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.
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
TheRiddick Oct 17, 2019
Kimyrielle Oct 17, 2019
Last edited by logge on 17 October 2019 at 4:38 pm UTC
Switching to Mesa 19.3.0 solved the issue though AFAICS, also AMDVLK seems issues free.
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
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
Quoting: ThetargosGiven the recent confirmation from Stardock that they would bin their port of Ashes of the SingularityWell, 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.
Quoting: Liam DaweQuite indeed. They did state that, and I am thankful for that as well.Quoting: ThetargosGiven the recent confirmation from Stardock that they would bin their port of Ashes of the SingularityWell, 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.
Mountain Man Oct 17, 2019
Now why can't more Linux games run this well?
Last edited by Mountain Man on 17 October 2019 at 11:07 pm UTC
Last edited by 14 on 17 October 2019 at 9:41 pm UTC
Comandante Ñoñardo Oct 18, 2019
Feral, Aspyr, VP.... and Valve must update their Linux ports to Vulkan...
By the way, with Stadia around the corner, there will a lot of job for Linux porting companies.
Quoting: GuestI really appreciate Feral's work to provide Vulkan support now for Shadow of Mordor! Besides some graphical glitches (character models) it runs great with RADV and ACO from Mesa-git. I'm sure this will be sorted soon.
This should fix the character issues: https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/mesa/mesa/merge_requests/2372
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