Sadly, SteamVR on Linux continues to have quite a lot of quirks and over time it's gotten a little rough, here's a way to fix the SteamVR Overlay not working.
One of the most annoying bugs right now is how the SteamVR Overlay doesn't seem to work. Not just that, but even the settings menu from the main SteamVR menu doesn't seem to work either. This appears to be a problem on any Arch-like Linux distribution (EndeavourOS, Manjaro etc) and seems to originate with the vrwebhelper.
Thankfully, some clever people on the official Valve GitHub found a way to get it all working again and it's pretty simple.
First, find where SteamVR is installed, somewhere like this:
~/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/SteamVR/bin/vrwebhelper/linux64/
Open the file "vrwebhelper.sh" and replace this line:
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH="${STEAM_RUNTIME_HEAVY}${LD_LIBRARY_PATH+:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH}"
With this:
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH="${DIR}:${STEAM_RUNTIME_HEAVY}${LD_LIBRARY_PATH+:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH}"
Now you need to download an older version of freetype2, which another helpful user put up on a download link (web archive in case it vanishes) and then extract the files from the archive into the "vrwebhelper/linux64/" folder. After that, it all works just as expected again. Nice!
Hopefully Valve will get around to solving this soon, perhaps once they've got a few hands free after the Steam Deck ships, which they're clearly putting a lot of their effort into right now.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
TheRiddick Nov 18, 2021
It's rather unfortunate as it's release will likely be after many other options appear, they didn't have much competition in Q4 '21 or Q1 '22. They could find themselves releasing a outdated feature poor headset if not careful!
Quoting: PalancaValve is doing since last year a poor job on Linux and virtual reality.
I have the very same impression sadly. I really hope that's just because they are caught up with the Deck and it will get better again when that is released and settled down.
Quoting: TermyQuoting: PalancaValve is doing since last year a poor job on Linux and virtual reality.
I have the very same impression sadly. I really hope that's just because they are caught up with the Deck and it will get better again when that is released and settled down.
It appears that even Valve is not willing to put more than a minimum of effort in to support a niche of a niche. Never forget that they're a business. The current focus is the Steam Deck, which is not a realistic device for VR. I do think they still have bigger plans for the future though and if this includes something with more power, then SteamVR may become a priority.
It feels like they're not fixing VR because of the small user base, but there will never be a Linux VR user base if they don't fix even the obvious bugs. Chicken <> Egg.
Last edited by posthum4n on 18 November 2021 at 9:22 am UTC
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