volt-gui:

A graphical user interface for configuring GPU related environment variables and more for Linux gaming. Originally designed just for me and my friends, but seeing that it could be useful for other Linux users i have decided to Open Source it.

Table of Contents

• What you can do?
• Build/Test Requirements
• Installation
• Testing volt-gui
• How to use volt-gui
• How to use the volt script
• Render Selector explained
• Technical References
• Contributing

What you can do?:

• CPU Management

  • Governor Selection: Choose from available CPU governors
  • Adjust the maximum and minimum CPU frequencies within the permitted range.
  • Scheduler Configuration: Select CPU pluggable schedulers (requires scx and Linux Kernel >= 6.12 or a Custom Patched Kernel)

• GPU Configuration

  • Mesa Drivers: Configure Mesa Drivers specific environment variables
  • NVIDIA Drivers: Configure NVIDIA Proprietary Drivers specific environment variables
  • Render Selection: Choose the renderers for both OpenGL and Vulkan applications
  • Set a frame limit for both OpenGL and Vulkan applications, Texture Filters and MidMap LOD Bias for Vulkan only (requires mangohud)
  • All those GPU settings will be added to the volt script

• Disk Configuration

  • Change Disks Schedulers

• Kernel Configuration

  • Choose /proc/sys/vm/compaction_proactiveness value
  • Choose /proc/sys/vm/watermark_boost_factor value
  • Choose /proc/sys/vm/watermark_scale_factor value
  • Choose /proc/sys/vm/extfrag_threshold value
  • Choose /proc/sys/vm/compact_unevictable_allowed value
  • Choose /proc/sys/vm/defrag_mode value
  • Choose /proc/sys/vm/min_free_kbytes value
  • Choose /proc/sys/vm/overcommit_memory value
  • Choose /proc/sys/vm/overcommit_ratio value
  • Choose /proc/sys/vm/admin_reserve_kbytes value
  • Choose /proc/sys/vm/user_reserve_kbytes value
  • Choose /proc/sys/vm/max_map_count value
  • Choose /proc/sys/vm/mmap_min_addr value
  • Choose /proc/sys/vm/page_lock_unfairness value
  • Choose /proc/sys/vm/swappiness value
  • Choose /proc/sys/vm/page-cluster value
  • Choose /proc/sys/vm/vfs_cache_pressure value
  • Choose /proc/sys/vm/percpu_pagelist_high_fraction value
  • Choose /proc/sys/vm/zone_reclaim_mode value
  • Choose /proc/sys/vm/min_unmapped_ratio value
  • Choose /proc/sys/vm/min_slab_ratio value
  • Choose /proc/sys/vm/numa_stat value
  • Choose /proc/sys/vm/oom_kill_allocating_task value
  • Choose /proc/sys/vm/oom_dump_tasks value
  • Choose /proc/sys/vm/panic_on_oom value
  • Choose /proc/sys/vm/dirty_ratio value
  • Choose /proc/sys/vm/dirty_background_ratio value
  • Choose /proc/sys/vm/dirty_bytes value
  • Choose /proc/sys/vm/dirty_background_bytes value
  • Choose /proc/sys/vm/dirty_expire_centisecs value
  • Choose /proc/sys/vm/dirty_writeback_centisecs value
  • Choose /proc/sys/vm/dirtytime_expire_seconds value
  • Choose /proc/sys/vm/laptop_mode value
  • Choose /proc/sys/vm/nr_hugepages value
  • Choose /proc/sys/vm/nr_overcommit_hugepages value
  • Choose /proc/sys/vm/hugetlb_optimize_vmemmap value
  • Choose /proc/sys/vm/stat_interval value
  • Choose /sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/enabled value
  • Choose /sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/shmem_enabled value
  • Choose /sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/defrag value
  • Choose /sys/class/rtc/rtc0/max_user_freq value
  • Choose /proc/sys/kernel/numa_balancing value
  • Choose /proc/sys/kernel/randomize_va_space value
  • Choose /proc/sys/kernel/perf_event_paranoid value
  • Choose /proc/sys/kernel/sched_cfs_bandwidth_slice_us value
  • Choose /proc/sys/kernel/sched_autogroup_enabled value
  • Choose /proc/sys/kernel/sched_rt_runtime_us value
  • Choose /proc/sys/kernel/sched_rt_period_us value
  • Choose /proc/sys/kernel/sched_schedstats value
  • Choose /proc/sys/kernel/timer_migration value
  • Choose /proc/sys/kernel/watchdog value
  • Choose /proc/sys/kernel/nmi_watchdog value
  • Choose /proc/sys/kernel/hung_task_timeout_secs value
  • Choose /proc/sys/kernel/pid_max value
  • Choose /proc/sys/fs/file-max value
  • Choose /proc/sys/net/core/rmem_max value
  • Choose /proc/sys/net/core/wmem_max value
  • Choose /proc/sys/net/ipv4/tcp_fastopen value
  • Choose /proc/sys/net/ipv4/tcp_window_scaling value
  • Choose /proc/sys/net/ipv4/tcp_timestamps value

