Invisible mouse pointer in Java application window

Question

I have played a Java-based game (salem the game) on Windows 7 with the Java 8 Runtime Environment, and it works properly.

However, on Debian Linux, I can launch the game, but the mouse pointer is invisible. It only blinks if I move the mouse over the login button. It works, but I can't see it.

How do I fix it?

I tried these things:

• Updated and upgraded system
• Installed video firmware
• Reinstalled Java
• Tried emulate Java via Wine
• Upgraded Debian to latest version (9.9)
• Tried all possible game video settings
• Tried to disable mouse acceleration
• Tried to downgrade GPU firmware
• Tried alternative game client
• Searched for broken packages, but found none of them
• Tried to downgrade java five versions down (one down, test and repeat)
• Switched to external GPU (Geforce GTX 760i, Geforce GTX 1080)
• Changed mouse
• Changed monitor

System Specs:

• Debian 9.9 (Stretch)

• Java version:

  • openjdk version "1.8.0_212";
  • OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_212-8u212-b01-1~deb9u1-b01);
  • OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (build 25.212-b01, mixed mode).

lscpi

00:00.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device 1576 00:00.2 IOMMU: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device 1577 00:01.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Carrizo (rev e3) 00:01.1 Audio device: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Kabini HDMI/DP Audio 00:02.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device 157b 00:02.4 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device 157c 00:03.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device 157b 00:08.0 Encryption controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device 1578 00:09.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device 157d 00:09.2 Audio device: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device 157a 00:10.0 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH USB XHCI Controller (rev 20) 00:11.0 SATA controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH SATA Controller [AHCI mode] (rev 49) 00:14.0 SMBus: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH SMBus Controller (rev 4a) 00:14.3 ISA bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH LPC Bridge (rev 11) 00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device 1570 00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device 1571 00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device 1572 00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device 1573 00:18.4 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device 1574 00:18.5 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device 1575 01:00.0 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device 43bc (rev 02) 01:00.1 SATA controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device 43b8 (rev 02) 01:00.2 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device 43b3 (rev 02) 02:04.0 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device 43b4 (rev 02) 02:05.0 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device 43b4 (rev 02) 02:06.0 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device 43b4 (rev 02) 02:07.0 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device 43b4 (rev 02) 05:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 15) 

dmesg output https://pastebin.com/nXYtBj7Q

Answer 1

Video card usually has hardware support for displaying mouse pointer. Video card's driver shall load image of mouse pointer and specify on-screen coordinates where it shall be displayed then video card does 'the magic' overlapping underlying image with mouse pointer's image. Sometimes video card's driver behaves incorrectly (i.e. it has some BUG). In such case disabling mouse pointer drawing acceleration or switching mouse pointer drawing from hardware to software mode shall help.

Answer 2

From the dmesg info, it looks like you're using the AMDGPU driver, which is the right one for the Carrizo. Given that, my suggestion is to find and make some changes to the amdgpu.conf file (which may be preappended with a number, e.g. 10-amdgpu.conf). It's likely somewhere like /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d. Once you've found it, add the following to the end of the file after the OutputClass section:

Section "Device" Identifier "AMDgpu" Driver "amdgpu" Option "SWcursor" "on" EndSection 

Then restart and see where things stand.

If that doesn't do it, the best I can offer is to try tweaking some options in the Device section. See man amdgpu for the driver-specific options that are available.

Answer 3

Probably not worth +100 rep, but you might try upgrading your openjdk.

I've got versions 1.8.0_212 and 9.0.4.11 installed, as well as 11.0.3.7 available in my repo, so it's clear there are later versions. However, I'm running Fedora 29; you may have more or less options readily available in your repo.