines yesterday. (Not flatpack)
yeah, many people had that problem. it happened around the same time the Arc Raiders servers went offline. a buddy of mine couldn't launch Steam, and when he did, it wouldn't load his friends list. my theory is that the 350,000 people who were all reloading Steam and Arc Raiders over and over DDoSed the two services.
Been happening though. Maybe it's a coincidence or it's happening again or something. Interesting theory though.
A decent error message would have been useful.
I don't know if there's an existing error message for "please stop reloading Steam all at once, the game will come back online just give them time".
"unable to contact server" would do. It tells me it's not a problem on my end.