Does (or when will) SteamOS support ray-tracing on Nvidia RTX cards?

[mtie]

My personal bias is I really don't like Microsoft all that much, and I'd rather not install Windows 10 on any computer I own. I was thinking about building a Steam machine with an RTX 2060 card.

But will the SteamOS graphics stack support RTX ray tracing?

[Scorpion]

it's funny. After all, valve has not yet solved the problem of sound through hdmi on AMD polaris graphics cards. This problem is 4 years old. At this rate ray-tracing they will add 20 years

[TaintedGames]

Isn't ray tracing a developer specific feature The developer decides whether put ray tracing in the game are not

[DirtyCamper]

I don't think you need RTX for ray tracing, as there have been real time ray tracing demos before NVidia introduced RTX.
But: "NVIDIA’s 411.63 driver release now enables an experimental Vulkan extension that exposes NVIDIA’s RTX technology for real-time ray tracing through the Vulkan API."
So as long as the game is written for NVidia on vulkan, it should work.
And on another note:
"This is very different ProRender is 100% pure raytracing, RTX is ray assisted model shading it is still traditional shaders using traditional shading tec pipelines the rays are just used to help inform the shaders on lighting (the number of rays used is very low). This is also not that new and has been used before in games for some effects."
And AMD was already very capable of ray tracing.
So I would advise you to build your steam machine, but stay away from ray tracing. Currently RTX is mostly nvidia vendor lock-in marketing hype.

[dirk.dierickx]

As with anything, it depends on driver support. But gpu drivers on linux have really advanced over the last few years for both nvidia and amd. If it's not already in there, it will find its way to it soon enough.
Ofcourse, then there is still the issue if games will use it. Vulkan is, what, 2 years old now? but i still don't see that much usage, while i expected everybody to jump on it really fast.

[gibblets]

RTX has worked in Linux since day 1, Nvidia shipped the first drivers with support for Vulkan's ray tracing extensions the same day on Linux as they did on Windows. SteamOS has since picked up that update many months ago.

So to answer your question, it does and has supported RTX since last year. Note that it will only work in games that use Vulkan for their ray tracing, like Quake 2 RTX, Wolfenstein Youngblood, or the upcoming DOOM Eternal, as SteamOS does not yet have a fully functional DX12 -> Vulkan implementation.

[PoorPocketsMcNewHold]

Graphics drivers aside, Those drivers are available in the current SteamOS build ? I know that Steam delivers them trough their own repo instead of Debian ones, but since it´s a older debian version, i´m pretty sure they deliver the dkms version of those drivers. Nontheless, You will have support for your driver card RTX capatibilities for sure when using SteamOS don´t worry about that.

[SireDragonChester]

Sorry I know this bit of old topic now, and as Window 7 users (Slowly learning Linux) and love that devs are pushing more for Path tracing/RT.. Its possible on almost any OS (Windows/Linux or even Mac) Dev just need support it and strong enough hardware to do it..

Ray Tracing/Path tracing (Global illumination) is possible even on GTX/AMD RX 580+ gpus. its more less up-to the dev and game company if they wish to do it or not.

CryTek proved that while back with they Neon Noir Ray Tracing Benchmark one while back on Vega 56. I remember seeing same video showing it was running on Vega 56/Vulkan api, but cant find it.. Maybe mis-read it.

https://www.techspot.com/news/79221-much-rtx-crytek-reveals-real-time-ray-tracing.html

you can download the demo yourself ( you need Register with email (Its free) and it download its own launcher (Yes pita but its small)

https://www.cryengine.com/marketplace/product/neon-noir
(please note this for windows only, No idea if work under Linux/Steam Os)

Test it myself and got very good results on new Built R7 2700x, x470 Mobo, 16 GB GDDR4 3200 mhz, GTX 1080ti, Windows 7. 1 TB SSD

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/495731816662171658/656403505434853396/Sire-Crytek-RT1.jpg

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/495731816662171658/656403603476578305/Sire-Crytek-RT-4-2700x-16gb-GTX1080ti-win7-64.jpg

and here screenshot Minecraft Java running one Path tracing modes on same system
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/495731816662171658/643313592711512085/Sire-Java-MC-1.14-4-R-2700x-GTX-1080ti-.jpg

