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As the title says. I severely dislike having to make accounts for every game publisher that wants to send me advertisements, collect data or whatever.
It's usually an instant dealbreaker for me at this point
Publishers needing their own launcher already puts them on shaky grounds with me.
But I really liked the original BG 1 & 2, so I'm willing to not just refund it immediately and actually ask around first for solutions.
Does it launch with directx or Vulcan when you do this?
You can also make it launch the Vulkan version with skipping the launcher. Seehttps://gamepretty.com/baldurs-gate-3-how-to-skip-launcher-and-use-desired-graphical-api-vulkan-dx11/
If anyone happens to be playing on Steam Deck (or any Linux desktop), the launch options are slightly different:
DX11 no launcher: --skip-launcher
Vulkan no launcher: bash -c 'exec "${@/bin/bg3.exe}"' -- %command% --skip-launcher
Though for this particular title, the Vulkan one is really crashy on my system rn, which is ironic since the DX11 shaders are converted to Vulkan on Linux.
On my system dx11 crashes right away, so vk it is..
Larian themselves warn that Vulkan should be the least stable of the two options at the moment. That said, I've heard tons of conflicting reports, so it may be super dependent on specific hardware.
Ironically, with the final (not the pre-purchase) release it's the other way around. Vulcan crashes after the airship cinematic.. (I'm also on Linux)
directx is the default and you must apply another switch to start with vulkan https://gamepretty.com/baldurs-gate-3-how-to-skip-launcher-and-use-desired-graphical-api-vulkan-dx11/
You can start the exe you want directly from the directory, there's one for each renderer: https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Baldur%27s_Gate_3#Skip_Larian_launcher_on_startup
For me it chose direct x so I had to use the launcher. Vulcan is much better for me (just be sure to not use triple buffer for nvidia cards). Just choose skip and check the box that says 'do not ask again' and the launcher is less aggravating.
What differences do you see when you use Vulcan? And what's the deal with triple buffering?
Triple buffering basically means that the GPU can temporarily store frames in three different locations in VRAM. This has implications for smoothness and frame time, so it should in theory always be the best option for v-sync and avoiding tearing.
Vulcan should be more efficient so you should get somewhat better performance, though my understanding is it depends on card (AMD cards are kind of designed for Vulkan, but not so much nvidia cards).
My experience is that the directx reflections and post processing look worse. Triple buffering on was causing screen tears.
vulkan is more efficient on AMD than directx, as I understand it.
When Vulcan worked for me it used less Vram, then dx11 does now on linux.
It looks like the following should work (from one of the links above)