1.3.0 Released

Note

Due to the refactor, old configuration files are not compatible with this version or newer ones, although some settings might still be read correctly.

Changes:

• Fixed wrong values and environment variable names across various GPU settings.
• Added support for many more GPU settings for both Mesa and NVIDIA including those introduced with the NVIDIA 580 drivers.
• Added more values to the shader cache size settings for both Mesa and NVIDIA.
• Added the ability to unset an environment variable when selecting a setting option marked with (default).
  • This will unset/pop that environment variable, meaning the program launched through the volt script will not receive it at all.
  • This helps prevent situations where, for example, a game launcher or another program sets environment variables without the user knowing, which would otherwise be inherited by volt and the launched game. By unsetting them, we ensure the game truly runs with the default values for those variables.
  • This is different from the unset option in the GUI, which simply means “do nothing” or “skip this setting.”
• The Render Pipeline Settings tab has been renamed to MangoHud.
  • Originally, the tab was meant to include additional options, this name better reflects its current purpose. The new non-MangoHud options will be added on other tabs.
• Added missing vsync settings for MangoHud.
• The app can now handle multiple environment variables per setting, making it possible to support renamed variables across driver versions.
  • Example: both MESA_SHADER_CACHE_DISABLE and MESA_GLSL_CACHE_DISABLE are supported, MESA_GLSL_CACHE_DISABLE was renamed to MESA_SHADER_CACHE_DISABLE since Mesa 22.1.
• Added lsfg-vk support.
• Every setting now includes tooltips, providing short descriptions of what each option does while keeping the UI clean.
  • Please note: I’m just one person, so some tooltips might contain mistakes. If you find any, please report them :).
• Several settings that are required by others will no longer be automatically enabled.
  • This gives users more control and avoids cases where multiple settings must be toggled just to disable a dependency.
• Fixed various broken links in the Extras tab.
• Added lsfg-vk and proton-cachyos to the Extras tab.
• Added a very simple update checker (opt-in).
  • It only informs the user when a new version is available and shows the version tag, updating remains fully manual.
  • Note: the requests library is now required for this feature.
• Updated images.
• Bumped project requirements.
• multiple code refactors and cleanups.

Compared to 1.2.1, a total of 26 files have been modified, with 1,684 additions and 1,357 deletions.

Focus for the next updates

For the next releases I would like to work on the following features requested by users and friends:

• Support for Proton/DXVK/VKD3D env vars for the volt script.

• Restore options to original values when volt-gui its closed
  Example: you start volt-gui with the powersave CPU governor, no scx scheduler, and certain kernel values. You apply optimizations to play, and when finished, volt-gui will allow restoring everything back to the initial values when you close it.
  This will be opt-in, meaning the user must enable it in the options and ideally the user must use it with the systray.

• Improve the Welcome Window.

• Additional build formats
  Flatpak and/or AppImage support. Take in consideration that for the close future its improbable that volt-gui makes its way to FlatHub, so a possible flatpak would need to be downloaded from this repo and then installed.

• Additionally i will be reading more documentation to see what other features could be added and how.

• Those changes might come on any order.

How to use volt-gui:

Simply launch volt-gui from your application menu or run volt-gui from the terminal.

Additional requirements for some Options:

If this software is not provided, its options will be locked.

• scx in the case you want to make use of the CPU Pluggable Schedulers
• mangohud in the case you want to make use of the MangoHud Settings. Both the native or the Flatpak version satisfy the dependency.
• lsfg-vk in the case you want to make use of the LS Frame Gen Settings. Both the native or the Flatpak version satisfy the dependency, as long as its not the noui version.
• glxinfo its required to use the OpenGL Render Selector.
• vulkaninfo and the vulkan mesa layer are required to use the Vulkan Render Selector.

Builds:

• The builds are build against Debian 12, meaning anything newer than that should work without issues, and anything older will not work.
• There are 2 builds provided, both for x86_64 only:
  • A build created using Nuitka, it translates Python code to C code and then compile it into an executable.
  • A build created using pyinstaller, it bundles the Python application and all its dependencies into a single package
• Select and download one build, uncompressed it, open a terminal inside the folder with the files and run the install script with sudo, this will also upgrade any volt-gui version you have installed. And for removing it its the same thing but using the remove script.
• After this you should be able to run volt-gui from your terminal or from your start menu.
• For more info please read the Readme or the Welcome Window/Message that the program shows.
• Contributions are very welcome :)

Extras:

If you’d like to support my work in the FOSS community, you can do so by contributing to any of my projects or by donating.
Every contribution no matter the amount is greatly appreciated and helps keep these tools alive, maintained, and evolving.

That’s all for now, thank you for using my projects! If you can, please consider donating, and as always, GLHF!

Release: