[BUG] Steam Link VR error 451

[varig203]

Describe the bug
Whenever I connect my Quest 3S to my Linux PC and once I open a game the stream crashes with error 451 and SteamVR closes. However, sometimes I see the error -203 pop up on SteamVR itself too.

To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. Connect via steam link
2. Open any VR game
3. Wait either instantly or play the game a little (inconsistent)
4. See error

Expected behavior
Error not to pop up and let me play my game.

System Information (please complete the following information):

• Steam client version (build number or date): 1767909714
• SteamVR version: beta 2.15.1
• Distribution (e.g. Ubuntu): Void Linux
• Steam runtime diagnostics: https://gist.github.com/varig203/88b2fdcd008ed6a17103a438f53161af
• Steam and SteamVR logs: steam-logs.tar.gz
• Minidumps: steam-minidumps.tar.gz

Additional context
I have tried the beta and stable Steam Link client on the Quest 3S. I use a dedicated router to connect the headset to PC

[addiesh]

I experienced this recently. I think it's a bug in a recent-ish NVIDIA driver? Post your driver version and hardware specs if you want more help. Are you on a hybrid laptop or a desktop? etc.

[varig203]

I experienced this recently. I think it's a bug in a recent-ish NVIDIA driver? Post your driver version and hardware specs if you want more help. Are you on a hybrid laptop or a desktop? etc.

I am on a desktop.
CPU: Ryzen 9 7900x
RAM: 64GB 6400MHz
GPU: RTX 4070 FE
GPU Driver: nvidia-580.105.08_1

[addiesh]

If Void has a newer version of the NVIDIA drivers, try updating. I'm hovering on 580.119 and it works for me. What desktop environment/window manager are you using?

[ogrady]

I encountered this issue as well as a follow-up of #835.
I could briefly overcome this by running:

QT_QPA_PLATFORM=xcb \
SDL_VIDEODRIVER=x11 \
VR_DISABLE_OPENVR_OVERLAY=1 \
steam

Most of these settings I had to use in the context of #835, but VR_DISABLE_OPENVR_OVERLAY=1 seemed to help with error 451. I was able to start and play Blade and Sorcery for a minute or two, before the game froze (no error).

Maybe you can check if setting VR_DISABLE_OPENVR_OVERLAY=1 before running steam from the same terminal helps in your case. Make sure steam is completely closed before. I ran killall -9 steam ; killall -9 steamwebhelper ; killall -9 vrwebhelper; killall -9 vrcomposer ; killall -9 vrserver to be sure, but restarting your computer should do as well.

[Reelix]

I can confirm that these launch parameters fix Dungeons of Eternity when previously SteamVR was hard-crashing.

Woot! \o/

For reference, I'm using SteamVR Beta, with NVidia Drivers 580.126.09 on Kubuntu 25.10

[JipFr]

It's interesting how inconsistent these errors appear for me. Sometimes launching it with those parameters works to fix the IPC error, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes the games start without the -203 error, sometimes they don't. Some launches work, some don't -- for the same game! I'm not really sure what could be causing that inconsistency.

[ogrady]

While googling around, one thing that sometimes came up in discussions was Wayland vs X11. I am indeed on Wayland and facing these issues. Are you too?

[JipFr]

I am, yes.

While it's not a fix for the SteamVR issue itself, I was able to get VR as a whole working by doing it through WiVRn as opposed to SteamVR.

[toqu]

Getting the same issue in the following environment:

• SteamVR Beta 2.15.3
• Headset: Oculus Quest 3
• CPU: Intel i9-12900K
• NVIDIA RTX 4080 - GPU Driver: NVIDIA 590.48.01-9
• GNOME Version: 49
• Windowing System: Wayland

Interestingly this issue is not occurring every other time. Every tenth time the game connects.

I've not had any success with the parameters, which were proposed in #858 (comment), but disabling vrwebhelper (chmod -x ~/.steam/steam/steamapps/common/SteamVR/bin/vrwebhelper/linux64/vrwebhelper), (see: #828 (comment)) somewhat improves the situation.

Not having any connection issues with WiVRn, but that one is unusable for me due to controller jitter.

[UMCEKO]

Experiencing the same issue.

• SteamVR Beta 2.15.4
• Headset: Meta Quest 3 (wireless via Steam Link)
• CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 7900X
• GPU: NVIDIA RTX 4090 - Driver: 590.48.01 (open kernel module)
• KDE Plasma 6 / Wayland
• OS: CachyOS (Arch-based), kernel 6.19.3

Crash details:
vrserver segfaults inside driver_vrlink.so during frame presentation. Two different crash paths
observed:

1. SVLHMDDriverVulkan::GetTextureSize() called from SVLHMDDriver::Present() →
   CDriverDirectSubmitFrameThread::Run()
2. SVLHMDDriverVulkan::CreateSwapTextureSet() failing to allocate a Vulkan texture, then crashing

Both preceded by repeated HandleUnrecoverableError events: "Timed out waiting for another
accepted video packet, trying to force the stream reset". The compositor never receives VSync
(TimeSinceLastVSync climbs indefinitely) and eventually hits a watchdog timeout.

Workarounds tried (none helped):

• Disabling vrwebhelper (chmod -x)
• QT_QPA_PLATFORM=xcb SDL_VIDEODRIVER=x11 VR_DISABLE_OPENVR_OVERLAY=1 on both Steam and SteamVR
  launch options
• SteamVR stable (2.14.5) and beta (2.15.4)

This appears to be a bug in driver_vrlink.so's Vulkan path on Wayland + NVIDIA.