[Linux] Game's stuttering when the launcher UI updates (with workaround)

Zastrix · October 3

I'm not writing this in PC technical support as it's a known bug and no amount of user-support is going to fix borked code.

I know ESO only has *Playable* but this would help get closer to being Verified I guess? I've been playing for years on Linux/PC and this is the only issue I found.

Essentially with the new launcher, whenever an UI element update happens (namely the image change behavior), the game stutters.

If the launcher is closed, this issue won't happen. Which is nice when you're using a normal DE. If you're using gamescope which doesn't have alt-tab features, you're stuck with timing the close button on the launcher to be the same time as the game starts.

I've installed ESO via Heroic Games Launcher to run the Epic version and the Epic version of the launcher auto-closes when the game starts. If this were to be implemented on the Steam version, this issue wouldn't exist.

Zastrix · October 3

I've recorded with the game running in windowed mode, just so that the launcher can be seen:

It doesn't matter if there's vsync or not, or if there is an FPS limit. Sometimes it isn't reflected on the graph but you can feel it.

Generally the consensus for the Steam Deck is that you should close the launcher to avoid mega stuttering issues.

Zastrix · October 5

Setting these launch options via steam (flatpak), kills the launcher after 30 seconds:

eval "%command% & sleep 30 && pkill -9 CrBrowserMain"

So it's a workaround to not have stutters. Downside that it'll close the launcher if it's updating. I can put a loop and some checks maybe?

Zastrix · October 5

So I wrote this hacky workaround to write in the start options for ESO under steam:

%command% & sleep 10 && while pgrep -x "CrBrowserMain"; do pgrep -f "eso64\.exe" && sleep 5 && pkill -9 CrBrowserMain && break || sleep 1; done

This is what the launch arguments do:

Wait 10 seconds.
Check if the launcher is present, otherwise quit.
Check if the game is present, otherwise wait 1 second and repeat.
Wait 5 seconds.
Kill the launcher.

Otherwise repeat every second.

Edit:

This is not a *solution*, it's a workaround. The solution is better zos code.