Valve's fantastic first-person puzzle game Portal 2 recently had a huge upgrade that pulled in DXVK giving it Vulkan support, with another update out now to further improve it.
As a reminder: this has nothing to do with Source 2. Portal 2 by default uses Direct3D 9 on Windows and OpenGL on Linux. For the Linux version, original Source engine games like this used a translation layer called ToGL to translate D3D9 to OpenGL. DXVK being added in gives the option to launch Portal 2 with "-vulkan" as a launch option which may improve overall performance.
Here's what's new in the latest update:
Improvements:
- Improved Vulkan implementation
- Overall performance improvements
- Massively improved performance with Anti-Aliasing (MSAA) on AMD
- Made the intro video skippable by any button on a Steam Controller
- Added controller glpyhs to the main menu when using a controller
Bug Fixes:
- Fixed the Super 8 teaser not playing on Linux
- Fixed certain Unicode characters being displayed as garbage on Linux
- Fixed text corruption in the challenge mode UI on Linux
- Fixed a crash that could occur wrt. networking on Linux
- Fixed the text color in advanced video settings not respecting the dark panel UI variant
- Fixed Model/Texture detail defaulting to Low in Vulkan mode
- Fixed the challenge mode timer being cut off
- Fixed a crash after trying to play a demo without having the respective map
- Fixed a crash when trying to load invalid VPKs
You can buy and play Portal 2 on Steam.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
legluondunet Mar 2, 2021
Is this second opus as good as first one?
Last edited by legluondunet on 2 March 2021 at 9:25 am UTC
Quoting: legluondunetI enjoyed playing the first opus.
Is this second opus as good as first one?
Are you serious? Portal 2 is considered one of the best video games ever.
8700K, 6900XT, 3440x1440
Portal 2 timedemo portal2bench
All video settings max/min, vsync off, multicore enabled. 3 run avg FPS.
Min settings vs Max settings, 2 weeks ago
OpenGL 722 vs 562 fps avg
RADV 981 vs 238 fps avg
Min settings vs Max settings, new patch today
OpenGL 745 vs 580 fps avg
RADV 1010 vs 805 fps avg
Quoting: legluondunetI enjoyed playing the first opus: a video game with such quality: humor, reflexion, action, ambiance...Not as good but still good
Is this second opus as good as first one?
Quoting: dpanterSiduction (Debian sid based), kernel 5.11.1, Mesa git 21.1
8700K, 6900XT, 3440x1440
Portal 2 timedemo portal2bench
All video settings max/min, vsync off, multicore enabled. 3 run avg FPS.
Min settings vs Max settings, 2 weeks ago
OpenGL 722 vs 562 fps avg
RADV 981 vs 238 fps avg
Min settings vs Max settings, new patch today
OpenGL 745 vs 580 fps avg
RADV 1010 vs 805 fps avg
Wow, what a jump!
Quoting: legluondunetI enjoyed playing the first opus: a video game with such quality: humor, reflexion, action, ambiance...
Is this second opus as good as first one?
I assume you have been living in a cave somewhere out there for the last ten years. A little heads-up: We've had a pandemic for more than a year now. Just in case you are wondering...
Back to Portal 2: It improves on the first one in every aspect - storyline, mechanics, content. (Naturally the whole portal idea was not new anymore.)
legluondunet Mar 2, 2021
Quoting: dpanterSiduction (Debian sid based), kernel 5.11.1, Mesa git 21.1
8700K, 6900XT, 3440x1440
Portal 2 timedemo portal2bench
All video settings max/min, vsync off, multicore enabled. 3 run avg FPS.
Min settings vs Max settings, 2 weeks ago
OpenGL 722 vs 562 fps avg
RADV 981 vs 238 fps avg
Min settings vs Max settings, new patch today
OpenGL 745 vs 580 fps avg
RADV 1010 vs 805 fps avg
Impressive progress.
Quoting: TuxeeBack to Portal 2: It improves on the first one in every aspect - storyline, mechanics, content. (Naturally the whole portal idea was not new anymore.)
I disagree, actually. Portal 2 is undoubtedly a much bigger game than Portal, but I wouldn't say that it's a better game.
The first game was a brilliantly honed tiny gem. It benefitted greatly from its deliberately limited scope and defined purpose.
By contrast, the sequel is sprawling and unfocused. It has you wandering around to find the place to make your own puzzles, so you can solve the puzzles, and go back to more wandering. Whereas the original was really funny, the sequel is grimdark and sardonic. Stephen Merchant, whose role is to be really annoying, succeeds very well at being really annoying.
Portal is a perfectly-executed figureskating routine,and Portal 2 is a cross-country ski.
All of which is to say that everyone should definitely play both.
Quoting: legluondunetI enjoyed playing the first opus: a video game with such quality: humor, reflexion, action, ambiance...
Is this second opus as good as first one?
If you enjoy the first one, you'll enjoy the second, for sure. It has more everything, puzzles, mechanics, it's bigger and with better graphics.
But like others said, this no means that it's a better game. I have a lot of memories of portal 1, it's short but remarkable, the second, not much
The thing is, you can only play it for the first time once. Its genius lies in the way it reveals the story, and the twist(s) in the tale, through gameplay, often creating textbook examples of the principle “show, don't tell” in the process. You can appreciate that a second time, but you can't be surprised again. And while the second game tries very hard to replicate some of that, it's not nearly so neatly done.
Portal 2 is a great, great game. Portal is a work of art.
*Probably.
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