DXVK is an

open-source Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open-source model is a decentralized sof ...

translation layer which converts

Direct3D Direct3D is a graphics application programming interface (API) for Microsoft Windows. Part of DirectX, Direct3D is used to render three-dimensional graphics in applications where performance is important, such as games. Direct3D uses hardware a ...

8/9/10/11 calls to Vulkan. It is used by

Proton A proton is a stable subatomic particle, symbol , H+, or 1H+ with a positive electric charge of +1 ''e'' elementary charge. Its mass is slightly less than that of a neutron and 1,836 times the mass of an electron (the proton–electron mass ...

Steam Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization ...

for

Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, which ...

, by

Intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the developers of the x86 seri ...

Windows drivers,

VirtualBox Oracle VM VirtualBox (formerly Sun VirtualBox, Sun xVM VirtualBox and Innotek VirtualBox) is a type-2 hypervisor for x86 virtualization developed by Oracle Corporation. VirtualBox was originally created by Innotek GmbH, which was acquired by ...

7.0, and it can be used to run Direct3D-based games under

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

using Vulkan. DXVK has been confirmed to support over 80% of Direct3D Windows games "near flawlessly".

History

DXVK was first developed by Philip Rebohle to support Direct3D 11 games only as a result of poor compatibility and low performance of Wine's Direct3D 11 to

OpenGL OpenGL (Open Graphics Library) is a cross-language, cross-platform application programming interface (API) for rendering 2D and 3D vector graphics. The API is typically used to interact with a graphics processing unit (GPU), to achieve hardwa ...

translation layer. In 2018, the developer was sponsored by

Valve A valve is a device or natural object that regulates, directs or controls the flow of a fluid (gases, liquids, fluidized solids, or slurries) by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways. Valves are technically fittings ...

to work on the project full-time in order to advance compatibility of the Linux version of

with Windows games. In 2019, DXVK received

Direct3D 9 Direct3D is a graphics application programming interface (API) for Microsoft Windows. Part of DirectX, Direct3D is used to render three-dimensional graphics in applications where performance is important, such as games. Direct3D uses hardware a ...

support by merging with d9vk. In November 2022, DXVK 2.0 was released, introducing improvements to Direct3D 9 memory management, shader compilation, state cache, as well as, support for Direct3D 11 feature level 12_1. Vulkan 1.3 support is now required. Released on January 24, 2023, DXVK 2.1 implemented HDR support and improved quality for certain old games. Released on May 12, 2023, DXVK 2.2 added D3D11On12 support. Released on July 10, 2024, DXVK 2.4 added support for Direct3D 8.

Controversies

The use of Wine/DXVK has been associated with users getting banned from online gaming platforms because game publishers have no way of verifying game integrity for people using Linux.

References

External links

ProtonDB
- a Proton/Wine/DXVK compatibility database
DXVK
- GitHub repository
Wine
- a Win32 compatibility layer for POSIX operating systems {{Unix–Windows interoperability 2018 software Compatibility layers Computing platforms Cross-platform software Free software programmed in C++ Free system software Vulkan (API) Linux emulation software Software using the LGPL license