Issues with Nvidia hybrid system

JakeMoe · 2022-02-12 04:01:39

I've got a Dell Latitude 5520 with an Intel i7 + Nvidia GeForce MX450. I've followed the setup in the Wiki for Nvidia as hybrid. I can confirm I'm seeing Mesa Intel Xe when running things normally, and the Nvidia GeForce MX450 when using prime-run (tested with glinfo, glxinfo, and Minecraft's F3 screen), and xrandr --listproviders shows both Intel and NVIDIA-G0.

However, I'm getting an issue when using prime-run with the Feed The Beast (FTB) modded Minecraft launcher where the screen goes blank, as in this old Arch forum post and this GitHub issue I've logged. Near as I can work out, it's an Electron framework issue; I get similar results when I use prime-run with Teams, Skype, and VS Code, but oddly not with Discord or Atom.

I've been reading through Nvidia's driver docs on PRIME, and in the troubleshooting section, it tells me I should be seeing glamoregl being used by xf86-video-modesetting in my Xorg.0.log, and that I should either see it load or fail to load. However, I see no mention of this module in my log. Should I? Is that relevant to Arch? If so, any idea what I'm missing?

If needed, my entire Xorg.0.log is here, and the FTBApp startup log is here.

V1del · 2022-02-12 13:58:01

The modesetting driver is built into xorg and generally better tested and generally less buggy than xf86-video-intel so this can definitely be something you should try. You will see it load once you uninstall xf86-video-intel and remove any potential xorg confs you created that directly reference the "intel" driver.

JakeMoe · 2022-02-12 20:28:22

Thanks for that, I've uninstalled xf86-video-intel and rebooted, and I can see intel failing to load now, and modesetting loading with the reference to 'glamoregl' that Nvidia talked about. :-)

However, the FTB window is still blank, so while it's hopefully helped my system overall, it hasn't fixed this problem. :-P

FallenSnow · 2022-02-14 05:58:58

Make sure that all these apps that are working are actually running on the Nvidia GPU. Run them and check nvidia-smi to see if the GPU is actually being used.

JakeMoe · 2022-02-14 07:03:15

All apps run under prime-run show in nvidia-smi. But oddly, Discord... kinda doesn't work anymore. It seems to start on the Nvidia, and it's blank now, but I can see it in nvidia-smi. However, give it a minute or two, and it's like it restarts and I can see the contents of the window, and it no longer shows under nvidia-smi. No idea what that's about.

V1del · 2022-02-14 08:02:12

Why would you want Discord on the nvidia card in the first place? There's little/nothing to be gained by doing that.

JakeMoe · 2022-02-14 19:21:45

I don't, it's only a test as Discord is another Electron-based app, and that seems to be where the problem is. Same with Atom; no need for that to be on the Nvidia, but it's Electron based as well, just on a lower version (9 vs 11, I believe?).

VS Code, Teams, Skype, all Electron based, and all have the same blank window, but none need to be on Nvidia, they just help point to Electron as the underlying issue. I've tried a number of other apps, and it's only Electron-based apps that seem to have the problem, and the Feed The Beast launcher is Electron-based and has the same problem. The window still functions, however; if I click in the spot where the game I want to play is, it launches the game and the Minecraft window comes up and displays fine.

V1del · 2022-02-15 00:59:19

Probably a problem with the sandbox try the --disable-gpu-sandbox flag

JakeMoe · 2022-02-15 01:05:51

Heh, that's what they said in the GitHub ticket I linked to originally: https://github.com/FTBTeam/FTB-App/issu … 1036596951

It didn't seem to make any difference.

Last edited by JakeMoe (2022-02-15 01:06:26)

V1del · 2022-02-15 01:25:27

Whoops sorry didn't catch that, likely a combination of sandbox things, i.e. chrome/electron do also potentially not pass all the environment variables that would need to be set here.

