Launching apps automatically at startup in Gamemode?
How would I go about setting up an app to launch in the background at startup in gamemode? I’d really like to have qbittorrent launching in game mode and running in the background, I’ve tried systemd but it doesn’t seem to work. Any suggestions? Is it maybe related to being a flatpak app? Cheers!
38 Replies
I’ve tried systemd but it doesn’t seem to workdescribe what you did here because that is exactly how you'd get an app to run as a service in game mode
Even when it's a flatpack? I followed this guide: https://linuxhandbook.com/create-systemd-services/
Do you recommend me to follow another guide instead?
Linux Handbook
How to create a systemd service in Linux
Learn the steps for creating systemd services in Linux with the practical example demonstrated in this tutorial.
even when it's a flatpak. I have Syncthing working this way to sync saves that aren't on the various clouds
Damn, have you got any instructions I can follow? I was really sure I did everything correctly but prolly messed something up
look at Syncthing's .service file https://raw.githubusercontent.com/zocker-160/SyncThingy/master/linux_packaging/syncthingy.service
and these are the commands that enable it
I just got home, going to walk my dogs and hop on my bazzite tiny. Thanks already for the info I'll get back to you
Do you perhaps have anything I can follow step by step? I probably went wrong somewhere but I've no clue where. I'll copy paste the service I made when I get back home! Thank you so much already, I really can't figure it out on my own.
this is like the command but with more words in between each line https://www.reddit.com/r/SteamDeck/comments/vocyi5/start_syncthing_automatically_on_steamdeck_even/
same concept, different apps
Alright I've tried using nano to go into /home/deck/.config/systemd/user/ but it says the folders don't exist?
Maybe my issue was placing the service in this folder? "/etc/systemd/system/qbittorrent.service
"
These are the parameters I used by the way:
[Unit]
Description=Qbittorrent
[Service]
ExecStart=/usr/bin/flatpak run org.qbittorrent.qBittorrent
ExecStop=/usr/bin/flatpak kill org.qbittorrent.qBittorrent
[Install]
WantedBy=default.target
that is addressed in the first line in this code block https://discord.com/channels/1072614816579063828/1195329884973703168/1195448698440798258
I would just have it run in user space
I don't know what the ExecStop line is for or why you need it
Alright so I ran mkdir -p ~/.config/systemd/user but it still says the folder doens't exist?
show me a screenshot of what you ran
Thank you for having the patience with me by the way, I really want to learn this
what is saying the folder doesn't exist
show me whatever is throwing that error
nano /home/deck/.config/systemd/user/qbittorrent.service
check your user name
Alright so I tried running all of the commands again, but instead using my username instead of "user" and I've still got the same issue
I'm probably missing something here
This is true though, I can't see any of these folders in the dolphin file explorer
I don't have a deck folder at all
mkdir: cannot create directory ‘/home/deck/.config/systemd/user/’: No such file or directory
Have I used a wrong image of bazzite or something? Did I not select systemd but something else whilst installing? I've no clue why this isn't working. What you've linked and told me so far I've tried myself but I thought I was doing something wrong.
I'm using bazzite deck.
check your user name
your user name is here
I don't understand
you are entering
nano /home/deck/...
did you name your user deck?How can I check what username is for game mode?
For desktop mode its autismusmaximus
the very first thing here is your user name
the linux home folder is at
/home/USERNAME_HERE/
you are trying to create a folder at
/home/deck/.... you do not have a user named deck on your systemThere's no deck folder here?
Oh wow
Damn jesus fuck I'm an idiot
Alright so I finally was able to make the service in the right location
How would I go about activating it?
"Failed to enable unit: Unit file qbitorrent.service does not exist.
"
When I try " systemctl --user enable qbitorrent.service
"
I made the file alright, It's in the folder it's supposed to be
But I'm not able to enable the service
Previously I was able to enable it but am I missing something here?
Ugh it keeps giving me " Failed to enable unit: Unit file qbittorrent.service does not exist.
"
Yeah, it's still not working. I've got the service in right folder but I'm not able to activate it apparently. I've tried using the absolute address /home/autismusmaximus/.config/systemd/autismusmaximus/qbittorent.service and it will say the system has linked but it's actually not working in game mode
Do I need to reinstall my OS or something? I've no clue and I'm getting really frustrated with this
When I enablle it, it makes the system link but when I try and start it, it tells me "Failed to start home-autismusmaximus-.config-systemd-autismusmaximus-qbittorrent.service.mount: Unit home-autismusmaximus-.config-systemd-autismusmaximus-qbittorrent.service.mount not found."
Don’t do sudo here. You’ve locked the file permissions that way
And the actual word “user” in the path should’ve stayed user
When I try writing without sudo it throws me permission denied
Either change the permissions to the file or don’t use sudo
You do not want a root owned file there
I removed the original file
Then I made a new one without sudo
Started the service, seems to be working in desktop mode
Still nothing in game mode, my webui android app doens't connect with it at all
I've learned a lot at this point to be honest, thanks for that!
But I think I'm going to give up, this simply isn't working under steamOS IMO
I've got my webUI setup under qbittorrent and it works perfectly fine when in desktop mode, but it won't connect in game mode even after all of this hassle.
If you got any other tip, I'll be glad to follow it but right now all of this seems to have been a waste of time.
Is it possible the service only launches in desktop mode? What did I do wrong?
Everything seems to be in order at this point. At least in desktop mode it is, whenever I launch game mode it simply doesn't launch the application, is there any way for me to check this inside of game mode?
I really want to get this working
When running qbitorrent inside of steam in game mode itself everything works perfect
But I would like to have qbittorrent running in the background at all times so I can access the webui at all times
Mainly because I got kodi installed as well and I want to download from my home pc...
Well, if you got any ideas it would be nice to hear but at this point nothing is working
You’ll likely need to verify that your service is launched by logging in via an ssh terminal
I’m also not saying to blindly copy, but look at all of the various flags and arguments used by the syncthing service and see what ones are usable by qb
I ssh'd into it and it's not running whilst in game mode. I've tried removing and recreating the service multiple times but it only automatically starts in desktop mode.
However in game mode it doesn't for some weird reason
Wow I finally figured it out!! Thanks so much for all of these tips, I know much more now :)
What did you do?
That location is for running system services.
You app needs a GUI, which is only available in a user session, thus you can't use system services to launch GUI apps 😉