Failed to request product key on Steam

[URV]

I recently switched my main OS to Ubuntu MATE, and I have been having trouble running the game. I am really unsure whether to post this here, on Steam, or on the Ubuntu forums, so I'm taking each option at a time. I'm trying here first because of this. Here's what happens:

First, I try to install the game. Even after the game is supposedly installed, this pop-up never goes away:

If I hit X or cancel, the game gets uninstalled. Fortuantely, I can bypass this issue by simply quitting and relaunching Steam. However, I think this may be related to my issue.

Now, when I try to launch the game, this is what I get:

I've been getting this since Friday, so waiting does not seem to be an option.

It's important to mention that I have Windows on dual boot. I tried launching the game there and it works perfectly fine, so that's still an option. However, ideally, I'd like to keep it on Linux, since I have more space on one of my ext4 disks.

So far, I tried the following:
- Verified the intergrity of the game cache
- Cleared the download cache
- Reinstalled the game
- Disabled my firewall

None of it seemed to work. I could probably go as far as reinstalling Steam itself, but I'd like to check in with you guys first. This could be a problem with the OS, my settings, the Linux version of Steam... no idea where to start. Has anyone else run into this before?

P.S.: Figured it might be worth mentioning that I put quite a bit of time in the game already, so it's not like I just bought the game either.

P.S.2: This isn't the first time I try playing the game on Linux. Before Ubuntu MATE, I used Antergos, and it worked perfectly fine there.

 

[AndrewT]

I'm trying here first because of this.

Steam certainly cannot help with game problems, that's understandable. But Steam errors are certainly their responsibility.

Googling that error it seems to relate to requesting a CD key from Steam. But our games have not used CD keys for some years, it's a puzzle for me why you'd be seeing this now. And only you so far as I know.

Do you have access to any other Linux computer to do a test install on?

 

[URV]

Yeah, I realize something like this is their responsibility. That said, I want to avoid Steam Support for now because my last experience with them was drawn out over multiple months. Granted, they may have improved their services since then, but I figured it would be best to try out other options before resorting to that.

As suggested, I tried repeating the process on an old laptop that's currently running Debian. It seems to be working perfectly fine there. However, note that when I launch it for the first time, it actually shows my CD keys there and then proceeds to launch the game just fine. So, for some reason, I suppose there are some issues with launching it on Ubuntu MATE, or I just don't have the correct version of Steam.

Alternatively, any idea if there is a way to just remove the requirement for CD keys from my copy of the game? You say your games haven't used CD keys for some years, but I bought the game all the way back since the summer of 2015. It's possible they still show up for me due to that, if you haven't ended the requirement before then.

P.S.: Note that Steam always wants to show my CD keys upon launching a game for the first time on a PC, even if I never actually have to input them anywhere in-game. I suppose it's a quirk of the program, as I've seen it happen with other games before as well.

 

[AndrewT]

t Steam always wants to show my CD keys upon launching a game for the first time on a PC, even if I never actually have to input them anywhere in-game.

Our CD keys were never intended to be used within our games, they have no DRM. We used that Steam feature for an unintended purpose, which was to distribute codes to register games on our forums as proof of purchase. That was dropped when we introduced the Steam/PDX sync feature in our forums, but yes older games like CK2 do still show them - but for expansions only, not for the base game! I just checked mine and 7 older expansions show in the CD Key menu, no base game and no newer expansions. I imagine you see that in your working laptop.

In any case as this problem happens on one computer and not another it cannot be anything to do with distributing CD keys as such. I rather suspect it is to do with the different MATE user interface; perhaps Steam is simply not supported on MATE? Frankly I'm not familiar with it but is there a way of switching to a more common UI like Gnome?