Gw2 DX12pxy needs to be implemented directly

[Infusion.7149]

Rename d3d9.dll to d3d9_chainload.dll if you need arcdps

[Astyrah.4015]

@"Veprovina.4876" said:Quick question for whoever may know.

Does DXVK work with ArcDPS?

EDIT: Just tried DXVK and it was great and actally better than d912pxy until i cast a skill. Then it crashed. :tongue:I'm going back to d912pxy for now, but will keep DXVK in mind for the future. I just wonder if it also works with ArcDPS.

you "chain load" it as arcdps calls it. d3d9_chainload.dll on linux this is not needed since dxvk replaces d3d9 in your syswow64 and system32 folders inside your wine prefix so arcdps points to it thinking automatically it's the microsoft one.

@"Veprovina.4876" said:I wish i still had my Linux installation to try GW2 on linux with this...

you can install linux anytime, you'd be far surprised how many windows games run just as fast in linux or even faster in some cases. the only exception is EAC/BE/anti-cheat games where said anti-cheat runs on the kernel level (like a root-kit malware really) and does system calls wine cannot replicate yet also wine running on the user-space level (which is not intrusive) makes it harder

(windows os anti cheats like battle eye/eac will one day run on wine but it will take a long time as development has been halted for other improvements such as media foundation compatibility)

[Veprovina.4876]

@Astyrah.4015 said:

@"Veprovina.4876" said:Quick question for whoever may know.

Does DXVK work with ArcDPS?

EDIT: Just tried DXVK and it was great and actally better than d912pxy until i cast a skill. Then it crashed. :tongue:I'm going back to d912pxy for now, but will keep DXVK in mind for the future. I just wonder if it also works with ArcDPS.

you "chain load" it as arcdps calls it. d3d9_chainload.dll on linux this is not needed since dxvk replaces d3d9 in your syswow64 and system32 folders inside your wine prefix so arcdps points to it thinking automatically it's the microsoft one.

@"Veprovina.4876" said:I wish i still had my Linux installation to try GW2 on linux with this...

you can install linux anytime,

you'd be far surprised how many windows games run just as fast in linux

or even faster in some cases. the only exception is EAC/BE/anti-cheat games where said anti-cheat runs on the kernel level (like a root-kit malware really) and does system calls wine cannot replicate yet also wine running on the user-space level (which is not intrusive) makes it harder

(windows os anti cheats like battle eye/eac will one day run on wine but it will take a long time as development has been halted for other improvements such as media foundation compatibility)

Thank you! You've been very helpful! :smile:

Yeah, makes sense. Usually i chainload d912pxy while Arc remains the standard, but in linux yeah, it would be automatic. Will keep in mind in the future. :smile:

And i can't install Linux right now simply because i don't have enough space on my SSD. :sweat_smile:Plus, it would need to be a dual boot, and doing that with Windows 10 is a horror story, i tried it once, something to do with how Windows 10 hogs boot sectors for itself. Well, at least with Ubuntu. So if i attempt that, i'll have to reinstall everything to build it from scratch, i don't like "add on systems", they make me uncomfortable lol. :tongue:

Which Linux Distro would you recommend for Guild Wars 2?

I still remember trying to run it waaaay back, and it did, but it ran at like 5 FPS with most of the graphics not being properly displayed. Also, window only, mouse wouldn't stay in the window etc. haha! Those were the days. :tongue: Linux gaming has gone a long way indeed, i saw some videos on how to set everything up, it's easier than ever and sometimes actually runs better! :open_mouth:

[Astyrah.4015]

@Veprovina.4876 said:

@Astyrah.4015 said:

@Veprovina.4876 said:Quick question for whoever may know.

Does DXVK work with ArcDPS?

EDIT: Just tried DXVK and it was great and actally better than d912pxy until i cast a skill. Then it crashed. :tongue:I'm going back to d912pxy for now, but will keep DXVK in mind for the future. I just wonder if it also works with ArcDPS.

you "chain load" it as arcdps calls it. d3d9_chainload.dll on linux this is not needed since dxvk replaces d3d9 in your syswow64 and system32 folders inside your wine prefix so arcdps points to it thinking automatically it's the microsoft one.

