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Even more progress towards having a layer that will translate Direct3D 12 nicely over to Vulkan, as the VKD3D-Proton project just had a fresh release out. This is the official project for Valve's Steam Play compatibility layer Proton, with performance and compatibility with Windows games running on Linux as the main focus.

The VKD3D-Proton 2.3 release headline feature is early support for DXR (DirectX Raytracing), with it being hooked up to the newer vendor-neutral Vulkan Ray Tracing support. They say the current DXR compatibility is a work in progress "but it is good enough to run some real content". It's also NVIDIA only right now, as they're waiting for AMD drivers to catch up and the recent Radeon Software for Linux 21.10 does not work. Games that work include Control and Ghostrunner.

Additionally there's also support (tier 3) for conservative rasterization, support (tier 2) for variable rate shading, various bug fixes, significant performance improvements for Horizon Zero Dawn and Death Stranding, Resident Evil 2 should see up to 20% better GPU bound performance with NVIDIA and more.

Overall a pretty impressive release.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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7 comments

Laboratoryo_ni_Neil Apr 23, 2021
Proton Experimental just had an update and it included VKD3D 2.3. I can confirm Horizon Zero Dawn have a significant performance improvement, it's now playable.

Here is a quick comparison on frame rate at 2560 x 1080 with medium preset on GTX 1660 Ti
Before - 25 to 30 FPS
Now - 40 to 55 FPS
gradyvuckovic Apr 23, 2021
Thankyou Valve!

And thankyou to every developer working on this project!
Corben Apr 23, 2021
Wow... also Death Stranding is specifically mentioned (as it uses the same Engine as Horizon Zero Dawn). Though I didn't have any problems with Death Stranding yet (except a missing texture issue once in 40h game play), I'm happy to see that these updates will also be beneficial to other games.

Atm I'm really enjoying Death Stranding, the graphics, the characters, the story... and I guess I will enjoy Horizon Zero Dawn when I finished Death Stranding as well. Great games, thanks Valve to let us play those AAA games on Linux!
rustybroomhandle Apr 23, 2021
Quoting: CorbenAtm I'm really enjoying Death Stranding, the graphics, the characters, the story... and I guess I will enjoy Horizon Zero Dawn when I finished Death Stranding as well. Great games, thanks Valve to let us play those AAA games on Linux!

I've briefly popped in to one or two of your Death Stranding streams. It's one of my favourite games of the past few years and it's fun to see other people discover it.

Also notice how it has a whole screen showing what open source software was used to make it. Mainly just tiny bits, but it's nice that they actually bother to show it.


Last edited by rustybroomhandle on 23 April 2021 at 11:40 am UTC
Corben Apr 23, 2021
Quoting: rustybroomhandleI've briefly popped in to one or two of your Death Stranding streams. It's one of my favourite games of the past few years and it's fun to see other people discover it.
Thanks for stopping by! And yes, it became already one of my favorite games I've ever played already. These little happenings that can occur?

E.g. you have to deliver a package on time, and you think 60 minutes is plenty of time. But you have to get through a MULEs territory. You drive and evade their electro shock sticks as good as you can, you're almost through their territory, only over that bridge... and the last stick hits you! Dang, car out of service, they catch up, you fight them, you lose and get knocked out...
K, you wake up again, get the car back, get the lost cargo back... driving again through their territory, as you are really close to get throught... then the battery of your car runs out

It's so much fun! (you can watch it here :D)

Quoting: rustybroomhandleAlso notice how it has a whole screen showing what open source software was used to make it. Mainly just tiny bits, but it's nice that they actually bother to show it.
Yep, I saw that. Very cool indeed!


Last edited by Corben on 23 April 2021 at 2:06 pm UTC
rustybroomhandle Apr 23, 2021
Quoting: CorbenIt's so much fun! (you can watch it here :D)

My second playthrough was walking only, no trucks or bikes. :) Also I just go around the MULE and live ammo terrorist areas. Sometimes you find cool bits of landscape when going the long way.
LordDaveTheKind Apr 29, 2021
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Quoting: CorbenWow... also Death Stranding is specifically mentioned (as it uses the same Engine as Horizon Zero Dawn). Though I didn't have any problems with Death Stranding yet (except a missing texture issue once in 40h game play), I'm happy to see that these updates will also be beneficial to other games.
Is it possible that the presence of heavy foliage in HZD has made a huge difference in the game performance?
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