We do often include affiliate links to earn us some pennies. See more here.
Well this was a surprising move, Valve creators of Steam have posted their Direct3D to OpenGL translation layer onto github.

Features
  • Limited subset of Direct3D 9.0c
  • Bytecode-level HLSL -> GLSL translator
  • Some SM3 support: Multiple Render Targets, no Vertex Texture Fetch


It is provided as-is and with no support, it may be useful for projects like Wine and for other developers looking to make the porting job easier.

They have left in some hardcoded Source Engine stuff as it was literally ripped out from DOTA2.

Find it on github here.

I do wonder if many people will take advantage of it, imagine how big a project this could be if a few developers pick it up and work on it removing things like hardcoded Source Engine behaviour, more documentation etc. It could enable some bigger AAA games to get ported to Linux faster (or give them more of an incentive to try), but that's just my wishful thinking. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
0 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 checked 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. You can also follow my personal adventures on Bluesky.
See more from me
The comments on this article are closed.
All posts need to follow our rules. For users logged in: please hit the Report Flag icon on any post that breaks the rules or contains illegal / harmful content. Guest readers can email us for any issues.
5 comments

Bart Mar 11, 2014
Surely this is a good thing. Valve wants SteamOS support and this can enable some developers a shorter path to achieve it.
aaaaaaaa Mar 11, 2014
as far as i remember wine uses their own WGL layer, not classic OpenGL. this kinda makes me wonder if there could be anything beside reference implementations of some methods and maybe shader converter, since shaders were always piss poor on wine.

but, living as its own project i could see a lot of worth if it people would start on improving it. painless porting would be the 1st result
Speedster Mar 11, 2014
Ok this is the sort of present that those who grumbled about gifting of non-free games to debian/ubuntu devs should be impressed with! Way to go Valve!
s_d Mar 11, 2014
Yes, bravo! :D

Also, Valve appear to have released it using their own variant of a 2-clause BSD-style license.
TPLAR Mar 24, 2014
I wished if AMD released her Mantle for linux then the whole story would change but unfortunately ...
but still good to c such a thing.^_^
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.