eugeniosegala/MAKO plugin-v5.0.0

MAKO Decky v5.0.0

on GitHub

Looking for the standalone Vulkan layer? See MAKO Renderer v5.0.0.

What's new in MAKO Decky v5.0.0

Release codename: Phoenix

“Where the phoenix lit the drowned stones, the mako found a way through.”

Mira Valen, Charts of the Ember Tide

Phoenix brings bundled MAKO FG to MAKO Decky through the matching Renderer: open-weight Frame Generation for SteamOS and Linux. At 3×, shared motion work can turn 30 FPS into 90 FPS when the game and GPU sustain it; 2×, 4× and other output schedules are also supported. Free for non-commercial use, with no Lossless Scaling required. See the model card for design, benchmarks and limitations, or download the model and runtime from Hugging Face.

• MAKO FG: V1.24 supports Fixed and Adaptive Frame Generation, SDR, HDR and Flow Scale, including self-contained AppImages. It is the default for profiles without a saved model, including profiles from earlier releases. Developed by Eugenio Segala. See the setup guide.
• Pick a Frame Generation model: Choose MAKO FG, LSFG Quality or LSFG Performance per profile and power mode. Switching between MAKO FG and LSFG needs a restart; LSFG Quality and Performance switch live. LSFG and LS1 still require your own Lossless Scaling installation.
• Clearer model availability: Unavailable Lossless Scaling choices are grayed out; MAKO FG and MAKO Scaler stay usable. Failed LSFG starts fall back to MAKO FG without changing the saved choice. A missing DLL keeps that choice with a warning; the editor changes it only when a present DLL fails validation. Live Status shows the running model.
• MAKO FG performance controls: Flow Scale trades motion detail for GPU cost. Ultra Performance uses 60% Flow Scale and MAKO Scaler when Scaling is on. Supports frames up to 8,294,400 pixels (the area of 3840×2160) and 8192 pixels per side; the analysis grid may be capped at higher resolutions.
• MAKO FG Mode: Quality, Balanced, Performance and Extra Performance switch live and control how often motion is fully estimated at 2× and 3×. Balanced and Performance correct motion between full estimates; Extra Performance uses cheaper reuse when frames arrive evenly and correction otherwise. Start with Balanced; try Quality for artifacts in fast motion. At 4× and above, every pair gets a full estimate. Ultra Performance uses at least Performance.
• MAKO Scaler by default: Profiles without a saved scaling method use MAKO Scaler; existing choices stay. The Renderer improves eligible scaling and HDR bridge paths.
• Capture frames for comparison: Arm burst or rolling capture, then press L3 + R3 to save real frames locally. Rolling mode buffers recent frames until saved; burst pauses Frame Generation. The game also receives the button press. See recording setup and limits.
• Mailbox Presentation: Optional compatibility setting for FIFO hangs or failures, off by default. Requires a restart. Where supported, newer frames replace queued ones, which may reduce smoothness.
• MangoHud real FPS: Count Real Frames Only excludes generated frames from MangoHud's FPS counter. Requires a restart and host-installed MangoHud; cannot run alongside MAKO Shaders.
• Adaptive and bridge pacing: Skips recovery probes that cannot succeed, handles Gamescope timing drift, and restores normal Adaptive pacing within seconds when a game's clock outpaces the display at the chosen multiplier.
• OpenGL games through Zink: Fixes swapchain failures and uneven pacing after loading screens. With Base FPS Cap off and a known Gamescope refresh, Fixed mode paces eligible Zink games at refresh divided by the multiplier; Dynamic Cadence Recovery keeps that cap off. Workarounds also address colour speckles and tearing. See compatibility settings and limits.
• Even pacing on the desktop: Outside Gamescope, generated frames are spaced evenly when total output is below display refresh, helping capped games and low-FPS video at some added latency. Game Mode is unchanged.
• Non-Steam games and AppImages: Fixes Frame Generation under Steam's older Vulkan loader and shader pre-caching layer, plus related X11 window crashes.
• Proton 8 and 9 offscreen windows: Applies Wine's workaround on the first enabled launch, fixing offscreen Frame Generation in games such as Half-Life 2. If video or UI displays incorrectly, add WINE_DISABLE_VK_CHILD_WINDOW_RENDERING_HACK=0 before mako-run. Other Proton versions may use different paths; see setup and limits.
• MAKO FG in games with large per-thread data: Fixes MAKO FG startup in games with large thread-local allocations, including some native ports.

🎮 In-game considerations

Compare Fixed, Adaptive, and scaling-only modes one at a time. If a feature does not work, try Fullscreen, Borderless Fullscreen, and Windowed. For Scaling, test in-game resolutions and check that Live Status shows Input smaller than Display.

• Adaptive target: Adaptive aims for an average frame rate; it cannot lower a game’s native rate or exceed available GPU and compositor capacity.
• Quality and latency: Higher multipliers and lower real-frame rates can increase ghosting and latency. Smooth Cadence may trade responsiveness for steadier motion.

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 the shared native Renderer. Open the plugin and select Install MAKO Renderer afterwards.

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-v5.0.0.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.

Third-party launcher setup: Follow the quick guides for Heroic, Lutris, EmuDeck, and other Flatpak apps.

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 5.0.0.
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 shared native Renderer and launcher are re-created in step 5; shared Flatpak extensions are retained, then refreshed in step 6.

Before you play

• Test MAKO per game. Start with Frame Generation and Scaling disabled, then enable one path at a time before combining them.
• If you use a Lossless Scaling frame generation model or LS1 scaling, confirm the detected Lossless.dll path before launching. Leaving it blank permits normal discovery. The open MAKO Scaler does not need it.
• Do not combine mako-run with another frame-generation or scaling Vulkan wrapper for the same game.

Bundled MAKO Renderer 5.0.0

• Includes checksum-verified MAKO-Renderer-v5.0.0-linux.tar.xz.
• Corresponding MAKO Decky source: plugin-v5.0.0.
• Corresponding MAKO Renderer source: render-v5.0.0, pinned by commit and checksum in the ZIP metadata.