Arc A770 16GB and Guild Wars 2

[psychoelf]

Hello,

I am having a very difficult time getting Guild Wars 2 to launch anymore.  The launcher will freeze my desktop environment most of the time, requiring a hard reset.  

I use Linux/Fedora 43 (also tried Fedora 42). 

This happened shortly after a Guild Wars 2 update with the newest expansion.  Everything had been running fine.  I have other family members who also play and they have not had this issue with their graphics cards (AMD and Nvidia), also running Linux (Fedora and Ubuntu).  They also have AMD processors.  The only possible error I can find is "ERROR:gpu_init.cc(486)] Passthrough is not supported, GL is disabled, ANGLE is" , which seems to be related to Chromium Embedded Framework, which is used by ArenaNet for their launcher and in game browser.   If I can get the game to launch, everything runs fine, but if the launcher hangs, nothing responds.  I can move my mouse, but all input and interaction is frozen.

The Guild Wars update also seems to correlate to driver updates, but I am having a hard time figuring out what version my Fedora kernel has.

All other games launch and play perfect.

My system:

AMD Ryzen 7800X3D

Intel Arc A770 16GB

32 GB RAM

Fedora 43, recently updated.

[VonM_Intel]

Hi psychoelf,

Thank you for posting in our Community. The fact that the game runs fine once it successfully launches is an important clue, and the Chromium Embedded Framework (CEF) message you mentioned could indeed be part of what’s triggering the hang. Since your other games are performing perfectly on the Arc A770, and other family members aren’t seeing this on AMD/NVIDIA GPUs, it does point toward a compatibility issue between the GW2 launcher/CEF, recent game updates, and the Intel graphics stack on Linux. To help me lock down what’s happening under the hood, could you clarify a few details?

• Which driver stack are you using on Fedora 43? Are you running the default Mesa packages, or have you installed any Intel-specific updates (like, mesa-git, override repos, or Flatpak runtimes)?
• How are you launching Guild Wars 2?

  • Steam + Proton (which Proton version?)

  • Lutris (which runner?)

  • Bottles

  • Native install via Wine
    This makes a big difference because CEF behavior varies across Proton/Wine builds.

• Does disabling the Chromium Embedded Framework help at all?
• When the freeze happens, do your system logs show anything notable?
• Have you tried temporarily switching your compositor or disabling it?

Have a nice day!

Best regards,

Von M.
Intel Customer Support Technician

[psychoelf]

Thank you for helping me with this issue.  

-Mesa 25.2.6 is what I am seeing

-Running through Lutris (RPM version)  0.5.19, with Wine runner wine-ge-8-26-x86_64 (I have tried others just to see if it would make a difference)  I also have tried completely removing Lutris, Wine and my Guild Wars 2 install and re-installing with a fresh install.

-I'm not sure how to disable the CEF.  Arenanet used to have a command argument to default to their old launcher, but they have taken that out a few years ago.

-I'm not sure what system logs to check, but it would have to be after it processes through, or forced to reboot. I could look if you know where I am looking, but unfortunately, I'm not that tech savvy to know what files we are looking for.

- I am not sure if it is possible to switch off the compositor on Fedora 43.  From what I can tell, it uses Wayland and X11 has been removed.  I have not tried installing a completely different desktop environment.

Thank you again for your help,

Joel

[VonM_Intel]

Hello psychoelf,

Have you had a chance to review my previous response? Please let us know if you require any further assistance. I'm here to help.

Best regards,

Von M.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[psychoelf]

Sorry, the notifications went to spam, I will try to get all the information shortly.

[VonM_Intel]

Hello psychoelf,

No worries at all, that definitely happens. Whenever you have the information ready, just send it over, and I’ll take it from there. Appreciate you taking the time to follow up, and I’m here to assist as soon as you’re good to go.

Best regards,

Von M.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[psychoelf]

Thank you for helping me with this issue.

-Mesa 25.2.6 is what I am seeing

-Running through Lutris (RPM version) 0.5.19, with Wine runner wine-ge-8-26-x86_64 (I have tried others just to see if it would make a difference) I also have tried completely removing Lutris, Wine and my Guild Wars 2 install and re-installing with a fresh install.

-I'm not sure how to disable the CEF. Arenanet used to have a command argument to default to their old launcher, but they have taken that out a few years ago.

-I'm not sure what system logs to check, but it would have to be after it processes through, or forced to reboot. I could look if you know where I am looking, but unfortunately, I'm not that tech savvy to know what files we are looking for.

- I am not sure if it is possible to switch off the compositor on Fedora 43. From what I can tell, it uses Wayland and X11 has been removed. I have not tried installing a completely different desktop environment.

