Intel submits code to Proton to improve XeSS to use the fast upscaler XMX

20 Oct 2026 at 7:30 am UTC | Last updated: 20 Oct 2026 at 8:02 am UTC
By Liam Squires-Hand

Looks like Proton with Intel XeSS is set for some improvements, with Intel submitting code directly to Valve. This is in addition to the recent news of DXVK-IGDEXT.

Developer Damian Tomczak opened an issue on Valve's Wine GitHub page noting:

"Adds a builtin libxess.dll which forwards the XeSS D3D12 calls to the Linux XeSS library (libxess.so), so XeSS can use XMX (the fast upscaler) under Proton instead of the slower fallback path. D3D12 objects are converted to Vulkan through vkd3d-proton's interop interface.

The DLL is only used when Proton finds a libxess.so, first in its contrib directory and then in the system library path. The path is passed in XESS_LIB_OVERRIDE. Otherwise the game's own libxess.dll is used.

Part of the [XeSS XMX] series, see the comment below for the other PRs."

And in the follow-up:

"This is one of four [XeSS XMX] PRs that together add XMX-accelerated XeSS to Proton:

• wine: xess xmx: Add builtin libxess.dll to enable XeSS XMX path under Proton.
• vkd3d-proton: xess xmx: Enable the Vulkan extensions and features XeSS requires.
• dxvk: [xess xmx] Don't hide Intel GPUs when XeSS is provided by Proton.
• Proton: xess xmx: Use a native libxess.so for XeSS when available.

The Proton PR bumps the other three submodules, so it should go in last."

Sounds good, and if it means XeSS will work better in future - that's awesome. Nice to see Linux gaming with Proton continue to get better, especially when it's coming direct from developers working for hardware vendors like this.

🌐 External Sources: GitHub - wine Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com. Tags: Proton, Intel, Misc, Open Source, Wine 12 Likes All posts need to follow our rules. Please hit the Report Flag icon on any post that breaks the rules or contains illegal / harmful content. Readers can also email us for any issues or concerns.