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Somehow, I missed that DXVK 2.3 went out last week. So here's a run over what's new for this Vulkan-based translation layer that converts Direct3D 9/10/11 for Wine and Proton.

One of the headline improvements here is presentation improvements. If you have support for the VK_KHR_present_wait extension, and have vertical synchronization enabled, you might end up seeing reduced input latency in some games. However, on some platforms and compositors frame latency may be higher than expected.

On top of that if you have the extension VK_EXT_swapchain_maintenance1 supported, turning VSync on / off may no longer need to recreate the Vulkan swap chain working around severe performance issues in some games. Currently that is only supported on Gamescope when ENABLE_GAMESCOPE_WSI=1 is set.

There's also some configuration changes with dxgi.nvapiHack deprecated in favour of dxgi.hideNvidiaGpu, along with similar options for AMD and Intel GPUs that allows them to put in targeted application workarounds for issues. On top of that dxgi.tearFree and d3d9.tearFree were merged into dxvk.tearFree.

Lots more improvements and fixes including:

  • Configuration options can now be specified via an environment variable, DXVK_CONFIG. See the README for details (PR #3581).
  • If VK_EXT_depth_bias_control is supported, depth bias scaling will now be correct in most situations. This fixes shadow rendering artifacts in various D3D9 games and is especially important on GPUs that do not support 24-bit depth formats. This affects games such as F.E.A.R. (#1461), Far Cry 2 (#2941) and Assassin's Creed Brotherhood (#2642).
  • If VK_EXT_line_rasterization and its relevant features are supported, smooth or rectangular lines will now be used if requested by the application. This functionality is generally not used by games, but may be useful for applications such as level editors.
  • If VK_KHR_maintenance5 is supported, DXGI_FORMAT_A8_UNORM images will now use the corresponding Vulkan format.
  • D3D9 command submission now works the same way as it does for D3D11, which will lead to more submissions but generally reduces resource readback latency. This may improve performance in games that frequently synchronize with the GPU.
  • Fixed a minor issue with D3D9 feedback loop tracking.
  • Fixed a minor issue with D3D11 stream output (#3634).
  • Fixed a bug and performance issues with the implementation of D3D11 tiled resources.
  • Fixed various issues with reporting HDR metadata.
  • Fixed a crash when compiling D3D9 shaders generated by the vkd3d HLSL compiler. (PR #3616)
  • Implemented keyed mutex synchronization on top of newly added winevulkan functionality (PR #3601, PR #3635).
    Note: This will only work with recent Proton builds.
  • Added stubs for various D3D9On12 interop interfaces. This is needed for Train Simulator Classic (#3445).
  • Added an interface to allow external libraries, such as NVAPI, to enable HDR in various D3D11 games as well as Elden Ring (PR #3625).
    Note: This will only work in combination with jp7677/dxvk-nvapi@c3a1c48 or newer. This will not work on Windows.
  • A Total War Saga: TROY: Fixed trees not rendering when MSAA is enabled.
  • Far Cry 2: Fixed crash when using D3D10.
  • Halo Online: Fixed water rendering. (#3594, PR: #3627)
  • Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris: Fixed deadlock when using Exclusive Fullscreen (#3458).
  • RaceRoom Racing Experience: Fixed a crash when starting a race. (#3386, PR: #3389)
  • Spider Man: Shattered Dimensions: Fixed a regression that caused blocky shadows. (#3593, PR: #3624)
  • Test Drive Unlimited 2: Fixed shadows on grass. (#3469, PR: #3471)
  • The Sims 2: Fixed a regression in DXVK 2.2 that affected terrain rendering. (#3474, PR: #3476)
  • Titanfall: Fixed a crash caused by a miscompiled shader.
  • Tomb Raider Anniversary: Improved performance. (#3438, PR: #3439)

