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[nkarafo]

It's awful for single player games because the first time you see something is often the last until you replay the game. :/

Here's an idea of how to make some bucks

The "Shader cache cleaner": I play the whole game for you to build your cache so you can enjoy your game stutter free.

 

[lh032]

And games will probably run fine on consoles , as usual .

 

[TheRaidenPT]

I'm on a full AMD rig with a 7900XTX and a 7800X3D, and the amount of games that play amazingly well and far better on Linux than Windows is quite high.

I love to use World of Warcraft as an example, because in Raids and Dungeons the game just runs so much much better in the Low Frame Rate minimums

 

[farmerboy]

Wait. I've never gamed on PC, so am largely ignorant on all the issues surrounding PC. But throughout the years, I've been told by the PCMR that PC is the bees knee. And yet we get editorials like this.

I don't understand. You can't say PC is the best and then have all these qualifiers about how you use it. It either is or isn't.

 

[mayham2199]

Wait. I've never gamed on PC, so am largely ignorant on all the issues surrounding PC. But throughout the years, I've been told by the PCMR that PC is the bees knee. And yet we get editorials like this.

I don't understand. You can't say PC is the best and then have all these qualifiers about how you use it. It either is or isn't.

I’ve been on both throughout my life. Pc gaming is great but pc gamers 100% down play the issues.

 

[Wolzard]

I hear the Linux experience with Nvidia is not that good either (no DLSS or RT in most games). As much as windows sucks, it's still the better experience probably.

The experience is smooth, it's only inferior to AMD in some small details. RT and DLSS work normally. The only thing that doesn't work yet is frame generation, but that is on the way to coming in future drivers.
And in DX12 titles, there's a bigger performance penalty than from AMD.

Tangentially related - does anyone know if SteamOS (or whatever you call the thing that runs on a Steam deck) uses the default Linux scheduler or something else? The default scheduler has certainly come a long way, with the emphasis being on the desktop for quite a while (Linus is quite adamant about this), but there are certainly alternatives out there for different workloads.

Yes, it uses the default scheduler, but the new EEVDF, which has been available since kernel 6.6 and became standard in 6.8. Check out this article if you want more details:

Completing the EEVDF scheduler [LWN.net]

lwn.net

Another option that I liked using was BORE (Burst-Oriented Response Enhancer), present in CachyOS. The BORE scheduler focuses on sacrificing some fairness for lower latency in scheduling interactive tasks.

I tested Shadow of The Tomb Raider, which has a native version and this had an average of 79 fps, with a min of 56 fps and a max of 197 fps. This was with a 1660 Ti, with ultra graphics at 1080p and using the Nvidia 555 driver, in Wayland with KDE's explicit sync patch.

With the default Linux scheduler, it averaged 74 fps, with a min of 49 fps and a max of 167 fps.

I game regularly on a laptop running Fedora 40 with a 3060 inside. Proton works fine with Nvidia, but other aspects of the SteamOS experience lag behind. Valve's Gamescope compositor (basically the OS layer that draws to the screen) which provides for HDR and smooths out all kinds of scaling and framepacing issues doesn't support Nvidia's proprietary driver yet. So while you can game very well on desktop linux with Nvidia right now, you won't have a good time trying to get the Bazzite/Steam Deck experience with an Nvidia card.

On the other hand, Valve is supporting the experimental open source Nvidia driver ("NVK") with Gamescope. It almost seems like Valve wants NVK to be ready for actual gaming before they roll out SteamOS for general PCs:

Valve graphics dev gets Gamescope working on NVK with Explicit Sync

Valve developers have done a lot of work over the years to improve AMD GPUs on Linux, and continue to do so with the Steam Deck using AMD and it seems like they're now getting stuck into NVIDIA too.

www.gamingonlinux.com

A recent update on NVK running real games:

Nouveau With NVK Vulkan Driver Running More Games, Increasing Feature Set - Phoronix

www.phoronix.com

Gamescope works on Nvidia, but it's not as polished as on AMD, although apparently several issues were fixed in the recent 565 beta driver (I haven't tested it yet).

