This is one is very confusing, which probably speaks to the current UI in Heroic. I just want to say, run this game in gamescope, so I can use HDR.

I have the latest version of Heroic, installed via Flatpak as the devs recommend. If I go to configure the game in the UI it has an entire settings page dedicated to Gamescope but nothing that says “enable gamescope”.

Anyone get this working?

  • @rtxnEnglish
    10•4 months ago

    You have to install the org.freedesktop.Platform.VulkanLayer.gamescope flatpak package. You’ll be given a choice of which version: HGL needs 23.08.

    https://github.com/Heroic-Games-Launcher/HeroicGamesLauncher/issues/3323

    Keep in mind that Flatpak apps are sandboxed and don’t have full access to the system, including other installed applications and libraries.

    • millionOPEnglish
      1•4 months ago

      Thanks! I actually have that installed already.

      How do I tell Heroic to launch the game under gamescope vs the normal compositor?

      • @rtxnEnglish
        5•4 months ago

        It’s weird. You have to check the “enable upscaling” box, then set “Game Width” and “Game Height”, but leave “Upscale {Width,Height}” empty.

        • millionOPEnglish
          1•4 months ago

          I wouldn’t have thought to try that, thanks. Can confirm it looks like it is running Gamescope now. However I am still not getting an HDR switch in Alan Wake 2.

          Getting the following errors:

          “CreateSwapchainKHR: Creating swapchain for non-Gamescope swapchain. Hooking has failed somewhere! You may have a bad Vulkan layer interfering. Press OK to try to power through this error, or Cancel to stop.”

          “QueuePresentKHR: Attempting to present to a non-hooked swapchain. Hooking has failed somewhere! You may have a bad Vulkan layer interfering. Press OK to try to power through this error, or Cancel to stop.”

          • @rtxnEnglish
            2•4 months ago

            I don’t use HDR so I’m of limited help there. You’ll have to pass those options using the “Additional Options” field. Run gamescope --help and look for relevant options. Also remember that HDR support on Linux is still primitive.

            • millionOPEnglish
              1•3 months ago

              Got it working, added to -f --hdr-enabled to the Additional Options section under the upscale options in the Gamescope tab. Note that you need to have upscape ticked even with additional options added.

              Unfortunately it looks washed out and awful.

              Edit: Just a quick note for folks this later on - it does indeed seem Flatpak related, or at the very least I got similar results under the Steam flatpak trying to run game in HDR. I ended installing the native package Steam and lo and behold, HDR no longer looks as washed out, though it still looks a little off compared to Windows. Those swapchains errors I was getting also vanish.

              • @rtxnEnglish
                4•4 months ago

                Unfortunately it looks washed out and awful.

                That tends to happen when HDR is not supported somewhere in the pipeline from the game renderer to the monitor. It’s not a standard Wayland feature, most compositors only have experimental or WIP implementations, and X11 is never getting it. You’ll also have to use the perfect settings to make it look any good.

                When I said “primitive”, I really meant “sharpened stick” primitive.

                It could also be Flatpak’s sandboxing messing it up, so maybe try running the game through Lutris. The existing installation should work fine.

              • DomiEnglish
                3•4 months ago

                gamescope is a mess inside of Flatpak as of right now. Some issue with using Proton inside of gamescope inside of Flatpak.

                I played Alan Wake 2 using the native Heroic version and native gamescope.

                The gamescope version still needs to be pretty recent. After starting the game make sure its brightness does not change when you play with the SDR intensity slider. If it does, it’s not using HDR.

                Also, Alan Wake is a pretty bleak looking game in general so you might want to pop some flares to bring some color for testing.

                • millionOPEnglish
                  1•4 months ago

                  Ah - thanks for the heads up about the Flatpak version. I have everything running in Flatpak, Steam as well, so that may be why I’ve had zero luck with HDR.

              • @[email protected]English
                1•4 months ago

                I believe only plasma 6 has support for HDR, and it requires additional config to enable it with games. Otherwise, it will look washed out as you found.

                Alternatively, you can use gamescope-session which is basically running gamescope as a standalone like the steam deck.

                • millionOPEnglish
                  1•4 months ago

                  Yeah I was running the game under Plasma 6 with HDR enabled and inside a game scope container.

                  Sounds like there are some issues with Flatpak and HDR so that may be what I am hitting.

                  What additional configuration are you referring to?

  • @[email protected]English
    1•4 months ago

    What GPU you are running? If it’s not a recent AMD gpu, that might be the cause. Relatively recent Mesa and kernel would be a good idea too. The flatpak situation could complicate that too, as others have mentioned.

    Monitors/displays can sometimes be temperamental too, and require toggling on/off, switching VTs back and forth, etc.

    Beyond that, I’d try installing standard Steam if possible.

    • millionOPEnglish
      1•4 months ago

      GPU is Radeon 7900xtx, so pretty new.

      I may switch back to distro Steam. I was trying to get as much Flatpaked as possible but getting HDR working is more important to me.