• Launch Options: add custom Launch Options to the volt that will be passed to the program executed, example:

  gamemoderun PROTON_USE_WINED3D=1
  

• Extras

  • Useful Links for the average Linux Gamer
  • Useful Programs for the average Linux Gamer

• Options

  • Options for the program itself

• Create or Delete Profiles, all of them with its own settings, witch you can apply trough the program or systray.

Build/Test Requirements:

• Python 3.9 or higher
• Pip
• The python3-venv package its required on Debian/Debian based distros.
• Linux operating system

Additional requirements in the case you build the program using Nuitka:

• C/C++ Compiler
• patchelf
• ccache (optional, for optimizing compiling times)

Additional requirements for some Options:

If this software is not provided, its options will be locked.

• scx in the case you want to make use of the CPU Pluggable Schedulers
• mangohud in the case you want to make use of the Render Pipeline Settings. Both the native or the Flatpak version satisfy the dependency.
• glxinfo its required to use the OpenGL Render Selector.
• vulkaninfo and the vulkan mesa layer are required to use the Vulkan Render Selector.

Installation:

Quick Install:

1. Run one of the builds scripts avaliable to create the application:

   Using Pyinstaller:

   ./make-pyinstaller.sh

   Using Nuitka:

   ./make-nuitka.sh

   Note: Both use a Python virtual environment to avoid system wide package installation using pip

2. Install the application system wide:

   sudo ./install.sh

   This will:

   • Copy the executable to /usr/local/bin/
   • Copy the volt-helper script to /usr/local/bin/
   • Create a desktop entry at /usr/share/applications/volt-gui.desktop

Removal:

1. To uninstall volt-gui:

   sudo ./remove.sh

   This will:
   • Remove the volt-gui executable from /usr/local/bin/
   • Remove the volt-helper script from /usr/local/bin/
   • Remove the volt bash script from /usr/local/bin/
   • Remove the desktop entry /usr/share/applications/volt-gui.desktop

Testing volt-gui:

In the case you want to contribute to the project you can use the provided test.sh script to test the changes you made. This script will create a Python virtual environment if one does not already exist. This way, you don't have to install the program dependencies systemwide.

The first time you run it, use the -c flag that will also copy the volt-helper to /usr/local/bin/, as the program requires it for appliying the settings:

./test.sh -c

After this unless you make changes to the volt-helper, or the script have been updated, just run it without the flag to avoid unnecessary overwrites of the script:

./test.sh

Note

You can use the remove.sh script to remove the volt-helper. The py_env folder should be deleted in the case you created it with your system python, and you want to use a python version that its inside a distrobox box, or vice versa.

How to use volt-gui:

Simply launch volt-gui from your application menu or run volt-gui from the terminal.

How to use the volt script:

The GPU and Launch Options settings are saved on the volt script. Here are some examples of its usage:

Native Programs:

When using the terminal or a custom desktop entry:

volt glxgears

When using a Launcher to play your game, you can just add it to the game launch options, like this:

Steam (Native):

volt %command%

Lutris (Native):

volt

Flatpak:

When using the terminal or a custom desktop entry:

volt flatpak run net.pcsx2.PCSX2

Render Selector explained:

• Select OpenGL Renderer Selects the GPU/Renderer that will be used to render OpenGL programs. Those GPUs are obtained trough glxinfo.
• Select Vulkan Renderer Selects the GPU/Renderer that will be used to render Vulkan programs. Those GPUs are obtained trough vulkaninfo, also for this to work on some distros you might need to install some additional dependencies like vulkan-mesa-layers on Arch Linux. More info its provided on the Welcome Window that opens once you open volt-gui.

Technical References:

Documentation used:

• Arch Linux Wiki - Improving performance
• Arch Linux Wiki - Gaming
• sched-ext tutorial - CachyOs Wiki
• sched-ext scx Github - Readme
• MangoHud Github - Readme
• Mesa Documentation - Environment Variables
• FreeDesktop - Dri Configuration Options
• NVIDIA 570 Drivers - Documentation
• NVIDIA 470 Drivers - Documentation
• NVIDIA 390 Drivers - Documentation
• Linux Kernel - Subsystem Documentation

Contributing:

Contributions are welcome. Please ensure any changes maintain compatibility with the supported Python versions and follow the existing code structure. You might want to read: Build/Test Requirements, Installation and Testing volt-gui.