Playing Guild Wars 2 on Linux - Performance optimizations and more.

[ArmoredVehicle.2849]

@Hell Nirvana.9045 said:Any news on the 6.x rebase? :)

Nothing yet, sorry. I'll get to it eventually.

[huuof.9231]

Hey guys,

May I ask what is performing better for gw2 comparing AMD vs NVIDIA? More specificaly a laptop using AMD rx5600m vs NVIDIA 2060?

Thanks!

[ArmoredVehicle.2849]

@huuof.9231 said:Hey guys,

May I ask what is performing better for gw2 comparing AMD vs NVIDIA? More specificaly a laptop using AMD rx5600m vs NVIDIA 2060?

Thanks!

Between those GPU's it won't make much difference (if any at all) in GW2, I've played the game on various desktop cards GTX 1060, RX 5500 XT, RTX 2060 Super and RX 6800. Game didn't perform any better with one or the other. As has always been the case with this game, the CPU is a more contributing factor to performance.

[Ikarus.2659]

@huuof.9231 said:Hey guys,

May I ask what is performing better for gw2 comparing AMD vs NVIDIA? More specificaly a laptop using AMD rx5600m vs NVIDIA 2060?

Thanks!

As ArmoredVehicle said performance wont make any difference. But I had recently switched from RX580 to GTX1080 and this fixed crashes with DXVK-ASYNC. But maybe it was just my RX580 or my config.Since AMD drivers are open source its the better way for linux. ;)

[Barabeam.4638]

@Ikarus.2659 said:

switched from RX580 to GTX1080 and this fixed crashes with DXVK-ASYNC. But maybe it was just my RX580 or my config.Since AMD drivers are open source its the better way for linux. ;)

I also use RX580, I rarely get any crashes, I also use dxvk-async. maybe it is something in the card or your configuration. :) Note that I use it on a manjaro KDE. And I agree with you it is more relaxing to manage an AMD gpu on linux since we can just stick to the open source drivers. Cheers!

[ArmoredVehicle.2849]

A new DXVK version has been released today (1.8), the async version also ready. Currently testing it with GW2 for any possible regressions, if everything checks out you can expect a package update over the weekend :)

Sorry, no Wine rebase to 6.x yet.

[fluffypaws.2860]

@"ArmoredVehicle.2849" said:A new DXVK version has been released today (1.8), the async version also ready. Currently testing it with GW2 for any possible regressions, if everything checks out you can expect a package update over the weekend :)

Sorry, no Wine rebase to 6.x yet.

Hi mate, here is the async patch build of dxvk 1.8 with the optimized SPIRV shader compilation time patch included (as per pull request #1582 ) https://github.com/doitsujin/dxvk/pull/1582

"uses bit::cast instead of direct memcpy, and the additional DxvkShader constructor is less verbose, passing a const SpirvModule& and building flags directly from it instead"

This will be slightly faster than the vanilla aysnc 1.8 version for your testing.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/3daz94ardnugo34/dxvk-1.8-async%20%281%29.tar.gz?dl=0

[GutterRat.1269]

I'm new to Linux. I am trying to get GW2 running on Xubuntu 20.04 x64. I installed Lutris and GW2, but I am running into the network error. Apparently I have to switch Wine version to 5.7.11 but it's not available in the Runner options. I can only choose between Lutris-6.0-x86_64 and System (5.0 (Ubuntu 5.0-3ubuntu1)). I've been googling for over an hour as to how to install an older version of Wine but I can't figure it out. Any advice would be much appreciated...NVM...I'm an idiot. Another Wine version could be added straight from Lutris by clicking the downward arrow next to Wine...didn't need the terminal at all.

[Barabeam.4638]

@Mack.3045 said:

@"ArmoredVehicle.2849" said:A new DXVK version has been released today (1.8), the async version also ready. Currently testing it with GW2 for any possible regressions, if everything checks out you can expect a package update over the weekend :)

Sorry, no Wine rebase to 6.x yet.

Hi mate, here is the async patch build of dxvk 1.8 with the optimized SPIRV shader compilation time patch included (as per pull request #1582 )

https://github.com/doitsujin/dxvk/pull/1582

"uses bit::cast instead of direct memcpy, and the additional DxvkShader constructor is less verbose, passing a const SpirvModule& and building flags directly from it instead"

This will be slightly faster than the vanilla aysnc 1.8 version for your testing.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/3daz94ardnugo34/dxvk-1.8-async%20%281%29.tar.gz?dl=0

Thank you for posting the new dxvk-async, the compressed folder you shared though doesn't include installation script though, it is fine if I just borrow installation script from a previous version? just copy and paste it in the new folder and process the installation?

