Can I improve game performance by software?

General system Gaming, sound and video
1

Hey, guys!
I was having some problems with Medieval Dynasty since I couldn’t make it run, but that it’s already solved thanks to you. Now, although the game runs, it’s almost unplayable… its performance is too low!!! I have 20 FPS or less of average!!! Is there a way to fix that doing some tweaks? You know, maybe changing the kernel or so?

alejandro@alex-linux 
                   ./sssso-                -------------------- 
                 `:osssssss+-              OS: EndeavourOS Linux x86_64 
               `:+sssssssssso/.            Kernel: 5.15.12-arch1-1 
             `-/ossssssssssssso/.          Uptime: 1 hour, 16 mins 
           `-/+sssssssssssssssso+:`        Packages: 1126 (pacman) 
         `-:/+sssssssssssssssssso+/.       Shell: bash 5.1.12 
       `.://osssssssssssssssssssso++-      Resolution: 1360x768 
      .://+ssssssssssssssssssssssso++:     DE: Xfce 4.16 
    .:///ossssssssssssssssssssssssso++:    WM: Xfwm4 
  `:////ssssssssssssssssssssssssssso+++.   WM Theme: Default 
`-////+ssssssssssssssssssssssssssso++++-   Theme: Arc-Dark [GTK2/3] 
 `..-+oosssssssssssssssssssssssso+++++/`   Icons: Arc-X-D [GTK2/3] 
   ./++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++/:.     Terminal: xfce4-terminal 
  `:::::::::::::::::::::::::------``       Terminal Font: Monospace 12 
                                           CPU: AMD Ryzen 3 1300X (4) @ 3.500GH 
                                           GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 
                                           Memory: 3276MiB / 15926MiB
2

For sure, are you playing with Steam or Wine / Lutris?

Although maybe it’s the game itself, as reported for having bad performance https://www.protondb.com/app/1129580, but still we’ll try.

2 Likes
3

What video driver are you using? For gaming, I switched to the v470 driver branch and almost all of the Steam/Proton issues I’d had vanished.

You can also try the linux-zen kernel; supposed to be optimized for gaming. I’ve found that the linux-lts kernel gives me the best overall performance, and since you’re hardware is not that new, it might be a better fit.

1 Like
4

I’m playing it through Steam and I’ve tested a few different Proton versions and it’s the same. I’ll have to check more in detail those ProtonDB comments.

5

Ok, then:

  1. Make absolutely sure you have all requirements

  2. Make sure you have Esync enabled, or try to disable it and enable FSync

  3. Try GloriousEggroll Proton or TKG Proton

  4. I’d advice to use LTS Kernel, as it is much more stable, but as @ajgringo619 mentioned gamers frequently use Zen, you should try it.

  5. If all that fails write here again, i have some other ideas :upside_down_face:

3 Likes
6 
[alejandro@alex-linux ~]$ lspci | grep VGA
06:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GP107 [GeForce GTX 1050] (rev a1)

If you need more information about the video driver, just tell me what command do I have to type, please.
And definitely could be a good idea installing another kernel. Any thoughts?

7

In addition to what others have said, GameMode may be worth looking into.

1 Like
8

Thank you, Celty!
I edited Steam options of the game and added gamemoderun %command% but the game didn’t run, so I let it as it was before.
EDIT: I’m checking the requirements now.
EDIT2: I’m looking for the nvidia control panel, but I can’t find it!!! How can I check if I’m using the video drivers appropriately?

9
  1. I have all the requirements.
  2. I’m Esync compatible, but I don’t know how to check if it’s enabled or not.
  3. I installed GloriousEggroll Proton, but it’s the same poor performance:

FPS: 17.5
GPU driver version: 495.46.0
Vulkan: 1.2.186

  1. Before installing another kernel… tell me, is there a way to check if I’m using the GPU drivers appropriately?
10

The GTX 1050 is not the greatest GPU; mine is used exclusively for Folding@Home runs. What does the game recommend for minimum/standard GPUs?

11

Here are the env variables for those in Steam:

PROTON_NO_ESYNC=0

PROTON_NO_FSYNC=0

In case for those 0 means it’s enabled, 1 disabled…You should try on or the other, not both simultaneously though.

