Can the "g_object_unref: assertion 'G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed" bug connected to Game Recording in Steam on Linux be fixed?

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y4cy 4 Jan @ 6:43am

Various games, including Sid Meier Civ V and Sid Meier BE (cannot currently confirm for others) crash in Steam on Linux after a short time.

Terminal output looks like this:

Game Recording - game stopped [gameid=65980] Removing process 1166597 for gameID 65980 Removing process 1166596 for gameID 65980 Removing process 1166592 for gameID 65980 Removing process 1166591 for gameID 65980 Removing process 1166546 for gameID 65980 Removing process 1166433 for gameID 65980 Removing process 1166432 for gameID 65980 Removing process 1166431 for gameID 65980 (process:1166607): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: 22:23:55.045: g_object_unref: assertion 'G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed reaping pid: 1166607 -- gameoverlayui

Process IDs, timestamps, and number of removed processes change, the error remains the same and always starts with "Game Recording - game stopped ...". This is the case, even though the recording feature is switched off in my client (Menu -> "Steam" -> "Settings" -> "Game Recording" -> "Recording Off").

The error appeared with the client update of November 5, 2024, which introduced the recording feature, if I understand it correctly.

This is *not* connected to other bugs, that are currently discussed in connection to Sid Meier games, with libraries (e.g., libtbb.so.2). ldd shows that all libraries used by CivBE and Civ5XP are found correctly.

This is also *not* caused by changes in the games themselves. The games worked with the old steam client before November 5. The bug appearing in multiple games and always in the same form and in connection to "Game Recording - game stopped" also indicates that it is caused by the client update.

My system is Arch Linux with kernel 6.12.4.; previously, I had kernel 6.10.10; the update did not do anything to solve the problem. Steam version is 1.0.0.81-2, which should be the most recent package.

I would be grateful if that could be fixed or if a workaround could be provided. I think, I included everything I know about this bug here, but please feel free to reply or contact me directly, if you have ideas on how to solve it or how to squeeze out more information about it.

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Showing 1-9 of 9 comments

U.S Senator Gary Peters 12 Jan @ 8:07pm

I've been experiencing the same issue when screen-sharing via Discord. Certain games (Armored Core 6, Mass Effect Legendary Edition) seem to experience this problem, while others don't.

Jan 12 22:34:10 pop-os steam[4320]: Game Recording - game stopped [gameid=1888160] Jan 12 22:34:10 pop-os steam[4320]: Removing process 24496 for gameID 1888160 Jan 12 22:34:10 pop-os steam[4320]: Removing process 24446 for gameID 1888160 Jan 12 22:34:10 pop-os steam[4320]: Removing process 24429 for gameID 1888160 Jan 12 22:34:10 pop-os steam[4320]: Removing process 24408 for gameID 1888160 Jan 12 22:34:10 pop-os steam[4320]: Removing process 24402 for gameID 1888160 Jan 12 22:34:10 pop-os steam[4320]: Removing process 24388 for gameID 1888160 Jan 12 22:34:10 pop-os steam[4320]: Removing process 24374 for gameID 1888160 Jan 12 22:34:10 pop-os steam[4320]: Removing process 24370 for gameID 1888160 Jan 12 22:34:10 pop-os steam[4320]: Removing process 24366 for gameID 1888160 Jan 12 22:34:10 pop-os steam[4320]: Removing process 24362 for gameID 1888160 Jan 12 22:34:10 pop-os steam[4320]: Removing process 24361 for gameID 1888160 Jan 12 22:34:10 pop-os steam[4320]: Removing process 24360 for gameID 1888160 Jan 12 22:34:10 pop-os steam[4320]: Removing process 24352 for gameID 1888160 Jan 12 22:34:10 pop-os steam[4320]: Removing process 24242 for gameID 1888160 Jan 12 22:34:10 pop-os steam[4320]: Removing process 24239 for gameID 1888160 Jan 12 22:34:10 pop-os steam[4320]: Removing process 24238 for gameID 1888160 Jan 12 22:34:10 pop-os steam[4320]: Removing process 24237 for gameID 1888160 Jan 12 22:34:10 pop-os systemd[2566]: Started Tracker metadata extractor. Jan 12 22:34:13 pop-os steam[4320]: (process:24631): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: 22:34:13.220: g_object_unref: assertion 'G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed

I'm using Pop!_OS 22.04. Hope someone can identify the issue and find a fix.

Last edited by U.S Senator Gary Peters; 12 Jan @ 8:08pm

Ben Lubar 12 Jan @ 10:12pm

Have you tried going to the compatibility tab and telling it to use Legacy Runtime 1.0 rather than Scout?

I ask because that's what fixed a Two Point Campus freeze on the main menu for me.

Last edited by Ben Lubar; 12 Jan @ 10:13pm

y4cy 18 Jan @ 7:24am

Originally posted by Ben Lubar:
Have you tried going to the compatibility tab and telling it to use Legacy Runtime 1.0 rather than Scout?

I ask because that's what fixed a Two Point Campus freeze on the main menu for me.

Thank you for the suggestion. My compatibility tab is different from yours, though. For me, the tab says "Steam Play is enabled for supported titles". And it has only one setting "Enable Steam Play for all other titles". This setting is set to off. Switching it on, it enables a second setting: "Run other titles with:". which has a dropdown menu allowing to choose between various Proton versions (3.7-8 is the lowest, 9.0-4 the highest, plus "Proton Hotfix" and "Proton Experimental"). There is nothing about Scout or Legacy Runtime 1.0.

Ben Lubar 18 Jan @ 8:40am

Originally posted by y4cy:
Originally posted by Ben Lubar:
Have you tried going to the compatibility tab and telling it to use Legacy Runtime 1.0 rather than Scout?

I ask because that's what fixed a Two Point Campus freeze on the main menu for me.

Thank you for the suggestion. My compatibility tab is different from yours, though. For me, the tab says "Steam Play is enabled for supported titles". And it has only one setting "Enable Steam Play for all other titles". This setting is set to off. Switching it on, it enables a second setting: "Run other titles with:". which has a dropdown menu allowing to choose between various Proton versions (3.7-8 is the lowest, 9.0-4 the highest, plus "Proton Hotfix" and "Proton Experimental"). There is nothing about Scout or Legacy Runtime 1.0.

Sorry, I should have been more specific: the compatibility tab in the game properties, not in Steam settings.

y4cy 18 Jan @ 9:46am

Originally posted by Ben Lubar:
Originally posted by y4cy:

Thank you for the suggestion. My compatibility tab is different from yours, though. For me, the tab says "Steam Play is enabled for supported titles". And it has only one setting "Enable Steam Play for all other titles". This setting is set to off. Switching it on, it enables a second setting: "Run other titles with:". which has a dropdown menu allowing to choose between various Proton versions (3.7-8 is the lowest, 9.0-4 the highest, plus "Proton Hotfix" and "Proton Experimental"). There is nothing about Scout or Legacy Runtime 1.0.

Sorry, I should have been more specific: the compatibility tab in the game properties, not in Steam settings.

Thanks for the quick reply.

I don't think, I know what you mean. In any case, I can't find a compatibility tab anywhere.

Possibility 1: Steam Window -> Library -> Choose Game -> Find Options Tab ... Problem: There is no Options Tab.

Possibility 2: Steam Window -> Library -> Choose Game -> Gear Icon sitting on the right on top of the tabs -> Properties ... Opens the online manual in browser instead of giving me any settings menu.

Possibility 3: Start game -> Choose "options" in the game's main menu ... Problem: There is no compatibility tab either (just "Game Options", "Interface Options", "Video Options", "Audio Options", "Multiplayer Options").

In addition, I can now confirm that:
1. For the problem, it does not matter if "Game Recording" (in the steam settings) is switched to off or to manual. The game will eventually crash in the same way in either case.
2. The problem is not directly related to recording. Recording itself seems to work (although I neither need nor want that). But unrelated to that, the game will crash with the error above at some point within 15 minutes or so.
3. You probably don't even need to do anything. You can just start the game and let it run for a while and eventually, it will crash as described.
4. I tried to do an strace over the process to see which file it is trying to process when the error occurs. This failed unfortunately; it seems, this is because I only get the strace of the parent process that is started directly from the terminal and the running steam process is already a child process of that (and any games that are started are child processes of that one).

𝕂𝕆ℕ𝕋𝕀𝕂 18 Jan @ 11:25am

поняв

y4cy 1 Feb @ 8:34am

If I am not mistaken, the steam engine has been updated again sometime in the last 12 days. However, the problem persists. No games are playable.

girinoboy 13 Feb @ 6:24pm

I also have the same problem

Fossilize INFO: Overriding serialization path: "/mnt/SSD/SteamLibrary/steamapps/shadercache/570/fozpipelinesv6/steamapprun_pipeline_cache". failed to dlopen "libpangoft2-1.0.so" error=libpangoft2-1.0.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory 02/13 19:26:23 minidumps folder is set to /tmp/dumps 02/13 19:26:23 Init: Installing breakpad exception handler for appid(gameoverlayui)/version(20250128005041)/tid(864576) 02/13 19:26:23 Init: Installing breakpad exception handler for appid(gameoverlayui)/version(1.0)/tid(864576) failed to dlopen "/mnt/SSD/SteamLibrary/steamapps/common/dota 2 beta/game/bin/linuxsteamrt64/librenderdoc.so" error=/mnt/13e1b681-b4d8-4684-8ba6-e20c72d98c6a/SteamLibrary/steamapps/common/dota 2 beta/game/bin/linuxsteamrt64/librenderdoc.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory Loaded librenderdoc.so, got (nil) failed to dlopen "librenderdoc.so" error=librenderdoc.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory Adding process 873188 for gameID 570 warning: The VAD has been replaced by a hack pending a complete rewrite Adding process 878217 for gameID 570 IPC function call IClientAudio::StartVoiceRecording took too long: 45 msec [S_API FAIL] Tried to access Steam interface STEAMCHAT_INTERFACE_VERSION003 before SteamAPI_Init succeeded. CSteam3Client::Shutdown Game Recording - game stopped [gameid=570] Removing process 878217 for gameID 570 (process:864576): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: 22:23:49.034: g_object_unref: assertion 'G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed reaping pid: 864576 -- gameoverlayui

Last edited by girinoboy; 13 Feb @ 6:26pm