GXVK: 3Dfx Glide API Implemented Atop Vulkan For Modern Usage
The open-source D7VK project has released version 2.4, which includes a surprise implementation of the 3Dfx Glide API atop Vulkan, allowing classic games to run on modern systems.
The open-source D7VK project that implements Direct3D 7/6/5/3 APIs atop Vulkan has released version 2.4, bringing an unexpected addition: support for the 3Dfx Glide API. This development comes just a month after D7VK announced its maturity status and transition to maintenance mode.
A D7VK contributor forked the DXVK codebase to implement support for the Glide API, which was originally developed for Voodoo graphics cards before the rise of OpenGL and Direct3D. The new implementation, called GXVK, allows this 1990s graphics API to run on modern systems using Vulkan.
Classic games revived
The GXVK project aims to implement all three 32-bit variants of the API released by 3Dfx, focusing on Wine/Linux compatibility. This development could breathe new life into classic games that previously required specialized Voodoo hardware.
The D7VK 2.4 release also includes other improvements such as additional optimizations and better behavior under Wayland. More details about the DXVK 2.4 release can be found on the project's GitHub page.
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