Don't want to see articles from a certain category? When logged in, go to your User Settings and adjust your feed in the Content Preferences section where you can block tags!
We do often include affiliate links to earn us some pennies. See more here.

This is quite a surprise! Early yesterday we were notified that Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, which Feral Interactive ported to Linux in 2015 has gained a Vulkan Beta.

Since companies rarely make much money from older ports like this, it's quite fantastic to see it being given some love. Especially like this, giving it a big boost with a much newer graphics API. This is not long after Feral Interactive confirmed the Linux release date for Shadow of the Tomb Raider Definitive Edition and also announced Total War Saga: TROY for Linux too.

Without any further rambling, let's take a look at what kind of difference it makes for Shadow of Mordor. Tested on Manjaro Linux with an Intel i7-5960X and an NVIDIA 2080 Ti with the 430.40 driver. All these tests were done at 1080p and the Steam Play Proton version was 4.11-7:

Now let's take a look and see what happens when you do the same tests, with the resolution set to to 200% (4K):

That just goes to show how Linux really can perform well for gaming. The performance difference is absolutely insane when compared with their original OpenGL port. Even next to Steam Play, it seems to show that an optimised Linux release can be highly competitive and worth doing. Absolutely fantastic work from Feral Interactive.

Update: Since it was pointed out in our comments that the Linux version's Ambient Occlusion seems to be lower quality/resolution (apparently it shouldn't be noticeable) than the Windows version, here's some additional 1080p/4K testing with AO off to see what difference it makes between them:

As an additional quick look, here's the same test as done above with AO off with Windows 10 thrown into the mix:


< Min FPS, > Max FPS

If you wish to try it out, it's available without a password in the "linux_vulkan_beta" branch on Steam. To access it, right click on the game in Steam, go to Properties and the Beta tab and then select it from the dropdown box. As shown below:

Keep in mind this is a Beta and issues are to be expected. It may even gain more improvements over time, we will just have to wait and see on that.

Nowadays, all Feral Interactive ports to Linux are done with Vulkan. They seem to be doing the same as they did previously with Mad Max, giving it a Vulkan beta and gathering some feedback while not promoting it to the main supported release. Fair enough, this is a good way to do it to see how it goes.

A couple of their older titles using OpenGL could certainly use this upgrade too. The one that really needs it is the Linux port of Deus Ex: Mankind Divided. I would love to play through that one fully again with a Vulkanized performance boost.

You can pick up a copy of Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor from the Feral Store, Humble Store and Steam.

Hat tip to dubigrasu.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
56 Likes
About the author -
author picture
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.
See more from me
The comments on this article are closed.
79 comments
Page: «5/8»
  Go to:

dubigrasu Oct 17, 2019
Quoting: sub
Quoting: dubigrasuBut that was a long time ago (in terms of DXVK development) and I used an old weak card to begin with.
...
For reference:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9_DX2r_dis

Ha, that's a Radeon HD 7970. :D

I still have an old 7950 paired with an ancient Phenom II X4 940 and 8G of ram.
I'm amazed what this combination is still able deliver.

I'm not lying, DOOM (2016) and Wolfenstein 2 run smooth as butter on 1980p
with that rig and it looks great (at least under Windows, haven't tried SteamPlay).

Similar with my other config: Phenom II X4 955, HD 7970 and 8 GB RAM, yeah, still kicking.
I use it as an external video capture PC and sometimes I stream from it various (problematic on Linux) Windows games. I'm not throwing anything away :)
1xok Oct 17, 2019
You can't blame Feral for not doing product care.

It's also interesting to see how hard it already seems to be to outbid the performance of DXVK with a native port. They may have used DXVK as a base and only optimized it for SOM?

At the same time I wonder why Feral is working on an old game. Most people might already own the game through one of the countless sales (I do). Of course, Feral is certainly one of those companies with a lot of enthusiasm and passion for their work. But in the end each of us has to earn money.

I wonder if this might have something to do with Stadia, too? The game should now run better under Linux than under Windows. Feral has an exquisite catalogue of Linux games that have not yet been announced for Stadia.
Ehvis Oct 17, 2019
View PC info
  • Supporter Plus
Quoting: 1xokAt the same time I wonder why Feral is working on an old game. Most people might already own the game through one of the countless sales (I do). Of course, Feral is certainly one of those companies with a lot of enthusiasm and passion for their work. But in the end each of us has to earn money.

I wonder if this might have something to do with Stadia, too? The game should now run better under Linux than under Windows. Feral has an exquisite catalogue of Linux games that have not yet been announced for Stadia.

Could be Stadia. But maybe they were working on it because of Apple 32-bit removal and decided to do something with Linux as well. Only Feral knows for sure and they're not known for telling. :D
appetrosyan Oct 17, 2019
Interesting to note. Is it possible that they might return to do shadow of war?
massatt212 Oct 17, 2019
does Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor work on Steam Proton now, cause the game never launched for me, both Nvidia and AMD
TheRiddick Oct 17, 2019
Is windows 10 using DX11 or DX12?
Kimyrielle Oct 17, 2019
That's a welcome surprise. I've bought the game back then, but never finished it. Maybe now it's the time to! :)
Donkey Oct 17, 2019
I could not resist trying it out. The menus are much more smooth with Vulkan and it does make a huge impact in the benchmark. Maybe it is hight time to finish the game now ;)
logge Oct 17, 2019
This comes handy in these times when I was playing with the thought of playing it through once more :-) Thank you, Feral!


Last edited by logge on 17 October 2019 at 4:38 pm UTC
dubigrasu Oct 17, 2019
I see some graphical weirdness (sky messed up) in the benchmark sequence. Some other reports on Steam forums complaining about models missing (like me, on AMD & Mesa 19.2x).

Switching to Mesa 19.3.0 solved the issue though AFAICS, also AMDVLK seems issues free.
While you're here, please consider supporting GamingOnLinux on:

Reward Tiers: Patreon. Plain Donations: PayPal.

This ensures all of our main content remains totally free for everyone! Patreon supporters can also remove all adverts and sponsors! Supporting us helps bring good, fresh content. Without your continued support, we simply could not continue!

You can find even more ways to support us on this dedicated page any time. If you already are, thank you!
The comments on this article are closed.