Example of how to use Proton env variable in Steam

If you don’t have any major errors in journalctl -p3 -xb related to Kernel / GPU - you should be fine, also let’s see your inxi -Gxxxzy1

More and more it looks like a specific game / Proton problem to me, especially given comments there…although we’re not done yet…Since i haven’t played it:

  1. What’s directx in that game? If it’s 12 - choose 11, in most games it’s still much better perofrmance with dxvk

  2. Since your GPU is not top end, try to disabling all usual suspects stuff from graphics settings like:

    • Motion blur
    • AA (just to check, although something like FXAA would have almost 0 impact on performance)
    • Vsync (just to check)
1 Like
12

I don’t know what the recommended hardware specs are for MD, but I have no problem when I play it on Windows 10, so it must be something with Linux.

13

I put those env variables on Steam (one at a time) but it’s the same.

$ inxi -Gxxxzy1
Graphics:
  Device-1: NVIDIA GP107 [GeForce GTX 1050]
    vendor: Gigabyte
    driver: nvidia
      v: 495.46
    bus-ID: 06:00.0
    chip-ID: 10de:1c81
    class-ID: 0300
  Display: x11
    server: X.Org 1.21.1.3
    compositor: xfwm4
      v: 4.16.1
    driver:
      loaded: nvidia
      unloaded: modesetting
      alternate: fbdev,nouveau,nv,vesa
    resolution: 1360x768~60Hz
    s-dpi: 96
  OpenGL:
    renderer: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050/PCIe/SSE2
    v: 4.6.0 NVIDIA 495.46
    direct render: Yes

I don’t know what version of DirectX the game uses, and I don’t see any option to choose either one in the settings. The game is unplayable even after putting all graphics settings on Low. Someone mentioned something about changing to GPU driver version 470 might be a solution, but I couldn’t find how to change the driver on EndeavourOS, besides… is it too risky, right?

14

You’re describing exactly what happened to me, just with a different game. Once I downgraded to the v470 drivers, I can run it with graphics turned all the way up with zero problems. If you check on Nvidia’s site, the v470 branch is considered the Production (stable), while the v495 branch is the bleeding-edge, new-features branch.

1 Like
15

Now the question would be… how can I downgrade the driver?

16

This thread should do the trick: Downgrade Nvidia driver

1 Like
17

So it’s that Nvidia bug PSA: bug in Nvidia driver causes dbus spam ?

1 Like
18

Maybe you could try to disable the compositor? If I remember correctly sometimes people have described issues while gaming under Xfce with compositor in use. I don’t know if this will help but at least it is worth a try I guess. :slight_smile:

3 Likes
19 
$ inxi -Gxxxzy1
Graphics:
  Device-1: NVIDIA GP107 [GeForce GTX 1050]
    vendor: Gigabyte
    driver: nvidia
      v: 470.94
    bus-ID: 06:00.0
    chip-ID: 10de:1c81
    class-ID: 0300
  Display: x11
    server: X.Org 1.21.1.3
    compositor: xfwm4
      v: 4.16.1
    driver:
      loaded: nvidia
      unloaded: modesetting
      alternate: fbdev,nouveau,nv,vesa
    resolution: 1360x768~60Hz
    s-dpi: 96
  OpenGL:
    renderer: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050/PCIe/SSE2
    v: 4.6.0 NVIDIA 470.94
    direct render: Yes

I got rid of 495 version and I installed 470 version, but I’m still having low performance issues. I just recorded a Medieval Dynasty clip using the env variable DXVK_HUD=full %command% so you can see more in detail:

20

Well…Looks bad, looks like it’s specific game + proton problem after all.

Do you have any other game to test and see if it’s an anomaly?

Let’s try the last thing - ReShade, it may help although one might think it’s counter intuitive.

Follow this steps 1-5 (just don’t use shaders, all you need is ReShade itself because it might help you smooth out performance crap of that game)

When done just press HOME button in game, if ReShade panel opens and there are no errors - you’re fine to test if it helps.

1 Like