disappearing mouse cursor

Discussion in 'Mac and Linux' started by wheeledgoat, June 21, 2013.

  1. wheeledgoat

    wheeledgoat Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    409
    Likes Received:
    302
    I already filed a bug report for this, but also wanted to lob it out here in the forum since I'm a relative Linux n00b and maybe, hopefully it's a simple fix that I'm unaware of:

    My cursor completely disappears in the PA window. It's there somewhere, because it will register a click if I get it over the button, but I'm completely blind. No flickering or teasing at all - it's GONE.

    here's my bug report file, if the details will help

    thoughts?
  2. laseek

    laseek New Member

    Messages:
    88
    Likes Received:
    0
    Aye - many of us are having this issue.

    Can I ask you to try something?
    Open a window - any window will do as long as it contains something. Drag the PA game window over it - now move the mouse over the PA game window where you know the window behind should contain something.

    Do you see the some of the contents of the window under displayed around the mouse?
  3. wheeledgoat

    wheeledgoat Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    409
    Likes Received:
    302
    oh, good! thanks for saying so! i hadn't come across any other reports about the disappearing cursor.

    regarding your test - tried it with
    -nemo window
    -firefox browser window

    cursor appears in all windows properly, except in an active PA window.

    When a nemo/firefox window is in front of the PA window, it appears properly.

    When the PA window is in front of a nemo/firefox window, there's no difference at all. I have no indication of where the cursor is (but it will register a click if I can correctly guess and move it to a button or field - so it's there but not visible).
  4. bgolus

    bgolus Uber Alumni

    Messages:
    1,481
    Likes Received:
    2,299
    What distro are you using? My understanding is the various Linux distros all have their own unique way of handling cursor replacement, so it's possible whatever methods we are supporting aren't behaving as we expected on your distro (ie: there's a bug).
  5. SXX

    SXX Post Master General

    Messages:
    6,896
    Likes Received:
    1,812
    He using Linux Mint (or it's just hostname) probably, at least his uname reporting that kernel from Ububtu.

    Also I think we need to ask Linux users use Steam to post their "System Information" that steam reports.
  6. compholio

    compholio New Member

    Messages:
    22
    Likes Received:
    0
    The XCursor library provides a standard way for loading animated cursors:
    XcursorImagesCreate
    XcursorImagesLoadCursor
    XcursorImagesDestroy
    (use XDefineCursor and XFlush to apply)
  7. eeyrjmr

    eeyrjmr Member

    Messages:
    137
    Likes Received:
    13
    Not quite true. Stuff like that is defined by xorg. There maybe bespoken tools for different desktop managers or even distro's BUT at the end of the day they All have to interface with xorg.

    For all its diversity quite a lot of Linux is quite stable, I can quite happily run applications written 10years ago
  8. wheeledgoat

    wheeledgoat Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    409
    Likes Received:
    302
    Yeah, I'm using Mint15 (olivia) right now. It's been fantastic and solid as a rock for me.

    Possibly related: I had to downgrade my x-server to 1.12.4 in order to get the drivers for my Radeon HD 4850 to work.

    My off-the-cuff specs:
    3ghz Athlon 64 dualcore on DFI LP DK w/ 4g DDR2, Radeon HD 4850 & Turtle Beach Riviera

    I'm at work now, but let me know what other detail is needed (don't have Steam installed on my Mint box - but I suppose that's easily remedied if necessary).
  9. MCXplode

    MCXplode Active Member

    Messages:
    196
    Likes Received:
    28
    I got my graphics and mouse to refresh better by turing the Catalyst AI off, the vsync off, and desktop tearing off. Using Catalyst-Total 13.4-4 in ArchLinux, Catalyst AI goes fubar with this mouse bug. Mouse still has box around it which sometimes show desktop background but game is playable.
  10. SXX

    SXX Post Master General

    Messages:
    6,896
    Likes Received:
    1,812
    You really need try to reproduce it on latest Xorg, game can even start with open-source drivers, so it's should be easy to check if there cursor or not.