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Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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8 comments

mrdeathjr Sep 11, 2023
​This dxvk solve various issues on dx9, respect this

QuoteTomb Raider Anniversary: Improved performance. (#3438, PR: #3439)​

I remember tomb raider underworld show serious frame drops in some places on kraken cave (still here but are less compared when i had geforce gtx 1050)

add support for VK_KHR_maintenance5 (actually supported on my uhd 630 also this VK_KHR_present_wait - VK_EXT_depth_bias_control - VK_EXT_line_rasterization but VK_EXT_swapchain_maintenance1 dont appear and dont see it on https://mesamatrix.net/)



very sadly them dont add d8vk now, curiously all tasks according github are completed

https://github.com/doitsujin/dxvk/pull/3411




Last edited by mrdeathjr on 11 September 2023 at 12:00 pm UTC
fabertawe Sep 11, 2023
Talking of Far Cry 2... I'm not sure if I played this years ago or the first one but are any of the later ones (3 on) worth playing? This is the sort of game I don't mind picking up to play through Proton, as they're often good games and dirt cheap after all these years.
Solitary Sep 11, 2023
Quoting: fabertaweTalking of Far Cry 2... I'm not sure if I played this years ago or the first one but are any of the later ones (3 on) worth playing? This is the sort of game I don't mind picking up to play through Proton, as they're often good games and dirt cheap after all these years.
Far Cry 2 is actually pretty good. FC2 at a time was quite novel and fresh, and set up some of the ideas for the upcoming titles, like moral ambiguity of shooting people (even if those are bad guys).

The question if its worth to play any other... well, I would say FC3 is still worth it as it cemented the formula. Then there is Far Cry Blood Dragon, which is also plenty fun (spin-off FC3 with parody 80s sci-fi craziness).

And that's about it, FC4 is not bad, but doesn't do anything new... and I haven't played FC5, but I got FC6 for free with new AMD hardware and I would say that free is about right price (even though I still question if the time spent was worth it). If anyone said its on sale for 50 cents, I still would not recommend it.
Solitary Sep 11, 2023
Quoting: GuestFar Cry 2 has some annoying parts, like enemies on blockposts chasing you until you kill them, and the game itself feels quite monotonous, but the atmosphere of war torn african country and depressive mood shown well there. today I wouldn't replay that game, it will take too much time for not too much enjoyment.
Well, all Far Cry games are monotonous some way more than other. You don't have to climb any towers in FC2, sooo... that's a plus, right?
fabertawe Sep 11, 2023
Quoting: Solitary...The question if its worth to play any other... well, I would say FC3 is still worth it as it cemented the formula. Then there is Far Cry Blood Dragon, which is also plenty fun (spin-off FC3 with parody 80s sci-fi craziness).

And that's about it, FC4 is not bad, but doesn't do anything new... and I haven't played FC5, but I got FC6 for free with new AMD hardware and I would say that free is about right price (even though I still question if the time spent was worth it). If anyone said its on sale for 50 cents, I still would not recommend it.

Cheers, I'll check those out when I can get around to it... so much backlog it's crazy!
YoRHa-2B Sep 11, 2023
QuoteCurrently it's only supported on Gamescope when ENABLE_GAMESCOPE_WSI=1 is set.
This actually only applies to the EXT_swapchain_maintenance1 part. present_wait is supported on (most) Mesa + Wayland setups regardless of Gamescope (but might be a bit weird on Gnome), as well as Nvidia + X11. Not sure about Nvidia + Wayland off the top of my head.

Sorry if the release notes didn't make this clear.
usrtrv Sep 11, 2023
QuoteFixed various issues with reporting HDR metadata.
Added an interface to allow external libraries, such as NVAPI, to enable HDR in various D3D11 games as well as Elden Ring (PR #3625).
Nice, always good to see HDR progress.
Liam Dawe Sep 12, 2023
Quoting: YoRHa-2B
QuoteCurrently it's only supported on Gamescope when ENABLE_GAMESCOPE_WSI=1 is set.
This actually only applies to the EXT_swapchain_maintenance1 part. present_wait is supported on (most) Mesa + Wayland setups regardless of Gamescope (but might be a bit weird on Gnome), as well as Nvidia + X11. Not sure about Nvidia + Wayland off the top of my head.

Sorry if the release notes didn't make this clear.
Thanks for the correction, made an edit :)
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