Can I install gamescope-session on Bazzite desktop?
Hi, sorry if this question was already answered before but I can't find any documentation anywhere.
So, I installed bazzite on my friend's PC with a plasma session and he's enjoing it.
I have a fedora install with gnome but since I have an HDR monitor, I installed gamescope-session-steam from the terra repos and I can select it from sdm without any problems.
My friend now asked me if it's possible to do the same on his bazzite install, because he wants a distraction-free gaming experience, like a console and wants to skip the desktop entirely but with the option at login.
I cloudn't find any info on the matter so I added the terra repo and installed gamescope-session-steam with rpm-ostree. Obviously it doesn't boot because I realized the home folder in fedora atomic is in another directory.
Is there a way to boot a gamescope-session from the login screen on bazzite?
Solution:Jump to solution
yep and if you dont want that then you need to currently make a custom image where you remove the autologin file (steamos.conf) from
/etc/sddm.conf.d as if you remove it on an installed system it will go
"hmm but this file is on the image, i will restore it" since you deleted it....31 Replies
You could rebase to the -deck image of bazzite and have full gamemode (where you can switch to desktop). Have a look at https://docs.bazzite.gg/Installing_and_Managing_Software/Updates_Rollbacks_and_Rebasing/bazzite_rollback_helper/ and the available images https://docs.bazzite.gg/General/FAQ/?h=image+chart#bazzite-image-chart
Just make sure that you do not rebase between desktop environments (i.e. don't switch from KDE to GNOME)
Bazzite Rollback Helper - Bazzite Documentation
Bazzite is a custom image built upon Fedora Atomic Desktops that brings the best of Linux gaming to all of your devices.
FAQ - Bazzite Documentation
Bazzite is a custom image built upon Fedora Atomic Desktops that brings the best of Linux gaming to all of your devices.
Wouldn't the -deck image automatically launch the gamescope-session without asking first, like on steam deck?
Solution
yep and if you dont want that then you need to currently make a custom image where you remove the autologin file (steamos.conf) from
/etc/sddm.conf.d as if you remove it on an installed system it will go
"hmm but this file is on the image, i will restore it" since you deleted it.I see, thank you very much for all the info. I hope it will be considered a feature to be added in the future to desktop bazzite.
removing the autologin breaks the steamos-session manager so unlikely
it means the "switch to desktop" and "return to gamemode" buttons become "logout" buttons, there is no steamless transition and you would still need a keyboard and mouse to just login
so to stop people from footgunning themselves we do not support it (as in we wont make a switch for you, not that we wont give you support in this case)
I understand, for consoles and htpc this is the best solution of course.
https://github.com/HikariKnight/Deckstation/blob/main/files/scripts/sddm/enable-sddm.sh
this is the change needed for a custom image
please do not use this image for your friend as this is my own personal image tailored to my threadripper system and its also my test playground (so shit breaks at times)
GitHub
Deckstation/files/scripts/sddm/enable-sddm.sh at main · HikariKnigh...
A personal development and test build of Bazzite-deck with Qemu and SDDM enabled - HikariKnight/Deckstation
Thank you very much, I'll give it a shot. If I can't get it to work I'll just tell him that he has to use plasma and launch big picture from steam.
one thing you can do though on the deck image which we noticed by chance when i tested the nvidia deck image
you can change the login session in the steamos.conf from gamescope-session to lets say plasma (or gnome) and it will boot you directly into desktop
and you can use the logout button (or return to gamemode shortcut) to go into gamemode
essentially inverse deck image
still no login screen though
Huh, this is interesting, I'll give it a go on a VM first, I don't want to waste time rebasing his actual install
gamemode does not work in a VM
unless you pass through a supported gpu (and use sunshine to stream the ui while using a dummy plug or hook the gpu into a monitor)
Dang, I didn't know. I'll do a quick install on a usb ssd
as long as you edit the steamos.conf file, it wont get restored by ostree since it will be user modified
hence why deleting it will not work since it will then think the file is missing 🙂
Thank you for your time and all the informations!
np
I've disabled auto login with the old ujust toggle, and I've yet to encounter any issues 🤔
It's been months since I toggled it off
What exactly is broken? I can switch between gamescope-session and desktop mode no problem. And I default boot into desktop mode.
we removed the toggle completely because people kept managing to softbrick their handhelds with it
Hrm, I wonder why I haven't encountered issues
But makes sense if that's happening
because you have a keyboard for one 😛
other reasons have mostly been that they had done dumb stuff in home
making a toggle to switch which is default though, gamemode or desktop that should be feasable though in the future 🤔
Not sure why the keyboard makes a difference, I haven't needed to drop down to tty
But dumb stuff in home makes sense, haha
In my opinion, the ideal would be to allow you to just select the session in the desktop images
Installing bazzite-deck + defaulting to desktop works, but feels a bit hacky
think the plan is to include the session once nvidia gets their driver in a good or rather reliable state
definitively but it works when i tested it (by accident) on my nvidia test vm 🤣
I've taken a look into it a few times and it simply won't
Game scope requires a special version of Steam that has to be reinstalled every time you switch between the two
We might give you some option on the deck images to drop valve's session model, but that is supremely low priority compared to everything else we need to do
Is there something in particular I'm supposed to do to keep it from being reset? Mine reverts each time I reboot
What did you do to it
Doesn't the bazzite-autologin.service service change it back on restart?
unsure
Edited it to plasma.desktop
hmm let me check something
@Whom try this then change it to plasma.desktop in the conf file
sudo touch /etc/bazzite/desktop_autologinworks now! thank you
seems odd that it would though lol
bazzite-autologin service as wolfy mentioned will prevent people footgunning themselves with the config
so it need that file to exist for you to set the session to desktop