@Veprovina.4876 said:I wish i still had my Linux installation to try GW2 on linux with this...

you can install linux anytime,

you'd be far surprised how many windows games run just as fast in linux

or even faster in some cases. the only exception is EAC/BE/anti-cheat games where said anti-cheat runs on the kernel level (like a root-kit malware really) and does system calls wine cannot replicate yet also wine running on the user-space level (which is not intrusive) makes it harder

(windows os anti cheats like battle eye/eac will one day run on wine but it will take a long time as development has been halted for other improvements such as media foundation compatibility)

Thank you! You've been very helpful! :smile:

Yeah, makes sense. Usually i chainload d912pxy while Arc remains the standard, but in linux yeah, it would be automatic. Will keep in mind in the future. :smile:

And i can't install Linux right now simply because i don't have enough space on my SSD. :sweat_smile:Plus, it would need to be a dual boot, and doing that with Windows 10 is a horror story, i tried it once, something to do with how Windows 10 hogs boot sectors for itself. Well, at least with Ubuntu. So if i attempt that, i'll have to reinstall everything to build it from scratch, i don't like "add on systems", they make me uncomfortable lol. :tongue:

Which Linux Distro would you recommend for Guild Wars 2?

I still remember trying to run it waaaay back, and it did, but it ran at like 5 FPS with most of the graphics not being properly displayed. Also, window only, mouse wouldn't stay in the window etc. haha! Those were the days. :tongue: Linux gaming has gone a long way indeed, i saw some videos on how to set everything up, it's easier than ever and sometimes actually runs better! :open_mouth:

we're going off topic so this would be last one regarding linux,

yes windows loves to alter the bootloader of your drive every update so it messes with the dual boot and linux's bootloader (grub2) -- it's that selfish. if you want to install linux and dual boot with windows, it's always recommended to run it on a separate drive/ssd or disable windows updates completely if you're running off of 1 disk.

---

all distros would work as long as you can run wine :)

for distros, i would recommend Ubuntu (non LTS) or Kubuntu (which is more windows-like with it's interface) for people who migrate from windows as it comes with the latest packages and gets major updates every 6 months. if you have an nvidia card, Pop_OS is a good choice too since it's based on Ubuntu but with more emphasis on nvidia stuff. other debian/ubuntu based distros work wonderfully well for starters too.

many would also say Manjaro but being an arch linux derivative that steers a bit too away from arch and it's official packages, you may run into issues or you may not, depending on your hardware configuration. so while it's a good distro, it may not be the best for everyone.

[Astyrah.4015]

@Infusion.7149 said:TL;DR: Moving to Vulkan is faster performance-wise and opens up additional revenue streams. DX12 doesn't.

ideally, this is the best way. like you said it opens up to many platforms and wont confine the game to windows OS.

having games run on vulkan natively would allow linux and macOS to run said windows game via wine with less overhead in theory since the render is native. one example is Path of Exile, since they outed their vulkan renderer, it's been running really fantastic on linux via steam's proton

but the issue is not many devs seem to look at vulkan the way they look at dx12. one of the reasons is with vulkan one needs to completely learn a new api while devs who already are experienced with dx11 and dx9 can easily transition over to dx12 because of the many things microsoft provides such as DirectXTK & DirectXTK12 and many recommend directx as a good api to start learning on.

[maddoctor.2738]

I took DXVK for a spin and did the same graphics tests I did with vanilla and d912py. Same exact scene just so things can be compared. And holy... #$$##$#$#$ I had to pinch myself when I saw the results.

