@amrits thank you! I’ve put together a more comprehensive walk-through for this bug report below, including clearer steps for how to reproduce it in a couple different ways.
Current System Information
System:
Host: blackwell Kernel: 6.14.3-2-cachyos arch: x86_64 bits: 64
Desktop: KDE Plasma v: 6.3.4 Distro: CachyOS
CPU:
Info: 8-core model: AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D bits: 64 type: MT MCP cache:
L2: 8 MiB
Speed (MHz): avg: 3834 min/max: 603/5272 cores: 1: 3834 2: 3834 3: 3834
4: 3834 5: 3834 6: 3834 7: 3834 8: 3834 9: 3834 10: 3834 11: 3834 12: 3834
13: 3834 14: 3834 15: 3834 16: 3834
Graphics:
Device-1: NVIDIA GB202 [GeForce RTX 5090] driver: nvidia v: 575.51.02
Display: wayland server: X.org v: 1.21.1.16 with: Xwayland v: 24.1.6
compositors: 1: Gamescope 2: kwin_wayland driver:
gpu: nvidia,nvidia-nvswitch resolution: 5120x2160~165Hz
API: EGL v: 1.5 drivers: nouveau,nvidia,swrast
platforms: gbm,wayland,x11,surfaceless,device
API: OpenGL v: 4.6.0 compat-v: 4.5 vendor: nvidia mesa v: 575.51.02
renderer: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090/PCIe/SSE2
API: Vulkan v: 1.4.309 drivers: nvidia surfaces: xcb,xlib,wayland
Info: Tools: api: clinfo, eglinfo, glxinfo, vulkaninfo
de: kscreen-console,kscreen-doctor gpu: nvidia-settings,nvidia-smi
wl: wayland-info x11: xdpyinfo, xprop, xrandr
Display: 45" OLED Gaming Monitor - 45GX950A-B. However, the display model or connector should not really matter as long as it supports a high enough resolution (preferably 4K) as well as HDR.
I have reproduced this issue before on a 3070TI laptop when my MUX switch was set to dGPU only (so no iGPU was present on the system at the time), as well as on a 4090 desktop card and now my 5090, so card choice should not matter either.
Steps to reproduce:
The easiest way to reproduce this issue is going to be using gamescope-session, which is a standalone compositor that utilizes Gamescope’s DRM backend without another compositor running. If you’re on Arch Linux, a convenient method of setting this up is by using gamescope-session-git and gamescope-session-steam-git on the AUR. Other distros may also have their own equivelant packages. Once those are installed, you can then log out of your desktop session and log into the Wayland session titled “Steam Big Picture session”.
Once you are logged into the session, here are the steps to reproduce the flickering issue:
- Open the Left side menu with Ctrl + 1 or Xbox Guide Button on a controller and go to Settings → Display.
- Turn off “Automatically Select Resolution” for your display, and select native resolution.
- Open the right side menu with Ctrl + 2 or Xbox Guide Button + A and go to the submenu with the lightning bolt.
- Select “Advanced View”, and then flip the toggle for “Enable HDR”
Your display should have started flickering either after Step 2, or after completing Step 4. If it didn’t, try toggling HDR a couple more times.
Alternative method:
You can do this same general process manually via commandline without installing anything except for Steam and gamescope. I would not recommend this because you are unable to switch the resolution that gamescope is rendering at on the fly, but I’ve still been able to reproduce the issue when using this method:
- From a standalone TTY console (Ctrl + Alt + F5 for ex.), run
gamescope -f -h <monitor native height> -w <monitor native width> -r <display refresh rate> --mangoapp --adaptive-sync -- steam -steamdeck -steamos3 -steampal -gamepadui.
- Open the Left side menu with Ctrl + 1 or Xbox Guide Button on a controller and go to Settings → Display.
- Scroll all the way to the bottom, and flip the toggle for Enable HDR.
Please feel free to ping me if you run into trouble along the way and I’m happy to assist further.
Additional info:
new nvidia-bug-report.sh from within gamescope-session when it was flickering:
nvidia-bug-report.log.gz (681.5 KB)
I’ve tried every module option for every nvidia module and none have made a difference fwiw.
