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The Mesa 3D Graphics Library open-source graphics stack for Linux-based operating system got a new major series this week, Mesa 20.0, which brings numerous new features and improvements for a better gaming experience.
Most of the work done during the development cycle of the Mesa 20.0 graphics stack appears to be around the AMD Radeon drivers, both OpenGL (RadeonSI) and Vulkan (RADV). This translates to improved gaming for AMD Radeon users on GNU/Linux.
Highlights of the Mesa 20.0 release include OpenGL 4.6 support for the RadeonSI driver, Vulkan 1.2 support for both the Intel ANV and Radeon RADV Vulkan drivers, and Wave32 support for AMD GFX10 (Navi) GPUs in the RADV Vulkan driver and its ACO compiler.
The RADV Vulkan driver and ACO compiler also received support for AMD GFX6 (Southern Islands) and GFX7 (Sea Islands) graphics hardware, as well as the ability to compile geometry shaders.
Furthermore, RADV got several new Vulkan extensions, including VK_AMD_device_coherent_memory, VK_AMD_mixed_attachment_samples, VK_AMD_shader_explicit_vertex_parameter, VK_AMD_shader_image_load_store_lod, VK_AMD_shader_fragment_mask, VK_EXT_subgroup_size_control, VK_KHR_separate_depth_stencil_layouts, VK_KHR_shader_subgroup_extended_types, VK_KHR_swapchain_mutable_format, and VK_KHR_shader_float_controls.
The VK_EXT_subgroup_size_control extension is also available for LLVM, and the Intel ANV Vulkan driver received the VK_KHR_separate_depth_stencil_layouts and VK_INTEL_shader_integer_functions2 extensions.
Several new OpenGL extensions are present as well in the Mesa 20.0 graphics stack, including GL_ARB_gl_spirv and GL_ARB_spirv_extensions on the RadeonSI driver, GL_INTEL_shader_integer_functions2 on the Intel driver, and GL_EXT_direct_state_access for compatibility profile.
There are of course numerous bug fixes included in Mesa 20.0, which improve support for many games, including Assassin’s Creed Origins, The Elder Scrolls Online, Civilization VI, Guild Wars 2, The Surge 2, Dead Rising 4, The Witcher 3, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Resident Evil 2, Rocket League, Halo: The Master Chief Collection, Beat Saber, Doom 2016, CS:GO, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, Divinity: Original Sin Enhanced Edition, Tropico 6, and SuperTuxKart.
Mesa 20.0 was released officially on February 19th and it’s available for download here. However, it is considered a development version until the first point release comes out. Until then, it is recommended to stay with the Mesa 19.3 series.
Last updated 4 years ago