Everything on maxvanilla: 23 fpsdx12py: 48 fpsdxvk: 73 fps (WHAT IS THIS)One thing worth noting here though, vanilla used 1241 VRAM, d912py used 2371 VRAM while dxvk uses 2776 VRAM. I don't care since my GPU has 8 GB VRAM but I think we should be thorough with our performance metrics.Also another important thing is that dxvk does make alt-tab slower. I have the game in Windowed Fullscreen and it takes a second to get back to the game when alt-tabbing, while with vanilla or d912py it's instant.The performance difference is stupid at max settings so... totally worth it.I really can't believe I can play GW2 with everything maxed out, including AA and Supersampling, @1080/60

Anyway, since the results of max settings were so insane the rest of the comparisons are for educational purposes and to see how dxvk scales compared to the others.Removing AA and setting Render Sampling to Native:vanilla: 27 fpsdx12py: 68 fpsdxvk: 105 fps

Above + High Shadows:vanilla: 37 fpsdx12py: 76 fpsdxvk: 115 fps

Above + Low Shadows:vanilla: 49 fpsdx12py: 80 fpsdxvk: 83 fps (WHAAAAAT IS THIS?)Um here I don't understand what is going on. High Shadows give 115 fps, when I set them to low I drop to... 83, which is even lower than the 105 fps I get with Ultra.So 3 out of 3, vanilla, d912py AND dxvk show a considerable reduction in performance when setting shadows to medium and for dxvk even low. This does show that the game itself is doing a horrendous job with Shadows.

Low settings:vanilla: 60 fpsdx12py: 94 fpsdxvk: 102 fps (WHAAAAT IS THIS?)Yes, with my "low" settings I get lower fps than with high. This is easily explained with the garbage Shadow results.

Low settings with Ultra Shadows:dxvk: 121 fps (that's more like it)

[Joote.4081]

I started to have a lot of problems with d912pxy and have had to uninstall. Far away stuff started flashing like mad and at times would make the game unresponsive like I had lost connection.

[Astyrah.4015]

@Joote.4081 said:Big shock when I installed DX12pxy for the first time. First thoughts were 'SO, this is what guild wars 2 is suppose to look like and run?' The difference is like night and day.If a modder can do this from his toilet it does make you think why haven't A-net give us the option years ago? I mean, if they can't be bothered just buy the mod of this guy.

then >

@Joote.4081 said:I started to have a lot of problems with d912pxy and have had to uninstall. Far away stuff started flashing like mad and at times would make the game unresponsive like I had lost connection.

even if you had issues with it, you at least had a glimpse of what performance could be had just by changing the renderer to one that makes use of your hardware better.

now imagine if arenanet provided that change with an updated game engine to better make use of a modern cpu, along with a native renderer (not translation layer, for either vulkan or dx12) depending on your computer setup, there is some (or a lot of) performance to be gained from it. and being an official/first-party update means there will be less (if not, none) of these issues.

[Joote.4081]

@Astyrah.4015 said:

@Joote.4081 said:Big shock when I installed DX12pxy for the first time. First thoughts were 'SO, this is what guild wars 2 is suppose to look like and run?' The difference is like night and day.If a modder can do this from his toilet it does make you think why haven't A-net give us the option years ago? I mean, if they can't be bothered just buy the mod of this guy.

then >

@Joote.4081 said:I started to have a lot of problems with d912pxy and have had to uninstall. Far away stuff started flashing like mad and at times would make the game unresponsive like I had lost connection.

even if you had issues with it, you at least had a glimpse of what performance could be had just by changing the renderer to one that makes use of your hardware better.

now imagine if arenanet provided that change with an updated game engine to better make use of a modern cpu, along with a native renderer (not translation layer, for either vulkan or dx12) depending on your computer setup, there is some (or a lot of) performance to be gained from it. and being an official/first-party update means there will be less (if not, none) of these issues.

Oh yes, If A-net took it to task I am in no doubt they could make a trouble free wrapper.

[Evil.1580]

@"maddoctor.2738" said:I took DXVK for a spin and did the same graphics tests I did with vanilla and d912py. Same exact scene just so things can be compared. And holy... #$$##$#$#$ I had to pinch myself when I saw the results.

