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Multiple driver updates have been released by NVIDIA for Linux recently so here's a look at what's new in each.

First up, for those of you sticking with the "Latest Production Branch" version 515.57 went up on June 28th which is mainly just fixing up some issues and getting them working nicely. Here's what's new:

  • Fixed a bug that could cause some graphics applications to crash when they are started while nvidia-drm.ko is not loaded.
  • Fixed an issue where NvFBC could return an incorrect frame if a capture request timed out.
  • Fixed an issue where NvFBC direct capture would wait for multiple queued frames to finish rendering, instead of returning the next rendered frame.
  • Added support for NvFBC direct capture to composite the mouse cursor onto frames.
  • Fixed an issue where Vulkan direct to display could not drive more than 4 displays from a single VkInstance.
  • Fixed a bug that prevented nvidia-settings from accurately reflecting changes to some configuration properties.

Additionally, we missed covering that NVIDIA also updated the Vulkan Beta Driver during June. Version 515.49.05 on June 17th added support for the new open source kernel modules (more on that here) plus these additions:

On July 2nd version 515.49.06 also went up with these changes:

  • New:
  • Fixes:
    • Fixed issue with image copy when one of the formats is a single-plane interleaved video format
    • Fixed issue with vkCmdResetEvent on compute queues
    • Fixed regression with tessellation mode set be the tessellation control shader
    • Fixed issue with underestimate conservative rasterization sometimes not working correctly

If you want a stable experience, just stick with the mainline drivers as the Vulkan Beta is aimed at developers who need to test out the latest Vulkan extensions.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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4 comments

Corben Jul 4, 2022
And I just updated to 515.48.07 on Ubuntu which had the 32bit libs missing for a while.
K, waiting for this update to arrive :)

I'm wondering about the NvFBC entries though, I thought that feature is only available to quadro cards? I mean, there is the "nvidia-patch" repo which enables NvFBC for consumer cards, and I can highly recommend it especially when using OBS with the obs-nvfbc plugin, as it improves performances significantly over the "normal" desktop capture of OBS. And I don't have many regrets patching the driver, as it's really just a software flag, the hardware is totally capable... it's just this feeling doing stuff outside of official support.
robredz Jul 5, 2022
Quoting: CorbenAnd I just updated to 515.48.07 on Ubuntu which had the 32bit libs missing for a while.
K, waiting for this update to arrive :)

I'm wondering about the NvFBC entries though, I thought that feature is only available to quadro cards? I mean, there is the "nvidia-patch" repo which enables NvFBC for consumer cards, and I can highly recommend it especially when using OBS with the obs-nvfbc plugin, as it improves performances significantly over the "normal" desktop capture of OBS. And I don't have many regrets patching the driver, as it's really just a software flag, the hardware is totally capable... it's just this feeling doing stuff outside of official support.

I had to revert to 510, as multiple games refused to load in Steam with the 515 driver and the missing 32 bit libs might try that patch repo, if it works OK with RTX cards
Corben Jul 5, 2022
Quoting: robredz
Quoting: CorbenAnd I just updated to 515.48.07 on Ubuntu which had the 32bit libs missing for a while.
K, waiting for this update to arrive :)

I'm wondering about the NvFBC entries though, I thought that feature is only available to quadro cards? I mean, there is the "nvidia-patch" repo which enables NvFBC for consumer cards, and I can highly recommend it especially when using OBS with the obs-nvfbc plugin, as it improves performances significantly over the "normal" desktop capture of OBS. And I don't have many regrets patching the driver, as it's really just a software flag, the hardware is totally capable... it's just this feeling doing stuff outside of official support.

I had to revert to 510, as multiple games refused to load in Steam with the 515 driver and the missing 32 bit libs might try that patch repo, if it works OK with RTX cards
Since 27th of June it should all work, you might have to install the recommended packages manually though. E.g. for me "apt install nvidia-driver-515" wasn't enough when initially upgrading from 510 when the 32 bit libs where still missing. So I was able to install it, skipping the missing libs, 64 bit games worked, 32 bit games didn't...

After downgrading to 510 again, an upgrade with i386 packages included to 515 went smoothly though, and everything works now. So yeah, you might have to do some terminal tinkering, but it's working now.


Last edited by Corben on 5 July 2022 at 2:54 pm UTC
robredz Jul 5, 2022
Quoting: CorbenAnd I just updated to 515.48.07 on Ubuntu which had the 32bit libs missing for a while.
K, waiting for this update to arrive :)

I'm wondering about the NvFBC entries though, I thought that feature is only available to quadro cards? I mean, there is the "nvidia-patch" repo which enables NvFBC for consumer cards, and I can highly recommend it especially when using OBS with the obs-nvfbc plugin, as it improves performances significantly over the "normal" desktop capture of OBS. And I don't have many regrets patching the driver, as it's really just a software flag, the hardware is totally capable... it's just this feeling doing stuff outside of official support.

I had to revert to 510, as multiple games refused to load in Steam with the 515 driver and the missing 32 bit libs might try that patch repo, if it works OK with RTX cards

Addendum, re-installed 515 is all working now.
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