[Solved] Many games not launching, but same error. Steam and GOG.

[Kikinaak]

I am running Mint 20 Ulyana on an AMD64 cpu and most of my steam and gog library that has native linux binaries are crashing on startup. I've seen others posting the same thing, the games appear to be starting when you click play, then close or never load. To better see what was going on, I try running them from the terminal and they crash with either a "free(): invalid pointer" or "munmap_chunk(): invalid pointer" error.

These two errors across enough games that I'm prety sure its a problem somewhere in my Mint install. I know both functions have to do with handling free memory but I dont know where to go from here on tracking down the actual problem and fixing it. Many of these games on steam will run when I use proton but not all of them, and that doesnt help my gog games for instance.

I'm running a Ryzen 9 3200, Radeon RX 5700 XT, 32 gigs ram. Everything is up to date according to the software manager.

inxi -Fxxxrz output

Code: Select all

System:
  Kernel: 5.4.0-54-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 9.3.0 
  Desktop: Cinnamon 4.6.7 wm: muffin 4.6.3 dm: LightDM 1.30.0 
  Distro: Linux Mint 20 Ulyana base: Ubuntu 20.04 focal 
Machine:
  Type: Desktop Mobo: ASUSTeK model: TUF GAMING X570-PLUS (WI-FI) 
  v: Rev X.0x serial: <filter> UEFI: American Megatrends v: 1405 
  date: 11/19/2019 
CPU:
  Topology: 12-Core model: AMD Ryzen 9 3900X bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Zen 
  L2 cache: 6144 KiB 
  flags: avx avx2 lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 svm 
  bogomips: 182063 
  Speed: 2197 MHz min/max: 2200/3800 MHz boost: enabled Core speeds (MHz): 
  1: 2192 2: 2195 3: 2196 4: 2194 5: 2194 6: 2197 7: 2190 8: 4511 9: 2007 
  10: 2007 11: 2195 12: 2196 13: 2195 14: 2189 15: 2195 16: 2196 17: 2196 
  18: 4519 19: 2008 20: 2007 21: 2196 22: 2196 23: 2196 24: 2195 
Graphics:
  Device-1: AMD Navi 10 [Radeon RX 5600 OEM/5600 XT / 5700/5700 XT] 
  vendor: XFX Pine driver: amdgpu v: 5.6.0.20.20 bus ID: 06:00.0 
  chip ID: 1002:731f 
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.8 driver: amdgpu,ati 
  unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,radeon,vesa resolution: 1280x720~60Hz 
  OpenGL: renderer: AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT 
  v: 4.6.14736 Core Profile Context 20.20 compat-v: 4.6.14736 
  direct render: Yes 
Audio:
  Device-1: AMD Navi 10 HDMI Audio driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel 
  bus ID: 06:00.1 chip ID: 1002:ab38 
  Device-2: AMD Starship/Matisse HD Audio vendor: ASUSTeK 
  driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 0d:00.4 chip ID: 1022:1487 
  Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.4.0-54-generic 
Network:
  Device-1: Intel Wireless-AC 9260 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel port: f000 
  bus ID: 07:00.0 chip ID: 8086:2526 
  IF: wlp7s0 state: down mac: <filter> 
  Device-2: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet 
  vendor: ASUSTeK driver: r8169 v: kernel port: e000 bus ID: 08:00.0 
  chip ID: 10ec:8168 
  IF: enp8s0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter> 
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 15.46 TiB used: 9.69 TiB (62.7%) 
  ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 vendor: Western Digital model: WDS100T3XHC-00SJG0 
  size: 931.51 GiB speed: 31.6 Gb/s lanes: 4 serial: <filter> rev: 102000WD 
  scheme: GPT 
  ID-2: /dev/sda vendor: Seagate model: ST16000NM001G-2KK103 size: 14.55 TiB 
  speed: 6.0 Gb/s rotation: 7200 rpm serial: <filter> rev: SN03 scheme: GPT 
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 915.40 GiB used: 735.37 GiB (80.3%) fs: ext4 
  dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 44.5 C mobo: N/A gpu: amdgpu temp: 24 C 
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A gpu: amdgpu fan: 0 
Repos:
  No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list 
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/amdgpu-pro-local.list 
  1: deb [ trusted=yes ] file:/var/opt/amdgpu-pro-local/ ./
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-chrome.list 
  1: deb [arch=amd64] http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/kisak-kisak-mesa-focal.list 
  1: deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/kisak/kisak-mesa/ubuntu focal main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/lutris-team-lutris-focal.list 
  1: deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/lutris-team/lutris/ubuntu focal main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list 
  1: deb http://packages.linuxmint.com ulyana main upstream import backport #id:linuxmint_main
  2: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal main restricted universe multiverse
  3: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-updates main restricted universe multiverse
  4: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-backports main restricted universe multiverse
  5: deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal-security main restricted universe multiverse
  6: deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ focal partner
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pcsx2-team-pcsx2-daily-focal.list 
  1: deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/pcsx2-team/pcsx2-daily/ubuntu focal main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/skype-stable.list 
  1: deb [arch=amd64] https://repo.skype.com/deb stable main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/strukturag-libde265-focal.list 
  1: deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/strukturag/libde265/ubuntu focal main
Info:
  Processes: 476 Uptime: 7h 10m Memory: 31.33 GiB used: 5.76 GiB (18.4%) 
  Init: systemd v: 245 runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 9.3.0 alt: 9 Shell: bash 
  v: 5.0.17 running in: gnome-terminal inxi: 3.0.38 

What should my next steps be from here?

