Deathloop with ray tracing is now working in Linux via Steam Play (thanks to VKD3D-Proton)

Deathloop with ray tracing is directly impermanent in Linux via Steam Toy with (thanks to VKD3D-Proton)

(Image recognition: Bethesda Softworks)

Linux gamers wanting to play great-name Windows titles with ray tracing privy start getting mad, as strides let been made with getting some games up and gushing via the VKD3D-Proton stick out, which is united facet of Steam Play (and its Proton compatibility layer for lengthways Windows offerings).

VKD3D-Proton translates Microsoft's Direct3D 12 to Vulkan, and with the latest release which is version 2.5, there's opt-in (early and observational) backing for DXR 1.1 ray tracing.

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Every bit Phoronix spotted, DXR 1.1 is still not done hither by any agency, and this is early on the job stuff, with "significant bugs" still floating around. Even so, DXR 1.1 inline raytracing support is "fully implemented", and some games appear to comprise running fine with irradiatio tracing in Linux. (Note that with this variation, DXR 1.0 fend for is considered more or less done and dusted).

Testing has been conducted with DXR 1.1 enabled on Nvidia GPUs, and Deathloop now appears to go fine with beam of light tracing, as does Resident Evil: Village (though the difference with turning on the flashy personal effects is apparently pretty subtle). World of Warcraft whole kit and boodle reported to reports, simply these harbor't been addicted.

And a biggie, Cyberpunk 2077, is working in a fashion: IT can Be turned on successfully, but suffers from the GPU timing unsuccessful (crashing back to the desktop).

As the devs note: "From here, DXR support is mostly a case of stamping out issues one by one."

Analysis: Steaming ahead with ray tracing support

It's obviously great to see forward motion being made with Steam Play catering for those World Health Organization want to turn on ray tracing when playing Windows games under Linux. With some luck, it won't be too long before Cyberpunk 2077 – one of the heavy hitters of the ray tracing planetary – is properly functional with ray tracing when running via Steam clean Play.

An additional bit of excitement comes with the news that Nvidia has ready-made contributions to facilitate VKD3D-Proton enabling DLSS hold in Direct3D 12 games, helping boost frame rates when below the demands of ray trace, to boot.

We've heard before that maybe the Steam Dump volition eventually benefit from ray trace goodness, as technically the AMD RDNA 2 nontextual matter could runnel it – it's just that IT'd be a slideshow. Notwithstandin, in the future, that reality may change equally the demands of ray tracing games get ahead less onerous, and therefore maybe much in accomplish of the Deck's computer hardware capabilities. (Or indeed a future Steam Decorate sequel would obviously offer beefier hardware).

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Darren is a freelancer writing newsworthiness and features for TechRadar (and occasionally T3) across a broad range of computation topics including CPUs, GPUs, various other hardware, VPNs, antivirus and more. Atomic number 2 has written roughly tech for the best function of three decades, and writes books in his spare time (his introduction novel - 'I Screw What You Did Sunset Supper' - was published by Hachette UK in 2013).