Vulkan-Loader VS steam-runtime

Take a look at Vulkan Loader Debugging, try running vulkaninfo with set VK_LOADER_DEBUG=all.

probably not given this response from 2021 https://github.com/KhronosGroup/Vulkan-Loader/issues/536

Every program that needs Vulkan does indeed link against and call something with a well-known, long-time stable ABI. This is normally Vulkan-Loader, which provides libvulkan. For OpenGL, libglvnd is a nearly equivalent library that fulfills largely the same function and provides libGL/libGLES/etc.

cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.8) include(FetchContent) project(foo LANGUAGES C CXX) # Vulkan FetchContent_Declare( Vulkan-Headers GIT_REPOSITORY "https://github.com/KhronosGroup/Vulkan-Headers.git" GIT_TAG "sdk-1.3.216.0" ) FetchContent_MakeAvailable(Vulkan-Headers) FetchContent_Declare( Vulkan-Loader GIT_REPOSITORY "https://github.com/KhronosGroup/Vulkan-Loader.git" GIT_TAG "sdk-1.3.216.0" ) set(UPDATE_DEPS OFF CACHE INTERNAL "") set(BUILD_TESTS OFF CACHE INTERNAL "") FetchContent_MakeAvailable(Vulkan-Headers Vulkan-Loader) add_executable(dummy "main.cc") set_target_properties( ${PROJECT_NAME} PROPERTIES CXX_STANDARD 17 CXX_STANDARD_REQUIRED ON CXX_EXTENSIONS OFF ) target_compile_options( ${PROJECT_NAME} PRIVATE $<$: /ZI; > ) target_link_libraries( ${PROJECT_NAME} PRIVATE Vulkan::Vulkan )

I'm reading through the official docs before I start a tutorial. The docs mention the loader but not very often. It does link to the loader's docs on github. I've read most of that. I still don't understand if it's an integral part of the API or just a tooling for certain use cases (multiple drivers, complex validation, etc.). I also listened to a webinar about the loader and the speaker claims he is the owner of the loader. That made me even more confused. Can someone please fill me in? Do all Vulkan apps interface with the loader before the driver? Thanks.

It's from here: https://github.com/KhronosGroup/Vulkan-Loader/blob/393e23f91d21ce117c19e8c42e084477c3a25c7c/tests/framework/test_util.h

Not exactly sure, but what you describe seems similar to the issue https://github.com/KhronosGroup/Vulkan-Loader/issues/776 .

This would be good to read to understand why some of the things are the way they are. https://github.com/KhronosGroup/Vulkan-Loader/blob/master/docs/LoaderApplicationInterface.md

> It turns out that unless the game is explicitly marked (by Valve reviewers), Steam Deck will use the Windows build + Proton even if a Linux version is available.

I found this which sounds like it's not the default, but is in fact a result of compatibility testing:

> If your game has gone through Steam Deck compatibility testing and the testers reported that the native Linux version didn't work (because of #579), then it might have been flagged to run the Windows binaries via Proton by default, instead of the native Linux version.

per https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-runtime/issues/585

> Where is it written that steam-run will magically execute most binaries without patching them?

Somewhere in here: https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-runtime

:p

But I do get what you're saying. Once Flakes are default, I hope people start a proper push to clear up documentation and streamline the development process. The end-result is amazing, and the perfect OS/packaging system for my needs. The means of getting there... need a lot of work. I'm along for the ride either way.

I think they have something a bit like a container built into Steam: https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-runtime

this is for steamworks API, my understanding is there's a separate SDK for consuming Linux dependencies like glibc. Like Soldier runtime, Sniper runtime, and so on. Am I wrong in thinking these are two separate SDKs? here's the link to the other SDK I'm talking about: https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-runtime

I'm not sure we can distribute a flatpak or an appimage through Steam. They have their own controlled environment called Steam Runtime (https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-runtime) in which I should compile to be sure it runs everywhere (very similar to what I am doing). Last time, I look at this, it wasn't very clear and they supported only old versions of GCC. But it seems the documentation improved and now that I succeeded in building a modern version of GCC in my own container, maybe I could do that in theirs.

I believe it's usable outside of Steam: https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-runtime though the instructions are not particularly clear. There's also a link to the APT repo they use as a reference: https://repo.steampowered.com/steamrt/

Looking at the Flatpak version, if you want to use Proton versions 5.13 or newer with Steam in Flatpak, you need to install Flatpak from backports https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-runtime/issues/294 . Using Flatpak saves having to install i386 if that matters to you.

> Game developers would be fine to target a single distro like Ubuntu 22.04.

Valve has its own container-only Linux distribution, called "Soldier Runtime" (https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-runtime); especially for games distributed on Steam, it probably makes more sense to target that distribution instead of Ubuntu.