Ubisoft recently revealed that Vulkan API has been removed from Rainbow Six Siege, and many users are still discovering this for the first time when they try booting the game on PC. This change came with the delivery of Operation Twin Shells (Y9S3) but it was only referenced in the patch notes with a few basic words and no context.
What is Vulkan in Rainbow Six?
It’s more like what was Vulkan in Rainbow Six Siege…
The Vulkan API was a graphics-based API that provided various visual enhancements to PC players, especially those utilising multi-core processors. It promoted smoother frame rates and helped those using lower-end gaming rigs, and it had been in the game since 2020 – until it was unceremoniously removed by Ubisoft.
On Reddit, representatives of Ubisoft provided more context:
As listed in our Patch Notes, DX11 will be available as an optional way to run the game for the moment. We know that these changes have led to a few questions from some of you out there, so we wanted to give some insight into why this choice was made.
At its core, this is a tech decision, and it’s been made to better position Siege for the future, while also ensuring that the Siege tech aligns with others inside and outside of Ubisoft. The bonus is an optimization of resources that allows us to put more focus on the game itself.
Given the wide variety of possible PC system configurations, we will review any issues raised by the community as our work is ongoing to ensure the best possible experience. Note that due to the API changes, if you currently launch the game directly via a shortcut, we recommend that you create new desktop shortcuts of the DirectX12 or DirectX11 executables.
Unfortunately, many users started complaining about performance issues in the comments on this post. One player wrote, ‘With the current bugs regarding crashes and black loading screens with the DX11 version, among the plethora of other bugs like the AC causing BSoDs. I don’t think this is a very smart decision.’
To many, it’s a huge downgrade – the consensus seems to be leaning towards this being an enormous L from Ubisoft.
Have you tried playing Rainbow Six Siege since this change was deployed?
For more Insider Gaming coverage, check out the news that Fallout has won an Emmy Award
These morons with all the stupid and gay decisions they’ve been making over the last 3 years are eventually gonna alienate the player base almost entirely, except for the tiny minority of ill-tasted faqs that’ll keep playing their game and buying costemics. I no longer use any real-life money on this game, nor will I buy anything ubisoft anymore. An operator in a wheel chair fgs. Delusional f’ing morons. Keep heading in that direction, and find out
Worst “tech decision” ever. Fuck Ubisoft and their half wit ideas. Having Vulkan literally cost them nothing to keep in the game and provided superior performance. Thanks for more worthless updates to a game that quite frankly just needs to be left the fuck alone!!!