Valve wants to optimize multithreading in Linux kernel to make gaming better

Valve wants to modify the Linux kernel to better support games. The platform proposes ways to improve gaming on the platform, including by better supporting multithreading.

The proposal coincides with the release of Proton 4.11 by Steam, which took place earlier this week. Proton 4.11 is based on WINE 4.11 and, in addition to a lot of bug fixes and support for Direct3D.9, has functionality that can reduce the CPU load in multithreaded games. However, the Linux kernel must be modified for this. Valve has already suggested that. Valve’s proposal to modify the kernel would lead to a more than ten percent reduction in CPU load, Valve says. Tomb Raider tested this on a high-end machine, but according to the company, cheaper systems can also have a significant load reduction.

The new version of Proton also includes an experimental new feature that can replace esync. esync has always been the way to play multithreaded games on Linux, but Valve wants to tweak the kernel to make multithreading generally faster in the OS. This should be done by extending fast user-space locking functionality or futex() by making more core functionality available. Valve also suggests making changes to glibc and lbpthread.

There are already two experimental packages of fsync available for Arch and Ubuntu for users to try as beta. In addition, proof-of-concept patches are out for glibc, which can be tested by users.