DXVK on Windows guide

Entry level guide on how to use DXVK on Windows, DirectX to Vulkan translation layer, with Vindictus. While it's primarily Linux technology, it does work with Vindictus and can offer performance boost and different visuals.

About

DXVK is translation layer that allows DirectX[en.wikipedia.org] (9/10/11) games to be rendered using Vulkan[en.wikipedia.org]. In other words, it makes the game use different library to output visual part of the game. It has been developed to allow gaming on Linux, but can be used on Windows[github.com] as well - though not officially supported by the creators.

What are the differences?

It depends on your combination of hardware, operating system, the game itself and underlying DirectX version used. This guide focuses on Vindictus and Windows, since Linux users don't have a choice anyway.

Generally speaking, the benefits can be anything between nothing to slightly or significantly higher or/and stable FPS. However, it can come with potential drawbacks, like black screen when ALT-TABbing, different behavior to some visuals, no ability to apply custom profile through NVIDIA Profile Inspector and so on. Best if you try yourself and see if there are any improvements.

Because DXVK works over both DX9 and DX11, I'll use DX9VK and DX11VK respectively for short.

Examples:

• SirRFI's side by side graphics API comparison (DX9 vs DXVK vs DX11) on desktop with Ryzen 7800X3D, GeForce RTX 4090, Windows 11, maxed out settings:
  
  • DX9: 290 avg FPS, 111 1% lows
    
  • DX9VK: 353 avg FPS, 139 1% lows
    
  • DX11: 339 avg FPS, 138 1% lows
    
  • DX11VK: omitted due to visual bugs
• Kyou's API comparison / benchmark on desktop PC with Ryzen 5800X3D, Radeon Vega64, Windows 10: 5~20 FPS more when comparing DX9 to DX9VK
  
• SirRFI's testing on desktop PC with i7-8700K, GeForce GTX 1080Ti, Windows 11 in Ardri raids: insignificant/margin of error performance differences
  
• SirRFI's testing on laptop with Ryzen 6800Hand Radeon RX 6700M in Ardri raids:
  
  • W11 DX9: 45-60 FPS
    
  • W11 DX11: 30-45 FPS
    
  • W11 DX9VK: 55-70 FPS
    
  • W11 DX11VK: 50-65 FPS
    
  • Linux DX9VK: 55-65 FPS

DX11VK has been reported to cause visual bugs, like some objects (marketplace board, trees, rocks) are shrouded in fog despite they aren't far away. I haven't experienced it previously, but I do with my latest hardware, which is why I didn't include this variant in my side by side comparison video.

Some laptop users with NVIDIA GPU reported that DX11 is fundamentally broken.

DX11 and DXVK use more VRAM than DX9 does.

How to use it?

0. Have a GPU that supports Vulkan. Anything released in or after 2014 might work. DXVK 2+ might require Vulkan 1.3+ support. Check in GPU-Z[www.techpowerup.com] to be sure (Advanced tab → Vulkan in select)
1. Download latest release of DXVK[github.com] (2.2 was used in time of writing this, so dxvk-2.2.tar.gz)
2. Extract the archive
3. Move following files to directory where Vindictus is installed (same as Vindictus.exe or Vindictus_x64.exe):

when using	32 bit client	64 bit client
DirectX 9	x86/d3d9.dll and optionally x86/dxgi.dll	x64/d3d9.dll and optionally x64/dxgi.dll
DirectX 11	x86/d3d11.dll and x86/dxgi.dll	x64/d3d11.dll and x64/dxgi.dll

You can see currently used DirectX version in game by entering Options → Video → Advanced - it's on the bottom as "Hardware DirectX level" with select drop box next to it.

4. Start the game - it should be working. You can use external tools like RTSS (Rivatuner Statistics Server)'s OSD to make sure it's working - used renderer's name is displayed next to FPS.
5. [Optional] Configure it[github.com]: Save this file[github.com] to the game's directory as dxvk.conf and tweak as you see fit.

To remove, just delete the files you extracted from the archive into the game's directory.

Disclaimer

Use at your own risk!

Join Vindictus Community Discord[discord.gg]

[𓅃 スノ 𓅃]

what is your hardware specs?