Wine 10.9 is out now, bringing EGL library support for all graphics drivers. For anyone trying to get Windows software running smoothly on Linux or macOS, this unification of EGL access promises more consistent graphical behavior and potentially better performance for applications that lean on it.
EGL is a crucial bridge, letting things like OpenGL ES (often used in mobile apps, some desktop applications, and even games) talk to your system's window manager. Having it standardized across all drivers under Wine means fewer instances where an app might render beautifully on one setup but turn into a pixelated mess or refuse to launch on another.
Gamers, and especially those dabbling with newer Windows titles, will appreciate that the bundled vkd3d, Wine's secret sauce for translating Direct3D 12 calls to Vulkan, has been upgraded to version 1.16.
Every update to vkd3d generally means improved compatibility with the latest and greatest Direct3D 12 titles and ongoing fixes for stubborn ones. Considering vkd3d is a core component for projects like Steam's Proton, which enables a massive library of Windows games on Linux and the Steam Deck, this update is certainly welcome news.
Key improvements vkd3d 1.16 brings include:
- DXIL shaders are now supported in the default configuration, raising the maximum supported shader model to 6.0.
- Graphics pipeline state objects can be created from shaders with embedded root signatures.
- Implementation of the
SetEventOnMultipleFenceCompletion()method of the ID3D12Device1 interface. - Experimental support for compiling DXIL shaders is now a fully supported and enabled-by-default feature in libvkd3d-shader.
- libvkd3d-shader has initial support for geometry shaders and various new intrinsic functions.
- The vkd3d demos now work on both Microsoft Windows and Apple macOS builds.
Moving on, support for compiler-based exception handling with Clang also makes an appearance; this is a technical enhancement that can lead to greater stability for applications built using that specific compiler when they are run through Wine, reducing unexpected crashes for a subset of programs. Furthermore, Wine 10.9 introduces initial groundwork for generating Windows Runtime metadata in WIDL, its Interface Definition Language tool.
As always with development releases, there is a solid list of bug fixes, 34 of them in this particular version. Some notable ones include resolving fullscreen issues with the classic 3D Pinball - Space Cadet, fixing display artifacts in Empire Earth, sorting out text display problems in the EA app launcher, and addressing crashes or visual glitches in games like Dyson Sphere Program and platforms like Geekbench 6.
If you're interested in trying out this release, follow the installation instructions for your platform: Ubuntu/Debian, Fedora, or macOS. Installation guides for other platforms, including Slackware, are also available. The release notes for version 10.9 are available here.
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