ZLUDA v6 Gets PhysX Running Well On AMD GPUs But Loses Commercial Funding

ZLUDA as a reminder is the open-source project that began as drop-in CUDA support for Intel graphics hardware and then was quietly funded by AMD for years as a drop-in CUDA replacement on AMD GPUs that went open-source after losing funding. That was then taken down and since late 2024 ZLUDA then began focusing on multi-GPU CUDA focused on AI after beginning to receive funding from an unspecified party. Now, unfortunately, funding has once again been cut from that unnamed party but in turn ZLUDA is focusing on PhysX and better Windows support.

ZLUDA 6 released today with some exciting new features but also the unfortunate news that the commercial funding has been cut to the project. In turn ZLUDA is back to being a "weekend project" or fun side project for lead developer Andrzej Janik.

There are some new machine learning support improvements in this version but with no longer being paid to focus on AI/ML, he's been working on PhysX support for older games to run better on AMD GPUs. Janik has PhysX now working with ZLUDA on AMD GPUs and finding very nice results such as for his benchmark numbers with the Mafia II game:

ZLUDA v6 also adds textures support, much better support for Microsoft Windows in addition to Linux, and other enhancements.

Those wanting to learn more about the ZLUDA update can do so via this blog post. ZLUDA v6 downloads available at GitHub.