Counter-Strike executable not found.

[human-7B401]

Describe the bug

On Debian 12 linux. attempting to watch any demo or any segment of a demo from the search functionality yields a popup stating "Counter-Stike executable not found" and counter-strike never launches.

Demo links

This issue involves either no demos or every demo as every demo I have tried fails to play.

Steps to reproduce

1. Start application on debian 12 linux with steam installed using apt. (I am using the appimage of cs-demo-manager, but I tried the .deb native installer as well and it has the exact same issue.)
2. Have a demo loaded into cs-demo-manager and have the demo analyzed.
3. Click "watch" on any demo in the "dem" tab or segment of demo returned by the search functionality.
4. The application produces a popup stating "Counter-Stike executable not found." The game is never launched.

Expected behavior

I would expect counter-strike to launch and play the demo from the start of the demo or from the point in time returned by the search functionality.

How often does this bug happen?

Every time

Log file

2025-08-06T09:30:12.128Z | WARN | main | WS:: disconnected
2025-08-06T09:30:12.128Z | LOG | main | WS:: connecting to server
2025-08-06T09:30:12.129Z | WARN | main | WS:: disconnected
2025-08-06T09:30:12.129Z | LOG | main | WS:: connecting to server
2025-08-06T09:30:12.129Z | WARN | main | WS:: disconnected
2025-08-06T09:30:12.129Z | LOG | main | WS:: connecting to server
2025-08-06T09:30:12.129Z | WARN | main | WS:: disconnected
2025-08-06T09:30:12.129Z | LOG | main | WS:: connecting to server
2025-08-06T09:30:12.129Z | WARN | main | WS:: disconnected
2025-08-06T09:30:12.129Z | LOG | main | WS:: connecting to server
2025-08-06T09:30:12.133Z | WARN | main | WS:: disconnected
2025-08-06T09:30:12.133Z | LOG | main | WS:: connecting to server
2025-08-06T09:30:12.143Z | LOG | main | server process received message pong
2025-08-06T09:30:12.144Z | LOG | server | WS:: server listening on port 4574
2025-08-06T09:30:12.145Z | LOG | server | WS:: message from main process ping
2025-08-06T09:30:12.148Z | LOG | server | WS:: main process socket connected
2025-08-06T09:30:12.151Z | LOG | main | WS:: connected
2025-08-06T09:30:12.353Z | LOG | renderer | WS:: connecting to server
2025-08-06T09:30:12.354Z | LOG | server | WS:: renderer process socket connected
2025-08-06T09:30:12.357Z | LOG | renderer | WS:: connected
2025-08-06T09:30:12.363Z | LOG | server | WS:: message with name connect-database and uuid 5522a771-7e6c-4bd2-8eee-3d2de6d4d7c3 received from renderer process
2025-08-06T09:30:12.442Z | LOG | server | WS:: message with name init-application and uuid 384a8bce-d0d4-4430-88af-547b8526c22c received from renderer process
2025-08-06T09:30:12.469Z | LOG | renderer | WS:: message with name "fetch-last-valve-matches-start" received from server
2025-08-06T09:30:12.494Z | LOG | main | Update for version 3.14.0 is not available (latest version: 3.14.0, downgrade is disallowed).
2025-08-06T09:30:12.577Z | ERROR | renderer | { isTrusted: true }
2025-08-06T09:30:12.578Z | ERROR | renderer | Error: EROFS: read-only file system, unlink '/tmp/.mount_CS-DemCeXIx6/resources/static/changelog'
2025-08-06T09:30:12.585Z | LOG | server | WS:: message with name fetch-matches-table and uuid 97deee61-2e22-4857-af7a-da0a0e123617 received from renderer process
2025-08-06T09:30:13.911Z | LOG | renderer | WS:: message with name "fetch-last-valve-matches-steam-id-detected" received from server
2025-08-06T09:30:13.917Z | LOG | server | boiler exit with code 0
2025-08-06T09:30:13.979Z | LOG | renderer | WS:: message with name "fetch-last-valve-matches-success" received from server
2025-08-06T09:30:16.928Z | LOG | server | WS:: message with name is-cs-running and uuid 0d84763f-4f8d-4fa7-8ee7-87401e872511 received from renderer process
2025-08-06T09:30:16.954Z | LOG | server | WS:: message with name watch-demo and uuid ef90a210-ce9d-4fe4-ad61-4f3e6345f39e received from renderer process
2025-08-06T09:30:25.927Z | LOG | server | WS:: message with name search-event and uuid ce5fc0f3-e453-49fa-a24b-3ed4efbf9b62 received from renderer process
2025-08-06T09:30:30.766Z | LOG | server | WS:: message with name is-cs-running and uuid 3a356db6-f4f8-4eed-a120-8961e98abc50 received from renderer process
2025-08-06T09:30:30.795Z | LOG | server | WS:: message with name watch-demo and uuid 738eadc0-84ad-466f-acf3-5870a013bf39 received from renderer process
2025-08-06T09:30:40.238Z | LOG | server | WS:: message with name fetch-last-migrations and uuid a49e576e-669e-45db-905e-4f4fa2a581c6 received from renderer process
2025-08-06T09:31:53.224Z | LOG | server | WS:: message with name has-pending-analyses and uuid 68450536-6690-4f4c-b2b5-98bd7c52bf06 received from main process