Thank you again for your help,

Joel

[TheExpertGuy]

Since every other game runs smooth and only the Guild Wars 2 launcher is freezing your whole setup, this is looking like a weird combo issue between the latest GW2 update, Wine/CEF, and the Mesa version on Fedora 43. First thing if i were you i’d try is checking if it’s a Wayland-only problem by launching under an X11 session if your system still offers it. Also try swapping Wine runners, sometimes an older GE build or even proton-experimental suddenly fixes the launcher hang. When you get the chance, send over your exact Mesa and kernel versions (mesa --version and uname -r)so I can see if you’re on a build with known regressions.

You can also try forcing OpenGL in Lutris with --use-gl=desktop --disable-gpu-sandbox or even bypass the launcher UI completely with -gdx9 -nopatchui just to test stability. If you’re able to grab logs from journalctl -b -1 or /var/log/messages right after a freeze, that would be clutch

[psychoelf]

Thank you for all the information.  I will try to get it all on my weekend.

From what I've read, Fedora 43 and beyond, are Wayland only.  I have tried various versions of Wine runners (GE, non GE, Proton).  I've had the same issue trying to launch through Steam with all of their runners as well.  I am running Kernel 6.17.8-300.fc43.x86_64.  The Mesa command just gives me "command not found".  I'm assuming this may be because it's baked into the kernel?

When I have time on my weekend I will get back with the other information.

Thanks again!

[CaNeBuRy23]

...the fact that every other game runs flawlessly and the issue only started after the new expansion update basically confirms it’s the launcher acting up, not your hardware. Fedora 43 being Wayland-only just adds another layer of weirdness here. When you get some time this weekend, you can try launching the game with GPU acceleration disabled, checking for any pending Mesa or firmware updates, or even running the launcher with flags like --disable-gpu to see if it stabilizes things. Once you’ve got the extra details especially the exact Arc driver version Fedora is loading send them over..

[psychoelf]

Hello all who are trying to assist,

I tried the -gdx9 -nopatchui, and it did bypass the launcher, but immediately crashed out.  As for the other "--disable" commands, would that be a command line flag for Lutris? They didn't do anything in the options section for the GW2 launcher.

"glxinfo -B" gives:

name of display: :0
display: :0 screen: 0
direct rendering: Yes
Extended renderer info (GLX_MESA_query_renderer):
Vendor: Intel (0x8086)
Device: Mesa Intel(R) Arc(tm) A770 Graphics (DG2) (0x56a0)
Version: 25.2.7
Accelerated: yes
Video memory: 16288MB
Unified memory: no
Preferred profile: core (0x1)
Max core profile version: 4.6
Max compat profile version: 4.6
Max GLES1 profile version: 1.1
Max GLES[23] profile version: 3.2
Memory info (GL_ATI_meminfo):
VBO free memory - total: 16288 MB, largest block: 16288 MB
VBO free aux. memory - total: 26064 MB, largest block: 26064 MB
Texture free memory - total: 16288 MB, largest block: 16288 MB
Texture free aux. memory - total: 26064 MB, largest block: 26064 MB
Renderbuffer free memory - total: 16288 MB, largest block: 16288 MB
Renderbuffer free aux. memory - total: 26064 MB, largest block: 26064 MB
Memory info (GL_NVX_gpu_memory_info):
Dedicated video memory: 16288 MB
Total available memory: 47928 MB
Currently available dedicated video memory: 16288 MB
OpenGL vendor string: Intel
OpenGL renderer string: Mesa Intel(R) Arc(tm) A770 Graphics (DG2)
OpenGL core profile version string: 4.6 (Core Profile) Mesa 25.2.7
OpenGL core profile shading language version string: 4.60
OpenGL core profile context flags: (none)
OpenGL core profile profile mask: core profile

OpenGL version string: 4.6 (Compatibility Profile) Mesa 25.2.7
OpenGL shading language version string: 4.60
OpenGL context flags: (none)
OpenGL profile mask: compatibility profile

OpenGL ES profile version string: OpenGL ES 3.2 Mesa 25.2.7
OpenGL ES profile shading language version string: OpenGL ES GLSL ES 3.20

I was also able to grab the log file from /var/log/messages.  I've attached it as a txt file.

One thing I noticed is after the first initial freeze up, if I have to launch the game again during my login session, it does seem to launch faster with less hanging.  All other processing is still going on in the background, as I had Discord voice chat going with my son while everything was frozen. 

Thank you all for your help and suggestions.

[psychoelf]

Update:  I have tried every suggestion possible and even installed a fresh Ubuntu 25.04 in place of Fedora 43 to see if it would make a difference.  I also used the Intel PPA for the Arc A770 for Ubuntu....no fix.  Then I started reading through the command line arguments for Guild Wars 2.

I used "-autologin" and have selected the AutoPlay box on the launcher (one of the times I got it to work right).  Tried a reboot and relaunch.  It still freezes the launcher, but after the auto login and auto play after 5 seconds, it launched without any input.  Much nicer than 3-10 minutes of waiting for it to unfreeze.