Everything on maxvanilla: 23 fpsdx12py: 48 fpsdxvk: 73 fps (WHAT IS THIS)One thing worth noting here though, vanilla used 1241 VRAM, d912py used 2371 VRAM while dxvk uses 2776 VRAM. I don't care since my GPU has 8 GB VRAM but I think we should be thorough with our performance metrics.Also another important thing is that dxvk does make alt-tab slower. I have the game in Windowed Fullscreen and it takes a second to get back to the game when alt-tabbing, while with vanilla or d912py it's instant.The performance difference is stupid at max settings so... totally worth it.I really can't believe I can play GW2 with everything maxed out, including AA and Supersampling, @1080/60

Anyway, since the results of max settings were so insane the rest of the comparisons are for educational purposes and to see how dxvk scales compared to the others.Removing AA and setting Render Sampling to Native:vanilla: 27 fpsdx12py: 68 fpsdxvk: 105 fps

Above + High Shadows:vanilla: 37 fpsdx12py: 76 fpsdxvk: 115 fps

Above + Low Shadows:vanilla: 49 fpsdx12py: 80 fpsdxvk: 83 fps (WHAAAAAT IS THIS?)Um here I don't understand what is going on. High Shadows give 115 fps, when I set them to low I drop to... 83, which is even lower than the 105 fps I get with Ultra.So 3 out of 3, vanilla, d912py AND dxvk show a considerable reduction in performance when setting shadows to medium and for dxvk even low. This does show that the game itself is doing a horrendous job with Shadows.

Low settings:vanilla: 60 fpsdx12py: 94 fpsdxvk: 102 fps (WHAAAAT IS THIS?)Yes, with my "low" settings I get lower fps than with high. This is easily explained with the garbage Shadow results.

Low settings with Ultra Shadows:dxvk: 121 fps (that's more like it)

These are great results.May I ask for 2 things?

1. Can you tell me what is your hardware?
2. Can you post exact installation method of the DXVK because some people say to put the files where gw2 exe is, other say to put them in the bin folder?

Thanks!

[Veprovina.4876]

@Evil.1580 said:

@"maddoctor.2738" said:I took DXVK for a spin and did the same graphics tests I did with vanilla and d912py. Same exact scene just so things can be compared. And holy... #$$##$#$#$ I had to pinch myself when I saw the results.

Everything on maxvanilla: 23 fpsdx12py: 48 fpsdxvk: 73 fps (WHAT IS THIS)One thing worth noting here though, vanilla used 1241 VRAM, d912py used 2371 VRAM while dxvk uses 2776 VRAM. I don't care since my GPU has 8 GB VRAM but I think we should be thorough with our performance metrics.Also another important thing is that dxvk does make alt-tab slower. I have the game in Windowed Fullscreen and it takes a second to get back to the game when alt-tabbing, while with vanilla or d912py it's instant.The performance difference is stupid at max settings so... totally worth it.I really can't believe I can play GW2 with everything maxed out, including AA and Supersampling, @1080/60

Anyway, since the results of max settings were so insane the rest of the comparisons are for educational purposes and to see how dxvk scales compared to the others.Removing AA and setting Render Sampling to Native:vanilla: 27 fpsdx12py: 68 fpsdxvk: 105 fps

Above + High Shadows:vanilla: 37 fpsdx12py: 76 fpsdxvk: 115 fps

Above + Low Shadows:vanilla: 49 fpsdx12py: 80 fpsdxvk: 83 fps (WHAAAAAT IS THIS?)Um here I don't understand what is going on. High Shadows give 115 fps, when I set them to low I drop to... 83, which is even lower than the 105 fps I get with Ultra.So 3 out of 3, vanilla, d912py AND dxvk show a considerable reduction in performance when setting shadows to medium and for dxvk even low. This does show that the game itself is doing a horrendous job with Shadows.

Low settings:vanilla: 60 fpsdx12py: 94 fpsdxvk: 102 fps (WHAAAAT IS THIS?)Yes, with my "low" settings I get lower fps than with high. This is easily explained with the garbage Shadow results.

Low settings with

Ultra

Shadows:dxvk: 121 fps (that's more like it)

These are great results.May I ask for 2 things?

1. Can you tell me what is your hardware?
2. Can you post exact installation method of the DXVK because some people say to put the files where gw2 exe is, other say to put them in the bin folder?

Thanks!

Here's the video guide i used to install DXVK:

[maddoctor.2738]

@Evil.1580 said:These are great results.May I ask for 2 things?

1. Can you tell me what is your hardware?
2. Can you post exact installation method of the DXVK because some people say to put the files where gw2 exe is, other say to put them in the bin folder?

