Open-Source Intel & AMD Drivers Make Quick Progress On Vulkan Roadmap 2024 Extensions

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Open-Source Intel & AMD Drivers Make Quick Progress On Vulkan Roadmap 2024 Extensions

Following this morning's embargo lift on the Vulkan Roadmap 2024 specification, Mesa merge requests were opened by Intel and RADV stakeholders in beginning to implement the new extensions for these Mesa Vulkan drivers and promoting existing extensions to their newly-minted state...

https://www.phoronix.com/news/Mesa-Vulkan-Roadmap-2024

[zcansi]

As someone who bought an RDNA2 graphics card and a bunch of Steam games, I continue to feel pretty good about where my money is going.

[stormcrow]

I just hope some day we can get rid of the unsmooth lighting level transitions (shading/gradient banding) that plagues Linux OpenGL programs. Some days I just get so fed up with it I want to swear off any gaming and related programs in Linux entirely. It even shows up in relatively new games like X4 though it's less prominent there than with older programs. The damning part is OpenGL games in Windows manage to dither the lighting transitions properly, but they either don't or can't in non Windows platforms. I don't know if that's part of the OpenGL >> DirectX translation layer or Mesa just doesn't do the dithering correctly. It doesn't matter the hardware, Intel, Nvidia, AMD all show the same problem.

[piotrj3]

I just hope some day we can get rid of the unsmooth lighting level transitions (shading/gradient banding) that plagues Linux OpenGL programs. Some days I just get so fed up with it I want to swear off any gaming and related programs in Linux entirely. It even shows up in relatively new games like X4 though it's less prominent there than with older programs. The damning part is OpenGL games in Windows manage to dither the lighting transitions properly, but they either don't or can't in non Windows platforms. I don't know if that's part of the OpenGL >> DirectX translation layer or Mesa just doesn't do the dithering correctly. It doesn't matter the hardware, Intel, Nvidia, AMD all show the same problem.

X4 is Vulkan native title.

Also a lot depends on your monitor and how it handles stuff. General rule of thumb :

Monitor 8 bit done via 6 bit color + FRC (dithering) you will see banding

Monitor true 8 bit - really hard to notice banding, mostly only for extreme blacks.

Monitor 10 bit - forget about banding (if content is processed in 10 bit depth).

Sometimes few more things matter but that is mostly how it works.

[JEBjames]

Michael

Are we entering a period of greater typos at Phoronix?

"requests> Today" should be "requests. Today" (period)

[Michael]

Michael

Are we entering a period of greater typos at Phoronix?

"requests> Today" should be "requests. Today" (period)

Thanks ! Just a period of being busy and also needing to take care of a water leak / condensation issue so the usual dreaded less sleep for me :/

[JEBjames]

Thanks ! Just a period of being busy and also needing to take care of a water leak / condensation issue so the usual dreaded less sleep for me :/

It's all good, ignore my terrible joke.

Here's hoping the rest of your week is less stressful.

[stormcrow]

X4 is Vulkan native title.

Also a lot depends on your monitor and how it handles stuff. General rule of thumb :

Monitor 8 bit done via 6 bit color + FRC (dithering) you will see banding

Monitor true 8 bit - really hard to notice banding, mostly only for extreme blacks.

Monitor 10 bit - forget about banding (if content is processed in 10 bit depth).

Sometimes few more things matter but that is mostly how it works.

No 6 bit dithering, 8 bit true monitors. It's not the monitor. Screen captures show the difference between Linux and Windows (i can't show them here). The similar banding shows in X4 it's just not as obvious. If X4 is Vulkan native then the problem is elsewhere in the stack.

[lowflyer]

I don't like that the development happens under an embargo and once in a blue moon the children are allowed to open Christmas presents. That's multi million dollar companies spoon-feeding their fans.

I would like to see new extensions being discussed and developed in the open, so *everybody* - even the open source community - can participate in the development and has the chance bring up their drivers "on time".

[Anux]

Monitor 8 bit done via 6 bit color + FRC (dithering) you will see banding

Monitor true 8 bit - really hard to notice banding, mostly only for extreme blacks.

It really is dependent on how much contrast you have vs how many bits the panel has.

I have an oled (with either 8 + FRC or even 10 bit native) and it makes banding visible everywhere but if I lower the brightness to minimum then banding is hardly noticeable. If you have an IPS display with 8 bit you may never be able to see the banding.

No 6 bit dithering, 8 bit true monitors. It's not the monitor. Screen captures show the difference between Linux and Windows (i can't show them here). The similar banding shows in X4 it's just not as obvious. If X4 is Vulkan native then the problem is elsewhere in the stack.

A picture would tell the story much easier, maybe someone had the problem already and posted pictures in the net, then you can link there.
Myself regularly plays game on Win and Linux and I don't know what banding issues you are talking about.