Running your DirectX 9/10/11 games in Vulkan

[Omega]

For those who are not aware DXVK is a Vulkan-based translation layer for DirectX 9/10/11. This tool is mainly used by Linux gamers to translate DirectX over to Vulkan.

Here comes the cool part which will be relevant to you people; it also works pretty well on Windows.

So if you have an old game which runs like crap, has bugs or doesn't run at all due to something graphics related you can try using DXVK.

Or use it on your modern games because why not, using Vulkan gives you bragging rights.



I am quite interested how DXVK will change performance in CPU-bound scenarios on Windows, so this is something you people could test.



You can get the latest release of DXVK here;
https://github.com/doitsujin/dxvk/releases

How to use it? Simple, copy all .dll files and put them next to the game executable in the game installation directory.

- Although it's unlikely to cause issues, I do not recommend using it on games which use overly agressive anti-tamper software.

[Cathulhu]

Originally posted by Omega:

Originally posted by Savage Southerner:

This is an incredible find omega! I'll put In to the test in a few CPU bound games and report back. Cheers

It's really nothing new, I have been using it for years already.

Do you have any experience running it with DX11 games on Unity engine? May want to test it on a particular one.

[Vulkan]

Originally posted by Snow:

And now, a few cases where it definitely helps.
Tests were done with DXVK 1.6 under Windows 10 v. 1809.
PC is as such - i5-2500, RX 480, 8GB DDR3 1333CL7 single channel.
Point was to see the performance difference in CPU-bound cases, thus graphics were reduced to avoid GPU limitation.
Borderlands 2[imgur.com]
Borderlands TPS[imgur.com]
TES IV: Oblivion[imgur.com]
STALKER: SOC[imgur.com], both static and dynamic lighting
Fallout: NV[imgur.com]
Those are the games I tested so far that see their performance increased. I'd also like to note that Vulkan brings overall stability (except for initial shader compilation when it might stutter a bit, so first play around for a minute or two), and makes framerate transitions way smoother even if performance drops, as seen here[imgur.com].
So far mostly DXVK helps old-ish DX9 games with a lot of objects and stuff, so if you have such a game - give DXVK a try and posts results here.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ batman! i have to see this for myself.

[Omega]

DXVK is intended to be used while running games under WINE on operating systems such as Linux.

So Windows compatibility might not be great. It's probably not even tested by the developer.

On Windows 10 DirectX9 to Vulkan seems to be working pretty well, DirectX10 and 11 games less so. Make sure you copy the correct dll files, 32bit for 32bit games, 64bit for 64bit games.

I do not have any machines running Windows on-hand right now, so I am going on based what other people are reporting.


I myself use DXVK daily playing games on Linux and rarely have issues with it.

[Cathulhu]

Ok, will test later then. It's worth a try.

[HALO_run]

Originally posted by Omega:

For those who are not aware DXVK is a Vulkan-based translation layer for DirectX 9/10/11. This tool is mainly used by Linux gamers to translate DirectX over to Vulkan.

Here comes the cool part which will be relevant to you people; it also works pretty well on Windows.

So if you have an old game which runs like crap, has bugs or doesn't run at all due to something graphics related you can try using DXVK.

Or use it on your modern games because why not, using Vulkan gives you bragging rights.



I am quite interested how DXVK will change performance in CPU-bound scenarios on Windows, so this is something you people could test.



You can get the latest release of DXVK here;
https://github.com/doitsujin/dxvk/releases

How to use it? Simple, copy the .dll for the coresponding version of DirectX and put it in to the game's directory next to the executable.

- Although it's unlikely to cause issues, I do not recommend using it on games which use overly agressive anti-cheat.

windows 7 or 10?

[Omega]

Originally posted by HALO_run:

Originally posted by Omega:

For those who are not aware DXVK is a Vulkan-based translation layer for DirectX 9/10/11. This tool is mainly used by Linux gamers to translate DirectX over to Vulkan.

