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Please Note: The benchmarks were re-done here, as Feral had an OpenGL performance regression which caused Vulkan to look at lot better than it was.
Mad Max [Feral Store, Steam] from Feral Interactive has been updated with a public beta as the Linux version is now able to use Vulkan and it brings some mighty performance changes.
Note: The beta does not support SteamOS currently, only normal desktop Linux distributions. Vulkan is only available in the Linux version, it is not in the Windows version.
To access the Beta, you need the password "livelongandprosper". Enter that into the games Betas tab on Steam to get in on the action. Once done, select "vulkan_beta." to update to it. See more info on this post from Feral.
First up, here’s a small comparison video that shows the very clear difference (Very High preset):
This is one of the few areas in the game where you can basically guarantee all affects (weather, AI) being the same. So it’s a good point to compare for a video.
I’ve tested it out myself privately before release and I’m really impressed with the difference it makes. It’s night and day in some areas the performance jump is quite impressive! Every part of the game feels massively smoother. I didn’t notice it before, but in the OpenGL version even moving the camera is slower than in the Vulkan version.
Places that previously dropped to 60FPS and below have been sailing at over 100FPS for me, keeping the action amazingly smooth. This is especially important for all the car chases and general combat on foot, previously some of the battles were a real struggle, but now it’s effortless.
You can turn Vulkan off to go back to OpenGL using the "Use Vulkan" tickbox in the Advanced section of the Feral launcher. I'm impressed by how solid the switching is after going back and forth too many times to count I haven't had an issue.
Note: If you turned off the Feral launcher, you can bring it back by holding down CTRL while it loads.
Here’s a few random screenshots showing again how the performance really is different (OpenGL left, Vulkan right - noted in each picture).
As you can see, no matter the area, weather, lighting and so on Vulkan destroys OpenGL in Mad Max.
Driver support: It works across NVIDIA, AMD and Intel, but there are some specific bits to be aware of. You can read about them on this post from Feral.
I should note, that the amount of difference you see will of course depend on what CPU and GPU combination you have. Lower-end CPU/GPU combinations will still see an improvement, but it likely won’t be as drastic as what I see here.
New benchmark mode
Feral have also put in a benchmark mode for the Linux version, which you can access by doing “--feral-benchmark” in their advanced launcher options. It will take whatever your in-game settings are for the benchmark. This is a unique feature for the Linux version, as the Windows version does not have a proper benchmark mode.
Warning: If you plan to play it through, you should be aware the benchmark uses cut-scenes from late in the game and may spoil a scene or two for you.
You will find the benchmark output in time and dated folders inside ”.local/share/feral-interactive/Mad Max/VFS/User/AppData/Roaming/WB Games/Mad Max/FeralBenchmark”.
Each single run of the benchmark takes about five minutes, so you might want to go make a coffee while it runs.
Benchmarks
These benchmarks show how some of the worst performing parts of the game perform differently on Vulkan. Not all of the game will see such an increase.
This isn’t just showing the power of Vulkan, this is also showing the level of commitment Feral Interactive have for their Linux ports overall. I continue to respect the work they do in bringing games to Linux, supporting and sending in patches to Mesa and giving me fantastic games to play. Not only that, but updating their games to use the Vulkan API is obviously extremely welcome. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Mad Max [Feral Store, Steam] from Feral Interactive has been updated with a public beta as the Linux version is now able to use Vulkan and it brings some mighty performance changes.
Note: The beta does not support SteamOS currently, only normal desktop Linux distributions. Vulkan is only available in the Linux version, it is not in the Windows version.
To access the Beta, you need the password "livelongandprosper". Enter that into the games Betas tab on Steam to get in on the action. Once done, select "vulkan_beta." to update to it. See more info on this post from Feral.
First up, here’s a small comparison video that shows the very clear difference (Very High preset):
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Direct Link
Direct Link
I’ve tested it out myself privately before release and I’m really impressed with the difference it makes. It’s night and day in some areas the performance jump is quite impressive! Every part of the game feels massively smoother. I didn’t notice it before, but in the OpenGL version even moving the camera is slower than in the Vulkan version.