Environment information

Version: 3.14.0
OS: linux x64 6.1.0-37-amd64
Electron: 37.2.5
Chrome: 138.0.7204.168
Last database migrations:
v8 - 2025-08-04T02:40:20.398Z

Debian 12 (added for extra information)

Additional context

Note that the csdm.log file had to be truncated to fit the requirements of github. The portion removed just repeated the connecting to server/disconnected lines.

I have consulted the other tickets with this issue. None of the instructions found within resolved the issue. Unfortunately, some of the instructions are no longer readable, for instance, this link https://cs-demo-manager.com/docs/faq/playback#counter-strike-executable-not-found.

Immediately following is my libraryfolders.vdf (I have two, but their contents are the same).

"libraryfolders"
{
	"0"
	{
		"path"		"/home/user/.steam/debian-installation"
		"label"		""
		"contentid"		"-6391680030697217982"
		"totalsize"		"0"
		"update_clean_bytes_tally"		"933921334"
		"time_last_update_verified"		"1752570979"
		"apps"
		{
			"228980"		"1317702376"
			"1070560"		"13004"
			"2180100"		"1390649405"
		}
	}
	"1"
	{
		"path"		"/mnt/localzfs/tank0/data/steamGames"
		"label"		""
		"contentid"		"2131341058190682623"
		"totalsize"		"23821633454080"
		"update_clean_bytes_tally"		"10933604467"
		"time_last_update_verified"		"1754127945"
		"apps"
		{
			"300"		"4252739643"
			"400"		"4333976147"
			"440"		"31060076202"
			"500"		"6489770833"
			"550"		"15100006533"
			"570"		"58945964227"
			"620"		"12787812540"
			"730"		"60228274938"
			"2200"		"513401161"
			"2310"		"1219203686"
			"2320"		"5627130575"
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		}
	}
}

Note that counter-strike is installed to a locally-attached zfs pool. The game plays fine from it, so I would expect that this should not impede the cs-demo-manager application from working correctly, but I have disclosed this information for completeness.

I have consulted the documentation at https://cs-demo-manager.com/docs/guides/playback. Just to confirm, I am not using flatpak for steam; steam has been installed in the appropriate debian way which is detailed here https://wiki.debian.org/Steam. Further, I have checked for other "steamapps\common\Counter-Strike Global Offensive" directories and there is only the one in which steam installed counter-strike--there are no others.

Furthermore, I have uninstalled and reinstalled counter-strike within steam hoping that would resolve the issue; the issue persists.

Further still, I removed all demo file search locations except for one that is in the counter-strike installation path to see if that would make a difference; the issue persists.

I was not able to detect any changes made to "steamGames/steamapps/common/Counter-Strike Global Offensive/game/csgo/gameinfo.gi", which, per the project's documentation, should be modified during watching demos.

I have not found any other way to set the counter-strike executable path.

[akiver]

Hi! Thanks for the details,

I don't have a Debian-based distro installed right now to try to reproduce the issue, and will try to get one set up soon.
The last release will log more information when starting the game and add a setting to choose a custom CS2 location, which should unblock you.
Could you try with v3.14.1 and upload the logs?
It should not work but you will be able to select where the cs2.sh file is located from the playback settings.

