Steam - game super slow

efe-robots · June 5, 2025, 5:46pm

Hiii!
I want to play my first game with Linux on Steam

Problem Description:

Steam opens correctly. I click on the demo version of the game I downloaded (Europa) and it opens.
The game is super slow though. Already the menu before playing is like frame by frame opening. The mouse is also laggy

System Information:

System:
  Kernel: 6.8.0-60-generic arch: x86_64 bits: 64
  Desktop: KDE Plasma v: 5.27.12 Distro: Kubuntu 24.04.2 LTS (Noble Numbat)
Machine:
  Type: Desktop Mobo: ASRock model: H670M-ITX/ax serial: <superuser required>
    UEFI: American Megatrends LLC. v: 10.02 date: 11/18/2022
CPU:
  Info: 14-core (6-mt/8-st) 13th Gen Intel Core i5-13600K [MST AMCP]
    speed (MHz): avg: 815 min/max: 800/5100:3900
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel Raptor Lake-S GT1 [UHD Graphics 770] driver: i915 v: kernel
  Device-2: NVIDIA GA104 [GeForce RTX 3070 Ti] driver: nouveau v: kernel
  Device-3: Realtek Streamplify CAM driver: snd-usb-audio,uvcvideo type: USB
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.11 with: Xwayland v: 23.2.6 driver: X:
    loaded: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa dri: nouveau gpu: i915,nouveau
    resolution: 1: 2560x1440~60Hz 2: 1920x1080~75Hz
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6 compat-v: 4.3 vendor: mesa v: 24.2.8-1ubuntu1~24.04.1
    renderer: NV174
Network:
  Device-1: Intel Alder Lake-S PCH CNVi WiFi driver: iwlwifi
  Device-2: Intel Ethernet I219-V driver: e1000e
  Device-3: Realtek RTL8125 2.5GbE driver: r8169

What I’ve Tried:

upgrading kernel to HWE kernel 6.11 (linux-generic-hwe-24.04). I lost one display and the other was opening things weirdly
I reinstalled Kubuntu 24.04 from usb stick
Tried both Pronton hotfix and proton 9.0.4

Any tips on how I can find the problem? Newbie here.

Thank you!!!

thingizkhan · June 5, 2025, 6:08pm

Your RTX 3070 Ti is running on the nouveau open-source driver, which can’t boost the card’s clocks or expose modern Vulkan/DX12 features—so every menu is a slideshow.

Quick diagnosis

What to run	What you should see
inxi -G or `lspci -k	grep -A2 -E “VGA
`glxinfo	grep “OpenGL renderer”`
nvidia-smi	Fails with “No devices were found” while nouveau is loaded

If those match, you need the proprietary NVIDIA driver.

Fix (Kubuntu 24.04)

# 1. (Optional) add the fresh-driver PPA
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:graphics-drivers/ppa
sudo apt update

# 2. Install the current driver + 32-bit libs for Steam
sudo apt install nvidia-driver-555 libnvidia-gl-555 libnvidia-gl-555:i386

# 3. Turn off Secure Boot in UEFI (else the module won’t load)

# 4. Reboot

After the reboot:

nvidia-smi                # should list the 3070 Ti
glxinfo | grep renderer   # now says "NVIDIA..."

Make Steam use the card

Whole desktop on NVIDIA:

sudo prime-select nvidia
reboot

Per-game (keeps desktop on Intel iGPU): Steam → Game → Properties → Launch Options:

prime-run %command%

Run the game again—menus should be silky-smooth and the mouse snappy.

efe-robots · June 6, 2025, 10:41am

First: thank you so much for such a tidy answer

Here is the info from the diagnosis:

Code: lspci -k:

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GA104 [GeForce RTX 3070 Ti] (rev a1)
        Subsystem: eVga.com. Corp. GA104 [GeForce RTX 3070 Ti]
        Kernel driver in use: nouveau
        Kernel modules: nvidiafb, nouveau

Code: inxi -G

Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel Raptor Lake-S GT1 [UHD Graphics 770] driver: i915 v: kernel
  Device-2: NVIDIA GA104 [GeForce RTX 3070 Ti] driver: nouveau v: kernel
  Device-3: Realtek Streamplify CAM driver: snd-usb-audio,uvcvideo type: USB
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.11 with: Xwayland v: 23.2.6 driver: X:
    loaded: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa dri: nouveau gpu: i915,nouveau
    resolution: 1: 2560x1440~60Hz 2: 1920x1080~75Hz
  API: EGL v: 1.5 drivers: iris,nouveau,swrast
    platforms: gbm,x11,surfaceless,device
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6 compat-v: 4.3 vendor: mesa v: 24.2.8-1ubuntu1~24.04.1
    renderer: NV174
  API: Vulkan v: 1.3.275 drivers: N/A surfaces: xcb,xlib