Places that previously dropped to 60FPS and below have been sailing at over 100FPS for me, keeping the action amazingly smooth. This is especially important for all the car chases and general combat on foot, previously some of the battles were a real struggle, but now it’s effortless.
You can turn Vulkan off to go back to OpenGL using the "Use Vulkan" tickbox in the Advanced section of the Feral launcher. I'm impressed by how solid the switching is after going back and forth too many times to count I haven't had an issue.
Note: If you turned off the Feral launcher, you can bring it back by holding down CTRL while it loads.
Here’s a few random screenshots showing again how the performance really is different (OpenGL left, Vulkan right - noted in each picture).
Driver support: It works across NVIDIA, AMD and Intel, but there are some specific bits to be aware of. You can read about them on this post from Feral.
I should note, that the amount of difference you see will of course depend on what CPU and GPU combination you have. Lower-end CPU/GPU combinations will still see an improvement, but it likely won’t be as drastic as what I see here.
New benchmark mode
Feral have also put in a benchmark mode for the Linux version, which you can access by doing “--feral-benchmark” in their advanced launcher options. It will take whatever your in-game settings are for the benchmark. This is a unique feature for the Linux version, as the Windows version does not have a proper benchmark mode.
Warning: If you plan to play it through, you should be aware the benchmark uses cut-scenes from late in the game and may spoil a scene or two for you.
You will find the benchmark output in time and dated folders inside ”.local/share/feral-interactive/Mad Max/VFS/User/AppData/Roaming/WB Games/Mad Max/FeralBenchmark”.
Each single run of the benchmark takes about five minutes, so you might want to go make a coffee while it runs.
Benchmarks
These benchmarks show how some of the worst performing parts of the game perform differently on Vulkan. Not all of the game will see such an increase.
This isn’t just showing the power of Vulkan, this is also showing the level of commitment Feral Interactive have for their Linux ports overall. I continue to respect the work they do in bringing games to Linux, supporting and sending in patches to Mesa and giving me fantastic games to play. Not only that, but updating their games to use the Vulkan API is obviously extremely welcome. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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The comments on this article are closed.
Quoting: elmapulThe point about things being in beta does strike me as overoptimistic, perhaps. I'd agree that that isn't really an indication of anything much except perhaps that since Vulkan is so new those games haven't had time to come out of beta.Quoting: natewardawgI'm really failing to see how this is a naive view, haha :)by naive i mean this:
'The thing that strikes me is that many of the Vulkan ports are in beta, which as a developer says to me, "We really care about quality and feedback and want to give as good of an official release (first impression) as possible."'
i dont think being beta menas they are commited, it only means its not fully tested/functional, bug free, or it can improve the performance in the future.
as i said, DX12 is older, if an game takes 3 years to be developed, you show what you're doing at the year 1, and say something like: its still in beta that means you're more commited to it than someone that waits until the game is almost finished to show any screenshots/video of it?
also, we cant compare the POV of an indie with the one of an AAA developer.
example 1:
indies may profit more from piracy used as an way to spread the word about their game, than have losses from piracy.
AAA studios, on the other hand, put millions in marketing, they don't need piracy to market their products.
example 2:
when the 5 first indie humble bundle where done, 20% of the income came from linux users, looking at this numbers you may think "20% of the market are linux users!" but the reality is: there were almost no games for linux, so people where willing to pay for anything and pay more for it.
among the linux user, the game was more popular since it where one of a few games avaliable.
that dont means if an AAA studio ported their games to linux, 20% of they profit still would come from linux users, especially, considering that for some AAA games 75% of their income comes from consoles an market where indies werent even allowed a few years ago.
The general point that Vulkan seems to be acquiring games rather faster than DX12, however, seems pretty solid. It's an early data point, but at the current pace and given what some studios have said it seems quite unlikely that there will be only 20 Vulkan games out by the time Vulkan has been out for 2 years. And when you start thinking mobile--really, there's little chance there won't be a swarm of Android games on Vulkan within a year. And some of them will be ported to other platforms.
