Left 4 Dead 2 updated with Vulkan support thanks to DXVK

We've only just seen a new release of the Direct3D to Vulkan translation layer DXVK, and now it's powering Left 4 Dead 2 with a fresh free upgrade out now.

Much like we saw with DXVK being added to Portal 2, this new rendering mode is optional. It can be enabled by adding "-vulkan" as a command line option. To do so: right click the game and go to Properties, ensure you're on the General tab on the left, then enter "-vulkan" (without quotes) in the Launch Options box.

There's plenty else that's new including:

- Better support for ultrawide monitors in the UI and game (requires Vulkan if using Linux)
- Marked the game as DPI-aware for high DPI displays.
- Improved default settings for window size and type.
- Improved full-screen quad rendering performance.
- Made captions anti-aliased
- Marked fps_max and viewmodel_fov as FCVAR_RELEASE.
- Cvars 'survivor_incap_health' and 'survivor_incap_decay_rate' can now be changed after startup.
- New cvar 'charger_pz_claw_damage'; functions the same as equivalent melee cvars for other specials.
- New archived cvar "addons_hide_conflict_dialog" suppresses the warning dialog in the addons screen. Any conflicting addons will still be highlighted in red with conflicts printed to the console.
- Added an FOV slider to the Multiplayer settings.
- Added a +bench_demo [name]   command line parameter which will run a demo, and quit after it is finished.
- Added a -bench_settings [name] command line parameter to load a cfg/video_bench_{name}.txt file containing settings to load. There are a set of defaults provided, very_high_4k, very_high, high, medium and low.
- Lobbies that connect via a forced server IP are not considered for "Official Only" Quick Match searches.
- Overhauled UI usability on controller
• Added controller button icons across the UI.
• Made confirmation prompts accessible on controller.
• Now able to select mutations on controller.
• Now able to fully manage lobbys on controller.
• Now able to manage addons on controller.
• Now able to browse achievement details on controller.
• The game instructor (in-game hints) now shows controller buttons and hints.
• Added a flashlight binding to the default controller config.
• Made the intro video skippable by any button on a Steam Controller.

Plus a bunch of bug fixes, some of which are Linux specific including a startup crash, possible text corruption fixes for UTF-8 conversion, addon info being truncated "much earlier on Linux", the Windowed (No Border) option should now work on Linux plus a bunch of new scripting hooks for modders.

What's the point in adding Vulkan like this? Well, the original ports from Valve used a layer called ToGL which translated the original Direct3D rendering to OpenGL. With the Vulkan launch option this would replace it. It should give better overall performance, and hopefully smoother framerates. Perhaps even helping with lower end hardware, like an upcoming SteamPal handheld which would make sense for all the controller fixes.

You can play Left 4 Dead 2 on Steam.