Code: glxinfo (a lot of lines but somewhere I found this)

OpenGL version string: 4.3 (Compatibility Profile) Mesa 24.2.8-1ubuntu1~24.04.1
OpenGL shading language version string: 4.30
OpenGL context flags: (none)
OpenGL profile mask: compatibility profile

Code: glxinfo | grep renderer

glxinfo | grep renderer
    GLX_MESA_copy_sub_buffer, GLX_MESA_gl_interop, GLX_MESA_query_renderer, 
    GLX_MESA_copy_sub_buffer, GLX_MESA_gl_interop, GLX_MESA_query_renderer, 
Extended renderer info (GLX_MESA_query_renderer):
OpenGL renderer string: NV174

Code: nvidia-smi

Command 'nvidia-smi' not found, but can be installed with:
sudo apt install nvidia-utils-470         # version 470.256.02-0ubuntu0.24.04.1, or
sudo apt install nvidia-utils-470-server  # version 470.256.02-0ubuntu0.24.04.1
sudo apt install nvidia-utils-535         # version 535.183.01-0ubuntu0.24.04.1
sudo apt install nvidia-utils-535-server  # version 535.230.02-0ubuntu0.24.04.3
sudo apt install nvidia-utils-550         # version 550.120-0ubuntu0.24.04.1
sudo apt install nvidia-utils-570-server  # version 570.86.15-0ubuntu0.24.04.4
sudo apt install nvidia-utils-525         # version 525.147.05-0ubuntu1
sudo apt install nvidia-utils-525-server  # version 525.147.05-0ubuntu1
sudo apt install nvidia-utils-565-server  # version 565.57.01-0ubuntu0.24.04.3
sudo apt install nvidia-utils-550-server  # version 550.144.03-0ubuntu0.24.04.1

Doubts I have:

Why 32 bit? in the system information says 64 bit
I searched on Nvidia’s website and it proposes driver 570 for this GPU. Do you think 555 is better?
Secure Boot is disabled. It was already like that when I installed Kubuntu. So I leave it as it is correct?
for your 2 suggestions for using the card: is it ok to only do this? That means linux is always using nvidia’s driver? Or I also need the 2nd code? I ask because I have other graphic problems, so that might actually help

sudo prime-select nvidia
reboot

Thank you for the help

efe-robots · June 6, 2025, 10:43am

For the secure boot I mentioned, this is what I get:

SecureBoot disabled
Platform is in Setup Mode

dzakydarrellb · June 6, 2025, 11:41am

Also don’t forget to use “Game Mode” for better perfomance too, it’s installed by default on Ubuntu, we need to use launch command gamemoderun %command% to check if the game mode active when playing games, simply type gamemoded -s in terminal.

1fallen · June 6, 2025, 2:21pm

I’ve had better FPS on the newer drivers, but open source seems to be much more friendly playing most games.

nvidia-smi
Fri Jun  6 08:20:15 2025       
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| NVIDIA-SMI 575.57.08              Driver Version: 575.57.08      CUDA Version: 12.9     |
|-----------------------------------------+------------------------+----------------------+
| GPU  Name                 Persistence-M | Bus-Id          Disp.A | Volatile Uncorr. ECC |
| Fan  Temp   Perf          Pwr:Usage/Cap |           Memory-Usage | GPU-Util  Compute M. |
|                                         |                        |               MIG M. |
|=========================================+========================+======================|
|   0  NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 ...    Off |   00000000:01:00.0 Off |                  N/A |
| N/A   31C    P0              8W /   60W |      10MiB /   4096MiB |      0%      Default |
|                                         |                        |                  N/A |
+-----------------------------------------+------------------------+----------------------+
                                                                                         
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Processes:                                                                              |
|  GPU   GI   CI              PID   Type   Process name                        GPU Memory |
|        ID   ID                                                               Usage      |
|=========================================================================================|
|    0   N/A  N/A            2908      G   /usr/lib/xorg/Xorg                        4MiB |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

I’m just not much of a gamer though, so there’s that!

Steam is primarily a 32-bit application because it can efficiently manage the majority of its tasks within the limitations of 32-bit architecture without needing the capabilities of a 64-bit system.

ogra · June 6, 2025, 2:32pm

Most games are binary blobs with no source code available … many of them run in 32bit only, especially the older ones, this is why steam still runs in 32bit mode for many of them …

eeickmeyer · June 6, 2025, 2:37pm

Your system will automatically configure for the best drivers for your system by simply running the following command:

ubuntu-drivers install

Takes the thought process completely out of the equation.

thingizkhan · June 6, 2025, 4:10pm

You can check the commands and steps to change the driver version on here.