With the recent release of DXVK 2.0, the Direct3D 9 / 10 / 11 to Vulkan translation layer, it pulled in DXVK-Native for Native Linux builds and so Valve has upgraded Half-Life 2, Portal, Portal 2, Left 4 Dead 2.
So what does this mean? Well, the original Linux ports used TOGL to convert the original Windows Direct3D rendering system over to OpenGL. Then Valve began updating each of them all to DXVK last year to give them better performance on Linux desktop and Steam Deck. With DXVK 2.0, they're ready to take advantage of all the extra performance improvements to be found there.
Why the need for the translation between graphics APIs? This was before Source 2, which eventually gained Native Vulkan support, so these older ports didn't have it available. Portal 2 additionally noted in the update it had "Fixed some controller input bugs" as well. Nice.
Great to see Valve support their classic titles for so long.
Hopefully we will find out whatever NEON PRIME actually is from Valve soon.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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17 comments
I use the experimental -vulkan option on CSGO, I hope that they updates it to enable the resolution change.
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slaapliedje Nov 21, 2022
Ha, Source 2 came out so long ago, I keep forgetting that they basically haven't really released a normal Game with it (Half-life: Alyx is a VR game, and I don't ever think about the others, as I don't play those type of games at all (Dota2 being multiplayer/eSport focused and Artifact being a card game).
For some reason I was thinking they had started updating their older games to use Source 2.
For some reason I was thinking they had started updating their older games to use Source 2.
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StalePopcorn Nov 21, 2022
Too bad I can't hold my breath on an update for Portal Stories: Mel (what a brain buster for me, but the micro stuttering is such an immersion breaker)—good news nonetheless!
1 Likes, Who?
the games already run good in linux but with this what the hell push some more performance lol
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Too bad I can't hold my breath on an update for Portal Stories: Mel (what a brain buster for me, but the micro stuttering is such an immersion breaker)—good news nonetheless!
I was fighting a level (original/hard mode) for days! And then the incredible feeling when you finally get it...! It's the Steam achievement I'm most proud of.
Last edited by Eike on 21 November 2022 at 5:03 pm UTC
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And I'm reminded that some Source games will not run on xfs filesystems :-(
https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Source-1-Games/issues/1685
https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Source-1-Games/issues/1685
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I use the experimental -vulkan option on CSGO, I hope that they updates it to enable the resolution change.
Note that even with Vulkan, windowed mode already allows you to use any resolution with the -w and -h command line arguments. I use this to play in 3840×1620 ultrawide with the window borders hidden by KDE's per-window overrides (Alt+F3).
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ElectricPrism Nov 21, 2022
Awesome, this increases the reach of these games as they can be played on more devices with lower specs.
I wonder if you could run this with box86 and play on Raspberry Pi 4 or other devices not originally intended for gaming.
It does make a big difference having the extra frames especially with FPS and fast moving games.
Since Black MESA is HL2 it would be really cool to get Vulkan imported into Black Mesa too.
Last edited by ElectricPrism on 21 November 2022 at 11:33 pm UTC
I wonder if you could run this with box86 and play on Raspberry Pi 4 or other devices not originally intended for gaming.
It does make a big difference having the extra frames especially with FPS and fast moving games.
Since Black MESA is HL2 it would be really cool to get Vulkan imported into Black Mesa too.
Last edited by ElectricPrism on 21 November 2022 at 11:33 pm UTC
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Mountain Man Nov 22, 2022
These games are so old that even a modest system could already max them out, so any performance gains from this update will be invisible.
I wish Valve would just give us Half-Life 3 already. They know we want it.
I wish Valve would just give us Half-Life 3 already. They know we want it.
1 Likes, Who?
KrejsyLainen Nov 22, 2022
Awesome, this increases the reach of these games as they can be played on more devices with lower specs.
I wonder if you could run this with box86 and play on Raspberry Pi 4 or other devices not originally intended for gaming.
It does make a big difference having the extra frames especially with FPS and fast moving games.
Since Black MESA is HL2 it would be really cool to get Vulkan imported into Black Mesa too.
As long as the opengl version is an option, otherwise those with GPUs older than AMD 6xxx, Nvidia 5xx, and Intel HD 3xxx won't be able to play at all.
Yeah, Mac Blesa has been all kinds of borked every time I've tried the native Linux version(AMD GPU), so I've just used proton, native vulkan would be nice :)
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DefaultX-od Nov 22, 2022
That's cool and all, but... Where is Portal RTX??? It is already THE END of November!
And also do you think people with RTX cards would be able to play it on Linux?
And also do you think people with RTX cards would be able to play it on Linux?
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That's cool and all, but... Where is Portal RTX??? It is already THE END of November!
And also do you think people with RTX cards would be able to play it on Linux?
Portal RTX isn't made by Valve
1 Likes, Who?
slaapliedje Nov 22, 2022
And I'm reminded that some Source games will not run on xfs filesystems :-(Huh, wonder how many people are using xfs on their home directories? I know Redhat switched to it, but not sure how many use that as their desktop OS (I would, but I like shiny new things).
https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Source-1-Games/issues/1685
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What's new with dxvk 2? Or is it just to keep easier versioning and not because there was an huge upgrade?
1 Likes, Who?
And I'm reminded that some Source games will not run on xfs filesystems :-(Huh, wonder how many people are using xfs on their home directories? I know Redhat switched to it, but not sure how many use that as their desktop OS (I would, but I like shiny new things).
https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Source-1-Games/issues/1685
RHEL doesn't exactly target consumers. Fedora switched to btrfs as the default in F33.
I'll probably reformat the drive to ext4 when I get a chance.
nit: Red Hat
1 Likes, Who?
slaapliedje Nov 23, 2022
Right, hence my 'not sure how many use that as their desktop OS'. Though with flatpak you could keep some moderately current stuff on there and have a rock solid OS.And I'm reminded that some Source games will not run on xfs filesystems :-(Huh, wonder how many people are using xfs on their home directories? I know Redhat switched to it, but not sure how many use that as their desktop OS (I would, but I like shiny new things).
https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Source-1-Games/issues/1685
RHEL doesn't exactly target consumers. Fedora switched to btrfs as the default in F33.
I'll probably reformat the drive to ext4 when I get a chance.
nit: Red Hat
Curious why you'd switch to ext4 over btrfs? btrfs is actually now being used as the default for Synology and QNAP NAS systems. It's rather stable, and from what I've seen over on Phoronix, kernel 6.1 will be adding tons of performance enhancements to it as well.
Ext4 is great, but it's really old at this point, though that does make it extremely stable.
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What's new with dxvk 2? Or is it just to keep easier versioning and not because there was an huge upgrade?
https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2022/11/vulkan-based-d3d9-10-and-11-translation-layer-dxvk-version-20-out-now/
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