New Project Brings Strong Linux Compatibility To More Classic Windows Games
'Ars Technica reports: For years now, Valve has been slowly improving the capabilities of the Proton compatibility layer that lets thousands of Windows games work seamlessly on the Linux-based SteamOS. But Valve's Windows-to-Linux compatibility layer generally only extends back to games written for Direct3D 8, the proprietary Windows graphics API Microsoft released in late 2000. Now, a new open source project is seeking to extend Linux interoperability further back into PC gaming history. The d7vk project describes itself as "a Vulkan-based translation layer for Direct3D 7 [D3D7], which allows running 3D applications on Linux using Wine." The new project isn't the first attempt to get Direct3D 7 games running on Linux. Wine's own built-in WineD3D compatibility layer has supported D3D7 in some form or another for at least two decades now. But the new d7vk project instead branches off the existing dxvk compatibility layer, which is already used by Valve's Proton for SteamOS and which reportedly offers better performance than WineD3D on many games. D7vk project author WinterSnowfall writes that while they don't expect this new project to be upstreamed into the main dxvk in the future, the new version should have "the same level of per application/targeted configuration profiles and fixes that you're used to seeing in dxvk proper." And though d7vk might not perform universally better than the existing alternatives, WinterSnowfall writes that "having more options on the table is a good thing in my book at least." The report notes that the PC Gaming Wiki lists more than 400 games built on the aging D3D7 APIs, spanning mostly early-2000s releases but with a trickle of new titles still appearing through 2022. Notable classics include Escape from Monkey Island and Hitman: Codename 47.' -- source: https://linux.slashdot.org/story/25/11/10/2216209 Cheers, Peter
On Tue, 11 Nov 2025 13:49:24 +1300, Peter Reutemann quoted:
'But Valve's Windows-to-Linux compatibility layer generally only extends back to games written for Direct3D 8, the proprietary Windows graphics API Microsoft released in late 2000.'
By the way, here <https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/gpus/25-years-ago-today-microsoft-released-directx-8-and-changed-pc-graphics-forever-how-programmable-shaders-laid-the-groundwork-for-the-future-of-modern-gpu-rendering> is a look back at the introduction of DirectX 8, a quarter-century ago. It was groundbreaking, in being the first real-time 3D graphics API to include programmable shaders. (The actual idea of programmable shaders seems to date back to RenderMan, Pixar’s CG rendering software, that originated back in the late 1980s. But that was strictly a non-real-time renderer, designed for high-quality imagery for use in movies etc, where it can typically take minutes or hours to render each frame.) OpenGL had nothing like that at the time; programmable shader support was only made available, near as I can tell, as an ARB extension, with OpenGL 1.5 in 2003, and only became part of the core API in OpenGL 2.0 the following year. I think prior to this point the OpenGL community was still dominated by developers of “serious” applications like CAD and scientific visualization. Things changed once the game developers got involved.
participants (2)
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Lawrence D'Oliveiro -
Peter Reutemann