Edit: I copied the setup file from the 1.8 main release and installed, it is working fine, but I am not entirely sure this is a proper way to install it xD ,,thanks!

[VisceralMonkey.6128]

Nice. How hard is to to update to the latest version when it's comes out this weekend? I've installed using archdps with no problems.

[ArmoredVehicle.2849]

@Mack.3045 said:

@"ArmoredVehicle.2849" said:A new DXVK version has been released today (1.8), the async version also ready. Currently testing it with GW2 for any possible regressions, if everything checks out you can expect a package update over the weekend :)

Sorry, no Wine rebase to 6.x yet.

Hi mate, here is the async patch build of dxvk 1.8 with the optimized SPIRV shader compilation time patch included (as per pull request #1582 )

https://github.com/doitsujin/dxvk/pull/1582

"uses bit::cast instead of direct memcpy, and the additional DxvkShader constructor is less verbose, passing a const SpirvModule& and building flags directly from it instead"

This will be slightly faster than the vanilla aysnc 1.8 version for your testing.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/3daz94ardnugo34/dxvk-1.8-async%20%281%29.tar.gz?dl=0

Thanks for your help, had some time to test out the new builds, no issues on my end. :)

---

New update announcement:

I've went ahead and updated the package, only DXVK has been touched/updated this time. I've also tested arcdps and it's working fine on my setup (AMD GPU).

Regarding the rebase to Wine 6.x, to be honest I'm still a bit hesitant about this, and the reason is that I'm still seeing reports of the network error. I'll see if I can run a few tests of my own regarding this.

This weekend I've also worked on improving the non-google drive download links, they're now linked to an http server as opposed to the previous ftp based setup.

Patches - On the first page in the downloads section I've added a patch to easily go from 2.1.0 to 2.2.0. Installation is simple, extract it into the game's folder and merge/overwrite all files when prompted. Depending on the complexity between package updates, a patch might not always be available.

Have a nice weekend ;)

[fluffypaws.2860]

@ArmoredVehicle.2849 said:

@Mack.3045 said:

@ArmoredVehicle.2849 said:A new DXVK version has been released today (1.8), the async version also ready. Currently testing it with GW2 for any possible regressions, if everything checks out you can expect a package update over the weekend :)

Sorry, no Wine rebase to 6.x yet.

Hi mate, here is the async patch build of dxvk 1.8 with the optimized SPIRV shader compilation time patch included (as per pull request #1582 )

https://github.com/doitsujin/dxvk/pull/1582

"uses bit::cast instead of direct memcpy, and the additional DxvkShader constructor is less verbose, passing a const SpirvModule& and building flags directly from it instead"

This will be slightly faster than the vanilla aysnc 1.8 version for your testing.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/3daz94ardnugo34/dxvk-1.8-async%20%281%29.tar.gz?dl=0

Thanks for your help, had some time to test out the new builds, no issues on my end. :)

---

New update announcement:

I've went ahead and updated the package, only DXVK has been touched/updated this time. I've also tested arcdps and it's working fine on my setup (AMD GPU).

Regarding the rebase to Wine 6.x, to be honest I'm still a bit hesitant about this, and the reason is that I'm still seeing reports of the network error. I'll see if I can run a few tests of my own regarding this.

This weekend I've also worked on improving the non-google drive download links, they're now linked to an http server as opposed to the previous ftp based setup.

Patches

- On the first page in the downloads section I've added a patch to easily go from 2.1.0 to 2.2.0. Installation is simple, extract it into the game's folder and merge/overwrite all files when prompted. Depending on the complexity between package updates, a patch might not always be available.

Have a nice weekend ;)

Thanks Armored Vehicle. Are you on Discord ? I had a few questions for you and would be easier to discuss there :)

[VisceralMonkey.6128]

Patch worked fine. It does hang when I exit but I can alt+f2 and just close it from desktop.

[Hell Nirvana.9045]

One minus (for my "workflow") I've noticed with 2.2.0 is that the game minimises now upon opening Yakuake, or if I switch between virtual desktops in KDE Plasma.

Edit: I had done the full replacement, not the update.

Edit2: Switching to Windowed Fullscreen works, but Fullscreen used to work without the game minimising before.

[Barabeam.4638]

@"Mack.3045" Seems like dxvk-async 1.8.1 is release :)

I just installed it from: https://github.com/Sporif/dxvk-async/releases/tag/1.8.1but I am wondering, is it similar to the one you usually post? Or is the one you usually post built with special considerations and markers for GW2?

