DOOM Eternal on Linux with AMD GPU (Ubuntu + Steam)

The first days when DOOM Eternal was released trying to play it on Linux required lots of trial and error along with lots of compile time… Now though the requirements are clear and its easy to get it to work.

On my systems I run Ubuntu 18.04 LTS and I have AMD GPUs. I tested with an AMD RX580 and a Vega 64. Running on a 1080p with Resolution Scaling enabled and quality set to “Ultra Nightmare” I average around 120 FPS on the Vega 64 and 60 FPS on the RX580.

Update: Ubuntu 20.04 LTS + AMDGPU-PRO 20.40 are at this point tested and delivering the best performance. You can even play Doom Eternal on a 4K resolution with no stuttering.

If you are using an NVIDIA card or another Linux distribution you can check the reports submitted on protondb to get more help.

Follow the steps bellow to make it work with an AMD GPU.

• Install AMD Drivers
  • Ubuntu 18.04 LTS
  • Ubuntu 20.04 LTS
• Install Steam & Proton

AMD Drivers

Ubuntu 18.04 LTS

You are going to get the higher FPS by using the latest proprietary AMD drivers. At this time of writing the version is 20.10 released couple of days ago supporting only Ubuntu 18.04.

Head over to AMD’s website download and install the appropriate files. After that you are set!

Ubuntu 20.04 LTS

Update: AMD Proprietary drivers are already released on AMD’s site supporting fully Ubuntu 20.04. After testing them they clearly win in terms of delivering the best performance and higher FPS. Strongly recommended to use those along with AMDVLK.

At this time AMD proprietary drivers are not going to cleanly install. Thats why I personally use the stock driver coming with Ubuntu.

But in order to get decent performance we need to install a most recent version of vulkan. Easiest way, download the latest version of AMD’s proprietary drivers (20.10), extract the archive and install ONLY the vulkan related packages.

Open a terminal, switch to the directory you extracted the files and issue the following command by replacing version with the appropriate one.

sudo dpkg --install amdgpu-core_<version>_amd64.deb vulkan-amdgpu_<version>_amd64.deb

[Outdated] Install updated Linux AMD GPU Drivers, MESA, Vulkan packages.

The best way at this point to have the most recent packages is to use the Oibaf PPA. Make sure you do not use any other conflicting PPA/packages before switching to this repo.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:oibaf/graphics-drivers
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

[Outdated] Switch to Steam BETA

1. Open Steam
2. Select “Settings” from the “Steam” Menu
3. On the “Account” find the “Beta participation” section and click on the “CHANGE…” button.
4. Select “Steam Beta Update” from the dropdown list.
5. Click “OK” and let Steam to restart and auto update.

Install Steam & Proton

Install Steam

Nothing special. Download and install from Steam website. No need to switch to Steam Beta anymore.

Download and Install Custom Proton

The only way for the game to start is to make use of a custom Proton version including all the patches/libs needed. At this point I am making use of the excellent work of GloriousEggroll. You will need version Proton-5.6-GE-2 or greater.

1. Download the archive and extract it to your ~/.steam/root/compatibilitytools.d directory
2. Then restart Steam.
3. Go to your Steam Library, right click “DOOM Eternal” and select the “Force the use of a specific Steam Play compatibility tool”.
4. Select “Proton-5.6-GE-2” from the drop-down list.
5. Click on the “SET LAUNCH OPTIONS…” button.
6. Enter the following PROTON_NO_ESYNC=1 %command%. If you are on Ubuntu 20.04 with the vulkan-amdgpu package installed OR using the AMD’s proprietary drivers enter the following instead to use AMDVLK. VK_ICD_FILENAMES="/opt/amdgpu/etc/vulkan/icd.d/amd_icd64.json" PROTON_NO_ESYNC=1 %command%

Now you are ready to run the game! Rip and Tear!

This page is getting updated regularly. 
Leave a comment if you believe I missed something.