Today NVIDIA have released a fresh developer-focused Vulkan Beta Driver with support for more extensions and a little performance work included.
On the extension side, as of 440.66.17 the NVIDIA driver now supports these:
It's interesting to see VK_EXT_external_memory_host finally land in the driver, as it's been around since 2017 according to the linked spec. What does it do? This extension enables an application to import host allocations and host mapped foreign device memory to Vulkan memory objects. As for VK_EXT_extended_dynamic_state, that was made available at the end of 2019, adds some more dynamic state to support applications that need to reduce the number of pipeline state objects they compile and bind.
On top of that, NVIDIA said they've also improved performance of vkCmdMultiDraw*IndirectCount on Pascal and earlier GPUs. See the Vulkan Beta here.
Reminder: you know it's a special Beta driver thanks to the additional two numbers on the end of the version string, with the newest stable version of the NVIDIA driver for Linux at 440.82 which released on April 7. This special Vulkan beta driver is where all the shiny new stuff goes in before making its way into the stable release for everyone. Really, it's mostly aimed at developers and serious enthusiasts. Unless you need what's in them, it's generally best to wait for the stable drivers.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Comandante Ñoñardo Jun 24, 2020
Quoting: CatKillerQuoting: Comandante ÑoñardoI wonder when (and if) Nvidia will release a new stable driver.
I'd imagine they're waiting for the Khronos ray tracing extension to be finalised.
QuoteHowever, as this is a provisional release, some functionality is likely to change before the final release, consequently we are asking that driver vendors not ship it in production drivers and that ISVs not use the provisional version in production applications.
Maybe that is the reason that explain the delay of the Linux port of Metro Exodus.
slaapliedje Jun 27, 2020
Quoting: Comandante ÑoñardoAs this game was mentioned in a recent conversation about why people don't use Linux on their desktops... sooner rather than later would be good for the Linux port to be released.Quoting: CatKillerQuoting: Comandante ÑoñardoI wonder when (and if) Nvidia will release a new stable driver.
I'd imagine they're waiting for the Khronos ray tracing extension to be finalised.
QuoteHowever, as this is a provisional release, some functionality is likely to change before the final release, consequently we are asking that driver vendors not ship it in production drivers and that ISVs not use the provisional version in production applications.
Maybe that is the reason that explain the delay of the Linux port of Metro Exodus.
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