eugeniosegala/MAKO plugin-v2.2.0

MAKO Decky v2.2.0

on GitHub

Looking for the standalone Vulkan layer? See MAKO Renderer v2.2.0.

What's new in MAKO Decky v2.2.0

Release codename: Abyss Ascending

“Follow the blue roads across the bay; even the abyss knows how to ascend.”

Aurelius, Cardinal of the Ninth Tide

MAKO Decky’s Abyss Ascending release is a major Adaptive Frame Generation upgrade for Game Mode, focused on a more fluid and consistent experience. Fractional Adaptive handles uneven frame delivery more gracefully, Smooth Cadence only locks into a steady path when the game can truly sustain it, and the new controls make it easier to tune every game, display, and emulator safely. Frame generation is available now; scaling is coming soon.

• Fractional Adaptive is steadier: A new target-aware placement clock avoids uneven bursts when base frame times vary. Targets such as 60-to-90 and 80-to-120 get a more even camera pan while retaining more real frames for potentially lower input lag and ghosting.
• Smooth Cadence earns a clean Steady 2x path: When Target FPS matches Gamescope refresh, MAKO tests a constant cadence and keeps it only after the game proves it can sustain the target. If conditions change, it immediately returns to the normal Adaptive planner. Steady and Fractional are now deliberate per-game choices instead of a blind multiplier switch.
• Ultra Performance can free meaningful GPU headroom: This restart-only per-profile preset combines 75% Flow Scale, the Lighter FG Model, FP16 where supported, and leaner active-policy resources. In favourable GPU-limited scenes, it can improve frame-generation performance by up to 30%; it also increases visual artifacts, so it is best suited to constrained devices such as Steam Deck.
• Dynamic Cadence Recovery helps emulators, menus, and overlays recover cleanly: It detects native-rate switches such as 30 FPS gameplay to a 60 FPS menu, briefly exposes the real cadence, and returns to the correct Fixed or Adaptive behavior. It is opt-in per game because each check can briefly affect pacing. Choose a live 0.1–3 second interval: 2 seconds is the default, while 0.1 seconds is an aggressive emulator-focused option.
• Frame generation can now follow your display: Auto-disable Frame Generation by Refresh Rate pauses generation at or below a chosen Gamescope refresh threshold, then restores the selected mode when a faster display is detected. It is ideal for dock and display changes without overwriting the profile you tuned.
• Per-game control is clearer and safer: Runtime session updates keep live settings attached to the game that is running, preserve restart-only changes, and bring the refresh guard, matched processes, recovery, and Adaptive trade-offs together in one Decky experience.

🎮 In-game considerations

Every game, renderer, and display setup behaves differently. Compare Fixed and Adaptive Frame Generation one setting at a time. For most games, fullscreen is the best starting point for performance and frame pacing. Keep the configuration that feels best for that game.

• Adaptive target behaviour: Adaptive varies the generated-frame count toward an average target. It cannot reduce a native frame rate already above that target, and the result still depends on the selected multiplier plus available GPU and compositor capacity.
• Quality and latency tuning: Higher multipliers and lower real-frame rates can increase ghosting and input latency. Smooth Cadence may improve motion consistency while reducing responsiveness, so compare the available choices per game.

See the Configuration guide and Troubleshooting guide for complete behaviour and per-game controls.

⚠️ Required MAKO Renderer update: Installing the ZIP updates MAKO Decky, but does not replace its private Vulkan layer. Open the plugin and select Install MAKO Renderer afterwards.

First-time Heroic or EmuDeck setup: Read the Heroic and other Flatpak applications guide before preparing either integration.

Installation

New to Decky or installing MAKO Decky for the first time? See the full install and use guide for Decky Loader setup and prerequisites.

1. Download MAKO-Decky-v2.2.0.zip below.
2. On SteamOS, open Decky Loader's settings and enable Developer Mode.
3. Choose Developer > Install Plugin from Zip, then select the downloaded ZIP.
4. In MAKO Decky, select Install MAKO Renderer. For native Steam/Proton games, add /home/deck/.local/bin/mako-run %command% to the game’s Steam launch options.

Updating an existing MAKO Decky installation

1. Quit any game currently using /home/deck/.local/bin/mako-run.
2. Uninstall MAKO Decky, then download the newer ZIP from version 2.2.0.
3. In Game Mode, open Decky Loader’s settings, choose Developer > Install Plugin from Zip, then select the newer ZIP.
4. Restart your Steam Deck or Steam Machine.
5. ⚠️ Required: Open MAKO Decky and select Install MAKO Renderer to install the version bundled in the new ZIP.
6. In Flatpak Setup, select Update for every prepared application’s matching runtime extension. This replaces its Flatpak layer with the engine bundled in the new ZIP while preserving its preparation and per-game Wrapper commands.

Existing profiles and Steam launch options are retained. The private native renderer and launcher are re-created in step 5; shared Flatpak extensions are retained, then refreshed in step 6.

Known limitation

• HDR is unavailable in this Decky release: The engine foundation is included, but the plugin locks HDR exposure off and does not provide a per-game opt-in. In-game HDR controls may be unavailable by design. A later release can unlock the path after activation, presentation, colour, and performance are validated across games.

Before you play

• Confirm the detected Lossless.dll path before launching. Leaving it blank permits normal discovery.
• Do not combine mako-run with another Lossless Scaling Vulkan wrapper for the same game.

Bundled MAKO Renderer 2.2.0

• Includes checksum-verified MAKO-Renderer-v2.2.0-linux.tar.xz.
• Installing the ZIP does not replace the private renderer by itself; complete the required in-plugin installation step above.