Yeah, that combo (Ubuntu 24.x + Steam + No Man’s Sky) can totally produce exactly the “inputs feel queued / delayed” vibe you’re describing. It’s usually not the game logic itself — it’s input latency being introduced somewhere in the Linux → compositor → Proton → game stack.

Here are the most likely culprits and the cleanest fixes, in order of “this fixes it most often”:

---

1️⃣ Wayland vs X11 Input Lag (big one)

Ubuntu 24 defaults to Wayland, and Wayland still has known latency quirks with:
– games
– mouse capture
– controller input
– relative motion (especially noticeable in vehicles like exocraft)

✅ Fix

Make sure you’re actually running X11, not Wayland:

echo $XDG_SESSION_TYPE

If it says wayland, switch:

Log out → gear icon → “Ubuntu on Xorg”

This alone fixes “queued input” for a lot of people.

---

2️⃣ Steam Input & Controller Queuing

Steam’s controller layer can buffer inputs and “helpfully” smooth them — which is exactly what you don’t want in a twitchy movement game.

✅ Fix (try both ways)

In Steam:
– Right-click No Man’s Sky → Properties
– Controller tab:
– Set to Disable Steam Input
– OR explicitly force Gamepad instead of “Steam Input”

Test both. Steam Input sometimes causes delayed bursts of movement.

---

3️⃣ V-Sync / Frame Pacing Causing Input Buffer

If your FPS is fluctuating, Linux + Proton can buffer input until the next frame flip.

This feels exactly like:
> “I pressed forward… nothing… then suddenly it dumps all movement.”

✅ Fix (in-game)

In No Man’s Sky settings:
– Turn V-Sync OFF
– Set FPS limit manually (e.g., 60 or 120)
– Try switching:
– Borderless → Fullscreen
– Fullscreen → Borderless

✅ Optional Steam Launch Option

Try this:

DXVK_ASYNC=1 %command%

This reduces stutter-induced input backlog.

---

4️⃣ CPU Governor Throttling = Input Lag

Ubuntu defaults to powersave governor sometimes, which can cause the game thread to miss frames and queue input.

✅ Fix (temporary test)

sudo apt install cpufrequtils
sudo cpufreq-set -g performance

If this suddenly makes movement crisp, you found the culprit.

(You can later make it permanent via tuned or auto-cpufreq.)

---

5️⃣ Proton Version Matters (NMS is picky)

Some Proton builds introduce input bugs with No Man’s Sky.

✅ Fix

Try these in order:
– Proton Experimental
– Proton 9.x
– Proton 8.x (older but sometimes smoother for input)

Steam → Properties → Compatibility → Force specific Proton

---

6️⃣ Compositor / Desktop Effects

GNOME animations and compositing can subtly add latency.

✅ Fix (quick test)

Run Steam with compositor disabled:

gamemoderun steam

Also install Feral GameMode if not already:

sudo apt install gamemode

Then add launch option:

gamemoderun %command%

---

7️⃣ Background Input Hooks (OBS, overlays, Steam overlay)

Anything hooking input can cause queuing:
– OBS
– Steam overlay
– Mangohud overlays
– Keyboard macro tools

✅ Fix

Disable overlays temporarily and test.

---

🔍 Why it’s worse in Exocraft & on Foot

Vehicles and on-foot movement are continuous input loops. If frames drop or input is sampled late, Linux queues the movement events until the next logic tick. Ships feel smoother because they use a different input curve and physics loop.

So the symptom itself is a frame pacing / compositor / input capture problem, not your keyboard.

---

🎯 Fastest Diagnosis Path (do this first)

If you want the quickest “is this OS-side?” test:

1. Switch to X11
2. Disable VSync
3. Disable Steam Input
4. Try Proton Experimental

If that fixes it → we can fine-tune for smoothness after.

---

🧠 Real Talk

What you’re describing is classic input buffering caused by compositor + frame pacing mismatch. Linux gaming is way better than it used to be, but Wayland + Proton + GNOME + Steam Input can still create this exact “why does my character keep walking after I stopped pressing keys?” effect.

---

If you want, tell me:
– Are you using mouse + keyboard or controller?
– Does it feel like “rubberbanding input” or more like “lag then burst”?

That’ll let me zero in on the exact layer that’s misbehaving.