I see no indication that Vulkan development either has been or is likely to be restricted to "indies" so your point about indies vs. AAA doesn't apply. You're talking as if it's an issue of Linux games and the "all indies" stereotype vs Windows games--but the point here seems to be precisely that there are indications game developers are finding Vulkan a more attractive target for Windows development.
And I don't think your example 2 is really relevant to anything anyone has said, so it's kind of gratuitous.
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natewardawg Apr 1, 2017
Quoting: elmapuli dont think being beta menas they are commited, it only means its not fully tested/functional, bug free, or it can improve the performance in the future.
We've already seen it does improve performance, especially in CPU bound games, even in these beta releases.
Quoting: elmapulas i said, DX12 is older, if an game takes 3 years to be developed, you show what you're doing at the year 1, and say something like: its still in beta that means you're more commited to it than someone that waits until the game is almost finished to show any screenshots/video of it?
I do understand your point, and agree that we'll have to wait a few years to *really* see how things are going. However, the fact that we now have three separate AAA companies with major figures saying DX12 is a complete waste of time and resources and offers no significant benefit, even if you're building a game for Windows and Xbox One, is very telling of what many game devs think of DX12.
Quoting: elmapulalso, we cant compare the POV of an indie with the one of an AAA developer.
I personally am not too concerned about indie devs as far as the advantages of Vulkan or DX12, since most indie games will not benefit from Vulkan too much, if at all, except maybe on Android. I'm personally more focused on AAA titles and their development, since they will be the ones who primarily benefit from Vulkan, which again we have three studios (with probably more to come) saying DX12 is a waste and that Vulkan is the way to go. I'm unaware of any AAA dev saying DX12 is the way to go and that Vulkan is a waste of time and resources... because it would be quite ridiculous for them to say such a thing without some really good evidence to back it up.
But, like you said, and I agree, we may have to wait a year or two to see how it all shakes out. :)
However, half of the PC gaming market is still running Windows 7, which runs Vulkan and can't run DX12... So, unless Microsoft can get all of the Windows 7 users to switch to Windows 10, or unless they make DX12 available on Windows 7, I personally think the writing is on the wall. If you were a AAA game developer and half of your market was on a machine that only ran Vulkan, and will stay there for the next 4-5 years, which API would you choose?
edit: Added clarity to the post
Last edited by natewardawg on 1 April 2017 at 3:52 am UTC
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Quoting: GuestQuoting: TheMagazineYeah I got this problem too, the fix for me was really easy though. You need to launch the game and play with Ethernet off. Apparently there is some WBplay issue going which is causing the slow motion-like effect.Ah, finally! Thanks! Switching Steam to offline mode indeed fixes the issue…
Awesome, it worked for me too! I can now run the game in high settings with 60 fps.
I did a new benchmark in offline mode:
Very high, Vulkan (min/avg/max)
bench 1: (48/63/88)
bench 2: (28/35/36)
bench 3: (10/60/80)
bench 4: (6/67/131)
I'll see with Feral if there is something to solve this problem without going online.
Edit:
I tried to connect to WBPlay, which I did without any problem, but that didn't solved the problem.
Last edited by Skiski on 1 April 2017 at 8:04 am UTC
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Quoting: LeopardQuoting: ZeloxIm excited to see start citizen now. Cause I think we really can see vulkan vs dx12 there.
If vulkan performe better, I can see that as a possble reason for windows users to ditch windows and go to linux.
And maybe dev teams can see the value better in using vulkan. But I got no doubt they are already mutch better informed then atleast me :P.
You can't see Dx12 vs Vulkan at Star Citizen because they're going full with Vulkan and eventually drop their Dx11 support since Windows 7,8,10 and Linux have support for Vulkan.
aaaah, didnt know that they completly ditched dx12. Thanks!
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Quoting: Purple Library GuyThe point about things being in beta does strike me as overoptimistic, perhaps. I'd agree that that isn't really an indication of anything much except perhaps that since Vulkan is so new those games haven't had time to come out of beta.yes, as i said, DX12 is older, its to soon to come to any conclusion.