Thanks!

The GPU is in the screenshot from the Asus software, R9 390 (Asus ROG Strix DC3 version), the CPU is an i7-6700k, 16GB of RAM, running the game from 970 EVO SSD. Keep in mind that the screenshots aren't representative of actual in-game performance because the game does stutter a LOT while moving around, for example while in Divinity's Reach I can drop to as low as 54 fps, then it goes back up. But those annoying stutters are everywhere and performance goes down for a while, then goes up again once it stabilizes.

Furthmore, I picked that place on purpose because in my guild hall it's full of particle effects and the vanilla game suffers greatly when many particle effects are nearby. Fortunately both d912py and especially dxvk seem to be unaffected by high particle count, which is why they are also so much better when in mass open world fights.

For the installation, you download the zip and put two files (d3d9.dll and dxgi.dll) inside your Bin64 folder, which is inside your Guild wars 2 folder, so for me it's D :\Guild Wars 2\bin64

[Infusion.7149]

@maddoctor.2738 , glad to see you got it done.dxvk is outright superior for AMD GPUs

Anyway the reason why you might have a delay for alt-tab is you're on a 4 core 8 thread chip and possibly whatever Intel patches to fix the side channel vulnerabilities from Spectre/Meltdown. By default half the cores are used for shader cache in dxvk.

The shader compilation stutters happen on Windows if you don't have a shader cache built up and don't run the async flags. If you turn on the flag it skips draw calls if the shader isn't compiled yet. In Linux it is prebuilt with Fossilize.

You see my point from last month or so, where the graphics API is not the sole limiting factor. If they incrementally improved the multi-threading of the client itself and the shadows/reflections/model limit bottlenecks it would be much more beneficial in the interim. GW2's shadows and reflections were designed in a time where RTX , Vulkan Ray Tracing , and DXR weren't in existence.

If Arenanet delivers on their Steam availability, every single person on Linux will be using Steam Proton to play GW2. As for the thread topic, d912pxy has had potential to be "game-breaking" in that in one patch the WvW walls were invisible. I've never had such an issue happen with dxvk, because it isn't designed solely for GW2.

[Jin.8501]

Works nicely, after the stuttering is gone. Nvidia GPU here. Thank you for posting this, i used dx12 proxy for years but had no knowledge of this other one

EDIT: Alt tab is instantaneous aswell

[Xanadrine.4352]

No one should be playing on win 7, its a dodo at this point. There is no legit support for that mess, soon it wont run worth a darn, people should have at least took the free upgrade microsoft had out for a year. They need to overhaul the game engine thats true, let the cores stretch their legs and spread out the performance. its also a shame Vulkan didnt take off, I was hoping that was the next big thing.

[Evil.1580]

@maddoctor.2738 said:

@Evil.1580 said:These are great results.May I ask for 2 things?

1. Can you tell me what is your hardware?
2. Can you post exact installation method of the DXVK because some people say to put the files where gw2 exe is, other say to put them in the bin folder?

Thanks!

The GPU is in the screenshot from the Asus software, R9 390 (Asus ROG Strix DC3 version), the CPU is an i7-6700k, 16GB of RAM, running the game from 970 EVO SSD. Keep in mind that the screenshots aren't representative of actual in-game performance because the game does stutter a LOT while moving around, for example while in Divinity's Reach I can drop to as low as 54 fps, then it goes back up. But those annoying stutters are everywhere and performance goes down for a while, then goes up again once it stabilizes.

Furthmore, I picked that place on purpose because in my guild hall it's full of particle effects and the vanilla game suffers greatly when many particle effects are nearby. Fortunately both d912py and especially dxvk seem to be unaffected by high particle count, which is why they are also so much better when in mass open world fights.

For the installation, you download the zip and put two files (d3d9.dll and dxgi.dll) inside your Bin64 folder, which is inside your Guild wars 2 folder, so for me it's D :\Guild Wars 2\bin64

Thanks!Have you tested it along with arcdps and/or reshade?

[maddoctor.2738]

@Evil.1580 said:

@maddoctor.2738 said:

@Evil.1580 said:These are great results.May I ask for 2 things?