Totally fair take — Wayland does feel nicer/snappier on the desktop. The goal here isn’t “go back to the cave,” it’s “make X11 feel like your Wayland session but without the input jank in games.” We can get X11 damn close in look/feel and still keep your gaming smooth.

Here’s the clean, no-BS way to make X11 ≈ Wayland GNOME:

---

🎨 1️⃣ Match the Look (Theme, Dock, Scaling)

Most of what you like about Wayland is just GNOME Shell behavior + theming. X11 can use the same.

✅ Themes & Icons (same as Wayland)

These are shared across sessions:
– GNOME Tweaks → Appearance
– GTK theme
– Icon theme
– Cursor theme

No changes needed here if you already like your setup.

---

🧭 2️⃣ Fix the Dock Position & Behavior (match Wayland)

If your dock moved or feels different:

gsettings set org.gnome.shell.extensions.dash-to-dock dock-position 'LEFT'
gsettings set org.gnome.shell.extensions.dash-to-dock extend-height true
gsettings set org.gnome.shell.extensions.dash-to-dock autohide true   # optional

You can tune all of this in Extensions → Dash to Dock GUI too.

---

🪟 3️⃣ Window Controls (restore minimize/maximize)

Wayland GNOME sometimes hides window buttons. X11 can match either behavior.

To enable full window controls:

gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.wm.preferences button-layout 'appmenu:minimize,maximize,close'

Or classic:

gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.wm.preferences button-layout ':minimize,maximize,close'

---

🖱️ 4️⃣ Mouse Feel (this is the “Wayland feel” part)

Wayland uses libinput directly; X11 can feel floaty unless tuned.

✅ Set Natural, Wayland-like mouse behavior:

gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.peripherals.mouse accel-profile 'adaptive'
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.peripherals.mouse speed 0.2

You can fine-tune this in Settings → Mouse & Touchpad.

---

🧩 5️⃣ Fractional Scaling (the Wayland nicety)

Wayland handles fractional scaling better, but you can enable it on X11:

gsettings set org.gnome.mutter experimental-features "['x11-randr-fractional-scaling']"

Then log out/in and set scaling (125%, 150%, etc.) in Display settings.

⚠️ This may cause some blur in legacy apps, but games are unaffected.

---

⚡ 6️⃣ Make X11 Feel Snappy (remove compositor lag)

GNOME on X11 uses Mutter compositor, which can add a hair of latency.

Optional performance tweak (gaming only)

Install Gamescope (Valve’s micro-compositor):

sudo apt install gamescope

Launch No Man’s Sky like:

gamescope -f -- %command%

This gives you:
– Tear-free fullscreen
– Lower input latency
– Wayland-like smoothness, but without Wayland input bugs

This is honestly the best of both worlds setup right now on Linux gaming.

---

🧠 7️⃣ Why This Works

You’re basically doing:

> Wayland desktop UX
> + X11 input path
> + Proton + Gamescope frame control

Which avoids:
– Wayland relative input capture issues
– Steam + Wayland input buffering
– Mutter frame scheduling hiccups under Wayland

---

🎯 Minimal “Just Make It Feel Normal” Checklist

If you don’t want to tinker a ton:

✔ Set dock back to left
✔ Restore window buttons
✔ Adjust mouse accel
✔ Enable fractional scaling
✔ Run games through Gamescope

That’s it. Your desktop will feel like Wayland again, but games will stop acting drunk.

---

🧪 Optional Hybrid Workflow (what a lot of Linux gamers do)

Daily driving: Wayland
Gaming sessions: log out → X11 → game → log back into Wayland

Not elegant, but it’s currently the least pain for mouse + keyboard gaming on GNOME.

---

If you want, you can tell me:
– Are you on GNOME default or did you add extensions?
– Are you on 1 monitor or multi-monitor?

Those two details let me dial in the last 10% of “why does this feel slightly off compared to Wayland.”

Perfect — that’s exactly the right mindset for this. You don’t actually hate X11; you just hate “X11 with GNOME’s weird default minimalism + missing controls” 😄
Once you put the window buttons back and make the layout match what you’re used to, X11 feels… normal again.

