9070 XT / RDNA4 + Bazzite Linux, unable to find Vulkan backend

[DSmithMP]

Validation

• [x] I have checked the Issues page to see if my problem has already been reported
• [x] I have confirmed that this bug does not occur in the original game running on original Xbox 360 hardware

If you have DLC installed, please specify which ones you have.

• [x] Apotos & Shamar Adventure Pack
• [x] Chun-nan Adventure Pack
• [x] Empire City & Adabat Adventure Pack
• [x] Holoska Adventure Pack
• [x] Mazuri Adventure Pack
• [x] Spagonia Adventure Pack

If you have mods enabled, please specify which ones you have.

None.

If you have codes enabled, please specify which ones you have.

None.

Describe the Bug

Bazzite now has support for RDNA4 GPUs and while I am able to play other games via Proton/DXVK as well as Vulkan native games like Counter Strike 2, I am unable to launch UnleashedRecomp due to it being unable to find the Vulkan backend.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Attempt to launch the game.

Expected Behavior

Game open

Footage

Specifications

Fill out the following details:

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 7900
• GPU: Radeon RX 9070 XT
• GPU Driver: amdgpu; Mesa 25.0.1
• OS: Bazzite 41 (bazzite:testing)
• Kernel: 6.13.6-101
• Version: 1.0.2

[stevenlafl]

Lucky. Mesa VLK doesn't work for me at all and instead gets the infamous tiled random RGB pixels problem with crashes. As far as this error, I get it if I have the Mesa version and am playing a Vulkan game, or if I have improperly installed AMDPRO VLK without i386.

You could attempt a driver re-install except with AMDPRO VLK rather than Mesa:

amdgpu-install -y --usecase=graphics,rocm --vulkan=pro

If you're still having problems, try these environment variables at launch: VK_ICD_FILENAMES=/opt/amdgpu-pro/etc/vulkan/icd.d/amd_icd64.json for 64-bit or VK_ICD_FILENAMES=/opt/amdgpu-pro/etc/vulkan/icd.d/amd_icd32.json for 32-bit

Side note: I had heard on a YT comment thread regarding this card's gaming performance that installing the latest git version of Mesa fixes the problem I described with Mesa above, though you'll need to compile it for both i386 and amd64. I'm not the type to manage my own packages though because of the maintenance headache.

Are both the i386 and amd64 vulkan drivers available at /usr/share/vulkan or /etc/vulkan?

[EPOCHvoyager]

There's been another update for :testing branch of Bazzite in the last few hours which includes more recent firmware. Try running System Update and see if this behavior still manifests afterward.

[Shootertrex]

Is this caused by flatpaks bundling mesa? If so, then it might be a matter of waiting for flathub to have the newest mesa available, updating the flatpak build script, and then rebuilding it.

In the mean time, I tried installing mesa-git for flatpak to see if that would work:

flatpak remote-add --user flathub-beta https://flathub.org/beta-repo/flathub-beta.flatpakrepo

flatpak install --user flathub-beta \
    org.freedesktop.Platform.GL.mesa-git//25.08beta \
    org.freedesktop.Platform.GL32.mesa-git//25.08beta

and then running this command to use these:

FLATPAK_GL_DRIVERS=mesa-git flatpak run io.github.hedge_dev.unleashedrecomp

Maybe I still did something wrong, but unfortunately I still got an error. Maybe you'll have better luck with it.

[*] OS doesn't support registry
[*] SDL video driver: "wayland"
Missing required extension: VK_KHR_xlib_surface.
Missing required extension: VK_KHR_surface.
Unable to create instance. Required extensions are missing.

Here are the docs I referenced so far https://gitlab.com/freedesktop-sdk/freedesktop-sdk/-/wikis/Mesa-git

[condmaker]

Also happening on Arch Linux. 100% sure this is a mesa bug as @Shootertrex said though, as I've built the game with mesa-git and it's running flawlessly.

[EPOCHvoyager]

After a quick check, it seems that the Flatpak Mesa runtimes are still on Mesa 24, while version 25 is required for RDNA4 support. The system Mesa version is irrelevant here, as Flatpak explicitly doesn't use any system libraries.

@DSmithMP, try using one of the release builds from here. Those will use the Bazzite binaries, as they're being run outside the Flatpak environment. That should work, at least until there's an update on the Flatpak end.

[EPOCHvoyager]

[...]try using one of the release builds from here.

Update: I was unaware of the fact that current runner builds have an issue with missing audio. However, I've found a nice bit of documentation that should help you use mesa-git with the Flatpak release — https://gitlab.com/freedesktop-sdk/freedesktop-sdk/-/wikis/Mesa-git.

Essentially, you'll need to install mesa-git from Flathub beta, and run Unleashed Recompiled with FLATPAK_GL_DRIVERS=mesa-git set as an environment variable — which can easily be done graphically ~~through Flatseal~~. Again, once the standard Flatpak version of Mesa updates, this will not be necessary anymore.

P.S.: Setting FLATPAK_GL_DRIVERS=mesa-git as an environment variable through Flatseal doesn't appear to work — editing the shortcut (through KDE or something like Main Menu on GNOME) to include env FLATPAK_GL_DRIVERS=mesa-git before flatpak run <...> should work instead.

[DSmithMP]

[...]try using one of the release builds from here.

Update: I was unaware of the fact that current runner builds have an issue with missing audio. However, I've found a nice bit of documentation that should help you use mesa-git with the Flatpak release — https://gitlab.com/freedesktop-sdk/freedesktop-sdk/-/wikis/Mesa-git.

Essentially, you'll need to install mesa-git from Flathub beta, and run Unleashed Recompiled with FLATPAK_GL_DRIVERS=mesa-git set as an environment variable — which can easily be done graphically ~through Flatseal~. Again, once the standard Flatpak version of Mesa updates, this will not be necessary anymore.

P.S.: Setting FLATPAK_GL_DRIVERS=mesa-git as an environment variable through Flatseal doesn't appear to work — editing the shortcut (through KDE or something like Main Menu on GNOME) to include env FLATPAK_GL_DRIVERS=mesa-git before flatpak run <...> should work instead.

That doesn't work for me. I get the same error output Shootertrex gets

[Randy28CR]

Still happening on Mesa 25.0.2.

Any clue?

[nveeee]

Flatpak Mesa update today has made a lot of flatpaks work on the 9070 XT now including Unleashed Recompiled!