Linux Gaming

Hello,

Recently I was fed up with bad performance in CS2 on Fedora 41 (KDE/Wayland/kernel 6.11.7-300) and started googling around. With my RX6600 I was able to hit 60fps on 1080p/low, but it would often go as low as 40. Trying to change te resolution would cause some strange mouse issues where the game wouldn't let me look to the right or down at all. After reading some posts and getting opposing info, I decided to dnf install plasma-workspaces-x11 and test things out. The X11 session doubled the FPS like it was nothing. A constant 120fps with the possibility to go even higher. Is there something that I could try and fix in Wayland to achieve the same level of performance? As far as I understood, KDE might axe X11 support in the upcomign releases and I wouldn't want to be left behind.

This is a big release, adding several new major features:

• Nvidia support! LACT now works with Nvidia GPUs for all of the core functionality (monitoring, clocks configuration, power limits and fan control). It uses the NVML library, so unlike the Nvidia control panel it doesn't rely on X11 extensions and works under Wayland.
• Multiple profiles for configuration. Currently it is not possible to switch them automatically, but they are configurable through the UI or the unix socket.
• Clocks configuration now works on AMD IGPUs (at least RDNA2). Previously it was not parsed properly due to lack of VRAM settings.
• Zero RPM mode settings on RDNA3. Currently this needs a linux-next to be used, and the functionality is expected to land in kernel 6.13. But this resolves a long-standing issue with RDNA3 that made the fan always disabled below a certain temperature, even if using a custom curve.

There are many other improvements as well, such as better looking and more efficient plots rendering in the historical charts window (thanks to @In-line ) and a Fedora COPR repository providing LACT packages (currently in testing).

Nvidia showcase:

Full list of changes:

🚀 Features

• Add support for multiple settings profiles (#327)
• Show dialog when attempting to reconnect to daemon
• Include device info and stats responses in debug snapshot
• Improve plot rendering, use supersampling and do it in a background thread
• [breaking] Add initial Nvidia support (#388)
• Implement clocks control on Nvidia (#398)
• Add special case for invalid throttle mask
• Add snapshot command to CLI
• Add RDNA3 zero RPM setting (#393)

🐛 Bug Fixes

• Getting pci info in snapshot
• Retry reading p-states if the value is nonsensical
• Increase retry intervals when evaluating GPUs at start
• Make throttling flags ellipsized to avoid massively oversized window (#402)
• Deduplicate throttle status bits
• Update amdgpu-sysfs with iGPU fixes, add steam deck quirk (#407)
• Fedora spec non-default builds (#410)

🚜 Refactor

• Make info page a relm component (#404)
• Drop redundant ClockSettings structure in the ui

📚 Documentation

• Update issue template to mention common RDNA3 problems
• Fix issue template yaml
• Move description to label in issue template

⚙️ Miscellaneous Tasks

• Bump version
• Update docs, enforce minimum rust version
• Set codegen-units=1 to decrease binary size in release (#390)
• Include service log in debug snapshot
• Drop old bench feature
• Bump dependencies
• Bump version
• Remove unused Cargo features (#405)

Developer

• Automatically create release on tag push
• Trigger workflow on tag push
• Bump workflow rust version
• Add debug builds to makefile
• Skip building signed packages if signing secret is not found
• Don't run rust checks on master pushes, only PRs

Packaging

• Add libdrm to debian dependencies
• Add fedora 41 package (#399)
• Generate Spec Files for COPR on Release Publish (#406)
• Drop invalid copr trigger check

I have been experiencing minor graphical issues on several Steam games. I have only encountered issues through Steam. GOG games launched through Heroic and Lutris seem to work flawlessly. I am using Arch Linux and my GPU is an AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT. I'd be grateful for any help

Added support for NVIDIA Optical Flow API and DLSS 3 Frame Generation.

Memory managment

Resource and memory management were completely rewritten in order to use allocated video memory more efficiently:

• Reduced fragmentation may reduce peak memory usage in games such as God of War by up to 1 GiB in extreme cases.
• Memory defragmentation is now performed periodically to return some unused memory back to the system. The goal is not to reduce VRAM usage at all costs; instead this is done conservatively if the system is under memory pressure, or if a significant amount of allocated memory is unused. Keeping some unused memory is useful to quickly service subsequent allocations.

Note: Defragmentation is currently disabled on Intel's ANV driver, see #4434. The dxvk.enableMemoryDefrag config option can be set to enable or disable this feature via the the Configuration file.

Driver support

While technically not required, the new memory management works best on drivers that support both VK_EXT_memory_budget and VK_KHR_maintenance5. The Driver Support page was updated accordingly.

D3D8 / D3D9

Software cursor

Support for emulated cursors was implemented for the D3D9 cursor API, which allows games to set an arbitrary image as the mouse cursor. This fixes an issue in Dungeon Siege 2 (#3020) and makes the cursor appear correctly in Act of War and various older D3D8 games. (PR #4302)

Sampler pool

Unreal Engine 3 games using D3D9 have a quirk in that they pass a seemingly uninitialized value as the mipmap LOD bias. In order to avoid creating more Vulkan sampler objects than the driver supports, previous versions of DXVK would round the LOD bias to a multiple of 0.5, which could introduce visual inaccuracies. As a more correct soluition, DXVK will now destroy unused Vulkan samplers on the fly and use the correct LOD bias.

