Path of Exile Adds in a Beta Version of New Vulkan Renderer

Grinding Gear Games have deployed the 3.10.2 Patch that adds in a Beta version of their new Vulkan API rendering system. This is a Vulkan-based renderer, an alternative rendering pipeline that promises "more consistent performance" than the game's existing DirectX 11 version.

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Before understanding the new Vulkan renderer, let's take a look at Path of Exile 3.10.2 Patch Notes.

3.10.2 Patch Notes:

• Added a Beta version of our new Vulkan renderer. This provides more consistent performance than our DirectX 11 renderer, especially when under high CPU load. To test it out, go to the graphics options and change the renderer option.

Note: this patch was a restless deploy on the servers, you will need to restart your client to receive the client changes. The Vulkan renderer option can be selected in your options when on the login screen.

The new renderer should provide a smoother and more consistent performance compared to Direct X 11 even when the CPU is under high load thanks to multithreading. Here's how it works:

In our DirectX11 backend, shader uploads happen on the background threads, but the graphics driver (the AMD/Nvidia/Intel layer) processes them before the GPU can use them. It does so in its own threads that can be started when the CPU usage is high. In that case, driver processing appears to happen in the main thread, causing stalls. Somewhat ironically, the additional multithreading we have been adding over the years actually makes this problem worse, as it increases overall CPU usage (in order to get faster frame rates). Thankfully, this is where Vulkan comes in. Among many other improvements, this rendering API lets you do everything in function calls we have full control over, letting us completely avoid these uncontrollable DirectX11 graphics driver stalls.

This means that Vulkan will help keep the peak frame rate down, you won't have anywhere near as many unpredictable spikes that were making the game feel stuttery and reducing the average frame rate.

Vulkan gives Path of Exile's developers more control over how the CPU manages resources, allowing them to control the otherwise uncontrollable aspects of DirectX 11, and resulting in a smoother gameplay experience.

For right now though, Vulkan support means that Path of Exile should run dramatically better with the Steam Play Proton compatibility layer on Linux (or plain Wine). This is because it should make it a whole lot smoother, with constant stuttering hopefully becoming a thing of the past.

Also, because there's no server component to the new renderer, the patch has been released without a full realm restart (so just restart your client to download it, whenever you're ready). Due to new shaders, the patch isn't tiny.

To access the new Vulkan renderer, launch the game and go to the Graphics Options screen. Then change the Renderer option to "Vulkan (Beta)". It should take effect without you having to relaunch the Path of Exile.

It should be reiterated that this new renderer is in a beta state — there may be issues with it, and GGG even admits that it's slower than DX11 for many machines at the moment. That said, the devs hope to have this new renderer refined and more useful for players come patch 3.11.

Right now, Path of Exile's Vulkan Renderer is in beta, and users of it are expected to report bugs to Grinding Gear Games whenever they find them. In addition, you can view more Path of Exile guides and updates by clicking https://eznpc.com/poe-currency. Of course, the most important thing is that you can buy cheap PoE currency here. It is 100% safe, cheap, and timely delivery. It has focused on PoE currency sales for more than 5 years, serving more than 500,000 players, please rest assured to buy!