[human-7B401]

Akiver, thank you for working on this issue. I greatly appreciate it.

I have tried the new 3.14.1 appimage release. As you expected, the demo playback still does not work. The error pop-up on sceen says "Counter-Strike executable not found. Make sure Steam is not installed through Flatpak as it's not supported!"

Here are some new log files. Each log file was taken after removing the old csdm.log file so they should only contain information from each run of the appimage.

This is me attempting to launch a demo from the "dem" tab.
csdm.log

And this is me attempting to launch a segment of a demo from the search tab.
csdm.log

Both attempts were after setting the cs2.sh file in the custom location setting you've so graciously added in the settings menu.

If you would like me to try something else to help you collect more information about the problem, please let me know.

[akiver]

It appears that the issue is because the app can't find where Steam is installed.
The v3.14.2 contains additional logs, could you retry with this version and upload the logs please?

Steam is required even when using a custom CS location, that's why it fails.

[human-7B401]

Akiver, thank you for continuing to work on this issue.

I have tried the new 3.14.2 appimage release and playback still does not work. I did not see any method by which to set the steam location, so I assume that such a feature has not been implemented yet. I receive the same error detailed in my previous post in this message thread.

I did a bit of perusing through the logs in the hopes that I can give you additional useful information. On my machine (I have since upgraded to debian 13, so this steam install is fresh and unmodified [I did bring my old configuration-adjacent files though, like libraryfolders.vdf]), "/home/user/.steam/steam" is a symlink pointing to "/home/user/.steam/debian-installation". I'm not sure if symlinks cause problems with how you are traversing the filesystem, but I do know that they have been problematic in other codebases in the past.

user@system:~$ ls -lah /home/user/.steam | grep ".*steam\ .*"
lrwxrwxrwx   1 user user   41 Aug 18 10:44 steam -> /home/user/.steam/debian-installation

And here is the contents of that directory:

user@system:~$ ls -lah /home/user/.steam/debian-installation
total 74M
drwxr-xr-x 33 user user 4.0K Aug 19 02:45 .
drwxr-xr-x  3 user user  12K Aug 18 10:45 ..
drwxr-xr-x  5 user user 4.0K Aug 19 02:08 appcache
drwxr-xr-x  4 user user 4.0K Jun 30 21:26 bin
-rw-r--r--  1 user user  20M Apr 24 05:04 bootstrap.tar.xz
drwxr-xr-x  5 user user 4.0K Feb 24  2024 clientui
drwxr-xr-x  3 user user 4.0K Dec  6  2024 compatibilitytools.d
drwxr-xr-x  6 user user 4.0K Aug 18 22:41 config
drwxr-xr-x  5 user user 4.0K Jun 30 21:26 controller_base
-rw-rw-r--  1 user user    0 Aug 18 10:44 .crash
-rw-r--r--  1 user user   12 Aug 18 10:55 d3ddriverquery64.dxvk-cache
drwxr-xr-x  3 user user 4.0K Aug 17 00:57 deb-installer
drwxr-xr-x  2 user user 952K Aug 18 22:41 depotcache
drwxr-xr-x  2 user user 4.0K Jan 16  2020 fontconfig
-rwxr-xr-x  1 user user  939 Jun  3 10:36 fossilize_engine_filters.json
drwxr-xr-x  2 user user 4.0K Jun 30 21:26 friends
-rwxr-xr-x  1 user user 1.5M Jun 27 21:17 GameOverlayRenderer64.dll
drwxr-xr-x  3 user user  28K Sep 18  2023 graphics
-rw-r--r--  1 user user 477K Aug 18 12:21 installscriptevalutor_log.txt
drwxr-xr-x  2 user user 4.0K Aug 18 12:21 legacycompat
drwxr-xr-x  2 user user 4.0K Jun 30 21:26 linux32
drwxr-xr-x  2 user user 4.0K Jun 30 21:26 linux64
-rwxr-xr-x  1 user user 1.2K Jun 27 18:59 local.vdf
drwxr-xr-x  2 user user 4.0K Aug 18 16:06 logs
drwxr-xr-x  3 user user 4.0K Aug 26  2019 music
drwxr-xr-x  2 user user 4.0K Aug 18 22:44 package
drwxr-xr-x  3 user user  12K Jun 30 21:26 public
drwxr-xr-x  6 user user  16K Jun 30 21:26 resource
drwxr-xr-x  2 user user 4.0K Nov 17  2024 siteserverui
-rwxr-xr-x  1 user user 2.0K Aug 26  2019 ssfn4096586816029640535
-rw-r--r--  1 user user   87 Aug 18 11:04 standalone_installscript_progress_228980.vdf
drwxr-xr-x  4 user user 4.0K May 12  2022 steam
drwxr-xr-x  9 user user  12K Aug 18 10:45 steamapps
drwxr-xr-x  2 user user 4.0K Feb  5  2021 steamchina
-rwxr-xr-x  1 user user  24M Jun 27 21:17 steamclient64.dll
-rwxr-xr-x  1 user user  20M Jun 27 21:16 steamclient.dll
-rwxr-xr-x  1 user user 2.0K Apr  1  2024 steam_msg.sh
drwxr-xr-x  3 user user 4.0K Jun 30 21:26 steamrt64
-rwxr-xr-x  1 user user  26K Jun 11 12:21 steam.sh
-rwxr-xr-x  1 user user  49K May 31  2018 steam_subscriber_agreement.txt
drwxr-xr-x  8 user user 4.0K Jul  2 02:43 steamui
drwxr-xr-x  2 user user 4.0K Oct 31  2023 steamui-public
drwxr-xr-x  4 user user 4.0K Oct 14  2019 tenfoot
-rwxr-xr-x  1 user user 8.5M Jun 26 21:01 ThirdPartyLegalNotices-Chromium.html
-rwxr-xr-x  1 user user  382 Jun 26 20:33 ThirdPartyLegalNotices.css
-rwxr-xr-x  1 user user  30K Jun 27 13:24 ThirdPartyLegalNotices.doc
-rwxr-xr-x  1 user user 119K Jun 27 14:43 ThirdPartyLegalNotices.html
drwxr-xr-x  6 user user 4.0K Jun 30 21:26 ubuntu12_32
drwxr-xr-x  6 user user 4.0K Aug 18 10:44 ubuntu12_64
-rwxr-xr-x  1 user user 1.2K Aug 18 00:41 update_hosts_cached.vdf
drwxr-xr-x  6 user user 4.0K Mar 17  2022 userdata
drwxr-xr-x  2 user user 4.0K Oct 14  2019 WINDOWSTEMPDIR_FONTCONFIG_CACHE

