NVidia: Partial rewrite, Explicit sync, Add missing information (#601)

pages/Nvidia/_index.md

@@ -5,8 +5,8 @@ title: NVidia
 
 # Foreword
 
-There is no _official_ Hyprland support for Nvidia hardware. However, you might
+There is no _official_ Hyprland support for Nvidia hardware. However, many people
-make it work properly following this page.
+have had success with the instructions on this page.
 
 You can choose between the proprietary
 [Nvidia drivers](https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/NVIDIA) or the open source
@@ -15,66 +15,83 @@ proprietary Nvidia drivers category, there are 3 of them: the current driver
 named 'nvidia' (or 'nvidia-dkms' to use with custom linux kernels) which is
 under active development, the legacy drivers 'nvidia-3xxxx' for older cards
 which Nvidia no longer actively supports, and the 'nvidia-open' driver which is
-currently an alpha stage attempt to open source a part of their close source
+currently an alpha stage attempt to open source a part of their closed source
 driver for newer cards.
 
-You may want to use the proprietary Nvidia drivers in some cases, for example:
+If your card is supported by the proprietary nvidia drivers, there is a very
-if you have a new Nvidia GPU model, if you want more performance, if you want to
+high chance that you will most likely want to use those. Benefits include but
-play video games, if you need a wider feature set (for example, better power
+are not limited to:
-consumption on recent GPUs), etc. However, keep in mind that if the proprietary
-Nvidia drivers do not work properly on your computer, the Nouveau driver might
-work fine while not having as much features or performance. For
-[older cards](https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/NVIDIA#Unsupported_drivers), in
-order to use Hyprland, you will probably need to use the Nouveau driver which
-actively supports them.
 
-Below are some tips to try to make the proprietary Nvidia driver work with
+- (Much) better gaming performance
-Hyprland properly:
+- Better power management on recent GPUs
 
-## How to get Hyprland to possibly work on Nvidia
+However, keep in mind that if the proprietary Nvidia drivers do not work
+properly on your computer, the Nouveau driver might work fine. This will
+most likely be the case for
+[older cards](https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/NVIDIA#Unsupported_drivers)
+
+## How to get Hyprland to possibly run on Nvidia (Proprietary)
+
+Install the correct headers package for your current kernel. For the example of
+the `linux-zen` kernel on Arch Linux, this package would be `linux-zen-headers`.
+
+Install the required nvidia packages. For most cases, this would be `nvidia-dkms`
+(or `nvidia-open-dkms` for the open source ones),
+and `nvidia-utils`. If you'd like to game via Wine or even natively, it would be
+in your best interest to also install `lib32-nvidia-utils`.
+
+{{< callout >}}
+
+Even if your GPU is listed as supported by the `nvidia-open-dkms` driver, at this
+point in time, it is still not up to feature parity with the proprietary drivers.
+One issue with the open drivers is that it could cause problems with suspend in
+general, let that be closing the lid on your laptop or by manually triggering one.
+Overall, you'd be better off with `nvidia-dkms` right now, but Hyprland should work
+similarly between the two.
+
+{{< /callout >}}
+
+Next up, you need to enable modeset for nvidia, this can be done via editing
+the kernel paramaters for your bootloader.
 
-Install the `nvidia-dkms` driver and add it to your initramfs & kernel
-parameters.\
 For people using [systemd-boot](https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/systemd-boot)
-you can do this adding `nvidia_drm.modeset=1` to the end of
+you can do this by adding `nvidia_drm.modeset=1` to the end of
-`/boot/loader/entries/arch.conf`. For people using
+`/boot/loader/entries/arch.conf`.
-[grub](https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/GRUB) you can do this by adding
+
+For people using
+[GRUB](https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/GRUB) you can do this by adding
 `nvidia_drm.modeset=1` to the end of `GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=` in
-`/etc/default/grub`, then run `# grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg` For
+`/etc/default/grub`, then running `sudo grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg`.
-others check out
+
+For others check out
 [kernel parameters](https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Kernel_parameters) and how
 to add `nvidia_drm.modeset=1` to your specific bootloader.
 
+{{< callout >}}
+
+There has been a lot of debate on which of `nvidia_drm` or `nvidia-drm`
+is correct for this kernel parameter. It has been confirmed that either
+of these will work.
+
+{{< /callout >}}
+
 in `/etc/mkinitcpio.conf` add `nvidia nvidia_modeset nvidia_uvm nvidia_drm` to
 your `MODULES`
 
-run
+For example, a clean `MODULES` line would now look like this:
-`# mkinitcpio --config /etc/mkinitcpio.conf --generate /boot/initramfs-custom.img`
+```sh
-(make sure you have the `linux-headers` package installed first)
+MODULES=(nvidia nvidia_modeset nvidia_uvm nvidia_drm)
+```
 
-add a new line to `/etc/modprobe.d/nvidia.conf` (make it if it does not exist)
+Now, run `sudo mkinitcpio -P`. This will regenerate the initcpios for all kernels
-and add the line `options nvidia-drm modeset=1`
+currently installed on the system. If you see any errors here about missing
+nvidia modules, it is highly probable that you forgot to install the correct
+headers package. Make sure you install the headers package for your kernel and
+run this command again.
 