Quoting: Purple Library Guy"The general point that Vulkan seems to be acquiring games rather faster than DX12, however, seems pretty solid. It's an early data point, but at the current pace and given what some studios have said it seems quite unlikely that there will be only 20 Vulkan games out by the time Vulkan has been out for 2 years.totally agree
Quoting: Purple Library GuyAnd when you start thinking mobile--really, there's little chance there won't be a swarm of Android games on Vulkan within a year. And some of them will be ported to other platforms.
as an gamer, i cant really count android games as "games" most of then sucks due to lack of buttons or excessive micro transactions that turn then into pay to win.
you can make games for joysticks, but google has 0 features to limit the search to games who need buttons, and developers dont tend to make games for joysticks since they have an lower user base.
but at least, they are made in an game engine that is the same used to make pc games, so the engine have incentive to use vulkan and as a result more pc games will have vulkan too.
Quoting: Purple Library GuyI see no indication that Vulkan development either has been or is likely to be restricted to "indies" so your point about indies vs. AAA doesn't apply.i dont think they will, i just think we shouldnt count then in the comparission, i dont know why we dont have more DX12 indie games, maybe no one is tracking then but they do exist, its hard to track indies so, aside from a few notable exceptions (like star citizen that have the budget of an Triple A) its a bit pointless to count indies as an market trending.
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Comandante Ñoñardo Apr 2, 2017
This is my benchmark on a machine with
Ubuntu 14.04 LTS
core i7 4790K (no overclock),
GTX 960 2GB DDR5 driver 375.39
Vsync On
1080p
Ubuntu 14.04 LTS
core i7 4790K (no overclock),
GTX 960 2GB DDR5 driver 375.39
Vsync On
1080p
<benchmark>
<permutation>
<value name="benchmark-name">Camp - Hollow Point</value>
<value name="width">1920</value>
<value name="height">1080</value>
<value name="vsync">1</value>
<value name="fidelity-description"></value>
<value name="anistropic-filtering">1</value>
<value name="geometric-detail">0</value>
<value name="shadow-resolution">0</value>
<value name="num-shadow-lights">1</value>
<value name="texture-detail">0</value>
<value name="decals">0</value>
<value name="motion-blur">1</value>
<value name="soft-particles">1</value>
<value name="ssao">1</value>
<value name="point-light-specular">1</value>
<value name="anti-aliasing">1</value>
<value name="terrain-parallax">1</value>
<value name="fog-particle-upsampling">0</value>
<value name="dof-quality">0</value>
<value name="volumetric-lighting-quality">0</value>
<value name="heat-haze">1</value>
<value name="bloom">1</value>
<value name="landscape-debris">1</value>
</permutation>
<result>
<value name="avg_fps">59.975285</value>
<value name="min_fps">59.460102</value>
<value name="max_fps">61.946354</value>
</result>
</benchmark><benchmark>
<permutation>
<value name="benchmark-name">Stronghold - Tyrant's Lash</value>
<value name="width">1920</value>
<value name="height">1080</value>
<value name="vsync">1</value>
<value name="fidelity-description"></value>
<value name="anistropic-filtering">1</value>
<value name="geometric-detail">0</value>
<value name="shadow-resolution">0</value>
<value name="num-shadow-lights">1</value>
<value name="texture-detail">0</value>
<value name="decals">0</value>
<value name="motion-blur">1</value>
<value name="soft-particles">1</value>
<value name="ssao">1</value>
<value name="point-light-specular">1</value>
<value name="anti-aliasing">1</value>
<value name="terrain-parallax">1</value>
<value name="fog-particle-upsampling">0</value>
<value name="dof-quality">0</value>
<value name="volumetric-lighting-quality">0</value>
<value name="heat-haze">1</value>
<value name="bloom">1</value>
<value name="landscape-debris">1</value>
</permutation>
<result>
<value name="avg_fps">58.623589</value>
<value name="min_fps">9.378136</value>
<value name="max_fps">98.911964</value>
</result>
</benchmark><benchmark>
<permutation>
<value name="benchmark-name">Cutscene - Hope, Glory, and Dog is Dead</value>
