First batch of Linux benchmarks just dropped by Gamers Nexus.
You beat me too it
Watching it now.
Hmm, well a good first try that’s for sure…I feel like some suggestions need to be forwarded over there to GN…some defaults on the software can be potentially problematic…
The first suggestion of course being: Please do not use Steam’s default shader cache option. I can’t speak for other linux platforms…but that thing is NO longer needed to be on. They would have had so much less trouble if that was off! ![]()
Other things…like Heroic games launcher turning on both F-sync and E-sync together as a default…this can cause problems. F-sync is the better option to avoid cpu overhead for particle effects (especially in unreal engine games)…at least before NTSYNC becomes fully stable as a default everywhere.
Did they use protonup-QT or WineZGUI?
For testing purposes, I hope they were using standard proton and wine instead from steam and the heroic launcher.
I also hope they used the ujust _toggle-updates terminal command to keep the OS version the same throughout testing. Steam has settings to turn off updates for games/proton and client updates…so that was probably not an issue.
I know…this sounds like another “Your doing it wrong!” comment. lol
….but that default steam shader pre-cache setting can leave a bad first impression!
Pretty sure that Kyle and antheas have mentioned about these to Steve.
Sorry, I am pretty new to Bazzite, do you have any link explaining the reasoning behind that? And why that does not (or maybe it does) affect Steam Deck?
I was very surprised to learn that native Civ 5 runs worse and crashes compared to running Civ under proton 8. Are there other quirks newcomers should be aware of?
Hi,
So the gist of it: Shader pre-caching basically loads up the entirety of a game’s shaders before launching the game…in the past this setting was recommended on linux, but not much anymore. As Linux, wayland, and wine/proton have matured - implementation for shader cache is now similar to Windows and occurs in-game without much performance penalty (maybe some stutters the first launch or when loading a new level and then it goes away).
The problem with this setting (last time I used it at least) is that it can be very resource intensive….it will strain hardware resources…pedal to the metal… to finish the task faster. With larger AAA games this can still take a very long time (think 50-100GB games) to do all that at once (lots of shaders to process). These two factors together can increase the risk of corruption or failure during the process.
Interesting. I was always on the (wrong?) impression that because Linux precompilation shaders is one of the big reasons why games run smoother under Linux than Windows.
Also if that is the case, why does Steam have it still enabled by default, probably even for stuff like Steam Deck?
I thought the same thing,too. Thought that feature was the secret sauce behind no shader compilation stutters. Because of that always kept it on.
Because it was occupying some considerable storage space though, I decided to turn it off and made no difference whatsoever. Since then I have installed many new games, kept playing others and still no stutters. Even on games that were notoriously bad in terms of stutters on Windows (like Warhammer 40K Darktide) it’s a perfectly smooth experience.
I don’t know what kind of black magic is going on in the background, but that pre-compilation step is definitely unnecessary from my experience.
I organically discovered this setting recently and disabled it, after it taking nearly 6hrs to pre-compile shader’s for World War Z, I disabled this silly feature, its not as bad on a powerhouse machine, but on my DIY Steam Machine project using the PS5 APU, it was painfully slow.
I’ve now disabled it on all my machines as one just doesn’t have the time to sit and wait for this, specially with kids, wife and life yanking at your heals, my game time is precious, so very precious ![]()
i keep reminding myself they’re probably quick learners, especially with their bts team & connections to quality resources… all the more reason to hint suggestions in their direction
