Deathloop with ray tracing is now working in Linux via Steam Play (thanks to VKD3D-Proton)

Date:
Mon, 18 Oct 2021 18:32:31 +0000

Description:
Some other Windows games are playable in Linux with ray-traced bells and whistles including Resident Evil: Village.

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Linux gamers wanting to play big-name Windows titles with ray tracing can start getting excited, as strides have been made with getting some games up and running via the VKD3D-Proton project, which is one facet of Steam Play (and its Proton compatibility layer for running Windows offerings).

VKD3D-Proton translates Microsofts Direct3D 12 to Vulkan, and with the latest release which is version 2.5 , theres opt-in (early and experimental) support for DXR 1.1 ray tracing . Best Linux distros for beginners and advanced users Also check out all the best Linux distros for gaming And the best PC games of 2021

As Phoronix spotted, DXR 1.1 is still not done here by any means, and this is early working stuff, with significant bugs still floating around. However,
DXR 1.1 inline raytracing support is fully implemented, and some games appear to be running fine with ray tracing in Linux. (Note that with this version, DXR 1.0 support is considered more or less done and dusted).

Testing has been conducted with DXR 1.1 enabled on Nvidia GPUs, and Deathloop now appears to work fine with ray tracing, as does Resident Evil: Village (though the difference with turning on the flashy effects is apparently
pretty subtle). World of Warcraft works according to reports, but these
havent been confirmed.

And a biggie, Cyberpunk 2077, is working in a fashion: it can be turned on successfully, but suffers from the GPU timing out (crashing back to the desktop).

As the devs note: From here, DXR support is mostly a case of stamping out issues one by one. Analysis: Steaming ahead with ray tracing support

Its obviously great to see progress being made with Steam Play catering for those who want to turn on ray tracing when playing Windows games under Linux. With any luck, it wont be too long before Cyberpunk 2077 one of the heavy hitters of the ray tracing world is properly functional with ray tracing
when running via Steam Play.

An additional bit of excitement comes with the news that Nvidia has made contributions to facilitate VKD3D-Proton enabling DLSS support in Direct3D 12 games, helping boost frame rates when under the demands of ray tracing, to boot.

Weve heard before that maybe the Steam Deck will eventually benefit from ray tracing goodness, as technically the AMD RDNA 2 graphics could run it its just that itd be a slideshow. However, in the future, that reality may change as the demands of ray tracing games become less onerous, and therefore maybe more in reach of the Decks hardware capabilities. (Or indeed a future Steam Deck sequel would obviously offer beefier hardware). Check out the best
gaming PCs currently out there



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/news/deathloop-with-ray-tracing-is-now-working-in-li nux-via-steam-play-thanks-to-vkd3d-proton/


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