VKD3D-Proton 3.1 released with Shader Model 6.9 support

Hans-Kristian Arntzen of Valve's Linux team has released VKD3D-Proton 3.1. This version serves as a stable release before the project moves into version 3.2, which Arntzen says will include many important changes.

Image: Phoronix

The 3.1 update adds support for Shader Model 6.9 and KHR_opacity_micromap to expose DXR 1.2 when supported. It also exposes AgilitySDK 619 features and more NVIDIA NVAPI intrinsics to the DXIL-SPIRV code. While descriptor heap support via VK_EXT_descriptor_heap is included, Arntzen says it is not enabled by default because of driver quality concerns. View instancing is now enabled by default. This release also contains various fixes, performance optimizations, and game-specific workarounds.

Users do not need to perform a manual upgrade to access these changes, as Valve integrates VKD3D-Proton updates into future Proton releases.