Here’s a tight, no-fluff checklist to make your X11 session feel like your Wayland desktop:

---

✅ 1️⃣ Restore Window Buttons (minimize / maximize)

This is the big “why does my machine feel broken?” one.

Run this once:

gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.wm.preferences button-layout 'appmenu:minimize,maximize,close'

Or if you prefer classic layout:

gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.wm.preferences button-layout ':minimize,maximize,close'

Instant fix. No reboot needed.

---

✅ 2️⃣ Put the Dock Back Where Your Muscle Memory Expects It

If your dock jumped to the bottom:

gsettings set org.gnome.shell.extensions.dash-to-dock dock-position 'LEFT'

Optional tweaks:

gsettings set org.gnome.shell.extensions.dash-to-dock extend-height true
gsettings set org.gnome.shell.extensions.dash-to-dock autohide true

---

✅ 3️⃣ Make Mouse Feel Less “Floaty”

Wayland input feels tighter. X11 can be tuned to match:

gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.peripherals.mouse accel-profile 'adaptive'
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.peripherals.mouse speed 0.2

You can fine-tune in Settings → Mouse & Touchpad after.

---

✅ 4️⃣ (Optional) Fractional Scaling Like Wayland

If you’re using 125% / 150% scaling on Wayland:

gsettings set org.gnome.mutter experimental-features "['x11-randr-fractional-scaling']"

Log out/in after this.

---

🎮 5️⃣ Game Mode = Smooth + No Input Weirdness

When you’re ready to test No Man’s Sky on X11:

gamemoderun %command%

And if you want the “Wayland smoothness without Wayland input jank” experience:

gamescope -f -- %command%

You don’t have to use Gamescope immediately — but if input still feels even slightly off, this is the cheat code.

---

🧠 Why This Will Feel “Right”

What you experienced wasn’t really “X11 sucks” — it was:

> ❌ X11 + GNOME defaults + missing window controls + different dock layout
> ❌ Wayland muscle memory mismatch
> ❌ Input issues masking everything else

Once the layout matches what your brain expects, the friction disappears. The desktop stops feeling “wrong,” and you can judge X11 purely on whether the game behaves better (which, for mouse + keyboard gaming, it usually does right now).

---

🔁 Low-Stress Test Plan

You don’t have to commit to anything:

1. Log into X11
2. Run the window button + dock commands
3. Launch No Man’s Sky
4. See if the “queued input” feeling goes away

If it does → we tune visuals next
If it doesn’t → we go deeper (Proton version, VSync, Gamescope)

---

When you get a minute and try this, tell me:
– Did the window buttons coming back immediately make X11 feel “less broken”?
– Did NMS movement feel more direct?

We’ll zero in from there.

Ahhh yeah — that error is Linux telling you, in its own special way, “your graphics stack just faceplanted again.” 😅
If playing an MP3 is complaining about OpenGL, that’s not the MP3. That’s your GPU drivers / Mesa / NVIDIA stack being busted or mis-pointed (again). This also lines up perfectly with your earlier NVIDIA-SMI not loading and the game switching GPUs.

Let’s fix this cleanly and surgically.

---

🧪 Step 1 — Confirm the Driver Is Actually Loaded

Run:

nvidia-smi

Expected:

You should see your GPU, driver version, and usage.

If you get errors like:

• “NVIDIA-SMI has failed because it couldn't communicate with the NVIDIA driver”
• or it hangs / shows nothing

👉 Your NVIDIA driver is not loaded correctly. That’s why OpenGL is failing.

---

🧱 Step 2 — Check What OpenGL Is Bound To

glxinfo | grep -E "OpenGL vendor|OpenGL renderer"

Good:

You want to see:
– Vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
– Renderer: Your GPU (not llvmpipe, not Mesa Intel)

If you see llvmpipe → you’re on software rendering
If you see Intel → system fell back to iGPU
If this command errors → OpenGL stack is broken

---

🔧 Step 3 — The Clean Fix (NVIDIA Driver Reset on Ubuntu 24.x)

Ubuntu 24 is extra sensitive about mismatched driver packages. The cleanest way to un-fart Linux:

🧹 Purge broken drivers:

sudo apt purge 'nvidia*'
sudo apt autoremove
sudo apt clean

🔄 Reboot

Yes, actually reboot. Don’t skip this.

