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The open source NVIDIA Vulkan driver 'NVK' begins to run games

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Back in October last year I wrote about the new open source NVIDIA Vulkan driver named NVK, and now it appears to be able to actually run games. Not particularly well though.

This NVK driver is not from NVIDIA but is instead a new Mesa driver but is a serious effort to see if they can get it into a state where it's usable like what the RADV is to AMD hardware.

Posting on their Mastodon account, driver developer Karol Herbst showed a screenshot of it now capable of loading up The Talos Principle with a follow-up noting "performance is terrible, but that's hopefully resolved with the GSP work which is still ongoing :)".

Image Credit - Karol Herbst

Seems like 2023 could be a really fun year for NVIDIA GPU owners on Linux, if this work continues to improve. Given the work involved, it will likely be a good while before performance is actually at a playable stage.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly came back to check on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. Find me on Mastodon.
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16 comments
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fireplace Jan 12, 2023
Quoting: sub
Quoting: fireplace
Quoting: subDo they have enough docs from Nvidia in order to not rely on reversing stuff?
It's mostly reverse engineered. Collabora posted about it a while ago.

https://www.collabora.com/news-and-blog/news-and-events/introducing-nvk.html

Thanks!

*MEH* so much wasted energy on stuff that should just be documented.
Agreed, nVidia basically released everything BUT actual documentation. Hopefully that doesn’t deter the devs from working on it.
Ardje Jan 12, 2023
Quoting: Cmdr_IrasInteresting project; though I have of course just swapped my Nvidia GTX1070 for a AMD RX 6700XT.
I look at it like this:
Time that I spend on my computer having fun is time well spend.
Time that I spend on my computer fixing nvidia shit is time I should have gotten paid. So that's time that I loose money, because I could have just worked in that time and get paid. And my job is a lot more fun than fixing proprietary shit, or trying the latest opensource drivers for hardware of a company that has no intention to help.
So I choose to do real work (that I like), getting paid real money, that I can spend on a Valve supported card and having fun time with it.
The last nvidia mistake I made was in 2016 when I bought a steam machine.
The last nvidia incident I got was a few years later, when I returned my refurbished thinkpad for repair and I got one with an unwanted nvidia power sink returned. The intel HD4000 performs better than the nvidia, because intel supports their stuff.
drjoms Jan 12, 2023
would be curious to know if Zync can work with current implementation. And if yes - how bad is it.
Pirolisi Jan 15, 2023
Quoting: SolarwingAMD ftw!!!!!! NVIDIA for the losers!!! Even an ameba understands this! So all who owns an NVDIA card have lower IQ than an ameba (Including myself because I have an NVIDIA card in my secondary windows rig!) how nice! But in a serious mannner speaking this NVIDIA open source driver is a bit late. Well hopefully we see a rapid development soon. Only Open source can make it possible.
Grow up...calling people looser and ameba is not for winners.
Corben Feb 3, 2023
And here am I, using nVidia since decades, barely having issues and even being happy about DLSS and nvenc ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I remember being very disappointed about ATi back then, when the fglxr driver wasn't updated for X anymore and I couldn't use my Radeon X1950 Pro anymore, and the card wasn't even that old. nVidia instead still supports really old cards with their legacy drivers on modern systems.

Sure it all changed in the meantime, from my experience though nVidia cards are not half as bad as you could get the impression by some comments. Neither my Ubuntu nor Arch system had issues with the proprietary drivers (fingers crossed).
sub Feb 5, 2023
FGLRX



Quoting: CorbenAnd here am I, using nVidia since decades, barely having issues and even being happy about DLSS and nvenc ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I remember being very disappointed about ATi back then, when the fglxr driver wasn't updated for X anymore and I couldn't use my Radeon X1950 Pro anymore, and the card wasn't even that old. nVidia instead still supports really old cards with their legacy drivers on modern systems.

Sure it all changed in the meantime, from my experience though nVidia cards are not half as bad as you could get the impression by some comments. Neither my Ubuntu nor Arch system had issues with the proprietary drivers (fingers crossed).
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