Note: The aforementioned workaround was never needed or used in the D3D11 implementation, it only affected D3D9.

Bug fixes and Improvements

• On Nvidia driver version 565.57.01 and newer, strict float emulation is enabled by default for improved correctness. Games for which this option was already enabled may see a small performance uplift on this driver.
• Made various changes to potentially improve performace on certain mobile GPUs. (includes PR #4358)
• Display modes are now ordered by refresh rate to be more consistent with wined3d and fix issues with some games picking the wrong display mode.
• Fixed a large number of wine test failures.
• Ascension to the Throne: Fixed old regression that would cause parts of the ground to render black. (#4338, PR #4341)
• Command & Conquer: Generals: Fixed performance issue caused by a missing D3D8 entry point. (PR #4342)
• King's Bounty: Warriors of the North: Fixed water rendering issue. (#4344, PR #4350)
• Tomb Raider: Legend: Fixed flickering geometry with strict float emulation. (#4319, PR #4442)
• Rayman 3: Fixed a regression that caused rendering issues. (#4422, PR #4423)

D3D11 / DXGI

Resource management changes

In order to reduce system memory pressure and improve stability in 32-bit games, creating, uploading and discarding resources is now throttled if the amount of temporary staging memory allocations exceed a certain threshold. This fixes crashes in Total War: Rome II and a number of other games. Additionally, large DYNAMIC textures commonly used for video playback will no longer use a staging buffer.

The d3d11.maxDynamicImageBufferSize and d3d11.maxImplicitDiscardSize options were removed accordingly; affected games such as Total War: Warhammer III and Ryse: Son of Rome should now perform well by default, without excessive memory usage.

Note: These changes negatively affect CPU-bound performance in a number of games, including Shadow Warrior 2.

Bug fixes and Improvements

• SEQUENTIAL swap effects are now implemented for DXGI swap chains, which allows games to read previously presented backbuffers. This fixes an issue wherein savegame thumbnails would appear black in certain visual novels. (https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Proton/issues/7017)
• Devirtualized some D3D11 method calls to improve compatibility with Special K.
• Fixed incorrect shader code generation for EvaluateAttributeSnapped.
• Lock contention is reduced in certain games that use Deferred Contexts for rendering. This may improve performance on older CPUs in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice and some other games.
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remastered: Fixed a possible GPU hang. (#3884)
• Diablo 4: Work around an issue where the game does not start if an integrated GPU is exposed.
• The Sims 4: Work around a use-after-free bug in the game's D3D11 renderer for real this time. (#4360)
• Vindictus: Work around potential rendering issues caused by uninitialized constant buffer data. (#4405, #4406)
• Yakuza 0 and Yakuza Kiwami: Fixed a regression introduced in DXVK 2.4.1 that would cause these games to lock up on start. (PR #4297)

Miscellaneous changes

• An SDL3 backend was added for dxvk-native. (PR #4326, #4404)
• Fixed an issue introduced in DXVK 2.4.1 which would lead to error messages about failed buffer creation.
• Fixed a long-standing issue where overlapping occlusion queries would lead to incorrect Vulkan usage. (#2698)
• Fixed a rare issue wherein timestamp queries would not be tracked correctly and could read incorrect data.
• Fixed various other issues that led to Vulkan validation errors in games such as Dishonored 2, Tales of Arise and The Sims 4.
• Fixed various issues with MSVC builds. (PR #4444)
• Disabled a workaround for boken render target clears on Nvidia drivers prior to version 560.28.03 on unaffected drivers.
• If supported, VK_EXT_pageable_device_local_memory is now used to enable better driver-side memory management.

Hotfix:

• Revert DRI_PRIME auto-setting (broke too many non-standard setups)

• DXVK updated with dxvk.hideIntegratedGraphics = True for Diablo IV (https://github.com/doitsujin/dxvk/commit/125f0acefdb5c7e9422fc7b5afffc442d9cef34d) to resolve the grey screen issue on systems with AMD iGPU + dGPU.

-bump wine to latest bleeding edge

-bump dxvk to latest git

-bump vkd3d-proton to latest git (contains additional MH Wilds fix)

-bump dxvk-nvapi to latest git

-import upstream lsteamclient changes

-import upstream vrclient changes

-add xdefiant patch (thanks tperalta82)

-auto-apply DRI_PRIME=1 when more than one gpu is detected. This allows Diablo IV to get passed the grey screen on igpu+dgpu systems.

