Fix Source Engine malloc bug on Void Linux

fix-source-engine-malloc-bug-on-voidlinux.md

TLDR: Just scroll down to The solution.

The problem

Today (2024-03-09) I tried to run Counter-Strike Source on Void Linux via the Flatpak version of Steam on Void Linux. I have updated all my Flatpaks via flatpak update before I started Steam.

After trying to run Counter-Strike Source, it just stopped. No game window opened. The green Play button of the game just updated to the blue Stop button and eventually reverted back to the green Play button.

So I ran Steam via the console using flatpak run com.valvesoftware.Steam to look at the logs. The game had problems with line 72 of hl2.sh, printing

<flatpak game directory>/hl2.sh: line 72: <game PID> Aborted

After some googling I stumbled upon this Reddit thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/linux_gaming/comments/18ykfuz/counter_strike_source_wont_launch/

There, the comment from PM_ME_FLUFFY_SHIBES was extremely helpful: https://www.reddit.com/r/linux_gaming/comments/18ykfuz/comment/kgejtw3/

Ah you've been hit with the malloc bug when it comes to source engine games. Install lib32-libjemalloc and run the game with

LD_PRELOAD=$LD_PRELOAD:/usr/lib32/libjemalloc.so.2 %command%

Check out protondb entries for the game.

Trying libjemalloc

The package lib32-libjemalloc on Void Linux is called jemalloc-32bit. So I went ahead and installed it via XBPS and copied libjemalloc.so.2 to the Steam Flatpak root directory like so:

cp /usr/lib32/libjemalloc.so.2 ~/.var/app/com.valvesoftware.Steam/libjemalloc.so.2

Afterwards I used the LD_PRELOAD trick: Within the Steam window, right clicked on the game, clicked Properties and added the following to Launch options:

LD_PRELOAD=$LD_PRELOAD:/home/<username>/.var/app/com.valvesoftware.Steam/libjemalloc.so.2 %command%

This resulted in the same behavior: Steam didn't start the game and the logs complained about libjemalloc.so.2 with this error: TLS error: cannot allocate memory in static TLS block

So I removed jemalloc-32bit from my system via XBPS and removed ~/.var/app/com.valvesoftware.Steam/libjemalloc.so.2 as well.

The solution

I thought about it for a second and went googling for source engine malloc bug linux. These exact words spawned this first result: ValveSoftware/csgo-osx-linux#2659

The first suggestion was to disable Steam Input, but for me it was already disabled. So I scrolled down and found this comment: ValveSoftware/csgo-osx-linux#2659 (comment) which referenced this comment from lisa50469: ValveSoftware/csgo-osx-linux#2992 (comment)

Running CSGO on Ubuntu 22.04 now. Had to do the following:

cd ./.steam/debian-installation/steamapps/common/Counter-Strike\ Global\ Offensive/linux64/

mv libtcmalloc_minimal.so.0 libtcmalloc_minimal.so.0.orig

sudo apt install libtcmalloc-minimal4

cp /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libtcmalloc_minimal.so.4.5.9 libtcmalloc_minimal.so.0

The command sudo apt install libtcmalloc-minimal4 was what interested me. So I checked where to find the Void Linux equivalent of libtcmalloc-minimal4.

After some digging I found it within the Void Linux shlibs: https://github.com/void-linux/void-packages/blob/master/common/shlibs. Specifically this line: https://github.com/void-linux/void-packages/blob/master/common/shlibs#L1661

libtcmalloc_minimal.so.4 gperftools-2.1.90_1

So I went ahead and installed gperftools-32bit via XBPS and copied libtcmalloc_minimal.so.4.5.5 to the Steam Flatpak root directory like so:

cp /usr/lib32/libtcmalloc_minimal.so.4.5.5 ~/.var/app/com.valvesoftware.Steam/libtcmalloc_minimal.so.4.5.5

After changing the Launch Options of Counter-Strike Source to the following, it finally started to run as usual:

LD_PRELOAD=$LD_PRELOAD:/home/<username>/.var/app/com.valvesoftware.Steam/libtcmalloc_minimal.so.4.5.5 %command%

What about native Steam installations?

Here, installing gperftools-32bit might fix the error without using the LD_PRELOAD trick. If not, try the following Launch Options:

LD_PRELOAD=$LD_PRELOAD:/usr/lib32/libtcmalloc_minimal.so.4.5.5 %command%

What if libtcmalloc_minimal.so.4.5.5 doesn't exist on my system?

Depending on the installed version of gperftools-32bit and the corresponding version of libtcmalloc_minimal, the version string might be different for you, for example 4.5.6 instead of 4.5.5.