JakeMoe · 2022-02-15 03:10:25

All good :-) I actually read through the Nvidia driver docs to see what each of the variables set in prime-run did, and tested a few different combinations; all resulted in Minecraft showing Mesa Intel Xe with the exception of if I just set __NV_PRIME_RENDER_OFFLOAD=1 and __GLX_VENDOR_LIBRARY_NAME=nvidia. From what I understand, though, the third variable (__VK_LAYER_NV_optimus) just hard-sets what it'd use by default anyway, so probably not surprising leaving it out makes no difference.

seth · 2022-02-15 09:38:36

Please post an xorg log, https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Xorg#General
Do you use a compositor (xcompmgr, picom)? Try to switch that (ie. use one if you presently don't and kill it if you currently do use one)
If you use a GL based compositor, use a render based one (xcompmgr and picom default)

V1del · 2022-02-15 10:11:50

FWIW I assume the launcher ultimately launches "something else", so you may be able to find which path/binary it calls and add a wrapper script that will set/run nvidia-prime for the process it will actually call.

JakeMoe · 2022-02-15 20:30:57

@seth here's my Xorg.0.log: https://pastebin.com/yGUzkkxM

I've never used a compositor before; do I need a DE for that? I use LightDM as greeter + FVWM as WM, no DE.

@V1del yeah, their support even mentioned maybe being able to insert a prefix to the command that they use to launch Minecraft. Minecraft itself works fine; it's just their GUI they insert before it for modpack selection that has the problem.

I thought there was a spot I could select the java executable to run, so I created a wrapper script to just call 'prime-run java "$@"' and made it executable, but then when I tried to select it in the GUI (while not using prime-run), I found I can only select detected java executables in /usr/lib/jvm/*/bin/java. Might look at that later.

I've also since found out that CurseForge (the other main modded Minecraft community) doesn't even have a Linux client, which led me to find that MultiMC now supports both of those communities (when they both switched to their own clients, they did so in such a way that MultiMC no longer worked; looks like that's been fixed / sorted). MultiMC runs fine and will launch packs from both sources, so I've switched to that for now.

seth · 2022-02-15 21:50:35

No, just install and run https://archlinux.org/packages/extra/x86_64/xcompmgr/
(Compositors usually make shadows and transparency and come in various degrees of fancy, but we're only interested in the indirection aspect and xcompmgr in its most basic config will get that job done and also doesn't use GL)

Edit: you can also try https://archlinux.org/packages/extra/x8 … deo-intel/ but the usual advise is "don't", so while offering an alternative, I don't really expect it to behave better.

Last edited by seth (2022-02-15 21:52:34)

Arch Linux

#1 2022-02-12 04:01:39

Issues with Nvidia hybrid system

#2 2022-02-12 13:58:01

Re: Issues with Nvidia hybrid system

#3 2022-02-12 20:28:22

Re: Issues with Nvidia hybrid system

#4 2022-02-14 05:58:58

Re: Issues with Nvidia hybrid system

#5 2022-02-14 07:03:15

Re: Issues with Nvidia hybrid system

#6 2022-02-14 08:02:12

Re: Issues with Nvidia hybrid system

#7 2022-02-14 19:21:45

Re: Issues with Nvidia hybrid system

#8 2022-02-15 00:59:19

Re: Issues with Nvidia hybrid system

#9 2022-02-15 01:05:51

Re: Issues with Nvidia hybrid system

#10 2022-02-15 01:25:27

Re: Issues with Nvidia hybrid system

#11 2022-02-15 03:10:25

Re: Issues with Nvidia hybrid system

#12 2022-02-15 09:38:36

Re: Issues with Nvidia hybrid system

#13 2022-02-15 10:11:50

Re: Issues with Nvidia hybrid system

#14 2022-02-15 20:30:57

Re: Issues with Nvidia hybrid system

#15 2022-02-15 21:50:35

Re: Issues with Nvidia hybrid system

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