You need to use the KDE desktop environment on Wayland.

You need to set KWIN_DRM_ALLOW_NVIDIA_COLORSPACE=1 in /etc/environment.

Launch games with this parameter: gamescope --hdr-enabled -f -e -W 1920 -H 1080 -- %command%

W and H can be arbitrary values, defines resolution.

Take a look at the comments on this thread on Reddit:

 

[kikkis]

Maybe i am missing something but how is Linux different from windows? Both have to compile shaders, so i am not sure where the wins come

 

[Crayon]

Maybe i am missing something but how is Linux different from windows? Both have to compile shaders, so i am not sure where the wins come

I'm not sure, exactly. I always wondered why people don't just wait for the pre-compile, but now I'm not sure if everybody gets that prompt.

On linux, steam actually asks me to wait for a shader compilation in any newer game. So I always figured it was doing that for everyone and wondered why no one would just wait a minute so the stutters don't spoil their game.

 

[nikos]

The more these guys post, the more it becomes apparent that they don't know what they're doing on PC.

 

[Crayon]

Scorn, Gothan Knights.

Try Elden Ring too. People say that the game still doesn't do pre comp, yet I don’t notice any stutter anymore after some past patch even after updating video driver.

I'm interested to know your experience with Scorn. I complained about it after i got the latest version from GOG (with the latest patch included) but some other people report that the stutters are fixed for them.

I'm not sure what kind of stutters i'm getting though. Not sure if they are cache or traversal or some kind of bad asset streaming. But they are very noticeable and annoying. Game runs at 60fps and i see those sudden hitches every 10 or 20 seconds as i'm exploring. And i'm running the game from an SSD.

Okay so I started scorn for the first time and I got what I see for every modern game. Steam gives a popup:

"Processing Vulkan Shaders"

Played the game for an hour, smooth as butter the whole way.

Others I've played recently with the same experience, I don't know if these are known for having trouble:

RoboCop
Mech 5
BG3
Ark ue5
CP2077
The accent
Need for speed heat

And I can tell you it used to happen really bad for DMC5 back when, but when I do a clean install of it now it's fine.

Hope that was at all helpful. I've seen that steam shader compilation prompt so many times I forgot it said "Vulkan" in it. So idk if this has anything to do with dxvk or vkd3d.

 

[nkarafo]

Okay so I started scorn for the first time and I got what I see for every modern game. Steam gives a popup:

"Processing Vulkan Shaders"

Played the game for an hour, smooth as butter the whole way.

Others I've played recently with the same experience, I don't know if these are known for having trouble:

RoboCop
Mech 5
BG3
Ark ue5
CP2077
The accent
Need for speed heat

And I can tell you it used to happen really bad for DMC5 back when, but when I do a clean install of it now it's fine.

Hope that was at all helpful. I've seen that steam shader compilation prompt so many times I forgot it said "Vulkan" in it. So idk if this has anything to do with dxvk or vkd3d.

Hmm, i don't remember anything about Vulkan in the GOG version. Are you using the -vulkan command in the launch settings? Or is the game running as such by default? I need to re-install the game and look it up a bit.

 

[Soodanim]

Wait. I've never gamed on PC, so am largely ignorant on all the issues surrounding PC. But throughout the years, I've been told by the PCMR that PC is the bees knee. And yet we get editorials like this.

I don't understand. You can't say PC is the best and then have all these qualifiers about how you use it. It either is or isn't.

Read the thread. It will allow you to have a slightly more nuanced conclusion than "PC is either the best for all time or isn't"

 

[HogIsland]

The experience is smooth, it's only inferior to AMD in some small details. RT and DLSS work normally. The only thing that doesn't work yet is frame generation, but that is on the way to coming in future drivers.
And in DX12 titles, there's a bigger performance penalty than from AMD.