1. Can you tell me what is your hardware?
2. Can you post exact installation method of the DXVK because some people say to put the files where gw2 exe is, other say to put them in the bin folder?

Thanks!

The GPU is in the screenshot from the Asus software, R9 390 (Asus ROG Strix DC3 version), the CPU is an i7-6700k, 16GB of RAM, running the game from 970 EVO SSD. Keep in mind that the screenshots aren't representative of actual in-game performance because the game does stutter a LOT while moving around, for example while in Divinity's Reach I can drop to as low as 54 fps, then it goes back up. But those annoying stutters are everywhere and performance goes down for a while, then goes up again once it stabilizes.

Furthmore, I picked that place on purpose because in my guild hall it's full of particle effects and the vanilla game suffers greatly when many particle effects are nearby. Fortunately both d912py and especially dxvk seem to be unaffected by high particle count, which is why they are also so much better when in mass open world fights.

For the installation, you download the zip and put two files (d3d9.dll and dxgi.dll) inside your Bin64 folder, which is inside your Guild wars 2 folder, so for me it's D :\Guild Wars 2\bin64

Thanks!Have you tested it along with arcdps and/or reshade?

I'm not using arcdps nor reshade but they shouldn't affect performance.

[Zephyr.5382]

Another Nvidia user here reporting better results with DXVK. I didn't do any official benchmarking, but it's at least as quick as d912pxy, with none of the shader compilation delay.

[Jin.8501]

@Evil.1580 said:

@maddoctor.2738 said:

@Evil.1580 said:These are great results.May I ask for 2 things?

1. Can you tell me what is your hardware?
2. Can you post exact installation method of the DXVK because some people say to put the files where gw2 exe is, other say to put them in the bin folder?

Thanks!

The GPU is in the screenshot from the Asus software, R9 390 (Asus ROG Strix DC3 version), the CPU is an i7-6700k, 16GB of RAM, running the game from 970 EVO SSD. Keep in mind that the screenshots aren't representative of actual in-game performance because the game does stutter a LOT while moving around, for example while in Divinity's Reach I can drop to as low as 54 fps, then it goes back up. But those annoying stutters are everywhere and performance goes down for a while, then goes up again once it stabilizes.

Furthmore, I picked that place on purpose because in my guild hall it's full of particle effects and the vanilla game suffers greatly when many particle effects are nearby. Fortunately both d912py and especially dxvk seem to be unaffected by high particle count, which is why they are also so much better when in mass open world fights.

For the installation, you download the zip and put two files (d3d9.dll and dxgi.dll) inside your Bin64 folder, which is inside your Guild wars 2 folder, so for me it's D :\Guild Wars 2\bin64

Thanks!Have you tested it along with arcdps and/or reshade?

Use Gshade. It's optimized for online games and has nice installer and support

[The Boz.2038]

OK, so...dx12 doesn't work for me. Never loads any textures, and I get a crash message I can ignore on startup. Map is black. No matter how long I leave it idle for, nothing changes on the screen.dxvk works, easier to install, but I'm not seeing the dramatic FPS increase people here report. Lion's Arch is 30-40FPS. Running a 980Ti, borderless window. What gives?

[Jin.8501]

@The Boz.2038 said:OK, so...dx12 doesn't work for me. Never loads any textures, and I get a crash message I can ignore on startup. Map is black. No matter how long I leave it idle for, nothing changes on the screen.dxvk works, easier to install, but I'm not seeing the dramatic FPS increase people here report. Lion's Arch is 30-40FPS. Running a 980Ti, borderless window. What gives?

I get 60-70 fps in LA. 1440p, although it does not really matter, i get the same with low reso or this with super sample. I guess my 5Ghz 8086k is bottleneck and for you CPU is aswell

[The Boz.2038]

i7 6700K... :(

[Zephyr.5382]

@The Boz.2038 said:i7 6700K... :(

Hmm...same as @maddoctor.2738, who saw great results. How much RAM? Do you have GW2 installed on an SSD? (I don't know what exactly impacts shader compilation)

[The Boz.2038]

16GB, Samsung Evo SSD.

[Zephyr.5382]

Well, I'm stumped.