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Croteam have put out yet another stable build of The Talos Principle [Steam], which brings improvements for the Vulkan version. I did some fresh benchmarks and the difference is quite amazing.

From the update notes:
Quote- General stability and performance improvements on Vulkan API.

To use the Vulkan version, you need to load the 64bit build of The Talos Principle and then switch to Vulkan in the graphics settings.

Here's some benchmarks done on my main rig, specifications: i7 5960x, 980ti, 1080p, Antergos + XFCE

image

Speaks for itself. This is hopefully the shape of things to come with Linux games powered by Vulkan, giving us a much more even chance against Windows versions of games.

I've tested other games that use Vulkan and all show improvements over OpenGL, but you will see for yourself whenever they get released. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Tags: Puzzle, Steam, Vulkan
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First, I love this game and I think Croteam are amazing.

GTX 1050 Ti (purchased because of solid performance with decent power draw):

Low - VK: 223.5 GL: 110.2
Med - VK: 132.9 GL: 80.1
High - VK: 64.7 GL: 46.4
Ultra - VK: 43.9 GL: 34.9

Personally, I play on settings that aren't much different than Medium since I can't see much change going higher than that. I originally played it using a GTX 750 (non Ti) at roughly medium settings in OpenGL and noticed no problems.

The performance jump from Vulkan is jaw-droppingly amazing. I was worried that Vulkan would be hard to switch on, but I did nothing more difficult than turning it on in the game settings.

Once developers get good at optimizing Vulkan across platforms, this has the possibility of really boosting Linux performance.
Purple Library Guy Mar 3, 2017
Quoting: KimyrielleI rarely look at performance numbers and benchmarks, as I am happy when game runs with enough FPS for me to be able to play it. I would however be curious if there are OTHER components holding back Linux performance other than OpenGL. In other words, if a game uses Vulkan on both Windows and Linux, would it perform exactly the same on both Linux and Windows? Or would Linux still be worse?
OK, disclaimer, I'm no developer and I can't back this up.
But the general zeitgeist I have from following vaguely this sort of thing for years comes down to: Aside from OpenGL problems, up to now graphics card drivers for Linux have tended to be slower, although that situation too has been improving and the nature of Vulkan seems to be such that it probably won't be nearly as much an issue for Vulkan stuff. But OS to OS, Linux itself is probably faster than Windows, and certainly lighter, so it wouldn't hog as much CPU or memory for itself, leaving more for the game. The "lighter" part of course depends on specifics like, KDE or XFCE or what? As I say, this is my general impression which I cannot cite any sources to defend, so take it for what it's worth.
Beamboom Mar 3, 2017
It's easy to be blinded by the AAA releases from Feral & Aspyr, but these guys here are real Linux gaming heroes and deserves every little bit of praise - and applause from our wallets - for their work.
eldersnake Mar 3, 2017
Tried it on an AMD R9 380X here on Mesa 17.1-git.

The improvement is indeed impressive. While it's not the same improvement as the prop. NVIDIA tests, before Vulkan ran a fair bit worse than OpenGL, whereas now it's hard to split them, both averaging somewhere around 45FPS (not a proper benchmark, just my casual testing with the FPS counter on). Though Vulkan seems to be a bit more consistent in average FPS I believe.

Regardless, it's much nicer to play under the Vulkan renderer now on ultra graphics @ 1080p.
mihaib Mar 3, 2017
Quoting: natewardawgThis is really awesome to see! It would be nice to see the Windows vs Linux comparison too :)

Very interested too.

I have a dream...
inlinuxdude Mar 3, 2017
Still can't get it to run without crashing with Vukan on my home-built SteamOS brewmaster box.. :( Tried from the menus and with launch option.. boo
Mountain Man Mar 3, 2017
Quoting: BeamboomIt's easy to be blinded by the AAA releases from Feral & Aspyr, but these guys here are real Linux gaming heroes and deserves every little bit of praise - and applause from our wallets - for their work.
I think you're right. I wasn't that keen on The Talos Principle having played the demo (it seemed like Portal without the humor and charm), but you're right, these guys should be rewarded for their efforts.
johndoe86x Mar 3, 2017
If anyone is interested I can run this on an i5-3570K with a 980Ti on both Windows and Linux on Vulkan, DX11, and OpenGL.
natewardawg Mar 4, 2017
Okay, I did some benchmarks with DirectX 11 under Windows 10, Vulkan under Linux, and OpenGL under Linux. I ran the benchmark on a GTX 960 and an i7-6700K using the 60 second benchmark. If it says Ultra, then all settings were set to Ultra, for Medium, all settings were set to Medium, etc. If anyone wants to know a particular combination feel free to ask.

Here are the results (Edited: added the results from my followup post below to include Windows Vulkan and OpenGL results):

Vulkan (Linux):
Ultra: 41.6
Medium: 158.3
Lowest: 419.3

Vulkan (Windows):
Ultra: 42.6
Medium: 166.8
Lowest: 387.7

OpenGL (Linux):
Ultra: 36.5
Medium: 101.0
Lowest: 263.2

OpenGL (Windows):
Ultra: 36.3
Medium: 101.2
Lowest: 343.5

D3D 11 (Windows):
Ultra: 45.6
Medium: 172.6
Lowest: 355.2

So, we are getting much closer :) It's interesting when put on low settings that Vulkan completely smokes D3D11 by almost 70 fps. I'm wondering if this has to do with multi-threading vs the pseudo multi-threadedness of D3D11?


Last edited by natewardawg on 7 March 2017 at 5:44 pm UTC
Leopard Mar 4, 2017
Quoting: natewardawgOkay, I did some benchmarks with DirectX 11 under Windows 10, Vulkan under Linux, and OpenGL under Linux. I ran the benchmark on a GTX 960 and an i7-6700K using the 60 second benchmark. If it says Ultra, then all settings were set to Ultra, for Medium, all settings were set to Medium, etc. If anyone wants to know a particular combination feel free to ask.

Here are the results:

D3D 11:
Ultra: 45.6
Medium: 172.6
Lowest: 355.2

Vulkan Linux:
Ultra: 41.6
Medium: 158.3
Lowest: 419.3

OpenGL Linux:
Ultra: 36.5
Medium: 101.0
Lowest: 263.2

So, we are getting much closer :) It's interesting when put on low settings that Vulkan completely smokes D3D11 by almost 70 fps. I'm wondering if this has to do with multi-threading vs the pseudo multi-threadedness of D3D11?

Yeah,it is most likely that.Because on lowest settings cpu became the frame limiter,on highest gpu became limiter.Cpu utilization on Vulkan is better than Dx 11 normally because Vulkan is competitor to DX12;which it is also good on cpu utilization.
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