Yes, it uses the default scheduler, but the new EEVDF, which has been available since kernel 6.6 and became standard in 6.8. Check out this article if you want more details:

Completing the EEVDF scheduler [LWN.net]

lwn.net

Another option that I liked using was BORE (Burst-Oriented Response Enhancer), present in CachyOS. The BORE scheduler focuses on sacrificing some fairness for lower latency in scheduling interactive tasks.

I tested Shadow of The Tomb Raider, which has a native version and this had an average of 79 fps, with a min of 56 fps and a max of 197 fps. This was with a 1660 Ti, with ultra graphics at 1080p and using the Nvidia 555 driver, in Wayland with KDE's explicit sync patch.

With the default Linux scheduler, it averaged 74 fps, with a min of 49 fps and a max of 167 fps.



Gamescope works on Nvidia, but it's not as polished as on AMD, although apparently several issues were fixed in the recent 565 beta driver (I haven't tested it yet).

You need to use the KDE desktop environment on Wayland.

You need to set KWIN_DRM_ALLOW_NVIDIA_COLORSPACE=1 in /etc/environment.

Launch games with this parameter: gamescope --hdr-enabled -f -e -W 1920 -H 1080 -- %command%

W and H can be arbitrary values, defines resolution.

Take a look at the comments on this thread on Reddit:

thanks that's interesting info. unfortunately, bazzite still doesn't provide an htpc+nvidia spin. hopefully they can incorporate these fixes soon.

 

[nkarafo]

Crayon

Ok so i reinstalled SCORN 1.2.2 (GOG vesion) and it's not running in Vulkan but in DirectX mode. There is no option to choose Vulkan. If i use dxvk the game simply crashes.

And of course i don't get the "Processing Vulkan Shaders" function so i'm still getting all the cache shader stutters. They are indeed cache stutters because the next time i re-run the same area it was smooth.

In conclusion, the STEAM version is superior. Good to know.

 

[Crayon]

Hmm, i don't remember anything about Vulkan in the GOG version. Are you using the -vulkan command in the launch settings? Or is the game running as such by default? I need to re-install the game and look it up a bit.

No launch option or anything. Just dl, install, play. I'm on nobara with an AMD card.

 

[Crayon]

Crayon

Ok so i reinstalled SCORN 1.2.2 (GOG vesion) and it's not running in Vulkan but in DirectX mode. There is no option to choose Vulkan. If i use dxvk the game simply crashes.

And of course i don't get the "Processing Vulkan Shaders" function so i'm still getting all the cache shader stutters. They are indeed cache stutters because the next time i re-run the same area it was smooth.

In conclusion, the STEAM version is superior. Good to know.

Idk if it's the steam version. When proton is used, dx gets translated to Vulkan.

It seems like Steam doesn't force this shader compilation on windows or I wouldn't be hearing about stutter struggle all the time.

 

[nkarafo]

Idk if it's the steam version. When proton is used, dx gets translated to Vulkan.

I tried vkd3d-proton with it and it crashes. So the stutter free version is only possible on Linux? Huh.

 

[Crayon]

I tried vkd3d-proton with it and it crashes. So the stutter free version is only possible on Linux? Huh.

Idk. I could try another game because if that's the case you'd think we'd know by now!

 

[Crayon]

The experience is smooth, it's only inferior to AMD in some small details. RT and DLSS work normally. The only thing that doesn't work yet is frame generation, but that is on the way to coming in future drivers.
And in DX12 titles, there's a bigger performance penalty than from AMD.



Yes, it uses the default scheduler, but the new EEVDF, which has been available since kernel 6.6 and became standard in 6.8. Check out this article if you want more details:

Completing the EEVDF scheduler [LWN.net]

lwn.net

Another option that I liked using was BORE (Burst-Oriented Response Enhancer), present in CachyOS. The BORE scheduler focuses on sacrificing some fairness for lower latency in scheduling interactive tasks.

I tested Shadow of The Tomb Raider, which has a native version and this had an average of 79 fps, with a min of 56 fps and a max of 197 fps. This was with a 1660 Ti, with ultra graphics at 1080p and using the Nvidia 555 driver, in Wayland with KDE's explicit sync patch.