Would Love see somebody try run some game with Path tracing/Ray tracing under Linux and see how well it works.. What we need is see what AMD does for next RDNA gpus and hopefully AMD will (I suspect they will) at some point officially add driver that offers hopefully better RT/Path tracing options for DX 11/12/Vulkan api and even openGl

so YES, Un-officially, Its devs who supporting more now.. Then Nvidia jump on board and tried trick consumer they need to buy over priced RTX/Super RTX gpus, When in fact its possible on older hardware. Just devs didn't push it on older vega/Polaris (AMD) or on pascal GTX cards.
We could have seen a few games on older AMD/Nvida GTX with Path tracing.. But no dev bother to optimizes for it.. Thus why its sucks most, cuz Nvida want you buy over priced RTX.

Nvida wants you think its ONLY possible on RTX.

Lets hope in 2020, We see more dev push for vulkan api/Path tracing and more games for Linux.. but that wishful hoping..

-Sire
Ps I'm slowly wanting move over Linux too, Dual booting windows 7/Pop OS (Linux) atm..

[gibblets]

Originally posted by SireDragonChester:

Sorry I know this bit of old topic now, and as Window 7 users (Slowly learning Linux) and love that devs are pushing more for Path tracing/RT.. Its possible on almost any OS (Windows/Linux or even Mac) Dev just need support it and strong enough hardware to do it..

Ray Tracing/Path tracing (Global illumination) is possible even on GTX/AMD RX 580+ gpus. its more less up-to the dev and game company if they wish to do it or not.

CryTek proved that while back with they Neon Noir Ray Tracing Benchmark one while back on Vega 56. I remember seeing same video showing it was running on Vega 56/Vulkan api, but cant find it.. Maybe mis-read it.

https://www.techspot.com/news/79221-much-rtx-crytek-reveals-real-time-ray-tracing.html

you can download the demo yourself ( you need Register with email (Its free) and it download its own launcher (Yes pita but its small)

https://www.cryengine.com/marketplace/product/neon-noir
(please note this for windows only, No idea if work under Linux/Steam Os)

Test it myself and got very good results on new Built R7 2700x, x470 Mobo, 16 GB GDDR4 3200 mhz, GTX 1080ti, Windows 7. 1 TB SSD

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/495731816662171658/656403505434853396/Sire-Crytek-RT1.jpg

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/495731816662171658/656403603476578305/Sire-Crytek-RT-4-2700x-16gb-GTX1080ti-win7-64.jpg

and here screenshot Minecraft Java running one Path tracing modes on same system
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/495731816662171658/643313592711512085/Sire-Java-MC-1.14-4-R-2700x-GTX-1080ti-.jpg

Would Love see somebody try run some game with Path tracing/Ray tracing under Linux and see how well it works.. What we need is see what AMD does for next RDNA gpus and hopefully AMD will (I suspect they will) at some point officially add driver that offers hopefully better RT/Path tracing options for DX 11/12/Vulkan api and even openGl

so YES, Un-officially, Its devs who supporting more now.. Then Nvidia jump on board and tried trick consumer they need to buy over priced RTX/Super RTX gpus, When in fact its possible on older hardware. Just devs didn't push it on older vega/Polaris (AMD) or on pascal GTX cards.
We could have seen a few games on older AMD/Nvida GTX with Path tracing.. But no dev bother to optimizes for it.. Thus why its sucks most, cuz Nvida want you buy over priced RTX.

Nvida wants you think its ONLY possible on RTX.

Lets hope in 2020, We see more dev push for vulkan api/Path tracing and more games for Linux.. but that wishful hoping..

-Sire
Ps I'm slowly wanting move over Linux too, Dual booting windows 7/Pop OS (Linux) atm..

Nvidia has never said it was only possible on RTX, even their official demonstration was comparing it to decades old ray tracing as used in films. They didn't invent it or act like they did. They were just the first to build dedicated hardware that can do it at realtime framerates. It's not even new technology. They're just doing it faster than previous hardware could, that's all there is to it.