I try forcing FSR4 via Proton. Says it is working - even if it isn't

Hey, i’m trying to force FSR4 via Proton-GE in the heroic launcher, for the Game “Clair Expedition 33” i’m using the launch parameters

PROTON_FSR4_UPGRADE=1 FSR4_WATERMARK=1

And i’m getting the watermark indicating it is working. However.. visually nothing seems to change (and i remember when i used Optiscaler in the past i noticed a difference). So i launched the game again with only the FSR4_WATERMARK=1 Parameter (not forcing FSR4) and it still shows the same watermark (despite FSR4 obviously isn’t forced). Can anyone help me out? What am i doing wrong, or is it just not working properly for this game?

I’ve been following this guide here.

What GPU do you have?

Can you share the output of vulkaninfo –summary

Actually are you sure that your testing is valid?

It looks like Expedition supports FSR 4 natively.

The purpose of PROTON_FSR4_UPGRADE is to force a game that only supports FSR 3.1 to FSR 4.

From what i read In-game it only supports FSR3 (at least in game it says FSR3 frame generation).
However it is confusing when i check it on steam i read there should be FSR 4 support. Though the image quality just seems worse than last time when i just forced FSR4 by using Optiscaler.*

I have a RX 9070. When am i supposed to use vulkaninfo? When i just enter it in the terminal it doesn’ work and will just show:
vulkaninfo - Summarize Vulkan information in relation to the current environment.
and it’s options.

Sorry, there was a typo in my command, it should be vulkaninfo --summary

I did some reading on this and I saw multiple people mentioning that E33 always reads “FSR3” for frame gen. Even on Windows.

vulkaninfo --summary will show the following

WARNING: radv is not a conformant Vulkan implementation, testing use only.

VULKANINFO

Vulkan Instance Version: 1.4.350

Instance Extensions: count = 26

VK_EXT_acquire_drm_display : extension revision 1
VK_EXT_acquire_xlib_display : extension revision 1
VK_EXT_debug_report : extension revision 10
VK_EXT_debug_utils : extension revision 2
VK_EXT_direct_mode_display : extension revision 1
VK_EXT_display_surface_counter : extension revision 1
VK_EXT_headless_surface : extension revision 1
VK_EXT_layer_settings : extension revision 2
VK_EXT_surface_maintenance1 : extension revision 1
VK_EXT_swapchain_colorspace : extension revision 5
VK_KHR_device_group_creation : extension revision 1
VK_KHR_display : extension revision 23
VK_KHR_external_fence_capabilities : extension revision 1
VK_KHR_external_memory_capabilities : extension revision 1
VK_KHR_external_semaphore_capabilities : extension revision 1
VK_KHR_get_display_properties2 : extension revision 1
VK_KHR_get_physical_device_properties2 : extension revision 2
VK_KHR_get_surface_capabilities2 : extension revision 1
VK_KHR_portability_enumeration : extension revision 1
VK_KHR_surface : extension revision 25
VK_KHR_surface_maintenance1 : extension revision 1
VK_KHR_surface_protected_capabilities : extension revision 1
VK_KHR_wayland_surface : extension revision 6
VK_KHR_xcb_surface : extension revision 6
VK_KHR_xlib_surface : extension revision 6
VK_LUNARG_direct_driver_loading : extension revision 1

Instance Layers: count = 9

VK_LAYER_FROG_gamescope_wsi_x86_64 Gamescope WSI (XWayland Bypass) Layer (x86_64) 1.3.221 version 1
VK_LAYER_MANGOHUD_overlay_x86 Vulkan Hud Overlay 1.3.0 version 1
VK_LAYER_MANGOHUD_overlay_x86_64 Vulkan Hud Overlay 1.3.0 version 1
VK_LAYER_MESA_anti_lag Open-source implementation of the VK_AMD_anti_lag extension. 1.4.303 version 1
VK_LAYER_MESA_device_select Linux device selection layer 1.4.303 version 1
VK_LAYER_VALVE_steam_fossilize_32 Steam Pipeline Caching Layer 1.3.207 version 1
VK_LAYER_VALVE_steam_fossilize_64 Steam Pipeline Caching Layer 1.3.207 version 1
VK_LAYER_VALVE_steam_overlay_32 Steam Overlay Layer 1.3.207 version 1
VK_LAYER_VALVE_steam_overlay_64 Steam Overlay Layer 1.3.207 version 1

Devices:

GPU0:
apiVersion = 1.4.354
driverVersion = 26.1.4
vendorID = 0x1002
deviceID = 0x7550
deviceType = PHYSICAL_DEVICE_TYPE_DISCRETE_GPU
deviceName = AMD Radeon RX 9070 (RADV GFX1201)
driverID = DRIVER_ID_MESA_RADV
driverName = radv
driverInfo = Mesa 26.1.4-arch1.1
conformanceVersion = 1.4.0.0
deviceUUID = 00000000-0800-0000-0000-000000000000
driverUUID = 414d442d-4d45-5341-2d44-525600000000

Why not check it with via the ImGUI menu that Optiscaler is providing ? There you should be able to switch in between the different FSR backends during runtime, if I’m not mistaken. Also, Clair Obscure Expedition 33 is among the supported titles of OptiPatcher.

Personally I do use the package GOverlay just for the purpose of using OptiScaler. And it works quite well.

But you still may need to replace the required '.dlls and associated files within the game folder / installation path.

I think everything is working as expected here.

  • The menus showing FSR3 is normal, even on Windows
  • Injecting FSR4 via optiscalar producing different results is also widely reported on Windows
  • You appear to using the proper vulkan implementation
  • When you enable FSR4_WATERMARK, you are seeing FSR4

Tbh i was hoping i don’t need optiscaler at all so i haven’t yet installed it again.. But i might use it again and thank you for the link to Optipatcher, didn’t know that exists before.

Ty that explains the confusion. So FSR4 actually works but optiscaler just has better results. I’ll just go back using optiscaler again for this one :smiley: