AMDVLK 2019.Q2.4 Brings Steam Play Game Fixes, New Vulkan Extensions

[shmerl]

Thanks, appreciated!

Be aware of such issues though before buying: https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/ThinkPa.../td-p/4191484/

Not sure if that will affect T495, but Lenovo has a bad reputation with not fixing them at all.

[Masush5]

amdvlk has driver hacks for pretty much every vulkan game ever released...

https://github.com/GPUOpen-Drivers/xgl/blob/dev/icd/api/app_profile.cpp

[franglais125]

I was thinking about Thinkpad T495 as well. Since like the best design.

Thanks, appreciated!

[shmerl]

Thanks. Indeed, I'm avoiding 1st gen Ryzen APUs. I'm waiting to see the price of the Thinkpad T495 (to be released soon).

Any good offerings you are aware of? (That play well with Linux of course).

I was thinking about Thinkpad T495 as well. Since looks like it has the best design.

[franglais125]

Mesa should work with AMD APUs, though support is more delayed in comparison with desktop use case. Avoid first generation Ryzens though, they have bad hardware bugs. Laptops with second generation Ryzens are already available.

Thanks. Indeed, I'm avoiding 1st gen Ryzen APUs. I'm waiting to see the price of the Thinkpad T495 (to be released soon).

Any good offerings you are aware of? (That play well with Linux of course).

[shmerl]

What would be the advice regarding laptops? The Sandybridge one I've been using since 2012 needs replacing, and I was holding out waiting for decent Picasso laptops (3500u preferably).

However, this AMDVLK approach makes doubt about the actual Linux support we get from AMD. I don't want to track and install these "open source" code dumps, and it seems we need to rely on third parties (the community) for RADV. Even though I won't be gaming, I want to know I will be getting proper support.

Knowing this, I'm considering going the intel route again, which I was trying to avoid. Mind you, I really want to get one with AMD, I just don't want the headaches that might come with, I actually need the laptop for work.

Perhaps shmerl has a relevant opinion?

Mesa should work with AMD APUs, though support is more delayed in comparison with desktop use case. Avoid first generation Ryzens though, they have bad hardware bugs. Laptops with second generation Ryzens are already available.

[franglais125]

What would be the advice regarding laptops? The Sandybridge one I've been using since 2012 needs replacing, and I was holding out waiting for decent Picasso laptops (3500u preferably).

However, this AMDVLK approach makes doubt about the actual Linux support we get from AMD. I don't want to track and install these "open source" code dumps, and it seems we need to rely on third parties (the community) for RADV. Even though I won't be gaming, I want to know I will be getting proper support.

Knowing this, I'm considering going the intel route again, which I was trying to avoid. Mind you, I really want to get one with AMD, I just don't want the headaches that might come with, I actually need the laptop for work.

Perhaps shmerl has a relevant opinion?

[aufkrawall]

Also gave it a little go in Hitman 2 (Hitman 1 Sapienza level):
It's about 8% faster than radv in that static scene:

radv: 56.5fps

https://abload.de/img/screenshot_20190527_26zjn8.jpg

amdvlk: 60.1fps

https://abload.de/img/screenshot_20190527_2y8k5h.jpg

Mostly max. details, 16xAF and prerenderlimit 1 forced via DXVK.

[skeevy420]

OK, finally got around to benchmarking Hitman 2 with this AMDVLK release with all maxed out settings, no motion blur: I lost .45 fps consistently from Satruday's AMDVLK update, getting 35.55fps average at the end. 4 benchmarks, the last two were 35.55, the second one was 35.5, and the first was 33fps.

Thinking maybe it was a wine-staging regression, since I updated it from 4.9r1 to 4.9r3, I decided to test out RADV. RADV gained 1.04 fps from yesterday to 37.04 fps for two in a row...should add that I was getting 37.1 fps with my mixed high settings with 4.7r1-12 & RADV. One of the RADV benchmarks had the highest averages I've ever had, even higher than my mixed high settings have ever reported -- 37.44 fps. RADV went 35.5 on run 1, 37.44 on 2, 37.04 on runs 3 & 4.

With RADV being consistently better than my benchmarks from yesterday, I don't think I can't blame the lowered AMDVLK results on Wine-Staging.

Really damn cool that in one month I've been able to go from High to Ultra settings and not lose FPS.

Note: if I had ran RADV first, it would have the 33 fps result and AMDVLK's results would be similar to RADV with a hair less on the averages.

Note 2: I didn't play any in-game, but based on the slight stutter in the AMDVLK benchmarks today and yesterday, I'll just assume it'll have the same results in-game as yesterday -- playable maxed out, but very barely; needs settings reduced and I don't know which ones. RADV plays great in game maxed out, no motion sickness enabled...well, y'all might call it no motion blur enabled...

EDIT
Just Ignore that Note 2. I found the time to actually play it and it was great. Couldn't tell the difference between AMDVLK today and RADV yesterday and I used the same settings & same save from the same part in Marrakesh where it was damn-near unusable in-game with my AMDVLK build from Saturday's api update commit. In other words, this update is great.

[skeevy420]

if you install AMDVLK alongside RADV. What command should you pass for a game to detect AMDVLK? LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/somevulkanlib.so ??

Just in case you need the 32-bit versions, (run Arch/Manjaro and) you have installed AMDVLK from AMDGPU-Pro, or set it globally and need to get back to RADV.

# AMDVLK
#export VK_ICD_FILENAMES=/usr/share/vulkan/icd.d/amd_icd64.json
 amd_icd32.json

# AMDVLK-Pro
#export VK_ICD_FILENAMES=/opt/amdgpu-pro/etc/vulkan/icd.d/amd_icd64.json
  amd_icd32.json

# RADV
#export VK_ICD_FILENAMES=/usr/share/vulkan/icd.d/radeon_icd.x86_64.json
 radeon_icd.i686.json

With Steam you can use the following to set which one you want to use on a per-game basis in the SET LAUNCH OPTIONS:

VK_ICD_FILENAMES=/usr/share/vulkan/icd.d/amd_icd64.json %command%

Here's my current one for Hitman 2

VK_ICD_FILENAMES=/usr/share/vulkan/icd.d/radeon_icd.x86_64.json DXVK_ASYNC=1 gamemoderun %command%

It's also available as a selection in Lutris...though if you have both AMDVLK and AMDVLK-Pro installed you can't really tell which one you're selecting since it just lists both "amd_icd64.json" & "amd_icd32.json" twice...