With the default Linux scheduler, it averaged 74 fps, with a min of 49 fps and a max of 167 fps.



Gamescope works on Nvidia, but it's not as polished as on AMD, although apparently several issues were fixed in the recent 565 beta driver (I haven't tested it yet).

You need to use the KDE desktop environment on Wayland.

You need to set KWIN_DRM_ALLOW_NVIDIA_COLORSPACE=1 in /etc/environment.

Launch games with this parameter: gamescope --hdr-enabled -f -e -W 1920 -H 1080 -- %command%

W and H can be arbitrary values, defines resolution.

Take a look at the comments on this thread on Reddit:

Heeyyyy you seem to know what you're talking about. Do you have any insight on what we were talking about above? Basically, I get a pause to "proccess vulkan shaders" when I start up new games on linux and I have no issues with shader stutter when I let it finish. However, it seems like steam is doing this and not the game.

If windows players are not getting this step (and I would have to assume they aren't or the stutter struggle wouldn't be that big a deal), how is it being automated on linux? Any ideas?

 

[Optimus Lime]

Reading this thread is so funny. The console players who are using one person's opinion as a way of reinforcing their lunatic beliefs that PC gaming is a nightmare labyrinth of stuttering and 'driver updates'. You guys are just crazy.

BO6 runs fine. There's an occasional tiny blink-and-you'll-miss-it stutter. The game on a high-end PC utterly demolishes both consoles, and the coming PS5 Pro, on raw performance, so enough with the hallucinations.

 

[Wolzard]

Heeyyyy you seem to know what you're talking about. Do you have any insight on what we were talking about above? Basically, I get a pause to "proccess vulkan shaders" when I start up new games on linux and I have no issues with shader stutter when I let it finish. However, it seems like steam is doing this and not the game.

If windows players are not getting this step (and I would have to assume they aren't or the stutter struggle wouldn't be that big a deal), how is it being automated on linux? Any ideas?

This shader processing only occurs with Vulkan and OpenGL, it does not work for DirectX, probably because the first two are open source, Valve can easily modify it, while DirectX implementations are closed and each developer customizes it in their own way.

Since DXVK converts DirectX calls to Vulkan, so on Linux, this shader processing will always occur.

 

[Crayon]

rodrigolfp nkarafo

Heya guys idk if you are still interested in this subject, but see post above.

Has no body with a steam deck noticed this added pre-compile?

We need some thread to get some more feedback from others here. I'm having a real hard time believing that Linux breaks the stutter curse and nobody seems to know about it.

Then again here I am for years reading about the stutter struggle and not putting two and two together.

 

[rodrigolfp]

Has no body with a steam deck noticed this added pre-compile?

We noticed. Several discussions about Steam Deck has people mentioning the pre compilation. Steam also does this for other Linux distros.

 

[Crayon]

We noticed. Several discussions about Steam Deck has people mentioning the pre compilation. Steam also does this for other Linux distros.

Yeah, guess I'm not in any steam deck threads. I also just remembered that Big picture mode will hide it if takes too long, it will display that it's building the shaders.

 

[nkarafo]

rodrigolfp nkarafo

Heya guys idk if you are still interested in this subject, but see post above.

Has no body with a steam deck noticed this added pre-compile?

We need some thread to get some more feedback from others here. I'm having a real hard time believing that Linux breaks the stutter curse and nobody seems to know about it.

Then again here I am for years reading about the stutter struggle and not putting two and two together.

I don't have a Steam Deck. Just a regular desktop.

I assume this pre-compilation process is exclusive to this particular device then? I don't get this process when i start the game.

Also, it's not that Linux fixes the issue, it's more like Linux allows to play it with Vulkan, which solves the issue.

At least in my case i can't run this game with Vulkan in Windows. I fixed other games this way but not this one.

 

[Crayon]

I don't have a Steam Deck. Just a regular desktop.

I assume this pre-compilation process is exclusive to this particular device then? I don't get this process when i start the game.

