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CryoUtilities 2.0 helps boost Steam Deck performance

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CryoUtilities has a big new 2.0 release out now, with plenty of tweaks to help you get the most out of your Steam Deck. Previously it simply offered some Swap sizing tweaks but now it can do more, and makes it easier than ever to use.

I'm hoping that Valve are at least investigating some of these changes, since they can often boost game performance. In fact, some of these tweaks are absolutely essential to stop certain games just hard-crashing and rebooting the Steam Deck like God of War and Horizon Zero Dawn (amongst others — although not everyone encounters the issue).

Screenshots, click to enlarge:

Features now available with the 2.0 release includes:

  • One-click set-to-recommended settings.
  • One-click revert-to-stock settings.
  • Swap Tuner.
    • Swap File Resizer.
    • Swappiness Changer.
  • Memory Parameter Tuning.
    • HugePages Toggle.
    • Compaction Proactiveness Changer.
    • HugePage Defragmentation Toggle.
    • Page Lock Unfairness Changer.
    • Shared Memory (shmem) Toggle.
  • Storage Manager.
    • Sync shadercache and compatdata to the same location the game is installed.
    • Delete shadercache and compatdata for whichever games you select.
  • Full CLI mode.

See their full video below where they explain the changes and show some benchmark comparisons:

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Have you used it? What is your experience with it? I think I'm going to look into testing it out and seeing if it can boost a few problematic games soon.

Check it out on the GitHub.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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About the author -
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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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5 comments

Xpander Feb 20, 2023
Hmm, interesting. Hugepages got me curious, if that could be helpful on desktop linux also.
Theres loads of documentation about it on the kernel pages. Wonder if this tool can be installed on regular desktop Linux also?


Last edited by Xpander on 20 February 2023 at 12:02 pm UTC
Linas Feb 20, 2023
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Quoting: XpanderHmm, interesting. Hugepages got me curious, if that could be helpful on desktop linux also.
Theres loads of documentation about it on the kernel pages. Wonder if this tool can be installed on regular desktop Linux also?
As far as I understand, to take advantage of huge pages, the application needs to be aware of them. As in it needs to allocate the memory in a special way. Also there is quite a bit of setup and administration required, like dedicating a part of the memory to be used for huge pages. This is useful for some large (like really large) databases, but I fail to see how it would benefit anything on a general-purpose device? Unless, of course, there is something I am completely missing here.
Phlebiac Feb 21, 2023
QuoteI think I'm going to look into testing it out and seeing if it can boost a few problematic games soon.

I look forward to the results!
Mrowl Feb 22, 2023
I'm guessing Cryo is already gainfully and happily employed elsewhere (and there are probably other reasons why he can't join Valve), but still... Valve should at least try to reach out to hire him, with an offer he'd be hard pressed to refuse. I'm sure Pierre, Lawrence, Greg and co. would love to have him on the Steam Deck dev team.
sniglom Feb 23, 2023
Quoting: Linas
Quoting: XpanderHmm, interesting. Hugepages got me curious, if that could be helpful on desktop linux also.
Theres loads of documentation about it on the kernel pages. Wonder if this tool can be installed on regular desktop Linux also?
As far as I understand, to take advantage of huge pages, the application needs to be aware of them. As in it needs to allocate the memory in a special way. Also there is quite a bit of setup and administration required, like dedicating a part of the memory to be used for huge pages. This is useful for some large (like really large) databases, but I fail to see how it would benefit anything on a general-purpose device? Unless, of course, there is something I am completely missing here.

My understanding is that the kernel is huge page aware, which reduces TLB cache misses, even though the current game isn't. The games are doing syscalls to the kernel via Proton, so I don't find it impossible that it would have a very small, but measurable difference.
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