Latest 'Doom' Update Now Supports Vulkan API
Alongside the release of Nvidia’s GTX 1080 and 1070 GPUs recently, the company showed off id Software’s Doom running on the Vulkan API. At launch, the game supported OpenGL only, but the latest update just added support for Vulkan.
Developed by the Khronos Group, Vulkan gives developers more control over GPU resources while also reducing driver overhead. On the player side, the API provides better performance whether you’re using a high-end GPU or a graphics card that merely meets the game’s minimum requirements.
According to Robert Duffy, id Software’s chief technology officer, the studio has worked with Nvidia and AMD since late March to bring Vulkan to Doom.
"When we were looking to adopt Vulkan for Doom, the main question we asked ourselves was: ‘What’s the gamer benefit?’ Ultimately the biggest benefit will be high framerates,” he said. “There are a number of game-focused reasons super-high framerates matter, but primarily it's movement and player feel. The game just feels amazing running that fast, so we made it a priority to try to really exploit the available hardware on PC."
With the latest update, which is already live, you can choose between OpenGL or Vulkan before you start the game. You can also switch APIs in the game’s menu, but it will need to restart.
The addition of Vulkan doesn’t change the game’s system requirements, but id Software noted that in some specific cases, Vulkan isn’t supported on some systems, such Windows 7 PCs that use Nvidia GPUs with 2 GB of RAM or the GTX 690. Users in both camps will have to resort to OpenGL in order to play Doom. In addition, asynchronous compute, a GPU feature that further increases performance, works only in AMD cards in conjunction with Vulkan. The studio is currently working with Nvidia to make sure that the API works with Team Green’s version of asynchronous compute, and an update on the issue is coming “soon.”
Obviously, you’ll need to update your GPU drivers in order to use Vulkan on Doom. For Nvidia GPUs, you’ll need to download WHQL version 368.39. If you’re using an AMD GPU, you’ll need to get the Radeon Software Crimson Edition version 16.7.2.
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| Name | Doom |
|---|---|
| Type | Shooter |
| Developer | id Software |
| Publisher | Bethesda Softworks |
| Platforms | Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One |
| Where To Buy | Bethesda StoreSteamPlayStation StoreXbox StoreAmazonBest BuyTargetWalmartGameStop |
| Release Date | May 13, 2016 |
Follow Rexly Peñaflorida II @Heirdeux. Follow us @tomshardware, on Facebook and on Google+.
Rexly Peñaflorida is a freelance writer for Tom's Hardware covering topics such as computer hardware, video games, and general technology news.
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neblogai It seems that both AMD and nVidia have massive gains on Vulkan, and some users report latest patch gains in OpenGL as well. It would be great if Toms made a comparison of low and high end CPU and GPU performance on Doom. And maybe use it as one of the benchmark games for GPU reviews, for Vulkan performance.Reply -
megajynx Update: It's been a slightly disappointing experience for me. When it runs, it runs.... and its so so so good. However, it now crashed a lot on Vulkan. 0% blame on developers because my 760GTX has 1.5GB ram, so it shouldn't run anyway seeing they want 2+.Reply
Neblogai: I'll try OpenGL and see if theres a boost there. -
Nakal Hmm could this let me play at 4k at 60fps ? I can do 4k now but it drops out, so I do 1440p. I have a new GF1080, 4790k, 32GB setup..Reply
Will be interesting to see new benchmarks come out for sure. -
alextheblue Reply18263457 said:Vulkan is replacing directx ?
Doom used OpenGL (Khronos high-level API) and now it will also support Vulkan (Khronos low-level API). DirectX was never part of Doom. id traditionally used OpenGL, not because it was better (see statements by Carmack) but because it was what they used and were most comfortable with. Now they're adding Vulkan to the mix which is the logical route to take when you have an OpenGL engine.
I am curious to see how much of a performance gain users with lower-end CPUs will see. The low-level APIs can take some pressure off the CPU, depending on how they're used. -
somebodyspecial "In addition, asynchronous compute, a GPU feature that further increases performance, works only in AMD cards in conjunction with Vulkan."Reply
Shouldn't that read GCN based AMD cards? I'm pretty sure my older AMD card doesn't support async compute. :( Not that it matters much for now anyway. Bring on the Vulkan games. Die directx die. :) There is no reason Dx12 can't work with win7 etc. MSFT just wants to force win10 on us. Hence my vulkan lovefest ;) Vulkan will work for all Operating systems and as such will be easily portable for devs. We should get better games at some point, since they'll save the time of supporting dx. -
chris AMD When I enable vulkan i get flickering and a color distortion on side of screen. It doesn't do this in open gl mode. I have the latest drivers as well. I'm running a Rx 480 cardReply