<value name="width">1920</value>
<value name="height">1080</value>
<value name="vsync">1</value>
<value name="fidelity-description"></value>
<value name="anistropic-filtering">1</value>
<value name="geometric-detail">0</value>
<value name="shadow-resolution">0</value>
<value name="num-shadow-lights">1</value>
<value name="texture-detail">0</value>
<value name="decals">0</value>
<value name="motion-blur">1</value>
<value name="soft-particles">1</value>
<value name="ssao">1</value>
<value name="point-light-specular">1</value>
<value name="anti-aliasing">1</value>
<value name="terrain-parallax">1</value>
<value name="fog-particle-upsampling">0</value>
<value name="dof-quality">0</value>
<value name="volumetric-lighting-quality">0</value>
<value name="heat-haze">1</value>
<value name="bloom">1</value>
<value name="landscape-debris">1</value>
</permutation>
<result>
<value name="avg_fps">59.076393</value>
<value name="min_fps">5.384276</value>
<value name="max_fps">96.163094</value>
</result>
</benchmark><benchmark>
<permutation>
<value name="benchmark-name">Cutscene - Landmover</value>
<value name="width">1920</value>
<value name="height">1080</value>
<value name="vsync">1</value>
<value name="fidelity-description"></value>
<value name="anistropic-filtering">1</value>
<value name="geometric-detail">0</value>
<value name="shadow-resolution">0</value>
<value name="num-shadow-lights">1</value>
<value name="texture-detail">0</value>
<value name="decals">0</value>
<value name="motion-blur">1</value>
<value name="soft-particles">1</value>
<value name="ssao">1</value>
<value name="point-light-specular">1</value>
<value name="anti-aliasing">1</value>
<value name="terrain-parallax">1</value>
<value name="fog-particle-upsampling">0</value>
<value name="dof-quality">0</value>
<value name="volumetric-lighting-quality">0</value>
<value name="heat-haze">1</value>
<value name="bloom">1</value>
<value name="landscape-debris">1</value>
</permutation>
<result>
<value name="avg_fps">58.721684</value>
<value name="min_fps">4.284564</value>
<value name="max_fps">115.460106</value>
</result>
</benchmark>
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Kuduzkehpan Apr 2, 2017
With vulkan coding and experiences within; Feral and alike corporations may be lead partners of 'windows only' game developers.
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elbuglione Apr 2, 2017
see phoronix for more benchmark:
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=14way-nvidia-madmax&num=3
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=14way-nvidia-madmax&num=3
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For me, the Vulkan-support is a blessing. MM was previously unplayable for me (AMD FX-6100, AMD R9 280, 8GB RAM). I had part only 12 FPS. That's why I had already deleted MM from the hard drive.
But now with Vulkan I never got under 45 FPS. And in scenes where little on the screen happens I even got over 80 FPS. With Vulkan MM has been playable by me for the first time.
However, I have also found bugs related to Vulkan. So I get a crash to desktop, when I am mounting first parts to my car in the auto menu and then, after done this, press ESCAPE to leave the menu. I could reproduce the error several times. I have already reported the error including crash dump to Feral. A workaround for me was now, for this one scene to switch to OpenGL, save the game and then switch back tovolcano(aarghhh) Vulkan.
Last edited by KuJo on 3 April 2017 at 7:13 pm UTC
But now with Vulkan I never got under 45 FPS. And in scenes where little on the screen happens I even got over 80 FPS. With Vulkan MM has been playable by me for the first time.
However, I have also found bugs related to Vulkan. So I get a crash to desktop, when I am mounting first parts to my car in the auto menu and then, after done this, press ESCAPE to leave the menu. I could reproduce the error several times. I have already reported the error including crash dump to Feral. A workaround for me was now, for this one scene to switch to OpenGL, save the game and then switch back to
Last edited by KuJo on 3 April 2017 at 7:13 pm UTC
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