While the Proton compatibility layer already has DXVK for translating DirectX 9/10/11 into Vulkan, VKD3D-Proton has become the official version for translating Direct3D 12 on top of Vulkan.
Are you confused what Proton is? See our dedicated Steam Play page for info.
VKD3D was originally a project created directly by the Wine team, the compatibility layer that Proton is built upon. However, the original founder passed away and it seems Valve-funded developers are taking the torch to push it much further. It's actually been a thing for a while but today they adjusted the name of their project as VKD3D-Proton, to give it some official status plus preventing any naming conflicts elsewhere and just be clear about their goals.
They're going for supporting the "full" Direct3D 12 API on top of Vulkan, with an aim of both performance and compatibility using modern Vulkan extensions and features, so this comes at the expense of compatibility with older drivers and GPUs. They're also not looking to keep backwards compatibility with the original vkd3d.
Recently, the project also merged in code to allow for a standalone D3D12 build. Like with DXVK, we might even see gamers on Windows using it in future. Yes, that's actually a thing and there's many more like it as it can boost performance on Windows too for older games.
See all the details on the updated VKD3D-Proton page on GitHub.
With the recent news that the massive Cyberpunk 2077 is going to be DirectX 12 only, perhaps VKD3D-Proton can get into a state before release where it might run it well on Linux, since CD Projekt aren't likely to bring it to Linux officially.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Arehandoro Jul 7, 2020
Quoting: ArehandoroFrom a very ignorant point of view. Why start VKD3D-Proton instead of expanding VXDK to use D12 too? Is the difference in APIs between D11 and D12 so big that a different project needs to implemented?
I think they started in parallel, so may be used different approaches, especially to using dxgi.
Last edited by Shmerl on 7 July 2020 at 4:15 pm UTC
Quoting: LeopardThey closed their Twitch variant , Mixer.MS have probably freaked out that Stadia would tip the scales and reduce their DX domination. But if not now, then it would go bust later.
Quoting: ArehandoroFrom a very ignorant point of view. Why start VKD3D-Proton instead of expanding VXDK to use D12 too? Is the difference in APIs between D11 and D12 so big that a different project needs to implemented?
Don't quote me on this but AFAIK the difference between DX11 and DX12 is akin to the difference between OpenGL and Vulkan.
Quoting: ShmerlQuoting: LeopardThey closed their Twitch variant , Mixer.MS have probably freaked out that Stadia would tip the scales and reduce their DX domination. But if not now, then it would go bust later.
What? What does that have to do with Stadia? Seems like you still don't get the difference.
Quoting: ArehandoroFrom a very ignorant point of view. Why start VKD3D-Proton instead of expanding VXDK to use D12 too? Is the difference in APIs between D11 and D12 so big that a different project needs to implemented?
Yep. Thats why D9VK is different than DXVK and VKD3D its separeted also. DX10 and DX11 are very close to eachother, DX12 its a totally different API with different aproach to graphics.
Quoting: ShmerlQuoting: LeopardThey closed their Twitch variant , Mixer.MS have probably freaked out that Stadia would tip the scales and reduce their DX domination. But if not now, then it would go bust later.
Mixer and xCloud are different markets. Mixer was a concorrent to Twitch and Youtube Live and never got much audience, even with that Ninja and Shroud exclusivity deals.
xCloud is in the same market of Stadia, but with a different aproach and they still didnt launch officially, its on beta, and they are still promoting
Last edited by ziabice on 7 July 2020 at 8:14 pm UTC
Quoting: ArehandoroFrom a very ignorant point of view. Why start VKD3D-Proton instead of expanding VXDK to use D12 too? Is the difference in APIs between D11 and D12 so big that a different project needs to implemented?
I think Valve want the fastest path to DX12 compatibility on Linux. Thats probably why they chose to build off VKD3D rather than start a fresh project. And from what I understand it's not really possible to work from DXVK, since DX12 is a completely different animal to previous DX API's.
It would have been nice to see them working with codeweavers, but it seems the developers have very different approaches at reaching the same goal. Maybe each project can learn something from one another.
Quoting: ziabiceSeems that there's important progress on EAC support too: https://twitter.com/Guy15241/status/1280242391753129985
Awesome news, I hope we see the results of that work soon as release!!
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