Here are some new log files. Each log file was taken after removing the old csdm.log file so they should only contain information from each run of the appimage.

This is me attempting to launch a demo from the "dem" tab.

csdm.log

And this is me attempting to launch a segment of a demo from the search tab.

csdm.log

If I can provide any more information, please let me know. And, once again, thanks for working on this issue. I greatly appreciate it.

[akiver]

"/home/user/.steam/steam" is a symlink pointing to "/home/user/.steam/debian-installation".

Yes, that's probably the problem, could you try without a symlink?
The app doesn't follow symlinks since v3.2.1, e9438ac - it was causing issues after a CS2 update, I will look if there a way to support symlinks.

[human-7B401]

I'm not exactly sure what the best way to test this is since there's no option yet to set a custom steam location in 3.14.2, so I renamed the symlink and copied steam.sh from /home/user/.steam/debian-installation/ to /home/user/.steam/ and then attempted to watch a demo. The program complained of

2025-08-20T12:45:41.636Z | ERROR | server | Cannot find the Steam Linux Runtime script "SteamLinuxRuntime_sniper/_v2-entry-point" in the Steam folder at /home/user/.local/share/steam

Here's directory listing for my ~/.local/share:

user@system:~$  ls -lah /home/user/.local/share | grep -i steam
user@system:~$

I don't have any steam folder there. There is a Valve Corporation folder though, but it seems to be for steamlink stuff.

If you have suggestions on what you would like me to do, please let me know.

Here is the log for after attempting to play a demo from the "dem" tab.
csdm.log

[human-7B401]

I think I made a mistake. If I am reading the logs right, your program searches for the steam.sh inside the directory /home/user/.steam/steam. So I went ahead and made the directory /home/user/.steam/steam and moved steam.sh into it (while still having the symlink steam renamed so it wouldn't interfere). I then attempted to watch another demo. It still fails.

Here is the log.
csdm.log