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Mesa 18.1 is out with the shader cache on for Intel

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Open source drivers on Linux have advanced rather quickly and now we have another fresh release out with Mesa 18.1 which was released yesterday.

One of the major new features, is that the shader cache for Intel is now turned on by default, which should hopefully result in smoother performance for those of you gaming with an Intel GPU. Vulkan 1.1 support for the AMD RADV and Intel ANV drivers, plus various performance improvements and bug fixes.

Here's their other feature highlights:

  • OpenGL 3.1 with ARB_compatibility on nv50, nvc0, r600, radeonsi, softpipe, llvmpipe, svga
  • GL_ARB_bindless_texture on nvc0/maxwell+
  • GL_ARB_transform_feedback_overflow_query on nvc0
  • GL_EXT_semaphore on radeonsi
  • GL_EXT_semaphore_fd on radeonsi
  • GL_EXT_shader_framebuffer_fetch on i965 on desktop GL (GLES was already supported)
  • GL_EXT_shader_framebuffer_fetch_non_coherent on i965
  • GL_KHR_blend_equation_advanced on radeonsi

Usual notice: Since I have an NVIDIA GPU I don't follow Mesa too closely.

Find the full release notes here.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Tags: Drivers, Mesa
11 Likes
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ziabice May 19, 2018
Please, can someone tell me if "OpenGL 3.1 with ARB_compatibility on nv50, nvc0, r600, radeonsi, softpipe, llvmpipe, svga" means that I can finally play Rage or Wolfenstein: The New Order with Wine and Mesa?
Take a look here: https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=43176
nox May 19, 2018
Quoting: GuestI very recently switched from Nvidia to Amd to get better desktop performance, so I'm a little clueless. Will I get those updates when using the edge and hwe packages under Ubuntu ? Is there a relevant ppa to add ? (kde neon)

I'm not sure about kde neon, but I'm on kubuntu myself. Using the padoka PPA has always given me up-to-date mesa with no issues :)
GustyGhost May 19, 2018
Quoting: Guestmesa is a life saver for intel and amd users however i still stand by what i always said older games are still going to run bad in mesa due to being mostly optimized for nvidia gpus

I have not experienced any performance issues with older games whatsoever.
x_wing May 19, 2018
Quoting: Guestmesa is a life saver for intel and amd users however i still stand by what i always said older games are still going to run bad in mesa due to being mostly optimized for nvidia gpus

Olders games like...? The big titles started to come Linux since SteamOS born (and this is quite recent), so there aren't very old titles that I can think on (out of the ones that runs on wine).
TheRiddick May 20, 2018
Phoronix AMD vs NVIDIA results (latest)

AMD is doing fine, the RX580 is one of the best buys while results for Vega can be somewhat varied. Hopefully AMD figure out a 1080ti killer at low TDP (250W?) sometime. Honestly the world is moving onto 4k and anything less then a 1080ti is asking for trouble....


Last edited by TheRiddick on 20 May 2018 at 1:52 am UTC
nox May 20, 2018
Quoting: Gueststuff that came before feral started getting involved with the mesa driver remember their was a time when mesa was not even supported and games requirements were nvidia only

Quoting: x_wing
Quoting: Guestmesa is a life saver for intel and amd users however i still stand by what i always said older games are still going to run bad in mesa due to being mostly optimized for nvidia gpus

Olders games like...? The big titles started to come Linux since SteamOS born (and this is quite recent), so there aren't very old titles that I can think on (out of the ones that runs on wine).

I'm very interested in what specific feral games you are talking about. The oldest feral game that I own is Tomb Raider, which works flawlessly.

Note: There are a few games that are known to have issues on mesa, but those are exceptions and - to what I know - more often than not the cause of bad programming.


Last edited by nox on 20 May 2018 at 8:19 am UTC
F.Ultra May 20, 2018
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Anyone that knows what have happened to the PadokaPPA? The stable one have not had any new builds for 4 weeks now and is stuck on 18.0.1 which breaks e.g Dying Light.
nox May 20, 2018
Quoting: GuestBut what I still fail to grasp after decades of being an Nvidia fanboy is ; do mesa versions and drivers thus kernels versions have to be synchronized ? What happens when using a recent MESA with an old kernel and vice versa ?
They do not have to be synchronized to what I know :)


Quoting: GuestDeus ex mankind divided
Alien isolation
Grid autosport
Middle earth shadow of mordor
I've played most of these, all of them with no issues. Alien isolation is the one I haven't played as it's just not my kind of game, so not sure about the status there.

I agree that feral should official support more, but all the examples you've given so far should work well with mesa on decent hardware (AMD). Intel is a bit of a different story as they simply don't have much when it comes to gaming hardware.


Last edited by nox on 20 May 2018 at 10:36 am UTC
pete910 May 20, 2018
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Quoting: GuestDeus ex mankind divided
Alien isolation
Grid autosport
Middle earth shadow of mordor

Those are a few that say on the steam page intel and amd are not supported so if amd and intel do work on those games now then feral has failed to communicate that

Quoting: nox
Quoting: Gueststuff that came before feral started getting involved with the mesa driver remember their was a time when mesa was not even supported and games requirements were nvidia only

Quoting: x_wing
Quoting: Guestmesa is a life saver for intel and amd users however i still stand by what i always said older games are still going to run bad in mesa due to being mostly optimized for nvidia gpus

Olders games like...? The big titles started to come Linux since SteamOS born (and this is quite recent), so there aren't very old titles that I can think on (out of the ones that runs on wine).

I'm very interested in what specific feral games you are talking about. The oldest feral game that I own is Tomb Raider, which works flawlessly.

Note: There are a few games that are known to have issues on mesa, but those are exceptions and - to what I know - more often than not the cause of bad programming.

All those work fine with mesa with AMD, Expecting intel's IGP to run them well is a little unfair. Lets be honest, Intel make good CPU's but plain suck at the graphics side of things.

There is currently one game that has issue for me with mesa (I have a fairly good library too) and that is Dying light !

It refuses to work with mesa on anything other than Ubuntu for some weird reason

Am not sure where you are getting the notion of older tiles(Pre steam?) don't run well with mesa either. Doom/UT99-2004/ETQW ect all run fine for me.
nox May 20, 2018
Quoting: pete910It refuses to work with mesa on anything other than Ubuntu for some weird reason
On Ubuntu 18.04 it's broken as well. They need to update their broken game, but I don't think that's likely.

Quoting: Guestabout older games i was referring to games that were made before mesa was a viable driver alternative for linux ports
Again, which ones? I'd love to know which ones are broken or doesn't work well.


Last edited by nox on 20 May 2018 at 12:13 pm UTC
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