---

🧲 Reinstall recommended NVIDIA driver:

sudo ubuntu-drivers autoinstall

Then reboot again.

---

🧩 Step 4 — Make Sure Mesa Isn’t Fighting NVIDIA

Sometimes Mesa OpenGL libs get mis-prioritized.

Check:

update-alternatives --display glx

If NVIDIA isn’t the selected provider, set it:

sudo update-alternatives --config glx

Pick the nvidia option.

---

🎧 Step 5 — Why an MP3 Player Even Touches OpenGL

Modern media players (VLC, MPV, even GNOME Video) use:
– GPU acceleration
– OpenGL or Vulkan for rendering frames and UI overlays

So when OpenGL is broken, audio playback triggers the error even though audio itself is fine. The UI renderer can’t initialize the GPU context.

That’s why it feels nonsensical.

---

🎮 Step 6 — Lock Steam & Games to NVIDIA (so it doesn’t flip again)

Once drivers are fixed, force Steam to always use NVIDIA:

__NV_PRIME_RENDER_OFFLOAD=1 __GLX_VENDOR_LIBRARY_NAME=nvidia steam

If you want this permanent, I can help you patch the .desktop launcher.

---

🧠 Root Cause (what actually happened)

From everything you described earlier, the chain looks like:

> Game switched GPU →
> NVIDIA kernel module unloaded or mismatched →
> OpenGL context broken →
> Everything that uses GPU (Steam, OBS, MP3 players) starts failing weirdly

This is not you being cursed. This is just Linux graphics stack being… Linux graphics stack.

---

🧨 If You Want the Nuclear Option (guaranteed fix)

If this keeps recurring, the most stable config on Ubuntu 24.x is:

• NVIDIA proprietary driver (latest recommended)
• X11 for gaming
• PRIME render offload disabled unless you actually have a hybrid GPU

We can lock this down so your system stops “helpfully” switching GPUs.

---

🧭 Tell Me What You See

Paste the output of:

nvidia-smi
glxinfo | grep -E "OpenGL vendor|OpenGL renderer"

From there I can tell you exactly which layer of your graphics stack is currently on fire and fix it in one pass.

Good news first: your NVIDIA driver is loaded and working. 👍
nvidia-smi looks healthy. Nothing is “off” in a broken sense.

Let me decode that table so it’s not misleading:

---

✅ What “Off” Actually Means Here (Not a Problem)

This line:

Persistence-M | ... | Disp.A
        Off       ...     On

• Persistence-M: Off
  This is normal on desktop systems. Persistence Mode just keeps the GPU driver resident even when no apps are using it.
• Off = normal desktop behavior
• On = typically used for servers / compute boxes

This does not mean your GPU is off. It just means it’s allowed to idle properly.

• Disp.A: On
  This means the GPU is actively driving your display. That’s what you want.

---

✅ GPU Is Being Used by GNOME (So OpenGL Should Work)

This part is important:

Processes:
  /usr/bin/gnome-shell    482MiB
  /usr/bin/Xwayland         2MiB

That tells us:
– GNOME Shell is running on the NVIDIA GPU
– Xwayland is also using it
– Your desktop compositor is GPU-accelerated

So the GPU itself is alive, driver is loaded, and OpenGL should be available.

Which means your “couldn’t load OpenGL” error is likely:

> 🔥 A user-space OpenGL library mismatch
> (Mesa vs NVIDIA GLX, or wrong GL provider selected)

---

🎯 Next Critical Check (This Will Identify the Actual Fault)

Run:

glxinfo | grep -E "OpenGL vendor|OpenGL renderer|OpenGL version"

You should see something like:

• Vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
• Renderer: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060
• Version: 4.6.x NVIDIA

If instead you see:

• Mesa
• llvmpipe
• Intel renderer
• Or it errors out

👉 Then your system is loading the wrong OpenGL provider, even though the kernel driver is fine.

This mismatch is exactly what causes:
– media players complaining about OpenGL
– Steam behaving weird
– games suddenly stuttering or input queueing
– random “can’t create GL context” errors

---

🛠 If GLX Is Wrong, Here’s the Fix (Short Version)

We’ll only do this if glxinfo shows the wrong vendor:

sudo update-alternatives --config glx

Pick the nvidia option.

