[n3mur1t0r]

Hi all,

Thanks for the great addon - but I can't get it to work.

I have downloaded and installed 0.9.2 and installed the wmctrl program from the repo.

I have running XBMC 12.3 on Ubuntu 12.04.3 with Nvidia 331.20 Drivers installed.

XBMC is being run as an xsession so it launches automatically when I start the computer without loading the desktop.

If I run the addon from Programs > Steam, the screen flashes blank, I see the X symbol in the middle of the screen and then it starts to launch XBMC again. That does not work out though. I have a blank screen with the cursor.

If I run top, I can see that both xbmc.bin and steam are running processes but neither are up on my screen.

I was considering that it may be because I am running XBMC as an xsession.

Any advice?

EDIT: Seems that the xsession has something to do with it. If I run xbmc from the desktop, I can use the addon just fine. When it runs from the xsession, buy default it uses xbmc-standalone not xbmc. I made my own xsession to use xbmc but that does not work either. It opens fine but once I run the addon, it closes xbmc and drops me back to the login screen.

The script kills xbmc so this causes problems with a xbmc xsession. I run XBMC as a xsession too and launch a openbox session just for steam. This is a straight copy/paste from my system so it may need to be configured for yours and you can remove extras for loading chromium, mythtv, pulseaudio etc...You need the program mingetty installed for this to work:

This will most likely not work with xbmcbuntu/etc with out some additional steps (Im guessing disabling lightdm + xbmc init scripts, but this will depend on the distro) and the information below is geared towards a ubuntu minimal install.

/etc/init/tty2.conf

Code:

/etc/init/tty2.conf
# tty2 - getty
#
# This service maintains a getty on tty2 from the point the system is
# started until it is shut down again.

start on runlevel [23]
stop on runlevel [!23]

respawn
exec /sbin/mingetty --autologin=xbmc tty2

~/.bash_profile

Code:

while [ -f /tmp/xbmc.disabled ]; do
  echo /tmp/xbmc.disabled present, exiting...
  echo ...................................
  sleep 1
done

###load steam
if  [[ -f /tmp/steam.load ]] && [[ ! $DISPLAY && ! -e /tmp/.X11-unix/X0 ]] && (( EUID )); then
  exec xinit -- /usr/bin/X -nolisten tcp vt7 :0
  exit

###load steam-os
elif  [[ -f /tmp/steam-os.load ]] && [[ ! $DISPLAY && ! -e /tmp/.X11-unix/X0 ]] && (( EUID )); then
  exec xinit -- /usr/bin/X -nolisten tcp vt7 :0
  exit

###load chromium
elif [[ -f /tmp/chromium.load ]] && [[ ! $DISPLAY && ! -e /tmp/.X11-unix/X0 ]] && (( EUID )); then
  exec xinit -- /usr/bin/X -nolisten tcp vt7 :0
  exit

###load openbox
elif [[ -f /tmp/openbox.load ]] && [[ ! $DISPLAY && ! -e /tmp/.X11-unix/X0 ]] && (( EUID )); then
  exec xinit -- /usr/bin/X -nolisten tcp vt7 :0
  exit

###myth-frontend
elif [[ -f /tmp/mythtv.load ]] && [[ ! $DISPLAY && ! -e /tmp/.X11-unix/X0 ]] && (( EUID )); then
  pulseaudio -k &
  exec xinit -- /usr/bin/X -nolisten tcp vt7 :0
  exit
fi

##########################
###load xbmc, must be last
if [[ ! $DISPLAY && ! -e /tmp/.X11-unix/X0 ]] && (( EUID )); then
  pulseaudio -k &
  exec xinit -- /usr/bin/X -nolisten tcp vt7 -nocursor :0
  exit
fi

~/.xinitrc

Code:

#!/bin/sh

if [ -f /tmp/steam.load ]; then
   exec /usr/bin/openbox-session

elif [ -f /tmp/steam-os.load ]; then
  exec /usr/bin/.scripts/steamos-session-xbmc

elif [ -f /tmp/openbox.load ]; then
  exec /usr/bin/openbox-session

elif [ -f /tmp/chromium.load ]; then
  exec /usr/bin/openbox-session

elif [ -f /tmp/mythtv.load ]; then
   exec /usr/bin/mythfrontend
else
  exec ck-launch-session /usr/bin/xbmc
fi

exit

Underneath the line that has Linux) in the file ~/.xbmc/userdata/addon_data/script.steam.launcher/scripts/steam-launch.sh paste in the following:

Code:

if [[ ! -f /tmp/steam*.load ]]; then
        if [[ $3 = 1 ]]; then
            touch /tmp/steam-os.load
        elif [[ $3 = 0 ]]; then
            touch /tmp/steam.load
        fi
     kill -9 $(pidof xbmc.bin)
fi

The above will allow you to choose between a steam-os session or a openbox session with the 'Ask whether to quit XBMC' option. See here for using parts of steam os in ubuntu.

An example of my Openbox autostart file:
~/.config/openbox/autostart.sh

Code:

#!/bin/sh
export DISPLAY=:0
xsetroot -solid black &
hsetroot -solid "#000000" &
unclutter -root &

  if [ -f /tmp/steam.load ]; then
    pulseaudio --start
    compton --backend glx --paint-on-overlay --glx-no-stencil --vsync opengl-swc --unredir-if-possible &
    (sleep 5 && ~/.xbmc/userdata/addon_data/script.steam.launcher/scripts/steam-launch.sh "/usr/bin/steeeeam" "/usr/bin/xbmc")&
    sleep 1
    /usr/bin/steam -bigpicture
    rm -rf /tmp/*.load
    pulseaudio -k
    /usr/bin/.scripts/ob-exit.sh
  fi

  if [ -f /tmp/chromium.load ]; then
    pulseaudio --start
    compton --backend glx --paint-on-overlay --glx-no-stencil --vsync opengl-swc --unredir-if-possible &
    sleep 1
    (sleep 5 && xdotool key F11)&
    /usr/bin/chromium-browser --start-maximized
    rm -rf /tmp/*.load
    pulseaudio -k
    /usr/bin/.scripts/ob-exit.sh
  fi

  if [ -f /tmp/emulator.load ]; then
    if [ -f /tmp/pulseaudio.load ]; then
            pulseaudio --start
    else
            pulseaudio -k
    fi

  fi

I use a script to close openbox and remove all /tmp/*.load files so the xbmc session loads again when openbox is exited. It can go anywhere, but you need to update above with its location:

Code:

#!/bin/bash
if [[  $(pidof steam) ]]; then
        steam -shutdown
        sleep 5
fi

for FILE in /tmp/*.load; do rm -f ${FILE}; done &&

killall xinit

So when the addon is run a openbox session for steam is run. The openbox session stays open as long as steam is open, whether it's BPM or DM, and will stay open until you exit steam. Exiting steam to desktop will run xbmc in the openbox session. See the first post for some tips on Openbox.

More info and wiki links here.

do we need to delete scripts if we're using your repo for updates?

Yeah, you can do so from the addon settings, although the old version will still work. Only the scripts in the addon_install directory are updated with updates and the scripts in the addon_data directory are run by the addon. Deleting the addon_data scripts will make the addon copy them from the addon_install location on next run.

Hello teeedubb, are the instructions from this post you wrote back in 2013 still good? I'm running Kodi in an xsession (Ubuntu 14.04) using ALSA. Thanks a lot for this great addon!