TC2 not launching, throwing SteamAPI error instead with no further info.

[rsnorder]

Description

After clicking Launch on the web launcher, an error dialog saying only SteamAPI_Init failed! appears, with no more info on neither web launcher nor the terminal window where ./TC2Launcher-linux was started on.

Checklist

• None of the open or closed issues document this problem.
• This is a bug, not a new idea.
• This is objectively a bug, and not something that people commonly disagree on.
• This issue occurs on the latest Team Comtress release, or the tc2-mod branch.

• This issue occurs on the latest vanilla TF2 update.
• This bug is in the code of the game, not in the textures, sounds, or other resources.
• This issue is listed on the Source 1 official bugtracker.
• This issue occurs when using no custom content.
• This issue occurs when using a listen server (using the map command ingame).
• This issue occurs when using a dedicated server.
• This bug is in the internal procedures or tooling (e.g. the build process).

Reproduction

1. Have a working vanilla TF2 install.
2. Download latest (from 15 minutes ago) executable from the official website.
3. Enable execution and run it in a terminal window.
4. Wait for it to download and extract, no errors.
5. Click Launch on the just-opened web launcher
6. Error dialog pops up after ~10 seconds.

Screenshots

(The blocking extensions are only blocking sentry.io and cloudflare insights, and the error still occurs when disabled)

Setup Details

Client Settings

• Server or client: Client
• Operating system: 7.0.11-arch1-1 #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Tue, 02 Jun 2026 18:26:58 +0000
• Team Comtress version: Launcher v1.0.21 & game v1.1.7
• Custom content: Nothing on TC2, but mastercomfig and hypnotizehud on TF2
• Launch options: -novid -nojoy -nosteamcontroller -nohltv -particles 1 -console -nostartupsound -w 1280 -h 720

If it's important too: I'm using Sway (Wayland) as WM.

Driver Version

• Graphics driver: Intel I915, Mesa 26.1.2-arch1.1
• DirectX level: No DirectX on Linux, but GLX v1.4 if it matters

Hardware Specs

• CPU model: Intel I3 3110M
• GPU model: Intel(R) HD Graphics 4000 (IVB GT2)
• RAM amount: 4 GiB
• TF2 install location: HDD, ~/.steam/steam/steamapps/common/Team Fortress 2
• TC2 install location: HDD, ~/.local/share/TC2Launcher

[rsnorder]

Also tangentially related is that my graphics driver/card is said to have issues with Vulkan. and indeed, with most games I play, the graphics driver crashes (and freeze the entire system along with it) in the middle of the match sometimes.

It's not really supposed to be causing the SteamAPI error though since besides crashing randomly, I have never experienced any visual glitches nor anything alike.

Also-also, TF2 on Steam only runs when launched with Legacy OpenGL. Doesn't even start otherwise lol.

[mastercoms]

Thank you for the detailed report! Could you also let me know what distro you are using? And do you have Steam running while you are trying to launch? And finally, since TF2 with Vulkan does not work, it is likely that TC2 will not work either. I would also be curious to know if Dota 2's Vulkan runs on your PC, if you're willing to test such things.

[rsnorder]

Hello there, I'm using Arch Linux.

About the Steam thing, before commenting I had only tested it without running Steam. Now, with Steam running, it does not open an error dialog but still doesn't open anything (the ... Launching ... button on the web launcher simply turns back to Launch after a few 10 seconds with further info)... HOWEVER, running ps aux | grep "tc2" does show that a few new processes have started right after launching. They all close unceremoniously after ~15 seconds though.

So I suppose the SteamAPI error is fixed and that now it's more an incompatibility problem, just like vanilla TF2 on the Play Team Fortress 2 launch option qwq.