eugeniosegala/MAKO render-v2.1.0

MAKO Renderer v2.1.0

on GitHub

Looking for Decky integration? Download the latest MAKO Decky release.

What's new in MAKO Renderer v2.1.0

Release codename: Leviathan Rising

“The deep has awakened. Even the oldest roots can feel it.”

Ilyra, Warden of the Drowned Grove

MAKO Renderer 2.1 makes Fractional Adaptive practical and can deliver major AMD image-quality gains, with stronger recovery and a cleaner SteamOS presentation path. Frame generation is available now; scaling is coming soon.

• Fractional Adaptive reaches targets between integer multipliers: It can mix generation ratios, such as 60 real FPS to 90 displayed FPS, to preserve more real frames and potentially reduce input lag. Uneven frame spacing can feel choppy in some games, so MAKO Decky defaults to Steady 2x and offers Fractional as a per-game preset.
• AMD image quality gains a guarded robustness path: Supported drivers gain predictable image-boundary handling that can substantially reduce ghost trails, corrupted moving edges, disocclusion errors, and lost thin detail. Results vary by game and scene, unsupported devices keep the established path, and dedicated AMD scenes guard FP32 and FP16 quality.
• SteamOS presentation stays isolated, with an experimental WSI option: Gamescope WSI remains excluded from MAKO's standard SDR path, but MAKO Decky now offers an off-by-default, per-profile compatibility toggle for affected games. The guarded 64-bit host path validates the real Gamescope manifest and fails closed if it is unavailable or invalid. The validated MangoHud chain still reports final generated FPS on SteamOS/RADV.
• Native frames keep moving through generation stalls: A missed render-fence budget now presents the game's original frame, pauses generation, and resumes it after recovery. This reduces the risk of a Renderer stall becoming a visible freeze, while broader backend and swapchain failures continue to fall back to native presentation.
• Standalone tools now speak more languages: The optional desktop UI automatically selects and remembers English, Brazilian Portuguese, European Portuguese, or Spanish. The CLI offers the same language choices through an explicit --lang option without changing Renderer profiles or machine-oriented quality output.
• A stronger foundation for future releases: Presentation responsibilities are separated, runtime policy is centralized, and managed launches use private Vulkan layer discovery for a predictable chain. Build and package gates reject missing or misidentified layers, compatibility paths fail closed, and broader validation protects supported production boundaries.

🎮 In-game considerations

Every game, renderer, and display setup behaves differently. Compare Fixed and Adaptive Frame Generation one setting at a time. Fullscreen is usually the best starting point for performance and frame pacing. Restart after major display, DLL, GPU, Flow Scale, Performance Mode, or model changes.

• 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.

Installation

Host archive

Download MAKO-Renderer-v2.1.0-linux.tar.xz and extract it to your local prefix:

mkdir -p ~/.local
tar -xJf MAKO-Renderer-v2.1.0-linux.tar.xz -C ~/.local

The host archive includes 64-bit and 32-bit Vulkan layers; the CLI and Qt UI are 64-bit.

Start the configuration UI after extraction:

• Application menu: On Steam Deck or Steam Machine, switch to Desktop Mode and open MAKO Renderer Configuration.
• Terminal: Run ~/.local/bin/mako-ui from Konsole or another terminal. Do not run it with sudo.

Configure the licensed DLL path in the UI or ~/.config/mako-render/conf.toml, then use ~/.local/bin/mako-launch %command% for a direct Steam launch. The helper activates MAKO through its private Vulkan layer directory, prevents Steam's Vulkan Fossilize/overlay hooks and competing presentation layers from bypassing its swapchain interception, and keeps Gamescope and the Steam/Game Mode interface active outside that application chain.

Flatpak runtime extensions

Download and extract MAKO-Renderer-v2.1.0-flatpaks.tar.xz. It contains one self-contained MAKO extension for each supported Flatpak runtime. Install the extension matching the application runtime, for example:

flatpak install --user org.freedesktop.Platform.VulkanLayer.makorender-24.08.flatpak

• SHA-256: 836c76077657725738378455eb8748210c920f1aca0a7436ff937e86843ecbd3

Updating an existing MAKO Renderer installation

1. Quit every game or application currently using MAKO Renderer.
2. Download the newer host archive and extract it into the same local prefix. Existing files are replaced; your configuration remains under ~/.config/mako-render/.
3. If you use Flatpak applications, download the matching Flatpak archive and reinstall the extension for each runtime you use.
4. Restart the game. Revalidate the configuration with ~/.local/bin/mako-cli validate if you changed the DLL path or profiles.

Keep the previous archives until the new version has been tested with your games.

Known limitation

• HDR frame generation is not currently supported: HDR pipeline groundwork remains in the renderer, but MAKO does not present it as an enabled release path yet.

Before you play

• Confirm the detected Lossless.dll path. Leaving it blank permits normal discovery in common Steam locations.
• Do not combine MAKO with another Lossless Scaling Vulkan wrapper for the same game.

MAKO Renderer release assets 2.1.0

• Includes checksum-verified host archive MAKO-Renderer-v2.1.0-linux.tar.xz (SHA-256: e8a417accf8003189437ff25af365d18e0b12c5567945438bd2715fb90c8933d).
• Includes checksum-verified Flatpak runtime archive MAKO-Renderer-v2.1.0-flatpaks.tar.xz (SHA-256: 836c76077657725738378455eb8748210c920f1aca0a7436ff937e86843ecbd3).
• The host archive contains the 64-bit and 32-bit Vulkan layers, CLI, Qt configuration UI, standalone mako-launch launcher, and desktop integration.
• Built from source commit 1889ec76c7db3f3718d810c4aa44f71ab5ef1680.