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The Jackbox Megapicker has been corrupting some Steam Decks

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A bit of an oops here with the newly released The Jackbox Megapicker, with the Native Linux version causing the Steam Deck to get corrupted.

There were reports floating around in places like Reddit, with people discussing it in our Discord as well. This has caused the Jackbox team to now post on their Steam forum noting:

We’re so excited to have The Jackbox Megapicker out in the world for our fans to enjoy. Unfortunately at this time, we’ve seen a handful of reports come in regarding issues with the Megapicker on Steam Decks.

Our engineering and QA teams are working hard to resolve this issue, and hope to get everyone back to gaming in no time.

However, it is our current recommendation that Steam Deck users refrain from downloading The Jackbox Megapicker until further notice. We hope to be able to resolve this issue ASAP.

If you are currently having issues with The Jackbox Megapicker on Steam Deck, please reach out to http://support.jackboxgames.com

Valve developer Pierre-Loup Griffais has also posted on X (Twitter) to note:

A hotfix has been issued to select Proton by default for the Jackbox Megapicker until the issues with corrupting the Steam installation are addressed. To avoid issues, don't override the compatibility selection to the Linux Runtime.

This is quite a big problem that a single game could cause your Steam Deck to be unusable without re-doing the whole SteamOS install. Hopefully Valve will be looking into how this was ever possible, to get the Steam Client and SteamOS to be protected against such issues in future.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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12 comments
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Zlopez Jul 31
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I wonder what the game could do that could corrupt the whole SteamOS. As the SteamOS is mostly read-only by default, I assume it can only corrupt the home folder of the `deck` user, which could cause issues with login the user in.
pb Jul 31
I thought the SteamOS installation was immutable? So maybe "re-doing the whole SteamOS install" is an overstatement, maybe it would be enough to clear some prefs or do a "factory reset" so to speak? Fortunately I haven't tested this launcher on SteamDeck, but I feel for those who did.
I recently have had problems with corruption in my home directory (unrelated to the megapicker) that has caused my Steam Deck to become unbootable if I reboot it. Luckily I was able to fix it by getting to a command prompt by editing the boot menu and using fsck, but it's a process I wouldn't recommend for a novice Steam Deck user
Ehvis Jul 31
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I guess Steam mode boots with the same user directory that is used for desktop mode. Might be better to separate those.
Quoting: EhvisI guess Steam mode boots with the same user directory that is used for desktop mode. Might be better to separate those.
they had this set up in SteamOS 2, it made it annoying from what I remember
Ehvis Jul 31
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Quoting: buckysrevenge
Quoting: EhvisI guess Steam mode boots with the same user directory that is used for desktop mode. Might be better to separate those.
they had this set up in SteamOS 2, it made it annoying from what I remember

Security/robustness is usually opposite from convenience. But for a device like this, it map still be more important.
Quoting: Ehvis
Quoting: buckysrevenge
Quoting: EhvisI guess Steam mode boots with the same user directory that is used for desktop mode. Might be better to separate those.
they had this set up in SteamOS 2, it made it annoying from what I remember

Security/robustness is usually opposite from convenience. But for a device like this, it map still be more important.
agreed, but Valve was marketing this as easy to do you want on it (not necessarily stick to the Steam ecosystem), so they probably stuck to the same account for that reason
udekmp69 Jul 31
I have the controversial opinion that Linux native ports should be treated as legacy, and that Proton is what we should be striving for.
Woodlandor Jul 31
Seems a little strange how they could have programmed it in a way for a simple launcher of sorts to corrupt the user space.

Then again, I remember the original release of Bungie’s Myth 2 Soulblighter had a bug where if you went to uninstall the game it would recursively delete every directory on the C: drive 😂

So all we know is game programmers shouldn’t drink Mountain Dew and program… for everyone’s safety 🤷‍♂️


Last edited by Woodlandor on 31 July 2024 at 10:44 pm UTC
Quoting: WoodlandorSeems a little strange how they could have programmed it in a way for a simple launcher of sorts to corrupt the user space.

Then again, I remember the original release of Bungie’s Myth 2 Soulblighter had a bug where if you went to uninstall the game it would recursively delete every directory on the C: drive 😂

So all we know is game programmers shouldn’t drink Mountain Dew and program… for everyone’s safety 🤷‍♂️
Appropriate name, I guess . . . that would blight your soul!
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