Here comes the cool part which will be relevant to you people; it also works pretty well on Windows.

So if you have an old game which runs like crap, has bugs or doesn't run at all due to something graphics related you can try using DXVK.

Or use it on your modern games because why not, using Vulkan gives you bragging rights.



I am quite interested how DXVK will change performance in CPU-bound scenarios on Windows, so this is something you people could test.



You can get the latest release of DXVK here;
https://github.com/doitsujin/dxvk/releases

How to use it? Simple, copy the .dll for the coresponding version of DirectX and put it in to the game's directory next to the executable.

- Although it's unlikely to cause issues, I do not recommend using it on games which use overly agressive anti-cheat.

windows 7 or 10?

Shouldn't matter as long as your GPU can run Vulkan.

[Vulkan]

Originally posted by Omega:

DXVK is intended to be used while running games under WINE on operating systems such as Linux.

So Windows compatibility might not be great. It's probably not even tested by the developer.

On Windows 10 DirectX9 to Vulkan seems to be working pretty well, DirectX10 and 11 games less so. Make sure you copy the correct dll files, 32bit for 32bit games, 64bit for 64bit games.

I do not have any machines running Windows on-hand right now, so I am going on based what other people are reporting.


I myself use DXVK daily playing games on Linux and rarely have issues with it.

so far every dx10/dx11 game has failed to start or has just flat out crashed. im downloading some dx9 games now to test.

[HALO_run]

Originally posted by Omega:

Originally posted by HALO_run:

windows 7 or 10?

Shouldn't matter as long as your GPU can run Vulkan.

should do 1080ti still it's odd that I've never heard of this before how new is this?

[Omega]

Originally posted by HALO_run:

Originally posted by Omega:

Shouldn't matter as long as your GPU can run Vulkan.

should do 1080ti still it's odd that I've never heard of this before how new is this?

It's not aimed at Windows, that is why.

If you were active in Linux gaming communities you can't get around Proton and DXVK.

The project has been going on for about 3 years I think, Valve hire the developer 2 years ago. It is still very much in development, only recently a fork of the project called D9VK was pulled in to DXVK to add DirectX9 support for example.

Here is a screenshot I took of an early (and very buggy) version of DXVK, this was the point at which it started to become quite good.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1462184148

[Omega]

Here is an example of DXVK running Halo MCC under Linux;
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2053041314

I doubt it will run under Windows but it's something you can try.

[Snow]

Originally posted by Savage Southerner:

so far every dx10/dx11 game has failed to start or has just flat out crashed. im downloading some dx9 games now to test.

You have to import all files from x32 or x64 directory, all.

[Vulkan]

Originally posted by Snow:

Originally posted by Savage Southerner:

so far every dx10/dx11 game has failed to start or has just flat out crashed. im downloading some dx9 games now to test.

You have to import all files from x32 or x64 directory, all.

i could kiss you right now! :D that did the trick. im currently testing on deep rock galactic , a ue4 game that suffers from cpu utilization which causes fps drops in cpu limited situations. lets see what happens when using the vulkan api

[Vulkan]

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2053101024

in this exactly same place when using dx11 my fps would drop to 120. now when using vulkan the cpu bottleneck is removed! game changing for this game. lets hope it stays stable.

[Snow]

Originally posted by Savage Southerner:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2053101024

in this exactly same place when using dx11 my fps would drop to 120. now when using vulkan the cpu bottleneck is removed! game changing for this game. lets hope it stays stable.

Right? This thingy is AWESOME! Man we should tell more people about this.
And yeah, it's overall pretty stable, it hasn't crashed on me so far in any game, but keep in mind it might stutter just a bit during initial shader compilation. Once you play the game a bit - it's just better.

What about SimCity 2013, Cities Skylines, anything of that sort? If you have a complex game like that - try there as well.

[Omega]

Be aware that sometimes when you get higher performance it could also be because certain graphical effects may not be working. So do check closely to make sure that anti aliasing, screen space reflections, lighting etc.. are working properly.