Linux Gaming API Options and Their Quirks

[Stranded_Napkin]

So, I've been a Windows user for most of my life. I hate Microsoft though and once again got tired of dealing with Windows's bugs. I've used various Linux distros on laptops and other systems. This is the first time that I'm running a distro for my daily driver/gaming pc.

 

I have noticed some issues with the various API's that the game runs on though. On Windows, I believe it ran on DirectX11. I could be wrong on the specific one, but that's what my overlay always stated. Everything appeared to run fine. On Linux, there's the OpenGL and Vulkan API's. I've had issues with each. OpenGL has issues with elemental effects. Fires don't show up so I've walked right into fire traps. Zombies that are electrified by the stun baton disappear and all I see are the electric effects. I tried the Vulkan API and the visuals were fixed. Fires show up just fine. Zombies don't disappear. The issue is multiplayer. When playing multiplayer, my performance has cratered. It typically runs at 100+ fps. I have a 144 Hz monitor so I try to keep the framerate up. After 20-30 minutes of playtime, the framerate will drop to 25 fps. 

 

I've run both the native version of 7 Days as well as the Windows version using Proton. With Proton, things ran fine, but launching the game was a pain as each and every time it launched, it redownloaded one of the redistributables. I was wondering if anybody had any recommendations on anything that might fix any of these issues.

Oh, for clarity, these are my systems specs:

 

AMD Ryzen 7 7700x

AMD Radeon 7900 XTX

32 GB DDR5 6000 RAM

Asus ROG Strix B650-A Gaming Wifi

OS: Nobara Linux

Desktop: KDE Plasma

Edited July 24 by Stranded_Napkin
Typo on RAM (see edit history)

[meganoth]

Redownload might stop if you change the steam setting of the game, for example to only download patches when you start the game. I had a similar problem with Enshrouded (where i have to use proton) and this fixed it.

 

I didn't see the problems you have with opengl or vulkan. No idea why though, I have a full AMD rig as well, except I play on ubuntu

 

The only problem I currently have is that since 2-3 patches ago 7days with vulkan crashed with an out-of-memory error after half an hour. Not sure it is still doing it as I didn't test it with the last patch.

 

Note there are 2 changes to the OS settings you might have to do because the game is using lots of resources: https://community.7daystodie.com/topic/3998-support-faq-information-and-common-solutions/?do=findComment&comment=48438

It says there it is mostly for dedicated servers, but before I did this the vulkan game didn't even start, after that it ran half an hour.

 

 

[Stranded_Napkin]

Figured I'd post an update. I updated from Nobara 39 to Nobara 40. Things are....different.

 

When installed natively:

Vulkan doesn't work quite right even in single player now. Anytime your player moves, your framerate halves.

OpenGL still has the invisible fire. You see smoke, just no flames.

 

When installed with with proton-ge:

Game now works without redownloading the redistributable. Flames are visible. Everything seems to work just fine. Thank God.

 

I had forgotten to reformat my drives from NTFS to ext4, so I had some other issues that were cleared up after reformatting. I haven't tested the APIs again, but not all the problems that occurred went away. Oddly, the version of Shadow of the Tomb Raider that's native to linux ran flawlessly on Nobara 39. It now refuses to open and the game will only open and run when installed using proton-ge. Oh well, both open and run so I can't complain too much.

[meganoth]

Update from me as well: The crashes with vulkan stopped when I turned off "graphics jobs" in the launcher