Games under proton universally take 2x as long to load compared to .Deb package

[anonymousguy31]

Ensure there isn't an existing issue for this and check the wiki

• This issue is not a duplicate and I have checked the wiki.

Current Behavior

Loading games under Proton takes a noticeably longer time than when using the .deb steam package. I tested 3 games in depth (Super Mega Baseball 3, Helldivers 2, and DOOM 2016), and they were oddly all taking 2.33x longer to load to the menu screen near to the second. Longer loading times were present with all my Proton games, however, and with Proton Experimental as well as Proton versions 7.0-9.0. Non-Proton games were unaffected.

Loading Times:

smb3

deb ~45s

snap ~1:45s

doom

deb ~20s

snap ~45s

helldivers2

deb ~24s

snap ~56s

Expected Behavior

Games should load in a comparable length of time to the .Deb package.

Steps To Reproduce

1. Install a game using Proton (Experimental, 9.0, 8.0, and 7.0 all produce the same results).
2. Launch the game
3. The game will take noticeably longer to load to the menu screen than on the .deb package

Environment

os_release:
    name:               "Ubuntu"
    version:            "24.10 (Oracular Oriole)"
snap_info:
    steam_revision:     206
    snapd_revision:     21759
lspci:
    08:00.0:            Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Navi 23 [Radeon RX 6600/6600 XT/6600M] (rev c1)
glxinfo:
    gpu:                AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT (radeonsi, navi23, LLVM 15.0.7, DRM 3.58, 6.11.0-9-generic)
    gpu_version:        4.6 (Core Profile) Mesa 24.2.3 - kisak-mesa PPA
lscpu:
    model_name:         AMD Ryzen 7 5800X 8-Core Processor
xdg_current_desktop:    ubuntu:GNOME
desktop_session:        ubuntu

gaming-graphics-core22 version

kisak-fresh (default)

Anything else?

Attached are the terminal outputs for each game I tested in depth (Super Mega Baseball 3, Helldivers 2, and DOOM 2016). There is a separate text file for each game under the deb package and the snap package.

steamlogs.zip

[dziadulewicz]

Possibly the Snap package loads up additional assets for games at startups? The snap package of Steam includes gamer beneficial extras AFAIK.

[ashuntu]

Possibly the Snap package loads up additional assets for games at startups? The snap package of Steam includes gamer beneficial extras AFAIK.

The Snap does include GameMode and MangoHUD, but these are not loaded on game startup unless explicitly specified in the game launch options (as is the same in the deb version of Steam).

[ashuntu]

@anonymousguy31, is there any improvement if you switch to the beta version of snapd?

snap refresh snapd --beta

Make sure to go back to stable after testing:

snap refresh snapd --stable

[dziadulewicz]

It is technically interesting on WHY a packaging method would effect any type of loading times within the software. And if there would be an explanation to this by the way here, it is appreciated.

[anonymousguy31]

@ashuntu

Load times were equal to the .deb under 2.66.1 beta. That solves the issue. The logs between both version of snapd looked identical, so I guess 2.66 is just that much faster.

Thanks for the help!

[anonymousguy31]

I should have tested this a bit more, but the delay is back on Snapd Stable/Beta/Edge/whatever. I wonder if this has something to do with the snap struggling to connect to audio devices - I've noticed that the delay "finishes" when my headset beeps to signal a connection.

Further to this idea, the one pertinent error log I got from SMB3 was - "AL lib: (EE) ALCpulseCapture_connectStream: Stream did not get ready: Timeout", which according to this pipewire issue can be a cause of slow starting applications and is caused by a program struggling to connect to audio devices.

[anonymousguy31]

I got a second log message this time that didn't appear last:

Assertion Failed: CSteamEngine::BMainLoop appears to have stalled > 15 seconds without event signalled

I noticed this in a few issues for other systems but I don't know if it actually means anything. Other than these messages the logs between the Snap Steam/Deb Steam are the same, so maybe this is more an "under the hood" problem with Snap than an actual problem with the steam snap package.

[anonymousguy31]

Further tested this with C&C generals, a game that isn't going to be using DirectX12/11/Vulkan to see if that was an issue. Launched in 45 seconds from the Snap, 22.5 from the .deb. The results of this have so far been pretty consistent, which does make me think there is a legitimate issue here. No pertinent logs, same output as the .deb besides what you would expect.

Tested C&C on a Laptop running the same environment as well, and the disparity was actually worse - 25 Seconds on the .Deb and 73 for the Snap. I think it's fair to say this is a broad issue and not something localized to my device.

[anonymousguy31]

I've tested this on three separate machines now, two on 24.10 and one at 24.04, the results are identical and I'm out of ideas at this point. This definitely seems like a problem with the package itself.

[anonymousguy31]

Discovered the cause of this. I'll close this issue and make another to keep things more organized.