Steam Client Blank Window in Offline Mode after September 11 Update

[zelburg]

Your system information

• Steam client version (build number or date): September 11 2024
• Distribution (e.g. Ubuntu): Fedora 40
• Opted into Steam client beta?: [Yes/No] No
• Have you checked for system updates?: [Yes/No] Yes... that's what caused the problem
• Steam Logs: steam-logs.tar.gz
• GPU: Nvidia/Intel

Please describe your issue in as much detail as possible:

When I start the steam client, I expect to see the normal interface, which is what I got before installing the Sep 11 update. After installing the Sep 11 update and start the steam client all I get is a blank window with the spinning gear icon. Can't do anything in the window. Need to kill the process from the command line.

Before the update, my steam client was up-to-date with whatever was the previous version before Sep 11.

Steps for reproducing this issue:

1. Started steam in OFFLINE mode
2. Went to Library -> Downloads and clicked on "Go Online" button
3. Updates for Proton 9 and Proton Experimental were available, so I downloaded
4. Checked for Steam Client update, Sep 11 update available, so I downloaded and installed.
5. I think the steam client automatically restarted at this point because of the update.
6. Went back into OFFLINE mode.
7. Shutdown Steam Client
8. Start Steam Client - all I get is blank window with spinning gear icon in the middle.
9. Must kill steam client from command line

[UhhhWaitWhat]

I have the exact same issue, including steam not starting up in offline mode.
I attached an additional set of logs in case they are helpful: steam-logs.tar.gz

For the time being, setting WantsOfflineMode to "0" in ~/.steam/steam/config/loginusers.vdf worked for me to force the launcher back into online mode. Not an ideal solution, but lets me play games at least :)

Edit:
Actually, something with the client and offline mode seems generally broken. If I set it to online using the above method and then change it back to offline using the steam client, I can restart the client afterwards without issue.

The friendslist (which usually shows something like "Can not use in offline mode") does not open at all anymore though. Switching to online mode then opens the friendslist as well.

Feels to me like some state handling around offline mode in general broke.

[zelburg]

Thanks @UhhhWaitWhat, manually editing ~/.steam/steam/config/loginusers.vdf and setting WantsOffLineMode to 0 also allowed me to get the steam client going again. I then went offline via the steam client gui, closed steam, restarted steam and it worked. So, hopefully it was just a temporary "1st launch after update issue".

That said... I agree with your feelings about the state handling of offline vs online.

PS. As a side note, a couple other annoying things about the update. It seems to reset certain settings:

Steam->Settings->Interface->Start Up Location was reset to "Store", I had it set to "Library"
Steam->Settings->Cloud->Enable Steam Cloud was reset to "On", I had it set to "Off"

The Cloud thing is especially annoying because it causes a bunch of steam cloud saves and as far as I know there's no "easy" way to remove them. There's lots of web links about very convoluted ways, but nothing easy and obvious.

I don't think this is unique to this update, it might happen with every update, but I could be wrong. Regardless it's very annoying.

[cn293]

Same issue as described above. Steam was in offline mode at the time it updated. The issue occurred after Steam was restarted (in this case a reboot). Thanks @UhhhWaitWhat for the work around. I did not have issues with Start Up Location being reset or Enable Steam Cloud getting reset to "On" but thanks @zelburg for the heads-up.

[lostgoat]

@zelburg / @UhhhWaitWhat thanks for the logs, those were fairly useful to diagnose the issue.

It looks like on your systems steam is unable to read the app info cache which is necessary to start in offline mode. We normally would get that info from steam, but in offline mode we obviously can't.

That data should be in this file:

~/.steam/steam/appcache/appinfo.vdf

Can I trouble you to check if that file exists on your system. If it does can you upload a copy here:
https://www.dropbox.com/request/1atOqK4HbFiQWMidgq7u

Updated logs from your systems would also be useful. Feel free to attach those to the issue directly.

[lostgoat]

Found the issue, no need to upload your vdf files anymore.

[zelburg]

@lostgoat Sorry about that... I had intended to respond but got busy with other things. Glad you found the problem, thanks.

Out of curiosity, what was the problem?