Steam is a digital distribution platform primarily dealing with games. It manages games and as of recently other media like music. It has some unique features like In-Home Streaming that allow streaming games over the network. Arch Linux is not officially supported and there are some issues to work around. Prior to installing configure audio and install video drivers.

Steam is a 32-bit application and so is in the multilib repository which is disabled by default. Before attempting to install Steam multilib repositories need to be enabled.

Open pacman configuration file.

sudo nano /etc/pacman.conf

Find and uncomment the following lines.

[multilib]
Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

Update the package list and upgrade.

sudo pacman -Syu

Install Steam

Install an Arial font.

sudo pacman -S ttf-liberation

Install from the official repository.

sudo pacman -S steam

Configure Steam

Open Xserver wrapper configuration file.

sudo nano /etc/X11/Xwrapper.config

Add the following to Xserver wrapper configuration file and save.

allowed_users=anybody
needs_root_rights = yes

The package is bundled with some libraries that may be incompatible with the libraries installed on the system. This can cause fatal errors due to drivers to failing to load.

libGL error: unable to load driver: radeonsi_dri.so
libGL error: driver pointer missing
libGL error: failed to load driver: radeonsi
libGL error: unable to load driver: swrast_dri.so
libGL error: failed to load driver: swrast

Remove the incompatible bundled libraries so that they are not loaded.

rm ~/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam-runtime/i386/usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libstdc++.so.6 &&
find ~/.steam/root/ -name "libgpg-error.so*" -print -delete

Start manually as a chosen non-root user.

startx /usr/bin/steam

Allow the automatic update to complete. The incompatible library may be re-created during updates and will need to be deleted or renamed after updating again.

Run Steam

Start manually.

startx /usr/bin/steam -windowed

When running in Big Picture Mode and using graphics processor with low memory the resolution is likely to be set below the native resolution of the display. This means that if started without -windowed option part of the screen may be cut off. Once the resolution is adjusted from the GUI windowed option will not be needed any more.

Big Picture Mode may also have difficulty configuring network this is why it’s best to run in standard mode, complete the initial setup and configure the display settings before running in BPM. Once is working as expected navigate to Steam -> Settings -> Interface and check Start Steam in Big Picture Mode to start in BPM mode by default if desired.

Install Steam Launcher

Install Kodi on Arch Linux and download teedubb git repository. In Kodi navigate to System -> Add-ons -> Install from zip file browse to the location of the downloaded zip file and hit OK.

Install Steam Launcher by navigating to System -> Add-ons -> Install from repository -> teedubb's repo -> Program add-ons -> Steam -> Install. Installing from a repository will allow automatic Add-on updates.

Run Steam from Kodi

Once the Steam Launcher is installed it will most likely need to be configured. When Kodi is running in the background, sound should be disabled. Navigate to System -> Add-ons -> My Add-ons -> Program Add-ons -> Steam -> Configure -> Advanced then select Suspend Kodi audio when running Steam. Disable Sound option in General tab appears to be bugged and has no effect. When steam is started Kodi will continue run in the background unless quit Kodi option. Also Disable wmctrl check as it fails to start otherwise.