That's a good sign, that Valve is moving at least the runtimes to 64bit only. Maybe that means the client is under similar scrutiny internally. Recently when Fedora was discussing dropping more 32bit libraries Steam came up as a big issue.
this post was submitted on 20 Nov 2025
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Didn't they already announce they're going to drop 32 bit?
For windows at least, but I assume they'd do it across the board at once
Yeah, 32bit is why I removed Steam from my Debian desktop daily driver again. I got conflicting 32bit and 64bit versions of some libraries that broke my system. I'm going to try a gaming focussed distro like Bazzite next time.
Give Steam Flatpak a try on Debian instead.
I just run Steam as a flatpak. Works fine.
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.
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.
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?
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
I stand corrected then
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.
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.
I've been using Steam in a flatpak for a couple years now, I think. What ton of problems are you referring to?
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.
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.
#justFlatpakThings
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...
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
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.
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".