Proton-CachyOS adds vkd3d-low-latency for DX12 games

Proton-CachyOS adds Reflex and Waitable DXGI support for Linux gaming

Proton-CachyOS has received another update based on Proton 11.0. The community-maintained compatibility tool now includes vkd3d-low-latency as an optional replacement for the standard VKD3D-Proton component.

Version 11.0-20260703 was released on July 22. Proton-CachyOS is based on Valve’s open-source Proton code, but it is developed independently and includes experimental patches and alternative translation layers that are not part of the official Valve release.

NVIDIA Reflex support without an NVIDIA-only Vulkan path

Users can enable the new component by adding PROTON_VKD3D_LOWLATENCY=1 to the game’s launch options. It targets DirectX 12 games and provides low-latency frame pacing inside the translation layer.

The fork implements the NVIDIA Reflex API directly instead of converting it to the VK_NV_low_latency2 Vulkan extension. It also supports Waitable DXGI Swapchains, another method used by DirectX 12 games to limit rendering queues and reduce input latency.

Version 11.0-20260703 Key Changes
Bugfix release based on cachyos-11.0-20260702-slr
Included @netborg-afps’s vkd3d-low-latency as an option. It can be enabled with PROTON_VKD3D_LOWLATENCY=1 . It is very important to read and understand the current status and limitations. Thanks to @netborg-afps
vkd3d-low-latency features built-in, hardware-agnostic low-latency frame pacing for DX12. It natively implements the NVIDIA Reflex API within the translation layer (bypassing the conversion into VK_NV_low_latency2 ) and also allows for advanced frame pacing via Waitable DXGI Swapchains to significantly reduce input lag.
AMD users should also take a look in the dedicated discussion
Removed the default configuration for DXVK_HUD which enabled the compiler item. Because the DXVK_HUD configuration takes precedence over configuration coming from dxvk.conf , using DXVK_HUD would override perfectly working setups which used dxvk.conf as a way to do per-game configuration.
Updated d7vk , dxvk-sarek , low_latency_layer and nvidia-libs submodules.

The implementation is hardware-agnostic, which means supported Reflex games may also use it on AMD GPUs. However, the game must use either the Reflex API or Waitable DXGI Swapchains. The developer also warns that the current implementation may reduce CPU-side parallelism in some CPU-limited scenarios.

For gamers, this may reduce the delay between an input and the resulting frame appearing on screen. The largest difference should be visible in games with high frame rates or long render queues, although it will not increase performance by itself. Results will depend on the game, GPU driver and CPU load, and the feature may reduce performance in some CPU-limited cases.

d7vk and older GPU components updated

The release updates d7vk, DXVK-Sarek, low_latency_layer and the included NVIDIA libraries. D7VK translates Direct3D 3, 5, 6 and 7 through Vulkan, while DXVK-Sarek is intended for older GPUs limited to Vulkan 1.1 or 1.2.

CachyOS also removed the default DXVK_HUD compiler display setting. This setting took priority over options stored in dxvk.conf, which could override existing per-game configurations. Proton-CachyOS can be installed manually or through compatibility-tool managers such as ProtonPlus.

Source: Proton-Cachyos (Github) , Gaming on Linux

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