linux optimizations

[amber trail]

currently using mint cinnamon, have already implemented mastercomfig config low in tf2, no explosion smoke, feral gamemode, ananicy, launch option settings, and a few commands in my autoexec that helps with removing bullet tracers and removing event gibs.

but linux is hardstuck on dxlevel 100 on tf2 and i was curious if i can still optimize my game further to get like dxlevel 80 performance

reason why i want this is for visual clarity, for example dxlevel 80 just doesnt show bullet impact effects like dust which is very apparent on dxlevel 100

[short palm]

nope, as you said, linux is stuck to dxlevel 100

valve never intended dxlevel 80 for anything other than older hardware that couldn't run 90+, and because on linux it gets translated to openGL (or vulkan now) they had no reason to add support for it, so they didn't

[umbral blade]

It's technically DirectX 95.

Still, ToGL should at least be based on Dx9, while DXVK on Dx95.

Linux can give from 40 to 60% less perfomrmance compared to Windows at the same settings (with MSAA in S-E-1 games the performance plummets, don't go beyond MSAAx4).
https://www.reddit.com/r/linux_gaming/comments/1kldsmp/proven_source_engine_gives_less_frames_with_the/

[amber trail]

i see thanks

i was launching the game on proton or whatever the default launcher for tf2 on linux is

i launched on opengl its dx90 now

for me personally linux is a better experience than windows

because i use windows 11

i think the reason why the person in the reddit post said that windows is smoother is because they used windows 10 for their testing

i could switch to windows 10 but support is discontinuing

[umbral blade]

@amber trail , that person is me (in my post), and in all my tests ToGL (OpenGL Linux) gave the worst results.

Unless you have something like a GTX 770 you should just use DXVK.

(Technicall worse was Proton, but that's not what I meant).

[wheat portal]

dxlevel 81 works fine in dxvk actually

I tried it on windows once

on linux it would work too but there are more things you would have to change

[deft reef]

*on linux it would

work too but there are more things

you would have to change*

- mysterious_eagle_46873

[wheat portal]

either way valve would have to do it for you for you to actually play like that, but it does/would work

[umbral blade]

Running TF2 through Proton, with Launch Commanding Dx8 should work, but Vulkan conversion of DirectX is NOT magic, it is not guaranteed that it'd better performance.

Honestly, if @amber trail is after "visual clarity", the Low preset of MasterComfig makes things look almost as bad as Dx8.

That said, proper benchmarking of one's machine is a pain in the ass.
https://youtu.be/8rWJDoflwXg
One benchmark may take 4 minutes if one wants to accurately record performance numbers, so that gets multiplied for everything you want to test (Windows Dx, Windows DXVK, Linux DXVK, L ToGL, L Proton/s).

Not to talk about different video settings.

Even just thinking about having to test MSAAx8 vs MSAAx4 vs MSAAx2 vs MSAAoff makes me feel AWFUL.

2 W, 2 L and 2 Proton versions; 6 tests. 4 minutes per test, without counting the game having to restart and load the map each time.
24 minutes x 4 variables is 96 minutes, 1 hour and 36.

If you people are interested into testing out Source-Engine-1 performance, I'd advice you to use Portal 2 (since our TF2 games' versions have the MasterComfig mod, we can't change settings in-game) because the engine is very close to TF2, anyone here should already have it, and settings are easier to change.