I know this is a long shot (feel free to close this issue if it's off topic), but I'm struggling to get my Electron app to launch and run properly on Steam Deck or on Manjaro Linux, the distro that Steam recommends for testing Steam Deck compatibility.

https://steamcommunity.com/groups/steamworks/discussions/0/3373782431179895116/

Steam Deck app crashes instantly running Electron app

I'm trying to make my app compatible with Steam Deck.

My app seems to work fine on Linux when I launch it directly from the console; I've tested it in Ubuntu 22 and in Manjaro 22. I cd to the directory containing my files, run ./MyGame and it launches without error.

But when I upload the game to SteamPipe and launch it via Steam, something strange happens. When I launch it on a physical Steam Deck, the button briefly turns blue and says "X STOP," but then it just immediately turns green and says "PLAY" again.

I have to assume that the app must have crashed or something? (With no error message??) But I've configured my game to log a message to the file system on the first line, as soon as it launches, and my log message doesn't get run. It's like my app never launches.

More mysteriously, when I "Switch to Desktop", open Konsole, cd to the directory containing my game, and run ./MyGame, it launches without error, just as I'd expect.

Soooo I tried running Steam on Manjaro 22. On Manjaro 22, when I click the Play button, it doesn't crash instantly, or at all. Instead, when I click Play, the button turns blue and says "X STOP" but my app window doesn't open, and no log message is displayed, for exactly 90 seconds (!!!) and then, right at the end of 90 seconds, the app window opens and the game launches and plays normally.

I can't understand at all what could be causing this behavior. As far as I can tell, there are no bugs in my code. As soon as my app ACTUALLY launches, the game starts up immediately, but the Steam launcher is either refusing to launch my app at all (on Steam Deck) or delaying launch needlessly for 90 seconds (on Manjaro).

How can I debug this issue?

(FWIW, my game is an Electron app (a giant wrapper around Google Chrome). It's designed to work great on Windows and Linux, which is part of why I picked Electron as a platform. Could this have something to do with it? I can't imagine what…???)

Any idea what could be wrong here?