Does Proton experimental 7+ still need PROTON_ENABLE_NVAPI=1

[luisalvarado]

Wanted to ask the guru here about this step

Proton 6.3-6 and newer includes DXVK-NVAPI but it is disabled by default.

Use PROTON_ENABLE_NVAPI=1 as game launch argument in Steam to enable DXVK-NVAPI. Use additionally PROTON_HIDE_NVIDIA_GPU=0 for certain titles that don't rely on D3D for obtaining the current GPU type and have this Proton setting applied. Copy and replace nvapi.dll/nvapi64.dll into the dist/lib/wine/nvapi/dist/lib64/wine/nvapi folder of your Proton installation, e.g. in ~/.steam/steam/steamapps/common/Proton 7.0/ if you want to manually update the included version

Is this still needed for proton experimental. Am using bleeding edge. And if so, is there a game I can test to see the difference between having it and not enabling it?

I was doing some videos at https://www.youtube.com/@xtremelinux but I want to make sure if I talk about this, I do not make any mistakes explaining the benefits and what is used for. Thank you.

[jp7677]

Hi, thanks for asking here, I appreciate that you want to get the details correctly!

The situation is indeed slightly different for Proton Experimental. What differs is:

• The switch PROTON_HIDE_NVIDIA_GPU=0 is no longer needed, it is set automatically when PROTON_ENABLE_NVAPI=1 is set.
• DXVK-NVAPI is now enabled automatically for a lot of games, see this list of Steam game IDs https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Proton/blob/experimental_7.0/proton#L1086 For other games you still need to enable it manually like described in the readme. Note though that this only effect NVIDIA GPUs. NVIDIA GPUs will be no longer spoofed as AMD and NVAPI is available. AMD GPU continue to be seen as AMD GPUs (unless manually overridden but that is another topic).
• Proton Bleeding Edge does (as far as I know) the same as Proton Experimental, but it always includes the latest (master) versions of DXVK, VKD3D-Proton etc. It does not (yet) automatically fetch DXVK-NVAPI master.

DXVK-NVAPI enables games to use DLSS, there are other minor benefits, but this the main winner. Having DXVK-NVAPI enables lets you enable and use DLSS on an NVIDIA GPU, without DXVK-NVAPI it is not available. Prominent titles are e.g. Cyberpunk 2077 or Death Stranding, but just look at the list in the proton startup script.

I hope this clarifies things. Feel free to ask more.

[luisalvarado]

Thank you so much for clearing a lot of stuff. Not only that but the additional information will also help so thank you again. So at the end, the end user still needs to set PROTON_ENABLE_NVAPI=1 but no need for the other one correct?

[jp7677]

So at the end, the end user still needs to set PROTON_ENABLE_NVAPI=1 but no need for the other one correct?

Correct. That said, you only need to set PROTON_ENABLE_NVAPI=1 for Proton Experimental if you want to use it for games that are not in aforementioned list. Note that unconditionally enabling DXVK-NVAPI might also break games, Guardians of the Galaxy is an example. So there is still a minimal risk involved.

(PS: Please also read the first chapter in the readme about what DXVK-NVAPI is, and more important, what it is not. Its actually a very thin layer. The actual magic lives in DXVK/VKD3D-Proton and in the drivers.)

[luisalvarado]

Why thank you very much my good sir. I will go over everything as instructed. Thank you for the time and quality answers.