Windows and Vulkan : A How To for Sota

Discussion in 'Hardware, Software, Tech' started by Leucian, Feb 3, 2022.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. Leucian

    Leucian Avatar

    Messages:
    100
    Likes Received:
    163
    Trophy Points:
    18
    ====== THIS IS FOR USE ON WINDOWS!!!! ======

    So let me start with a very important disclaimer:

    Using DXVK has been discussed with the developers for this game. There are currently server side checks for files added to the gaming directory. These files do not flag on these alerts. Using these files to create a vulkan instance and run sota within it, is considered 3rd party and IS NOT supported by Catnip Games, Shroud of the Avatar or the developers. Use these files at your own risk!

    Now with that said let's begin.
    First what is DXVK?
    DXVK is a way for Wine Users (on linux) to map direct x games to the vulkan graphics API.

    Why would you do this?
    Vulkan according to various articles tends to have a little better resource management and overhead than direct x 11 or 12 on some systems.

    Should I use this work around? If you are having graphics issues and want to try sure. Removing this is as simple as deleting 6 files, though again you can use this at your own risk.

    Does it work with windows 11?
    Xee tested this for me, and got horrible graphic glitches with windows 11. So I CANNOT say that it does. If you wish to try it, its at your own risk.

    Can this damage my game directory?
    To my knowledge no. You are only adding 6 .dll files to your root gaming directory (this is approved by the devs for this purpose only).

    How is performance?
    Performance has varied, I personally run my game at full graphics, with little to no lag, at about 35 fps in silverdale and most other places 50 to 90 fps depending on the level of combat. It also seems to have helped with the rtx combat lag issue.

    How to Install:

    1. Go to https://vulkan.lunarg.com/sdk/home and install the SDK and RunTime.

    2. Go to https://github.com/doitsujin/dxvk/releases download download the dxvk-1.x.x..tar.gx what ever the current version is when you do it.

    3. Open the tar till you see an X64 folder.

    4. Open that folder, and you will see 6 .dll files. Copy all 6 files to the sota base install directory, where the sota.exe is located.

    5. In system advance settings. Make sure you have a system variable of DXVK_HUD with a value of 1 This allows you to see the DXVK overlay in the upper left of your screen to make sure its working. Changing this value to 0 and restarting the GAME AND LAUNCHER will hide the overlay once its working.

    6. Open the sota launcher, go to settings and make sure no launch arguments are present. If you installed correctly the Vulcan overlay will appear in the upper left, with your card , vulkan version, and FPS.

    To remove: Delete the 6 .dll files from your sota base directory.



    All I ask is if you use this, please post your findings in this thread along with your system stats, so that the data can be used to troubleshoot and compare with current issues for the devs. Thank you.
     
    Last edited: Feb 8, 2022
  2. Leucian

    Leucian Avatar

    Messages:
    100
    Likes Received:
    163
    Trophy Points:
    18
    is anyone else using this?
     
  3. Barugon

    Barugon Avatar

    Messages:
    15,679
    Likes Received:
    24,293
    Trophy Points:
    153
    Gender:
    Male
    I've played SotA through Steam's Proton on Linux before, which uses Vulkan as it's rendering backend. does that count? :p
     
  4. Leucian

    Leucian Avatar

    Messages:
    100
    Likes Received:
    163
    Trophy Points:
    18
    it does.. how did it work for you on linux
     
  5. Tirrag

    Tirrag Avatar

    Messages:
    853
    Likes Received:
    1,820
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    Iowa, USA
    cool project! unfortunately i really dont have a need but as a person who has tried wine on a Linux desktop a few times over the years i am interested in why go the wine route with SotA as opposed to just using the native Linux version? is performance better running through wine than native Linux?
     
    that_shawn_guy likes this.
  6. Leucian

    Leucian Avatar

    Messages:
    100
    Likes Received:
    163
    Trophy Points:
    18
    This isn't for linux.. it uses the wine .dll files on a windows based machine to allow mapping to vulkan (since the sota client on windows does not have a native vulkan setup). so this is for WINDOWS :-D as a way to get around graphic slowness, combat lag, and especially some of the issues with the nvidia 2xxx series cards.
     
    Tirrag likes this.
  7. Tirrag

    Tirrag Avatar

    Messages:
    853
    Likes Received:
    1,820
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    Iowa, USA
    ok a little more interesting now :) might give this a whirl tonight and see how it goes.
     
  8. Barugon

    Barugon Avatar

    Messages:
    15,679
    Likes Received:
    24,293
    Trophy Points:
    153
    Gender:
    Male
    I though the -force-vulkan parameter worked on Windows too?
     
  9. Leucian

    Leucian Avatar

    Messages:
    100
    Likes Received:
    163
    Trophy Points:
    18
    The force vulkan command line argument gives or did give a graphical error.. To my knowledge vulkan is not included natively within sota on windows @Ravalox am I correct in this?
     
  10. Leucian

    Leucian Avatar

    Messages:
    100
    Likes Received:
    163
    Trophy Points:
    18
    last i checked it did not, but that was a few updates ago.. it gives an error.
     
