HL2: Differences between native Linux and Windows on Proton
I've never really thought about whether the game looks the same using its Windows vs Linux renderer. I installed HL2 to check out the anniversary update and decided to try the Windows renderer on Proton. Would you look at this difference... Linux is the top one, Windows is the bottom:
Is this is a thing? Have you tried other games and seen the Windows version looking better?
huh, I kinda prefer the top one. posters are different too...
What makes you say the windows version is better? The lighting looks more accurate in the top one to me.
It looks like it's got HDR whereas the Linux one does not. But even if we say it's a matter of pref and you like the Linux one, it's still surprising how different they look. I'd expect them to look identical or close to.
They're not rendering the same source textures. The posters on the wall are completely different.
Is it the same copy of the game on different executables, or are these different editions?
The exact same game. The only difference is whether I've chosen Force Compatibility > Proton 9 or not. I uninstall before switching compatibility and reinstall, because the Linux version doesn't come with the Windows binaries and vice versa.
I think beyond the binaries and therefore renderer used, there might indeed be differences in the assets. The posters are obviously different textures as you said.
The posters are rendered in a different order for some reason. In one, the combine posters are on top of the normal ones, and in the other, the normal ones are on top of the combine ones.
The combine ones should be on top as they are oppressing anything that could be seen as good, happy, or relaxing for the citizens.
Look closer. The posters on the wall are the same on both, but they are rendered in a different order. One is back to front, and the other is front to back.
This is a slightly dodgy comparison - a native linux version versus a windows version run through Proton?
Bearing in mind Valve make Proton they may have done zero optimisation or work to ensure the Windows version and Proton work together. It's possible settings need tweaking in Proton to make the game run optimally, but given there is a Linux native version of the game it's unlikely anyone is going to have spent time doing that.
So the windows version may not be running optimally at the moment in Proton and may not get there as people aren't going to be motivated to optimise settings.
The Windows version seems to have better HDR and some differences in textures in this shot. Performance-wise it runs great. I think this might be a case of the opposite, Valve not bothering to get all the changes they did with the 20th anniversary update to work on Linux.
Interesting, although in your screen shots the Linux version looks better? Are the screenshots the wrong way round or maybe just not able to represent the other changes you mention in the game?
The lighting looks better in the first shot and the items like the bin look better. But the textures of the posters look less good.
It seems very odd the game would use different textures at the same resolution and settings. Maybe they made some compromises to get the Linux version working as you say?
Also HDR is notoriously messy on Linux - maybe the Proton version of the game is managing to use it better than the native route on your system? Or maybe they didn't do a good HDR implementation on the Linux version as you say.
Would be interesting if people notice the same of the issue is the Proton version is better than the Linux native version.
When you say it seems to have better HDR, is that deduced from watching the video or looking at these screen shots? Because if we're talking about the screen shots I'd have to disagree.
Oh yeah. Trying to get Black Mesa - which is a HL2 mod that became a game in its own right - to look right on a modern Linux PC has been less than fun. Textures, lighting and shadows are messed up in many places, basically breaking the flashlight most of the time. The game is 99% there, but that other 1% is impossible to ignore. The game plays fine... when you can see.
Kind of glad I got the game on sale.
But anyway, yes I'm kind of surprised that the textures seem to be different in the two screenshots. The lighting is necessarily different because HDR isn't well supported (if it is at all) on Linux, but I would have thought that keeping the textures in line would be something Valve would be able to do.
Old games don't use "HDR" the same way we use it today. In old games, enabling HDR makes the lighting calculations in the game engine have infinite range which will then be mapped onto SDR colorspace, which is all software and very much supported in Linux.
If anything the screenshots show a gamma calibration issue. From my experience on Linux native Team Fortress 2, the in-game gamma slider does not do anything.
A great, short explanation of the different meanings of HDR is up to minute 1:40 in the video below.
I've noticed that wine (and proton?) use a vulkan-based system to emulate DX/D3D, did you tweak any graphic settings or is this default settings "out of the box?"
It's possible the Linux version is defaulting to OGL and the Windows version is using d3d-as-implemented-in-vulkan, (or a similar situation) which could cause some differences in rendering or capabilities.
Thevideo settings are the same on all configurable options. They're set to max.
It's possible the Linux version is defaulting to OGL and the Windows version is using d3d-as-implemented-in-vulkan, (or a similar situation) which could cause some differences in rendering or capabilities.
I think this is likely the reason. Which makes me think this sort of difference might exist across other games that use D3D on Windows and GL on Linux. Difference in Capabilities along with time spent making something look the way the developers want it to look on those capabilities. So if they spend a lot more time on the Windows version, they might fix things to look alright on D3D and leave them be however they turn out on GL.
Sadly for many games the Windows version runs and looks better than the Linux version. That's often because the Linux version is done by outside contractors whose contract expired. So while the Windows version will receive updates the Linux version lies stagnant.
See Tomb Raider 2013 for instance. The Windows version via Proton looks and runs much better than the native one.
Once you get a devops pipeline set up, you do all versions at the same time and have the compiler farm handle it. No reason the native versions shouldn't be receiving updates at the same time when its become rather easy to integrate multiple targets at the same time.
Man that bottom one gives me such strong Soldier of Fortune 2 nostalgia
Top one is way better without even knowing which OS is on any pic