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.

[mimizukari]

how about running them in DX12 instead since that optimizes CPU calls so nicely for Intel&NVIDIA combos.

[Omega]

Publicado originalmente por Kurumi Tokisaki:

how about running them in DX12 instead since that optimizes CPU calls so nicely for Intel&NVIDIA combos.

Not all games support DirectX12. Especially older games which were made pre-DX12.

[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.

[r.linder]

Publicado originalmente por Kurumi Tokisaki:

how about running them in DX12 instead since that optimizes CPU calls so nicely for Intel&NVIDIA combos.

DX12 support is limited, and Vulkan is often better in a lot of cases. Not all of them, but a lot of them.

[xSOSxHawkens]

Hmm... This is interesting... I might have to try this out this week. I could use a 4GB GTX-670 (about -10% form a 1050ti) and pair it up with a couple *very* low end CPU's... An Athlon II x4 645 in an AM2+ board with 6GB of 1066Mhz DDR2, and a socket 939 Athlon 64x2 with 4GB (~3.25GB due to nF4 chipset limits) of DDR400.

See just how far a CPU limit can be lowered with close to hardware API's...

[CursedPanther]

Interesting. This will certainly be very helpful.

Most important thing is the updating seems very consistent.

[Omega]

Publicado originalmente por xSOSxHawkens:

Hmm... This is interesting... I might have to try this out this week. I could use a 4GB GTX-670 (about -10% form a 1050ti) and pair it up with a couple *very* low end CPU's... An Athlon II x4 645 in an AM2+ board with 6GB of 1066Mhz DDR2, and a socket 939 Athlon 64x2 with 4GB (~3.25GB due to nF4 chipset limits) of DDR400.

See just how far a CPU limit can be lowered with close to hardware API's...

I believe these cards do not have full Vulkan support, so some games might not work.

Publicado originalmente por CursedPanther:

Interesting. This will certainly be very helpful.

Most important thing is the updating seems very consistent.

The DXVK developer is hired by Valve, so he is working on it full time.

[Electric Cupcake]

Yessss.... smash the Microsoft monopoly. Open tools and standards and APIs for all! Join us now and share the software, you'll be freeeee, hackers, you'll be freeeee!

[Omega]

Publicado originalmente por Hugsie Muffinball:

Yessss.... smash the Microsoft monopoly. Open tools and standards and APIs for all! Join us now and share the software, you'll be freeeee, hackers, you'll be freeeee!

Free software song.. By Richard Stallman.. horrible song..

[Electric Cupcake]

If only Nvidia would stop being pricks and give some actual support towards nouveau

https://www.reddit.com/r/linux_gaming/comments/7v008n/nouveau_hopes_for_basic_vulkan_driver_this_year/

[Omega]

Publicado originalmente por Hugsie Muffinball:

If only Nvidia would stop being pricks and give some actual support towards nouveau

https://www.reddit.com/r/linux_gaming/comments/7v008n/nouveau_hopes_for_basic_vulkan_driver_this_year/

Novideo Nvidia has been improving support by supplying more documentation and firmware for their hardware and they might start giving actuall support this year to Nouveau development.

[hawkeye]

Regarding Vulkan support for gpus, OpenGL used to provide support for a lot of gpus by translating calls to DirectX via a wrapper. There should be a web page somewhere that lists how Vulkan support is provided, if at all, for each gpu model. It's not like DirectX where it supports all gpus because it's a standard. Supported extensions are another issue.

Like this one, but a lot more sophisticated, including if it's native or wrapper -
https://vulkan.gpuinfo.org/

[Vulkan]

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

[Omega]

Publicado originalmente por 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.

[Vulkan]

Publicado originalmente por Omega:

Publicado originalmente por 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.

tried it on a ue4 and ue3 game both have crashed on startup. i might download borderlands 2 and see how it does there.

edit: just to clarify, i should be adding d3d11.dll to the games directory if its running dx11 for example, correct?