    I don't mean you need to use open source drivers all the time, but it's might be useful if find reason of your problem.
  11. wheeledgoat

    wheeledgoat Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    409
    Likes Received:
    302
    ugh. i see your point, from a troubleshooting POV, but I won't be able to run the game without optimized drivers. I need it to work with the Catalyst drivers, which require the older Xorg... so it does me absolutely no good to reinstall the latest Xorg, and shoot my graphics card in the head in the process.

    <sigh>

    If I get bored, I'll put the newest Xorg back and rollback to the generic drivers... but only cause I'm a team player, and I want to help the cause! If it fixes it, hopefully that won't mean that you're going to leave all of us with Radeon HD cards (requiring the old Xorg) in the dust!

    (how sure are you about this being the real cause, anyway? There are those with the newest Xorg that are having the same problem, now that I think about it...)
  12. SXX

    SXX Post Master General

    Messages:
    6,896
    Likes Received:
    1,812
    Open source drivers is enough to run game and check cursor bug.
    If you totally sure this isn't Xorg issue you don't need to check it, that's all. ;)
  13. wheeledgoat

    wheeledgoat Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    409
    Likes Received:
    302
    they might be enough to open the game to the menu, but i'll be blown away if they can run a non-optimized alpha release of PA - because they couldn't run a 10 year old C&C Generals game! haha.

    but I don't want to devolve the conversation. I genuinely appreciate the help, support and ideas. I will post back with results from the updated xorg.
  14. MCXplode

    MCXplode Active Member

    Messages:
    196
    Likes Received:
    28
    Still an issue in 50240.
    Running Catalyst-Total 14.4-4 using AMD catalyst control center to tweak it.
    I can get rid of the tearing by turning tear free on, then run the game, turn tear free and v-sync off then run the game again the refresh issue goes away but the mouse still has a box around it showing desktop background.
    Tried disable xorg hwcursor doesn't do anything, no other xorg settings seem to affect it.
  15. eeyrjmr

    eeyrjmr Member

    Messages:
    137
    Likes Received:
    13
    I have narrowed this down a bit more.
    It doesn't seem to be GPU type or driver type. Doesn't seem to be xorg related.


    It however is related to the windomanager and more specifically whether it is composite capable


    I have gnome3, cinnamon and openbox on my machine.

    For me openbox runs PA flawlessly with regards to vanishing cursor or bleeding
    ch4m3l30n likes this.
  16. leesam

    leesam New Member

    Messages:
    12
    Likes Received:
    0
    I'm running LXDE on my Arch install and i believe LXDE is openbox based. I still get the flashing/tearing whenever my cursor is on the window. If i move my cursor outside the window the PA menus will update properly.

    I'm not sure if this is the same issue you're talking about though.
  17. eeyrjmr

    eeyrjmr Member

    Messages:
    137
    Likes Received:
    13
  18. eeyrjmr

    eeyrjmr Member

    Messages:
    137
    Likes Received:
    13
    ch4m3l30n likes this.
  19. SXX

    SXX Post Master General

    Messages:
    6,896
    Likes Received:
    1,812
    I made some testing of PA on open source drivers (currently it's completely broken on fglrx for me), and I have flickering mouse issue on Gnome 2/Metacity and KDE/KWin both.
    I also got "tearing around mouse" when it works on fglrx, but I won't report it before find way to make game work on proprietary drivers.
  20. eeyrjmr

    eeyrjmr Member

    Messages:
    137
    Likes Received:
    13
    How did you determine if composite is enable/disabled? the 1liner in the form or viewing xorg.conf?

    The reason I ask is I don't have composite enabled listed in xorg.conf BUT xorg enables by default these days and cinnamon/mutter needs it. Kwin iirc needs it as well?

Share This Page