 More information is available here:
 [https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/NVIDIA#DRM_kernel_mode_setting](https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/NVIDIA#DRM_kernel_mode_setting)
 
-{{< callout >}}
-
-If your GPU is listed as supported by the `nvidia-open-dkms` driver, use that
-one instead. Note that on a laptop, it could cause problems with the suspended
-state when closing the lid, so you might be better off with `nvidia-dkms`.
-
-{{< /callout >}}
-
-{{< callout >}}
-
-To get multi monitor to work properly on a hybrid graphics device (a laptop with
-both an Intel and an Nvidia GPU), you will need to remove the `optimus-manager`
-package if installed (disabling the service does not work). You also need to
-change your BIOS settings from hybrid graphics to discrete graphics.
-
-{{< /callout >}}
-
 Export these variables in your hyprland config:
 
 ```sh
@@ -85,38 +102,142 @@ env = __GLX_VENDOR_LIBRARY_NAME,nvidia
 env = WLR_NO_HARDWARE_CURSORS,1
 ```
 
-{{< callout >}}
+Lastly, you also need to install a few packages to get some apps
+to function natively with Wayland. Have a look at [the Master Tutorial](https://wiki.hyprland.org/Getting-Started/Master-Tutorial/#force-apps-to-use-wayland).
 
-If you encounter crashes in Firefox, remove the line
+Reboot your computer.
-`env = GBM_BACKEND,nvidia-drm`.
-
-{{< /callout >}}
-
-{{< callout >}}
-
-If you face problems with Discord windows not displaying or screen sharing not
-working in Zoom, remove or comment the line
-`env = __GLX_VENDOR_LIBRARY_NAME,nvidia`.
-
-{{< /callout >}}
-
-Install `qt5-wayland`, `qt5ct` and `libva`. Additionally
-`libva-nvidia-driver-git` (AUR) to fix crashes in some Electron-based
-applications, such as Unity Hub.
-
-Reboot your computer
 
 Launch Hyprland.
 
 It _should_ work now.
 
-## Fixing random flickering, (nuclear method)
+## VA-API hardware video acceleration
 
-Do note though that this forces performance mode to be active, resulting in
+We can achieve VA-API acceleration on Nvidia and Wayland with the help of the
-increased power-consumption (from 22W idle on a RTX 3070TI, to 74W).
+[nvidia-vaapi-driver](https://github.com/elFarto/nvidia-vaapi-driver). This may
+solve certain issues in Electron apps, and it will also allow for GPU decoding
+for videos on the web, with benefits including higher performance video playback
+and also higher power efficiency during video playback.
 