Then:

sudo ldconfig
reboot

---

🧠 Why This Happened (Probably)

Ubuntu 24.x + NVIDIA 590 + Wayland/Xwayland + Steam + games =
it’s very easy for Mesa GL to get priority over NVIDIA GL in user space even though the kernel driver is correct.

Kernel side: ✅ good
User-space OpenGL loader: ❌ confused

That split-brain state causes exactly the kind of “Linux is farting at me” behavior you’re seeing.

---

🧭 One More Sanity Check (Optional but Helpful)

Also run:

echo $XDG_SESSION_TYPE

If it says wayland, we can still fix this, but I’ll give you the Wayland-safe variant of the GL fix.

---

TL;DR

• Your GPU is fine
• “Off” does NOT mean broken
• The issue is almost certainly OpenGL library selection, not the driver
• glxinfo will tell us which layer is lying to you

Paste the glxinfo output and I’ll zero in on the exact fix in one step.

Yep — that’s actually a clean clue. Nothing mystical: you simply don’t have glxinfo installed, so we can’t inspect the OpenGL binding yet.

Do this:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y mesa-utils

Then rerun:

glxinfo | grep -E "OpenGL vendor|OpenGL renderer|OpenGL version"

What we’re looking for

You want it to say NVIDIA Corporation and GeForce RTX 3060.

---

While you’re there: two extra commands that often reveal the real problem fast

Run these too (they’re safe):

lsmod | grep nvidia

dpkg -l | grep -E "nvidia-driver|libnvidia-gl|nvidia-utils"

---

If you want an immediate “does OpenGL exist at all?” test

After installing mesa-utils:

glxgears -info

If glxgears launches and prints vendor/renderer info, OpenGL is alive. If it errors, we’ll fix the GL provider selection next (usually update-alternatives --config glx).

Paste the glxinfo output after install and I’ll tell you exactly what’s wrong (or confirm it’s correct).

Nice — the important part is correct:

• OpenGL vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
• Renderer: RTX 3060

So your OpenGL stack is there and it’s using NVIDIA.

That ugly tail:

X Error ... BadWindow ...

is usually just glxinfo tripping over Xwayland/Wayland window plumbing, not “OpenGL is broken.” It happens when you’re on a Wayland session and glxinfo is poking X11/GLX in a way that gets a stale window id.

Quick confirm:

Run:

echo $XDG_SESSION_TYPE

If it prints wayland, that BadWindow is basically “expected noise.”

---

So why did the MP3 player say “couldn’t load OpenGL”?

Given your GL vendor/renderer are correct, the MP3 error is most likely one of these:

1) The player is trying to use OpenGL video output and failing under Wayland

Common with VLC/mpv when the video/output module is set to OpenGL/GLX.

Fast fix: force a non-GL output.
– VLC: Tools → Preferences → Video → Output
– pick X11 video output (XCB) or Wayland video output (if present), or Automatic
– mpv: run once like:
bash
mpv --vo=gpu-next --gpu-context=wayland yourfile.mp3
or force software just to test:
bash
mpv --vo=x11 yourfile.mp3

(Yes, MP3 playback can still touch the video output path because the UI/visualizer uses it.)

2) Steam/game tweaks changed environment variables globally

If something set variables like __GLX_VENDOR_LIBRARY_NAME, LIBGL_*, etc., it can break certain apps but not others.

Show me:

env | grep -E "GLX|LIBGL|NVIDIA|VK_|DXVK|PROTON"

3) The error wasn’t from the player, but from the terminal/app wrapper

Some apps log “OpenGL failed” as a warning and still play audio fine, but you saw it as an error popup.

---

Two fast tests to pinpoint it right now

✅ Test A: Does basic GLX work?

glxgears -info

• If this runs and shows NVIDIA, OpenGL is fine.

✅ Test B: Is this a Wayland/Xwayland quirk?

Run:

echo $XDG_SESSION_TYPE

If wayland, try launching the same player from terminal and see the exact message:
– VLC:
bash
vlc yourfile.mp3
– (or whatever app you used)

Paste the first ~20 lines of terminal output.

---

What I’d do next, based on your goals

Since you want to keep the Wayland desktop feel:

• Keep Wayland for daily use ✅
• If No Man’s Sky input queuing persists, run it through gamescope (often solves input pacing without switching session):

gamescope -f -- %command%

That tends to fix “queued inputs” by taking over frame pacing and input timing.