[SMG]

This thread Error 'munmap_chunk(): invalid pointer' with Unity 3D runtimes under Linux on AMDGPU Pro driver 20.10 discusses others with the error. A person responding at the bottom indicates, "This problem has been fixed for me with the 20.40 driver on Ubuntu 20.04.1".

Your inxi information indicates you have the 20.20 driver installed. I would suggest taking a Timeshift snapshot and then trying the latest driver. AMD Radeon™ RX 5700 XT Drivers & Support indicates a 20.45 version is available.

Graphics:
Device-1: AMD Navi 10 [Radeon RX 5600 OEM/5600 XT / 5700/5700 XT]
vendor: XFX Pine driver: amdgpu v: 5.6.0.20.20 bus ID: 06:00.0
chip ID: 1002:731f
Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.8 driver: amdgpu,ati
unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,radeon,vesa resolution: 1280x720~60Hz
OpenGL: renderer: AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT
v: 4.6.14736 Core Profile Context 20.20 compat-v: 4.6.14736
direct render: Yes

[MarkVV]

I've got the same problem. Just install a new driver and it would gone.

[Kikinaak]

This solved the issue of the games not starting, but something broke when installing the new driver package. Now every time I do an update, software manager throws errors that amdgpu-pro-hwe and amdgpu-hwe are not installed, which is preventing amdgpu-dkms, amdgpu, amdgpu-pro, and amdgpu-pro-lib32 from being configured. I try to manually install them and apt tells me they are not installed but are referred to by other packages and have no installation candidate. Should I be making a new thread for this problem or continue here?

[SMG]

This solved the issue of the games not starting, but something broke when installing the new driver package. Now every time I do an update, software manager throws errors that amdgpu-pro-hwe and amdgpu-hwe are not installed, which is preventing amdgpu-dkms, amdgpu, amdgpu-pro, and amdgpu-pro-lib32 from being configured. I try to manually install them and apt tells me they are not installed but are referred to by other packages and have no installation candidate. Should I be making a new thread for this problem or continue here?

I think many people may be running into this issue, so we can leave your post here.

The release notes for the 20.45 drivers indicate there is an issue with the 5.4.0-56 kernel. You will have to revert to the 5.4.0-54 kernel for those packages to compile. A post by AMD staff gives an explanation for the issue and indicates they are working with Canonical to get the issue resolved.

A bit more explanation is in this thread AMD GPU issues on Linux Mint 20.

If you still have the 5.4.0-54 kernel installed, you can boot into grub and select it from the Advanced Options and then delete the newer kernels you have so your system will boot into the -54 kernel automatically and the packages will compile.
--Hold shift key during boot to bring up grub for legacy boot installs (non-EUFI).
--Hold escape key during boot to bring up grub for EUFI boot.

If you do not have the 5.4.0-54 kernel installed, you can install it from Update Manager. Select View>Linux Kernels and click Continue. Make sure 5.4 is selected on the left pane and then click the 5.4.0-54 kernel on the right pane to have the Install button appear. Install it and follow the steps in the prior paragraph to boot into it and delete newer installed kernels.

[Kikinaak]

/proc/version says
Linux version 5.4.0-58-generic (buildd@lcy01-amd64-004) (gcc version 9.3.0 (Ubuntu 9.3.0-17ubuntu1~20.04)) #64-Ubuntu SMP Wed Dec 9 08:16:25 UTC 2020
Even the partial install of the updated amdgpu has fixed my games not starting, however I am noticing they take a long time, as do others that previously started up quickly. I am making a semi-educated guess that the missing hwe packages have to do with hardware acceleration. Either that or the missing configurations are confusing the games on startup but they do eventually load. Its not ideal, but its workable.
I am still a linux lightweight and to be honest, meddling with the kernels kinda scares me yet. If amd and canonical are beating on this as we speak, am I better off just living with the slower loading until they get this sorted on their end? Or would that not fix what I broke with the update?

[SMG]

I am still a linux lightweight and to be honest, meddling with the kernels kinda scares me yet. If amd and canonical are beating on this as we speak, am I better off just living with the slower loading until they get this sorted on their end? Or would that not fix what I broke with the update?

I only know the information in the threads I posted. I do not know all the ramifications of not using the 5.4.0-54 kernel to build the graphics modules. Nor do I have any idea when it might be fixed.

As far as "meddling with kernels", you have changed kernels many times since you installed Mint 20. Open Update Manager and go to View > Linux Kernels and click Continue and then select 5.4 on the left pane. On the right side you will have a list of kernels and one will be listed as "Active" and some others will probably be listed as "Installed". I usually keep one or two older kernels in case I run into an issue and have to go back to an older one.

Once you boot into the older 5.4.0-54 kernel, you can delete the newer kernels through the Update Manager kernel interface I just described. You would click on the newer kernel and a "Remove" button will appear. The app will not let you remove an active kernel, so you do not have to worry about that.

[Kikinaak]

Not only did that not work but trying to figure my way through the resulting errors left the system in a nonbootable state, leaving me to figure out how to use timeshift from a live usb. At least I'm back to where I was, minus some hairline. Backing up everything before trying to beat on this further.

EDIT: ok, tried it again after the backup and everything worked. That was a bit tense there, for an hour or so that driver was like the couch from hitchhikers guide, I could neither install nor uninstall it! But after following the advice here and in the linked threads, I was able to uninstall and reinstall it against 54, then reupdate to 58 and it seems happy. And I learned more than I wanted to need to know about Timeshift! Thank you much SMG!