Fatal : VkResult is "ERROR_INITIALIZATION_FAILED"

[at46]

Your system information

• Steam client version: built Mar 22 2018 16:58:36
• Distribution: Debian testing (Ubuntu seems to be also affected because I also found the error here)
• Opted into Steam client beta?: No
• Have you checked for system updates?: Yes

Please describe your issue in as much detail as possible:

Can't remember when I first encountered the issue but since quite some time when I start steam I always get:
Fatal : VkResult is "ERROR_INITIALIZATION_FAILED" in /home/pgriffais/src/Vulkan/base/vulkanexamplebase.cpp at line 823
Every game works fine so it's no problem at all but there shouldn't be a fatal error during startup in my opinion. Also this looks just like some forgotten debug code or something like that because /home/pgriffais/ doesn't exist on my system.

Steps for reproducing this issue:

start steam

[kisak-valve]

It's worth noting that this is non-fatal and needs a system that does not support vulkan to reproduce (like r600 or intel/sandybridge).

[gnusuari0]

I am this message too.

[AniLeo]

Retested this on current beta build after the Steam Play announcement

System information

• Steam client version: built Aug 21 2018 22:37:05
• Distribution: Ubuntu 18.04.1 LTS x64
• Opted into Steam client beta?: Yes
• Have you checked for system updates?: Yes
• CPU: Intel Core i7-6700HQ
• GPU: NVIDIA GTX 960M
• GPU Drivers: NVIDIA 396.51 (Sat Aug 4 14:07:31)

Fatal : VkResult is "ERROR_INITIALIZATION_FAILED" in /home/pgriffais/src/Vulkan/base/VulkanSwapChain.hpp at line 210

Tried running NieR: Automata, nothing opens at all.

[at46]

@AniLeo Fatal : VkResult is "ERROR_INITIALIZATION_FAILED" in /home/pgriffais/src/Vulkan/base/VulkanSwapChain.hpp at line 210 indicates that vulkan isn't working or no vulkan driver is found and proton / steam play requires working vulkan.

[AniLeo]

Vulkan driver is present. I managed to fix this by disabling modeset on nvidia drivers, which I had enabled.

[elhoir]

Hello,
i get this message in an AMD system (A6-5200 w/ Radeon 8400 GPU) (laptop)

So itś not nVidia specific

[easbarba]

Same error hitting here!

Debian SID
T430
Steam from Debian non-free repo!

[stafoo]

Same error here, and I can't load the vulkan games. When I launch the steam client from terminal, I get the following error:

Fatal : VkResult is "ERROR_INITIALIZATION_FAILED" in /home/pgriffais/src/Vulkan/base/VulkanSwapChain.hpp at line 210

Let me explain how I got there.

• When I launch the steam client from the "Ubuntu menu", it works apparently without problems and games (except the vulkan games, how I'll explain) start without problems.
• Recently I bought "Crash Bandicoot N sane Trilogy" (for windows), which seems to work in ubuntu with proton enabled (look at the proton website).
• I updated the steam client to beta (from steam client settings) to get the steam play (proton).
• I installed the game and launched it, but it didn't work.
• DuckDucked and googled for the problem, I read that it can be a vulkan problem. After this I tried to launch "Rise of the Tomb Raider" (it requires vulkan) which worked perfectly until a month ago. It doesn't work anymore, and it shows a window reporting a vulkan error.
• Then I closed steam client and launched it from terminal, I got the error message written before.

@AniLeo can you explain how you got it working?
Thanks in advance!

[stafoo]

Solution found here (just a workaround, not a fix): https://askubuntu.com/questions/1090945/ubuntu-18-04-vulkan-stopped-working-nvidia-drivers-proprietary
1- Install the package vulkan-utils
2- Type in the terminal the following command, before to start steam:
sudo vulkaninfo
3- Close the terminal, then start steam

Vulkan works until the next reboot.

[fleskesvor]

I have to use @stafoo's workaround to launch the native version of Eliza on Linux, otherwise it just crashes because Vulkan is not initialized.

I notice that this is a pretty old issue by now though, and I'm wondering if there's a more permanent workaround/fix to this issue yet?

[459below]

For me the render devices are owned by a group called render

[459below@manus ~]$ ls -ahl /dev/dri/
total 0
drwxr-xr-x   3 root root        140 Nov  4 17:26 .
drwxr-xr-x  18 root root       4.0K Nov  4 19:15 ..
drwxr-xr-x   2 root root        120 Nov  4 17:26 by-path
crw-rw----   1 root video  226,   0 Nov  4 17:26 card0
crw-rw----+  1 root video  226,   1 Nov  4 17:26 card1
crw-rw----   1 root render 226, 128 Nov  4 17:26 renderD128
crw-rw----+  1 root render 226, 129 Nov  4 17:26 renderD129

Adding the user to the group render (and restarting the session) allowed me to successfully invoke vulkaninfo

I'm using nouveau and DRI_PRIME for a dual GPU setup using Intel and a discrete NVIDIA.

[scorbin]

I am getting this same error. I switch to my intel graphics card prime-select intel. When I switch back prime-select nvidia I start getting this error. I am running ubuntu 18.04 on dell xps 9560.

[kisak-valve]

Helo @nekohayo, Fatal : VkResult is "ERROR_INITIALIZATION_FAILED" is the vulkan sanity check dying and is known to be non-fatal to Steam. Also, Steam crashed before this message was outputted. Sounds like you've encountered #7226.