diff --git a/hw/xfree86/compat/geeventinit.c b/hw/xfree86/compat/geeventinit.c
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..9069ba08e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hw/xfree86/compat/geeventinit.c
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+#include <dix-config.h>
+
+#include <X11/Xfuncproto.h>
+#include <X11/Xproto.h>
+
+#include "os/osdep.h"
+
+#include "xf86_compat.h"
+
+/*
+ * needed for NVidia proprietary driver 340.x versions
+ *
+ * they really need special functions for trivial struct initialization :p
+ *
+ * this function had been obsolete and removed long ago, but NVidia folks
+ * still didn't do basic maintenance and fixed their driver
+ */
+
+_X_EXPORT void GEInitEvent(xGenericEvent *ev, int extension);
+
+void GEInitEvent(xGenericEvent *ev, int extension)
+{
+    xf86NVidiaBugObsoleteFunc("GEInitEvent()");
+
+    ev->type = GenericEvent;
+    ev->extension = extension;
+    ev->length = 0;
+}
diff --git a/hw/xfree86/compat/meson.build b/hw/xfree86/compat/meson.build
index 79157c949..2e3485615 100644
--- a/hw/xfree86/compat/meson.build
+++ b/hw/xfree86/compat/meson.build
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ srcs_xorg_compat = [
 
 if get_option('legacy_nvidia_340x')
     srcs_xorg_compat += 'timercheck.c'
+    srcs_xorg_compat += 'geeventinit.c'
 endif
 
 xorg_compat = static_library('xorg_compat',