Decky loader behavior in Bazzite

Switched from ChimeraOS to Bazzite today and after installing Decky Loader I noticed some odd behavior. Specifically, if I turn off my WiFi and restart my device (AYN Loki Max) decky loader disappears and is missing from the quick menu. Turning my WiFi back on cause Decky to reappear in my menu.

Any solutions for this? I tried a clean install of Bazzite and the pre-release decky loader and the issue persists. Makes it hard to want to travel with the device as I wont have access to simpledeckyTDP while say on a long flight. I would appreciate any help!

I’ve been trying a bit to figure out a solution for this, too. I think Decky Loader requires a network connection when it starts, just because of how it works. Doesn’t need internet access, just a network connection with an IP address.

A possible solution I’ve thought of, but haven’t figured out the implementation details yet, is to have a virtual network interface with a static IP address that is always available and is not connected to any real network.

For now as a workaround, I just turn on the mobile hotspot on my phone then shut off mobile data, so I’ve got an internet-less wifi connection that doesn’t use my mobile data balance, and then let my device connect to that so Decky Loader can initialize. Afterward I turn my wifi and mobile hotspot back off (and mobile data back on). Probably couldn’t do this on a flight, though. However, if they’ve got wifi on the flight, as long as you can connect to the wifi even if you don’t get internet access through it (no need to log in to their service or pay for internet, if applicable, as long as you can just make the connection), it should make Decky Loader work.

Hmm, I didn’t realize this was common decky loader behavior. I suppose I never noticed until I went traveling with my Loki and couldn’t access TDP controls on my 6 hour flight.

I like the idea of a virtual network - I will have to play around with that. Hot Spotting works but I wish there was a standalone solution not requiring anything outside of my device. Ty for reply.

Edit: posted this on wrong account! Oh well, doesn’t really matter.

If you do get some working setup figured out, please do share.

It seems to be that Decky Loader either can’t or refuses to use the default loopback address of 127.0.0.1 or anything in its /8 subnet (anything starting with “127.”), but I’m not sure which.

Initially I tried adding another type of loopback interface with an IP address and got it working that way, but when I tried changing it to an address in that 127. range, it didn’t work anymore, and I realized it might just be the address that matters. I tried adding it to the regular loopback adapter and it worked if I didn’t reboot, but something would mess up with the configuration after a reboot, so it seems my first attempted workaround is what I’ll have to go with for now.

I used the IP address 10.241.93.33 with CIDR mask of /32, and I named it just with some of the numbers from the address, but you can use any random address in the local range as long as it doesn’t conflict with a network you’ll use, and you can name the interface what you want. For example, the command I used to add the additional loopback type of interface:

nmcli connection add type dummy ifname dummy2419333 ipv4.method manual ipv4.addresses 10.241.93.33/32

Once applied, might need to reboot or restart network manager, and next time that you enter Game Mode without a connection, Decky Loader will still load up just fine. With this in place, when you have no connection, it will instead appear as if you’re on a connection with no internet access, and your connections list will show the virtual network connection.

That is an awesome solution/workaround! To be honest I just got into the habit of throwing on a quick hot spot using my phone, but your method is a hell of a lot more elegant. I will give it a try when off work. Ty for sharing.

I had the general idea months ago, but the details of actually putting it in place is where I got stuck before. With having some travel plans next month, I decided I’d research it again, and I got it figured out this time. Last time I couldn’t figure out which virtual interface type I should use nor how to make it automatically configured on boot. I realized it probably had to do with Network Manager, and while researching that I found out about nmcli for configuring it and eventually while researching commands for setting up different possible virtual interface types that I was researching, I found that command for adding an interface using the dummy type and that it works as another loopback interface (but I set my own random name and IP address on it).

could you document the steps you did for this?

might be worth exploring updating the decky ujust or something, depending on the complexity of the workaround.

Not sure what exactly you want me to document. I gave a full command for setting up the workaround I used, and explained some things regarding what is going on. The command I used is something I basically got from elsewhere and put my own numbers on it for the interface name and the IP address (and someone could put their own if they need something else due this masking out that specific IP).

As for removing it though, I haven’t really looked much into the nmcli parameters for doing so. Shouldn’t be too difficult to figure out, especially since there’s tab completion for a lot of the parameters for nmcli that is installed already for the default shell on the terminal.

ah, for some reason I thought you had done something beyond that. thanks for the update