---

If you paste:
1) echo $XDG_SESSION_TYPE
2) which player (VLC? mpv? Rhythmbox?)
3) output from launching it via terminal

…I’ll give you the exact one-line fix for that player.

Yeah — that’s the honest, no-marketing-spin truth: right now, on Linux, there are still multiple real-world reasons to switch to X11 over Wayland, especially for the exact stuff you’re doing (gaming, Proton, NVIDIA, desktop capture, weird GL edge cases).

Wayland is the future.
X11 is still the least painful present for a bunch of workflows.

Here’s the clean breakdown without ideology:

---

✅ Why Wayland Feels Better (and why you like it)

Wayland does a few things genuinely better on the desktop:

• Smoother animations / frame pacing in GNOME
• Better fractional scaling
• More consistent touchpad behavior
• Cleaner multi-monitor handling (especially mixed DPI)
• Lower compositor overhead for “normal desktop stuff”

For browsing, writing, watching videos, general UI polish → Wayland wins.

---

🎮 Why X11 Still Wins for Gaming (Today)

For mouse + keyboard gaming, especially with:
– Steam
– Proton
– DXVK
– NVIDIA drivers
– older GLX paths
– input capture (relative mouse mode)

X11 still has fewer sharp edges:

• More predictable input latency
• Fewer “queued input” bugs
• Fewer issues with raw mouse input
• Fewer OpenGL / GLX compatibility weirdnesses
• Better compatibility with legacy games and overlays

That “my character keeps walking after I stopped pressing” feeling?
That’s a known Wayland + compositor + game loop timing issue on GNOME/NVIDIA.

---

🧰 Why Media / OBS / Random Apps Still Break Less on X11

You just hit this one yourself:

• Some apps still assume GLX/X11 for OpenGL contexts
• Some media players use legacy video output paths
• Screen capture, window capture, overlays → all more mature on X11

Wayland is safer by design, but that safety means:
> apps can’t do some things they “assumed” they could do for 20 years

So you get more:
– “Couldn’t create OpenGL context”
– “Screen capture not supported”
– “Overlay not visible”
– “This window can’t be captured”

Not because you’re doing anything wrong — because the ecosystem is mid-transition.

---

🧠 The Grown-Up Take (not fanboy, not doom)

This isn’t “Wayland bad” or “X11 ancient trash.”
It’s:

> Wayland is architecturally better,
> but X11 is battle-hardened for weird edge cases.

Linux desktop is currently in the awkward teenage phase where:
– Wayland handles 90% of things better
– X11 handles the remaining 10% that matter to power users and gamers

And you’re squarely in that 10%.

---

🧭 The Pragmatic Setup (what a lot of Linux gamers actually do)

Hybrid workflow:

• Wayland for:
• Daily desktop
• Browsing
• Writing

• Video watching

• X11 for:

• Gaming sessions
• OBS capture
• Anything that acts weird with input or OpenGL

Log out → switch session → game → log back in.

It’s dumb that this is still necessary in 2026, but it’s also the least frustration per minute.

---

⚡ Best-of-Both-Worlds Hack (if you don’t want to switch sessions)

Use Gamescope under Wayland:

gamescope -f -- %command%

This often fixes:
– input queuing
– frame pacing
– weird compositor interactions

So you can keep Wayland’s nice desktop feel and still get X11-like behavior for the game window.

---

🧷 Bottom Line

You’re not imagining the tradeoffs.
You’re just hitting the seams in a system that’s mid-upgrade.

And honestly? The fact that you noticed these specific issues means your setup is tuned enough that you’re now running into the limits of the platform, not your own config.

If you want, next step we can:
– tune Gamescope for No Man’s Sky specifically, or
– lock in a super-stable “X11 gaming profile” so this stops derailing your play sessions.

Absolutely — let’s do this cleanly and pain-free. We’ll switch you to X11, then make X11 feel like your comfy Wayland desktop (window buttons back, dock where you expect it, mouse feel sane), and finally make sure gaming behaves.

I’ll keep this step-by-step so you can just follow along.

