Bluesky
MastodonSee a weird pattern of colours when playing some games on Linux / SteamOS and Steam Deck? Some videos not playing? Here's why that happens and how you can fix it. This question actually comes up quite a lot in various support channels so it's time for an explainer.
What am I talking about here? This:
It can perhaps be a little alarming when you're trying to play a game and end up being greeted by this. Or, you might see it in specific places in some games, like where a video should be playing inside a game directly. It's a test card, otherwise known as a test pattern.
This happens when playing Windows games on Linux systems using Proton. The answer as to why is quite simple - it's because those games are using a video codec that is not supported by Proton, which can be due to either technical or legal reasons why Valve cannot support it (proprietary codecs can be messy with licensing).
Shader Pre-Caching
Valve do actually work around it in a lot of cases, where they re-encode the videos into something Proton supports. To actually get those videos downloaded with the game, you need to ensure you have the Shader Pre-Caching system enabled, as it contains game shaders to improve performance and the re-encoded videos too. On Desktop Linux and Desktop Mode on SteamOS it's in the main Steam Downloads settings at the bottom:
The option doesn't appear in Gaming Mode on SteamOS, since you're not really supposed to turn it off.
GE-Proton
If that doesn't fix it after ensuring it's enabled, the other option you can try is GE-Proton. Since it's a community build of Proton, it doesn't exactly have to follow all the same rules as Valve. GE-Proton does include some extras to get videos in a bunch of specific games working. We have a GamingOnLinux guide to setting up GE-Proton and usually GE-Proton will fix it, but not always.
Speaking to the developer of the game in question is always a good idea too, ask them to see if they can use a more open codec for their videos so it will work across more systems.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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You can also find comments for this article on social media: Never have seen it in any other game so far ^^
wytrabbit 2 days ago
Vigil 2 days ago
To actually get those videos downloaded with the game, you need to ensure you have the Shader Pre-Caching system enabled, as it contains game shaders to improve performance and the re-encoded videos too.
Does that mean that if shader pre-caching is disabled, such videos won't be re-encoded on the fly, so enabling it is the only way to see them?
I am worried about games that have such videos but which are used for something like a cut scene, where nothing plays, not even the test pattern. When that happens, you've no idea that there even was a cut scene supposed to play, so you're missing out.
doragasu 2 days ago
PixelBrushArt a day ago
Does that mean that if shader pre-caching is disabled, such videos won't be re-encoded on the fly, so enabling it is the only way to see them?[quote]
Yep. Because at that point you may as well include the codec directly to support the video format, but then this problem wouldn't exist in the first place. Just legal messiness for the sake of it.
[quote]I am worried about games that have such videos but which are used for something like a cut scene, where nothing plays, not even the test pattern. When that happens, you've no idea that there even was a cut scene supposed to play, so you're missing out.
In those cases, go for something like Proton-GE, that includes most of the missing codecs.
hardpenguin a day ago
Eike a day ago
Valve do actually work around it in a lot of cases, where they re-encode the videos into something Proton supports. To actually get those videos downloaded with the game, you need to ensure you have the Shader Pre-Caching system enabled
I heard this yesterday in the Steam forums and was very surprised. Does this connection exist for a long time already? Because people often recommend to disable shader cache due to games always downloading stuff and it not helping too much...
Vigil a day ago
In those cases, go for something like Proton-GE, that includes most of the missing codecs.
But that's the thing—in those cases you don't know that you're missing out.
Last edited by Vigil on 12 Aug 2025 at 9:35 pm UTC
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