D7VK 1.10 brings even more 2D upgrades for retro Direct3D games on Linux

D7VK continues bringing enhancements for running retro Direct3D Windows games to run nicely on Linux / SteamOS, with a fresh release boosting 2D games. They only just released version 1.9 earlier in May with some huge improvements, and now they're back with even more. Linux is truly the game preservation platform!

What is D7VK? It's a Vulkan-based translation layer for Direct3D 3, 5, 6 and 7 to use with the likes of Wine / Proton.

In the release announcement for D7VK 1.10 the creator said:

Even the major 2D improvements in v1.9 weren't nearly enough for some games, so in v1.10 we've managed to squeeze a bit more performance in 2D heavy titles by skipping data copies on surfaces which would have been overwritten anyway.

Sounds logical and easy enough, but believe me when I say that dealing with the myriad of corner cases DDraw has to offer and figuring out when it is safe to skip an operation is hardly an easy task. I was even a bit too optimistic at first and @CkNoSFeRaTU had to pull me back to reality, but thankfully most of my optimizations have survived the test of time.

Not just performance improvements - it also has fixes for various flickering issues, which should also improve input latency. They also implemented a fix for some games having missing backgrounds during pause menus like for Warhammer: Dark Omen pictured below:

Plus other listed fixes and improvements:

• Improved the performance of 2D heavy scenarios by skipping D3D9 image downloads of surfaces which would be overwritten during DDraw blits. This provides minor improvements is most 2D heavy games, and more impactful ones on occasion, such as in Omikron: The Nomad Soul and SCP – Containment Breach.
• Implemented front buffer emulation, fixing missing backgrounds and camera effects in: Escape from Monkey Island, Evolva, Black & White, Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation, Tomb Raider Chronicles, Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace, Descent: FreeSpace, FreeSpace 2, Warhammer: Dark Omen and Interstate '76.
• Thanks to @CkNoSFeRaTU, added a workaround to prevent startup crashes in Interstate '76 and Interstate '76: Nitro Pack, making both games fully playable in D3D(5) mode.
• Also thanks to @CkNoSFeRaTU, added a workaround to fix missing geometry in COPS 2170: The Power of Law.
• Added a workaround to fix a black screen in the Eschalon: Book I launcher (which uses D3D7).
• Also thanks to some investigative work by @CkNoSFeRaTU, added a workaround to restore projected shadows in Expendable.
• Fixed a regression introduced in v1.9 which could cause rendering issues with mixed D3D3-D3D5 device use.
• Thanks to @CkNoSFeRaTU, identified and implemented a workaround to fix window creation behavior in Star Trek: The Next Generation - Klingon Honor Guard, which is now fully playable. Other early / D3D6 Unreal Engine titles may be positively impacted.
• Fixed a rare texture upload quirk which caused minor rendering artifacts in Z.A.R.
• Fixed various issues which prevented Powerslide both from starting at all and rendering correctly (also thanks to @CkNoSFeRaTU for fixing a minor execute buffer oversight).
• Cleaned up logging and reduced our dependency on proxied D3D objects coming from the underlying DDraw implementation, which somewhat improves overall CPU bound performance and reduces memory overhead.

See more including a developer rant about performance in the release notes on GitHub.