---

🔁 Part 1 — Switch Back to X11 (Ubuntu 24.x GNOME)

1️⃣ Log out (don’t reboot yet)
– Click system menu (top right) → Log Out

2️⃣ On the login screen:
– Click your username
– Before typing your password, look for a gear icon ⚙️ (bottom right of the screen)
– Select:
👉 “Ubuntu on Xorg”

3️⃣ Log in normally.

4️⃣ Verify you’re actually on X11:

echo $XDG_SESSION_TYPE

You should see:

x11

If it still says wayland, stop and tell me what options you see on the login screen.

---

🎨 Part 2 — Make X11 Feel Like Your Wayland Desktop

These are the quality-of-life fixes that make X11 stop feeling “broken.”

✅ Restore window buttons (minimize / maximize / close)

This one fixes 80% of the “why does this feel wrong” feeling:

gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.wm.preferences button-layout 'appmenu:minimize,maximize,close'

Or classic layout:

gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.wm.preferences button-layout ':minimize,maximize,close'

(Instant effect.)

---

✅ Put the dock back where your muscle memory expects it

If your dock isn’t on the left:

gsettings set org.gnome.shell.extensions.dash-to-dock dock-position 'LEFT'

Optional niceties:

gsettings set org.gnome.shell.extensions.dash-to-dock extend-height true
gsettings set org.gnome.shell.extensions.dash-to-dock autohide true

You can tweak all this in Extensions → Dash to Dock too.

---

✅ Make mouse feel less floaty (closer to Wayland)

gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.peripherals.mouse accel-profile 'adaptive'
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.peripherals.mouse speed 0.2

You can fine-tune speed later in Settings → Mouse & Touchpad.

---

✅ (Optional) Fractional scaling like Wayland

If you were using 125% / 150% scaling:

gsettings set org.gnome.mutter experimental-features "['x11-randr-fractional-scaling']"

Log out/in once after this.

---

🎮 Part 3 — Make Gaming on X11 Smooth (No Man’s Sky Friendly)

✅ Install GameMode (if not already)

sudo apt install gamemode

Then in Steam → No Man’s Sky → Properties → Launch Options:

gamemoderun %command%

This gives:
– better CPU governor
– fewer stutters
– less input queuing

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✅ (Optional but awesome) Gamescope for butter-smooth fullscreen

sudo apt install gamescope

Then use:

gamescope -f -- %command%

This often fixes:
– input lag
– weird frame pacing
– compositor interference

You can use either gamemoderun, gamescope, or both:

gamemoderun gamescope -f -- %command%

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🧠 What This Setup Gives You

You end up with:

✔ X11’s stable input path (no queued movement weirdness)
✔ Wayland-like GNOME look & feel
✔ Proper window controls
✔ Familiar dock layout
✔ Better gaming performance

So it stops feeling like you “downgraded” and starts feeling like you just changed the engine under the hood.

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🧪 Quick Sanity Checks After You Switch

After logging into X11:

echo $XDG_SESSION_TYPE
nvidia-smi
glxinfo | grep -E "OpenGL vendor|OpenGL renderer"

If all three look sane, you’re golden.

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If you want, after you switch and run No Man’s Sky for a minute, tell me:

• Did the input queuing go away?
• Does the desktop feel tolerable now, or is there one thing that still feels “off”?

We can tune the last 10% so you don’t have to fight your own machine just to play a damn game.

That’s a clean bill of health. 👌
Everything you want to see is exactly where it should be:

• ✅ Session: x11
• ✅ Driver: NVIDIA 590 loaded
• ✅ Desktop: Xorg + GNOME running on the RTX 3060
• ✅ OpenGL: NVIDIA vendor + RTX 3060 renderer

Translation: your graphics stack is now sane and stable. No split-brain Mesa/NVIDIA nonsense, no Wayland/Xwayland quirks in the path. This is the “known good” baseline for gaming on Ubuntu with NVIDIA.

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Final polish (2 quick quality-of-life tweaks)

If you haven’t already run these, they’ll make X11 feel less like a downgrade:

Window buttons back (min/max):

gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.wm.preferences button-layout 'appmenu:minimize,maximize,close'

Dock back to the left:

gsettings set org.gnome.shell.extensions.dash-to-dock dock-position 'LEFT'

(You only need to do these once.)