-add protonfixes for silent hill 3 video playback

-add protonfixes for Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered internet connection (thanks UsernamesAreNotMyThing)

I'm currently using Bazzite Gnome with open Nvidia drivers, and I cannot get Steam Input to work with non-steam games at all. I have games from GOG and Epic Games that I downloaded through Heroic Games Launcher, and I tried everything for steam input work with them, but it just doesn't seem to work. Here is what I did:

1. I added the games to the steam client.
2. I configured the device inputs under "Controller" from the settings menu.
3. I made sure that the game I want to play has steam input turned on.
4. I disabled the "use desktop configuration in launcher" option.
5. I disabled steam input for non-game controller layouts.
6. I made sure to enable steam input for all types of controllers.

Non of these steps seem to remedy the issue. I want to make it clear that I did not experience this issue while using the Steam Deck, which is also running a Linux distribution. Any suggestions?

Thank you in advance.

I'm extensively looking to setting up gaming on linux inside a VM on proxmox VE. But nothing i've tried worked.

I'm trying out bunch of games through Steam and its proton compatibility layer. Games I tried:

• Sekiro
• Elden Ring
• Dark Souls 3

I've tried:

• Manjaro KDE
• Bazzite

on VM:

I was successfully install Windows 10 inside a VM and run games on there. By following this reddit post

But on any linux VM attempts, games can go 'starting' but back to 'launch' in a few seconds. It just fails...

I just want to know if anybody has ever successfully done this:D

Hotfix:

• Add missing proton script python uuid import (which broke prefix creation)

Proton:

-wine updated to latest bleeding edge

-dxvk updated to latest git

-vkd3d-proton updated to latest git

-dxvk-nvapi updated to latest git

-ICU building + linking imported from upstream

-misc proton script fixes imported from upstream

Protonfixes:

-Audio fix for Mini Ninjas (thanks UsernamesAreNotMyThing)

-Fix typo'd mod support for ES: Oblivion (thanks MaxBosse)

-Disable esync/fsync in Disgaea 4 to prevent crash (thanks UsernamesAreNotMyThing)

Nothing major here, just a refresh of various parts that need updates from git, mostly to add new video playback fixes from upstream proton.

EA needed a scapegoat it seems

Is there a way to make gamescope use my cursor theme?

Before I write an issue on the GitHub page I wanna ask if someone has a solution to this. It doesn't make a difference if its run with --force-grab-cursor or not, its always this ugly, tiny and barely visible default black X11 cursor. I cant remember when it happened exactly since most games overwrite the system cursor but my rough guess is around 3.15.5.

gamescope: 3.15.14

Plasma: 6.2.2 Wayland

default Plasma cursor theme Breeze

Is there a consensus on how to run Steam and games isolated from the main system? I've seen Flatpak mentioned in some Reddit post but I'm not sure how good the separation is. Everything about Flatpak sounds like an early work in progress, but I can be convinced otherwise.

I don't trust Steam or the closed source games at all. Currently I've got a second disk with a separate system for gaming, but I very rarely have the motivation to reboot. I want to game more (and spend less time on social media) but compromising my main OS is out of the question. Stuff in the home directory should be isolated from the games. Ideally no network access too, but Steam will not work in that case.

If someone has seen a ready made guide I'd be happy to read it. Any tips would be nice too.

Hello guys. I posted this problem elsewhere but I've yet to find a solution. I'm experiencing an extremely annoying issue in which the monitor keeps disconnecting and reconnecting in loop post login after a system update. I've first experienced this issue with fedora after updating my system and installing nvidia graphics card. I then tried Bazzite, same exact issue, but at least with Bazzite I can roll back the update, which is a temporary solution. There are several culprits that could be causing this issue:

1. Kernel update

2. Nvidia drivers update

3. Wayland

4. All of the above

Is anyone else experiencing this exact issue? And if so, any solution besides rolling back the update? Any help is appreciated.

Relevant specs:

1. Nvidia RTX 3060ti GPU

2. Intel Core i5 11400F CPU

3. Asus Prime B560M-K motherboard

4. Samsung Odyssey G5 Monitor (connected through displayport)

My venerable Logitech Mouse a is nearing the end of it's life and I'm thinking about a replacement. Since I have no plans to switch my Gaming PC to Windows 11 I would like to have a mouse (and eventually a keyboard) that properly supports Linux.

I looked at the sites for Corsair, Logitech and Razer and the corresponding software is available for Windows (and sometimes MacOS for some reason) but no Linux Version.

Since I actually use some of the fancy Gaming-Gear functionality like setting up macros and variable DPI I'd like to use the software that is used to set these things up.
How do you guys deal with this?
Is there a manufacturer that offers their software for Linux?
Do these things run properly under Wine?

Early days, but so far 20% of sales of The Protagonish on Linux, only 2% for Mac! @linux_gaming
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2994780/The_Protagonish/

#linux_gaming #indiedev

I'm building a new controller "10ft" gaming PC for my living room. The CPU is a Ryzen 5 3600X and the motherboard is Asus ROG Strix X570-I. I have never done a Linux-based gaming PC before and I want everything to "just work" as best as possible.

I assume this means go with Bazzite and an AMD gpu? Anything else I need to be aware of? As I said the goal after configuring is for it to be entirely controller-controlled (8bitdo ultimate and DS4).