Also, it's not that Linux fixes the issue, it's more like Linux allows to play it with Vulkan, which solves the issue.

At least in my case i can't run this game with Vulkan in Windows. I fixed other games this way but not this one.

I don't have a steam deck, either. Just a regular lunux desktop. And I think you're right. If you could get one of the Vulcan translators work on the windows, it should do the same thing. I don't see why you wouldn't be able to do that little tinkering but idk.

 

[Wolzard]

This was noticed when Elden Ring came out, it was full of stutters on Windows, zero stutters on Linux.
There isn't much coverage of this, because the player base is smaller, despite the growth of the Steam Deck and Linux, it's still a minority compared to the amount of people playing on Windows.

A differentiating point for eliminating stutters is that Valve uses its own compiler for shaders (ACO), instead of using the GPU standard (LLVM).

Steam :: Steam for Linux :: Help us test ACO, a new Mesa shader compiler for AMD graphics!

Back in late 2016, we started sponsoring the work of open-source graphics driver engineers, creating the foundation for the Valve open-source graphics group. By leveraging the open development model of the Mesa driver codebase, we were able to provide direct support for Steam and its...

steamcommunity.com

 

[nkarafo]

I don't have a steam deck, either. Just a regular lunux desktop. And I think you're right. If you could get one of the Vulcan translators work on the windows, it should do the same thing. I don't see why you wouldn't be able to do that little tinkering but idk.

I tried using dxvk or vkd3d-proton but the game always crashes with those. They do work in other games i tried such as GTA4 and The Evil Within 2. But not with Scorn.

I also tried to simply use the -vulkan command in the launch options and it complaints about missing files or something.

I gave up on it, it isn't worth the effort anyway, the game is nothing but a graphics demo (and even that is ruined by the stutters). But it did rub me the wrong way that the devs lied in their patch notes.

 

[gatti-man]

Wait. I've never gamed on PC, so am largely ignorant on all the issues surrounding PC. But throughout the years, I've been told by the PCMR that PC is the bees knee. And yet we get editorials like this.

I don't understand. You can't say PC is the best and then have all these qualifiers about how you use it. It either is or isn't.

Yes, yes you can. Does every game on consoles run the same? No. Plenty of games come out in a dogshit state or drag at points. The stuttering issue and windows discussion has been a tale as old as time. Stuttering can be caused by a ton of different issues. Hardware software driver etc. PC has a ton of different setups so it’s very normal to have people saying different things.

Yes windows has overhead. It has to do a ton of different things. It isn’t just a gaming system. Computers are a one stop shop. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

For example I literally never see stuttering or any of these issues. But I don’t buy bottom end hardware and keep my PC on auto update so I don’t get conflicts. AMD gpus in my experience always bring the jank. I never buy them. And I make sure every piece of hardware I buy is supported by the other (ram motherboard) and don’t buy a dog slow cpu expecting the gpu to somehow do everything. There are still people out there running slow hard drives that can cause stuttering and texture pop in or hangs. Like PC variety is wild bc every user is different.

 

[mayham2199]

Yes, yes you can. Does every game on consoles run the same? No. Plenty of games come out in a dogshit state or drag at points. The stuttering issue and windows discussion has been a tale as old as time. Stuttering can be caused by a ton of different issues. Hardware software driver etc. PC has a ton of different setups so it’s very normal to have people saying different things.

Yes windows has overhead. It has to do a ton of different things. It isn’t just a gaming system. Computers are a one stop shop. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

For example I literally never see stuttering or any of these issues. But I don’t buy bottom end hardware and keep my PC on auto update so I don’t get conflicts. AMD gpus in my experience always bring the jank. I never buy them. And I make sure every piece of hardware I buy is supported by the other (ram motherboard) and don’t buy a dog slow cpu expecting the gpu to somehow do everything. There are still people out there running slow hard drives that can cause stuttering and texture pop in or hangs. Like PC variety is wild bc every user is different.

From my understanding the stuttering issues are a UE5 problem and have nothing to do with hardware.

 

[TGO]

They could always just uninstall them..