ValveSoftware
[BUG] [REGRESSION] Black screen for 3D scenes when using VRLink
Describe the bug When in-game on both OpenVR and OpenXR titles, nothing is visible except for 2d elements like the HUD on openvr titles. On said overlays, the left eye's view of the overlay is completely distorted.
Everything becomes visible while the dashboard is open. However, the HUD is still distorted, albeit less (in this case it's darker than it normally is).
To Reproduce Steps to reproduce the behavior:
- Open any title (Black screen). OR Open any OpenVR title that utilizes 2d hud elements.
- Open SteamVR dashboard
Expected behavior
All elements visible and with correct brightness. (ALVR example with correct appearance of HUD)
System Information:
- Steam client version: 1758150255 (17 Sept 2025)
- SteamVR version: 2.13.4 (6:22 pm build)
- Distribution (e.g. Ubuntu): Arch Linux
- Steam runtime diagnostics: Gist
- Steam and SteamVR logs: steam-logs.tar.gz
- Minidumps: steam-minidumps.tar.gz
Additional context Started occurring after the last Steam beta client update.
Upon closing SteamVR while a game is open, it does... this.... in both eyes. Followed shortly by a complete steam client crash, attached logs and dumps also should show this.
This might not be a solution, but rather a workaround. Killing the vrwebhelper process solves this problem but dashboard will be gone because of that. Also, remember to turn off notifications.
Weirdly enough there is one version of vrwebhelper that can be safely killed while preserving the dashboard.
Works in other games but those that actively use overlays (This mod uses it for the UI) won't work at all because an overlay is always present.
Similar issue on a Pico 4 on Arch Linux with the current SteamVR beta (20008147?) and SteamLink. I get only blackness on the HMD in X-Plane 12 (OpenVR title), but with motion working (per the monitor on the PC). After killing vrwebhelper, I sometimes at least get output on the left eye.
Latest SteamVR version (2.13.5) seems to fix everything from my side. Pico 4 steaming works perfectly.
I gave it a check, and now we have the opposite problem!
The game itself is now visible but those UI elements from above are now invisible unless the dashboard is open.
Progress is progress though
Can confirm that the latest beta (2.13.5) fixes the black screen. The issue with left eye only output in X-Plane 12 remains, but that's something for a different bug report.
