DirectX 11 or Vulkan???

[OyajiBR☕]

I don't understand the difference well, could someone explain? Thanks!

[The Exile]

Originally posted by OyajiBR:

I don't understand the difference well, could someone explain? Thanks!

Answer:
Use Vulkan over DX11 whenever possible unless the current patch has introduced issues into the Vulkan render or you are using significantly older hardware that doesn't support, or has poor support, for Vulkan, Aka Nvidia Maxwell (900 Series) GPUs.

"Vulkan presents a potential performance increase over DX11 in most cases, though may be slightly less stable for now. We generally recommend you use Vulkan, the default Graphics API."
- Larian Studios

https://larian.com/support/faqs/what-is-vulkan-what-is-the-difference-between-vulkan-and-dx11_48

===

What is an API?
Application programming interface

An API sits between the application(software) and the graphics card(hardware) and creates a communication bridge between the two so they can pass data to each other and communicate. A lower level API allows more fine control of the hardware, where as a high level API is more generalized and doesn't give the developer as much control of the hardware. This tends to free up the developer at the expense of max possible performance that the hardware could generate.

DX11 = Serial Compute ( Not Async ) = No ray tracing = Worse CPU Cores and Threads utilization = Worse GPU utilization = High Level API = Not cross-platform requires Windows = If used on Linux requires translation to alternate API or some form of emulation to work properly on Linux. Either way has a performance cost.

Vulkan = Parallel Compute ( Async ) = Supports ray tracing capabilities = Better CPU Cores and Threads utilization = Better GPU utilization = Low Level API = cross-platform = Works on Linux with no translation necessary and thus no performance cost.

The disadvantages of Vulkan are because it's a lower level API it makes the application developer more responsible for memory allocation, workload dependency management, and CPU-GPU synchronization, aka more work needed from the developers.

AKA, If the developer is having issues coding their render... Vulkan, and DX12 which is similar to Vulkan, won't be as performant as the higher level DX11 render, that kind does things automatically for the developer at the cost of maximum possible performance and reduced support, or none at all, for certain graphical features.

Ideally, you use Vulkan, as it is the much better, and newer API, with support for a host of features DX11 just doesn't support; However, as of BG3's launch, Larian's Vulkan render is still pretty broken and buggy; Currently, Larian's Vulkan render has broken Triple Buffering Vsync Support, among several other small issues. It is my recommendation to use DX11 until they fix these issues in a follow up patch before trying Vulkan again.

This video from Digital Foundry is also worth a watch...
https://youtu.be/V9Kc8025H7U

[Ackranome]

Windows = DX

Open Source = Vulk

[The Exile]

Originally posted by Ackranome:

Windows = DX

Open Source = Vulk

It is much more complicated than that. Lol.

Vulkan is better in any OS as long as the Vulkan render from Larian is working properly. However, currently, it is not. So, it's best to use DX11 to get the best possible performance. If you are playing on a Linux OS though, your choice is made for you, Vulkan.

[Cirrus]

I have been testing today with latest nvidia hotfix drivers two different nvidia GPUs and AMD and Ryzen CPUs and I have changed my mind about DX11 vs vulkan.

I seem to get LESS single core load from DX11 than I get from Vulkan. What this means that users with CPU constraints should select DX11 as it might help not creating CPU bottleneck and cause stutters etc.

[CirceTheSiren]

thanks for this thread i looked into my steam settings which i had not changed after the day of release and was very surprised that i still using download center from canada because of the steam network download overflow that day.
time to redirect all steam downloads a little bit closer to home.
need to check more details this weekend had changed to dx but may try yvulcan for nvidea without triplebuffering but got a lot of improvement after updating to game ready driver with nvidea geforce experience a few days ago.

[InjectTheWaste]

I have personally had Vulkan be much more stable, (GTX 1080TI), it doesn't dip as much but also doesn't peak as high. DX 11 is the only time I've had crashes, although only 3 in total. really the best way is to try both.

But do be aware sometimes switching between them reverts all settings to default not only graphic settings. I don't know why for a 1080TI they recommend ultra 4k because there is no chance.

[Cirrus]

I am chaning my mind again. With intel some heavy graphics scenes are significantly lower CPU load with Vulkan. But it really seems to change from scene to scene. So it back to the best advice there is. Test yourself...for me it is back to Vulkan with intel and nvidia.

[★REM★]

Stability (DirectX) or more performance? (Vulkan) is up to you. Larian official post suggest to use Vulkan even if it is slightly unstable (can crash) because the performance is much better.

[Drake Platinum THE WORLD]

Originally posted by Captain Salt:

long story short they're graphics API's that communicate with your graphics card to render the game.

Use DX11 if you're using an nvidia card, use Vulkan for AMD. Regardless of what you pick you basically won't see a difference unless your card isn't new or you're just barely getting ~60/30/desired FPS normally, in which case go with the above pairing,

bruh vulkan runs immaculate on 30 series gpus tf u on about.

[pRaX]

Also, iirc, Vulkan is the game's default API, was through all of early access and DX11 only added on launch. Someone can happily correct me on this.

[Edelgris]

Digital Foundry's newest test video from Act 3:

@9:25 "even with an AMD GPU [...] Vulcan isn't causing any improvements here. In fact, it's a detriment"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5xe0cy_cAE


Edit: in the older DF video, they say the following:

@8:00 "I recommend most AMD and Nvidia users use dx11 API, especially as your CPU becomes more modern"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9Kc8025H7U

[SteveLosive]

Originally posted by XD:

This game depends 80% on CPU.

Vulkan is better for Intel, d11 is better for AMD.

That's completely false. Vulkan creation was sourced originally from Mantle, which was created by AMD.
Vulkan performs way better on AMD CPU

[SteveLosive]

Originally posted by Klutch:

Its not a matter of being wrong or right. Vulkan is simply faster if your hardware was built in the last 10 years.

Vulkan is like a crayon box with 10 colors. DX11 has 20 colors. When you need that 11th color on Vulkan get ready for FRAME DROPS!

Or just cancelling out the frame with that 11th color which would result in screen tearing or flickering.

[Klutch]

Originally posted by SteveLosive:

Originally posted by Klutch:

Its not a matter of being wrong or right. Vulkan is simply faster if your hardware was built in the last 10 years.

Vulkan is like a crayon box with 10 colors. DX11 has 20 colors. When you need that 11th color on Vulkan get ready for FRAME DROPS!

Or just cancelling out the frame with that 11th color which would result in screen tearing or flickering.

It was a poor example, but basically what I described is the fact the toolbox for Vulkan is smaller, it will be theoretically faster in the tasks that it was designed for.

[Remnar]

Originally posted by SteveLosive:

Originally posted by XD:

This game depends 80% on CPU.

Vulkan is better for Intel, d11 is better for AMD.

That's completely false. Vulkan creation was sourced originally from Mantle, which was created by AMD.
Vulkan performs way better on AMD CPU

I assumed this as well, but in my case it's incorrect. I have an nVidia GPU and a AMD Ryzen CPU. Vulkan looks ugly and is less performant. X4 Foundations proved that, also Godot a baby's game engine (good for beginners), uses Vulkan and is ugly. Direct X looks way better on my system and performs better too, especially when DX12 is used. So either my CPU is just bad, which I doubt, or the devs implementation of Vulkan is bad, or Vulkan is just ♥♥♥♥ to begin with. I think people have varying opinions on this based on their system specs, but I haven't figured out what makes Vulkan better than DX, because in my case, it's the opposite.