Nvidia added Vulkan support to Smooth Motion – now works with emulators too
By ForGeeks Nvidia’s Smooth Motion frame generation technology, until recently only compatible with DX11 and DX12, now officially supports Vulkan as well. This means that the technology will be able to accelerate not only modern games, but also emulators that use Proton or DXVK. The update only affects GeForce RTX 50 series graphics cards for now, but support for RTX 40 series is expected in the future.
What is Smooth Motion?
Smooth Motion is a driver frame generation technology similar to AMD Fluid Motion Frames (AFMF). It creates extra frames between the “real” frames, increasing image smoothness and boosting FPS. Unlike DLSS 3/4, Smooth Motion does not require support from game developers – it works at the driver level, automatically, in any game with a supported API.
What’s changed?
Reddit users have noticed that the Nvidia App Smooth Motion description has been updated to include Vulkan support. Previously, the technology only worked with DX11 and DX12. Now the list of compatible APIs looks like this:
- DirectX 11
- DirectX 12
- Vulkan
This puts Smooth Motion on par with AMD’s AFMF2 AMD in terms of game compatibility. Moreover, the technology now works with emulators such as RetroArch, Yuzu, Ryujinx or projects based on Proton/DXVK, which is especially important for Steam Deck and Linux builds.
Smooth Motion is now compatible with the RetroArch, Yuzu, Ryujinx, Ryujinx or projects based on Proton/DXVK, which is especially important for Steam Deck and Linux build users.
But there is one «but»
The main limitation of Smooth Motion today is compatibility only with GeForce RTX 50-series. AMD, on the other hand, offers AFMF even on budget graphics cards of several generations. Nvidia says the technology will come to RTX 40 in the future, but no timeline has been given. Support for RTX 30 and RTX 20 is in question.
How is Smooth Motion different from DLSS?”
| Technology | Where it works | Who controls it | Is it using AI? | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Smooth Motion | At the driver level | Nvidia | Nvidia | Yes  |
| DLSS 3/4 | Into the game engine | Game developers | Yes | |
| AFMF | At the driver level | AMD | No  |
Smooth Motion is independent of the game engine. It inserts generated frames into the stream from the GPU without interfering with the logic or mechanics of the game itself. This makes it universal, but in some cases image quality can be inferior to DLSS, where developers optimize the result manually.
The article Nvidia adds Vulkan support to Smooth Motion – now works with emulators was first published on ITZine.ru.
