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greembow

Member

Registered: 2022-02-23

Posts: 35

Games don't detect audio devices

I'm running pipewire (and pipewire-pulse) using wireplumber for session management in order to use pw-loopback. When starting games, they don't have any audio. Some games like Fallout 4 will not start and say "No audio device found, game will not run" or something similar. I can't seem to find anything on the wiki about this, and I've already tried disabling my loopback devices, and it still doesn't work, and I can't see anything in logs. Any ideas on where to start looking? As another note, spotify works perfectly fine...

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 25,104

Re: Games don't detect audio devices

Make sure you have the appropriate lib32 versions as well. I.e. lib32-libpulse lib32-libpipewire as well as pipewire-alsa for native games that only support ALSA.

greembow

Member

Registered: 2022-02-23

Posts: 35

Re: Games don't detect audio devices

I had to install libpipewire 32, but the issue still persists.

Jupp56

Member

Registered: 2023-05-12

Posts: 5

Re: Games don't detect audio devices

I'd like to chime in with some more details.
I have the same problem. It started around the date of the first post and persists. I have updated all possible packages, AUR applications and via Discover.
I also installed the lib32 versions mentioned.

The problem is encountered using Steam directly (not Lutris etc.).

To start out: Audio from all other applications is working just fine.

Audio from some games is working.
"Stray", also using Steam's Proton compatibility layer, has working audio.
"The Witcher 3" on the other hand starts, but has no audio.
Going back to a previous Proton version (known working before) does not help.
That is why I dont think this is a Steam/Proton problem per se.

Journalctl shows Steam having issues loading many plugins - among them some suspicious ones like this one:

May 12 20:31:38 archlinux rundll32.exe[10016]: Failed to load plugin '/home/nick/.var/app/com.valvesoftware.Steam/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/Proton - Experimental/files/lib64/gstreamer-1.0/libgstaudioconvert.so': /home/nick/.var/app/com.valvesoftware.Steam/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/Proton - Experimental/files/lib64/gstreamer-1.0/libgstaudioconvert.so: wrong ELF class: ELFCLASS64

But a quick search brings up that Steam just tries to load everything as 32 and 64 bit, one will just work and the other produces an error.

While trying to start up i.e. Fallout 4, there is no journal entry that seems even remotely relevant to this error.

I'm at a loss on how to even debug this further, let alone solve it.

Last edited by Jupp56 (2023-05-12 19:23:55)

Jupp56

Member

Registered: 2023-05-12

Posts: 5

Re: Games don't detect audio devices

Update: I am stupid not to have checked this before:

I had an external audio device connected (class compliant, no specific driver, nor would one be available for linux at all).

Removing it or even switching to onboard Audio seemingly solves the issue. Games start, audio works.

But that leaves a question: why did it suddenly stop working without a hardware change?

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 25,104

Re: Games don't detect audio devices

Hardware can actually just stop working if you're unlucky. Does it still work on other systems?

Jupp56

Member

Registered: 2023-05-12

Posts: 5

Re: Games don't detect audio devices

Hardware can actually just stop working if you're unlucky. Does it still work on other systems?

The audio interface works just fine in a) any other application b) in Stray (Proton) and Minecraft (native) and c) under windows on the same machine.

Thats why I seriously doubt that this is a hardware issue.

Jupp56

Member

Registered: 2023-05-12

Posts: 5

Re: Games don't detect audio devices

Now knowing what to search for, I found the following open pipewire issue - opened around the time that our problems started. It is likely our problem.

Jupp56

Member

Registered: 2023-05-12

Posts: 5

Re: Games don't detect audio devices

https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/pipewire … ssues/3120