    Barugon likes this.
  11. Tirrag

    Tirrag Avatar

    Messages:
    853
    Likes Received:
    1,820
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    Iowa, USA
    confirmed -force-vulkan switch to SotA causes an error even with vulkan SDK and runtime installed.

    i tried this out and it did work, but i had some major issues. SotA locked up before i made it in scene my first attempt. my second start i made it in to the scene but was very stuttery and after about 20 seconds it locked up. called it at that point. here is the dxgi log:

    info: Game: Shroud of the Avatar.exe
    info: DXVK: v1.9.4
    info: Built-in extension providers:
    info: Win32 WSI
    info: OpenVR
    info: OpenXR
    info: OpenVR: could not open registry key, status 2
    info: OpenVR: Failed to locate module
    info: Enabled instance extensions:
    info: VK_KHR_get_surface_capabilities2
    info: VK_KHR_surface
    info: VK_KHR_win32_surface
    info: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050:
    info: Driver: 466.27.0
    info: Vulkan: 1.2.168
    info: Memory Heap[0]:
    info: Size: 1977 MiB
    info: Flags: 0x1
    info: Memory Type[7]: Property Flags = 0x1
    info: Memory Heap[1]:
    info: Size: 8147 MiB
    info: Flags: 0x0
    info: Memory Type[0]: Property Flags = 0x0
    info: Memory Type[1]: Property Flags = 0x0
    info: Memory Type[2]: Property Flags = 0x0
    info: Memory Type[3]: Property Flags = 0x0
    info: Memory Type[4]: Property Flags = 0x0
    info: Memory Type[5]: Property Flags = 0x0
    info: Memory Type[6]: Property Flags = 0x0
    info: Memory Type[8]: Property Flags = 0x6
    info: Memory Type[9]: Property Flags = 0xe
    info: Memory Heap[2]:
    info: Size: 214 MiB
    info: Flags: 0x1
    info: Memory Type[10]: Property Flags = 0x7
    info: DXGI: NvAPI workaround enabled, reporting AMD GPU
    info: DXGI: NvAPI workaround enabled, reporting AMD GPU
    info: Game: Shroud of the Avatar.exe
    info: DXVK: v1.9.4
    info: Built-in extension providers:
    info: Win32 WSI
    info: OpenVR
    info: OpenXR
    info: OpenVR: could not open registry key, status 2
    info: OpenVR: Failed to locate module
    info: Enabled instance extensions:
    info: VK_KHR_get_surface_capabilities2
    info: VK_KHR_surface
    info: VK_KHR_win32_surface
    info: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050:
    info: Driver: 466.27.0
    info: Vulkan: 1.2.168
    info: Memory Heap[0]:
    info: Size: 1977 MiB
    info: Flags: 0x1
    info: Memory Type[7]: Property Flags = 0x1
    info: Memory Heap[1]:
    info: Size: 8147 MiB
    info: Flags: 0x0
    info: Memory Type[0]: Property Flags = 0x0
    info: Memory Type[1]: Property Flags = 0x0
    info: Memory Type[2]: Property Flags = 0x0
    info: Memory Type[3]: Property Flags = 0x0
    info: Memory Type[4]: Property Flags = 0x0
    info: Memory Type[5]: Property Flags = 0x0
    info: Memory Type[6]: Property Flags = 0x0
    info: Memory Type[8]: Property Flags = 0x6
    info: Memory Type[9]: Property Flags = 0xe
    info: Memory Heap[2]:
    info: Size: 214 MiB
    info: Flags: 0x1
    info: Memory Type[10]: Property Flags = 0x7
    info: DXGI: NvAPI workaround enabled, reporting AMD GPU
    info: Game: Shroud of the Avatar.exe
    info: DXVK: v1.9.4
    info: Built-in extension providers:
    info: Win32 WSI
    info: OpenVR
    info: OpenXR
    info: OpenVR: could not open registry key, status 2
    info: OpenVR: Failed to locate module
    info: Enabled instance extensions:
    info: VK_KHR_get_surface_capabilities2
    info: VK_KHR_surface
    info: VK_KHR_win32_surface
    info: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050:
    info: Driver: 466.27.0
    info: Vulkan: 1.2.168
    info: Memory Heap[0]:
    info: Size: 1977 MiB
    info: Flags: 0x1
    info: Memory Type[7]: Property Flags = 0x1
    info: Memory Heap[1]:
    info: Size: 8147 MiB
    info: Flags: 0x0
    info: Memory Type[0]: Property Flags = 0x0
    info: Memory Type[1]: Property Flags = 0x0
    info: Memory Type[2]: Property Flags = 0x0
    info: Memory Type[3]: Property Flags = 0x0
    info: Memory Type[4]: Property Flags = 0x0
    info: Memory Type[5]: Property Flags = 0x0
    info: Memory Type[6]: Property Flags = 0x0
    info: Memory Type[8]: Property Flags = 0x6
    info: Memory Type[9]: Property Flags = 0xe
    info: Memory Heap[2]:
    info: Size: 214 MiB
    info: Flags: 0x1
    info: Memory Type[10]: Property Flags = 0x7
    warn: DXGI: MakeWindowAssociation: Ignoring flags
     
    Last edited: Feb 12, 2022
  12. Leucian

    Leucian Avatar

    Messages:
    100
    Likes Received:
    163
    Trophy Points:
    18
    Ok that was on a 1050 card correct, windows 10?
     
  13. Tirrag

    Tirrag Avatar

    Messages:
    853
    Likes Received:
    1,820
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    Iowa, USA
    that is correct
     
  14. Leucian

    Leucian Avatar

    Messages:
    100
    Likes Received:
    163
    Trophy Points:
    18
    I had one other tester with a 1050 card, that didnt' do well with this. I'll have to research compatibility with vulkan and the 1050 series. or if there is something i'm missing.
     
    Last edited: Feb 18, 2022
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.