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Now, the real test: No Man’s Sky

Fire it up on X11 and see how movement feels:

Recommended Steam launch option:

gamemoderun %command%

If you still feel any micro-stutter or input weirdness, the “cheat code”:

gamemoderun gamescope -f -- %command%

That combo is about as close as Linux gets to “just works” for Proton games right now.

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What you should notice now

Compared to Wayland:

• Movement on foot/exocraft should feel immediate, not queued
• Mouse look should feel direct, not floaty
• Fewer random GL-related complaints from apps
• OBS / overlays / older games behave more predictably

If this setup behaves, you’ve basically isolated the problem to Wayland’s current input/compositor edge cases rather than anything being wrong with your system.

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Sanity check on the MP3/OpenGL weirdness

Now that you’re on X11 with clean GL:

Try playing that same MP3 again.
If it no longer complains about OpenGL, that confirms the error was Wayland/Xwayland context nonsense rather than a real driver problem.

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Bottom line

You’re now in the “boring but stable” configuration:

> X11 + NVIDIA proprietary driver + Proton = least drama per hour of gaming.

Which, honestly, is the right place to be when you just want to relax and explore space instead of debugging your OS.

---

When you get a few minutes of gameplay in, tell me:
– Did the queued input feeling go away?
– Does anything still feel off (mouse, stutter, fullscreen behavior)?

If there’s any remaining jank, we can iron it out without touching drivers again.

Yep — you read that exactly right. 👍
What you picked (“Ubuntu” vs “Ubuntu on Wayland”) is the correct X11 session, and Canonical already pre-wires most of the sane defaults there. That’s why:

• Your window buttons are back
• The desktop layout looks “normal”
• It basically feels like Wayland GNOME, minus the Wayland-specific bits

So nice win: you didn’t have to fight GNOME this time.

The only real difference you’re seeing now is scaling, because Wayland handles HiDPI more gracefully than X11 by default.

Let’s fix that cleanly.

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🖥️ Fix HiDPI Scaling on X11 (4K screen without ant-vision)

You’ve got two good options on X11. Pick the one that feels best:

✅ Option A — GNOME Fractional Scaling (easy, mostly fine)

Enable X11 fractional scaling:

gsettings set org.gnome.mutter experimental-features "['x11-randr-fractional-scaling']"

Then:

1. Log out and back in
2. Go to Settings → Displays
3. Set scaling to 125% or 150% (most 4K users like 150%)

This keeps everything consistent system-wide.

> Downside: some older apps can look slightly soft (blurry). Games are unaffected.

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✅ Option B — Font + UI scaling (crisp text, manual tuning)

If you hate any blur:

gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.interface text-scaling-factor 1.3

And optionally increase UI scaling:

gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.interface scaling-factor 2

This keeps fonts crisp but may make some UI elements comically large — it’s more “manual control,” less polished.

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🎮 Make Sure Games Ignore Desktop Scaling (so they don’t get weird)

Steam/Proton sometimes inherits scaling weirdness. You can force normal DPI for games if needed:

In Steam launch options (only if you notice weird scaling in games):

GDK_SCALE=1 GDK_DPI_SCALE=1 %command%

Usually not needed, but good to know.

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🧠 Why “Ubuntu” Felt Better Than “GNOME”

Quick decode of the login options you saw:

• GNOME → vanilla GNOME session (often Wayland default)
• GNOME on Wayland → explicit Wayland GNOME
• Ubuntu → GNOME on X11 with Ubuntu defaults (buttons on, dock tweaks, extensions pre-enabled)
• Ubuntu on Wayland → Ubuntu-flavored Wayland
• XFCE → different desktop environment entirely

So yeah, “Ubuntu” = X11 + sane defaults. That’s why it feels like “oh… this is actually fine.”

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🎯 Recommended Final Setup (low drama)

For your use case:

• Desktop session: Ubuntu (X11)
• Scaling: 150% fractional scaling
• Gaming: gamemoderun %command%
• If needed: gamescope -f — %command%

That combo gets you:
– Wayland-like look & feel
– X11’s stable input behavior
– No tiny UI
– No queued movement nonsense

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If you want, tell me:
– What scaling % feels right to your eyes (125 vs 150)?
– Does No Man’s Sky feel more “direct” now in this session?

We’ll dial it in so you don’t have to think about any of this again.