Thanks :)

[MistyMe.7683]

So I just updated("sudo apt update" and "sudo apt upgrade") my Ubuntu system running on Gnome yesterday and my GW2 has been broken ever since....I made a fresh install of the game twice overnight using the new 2.2.0 package but still nothing works, I do notice a "GW2" process running in the background when I check my processes with "htop", this process also disappears when I close the terminal running the "./play.sh" script... I'm really confused whether it's a problem from my pc or from the recent update...Any help..??

[Erze.7253]

Linux is great but.........Sub-optimal by a long way considering the other option available.

Windows is great, but... seriously misprogrammed, and hardly optimal.Best I could get under Win10x64 was 35 fps.I routinely get under Linux 55fps. Of course, getting some software to work under Linux is an issue, so there are drawbacks, but seriously.

[ArmoredVehicle.2849]

@"MistyMe.7683" said:So I just updated("sudo apt update" and "sudo apt upgrade") my Ubuntu system running on Gnome yesterday and my GW2 has been broken ever since....I made a fresh install of the game twice overnight using the new 2.2.0 package but still nothing works, I do notice a "GW2" process running in the background when I check my processes with "htop", this process also disappears when I close the terminal running the "./play.sh" script... I'm really confused whether it's a problem from my pc or from the recent update...Any help..??

Can you please post your system specs and gpu drivers version?

Also in the same folder as the play.sh script, you can run the 'debug.sh' script in a terminal window, which will print out any errors that might help indicate where the issue is coming from. You can copy and paste that log here :)

[Ooops.8694]

Just a small note (maybe more relevant in the future, when more people upgrade to newer wine versions):There's a bug at the moment, preventing players using wine 6.3 and above (standard and staging) to login to the game. Connections generally work (you can download/update the client via launcher for example), but the login server in unreachable.

[Hell Nirvana.9045]

Would there be much sense (or even benefit) in rebasing to some more recent 5.x version, since the 6.x is still troublesome for this game?

[ArmoredVehicle.2849]

@Ooops.8694 said:Just a small note (maybe more relevant in the future, when more people upgrade to newer wine versions):There's a bug at the moment, preventing players using wine 6.3 and above (standard and staging) to login to the game. Connections generally work (you can download/update the client via launcher for example), but the login server in unreachable.

Thanks for the headsup, I was aware of this issue which is why the package is still at Wine 5.7. Didn't know it's still not fixed.

@Hell Nirvana.9045 said:Would there be much sense (or even benefit) in rebasing to some more recent 5.x version, since the 6.x is still troublesome for this game?

If I'm not mistaken, the connection issue is also present in later 5.xx versions. At this point it wouldn't make much sense especially since the game works well enough as it is.

There are a few things I'm looking forward though such as:

Mesa's single file shader cache which might debut in Mesa 21.1fsync2-futex2 implementation which might replace esync for performance benefits.

Eventually Wine will have to rebased in order to welcome the new features. It's only a matter of when. :)

[Astyrah.4015]

wine 6.5 is out with bugfix for GW2 launcher not being able to login (error 42, regression that started from wine 6.3 and 6.4 and some custom patchsets/builds of wine 5.20 and up)

release info:https://www.winehq.org/announce/6.5

bug report:https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=50738

waiting for the wine-staging package on my distro to test :)

EDIT:can confirm. compiled wine 6.5 with staging and tkg patchsets and the game logs in just fine. no issues playing whatsoever with just a very very rare crash after a map change/loading screen whenever i run arcdps (no crashes if not running arc even after long hours of play) -- this could be more of arcdps not playing nice with the latest dxvk build

[jhanschoo.5270]

Just want to express my thanks; for some reason your solution actually gives me better fps than dx912pxy on Win10!

[ArmoredVehicle.2849]

@Astyrah.4015 said:EDIT:can confirm. compiled wine 6.5 with staging and tkg patchsets and the game logs in just fine. no issues playing whatsoever with just a very very rare crash after a map change/loading screen whenever i run arcdps (no crashes if not running arc even after long hours of play) -- this could be more of arcdps not playing nice with the latest dxvk build

Thanks for checking it out :)

And with that solved, I guess it's time to rebase the package to Wine 6.5

[SmokingLord.6108]

@Astyrah.4015 said:EDIT:can confirm. compiled wine 6.5 with staging and tkg patchsets and the game logs in just fine. no issues playing whatsoever with just a very very rare crash after a map change/loading screen whenever i run arcdps (no crashes if not running arc even after long hours of play) -- this could be more of arcdps not playing nice with the latest dxvk build

I'm having the same crashes when I have arcdps installed, but for me it isn't so rare, doesn't take more than 30min on WvW to crash. Its quite annoying since crash on WvW means waiting on long queue to get in again lol. I may give a try with dxvk 1.7.x to see if there is any difference.