PC Drivers & Software

[set1]

Hello. I have a phenom II system which is x4 965 BE with HD 7850 1 GB graphic card and using Windows 10 x64. I am usind gpu driver version 20.3.1 and yesterday bought a game called as "World War Z" and I cant select Vulkan Api from graphic settings of game. Normally game has ability with Vulkan Api. Can you help me for how can I activate my Vulkan driver for my Gpu? As I read that my Gpu is suitable with Vulkan Api but I dont know how can I activate it. Can you help and advice please? Thanks in advance... 

[mstfbsrn980]

You don't have to activate anything for Vulkan API to work effectively. Uninstall the installed display driver using DDU and Windows Safe Mode and perform a clean driver installation with Windows Normal Mode. Trying an old driver or trying clean installation might fix the problem. Old drivers for you are there... https://www.amd.com/en/support/previous-drivers/graphics/amd-radeon-hd/amd-radeon-hd-7000-series/amd... 

[elstaci]

Before uninstalling your AMD driver, download GPU-Z and verify that Vulkan and OpenCL for your GPU Card is not enabled. If it isn't then do as mstfbsrn980 suggested.

AMD Driver is what enables Vulkan and OpenCL on your GPU Card. GPU-Z should show Vulkan and OpenCL boxes marked with a check mark.

Here is mine on my Nvidia GPU Card:

[set1]

Very thanks for the answers and advices. My Gpuz is attached. As you can see that my OpenCL and Vulkan is enabled. After saw this information, I tried another game which is capable with vulkan api which is "Strange Brigade" and It works with Vulkan Api without any problem. I tried several old drivers already such as 19.4.2 and 19.11.1. After I return back to 20.3.1 again. At the moment only World War Z is not working with Vulkan. I cant choose it from the settings menu. Only Directx 11 is showing. What should be the problem?

[elstaci]

The current AMD driver is enabling Vulkan and OpenCL on your GPU card.

The problem is not AMD Driver but rather that specific game. I suggest you open a Thread at the game's Forum.

World War Z does run on Vulkan. Check AMD Radeon Settings to see if there is any settings related to Vulkan or DirectX.

Look at World War Z config file and see if Vulkan is disabled.

The specs for a Sapphire GPU card shows the following for Vulcan and OpenCL and OpenGL:Sapphire HD 7850 Dual-X 1 GB Specs | TechPowerUp GPU Database 

[elstaci]

Here are the last patches for World War Z: Focus Forums 

Many involves Vulkan fixes.

[set1]

Dear Elstaci thanks for the informations. I checked games forum and yes you are right many fixes were made with new patch. Against your advices I made things at below;

Checked Amd Radeon Software but I coudnt see any setting related to Vulkan Api.

Checked games config file which name is video.dat and opened with notepad but couldnt see anything related to Vulkan api too. Tried some video options to enable or disable as (0-1) but every start of game, this config file returns to default values.  

At the other hand yes you are right that this problem is not Amd driver issue but rather that game. I tried some Vulkan games too and they are all working with Vulkan and I match with directx performance and nearly 15% performance increase at Vulkan side. Impressive!

Now I am trying to figure out why World War Z is not working with Vulkan. May be I also try very old version of game with download from torrents to see what was the original version with Vulkan Api. May be new fixes broke Vulkan for specific Gpu's.

[mstfbsrn980]

- Disable Radeon Image Sharpening. I know from my own experience that this feature is causing problems with Vulkan API.
- Back up and delete these regedit paths and try running the game with Vulkan API.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Khronos\Vulkan\ImplicitLayers
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Khronos\Vulkan\ImplicitLayers
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\WOW6432Node\Khronos\Vulkan\ImplicitLayers

These paths must be deleted while Steam or Epic is running. Because store applications reorganize these paths at launch.

- If the game displays an error window, maybe you will share it...

[elstaci]

Make sure you backup the Registry before deleting any keys in case you have problems or create a Restore point.

This Gaming website has very good information about WWZ and technical Information to help troubleshoot the game: https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/World_War_Z 

Here is where World War Z configuration file is located at:

Windows:

C:\Users\(Username)\AppData\Local\Saber\WWZ\client\storage\

(You need to replace USERNAME by your actual user name in Windows)

Maybe if you upload WWZ Configuration file,  MSTFLBSRN980 or others Users can take a look at it and see if there is anything preventing Vulkan from being enabled.

[elstaci]

From the link from the gaming website Technical FAQ: Focus Forums 

[set1]

Yes this should be another chance to report my problem to them. Thanks in advance.

[set1]

Dear elstaci,

Tried this options and no difference.  Tried both win7-win8 compatibility with administrator but nothing changed. Still showing Dx11. 

[set1]

Sure I will attach my cfg file from the games path under users folder. I checked inside with notepad but may be I missed something in it. I will attach it asap when I retun back to home at evening. 

[set1]

Dear Mstfbsrn980, very thanks to you too for advices. Yes I will try those advices at evening when I return to home. I will backup registry entries and check what is going on without them. I owned game from Epic and launcher is always working at background. 

[set1]

Hello again. I couldnt wait for evening and connected my pc with anydesk and tried your advices but no difference. Backed up registry keys and erased with both steam and epic is while running at background. Opened game but nothing changed. Same as before video option only shows directx 11. Now I attach my complete storage folder of "C:\Users\(Username)\AppData\Local\Saber\WWZ\client\storage\" 

As you can see that a video.dat file there. Opened with notepad and tried several options as 0-1 or true-false but I couldnt see any difference. Also game doesnt display any errors after making those changes. I dont know why I cant use vulcan only at this game.

[watermelonsmith]

its not working for me either i dont know what do do since my fps was alot better on vulkan. vulkan was working for me until they updated their game. its very stressful since every other game that supports vulkan works. i have a rx580 4gb 16gb of ddr4 2666mhz ram and a r5 2400g cpu. fps is still good but very stuttery.

[YvanDroid]

Apologies for Necroposting, but to whoever comes across this (by use of Google as I did), I fixed my issue by going to "C:\Users\[YourUsername]\AppData\Local\Saber\WWZ\client\storage" and going to video.dat with a notepad editor. I then looked for the option where it says "DisableVulkanDuetoFailedInit = true" and set that to "DisableVulkanDuetoFailedInit = false". This makes it so that it will try to use Vulkan regardless of if WWZ thinks you can't do it.  Afterwards, open WWZ and head over to the Options menu and select Vulkan from the Graphics API tab. I also changed the "GPU" Parameter in video.dat from "Radeon (TM) RX 480 Graphics - DirectX" to "Radeon (TM) RX 480 Graphics - Vulkan". This let the game know that it can do Vulkan even though it was working fine last update.