Every article tag can be clicked to get a list of all articles in that category. Every article tag also has an RSS feed! You can customize an RSS feed too!
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: «6/8»
  Go to:

Thetargos Oct 17, 2019
Oof!! That performance delta is AMAZING! A very welcome update indeed! This goes off to show just how big of an overhead the OpenGL implementation had on this particular game (makes you wonder how bad it is as well for extreme cases like DE:MD). I reckon that placing the blame soleley on OGL is a bit unfair, as it is not all that is at play with a port such as this, but does show just how big of an overhead it CAN have. True, there are examples where for certain tasks OGL is just as fast as VK, provided the driver is well optimized.

Tha k you Feral for this update, even though Beta, hopefully more games in your catalog can benefit from the expertise you have built using better porting tools and VK. Already eager to see what will come next beyond SotTR and LIS2. Kudos to Feral for the continued support of this "old" title (still a GREAT game!)


Last edited by Thetargos on 17 October 2019 at 5:38 pm UTC
Tuxee Oct 17, 2019
Not bad indeed. Here on a GTX1060 with 2560x1440 display and "very high" settings the framerates went from 60/83/40 to 90/126/59. 50% plus - now that's what I call a "noticable difference".
PJ Oct 17, 2019
amazing update. On my end it doubled the framerate. Now it is comfortably over 100fps on high settings. It would be amazing (and honestly - super surprising) if they could bring it to titles like DeusEx as well.
Liam Dawe Oct 17, 2019
Glad to see so many happy people :D, there's been so much negativity lately it's pleasing to see.
Thetargos Oct 17, 2019
Liam, this brings renewed faith and trust in NATIVE ports. Not that this will render DXVK useless, FAR from it! Aim for native as much as we can, use DXVK/Proton for those titles that will never be released as native ports (quite a few!).

Feral is shutting many mouths (mine included, as I truly feared Proton would indefintively stall native ports development) with facts. We now need more native games, inspired by what can be achieved when applying all lessons learned in the past 5 or so years.

Kudos Feral, thanks Khronos and all those involved in the development of Vulkan!

Edit:
Given the recent confirmation from Stardock that they would bin their port of Ashes of the Singularity, I really feared Feral would stop developing native ports. I am glad they shut my mouth with the announcement of SotTR (which makes sense, since the previous games were also released with all the DLCs, at least RotTR was, and SotTR will as well) and now this update. I'm thrilled!


Last edited by Thetargos on 17 October 2019 at 7:44 pm UTC
Liam Dawe Oct 17, 2019
Quoting: ThetargosGiven the recent confirmation from Stardock that they would bin their port of Ashes of the Singularity
Well, to be clear Stardock did also claim the work done would ensure Ashes 2 would get on Linux. If they go through with that, I'm happy.
Thetargos Oct 17, 2019
Quoting: Liam Dawe
Quoting: ThetargosGiven the recent confirmation from Stardock that they would bin their port of Ashes of the Singularity
Well, to be clear Stardock did also claim the work done would ensure Ashes 2 would get on Linux. If they go through with that, I'm happy.
Quite indeed. They did state that, and I am thankful for that as well.
Mountain Man Oct 17, 2019
This literally doubled my average framerate according to the benchmark!

Now why can't more Linux games run this well?


Last edited by Mountain Man on 17 October 2019 at 11:07 pm UTC
14 Oct 17, 2019
View PC info
  • Supporter Plus
Very nice. I already beat this game long ago, but I do remember it feeling sluggish at points. Not sure I'd replay it, but maybe one of my kids will a few years down the road.


Last edited by 14 on 17 October 2019 at 9:41 pm UTC
Koopacabras Oct 18, 2019
Quoting: dubigrasu
Quoting: chancho_zombie
Quoting: BrisseNice. I agree with others here though in that DE:MD is the one that really needs this sort of enhancement.

yeah and Dirt Rally is another port I would like to see vulkan-enhanced, it runs smoothly mostly but vulkan is much much better in terms of performance and as it stands Dirt 4 runs much faster than Dirt Rally, DR being older and with less graphics features.
Well sure, but if we go this way we can hope for all old GL ports to get the Vulkan treatment, like Hitman, which already has or had at one point an incomplete Vulkan build, or even better COH2, which really runs slow.
To be fair though to other GL ports, some of them run pretty good, Alien Isolation for example.
What I'm trying to say is that the Vulkan treatment comes with a cost for Feral (time/money/personnel), and I don't think is justified for all of their ports.

yeah I don't know if it is profitable for all ports, imho Shadow of Mordor it's maybe the best game there's for linux still in 2019, maybe that's the reason why they are doing the vulkan beta, I'm sure the game is still having a significant number of sales. Dirt Rally otoh has gone free recently on humble bundle and on steam so I guess it's not profitable anymore.

But on these days we are also seeing a lot of old DOS games, Amiga, SCUMM games and whatnot ported to Linux, so why not?


Last edited by Koopacabras on 18 October 2019 at 2:14 am UTC
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.