eugeniosegala/MAKO render-v3.1.0

MAKO Renderer v3.1.0

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

What's new in MAKO Renderer v3.1.0

Release codename: Sea Rapture

“Light the harbour, not for the hunters, but for those the tide returns.”

Cael Orsino, Keeper of the Rapture Light

The big Spatial Scaling follow-up

Sea Rapture is MAKO 3.1: a major stability and performance update for Spatial Scaling, especially when combined with Frame Generation. The combined pipeline is now faster and much more resilient across resolution changes, GPU-memory pressure, and difficult game swapchain behaviour.

• Clear per-game startup compatibility: For affected titles such as Detroit: Become Human, the new restart-only Game Swapchain Images profile option preserves the game's requested swapchain minimum, while MAKO keeps faster generated-frame headroom enabled by default for other games.
• Smoother Frame Generation changes: Multiplier increases wait for a game-owned swapchain recreation when necessary, avoiding repeated timeout recovery and preserving steadier presentation cadence.
• Safer scaling transitions: Resolution changes, supersampling, and GPU-memory constraints now rebuild or fall back more reliably without leaving stale limits behind.
• More useful Live Status: See the real Input, Render, and Display resolutions, available memory headroom, and any constrained scale factor.
• Faster combined performance: Leaner resource allocation and improved recovery reduce overhead when Spatial Scaling and Frame Generation run together.

🎮 In-game considerations

Every game, renderer, and display setup behaves differently. Compare Fixed Frame Generation, Adaptive Frame Generation, and scaling-only operation 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, model, or Scaling enablement 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-v3.1.0-linux.tar.xz, extract it into a new folder, then use the included graphical installer:

1. Double-click Install MAKO Renderer.
2. Choose Execute if your file manager asks.
3. Confirm the installation. The wizard verifies the package, installs it under ~/.local, safely updates existing files, preserves profiles, and opens the configuration UI.

To remove it later, open Uninstall MAKO Renderer from the application menu. The wizard removes MAKO-owned files and keeps your profiles unless you explicitly choose to remove them.

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

Reopen the configuration UI after installation:

• Application menu: On Steam Deck or Steam Machine, switch to Desktop Mode, open the bottom-left Application Launcher, search for MAKO Renderer Configuration, and click the MAKO-logo app icon.
• Terminal: Run ~/.local/bin/mako-ui from Konsole or another terminal. Do not run it with sudo.

Configure the profile in the UI or ~/.config/mako-render/conf.toml. Select the licensed DLL path when using Frame Generation or LS1 scaling, then use ~/.local/bin/mako-launch %command% for a direct Steam launch.

Flatpak runtime extensions

Download and extract MAKO-Renderer-v3.1.0-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: f85732db11bde88a6d204a3a09635a87aa2da5f3cbb7b7ed90e4ed163c89142d

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 a new folder.
3. Run Install MAKO Renderer again and confirm the prompt. The wizard verifies and replaces MAKO-owned files while preserving ~/.config/mako-render/.
4. If you use Flatpak applications, download the matching Flatpak archive and reinstall the extension for each runtime you use.
5. 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 and scaling are not currently supported: HDR pipeline groundwork remains in the renderer, but MAKO does not present either feature as an enabled HDR release path yet.

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 Frame Generation or LS1 scaling, confirm the detected Lossless.dll path before launching. Leaving it blank permits normal discovery. MAKO Scaler does not need it.
• Do not combine MAKO with another frame-generation or scaling Vulkan wrapper for the same game.

MAKO Renderer release assets 3.1.0

• Includes checksum-verified host archive MAKO-Renderer-v3.1.0-linux.tar.xz (SHA-256: 6e170458a7f1f0f8f09dedebea4156fe277dd1cd2b695d7246690f453ba20216).
• Includes checksum-verified Flatpak runtime archive MAKO-Renderer-v3.1.0-flatpaks.tar.xz (SHA-256: f85732db11bde88a6d204a3a09635a87aa2da5f3cbb7b7ed90e4ed163c89142d).
• The host archive contains the 64-bit and 32-bit Vulkan layers, CLI, Qt configuration UI, standalone mako-launch launcher, and desktop integration.
• Corresponding source: commit feaeddab7746bacb2e05201e86112f817b932d28, also available from the release tag's source archives.