-This may not even be needed for some users, only apply these 'fixes' if you
+Its install instructions are available in the README, however, a quick guide will
-in-fact do notice flickering artifacts from being idle for ~5 seconds.
+be given here:
+
+- Install the package. On Arch, this is `libva-nvidia-driver` in the official
+  repos.
+
+- export this variable in your hyprland config:
+  ```sh
+  env = NVD_BACKEND,direct
+  ```
+  see [here](https://github.com/elFarto/nvidia-vaapi-driver?tab=readme-ov-file#upstream-regressions)
+  for more information on this environment variable.
+
+- Enable the services `nvidia-suspend.service`, `nvidia-hibernate.service` and
+`nvidia-resume.service`
+
+- Add `nvidia.NVreg_PreserveVideoMemoryAllocations=1` to your kernel parameters if
+you don't have it already. This will solve issues with corrupted desktop / videos
+after waking.
+
+- You can check the README to get it working for Firefox.
+
+## Other issues to look out for
+
+### Regarding environment variables
+
+- If you encounter crashes in Firefox, remove the line
+`env = GBM_BACKEND,nvidia-drm`.
+
+- If you face problems with Discord windows not displaying or screen sharing not
+working in Zoom, first try running them in Native Wayland (more details below).
+Otherwise, remove or comment the line
+`env = __GLX_VENDOR_LIBRARY_NAME,nvidia`.
+
+### How to possibly get multi-monitor working with hybrid graphics
+
+On a hybrid graphics device (a laptop with
+both an Intel and an Nvidia GPU), you will need to remove the `optimus-manager`
+package if installed (disabling the service does not work). You also need to
+change your BIOS settings from hybrid graphics to discrete graphics.
+
+### Fixing flickering in Electron / CEF apps
+
+This flickering is likely caused by these apps running in XWayland.
+To fix the flickering, try running the apps with native Wayland instead.
+
+For most Electron apps, you should be fine just adding this
+environment variable to your config:
+
+```sh
+env = ELECTRON_OZONE_PLATFORM_HINT,auto
+```
+
+This has been confirmed to work on Vesktop, VSCodium and Obsidian and will probably
+work on other Electron apps as well.
+
+For other apps, including CEF apps, you will need to launch them with these flags:
+
+```sh
+--enable-features=UseOzonePlatform --ozone-platform=wayland
+```
+
+To do this easily for Spotify, Arch Linux has a `spotify-launcher` packages
+in their official repos. You should use that instead of the `spotify`
+package in the AUR. Then, enable the Wayland backend in 
+`/etc/spotify-launcher.conf` by uncommenting this line:
+
+```sh
+extra_arguments = ["--enable-features=UseOzonePlatform", "--ozone-platform=wayland"]
+```
+
+Some CEF / Electron apps may also have a respective flags file in ~/.config.
+For example, for VSCodium, you can add the flags to `~/.config/codium-flags.conf`
+and for Obsidian, you can add the flags to `~/.config/obsidian/user-flags.conf`.
+
+{{< callout >}}
+
+On earlier Nvidia driver versions, including 535, you may have to also include
+the `--disable-gpu` and `--disable-gpu-sandbox` flags, but, as the names suggest,
+you will lose hardware acceleration for whichever app is run with these flags.
+
+{{< /callout >}}
+
+With NixOS, you can also try setting the `NIXOS_OZONE_WL` environment variable
+to `1`, which should automatically configure Electron / CEF apps to run with native
+Wayland for you.
+
+While it is best to have as many things as possible running natively in
+wayland, the root cause of the flickering will likely be solved
+in the 555 series of nvidia driver updates.
+
+### Fixing flickering in XWayland games specifically
+
+The symptoms of this widespread issue include XWayland games flickering in
+a way which makes them unplayable. Repeated frames, random presenting of
+black frames, and overall weirdness. This is a result of a multitude of
+issues which will be solved soon via Nvidia driver updates, but for now
+you have a few possible fixes:
+
+- Install xorg-xwayland-git (AUR). This git package includes this [PR](https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/xorg/xserver/-/merge_requests/967)
+  which implements the "Explicit Sync" protocol. 
+  This will fix it in some, if not all cases. However if it doesn't,
+  try the next solution. Once the 555 series of drivers are released, this
+  should completely fix the issue.
+
+- Install older nvidia drivers which do not exhibit this problem. The
+  last ones which would work will be the 535xx series of drivers. These
+  can be installed easily on Arch via [these AUR packages](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages?O=0&K=535xx)
+
+More info about explicit sync is available
+[on this blog](https://planet.kde.org/xavers-blog-2024-04-05-explicit-sync/).
+
+### Fixing other random flickering (nuclear method)
+
+Do note that this forces performance mode to be active, resulting in
+increased power-consumption (from 22W idle on an RTX 3070TI, to 74W).
+
+This is probably not needed for most users, so only apply these 'fixes' if
+you in-fact do notice flickering artifacts from being idle for ~5 seconds.
 
 Make a new file at `/etc/modprobe.d/nvidia.conf` and paste this in:
 
@@ -130,14 +251,10 @@ If it does not, try:
 
 - lowering your monitors' refresh rate, as this can stop the flickering
   altogether
-- installing the 535xx versions of the drivers, as later (545, 550) can cause
-  flickering with XWayland
-  - these are available for arch via
-    [the AUR here](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages?O=0&K=535xx)
 - using the [Nouveau driver](https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Nouveau) as
   mentioned above
 
-## Fixing suspend/wakeup issues
+### Fixing suspend/wakeup issues
 
 Enable the services `nvidia-suspend.service`, `nvidia-hibernate.service` and
 `nvidia-resume.service`, they will be started by systemd when needed.
@@ -147,7 +264,7 @@ you don't have it already.
 
 {{< callout >}}
 
-Suspend functions are currently broken on `nvidia-open-dkms`
+As previously mentioned, suspend functions are currently broken on `nvidia-open-dkms`
 [due to a bug](https://github.com/NVIDIA/open-gpu-kernel-modules/issues/472), so
 make sure you're on `nvidia-dkms`.
 
@@ -165,3 +282,9 @@ hardware.nvidia.powerManagement.enable = true;
 # Making sure to use the proprietary drivers until the issue above is fixed upstream
 hardware.nvidia.open = false;
 ```
+
+## Still having issues?
+
+If you're still having issues after following this guide, you can join the
+[Hyprland Discord](https://discord.gg/hypr) and ask for help in the
+`#hyprland-nvidia` channel. Hopefully someone will be able to help you out.